Instructify

BY BILL FERRIS

This week’s MBTN features ways to thwart cheaters in online courses, great web apps for elementary students, and bird evolution in action. More after the jump.

6 Steps on How to Reduce Cheating on Online Tests
More schools are turning to online courses, which means more ill-prepared students will turn to new ways of cheating. This article looks at six ways to thwart any cheaters you may have in your online course, such as shuffling answer choices and establishing a firm time limit.

Top 10 Web 2.0 Tools for Young Learners
So many Web 2.0 tools are designed for the older set. What is an elementary teacher to do (after clicking our elementary tag, of course)? THE Journal has the 10 best apps for the li’lest learners. These tools stress collaboration and sharing, and are age-appropriate for the elementary classroom.

Study catches 2 bird populations as they split into separate species
Evolution is a slooooowww process that takes thousands of years. Like a marathon, the only exciting parts are the beginning and end. Since we all keep evolving, it’s tough to see the end of evolution. You can check out the beginning, however, of two related birds evolving into separate species. Genetic Archaeology presents this article about two populations of monarch flycatchers as they embark on the journey from genetic siblings to genetic cousins to genetic guy-you-sometimes-bump-into-at-the-grocery-store.

Photo credit: cafenut on Flickr.