Innovations in classroom technology

Not bad in general …. surprised the content was still largely blogs, video, podcasts, social networks, voicethread etc. … was hoping for a little more evolved discussion on live video streaming, 3D virtual environments, mechanima as collaborative/mashable digital story telling platform etc.

Maybe next year.

Tools:

(1) Platform - Edusim (htp://edusim3d.com)

(2) Video Screen Capture - Jing (http://www.jingproject.com)

(3) File conversion (if not uploading straignt through Jing) - Zamzar (http://www.zamzar.com/)

(4) Video editing - Windows moviemaker or IMovie

(5) Video Sharing - [youtube.com] or [teachertube.com]

Machinima according to Wikipedia - Machinima (muh-sheen-eh-mah) is filmmaking within a real-time, 3-D virtual environment

What do a commercial for Toyota, TV programs such as CSI: New York and The Office, film festivals, and an organization that works with urban youth all have in common? They are at the forefront of machinima, a filmmaking genre that is helping to shape video for the 21st century. Machinima, a contraction of the words machine and cinema, is a genre of filmmaking that was originally created by gamers in the 1990s. Over the past decade, machinima has gone more mainstream, and creativity has entered a whole new dimension.

Schoollibraryjournal.com

Daniel Pink & Tom Friedman on Education in the ‘Flat World’

AASA Article

Pink: Great point. I think we need a lot more “yes, but” teaching. You’ve also made a very strong and compelling argument that what might be most important is learning how to learn. How can schools equip more kids with this capacity?

Friedman: Ultimately that almost becomes a psychologist’s question: How do you stimulate curiosity? I will learn how to learn if I’m curious.

Pink: But if there’s a curiosity deficit, that’s peculiar. Kids seem hardwired to explore and investigate. Something happens to them along the way.

Friedman: We beat it out of them.

Pink: When you say “we,” whom do you mean? Teachers? Principals? Parents?

Friedman: Well, the system. I don’t want to blame anyone. Because of the walls and the silos we’ve built in, to be curious that means you’ve got to cut across them. Curiosity is all horizontal, but specialties are vertical. And specialties protect themselves. So if I can’t move horizontally to take me where my curiosity is taking me, I have got a real problem.

….

Friedman: We could be doing better.

As you know, my equation is CQ + PQ > IQ. Curiosity Quotient plus Passion Quotient is more important than Intelligence Quotient.

Pink: Amen. You show me a curious, intrinsically motivated kid — and I’ll show you someone who’ll leave the kid who merely complies with the rules and studies for the SAT in the dust.

Read the rest here -

AASA Article

Quick Wiimote - Kindlelab - Edusim Demo (with Hardware)

If you havent seen the "Its not about the shoes" commercial its worth a look (Here - [www.youtube.com])

It also reminds me that interactive surfaces are "not about the hardware" (As Smartech's David Martin rightfully points out).

Touch based surface devices (Interactive Whiteboards or IWBs for those in the classroom) are in fact not about the hardware at all .. Johnny Lee proved the point with the $50 wiimote interactive whiteboard system…. Touch based interactive devices are about the software - not dragging a flat square across a flat screen.. but manipulating deep immersive 3D virtual objects. It is about the metaphore (As Smarttech's David Martin would say), it is about the software that encourages imagination, collaboration, and creativity.. Its about the kinetics, the movement, and the touch .. but most importantly it is about the software that encourages it.

Read more about touch based systems from computerworld.com in their article - Touch-screen tech comes of age

[edusim3d.com]

Its official (After months of blogging about it)

Minimum bid hit in FCC auction, triggering open access

Story at Cnet news

The reserve price on a valuable sliver of spectrum was reached in the Federal Communications Commission's 700MHz auction on Thursday, triggering rules that would make the spectrum accessible to any device or software application.

… the company that eventually wins the spectrum license will have to make their network open to any devices and applications, which is exactly what Google wanted from the beginning.

… In short - expect ALOT of low cost ultra mobile internet/cellular devices popping up (with Google Android on them no doubt). over the next 2-3 years

I moved the Edusim user and support group to Ning a few minutes ago

you can join via: [edusim.ning.com]

A wonderful podcast with CNI Podcast featuring Julian Lombardi - Duke VP & Head of the Croquet Consortium - discusses 3D virtual environments, opensource, & Croquet

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CNI Podcast Web Link

As you know I have been blogging about the 700 mhz auction for quite a long time … and now that the auction is FINALLY underway here is a great explenation as to why everyone should be equally excited:

Via popularmechanics.com

Why are all these companies so excited? Because the 60 MHz of spectrum that’s about to be auctioned is the last prime real estate for mobile communications that will be available in the U.S. for decades to come. And it lies in the 700-MHz band substantially below the 800- to 850-MHz and 1900-MHz frequencies already used for U.S. mobile phones. In this case lower is better since 700-MHz signals propagate better, spreading farther and penetrating buildings more easily than higher frequencies. This greater range means that each 700-MHz cellular antenna can service a larger footprint, which means fewer cells (those interlocking service areas that a “cellular” network is made up of) will be required overall. That should, theoretically, make it cheaper—$5 billion cheaper according to some estimates—to build a national wireless network.

Lowcost nationwide wireless network finally.