The E2BN Image Gallery is one part of the E2BN Digital Media Assets Resource Library which is an evolving resource for educators.
This resource is provided by Digital Media Assets with the aim of providing resources which 'can enrich teaching and learning, engaging students and providing opportunities for the creative use of ICT in lessons.'
The Image Gallery provides a range of good quality photos, organised by categories. Albums can be viewed as a slideshow and registered users can upload (and annotate) photos to albums. The site refers to a moderation component with 'some submissions subject to approval by E2BN Gallery Administrators.'
The database is searchable and all photos have 'been provided freely for Educational use only. They are NOT copyright free and users should read the conditions of use.
This resource is not in the league of Flickr, which is a fabulous resource and it has many third party tools which add to its value. The Creative Commons licensing option is great! However, access to Flickr is likely to be blocked in many schools.
The E2BN Digital Media Assets Resource Library is a developing resource with the addition of a video/audio gallery and a section on creating and editing digital assets and useful links.
Friday, March 30, 2007
Tuesday, March 20, 2007
Explore the potential
Scratch, JotForm and Many Eyes all look quite promising for educators to explore.
Scratch (imagine, program share) is a free download (Windows or Mac) of a new programming language designed to appeal to young people, to enhance their creativity, design and technological fluency.
It has been developed by the Lifelong Kindergarten group at the MIT Media Lab.
The program makes it 'easy for young people to create interactive stories, animations, games, music and art.' The website provides tutorials on creating, learning and programming with Scratch and the opportunity to share projects.
JotForm is an intuitive, easy to use, web-based WYSIWYG form builder. Outputs can be collected in a spreadsheet. Limits on the free version include 100 e-mails per day & file uploads limited to 10 MBs per account.
Many Eyes! is an amazing data visualization tool. Check the website for a wide range of examples and interact with the data. Many Eyes! claims to be able to 'harness the collective intelligence of the net for insight and analysis.'
Scratch (imagine, program share) is a free download (Windows or Mac) of a new programming language designed to appeal to young people, to enhance their creativity, design and technological fluency.
It has been developed by the Lifelong Kindergarten group at the MIT Media Lab.
The program makes it 'easy for young people to create interactive stories, animations, games, music and art.' The website provides tutorials on creating, learning and programming with Scratch and the opportunity to share projects.
JotForm is an intuitive, easy to use, web-based WYSIWYG form builder. Outputs can be collected in a spreadsheet. Limits on the free version include 100 e-mails per day & file uploads limited to 10 MBs per account.
Many Eyes! is an amazing data visualization tool. Check the website for a wide range of examples and interact with the data. Many Eyes! claims to be able to 'harness the collective intelligence of the net for insight and analysis.'
Merging Flickr and Yahoo! ID
A quick check of my blog tonight and I noticed my SouthOz Flickr badge was empty! Over to my Flickr page and I was greeted with the message below.
"On March 20th, 2007 we'll be discontinuing the old email-based Flickr sign in system. From that point on, everyone will have to use a Yahoo! ID to sign in to Flickr."
Apparently there are some big changes in the wind which have necessitated the merging of my Flickr and Yahoo! IDs before being able to 'continue using your account.'
Flickr is such a fantastic service, I can't complain about the merging process and new sign-on process but Yahoo! does require more personal details than many other web services!
Now my Flickr badge is back on track!
Have you checked your Flickr account lately?
"On March 20th, 2007 we'll be discontinuing the old email-based Flickr sign in system. From that point on, everyone will have to use a Yahoo! ID to sign in to Flickr."
Apparently there are some big changes in the wind which have necessitated the merging of my Flickr and Yahoo! IDs before being able to 'continue using your account.'
Flickr is such a fantastic service, I can't complain about the merging process and new sign-on process but Yahoo! does require more personal details than many other web services!
Now my Flickr badge is back on track!
Have you checked your Flickr account lately?
Sunday, March 11, 2007
SXSW 2007: (Under 18s)
Internet safety and teen social behaviour based around social networking continues to be a hot topic. A recent SXSW 2007 panel presentation is especially timely with increased Australian media interest in Web2.0 tools, in particular You Tube and My Space, with local, high profile stories involving teenagers, bullying, errors of judgement and worse.
These stories present largely negative aspects of internet use and feed an ever increasing risk averse attitude banning school access to a range of Web2.0 sites. This has at least served to raise awareness about social networking services amongst less internet savvy parents and educators and presented opportunities for discussion and exploration of the issues.
Sean Ammirati provides a rundown on a panel presentation at the2007 SXSW interactive in Austin, Texas on the Read Write Web: SXSW: Under 18 Blogs, Wikis & Social Networks. This highlighted Danah Boyd's contextual information about the changing lives of young people in the digital age and the question, "What is the reality when it comes to dangers for young people online?"
