Interactive programing tool that kids (and adults)can use

Stagecast Creator™ is an award winning point-and-click programming tool. They advertise that “In the classroom, Creator gives you and your students the power to create lively interactive simulations for math, reading, science and more. Creator can be used for any subject, for any grade level, by both boys and girls, and by students with a wide variety of learning styles. Children learn by building things.”


At about $50.00 for the program, this looks very tempting. Quinn says that one needs a team of people to develop learning environment with games. This program may make less people required.
Look at he videos on the website-very impressive.

http://www.stagecast.com/school.html

SCRATCH - animation and games programming

Kids are creating interactive programs on the computer.
Scratch aims to teach programming skills through a simple and fun to use interface. This is done by 'dragging n dropping' building blocks to animate and control media such as graphics and sounds.

See the video and other information at:
http://www.meridianmoodle.com/course/view.php?id=35

Free Rice

This is very cool! "What if just knowing what a word meant could help feed hungry people around the world? Well at FreeRice.com it does..." - The Washington Post

They've found a simple and creative way to make learning fun and beneficial in multiple ways. Check it out if you have some time...Warning, it's addictive. http://www.freerice.com/index.php

Next ed-tech frontier: Classes via cell phone

In what could be a sign of things to come for colleges and universities worldwide, an online university in Japan has debuted a course that students can take through their cell phones. In what could be a sign of things to come for colleges and universities worldwide, an online university in Japan has debuted a course that students can take through their cell phones.
eSchool News
[eschool.news@eschoolnews.com]

Educating the Public while Launching a Product

When something truly revolutionary comes to market, you need to educate your consumer before the start buying en masse. How do you think Amazon does with its product video, photos, and description of their new kindle?

http://www.amazon.com/Kindle-Amazons-Wireless-Reading-Device/dp/B000FI73MA

Imagine you are unfamiliar with the concept. How does this site blend learning and engagement?

Think about their selection of music, special effects, narration...

Here is a six minute version of the video.

More on Holograms

I'm very intrigued about the use of holograms for entertainment, communications, training and other educational pursuits. This one is very nicely done. Enjoy! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GQT0vcw7xZM&feature=related

Aesthetics of Video Games

As I mentioned, I have been getting 3 to 7 emails a day from New Media Consortium (NMC).
This is one that I thought our ED 834 group might find interesting.

"Trigger Happy, originally published in 2000 with the subtitle 'The Inner Life of Videogames', is a book about the aesthetics of videogames: what they share with other artforms, and the ways in which they are unique.... As a follow-up to my post on Amazon’s crippled and hideous Kindle, and the discussion at Mark Pilgrim’s place, I thought I’d try an experiment, and give away for free an “ebook” version of my first book, Trigger Happy, with no “digital rights management” whatsoever. It’ll work on anything that can read a PDF."
http://stevenpoole.net/trigger-happy/

Woes with Learning Management Systems

I thought this was timely. We have purchased a Learning Managment System at the Airport Authority. We are having a time getting this thing up and running. I will be very curious to see just how well it will do what it says it will do. This article shed some light on problems other groups are having.

http://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/nielsen/training1007/index.php?startpage=66

Ever heard of Cheoptics?

Here's a cool technology Cheoptic Holograms http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-k5nt541SE0&feature=related Tons of possibilities for educational content, Yea!

The Future of Computers

I've been looking at the future of computers and liked this video about Milti-Touch Interaction http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7_mBjOmq1kY and this Hologram vid http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tXLxcCTwr2E&feature=related Can't wait...I want it now!

