Fantastic!
Thursday, 26 February 2009
Free images!
Flickr Commons is beginning to grow and could end up being a great educational resource. The number of partners is growing
Monday, 23 February 2009
Neurotic, paranoid, delusional? Not me...
A remarkably sad reflection of the level of anti-government paranoia that's rife in the US is the success of this hoax YouTube video which pretends to explain why it is that the government is so keen on everyone switching from analogue to digital television....
Sunday, 22 February 2009
Making music with obsolete technologies
Wire up a Sinclair Spectrum, a dot-matrix printer, an old cassette player to a bank of hard disc drives and what do you get? Well, bizarrely a YouTube sensation, it would seem. A student at Glasgow School of Art did it as a project for one of his courses and it spread and has now been applauded by the band whose music it plays - Radiohead. Weird it is, remember on playback it takes a while for those old Spectrum programs to upload so be patient...
Tuesday, 17 February 2009
What's up doc?
Medpedia has been launched ( a few hours ago, technically). It's aim is to become the ultimate free medical encyclopedia with contributions being made by appropriately qualified contributors. What's also interesting is that it is supported by a number of major medical schools and organisations. Will be interesting to see if it manages to keep pace with the hypochondriac demands of many internet users. Half my major conditions aren't even listed yet....
Blackboard Version 9 Now Available
Blackboard have released version 9 of their virtual learning environment. A product overview tour can be accessed at http://www.blackboard.com/release9/Insidehigered.com reports that Blackboard is billing the newest iteration as more open and flexible — allowing colleges to use the platform “as an open foundation for whatever complementary technologies they need to support their approach to teaching and learning.”
The new release will feature expanded Web 2.0 and “social learning” tools, such as blogs and journals, enhanced notification capabilities (i.e., “Your paper is due in four hours” – or four days), and a redesigned, customizable user interface.
Blackboard ships with SafeAssign plagiarism detection software bundled in, as opposed to it being available as an add-on. And it includes integrations to allow open-source course management systems — such as Sakai and Moodle, to which colleges have increasingly been gravitating — to be accessed within Blackboard.
Check out Keith Russell's blog review of Blackboard version 9 here.
Friday, 6 February 2009
Google Earth 5.0 lets you explore the oceans and Mars!
The new Google Earth 5.0 was launched earlier this week, with a number of new and exciting features.
As widely reported, it's now possible to dive under the ocean and access lots of information from the US Navy, National Geographic and various oceanographic institutes. Deep ocean explorer, and 2009 TED prize winner, Sylvia Earle talks about the possibilities in this YouTube video:
Another new feature is the possibility to explore Mars, using satellite imagery and 3-d visualisation. I'm really looking forward to exploring Martian volcanoes and craters with my 9-year old son.
My final recommendation: the google earth blog is a little nerdy, but makes for good reading if you're into it.
As widely reported, it's now possible to dive under the ocean and access lots of information from the US Navy, National Geographic and various oceanographic institutes. Deep ocean explorer, and 2009 TED prize winner, Sylvia Earle talks about the possibilities in this YouTube video:
Another new feature is the possibility to explore Mars, using satellite imagery and 3-d visualisation. I'm really looking forward to exploring Martian volcanoes and craters with my 9-year old son.
My final recommendation: the google earth blog is a little nerdy, but makes for good reading if you're into it.
Tuesday, 3 February 2009
Open Educational Repositories – Share, Improve, Reuse
The 2009 IntraLibrary Repository Conference will be held on 25-26 March 2009 in Edinburgh.
Abstracts are being accepted until this Friday, 6th February. The theme this year is on Open Educational Repositories, and papers are being sought in any of the following areas:
What does it mean to be “Open”? – How do you make the resources in your repository easily discoverable? This may be related to interfaces, or search tools, or awareness raising, links to other applications, or anything else that increases the exposure and use of resources in repositories.
Share, improve, reuse – Why do people use resources? What types of resource do they use? How easy do they find it to discover/adapt/reuse resources?
Evidence for sharing resources – Intrallect has recently completed a major project on behalf of JISC “Good intentions: improving the evidence base in support of sharing learning materials” which will be presented during the conference. Other presentations on the evidence for sharing are welcomed.
The registration deadline is 27th February. For more information contact events@intrallect.com
Abstracts are being accepted until this Friday, 6th February. The theme this year is on Open Educational Repositories, and papers are being sought in any of the following areas:
What does it mean to be “Open”? – How do you make the resources in your repository easily discoverable? This may be related to interfaces, or search tools, or awareness raising, links to other applications, or anything else that increases the exposure and use of resources in repositories.
Share, improve, reuse – Why do people use resources? What types of resource do they use? How easy do they find it to discover/adapt/reuse resources?
Evidence for sharing resources – Intrallect has recently completed a major project on behalf of JISC “Good intentions: improving the evidence base in support of sharing learning materials” which will be presented during the conference. Other presentations on the evidence for sharing are welcomed.
The registration deadline is 27th February. For more information contact events@intrallect.com
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