SplashCasts Educational Potential

What are SplashCasts?

Today TechCrunch published an article about the official launch of SplashCasts.  For those who haven’t heard of them before here is a little blurb from their main page.

SplashCast enables anyone to create streaming media ‘channels’ that
combine video, music, photos, narration, text and RSS feeds. These
user-generated channels can be played and easily syndicated on any web
site, blog, or social network page. When channel owners modify their
channel, their content is automatically updated across all the web
pages ‘tuned’ to that channel.

Educational Potential

My first question was how is this different than podcast’s or Windows Movie Maker.  In reality a user could create these multimedia presentation for quite some time, but the interface is much easier to navigate and
control.  Users also have the added bonus of using content that is
already hosted at places like Flickr and YouTube without downloading and copying the content.  That sure saves some time in the creation process.

With SplashCasts you are also basically creating your own channel.  Much like I wrote about yesterday, everyone can be famous; everyone can have their own channel.

Some ideas for education off the top of my head:

• Teacher records classes and has a channel students can go and watch anytime.
• Teacher creates classes online using video, audio, photo’s, text, whatever… a true MULTI-MEDIA presentation.
• Assign students to create their own SplashCast regarding a subject.
• Create a class SplashCast that everyone can add to and update.  It could be a great resource for other teacher’s as well.

What other applications in education can you think of?

Trial Run

I decided any review wouldn’t be totally complete without a test run.  I signed up (free) with relative ease (they did ask for my birthday, but promised it would be kept private) and signed in.  I must say I was pleasantly surprised at the ease of creating a presentation.  I created a couple using text, audio, video from YouTube and even a RSS feed presentation.  The flash interface was a little annoying to my ajax-centered (Gmail, Google Calendar, etc, etc.) life.  Overall though I give it 8 out of 10 stars. 

What has your experience been like?

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The Human ‘Education’ Network

Last week I was watching our awesome TarHeel’s play basketball and just about every other commercial break included a very thought provoking advertisement from Cisco about what they called “The Human Network.”  In doing some research I realized that they have had this little campaign going on since the end of last year, but I spend more time blogging than I do watching TV (and it wasn’t basketball season), so I missed it.  You can see the original commercial below and the newest commercial on Cisco’s main page. 

The new commercial (not the one above) begins with somebody video taping a young man dancing in his kitchen.  It then pans to about about a half dozen places all over the world where others are watching him dance on all sorts of devices.  The commercial ends with just two sentences:

Welcome to a network where anyone can be famous.  Welcome to the Human Network.

Power of the Net

Both of these videos got me thinking about the power of the net.  This is obviously not a new thought, but it really brought home to me.  The internet has already changed our lives.  There is no denying that.  But it also is going to has changed the way we consume information.  Up until this point in our lives we have depended on someone else to filter what information we get.  We watch, listen to, and even read what people tell us is important.  I’m pretty sure the boy dancing would not have made it on the nightly news, or even the Gong show for that matter.  But today you can find hundreds, of not thousands of videos of kids dancing at home on the net and some even rise to superstar status like “Evolution of Dance” (over 40 million views when I last looked). 

Effects on Education

We are living in a world where everyone can become famous.  As I poked around Cisco’s site a little more I found their home page for the Human Network.  On this page if you click on the left hand side under “Human Network Multimedia” you can find some Podcast’s.  The second one down is called “Changing Education: Beyond the Classroom.”  The podcast is about 10 minutes long but it talks about some new (Virtual Field Trips) and some not so new (Smart Classrooms) uses of the net in education.  I recommend it to those who have the time.

A teacher was asked how the internet was improving Education overall and she said:

For social studies it is making education real time.  Students can access databases, they can access newspapers, and access real-time information, so it’s what happened today, it’s what happened an hour ago.  They’re not depending on a textbook anymore.

Many of these kids are interacting with scientists and historians online, so it’s bringing the experts into the classroom.

So What Now?

There has been a discussion forming recently on the blogosphere about where the future is going to take us in education with the net and the absolute need for some sort of educational reform in response to this change.  Bloggers Will Richardson, Christopher Sessums, and Steve Hargadon recently wrote about the need to engage the political scene to make a change.

Politicians have always played a huge roll in educational reform.  But bloggers have started playing a large role  politics, albeit not so much in education so far.  But is there something we could do? 

I think at this point the biggest thing we need to do is recognize the change.  Information and the way we get information has changed, but not forever is people are allowed to mediate the content again.  Ideas like “Net Neutrality” could remove that ability forever. 

I don’t want to turn this entry, or this blog into a political blog, but I think we need to recognize the change.  There is so much potential in the web and using it as a platform for learning.  Education is about information, education is about collaboration, education is about communication, and there is nothing that makes it easier, current, relevant and prevelent than the internet.  As educators, we should embrace this change and use it to learn, grow and teach better.