CVC Moodle Seminar

The professional development component of California Vitual Campus has a Moodle seminar that looks pretty interesting. The details are as follows:

http://www.cccone.org/
CAMPUS TECHNOLOGY WEBINARBuilding Better Moodle Rooms: Online Strategies and Best PracticesSponsored by MoodleroomsDate: December 4, 2007 Time: 11 am Pacific (2 pm Eastern)To register: http://www.1105info.com/uwfjggd_hyksdsy.html*******************************************************************************************Get tips and tricks for using Moodle in this free webinar sponsored by Moodlerooms. In this hour-long panel discussion moderated by Campus Technology Editor-in-Chief Katherine Grayson, experts will share best practices for instructional design in Moodle and key habits for rich online facilitation. Discussion highlights include:* Applying learning design to course activity sequences* Using digital repositories to store and share learning objects* The top 3 instructional best practices for maintaining an engaging environmentSpeakers * Bob McDonald, Manager of Sales and Client Relations, Moodlerooms* Peter Lamothe, Principal Consultant, Harvest Road* Stuart Sim, CTO and Chief Architect, Moodlerooms Moderator* Katherine Grayson, Editor-in-Chief, Campus Technology This webinar will feature an extended Q&A session. Take advantage of this opportunity to ask questions, share ideas and get feedback from our experts.To register:http://www.1105info.com/nnozbbo_hyksdsy.html

State Department using blog

Here's an interesting article in the Washington Post.
State Dept. Tries Blog Diplomacy
By Walter PincusMonday, November 19, 2007; Page A15
T he State Department, departing from traditional public diplomacy techniques, has what it calls a three-person, "digital outreach team" posting entries in Arabic on "influential" Arabic blogs to challenge misrepresentations of the United States and promote moderate views among Islamic youths in the hopes of steering them from terrorism.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/11/18/AR2007111801114.html?wpisrc=newsletter

The line betwen learning and entertainment

"Who is the judge of whether something a person is accessing via the Internet is being used solely for ENTERTAINMENT rather than for learning?"
This article discusses issues related to how the internet is being used. The Children’s Internet Protection Act” is discussed and questioned relative to how children respond to various internet sites.
The article can be found at:
http://www.speedofcreativity.org/2007/08/15/the-line-betwen-learning-and-entertainment/

Engaged Learning

Here is a website that discusses areas of engaged learning which includes visions for engaged learning and teacher and student roles for engaged learning. Its contents are
excerpted and summarized from an article entitled "Designing Learning and Technology for Educational Reform". I don't think that enough teachers are really looking at this concept of engaged learning. When students say that teachers are boring or that they (students) are not learning anything, it might be because this area of engaged learning is not being considered.

http://www.ncrel.org/sdrs/areas/issues/content/cntareas/math/ma2lindi.htm

Quest for the $100 UPC

Right in our neighborhood - Lemon Grove School District leading the way.

"Like bargain-hunters at a sale, ed-tech leaders came together to compare ultra-portable devices and talk about affordable one-to-one computing options during the webcast, titled "Ultra Light Portable Devices in K-12: The Quest for a $100 Device." Presenters discussed various options for ultra-portable computers (UPCs), and one district--California's Lemon Grove School District--described a successful UPC project. "

http://www.eschoolnews.com//news/showstoryts.cfm?ArticleID=7474

Something to think about - Out to DeBunk the Bunk”: Antiracist Teaching in the 1940s and Today

This is an excerpt from an article in TC Record - It is not related to any of our current topics - but it is really good food for thought for all of us in Education.

Today, teachers face the daunting task of reviving antiracist education for the twenty-first century. Like Alice Nirenberg, the teacher quoted at the beginning of this essay, teachers must seize hold of scientific knowledge on race and culture and make it their own. It is teachers, after all, who possess the specialized knowledge and training to translate complicated materials on race for young students. Ms. Nirenberg, for example, set anthropological facts on human race to the most popular song of 1943, a western swing song called “Pistol Packin’ Mama.” On a cold morning in December, her students lined up on stage and sang out:
Any one can notice
The color of a race
It’s easily detected
By looking at a face.
No matter if you happen to
Be white or brown or yellow,
Chemically your skin’s the same
As any other fellow—
So…
Lay that Pistol down, Babe
Lay that pistol down
Pistol packin’ mama
Lay that pistol down.
Whether or not this song conveyed the depth of anthropological knowledge on racial equality, the important thing is that it represented an ingenious approach to teaching racial equality in the classroom. As Ms. Nirenberg discovered, it is impossible to recognize the biological equality of human beings without considering the social inequality of so-called racial minorities in America. It is the process of inquiry and discovery that we need to revitalize if we are ever going to encourage a new generation of Americans to “DeBunk the Bunk.”

