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Massive Open Online Courses

An important aspect of being an educator is a commitment to life-long learning. While conferences, journal articles, and the like are all excellent sources for such learning, Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) are another source for free, relevant, and networked resources. While not a complete list of available resources, if you are interested in MOOCs check out: this article from BDPA for a quick overview of what a MOOC is along with a top 10 list for information about MOOCs, this webinar with a good overview of why a teacher might use a MOOC and excellent course sites, and the Coursera site for free online courses from top universities worldwide. 

 Recently,  the Academic Language Development Network, Stanford University, UC Davis, and Sacramento State University have collaborated to offer a course focused on academic language,  "Seven Essential Practices for Developing Academic Oral Language and Literacy in Every Subject".  According to the course authors, participants can expect, "practical exploration and expertise-building of seven essential ALD (academic language development) practices that we have identified as being powerful for developing school language and literacy across grade levels and content areas and for supporting the implementation of new standards". The course runs from January 14th through June 14th and the full course description, including syllabus and registration information, can be found here. 

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