Comments?  Thoughts?  Solutions?

So I am ending this blog entry with a plea for comments. 

• What do you think about the web as an educational platform? 
• Do you agree with my assessment of the way education has changed?
• What about the political change?  If you agree… how do we contribute?
• What other thoughts did you have while you read this?

I would love to hear your thoughts!

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Using Google Maps with Google Books to Augment Literature Study

Google Operating System, a blog I absolutely love, published an article today about a new(?) development on the Google Book Search that shows a contextual map of locations that are mentioned in a book. Fantastic idea for augmenting your literature study! They use “War and Peace” as an example of all the places mentioned in the book. Man I love Google!

UPDATE: (1/26/07 8:41 a.m.)
I didn’t realize how much Google Book Search really has. As I looked around I noticed a myriad of options there that would REALLY be useful in education. In addition to the cool map you get the following for selected works:

• A List of Editions
• References to Scholarly Work about the Book
• References to this Book in other Books
• Related Books
• Selected Pages from Editions
• Ability to Search for Specific Words or Phrases in the Book (Great for Research!)
• A List of Key Words and Phrases and Links to Those in the Book

WOW! This is amazing! I wish I would have had/used this resource when I was in Graduate School!

Technorati Tags: google book search, google

Do You Want to Remember EVERYTHING? (Memex)

“Memex” is a device that records everything to do… literally EVERYTHNG.  Video, audio, temperature, weather, what programs you are using on your computer… EVERYTHING.  It is a virtual memory of types. 

My Introduction to Memex

I first heard about this intriguing device about six months ago in a lecture given by John Oberlin (Associate Chancellor of Information Technology at UNC) specifically for our staff.  Today my ‘real’ memory was jogged by an article published on our University’s research site. Here is a picture of the device as it stands right now.

Potential and Pitfalls

When I first heard about this amazing device I was intrigued, but also a little scared.  To be able to go back and search through EVERYTHING that has happened in life could really be a useful tool.  I did however, ask about the ramifications of having EVERYTHING you said to everyone else recorded.  I know there are some things in my life I would rather not have remembered.

We are already often challenged with managing our “online identities.” Many people can not get jobs because of some of the silly things we did back in college that show up in search results or on social networking sites.  A variety of websites have popped up like claimID that provide tools for managing the positive things about us, and hopefully moving the negative things further down on the Google search results. 

Conclusion

I must say I am still intrigued about the whole “memex” idea… but a little wary.  What do you think?  There are obvious amazing uses for education.  For one, teachers won’t have to be trained to record themselves and post it online.  Each student could do that for themselves.  What other possibilities do you forsee?

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My Second Life

So about a month ago I decided I would check out the online world of Second Life for it’s educational possibilities I kept reading about. 

I logged in, created my own bald (looking only a few years in the future) avatar and started looking around.  I was, of course, overwhelmed with the many, many ‘adult’ centered nations, but was pleased to find EduNation.  I joined several Education centered groups and even went to a couple of online meetings.  I started forming some virtual relationships with some really awesome educators. 

Alas, work and other responsibilities called and I after about a week I returned to the ‘real’ world.  I have not been back since.  If I had a class I was teaching I might have some of my students meet there, or even look into using a classroom somewhere to teach a class as a test.  For now I have just chalked it up as information to be passed onto a teacher at some point in the future.

Future of Second Life

Last night, however, I came across an article on CNNMoney.com entitled “Second Life: It’s not a game” that really caught my attention… specifically one sentence.  In pointing out the economic potential of the ‘game’ for businesses David Kirkpatrick says:

“It’s the ability to use Second Life as a platform for a whole new Net – this one in 3-D and even more social than the original – with huge opportunities to sell products and services.”

Networking

This really got me thinking.  When I was in the game I really did form some real relationships with people.  Much like a chatroom I made contacts with people that were already using Second Life in the classroom.  I was once just sitting around in EduNation by myself and a lady flew in (yes, you can fly in Second Life) and started chatting with me about some of her research.  I left with some great links to some great research.  I was able to talk with other educators and bounce ideas off of them.  The people I talked to were not always the same as me either.  They were people teaching in high schools, small colleges, and more often than not, foreign countries.  They offered insights that neither I, nor my colleagues, could come up with by ourselves.  Now, all of this could be accomplished in an educational centered chat room, but somehow this was different. 

Personal Touch

There were several times when I met somebody and as I left they asked to be my friend (which was added to a list where we could track our Second Life online status).  I don’t know if it is just educators, but twice as I parted I was presented with a virtual gift (once a script and once some wings for wearing).  Now I realize that the gifts I was receiving were probably just second-hand gifts from somebody else, but it meant something to me… in my ‘real’ life.  I had a visual image of a person that was my friend.  My favorite gift was a script that allowed me to play paper/rock/scissors online and do backflips when I won.

