Rambling Reflections

Have you seen this?

Thanks to Allanah for alerting me to this

We were shown this at the Learning@School conference in Rotorua earlier this year. Thanks to Greg Carroll for finding it and sharing it on his blog. If you like Van Gogh’s paintings you will enjoy this video which was created in Second Life.

A Second Life Machinima by Robbie Dingo.
(Duration 4′17″)
“Frameless heads on nameless walls, with eyes that watch the world and can’t forget – like the strangers that you’ve met”. [Don McLean].
Ever looked at your favorite painting and wished you could wander inside, to look at it from different perspectives? Spend a single day in one of mine, from early sunrise on a new day, to dusk when lights come on in cosy homes; through a peaceful night, till morning.

This work is dedicated to the many weird and very wonderful strangers from around the globe I have met, but have never really met.
Higher quality version is available over at my blog. Search for ‘My Digital Double Robbie’ in Google.
For more info on how this was put together, please read http://nwn.blogs.com/nwn/2007/07/rema… over at New World Notes.

Here is another ‘Did You Know?’ video – Did You Wonder.

Download Video: Posted by ed4wb at TeacherTube.com.

This presentation about education and Global warming is by William Farren – an educator in the Dominican Republic. Interested in Global Cooling – Planning World Concerts, Creating World Change, Empowering Global Youth, then check out the Global Cooling Collective

Thanks to Clay Burell and sujokat for alerting me to this in their recent blog posts.

I chanced upon Lynn’s blog (Interactive Multimedia Technology) after reading her recent post on Classroom 2.0. This blog entry looked really interesting and after downloading the Unity Web Player and some waiting for things to download – thanks to a slow and on / off Internet connection! As Lynn comments in her post, I can see some possibilities for creative writing when using on an Interactive Whiteboard, which I’ll be able to do once school starts! Yes I have a data projector, new screen, ‘flash’ sound system and a Smartboard Pad all ready to go in February when school starts.

Unity Technologies (Unity3d) is the company behind multi-platform game development company that offers an on-line demo of a 3d tropical paradise environment. This large virtual world is complete with palm trees and grasses that move with the virtual breezes, birds who chirp as they fly over tree-tops, and an interesting terrain that includes mountains, walking paths, a river, brush, and the seashore. Access to Tropical Paradise is free, but the Unity Web Player is required, which can be downloaded from the Unity3d website.

As I explored Tropical Paradise, I noticed that it had a soothing, calming effect on me as a wandered about. It might be a good tool to use for children and teens who get anxious or stressed. It might also be soothing for young people who have autism spectrum disorders. If you work with young people with special needs or have problems with stress and anxiety, consider adding this resource to your toolbox. Try using it on an interactive whiteboard or display if you have the chance, and let me know what you think!

Online 3D Tropical Paradise

Unity Web Player download

Lynn goes on to say: The second demo might be good for students who are angry and need to let off some steam. In the Shadow and Light Interactive Room, you can drag and throw the furniture around, turn the lights on and off, and explore the rooms.

I couldn’t really get the second demo to work and became more frustrated with that fact and gathered steam rather than letting it off! However, the first demo is definitely worth having a look at. The web player (which you do need to download to see the 3D scenario) is available for Mac and Windows.

Finally, for those of you who enjoy creating games this site offers options for you:

If you are thinking about creating virtual worlds or interactive 3D games, Unity3D is an option. Unity is a multi-platform game development tool that provides an easy-to-use interface that provides a less complicated way to make 3D multi-user environments and interactive games that can be deployed, explored, or played on the web.

Thanks to Lynn V. Marentette for this link.

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I have read about this from several people but this post is via Derek Wenmoth

From its extraction through sale, use and disposal, all the stuff in our lives affects communities at home and abroad, yet most of this is hidden from view. The Story of Stuff is a 20-minute, fast-paced, fact-filled look at the underside of our production and consumption patterns. The Story of Stuff exposes the connections between a huge number of environmental and social issues, and calls us together to create a more sustainable and just world. It’ll teach you something, it’ll make you laugh, and it just may change the way you look at all the stuff in your life forever.

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From Bionic Teaching by Jim Coe comes this interesting link. Follow the link to the interesting illustration.

Alan Weisman’s new book entitled The World Without Us comes with an interesting illustration of how the world would react if humans suddenly disappeared. Could spark an interesting conversation about how our species impacts the world around us.