Out to DeBunk the Bunk”: Antiracist Teaching in the 1940s and Today
http://www.tcrecord.org/Content.asp?ContentID=14552

Creating a 21st Century Educational System

A new position paper highlights three educational technology advocacy groups' shared vision of a U.S. that prepares its students for success in the 21st century "digital world" through broad and intensive use of technology.
November 5, 2007—Three leading educational technology advocacy groups have banded together to release a position paper that makes an urgent case for why--and how--school leaders should integrate technology into instruction.
"How will we create the schools America needs to remain competitive? For more than a generation, the nation has engaged in a monumental effort to improve student achievement. We've made progress, but we're not even close to where we need to be," according to the paper, titled "Maximizing the Impact: Why Technology Must Play a Pivotal Role in 21st Century Education."
"It's time to focus on what students need to learn--and on how to create a 21st-century education system that delivers results. In a digital world, no organization can achieve results without incorporating technology into every aspect of its everyday practices. It's time for schools to maximize the impact of technology as well." Released Nov. 5, the paper is a joint project of the State Educational Technology Directors Association (SETDA), the International Society for Technology in Education (ISTE), and the Partnership for 21st Century Skills (P21).

The power of contribution.

Okay, so I don't mean this to turn into a political debate, but...

Check out http://www.ronpaul2008.com/

Notice the "real time" donation information provided on the main page.

Even if you don't know much about the candidate, isn't there something about this interface that makes you want to participate?

Though Paul's recent fundraising successes have been attributed to his ideas (particularly on immediate withdrawal from Iraq), the New York Times cited the interactive donation interface on his main page as a major factor in peoples' decision to give. Here's the quote:

Stirring the interest in contributing to the Paul campaign is an innovation on his Web site, a real-time display of the dollars and the names of donors as they roll in. By contrast, most campaigns conceal their fund-raising and time the release of financial information for political effect.

"What is new is how Paul's openness about his daily fund-raising data helped foster this surge," said Andrew Rasiej, a co-founder of TechPresident, a nonpartisan Web site that tracks the candidates' use of technology. "It fed a powerful user-driven feedback loop."

I also think his iphone interface is quite innovative:

http://www.ronpaul2008.com/iphone/


The reason I post this is to ask a question...

How does the novelty of the learning interface effect our interaction with it and our motivation to persist in using it?

Quinn writes about education and engagement. You have to admit that both of these tools, the interactive fundraising site and the iphone interface and that extra bit of engagement that makes you want to interact with the information.

-Brian

TED.com Ideas Worth Sharing

Hi All. Dr. Elisa Sabotini from USD turned me on to this great resource http://www.ted.com/ Check out Hans Rosling's New Insights on Poverty and Life Around the World (fits in with our talks on globalization) http://www.ted.com/index.php/talks/view/id/140

Future Tends Affecting Education

Here's an interesting and informative little report on Future Tends Affecting Education, written by Dixie Griffin Good, a Denver-based education consultant with a background in future studies, for the Education Commission of the States. From the Executive Summary, "Education is not an island; it is affected not only by what is happening in the field but also by what is happening in the rest of society — population changes, technological advances, economic ups and downs, political shifts and social transformations. This paper examines ongoing and emerging trends and explores how these trends may affect education in the United States over the next 20-30 years." http://www.ecs.org/clearinghouse/13/27/1327.htm

Teachnology

Here's a site that lists many web-based resources for teachers, The Online Teacher Resource. You'll have to put up with some annoying advertising, but there are many freebees to make it worth your time. http://www.teach-nology.com/ I was looking for science resources, check it out if you have some time http://www.teach-nology.com/subjects/science/

Technology Will Keep Us Going!

I posted this on the del.icio.us link.

This is just a not-so-gentle nudge about the importance of us continuing to develop our skills and vision -- and go out and impact the world in a positive way :) (Yes, I'm still in the real world, but I need some enthusiasm and motivation to finish this process right now!)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_VnHdqpE4RM&NR=1

Cheers!
Craigor

Can you read this?

Only great minds can read this



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