I also remember once when I was talking with somebody and I had to talk with somebody in real life I asked the virtual person to wait a second.  A second turned into a minute and when I looked back at my screen her avatar was looking at her watch.  There is the added non-verbal communication of body language that adds to, and makes those relationships even more real. 

This morning I came in and was going through my daily reading list and saw an article printed in Campus Technology about a researcher at Harvard that is creating his own virtual space for students to come and explore the 1800’s in a real life, collaborating and social atmosphere. 

Conclusion

I still probably won’t make it back into Second Life anytime soon because I don’t have the real need right now.  If, however, Second Life actually turns into the new net, which I could really see, I will have to re-evaluate.  How was your Second Life experience? 

5 Good Developments for Education in Window’s Vista

This afternoon I went to a meeting of the techie minds here on campus to discuss the implementation of Vista. There were quite a few people that acted like the implementation of Vista was a terrible, but necessary evil. A lot of the discussion focused around the new Office 2007 suite. From a support standpoint I can see how this upgrade could be a nightmare. The changes in Office navigation are quite significant, especially for long time users of the suite, with little apparent added functionality.

On the other hand, I have been using Vista and the Office Suite for several months as my primary machine and have not had any significant problems. I left the meeting trying to reconcile my experience with what I had just witnessed. I decided I was going to look for what was different/good about the upgrade.

All I.T. people tell you Vista is more secure, and it does have a multitude of security features that make it more safe, but an every day educator cares more about it working and functioning that how safe it is. I decided to look at specifically at how the upgrade to Vista helps us out as educators? What specific traits does it have that would be make it advantageous for us to upgrade to Vista? What added functionality will help me educate better? Here is my list:

1. Organization
   There is no question that the biggest reason to upgrade has to be the added search capabilities. Since installing Vista on my machine I no longer use the cumbersome start menu to get to programs. I just click start and type in the program I want.
   Microsoft (taking a lesson from Google Desktop) has now created an indexed catalog of your computer so you have instant search results that include inside of documents. Great for finding that paper you wrote 5 years ago.
2. Instant Information
   Vista has a built in Gadget and Sidebar Engine that let’s you add little modules to your desktop with real-time updating information about ANYTHING. Time, Stocks, Calendar’s, anything! Yahoo and Google both have these already, but they take up a lot of resources and slow down your machine.In an awesome move Vista has added native RSS feed capabilities to Outlook and their integrated Gadget’s. As I discussed in an earlier post, this added feature is a must have for any educator who needs to keep up on current events and happenings!
3. Collaboration
   Collaboration is a must have as a good educator. As educators we often need to share files with students or colleagues as we work on programs. If we are not comfortable using an online program like Google Docs then Vista gives us the added capability of sharing a folder in public space.Vista has a new ‘Meeting Space‘ feature that allows users to create a space for up to 10 users to meet and collaborate in real time. I have not been able to test it out yet, but a software like this would be great for meeting with your class or between students working on a project.
4. Backup
   There are added protections to help you not lose data. You can read about them all here in detail, but my favorite is the windows backup and previous versions of documents that are available should you accidentally change something you didn’t mean to.
5. Multimedia
   Vista has added functionality to the photo manager, media player, movie maker and media center. As video becomes more and more prevalent in education, users will need ways to edit those easily.

This is just a short list of some of the improvements Microsoft has made to their windows platform. You can read a whole lot more on their Vista website if you have interest.

Disclaimer:
I realize that most of these additions are already available on through second hand software or on the Mac. (There has even been discussion about Microsoft just copying Mac’s.) That being said, there is something to be said about integrated technology. 90% of our campus used Windows, so it is going to happen.

Homework:
What other added functionality do you see as benefiting the academic community?

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Technorati Tags: microsoft vista, office 2007, microsoft education

Five Ways YOU Could Use Video in EDUCATION

Lifehack.org posted an article today in which they declared this year the year of the Internet Presidency (in light of all of the recent announcements from US candidates for president). They then went on to list five ways we could all take advantage of the internet video. Great article… highly recommend for promoting your thinking caps.

Joining in the spirit of the year I have put together a quick list of Five ways to use Video in EDUCATION this year!