(via Yer Daily AWEsome)

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I stumbled upon this from Jay Cross, Informal Learning Blog, after following various links from a RSS feed.

You are as old as the sort of media you read.

Author Penelope Trunk writes, “If you want to know how old you really are, look at the media you use rather than the generation you were born into.”

Penelope’s blog offers a test to determine your media age. Try it if you dare. And then think about how you’re going to collaborate with newcomers with a younger media age.

Do you have your own web page? (1 point)
Have you made a web page for someone else? (2 points)
Do you IM your friends? (1 point)
Do you text your friends? (2 points)
Do you watch videos on YouTube? (1 point)
Do you remix video files from the Internet? (2 points)
Have you paid for and downloaded music from the Internet? (1 point)
Do you know where to download free (illegal) music from the Internet? (2 points)
Do you blog for professional reasons? (1 point)
Do you blog as a way to keep an online diary? (2 points)
Have you visited MySpace at least five times? (1 point)
Do you communicate with friends on Facebook? (2 points)
Do you use email to communicate with your parents? (1 point)
Did you text to communicate with your parents? (2 points)
Do you take photos with your phone? (1 point)
Do you share your photos from your phone with your friends? (2 points)

0-1 point – Baby Boomer
2-6 points – Generation Jones
6- 12 points – Generation X
12 or over – Generation Y

Well, I came out as Generation Y, how about you?

My power bill never seems to get any less even when I try to cut down on energy use. Yesterday I received a voucher to buy energy saving light bulbs at a cheaper price and intend to use it (even if the bulbs are ugly and stick out of various light shades) to see how much I can save.

Today I read this:BBC NEWS: Gadgets ‘threaten energy savings’

The growing popularity of hi-tech devices, such as flat-screen TVs and digital radios, threaten to undermine efforts to save energy, a report says. UK consumers spend £12bn a year on electronics, much of which is less efficient than older technology, a study by the Energy Saving Trust found. By 2020, the gadgets will account for about 45% of electricity used in UK households, the organisation projected. It said flat-screen TVs and digital radios were among the worst offenders. …. “The simple message to people is switch things off when you have finished using them,” urged Dr Owen.

The last sentence of the article is where I am guilty! How many others also leave things on standby? A headline listed in the sidebar stated “Teenagers are Standby Villians” but is this true. This article stated that almost a third of all electricity used in Scotland is wasted by gadgets left in standby mode.

In a time of ever growing gadgets I guess we must learn to switch off all electrical appliances at the wall not matter how convenient it is to leave them in stand by mode. On seconds thoughts, in order to save the planet, why don’t the manufacturers just leave out the standby mode feature?

I read about the Pew Internet Study on Adult Internet / ICT use from Christopher D. Sessums :: Weblog. Chris’s review makes interesting reading. You can read his post here.
Some interesting bits from the post are:

The study then goes on to categorize adult users of technology into 10 types (which often overlap) that represent the priorities and attitudes of how information and communication technologies (ICT) fit into one’s life.

The “Elite Tech Users” (31 percent of American adults surveyed) comprise the following categorizations:
Omnivore (8 percent) – typically under thirty, tech savvy users, who blog, text message, twitter, and stay connected almost always.
Connector (7 percent) – mostly thirtysomething females that stay connected to family, friends, and hobbies online. This group is also reported to be twice as likely to blog or own a web page than the average American.
Lackluster Veteran (8 percent) – typically a fortysomething male who has “been there, done that” and could care less about anything “2.0.” Their interests end at email, information gathering, and see computing as something they do at work, not at home.
Productivity Enhancer (8 percent) – typically fortysomething of either gender who like what the Internet and technology have to offer but won’t be found watching The Office on their mobile phone or laptop.

The “Middle-of-the-Road Users” comprising 20 percent of the adult population surveyed and includes:
Mobile Centric (10 percent) – typically a thirtysomething who would not be caught dead without their “cellie.” Pew noted a large share of African-Americans fitting into this category.
Connected but Hassled (10 percent) – these people could live without technology and find it an “intrusive” necessity. Typically found among women in their late forties who own mobile devices and digital cameras but do not swear by them.

