CSS for custom updates on course pages!

Many course and content management systems used by instructors allow Cascading Style Sheet ( CSS ) rules to be added to pages. Adding CSS rules to pages gives instructors more control over their content presentation. CSS is easy to learn and easy to get started using.

There are many ways to access CSS tutorials on phones and tablets. Slideshare.net has pages of CSS tutorials in different languages. W3Schools.com also has CSS tutorials with a "Try it yourself" sandbox which is easy to use even on smaller screen devices. Lynda.com has many quality CSS tutorials with sections instructors can watch before committing to any type of use contract.

Instructors who strive toward achieving more control over the presentation of their instructional materials should look into learning and using Cascading Style Sheets.

RSS for Instructors and Students

The acronym RSS stands for different versions of the same thing. "RSS" is a technique where users get live web feeds sent directly to a tablet or a phone.
Some versions of RSS are:

• Rich Site Summary ( RSS 0.91 )
• RDF Site Summary ( RSS 0.91 and 1.0 )
• Real-Time Simple Syndication ( RSS 2.0 )

Professional Interests for Instructors and Students can be served using RSS. If you are interested in Culinary Arts, Cosmetology, Counseling or Technology you can have hundreds of conversations and topic updates sent to your wireless access screen. There are hundreds of professional and personal interests that are covered by RSS feeds. Using RSS is another way to accomplish Learning On Demand.

Instructors Are Hearing About JSON

To create instructional materials for classes instructors are hearing more about calling up and using resources from remote servers.

The language Javascript Object Notation ( JSON ) is a light weight alternative to XML used for sharing information between two different operating systems. JSON is used by a growing number of popular services. JSON is a text format that makes it easy to exchange data between devices. JSON owes it's origin and is based on the way javascript objects are written. JSON is related to javascript but it is not exactly the same as javascript

While JSON originated with the javascript programming language it is available in a wide variety of languages. See http://json.org/ for a list of languages that use JSON.

JSON is popular and is used by Twitter to output their stream. JSON is the best format to use when working with data-interchange in javascript.

Simple Dynamic Website for Instructors

Today instructors need to target student phones and tablets when class content is published online. Some instructors will have access to software that is responsive to screen size on student phones or tablets. If you are an instructor needing an idea about making your content reach student phones try a widget from http://jqueryui.com/. The Accordion Widget and the Tab Widget are worth trying. These widgets can be used to create an Instructor website or class module that opens as a single page and can be tapped to switch between topics or parts of the page. Not exactly a Single Page Application as in jQuery Mobile but close - these widgets will render to phones and do not require navigation that requires page reloads. The content is fast and easy to consume. It works where students are spending their time so there is some validation of the content for students. The free source code is available and can be updated using a variety of HTML editors. Next time I will provide specific examples of using widgets to publish instructional materials.

Adding Video To Your Web Pages

HTML5 Video accepts 3 different file types mp4, webm and ogg. Not all file types are supported in all browsers except the Chrome 6+ browser will support all three file types. You can use Chrome to determine if your video is working before you test it for operation in other browsers. Order of the video source files is important. The order should be mp4, webm followed by ogg. This is because some tablets may hang if they do not see the mp4 file type first. Instead of adding a fall back text statement in case your video does not play in HTML 5 you can add a flash media player.  Adding a player can be accomplished using http://osmf.org/configurator/fmp/# to get html code for your page in three easy steps. A width of  "720" and height of  "480" is a good starting point for video players. Don't forget to add the attribute "control" so that users can click to start your video. New audio / video files require transcripts to be compliant with the WCAG 2.0 Web Content Accessibility Guidelines.

Beta Site for Connecting Instructors with Technology

Instructors might be interested in a new site from Bill Gates connecting instructors with Education Technology. Here is the link :  http://mobile.thegatesnotes.com/Topics/Education/Graphite-Connecting-Teachers-with-Technology?WT.mc_id=06_27_2013_graphiteISTE_tw&WT.tsrc=Twitter ! Incorporating technology into courses can be done a little bit at a time. Technology changes can stimulate updates to your course keeping your content fresh for students and increasing Student Success !

Move your courses online!

Instructors I have a couple of ideas about getting your courses online for FREE !!! Coursesites from Blackboard offers instructors 5 course websites for free. I think each course size is still 300 Mb. Coursesites has a Grade Center and a testing tool. Not to mention Threaded Discussion! A second Course Management System ( CMS ) is Haiku where instructors are offered 5 free course sites at 200 Mb each. Haiku course websites are more oriented toward K-12. Both of these course management systems are easy to get started with, and provides an easy way to get your class online and using online tools.