• Record Class Presentations – Record classroom presentations. Your lectures will be a great resource for your students to look back on what was said in class. Make your lectures available to the students, but for heaven’s sake, don’t charge them for it. If you record student presentations keep those around (with the student’s permission of course) and show the best one’s to your students in coming years of what a presentation or project should be.
• Video Projects – Nothing motivates a student like using exciting technology to create something amazing! Let the students have the option of using that excitement in their projects for the class. You’ll be amazed how some of the students grab onto something like this. If they post them online they will also be able to share their work with family and friends.
• Instructional Video’s – Do you have a special topic you are teaching that would be useful to take a little field trip. Go out a day or two in advance and record an on site explanation of the topic. This will work great with science, history, archeology, and many other subjects.
• Video Blogs – Create a class blog and have your students record their reactions to literary or other assignments and post them on the blog. Give them specific assignments and have them post those on the blog.
• Use Online Video Already Available – There are massive amounts of video already available online in all sorts of topic areas. Utilize that video in your curriculum. It will increase the student’s retention of the subject and encourage them to seek out educational video’s as well. As more and more teachers get into making video’s there will also be more resources available.

These are just a couple of ideas, but there are surely dozens of other ways to use online video in the classroom. What other ideas do you have? Specifically, how can we, as educators, utilize the budding social ramifications of internet video in the classroom?

Where is Technology Going

I read today about the newest release of the Horizon Report and decided to take a quick look. For those who don’t know, the Horizon Report is released each ear by Educause and tries to pinpoint emerging technologies that are “likely to have a significant impact on higher education in the next one to five years.”

1. User-Created Content
2. Social Networking
3. Mobile Phones
4. Virtual Worlds
5. The New Scholarship and Emerging Forms of Publication
6. Massively Multiplayer Educational Gaming

If we look at the first three they are already very prolific here on the UNC campus. We have teachers using blogs and blogging more and more as part of the classroom and social networking and mobile phones are part of every students day. I have not had a chance to read the report in full, but I look forward to the ideas.

Update (1/23/06): Catherine Howell posted a post blog entry about the Horizion Report this morning and said that the report was not predicting the future, but actually referring to the past because some of these things have already been implemented in a lot of ways. I agree that may be true, but I think there is so much more we can do as well. Sure we have some blogs, but social networking has just been touched. Sure there are mobile phone audience response systems, but what else could we do? I believe we have just begun where we might go. If we look at this as the history we neglect potential development possibilities.

Blackboard’s Social Networking Site

I was just reading the Campus Technology News Update and a piece of news really got my attention.  Blackboard, which we use here on the UNC campus, is launching their own del.icio.us like social bookmarking site. 

This is really amazing.  I had a somewhat long conversation today with someone about commercial software uses in Education.  Yes, it costs money, unlike open-source solutions like Moodle, but you get great developments and a huge basis of users.  What do you think about this new development? Maybe I’m just excited about the integration with Blackboard.  Of course, I’m sure someone could probably write an open-source extension for Moodle that would link directly with del.icio.us…

Google… Please Create a To-Do List!

As most of you know… I love Google. I love almost everything about them. I have at least tried all of their products I can, and use G-mail, Google Calendar, Picasa Web Albums, Google Video, Google Reader, Google Notebook, Google Docs and Spreadsheets, and Google Maps at least a dozen times each day.

This year for Christmas several members of my family bought me Google shirts and other Google Store paraphernalia. I think I am safe in saying I am the biggest Google fan I know. Self-proclaimed as such, I have only one request for Google for 2007. It’s not huge…. in fact, I don’t even think it would be that hard. I want a to-do list.

Now I know this is on the radar. Back when I started using Google Calendar, as the responsible Google user that I am, I went to their suggestion site and tried to suggest a to-do list. They give you a list of categories to give to your suggestion and the very first one was a To-do list. I just added mine on there, but that was over 10 months ago (ages in Google time). They have launched over two dozen other things since then, but have yet to come up with some sort of to-do list. I have waited and waited…. and waited… but my life is falling apart.

My G-mail inbox will not work as a to-do list any longer. I have tried installing Greasemoney scripts, but I need repeating to-do lists that synchronized across computers so I don’t forget stuff. I tried using Remember the Milk and integrating it with my calendar, but that was only good for cluttering up my calendar with items that were difficult to mark off and slow to synchronize. I search for new solutions just about once a week and am currently trying to use the GTD extension written for Firefox, but I really just want another pane in a window like… shudder… Outlook. Dear Google, please don’t make me go back to Outlook. Please, please. Work your AJAX magic and make some sort of to-do list. Do something like the chat window currently in G-mail that I can open when I want… pop out if I want, and best of all, check off across multiple computers!!

I know you are busy, and all I really need is a simple synchronizing to-do list, but if you have time I have two more suggestions as to how you can make a great to-do list that others will love and adopt too! #1. Make it so I can have multiple lists. #2. Please let me share lists with others (so my wife can share lists with me).

Thank you for all you’ve done for me so far Google… please, though… if you could just make a great to-do list available somewhere.

Sincerely,

Lost in North Carolina

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