Sunday 27 November 2011
Educational Origami
Educational Origami is a blog and a wiki, about 21st Century Teaching and Learning.
This wiki is not just about the integration of technology into the classroom, though this is certainly a critical area, it is about shifting our educational paradigm. The world is not as simple as saying teachers are digital immigrants and students digital natives. In fact, we know that exposure to technology changes the brains of those exposed to it. The longer and stronger the exposure and the more intense the emotions the use of the technology or its content evokes, the more profound the change. This technology is increasingly ubiquitous. We have to change how we teach, how we assess, what we teach, when we teach it, where we are teaching it, and with what.
Its a tall order, but these are exciting times.
This wiki is not just about the integration of technology into the classroom, though this is certainly a critical area, it is about shifting our educational paradigm. The world is not as simple as saying teachers are digital immigrants and students digital natives. In fact, we know that exposure to technology changes the brains of those exposed to it. The longer and stronger the exposure and the more intense the emotions the use of the technology or its content evokes, the more profound the change. This technology is increasingly ubiquitous. We have to change how we teach, how we assess, what we teach, when we teach it, where we are teaching it, and with what.
Its a tall order, but these are exciting times.
Commoncraft
Fantastic short videos that explain and demonstrate 'how to': blog, search, create podcasts and much more. Required membership/sign up however evaluation videos are pretty good.... Commoncraft
Blippar
A fantastic concept... Augmented reality uses technology to bring objects to life. The potential within an educational context is limitless and i am currently trying to identify a partner/developers platform to explorer pedagogical potential. Currently used as a marketing tool and beats QR codes hands down.
Check it out for yourself... Blippar
Check it out for yourself... Blippar
thINKing canvas...
The thINKing Canvas is this mechanism and a media which allows groups to see big picture concepts, discover underlying issues or to uncover unseen opportunities once hidden because of traditional thinking processes. Visual strategic planning is the best and most powerful way to develop and create a shared understanding with in an organization or a team.
Information is beautiful
After receiving a copy of this book as a gift i decided to check out the website it essentially presents infomation in a visual way. Some interesting sets of data...
Wordle
Wordle is a toy for generating “word clouds” from text that you provide. The clouds give greater prominence to words that appear more frequently in the source text. You can tweak your clouds with different fonts, layouts, and color schemes. The images you create with Wordle are yours to use however you like. You can print them out, or save them to the Wordle gallery to share with your friends. WORDLE
I have used the textwall link to Wordle to analyse text responses to set questions.
I have used the textwall link to Wordle to analyse text responses to set questions.
Sunday 13 November 2011
Google Spreadsheet (Import Data)
A post from Dave Fords blog which I found particularly useful....
I have been using Google Docs for quite a few years now, and in particular Google spreadsheets.
One feature of Google spreadsheets is there is a function called ImportRange that allows you to pull data out of one sheet and into another. This can be really useful, if for example you have a spreadsheet that you are using to collaborate with others, and then somewhere along the line you want another person to be able to see some of the data in the sheet but not all of it. e.g. if you are using this to track student grades, you could have a master sheet that you and other tutors can see all of, you could then create a separate sheet for each student, and pull through only the data that refers to them (you then share that sheet with the student) and they have a live constantly updating record of what they have achieved etc.
Or you could have a mechanism where each subject tutor has their own spreadsheet to record class grades, then the course leader has another sheet which pulls all of this data into one place, so they can at any point in time see how the class is doing without having to ask tutors to email over their latest version of their standalone spreadsheet (which I see happening all to often).
I have been using Google Docs for quite a few years now, and in particular Google spreadsheets.
One feature of Google spreadsheets is there is a function called ImportRange that allows you to pull data out of one sheet and into another. This can be really useful, if for example you have a spreadsheet that you are using to collaborate with others, and then somewhere along the line you want another person to be able to see some of the data in the sheet but not all of it. e.g. if you are using this to track student grades, you could have a master sheet that you and other tutors can see all of, you could then create a separate sheet for each student, and pull through only the data that refers to them (you then share that sheet with the student) and they have a live constantly updating record of what they have achieved etc.
Or you could have a mechanism where each subject tutor has their own spreadsheet to record class grades, then the course leader has another sheet which pulls all of this data into one place, so they can at any point in time see how the class is doing without having to ask tutors to email over their latest version of their standalone spreadsheet (which I see happening all to often).
Saturday 12 November 2011
Doodle-bag
Develop enterprise skills and personalised projects by allowing individuals to create their http designs online which can be printed on a selected product. http://www.doodle-bag.com/
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