She explained the background to the concept of 'Age Segregation' for teens, (14 - 17 years old) where 'society creates separate activities for teenagers...' and the only difference in the age of the internet and social networking tools is that 'in the last few years they have begun doing it online.' And in a big way!
Danah Boyd highlighted four points in her panel presentation that educators could make use of in those 'teachable moments' when discussing issues such as those raised in the media.
These are:
(1) Persistence - ... longevity of online comments (2) Searchability (3) Replicability - ... eg IM conversations in other places ... and (4) Invisible Audiences.
Those 'teachable moments' rely on teachers themselves being fully aware of the issues and grasping opportunities to increase the information literacies of young people growing up in an always on, connected world. Those opportunities are sorely restricted where extreme filtering prevents access for teachers and students.
As I write this, I have just seen that Graham Wegner, Teaching Generation Z, has added his views on 'online presence' and internet safety in an extensive post about Identity/you/me/them/us on his blog.
".... I reckon educators need to be having open, awareness raising conversations with their students and logically covering all of the bases that assist these kids to be safe, ethical and in control."
He has put out an open invitation to anyone interested in collaborating on development of support resources aimed at middle school. Count me in, Graham.
In an era when schools are expected to add road safety, education about drugs, health, fitness, nutrition and obesity, sex education, financial literacy and more to the curriculum, Graham's suggestions make sense for 21st century learning environments.
These stories present largely negative aspects of internet use and feed an ever increasing risk averse attitude banning school access to a range of Web2.0 sites. This has at least served to raise awareness about social networking services amongst less internet savvy parents and educators and presented opportunities for discussion and exploration of the issues.
Sean Ammirati provides a rundown on a panel presentation at the2007 SXSW interactive in Austin, Texas on the Read Write Web: SXSW: Under 18 Blogs, Wikis & Social Networks. This highlighted Danah Boyd's contextual information about the changing lives of young people in the digital age and the question, "What is the reality when it comes to dangers for young people online?"
She explained the background to the concept of 'Age Segregation' for teens, (14 - 17 years old) where 'society creates separate activities for teenagers...' and the only difference in the age of the internet and social networking tools is that 'in the last few years they have begun doing it online.' And in a big way!
Danah Boyd highlighted four points in her panel presentation that educators could make use of in those 'teachable moments' when discussing issues such as those raised in the media.
These are:
(1) Persistence - ... longevity of online comments (2) Searchability (3) Replicability - ... eg IM conversations in other places ... and (4) Invisible Audiences.
Those 'teachable moments' rely on teachers themselves being fully aware of the issues and grasping opportunities to increase the information literacies of young people growing up in an always on, connected world. Those opportunities are sorely restricted where extreme filtering prevents access for teachers and students.
As I write this, I have just seen that Graham Wegner, Teaching Generation Z, has added his views on 'online presence' and internet safety in an extensive post about Identity/you/me/them/us on his blog.
".... I reckon educators need to be having open, awareness raising conversations with their students and logically covering all of the bases that assist these kids to be safe, ethical and in control."
He has put out an open invitation to anyone interested in collaborating on development of support resources aimed at middle school. Count me in, Graham.
In an era when schools are expected to add road safety, education about drugs, health, fitness, nutrition and obesity, sex education, financial literacy and more to the curriculum, Graham's suggestions make sense for 21st century learning environments.
Wednesday, February 28, 2007
Best of Web2.0 (2006)
Dion Hinchliffe's "The Best of Web2.0 software (2006) " a sequel to his enormously popular "best of ... in 2005" has already been viewed over 17,000 times.
Dion rates 2006 as "one of the most remarkable growth surges in Web application history."
Winners (and runners up) in many categories would probably bring no arguments (eg. MySpace in Social Networks, YouTube in Social Media Sharing and Zoho Office2.0 suite in this category.
However, I was very surprised to see him rate StumbleUpon ahead of del.icio.us in social bookmarking. I rate Pageflakes just ahead of Netvibes in personal start pages with YourMinis (recently relaunched as reviewed by Techcrunch) a definite watch in this space.
Dion predicts a bright future for mashups in 2007 and this is an area I intend to explore further and all things Ajax in 2007.
Meanwhile, Flickr goes from strength to strength.
Dion's article highlights the growing number of quality web apps in many Web2.0 categories and the huge growth in interest and adoption of these (largely free) tools which are changing the ways we operate, communicate, collaborate, relate ...
And how much of this is evident in education, particularly the schools sector?
"We have begun moving all our software, data, and even our social activities onto the Web en masse and the demand for high-quality online sites and applications that support this shift in primary focus from the PC to the Internet." (Dion Hinchliffe)
Dion's excellent Web2.0 Journal along with Techcrunch, Programmable Web (mashups), Shambles in S.E. Asia Web2.0 and eHub, are favourite sources of up to date information, views and reviews.
Dion rates 2006 as "one of the most remarkable growth surges in Web application history."
