NYC Highschool Students Created This Video about Educational Access

This video was created by high school students who participated in a project on in the Teen side of Second Life--the film was created from scenarios presented in a virtual world, captured inside that world, then made into a movie (called machinima) and uploaded into YouTube. Not only are they are representing a big question -- educational access, they are engaged in that exploration through technology. And they will be entering higher ed.

Beyond Essays: Web 2.1 and the World of the Multimedia Collage"

Stephen Downes provides a summary of a presentation given at the Fusion 2008 conference this week.

http://halfanhour.blogspot.com/2008/07/beyond-essays-web-21-and-world-of.html

The presentation makes the point of how students are using digital tools whether we bring them into the classroom or not. He moves onto the incorporation of literacies he terms, "Digital, Art, Oral, Written."

He says that the instructor role is still "guide on the side" and "not techno-magician."
He says he goes into the classroom and asks, "Who is using X or Y?" and incorporates that learner knowledge into possible assignments.

I agree. I think the question is to find out who is using what, along w/ the questions, "Will and how will that help your learning in this class?"

Not to be overlooked is the example of multimedia collage created with a beta application called
Glogster. I had hoped to embed it here directly, but the code just won't work:
http://seanfitzgerald.wordpress.com/2008/07/24/glogster-faces-of-edupunk/

The Pulse Digital Pen--Take Notes, Record on Special Paper

Yesterday at Target I came across the Pulse pen by LiveScribe. Had heard something like this was coming and now it is here. The user takes notes on special paper and the pen records the audio as the user writes (I'm not sure if the audio has to be turned on in some way...). The user can listen to the audio at a later time by tapping on the specific text related to the audio segment.

The pen also syncs with a desktop. I've attached the video here.

http://www.livescribe.com/smartpen/index.html

The particular item brings to mind the articles these past few years about complaints that students were using computers to surf rather than pay attention in class?

Clips from the Aspen Institute Ideas Fest

The world known Aspen Ideas fest included Web2.0 coverage: Video widget, Twitter, Facebook.

Web: http://aspeninstitute.org
Twitter: http://twitter.com/aspeninstitute

And Yet Another Post About Gas and Class Deliveries

Not long ago, I included a link to an article about gas costs, challenges and solutions--today here's another one.

While the title mentions online courses, the real detail in the article is about how more groups might consider hybrid (or blended) deliveries, courses that are a mix of face-to-face and online meetings. Some instructors are already offering hybrid or blended instruction with Blackboard and Elluminate:

"High Gas Prices Fuel Boom in Online Classes"

If you have been thinking about these challenges as well, here are some links to resources that consider the instructional practices:

CMC's Bookmarked Resources for Hybrid Deliveries

Have some thoughts or resources you'd like to share? Please do!