Finally, the “Few Tech Assets” group (49 percent) comprise the majority of adults surveyed. They include the following categories:
Inexperienced Experimenter (8 percent) – typically a female fiftysomething with an above-average income, who has dabbled on message boards, downloading a tune, or sharing photos via email, but is not sure what to make of all of this.
Light but Satisfied (15 percent) – usually a fiftysomething female who discovered the Internet five years ago, who likes technology but would probably never consider dropping their landline telephone service.
Indifferent (11 percent) – typically a fortysomething male without high-speed access who rarely connects to others online, but might be more inclined to do so if he/she shelled out more ducats for broadband.
Off the Network (15 percent) – similar to the term “off the grid” this group, typically 65 and older, do not own a mobile phone or have Internet access but might own a computer or a digital camera (see my in-laws).

The Pew study based their findings from phone interviews with 4,001 adults, 18 and older, between February and April 2006. The results based on Internet users was based on a sampling of 2,822 adults with a margin of sampling error in plus or minus two percentage points.

Which one are you? I took the Pew Internet technology survey and it turns out I’m an Omnivore! It would be great to think that I fitted their profile but unfortunately the age range is way out!

Chris then goes on to ask:

What do these results suggest for educators?

For primary and secondary educators and administrators, these results suggest that you might consider a weekly weblog or listserv newsletter to keep parents apprised of classroom activities and events. Parental involvement is quite important to a strong school community. Empirical research clearly shows that “well-structured family participation in education enhances students’ academic success, improves school behavior, and reinforces strong regulatory skills and work orientation” (Chavkin, 2000; Moles, 1987; Baker, 1997; Morris and Taylor, 1998 as sited by LePage, Darling-Hammond, et al., 2005, p. 338).

These results also document why some educators take to the Internet, weblogs, and ICT in general, and others do not. As we’ve all known, you can’t force educators into the blogosphere even while many of us regularly profess its social, spiritual, and intellectual impact. I guess you can force educators onto the Web but it’s generally not advisable. In defense of a top down model of Web adoption, I have an initial gathering of evidence that shows how a number of educators were asked to participate in an online degree program (i.e., it was not the first choice), who joined reluctantly, and over time began to see the value of the coursework, the Internet, and its affordances. Clearly, people/educators need to see the social and content value associated with/through technology in order for it to be successfully adopted and integrated into one’s life.

You can read the actual article here http://www.pewinternet.org/pdfs/PIP_ICT_Typology.pdf or take the quiz here

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While catching up on my RSS feeds I came across this from Paul Wilkinson. He began by introducing this video with this

Maybe we should change the one laptop per child project to the one cell phone per child? Might get there faster!

But then added,

Actually Now that I’ve watched this twice. I’m not sure I’m convinced. I’ll have to muse on this a bit more but something just doesn’t sit right with me. What about you? What are your thoughts? Is this inevitable? Desirable? Missing something?

Now I’m not sure if I can embed a Teacher Tube video here, so here is the url anyway. I found a You Tube version on the T4-Pay attention website where there are also links to many of the ideas mentioned in the video and other useful resources.

I have only watched snippets of this as it is taking forever to load so I’m now downloading in the hope that I will to see it properly. From my few snippets it appears to be a Did You Know type scenario. I will add comments here after I’ve had a proper look.

It’s now well after midnight and I’ve watched the video without interruption and I really liked it. It certainly has a message but the message is aimed at those who aren’t integrating web2.0 tools and ideas into their current teaching and learning programmes. The author has made good use of quotes, thinking skills, etc to support the ideas presented. It’s certainly worth a look.

Whether it’s totally the way schools will go, I’m not sure. The whole acceptance of cellphones in a school setting is a debate in itself, let alone i-pods and the like. They bring with them further issues regarding appropriate use, care and security…. But it will happen especially in the forward thinking schools.

BTW Weley Fryer has a new post, Embrace the constructive uses of cell phones in the classroom for learning, which makes interesting reading. Here is a quote from his article,

 I can only wonder at how long or if ever school administrators will see teaching in the same light as Wes.

During my usual holiday cleanout I found a piece of paper with the following:

Are you

A spec-tater

A comment-tater

A dic-tater

An agi-tater

A hezzi-tater

An emma-tater

Or a Motivator?

This may be something to stick up on your staffroom wall.

Unfortunately I have no idea where I originally found this but I did find a link to Tater People where the above question probably began.

I found this post from Julie Lindsay, E-Learning Blog, interesting so thought I’d share it.

I wish to share this poem with you by Taylor Mali called ‘What Teachers Make‘. I first heard this last weekend at the ECIS IT conference when keynote speaker, Seth Ruef, recited it with permission.

You can watch it here at You Tube.