Winners (and runners up) in many categories would probably bring no arguments (eg. MySpace in Social Networks, YouTube in Social Media Sharing and Zoho Office2.0 suite in this category.
However, I was very surprised to see him rate StumbleUpon ahead of del.icio.us in social bookmarking. I rate Pageflakes just ahead of Netvibes in personal start pages with YourMinis (recently relaunched as reviewed by Techcrunch) a definite watch in this space.
Dion predicts a bright future for mashups in 2007 and this is an area I intend to explore further and all things Ajax in 2007.
Meanwhile, Flickr goes from strength to strength.
Dion's article highlights the growing number of quality web apps in many Web2.0 categories and the huge growth in interest and adoption of these (largely free) tools which are changing the ways we operate, communicate, collaborate, relate ...
And how much of this is evident in education, particularly the schools sector?
"We have begun moving all our software, data, and even our social activities onto the Web en masse and the demand for high-quality online sites and applications that support this shift in primary focus from the PC to the Internet." (Dion Hinchliffe)
Dion's excellent Web2.0 Journal along with Techcrunch, Programmable Web (mashups), Shambles in S.E. Asia Web2.0 and eHub, are favourite sources of up to date information, views and reviews.
Monday, February 19, 2007
Cool Tools to explore
So many cool tools to explore with potential for use by educators (for professional learning and classroom) and students!
Tiny Map provides a simple web app based on Googlemaps, waypoints and embedded notes to quickly create a map and unique URL/code for each map. The example here represents Victoria Square, the centre of the city of Adelaide, South Australia.
Other tools with potential include: Woophy (not in the Flickr league (a favourite) but an interesting map-based interface, themed photo contest and ratings);
Yahoo! Pipes (create data mashups and remix popular feed types); Sketchr (Draw, save and share your online art); Yugma (free web conferencing service); Flash Earth; Basecamp (project management); Leafletter (mini website); Letterpop; Mapwing – virtual tours; Scrapblogs; Many Eyes (data visualisation) and more, including a variety of mashups, audio and geospatial tools.
The open source authoring tool, eXe , particularly the 0.20.2 (ready to run version) is very promising. It includes i-devices and pedagogical tips and facilitates re-mixing content, including Media Wiki content. eXe is an e-learning tool that provides professional web-publishing capabilities that can be easily referenced or imported by learning management systems. I use Moodle. Content can be exported, including SCORM objects. Forum activity suggests an increasing user base.
Any comments or examples from educators using any of these (or similar) tools?
Tiny Map provides a simple web app based on Googlemaps, waypoints and embedded notes to quickly create a map and unique URL/code for each map. The example here represents Victoria Square, the centre of the city of Adelaide, South Australia.
Other tools with potential include: Woophy (not in the Flickr league (a favourite) but an interesting map-based interface, themed photo contest and ratings);
Yahoo! Pipes (create data mashups and remix popular feed types); Sketchr (Draw, save and share your online art); Yugma (free web conferencing service); Flash Earth; Basecamp (project management); Leafletter (mini website); Letterpop; Mapwing – virtual tours; Scrapblogs; Many Eyes (data visualisation) and more, including a variety of mashups, audio and geospatial tools.
The open source authoring tool, eXe , particularly the 0.20.2 (ready to run version) is very promising. It includes i-devices and pedagogical tips and facilitates re-mixing content, including Media Wiki content. eXe is an e-learning tool that provides professional web-publishing capabilities that can be easily referenced or imported by learning management systems. I use Moodle. Content can be exported, including SCORM objects. Forum activity suggests an increasing user base.
Any comments or examples from educators using any of these (or similar) tools?
Thursday, January 11, 2007
Visualising the Journey
A colleague, Ian, is utilising the nifty features now available in more and more sites integrating Web2.0 functionality to share his cycling exploits on his Riding the Trail blog.
Ian's latest post, 'Record your rides with Bikely!' provides an example whereby cyclists can share knowledge about their favourite bicycle routes using Bikely. Check out his latest journey from Adelaide to Goolwa in South Australia, enhanced by the visualisation and interactivity afforded by GoogleMaps.
I too, look forward to further enhancements in sharing the knowledge with the ability to add geocoded photos (eg from Flickr) to the trail. This has been promised in the next version of Bikely.
Timely, in view of the fabulous Tour Down Under about to begin in SouthOz next week!
Ian's latest post, 'Record your rides with Bikely!' provides an example whereby cyclists can share knowledge about their favourite bicycle routes using Bikely. Check out his latest journey from Adelaide to Goolwa in South Australia, enhanced by the visualisation and interactivity afforded by GoogleMaps.
I too, look forward to further enhancements in sharing the knowledge with the ability to add geocoded photos (eg from Flickr) to the trail. This has been promised in the next version of Bikely.
Timely, in view of the fabulous Tour Down Under about to begin in SouthOz next week!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
