Wednesday, October 15, 2008

Diigo Tags 10/15/2008

Tuesday, October 14, 2008

Virtual Worlds and Social Networks at HandHeld Learning2008

An interesting panel discussion involving danah boyd, Ian Hughes, Dave Taylor, Kurt Squire, Kathy Trinder, Ron Edwards and a representative of Disney online (Club Penguin)-followed presentations by 5 of the group which ranged from the 'soft sell' of Disney's virtual worlds ( not really doing a whole lot to break down gender issues with Disney Fairies which is highly unlikely to attract many boys....!)through to Dave Taylor using the Virtual World training doctors in safe simulated environments and Ian Hughes from IBM and Ron Edwards ( Ambient Learning) with their recreations of ' realworld' spaces for work based training and work with hard to reach disaffected kids.
The discussion developed from the initial issues around access to some of this technology in a school setting and moved more interestingly into the field of how we can use these spaces in new and novel ways.....getting away from as Ron Edwards would say 'the sage on the stage'. I have attended 'in world' presentations of this kind, and while for me this feels comfortable ( back to lectures with good visuals) and the chance to interact with colleagues many miles away, this style of experience will need to change for the 21st Century.
I was pleased when Ron, Ian and Dave Taylor showcased how we can use the 3d nature of the environment to model 'realworld' situations.
Ron showed how in his examples from Ambient showcased their in world peer mentoring within a safe and secure area and also the fusion of mobile phone and virtual world with the Virtual Worlds London project. Ian took us into the work that IBM took us into the world of 'inworld' staff training and also IBM's virtual Forbidden City. Dave showed us a little of the work that he has done with SciLands in Second Life......
All excellent stuff, tomorrow my main focus will be looking at affordable implementation and sustainable development of mobile technology with the Sottish LTS group including Ian Stuart from Islay.

Diigo Tags 10/14/2008

Monday, October 13, 2008

Pecha Kucha at HandHeld Learning 2008


Dan Sutch from Futurelabs concluded an excellent show and tell (Pecha Kucha) session at HHL by encouraging all educators to get involved in the discussion and discussion on the way education should be preparing for 2025..... how will education look in 2025.....will or should institutions such as schools still exist in 2025..... help Futurelab out by joining the debate here. Also follow their blog. Handheld Learning08.

HandHeld Learning Conference 08 Day 1


The Opening session at this year's Handheld Learning conference at The Brewery deep in the heart of The Barbican was hosted by Andy Black from Becta. Andy had assembled a group of teachers who have achieved some extraordinary results from bringing technology into their classrooms. Most importantly using technology as 'an enabler' to achieve a teaching goal - the classroom is not tech driven but the tech is curriculum driven. Above is Nic Hughes from Nightingale Primary School, who introduced the Robosapien as a means of teaching control. Andrew Davis from Clunbury Primary School also showed actual work with 'real' children. We also heard about the Learning2go handheld project from Wolverhampton. There were other presenters in the session all excellent in their own right which certainly started the conference well...... this afternoon Pecha Kucha session on emerging technologies.

Sunday, October 12, 2008

Diigo Tags 10/12/2008

Saturday, October 11, 2008

Diigo Tags 10/11/2008

  • Welcome to The Forbidden City: Beyond Space and Time. This website provides you with access to an immersive 3-dimensional virtual world where you can celebrate and explore aspects of Chinese culture and history.

    tags: virtualworld

Friday, October 03, 2008

Diigo Tags 10/03/2008

  • Yoram is currently the Director of the Mandel School for Educational Leadership in Jerusalem, Israel. From 1994 to 2002 he was at the Branco Weiss Institute for the Development of Thinking in Jerusalem; Director of the "Intel-Lect Schools" Project, Director of the Institute's theoretical publications and a post-doctoral fellowship program for teacher trainers. Concurrently he was editor of the Institute's journal, “Educating Thinking”, author of the Position Papers of the Institute and presented at the international conferences of The Association of Education for Thinking in USA, Canada and UK.

    tags: thinking skills

Wednesday, October 01, 2008

Diigo Tags 10/01/2008

A dear friend

It seems very apt to be writing this blog post in tribute to a dear, dear friend. The world has lost a true global educational  IT innovator...