Here are a couple of useful links that I have come across recently.

1. Educause  - 7 things you should know - http://www.educause.edu/

There are two recent updates in this useful series. The first is collaborative learning spaces and the second infographics tools. We are seeing across education a shift towards learning happening not just in the classroom but beyond. Collaborative learning spaces are useful tools that allow a common point for the learners to link to.

• http://www.educause.edu/library/resources/7-things-you-should-know-about-collaborative-learning-spaces
• http://www.educause.edu/library/resources/7-things-you-should-know-about-infographic-creation-tools

2. The commoncraft show - http://www.commoncraft.com

This is one of my favourite sites and I am happy to pay the annual membership to get access to these resources. You can access this site for free and view the videos by going to http://www.commoncraft.com. There are three things that are worth highlighting on this site at the moment:

• http://www.commoncraft.com/blog  - this blog has a number of very useful tips and posts about constructing your own explanation videos – its good reading
• http://www.commoncraft.com/new-video-credit-card-responsibility-0 This is an appropriate video that would be useful in the social sciences and economics as well as at home. Credit card responcibility
• http://www.commoncraft.com/new-video-email-access-explained-common-craft This is in the tech series and is useful resource

3.  Robotics articles in the news

Robotics has recieved a little bit of press recently and here are some useful articles from my twitter feed (@achurches)

• When are we going to learn to trust robots - http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-21623892
• Robot warriors: Lethal machines coming of age - http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-21576376
• BigDog four-legged robot now sports throwing arm http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-21630212
• Police use drones to catch criminals - http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10868674

Here are a set of resources from Microsoft for working with Windows and MS office in the classroom. This is useful set of materials.

1. accessibility in the classroom - http://www.microsoft.com/education/en-us/teachers/guides/Pages/Accessibility.aspx
2. Mathematics 4.0 in the classroom _ http://www.microsoft.com/education/en-us/teachers/guides/Pages/Mathematics-guide.aspx – this includes a step by step guide, plus links to the download of the product as well
3. Bing (Microsofts search engine) in the classroom  - http://www.microsoft.com/education/en-us/teachers/guides/Pages/bing.aspx
4. Windows 7 in the classroom - http://www.microsoft.com/education/en-us/teachers/guides/Pages/windows-7.aspx this also has videos as well to help you out.
5. One note in the classroom - http://www.microsoft.com/education/en-us/teachers/guides/Pages/one-note.aspx again with videos to support the professional development.
6. Microsoft Office in the classroom - http://www.microsoft.com/education/en-us/teachers/guides/Pages/microsoft-office-system.aspx  - videos and other resources.
7. Digital Storytelling in the classroom - http://www.microsoft.com/education/en-us/teachers/guides/Pages/digital_storytelling.aspx
8. Free tools from Microsoft - http://www.microsoft.com/education/en-us/teachers/guides/Pages/free-tools.aspx – this is Autocollage, photo synth and Movie maker live
9. Product How to’s - http://www.microsoft.com/education/en-us/teachers/how-to/Pages/index.aspx
10. Microsoft Free Products - http://www.microsoft.com/education/en-us/teachers/Pages/free-products.aspx some interesting software here like the chemistry add in for word, the mathematics add in, flash cards, songsmith, Kodu game lab and more. Check out this as well - http://www.microsoft.com/education/en-us/faculty/Pages/free-software.aspx 
11. Templates - http://www.microsoft.com/education/en-us/teachers/Pages/templates.aspx This is an interesting set of templates, some of which are quite useful.
12. Critical thinking in the classroom - http://www.microsoft.com/education/en-us/teachers/guides/Pages/critical_thinking.aspx – This is an interesting one with set of lesson plans, students hand outs and teacher resources for:

• Searching
• Plagarism
• Citing web resources
• Validity and reliabilityt
• Civil Discourse

They call this the new wonders of the world but these are interesting and useful resources which give a 360 degree perspective on some of the fascinating places most of us will never visit. Check these out:

1. Colosseum - http://www.panoramas.dk/7-wonders/colosseum.html
2. The Great wall of China - http://www.panoramas.dk/7-wonders/great-wall.html
3. Petra - http://www.panoramas.dk/fullscreen2/full24.html
4. Taj Mahal - http://www.panoramas.dk/fullscreen/fullscreen23.html
5. Machu Picchu in Peru - http://www.panoramas.dk/fullscreen6/f2-machu-picchu.html
6. Christ the redeemer in Rio de Janeiro - http://www.panoramas.dk/fullscreen6/f40-rio-de-janeiro.html
7. Chichen Itza in Mexico - http://www.panoramas.dk/7-wonders/Chichen-Itza.html
8. There are more in the archive - http://www.panoramas.dk/archive.html

In this update there’s some excellent professional development and IT resources, stuff on QR codes and an interesting article or two from the BBC

1. Commoncraft video – Web Browsers – http://www.commoncraft.com/video/web-browsers This is another excellent product from the commoncraft show. This video looks at the basics and features of web browsers. A very useful tool for professional development and within IT courses. Consider becoming a member, its cost efficient and ethical.

2. Seven things you should know about projecting from mobile devices - http://www.educause.edu/ir/library/pdf/ELI7082.pdf This is another useful perspective from Educause. We have all seen the amazing growth in mobile devices, the ability illustrated by iPhones having applications like “keynote” which allows you to present from your iPhone or for the really game, edit and create your presentation. This is a useful view.

3. QRstuff http://www.qrstuff.com/ have you played with QR (Quick response) Codes? Increasingly we are seeing these versatile codes appearing everywhere. So much more than a barcode they can send you emails, text messages and much more. QRstuff is an easy to use site that allows you to create and generate QR codes. try this link:
4. BBC Future - http://www.bbc.com/future This is an interesting series of articles and columns that I have recently discovered while browsing around on the BBC site. Today’s article is an interesting one – Is email evil? http://www.bbc.com/future/story/20120328-is-email-evil

This is a site to book mark and visit often.

Project management is a topic that I teach in many of my classes. Whether its working as a member of a team or as an individual managing the project is a critical skill that the students need to develop.

If the students are working as an individual, I get them to use the waterfall or cascade method of project management. This is the classical cycle of:

1. Define the problem
2. Design a solution
3. Develop the solution
4. Debrief

When the students are working in groups a better approach is the agile project management method, where the tasks are clearly defined and of short duration, where there is regular feedback and updates. Explaining agile projects and the process to the students can be a little complex, but I have discovered a very good video resource that I use with them. When you look at the video you can also see how the core concepts of the Sprint – Defining the tasks and assigning the roles, the Daily stand up with its three core questions:

• What did you do yesterday
• What will you do today
• What are the obstacles or impediments preventing you progressing,

and the project review can fit very nicely into every day project based learning. We know from John Hattie’s Meta-research in Visible Learning that feedback has a huge impact on on the learning of our students.

Source: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OJflDE6OaSc – Agile, an Introduction.

This update is a mixed bag with some interesting stuff for the iPad, video resources (ideal for media studies and English teachers) and some good stuff for IT students (and teachers) for developing web pages.

1. Best ads http://www.bestadsontv.com/ This website hosts examples of the best advertisements from a variety of medias. The advertisements range from Television, to radio and print to outdoors. A good resource for teachers of English and Media studies.

2. Idea Wallet Apps – http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/ideawallets-remember-every/id364240349?mt=8# iPad applications This is a series of applications that are essentially thinking tools. The reviews are mixed as they are apparently buggy, but the developers are working on this. However they are free, clean and quite simple to use. Here are the three I am playing with:

• SWOT – http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/swot-by-ideawallets/id390703853?mt=8
• Brainstorming – http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/brainstorming-by-ideawallets/id385752154?mt=8
• Free thinking – http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/free-thinking-by-ideawallets/id385747141?mt=8

3. Veritasium http://www.veritasium.com/ (thanks @Simoncrook) Veritasium is a science blog that hosts some neat little science videos. This is a useful resource to troll through and find the videos for science classes. This is what they say about themselves : “Veritasium is a science video blog which aims to present topics in all areas of science from the simplest to the most complex. The goal is to make scientific ideas clear, accessible, and interesting. Veritas is Latin for truth, and the ending ‘ium’ makes it into an element – the element of truth.” Source: http://www.veritasium.com/p/about-veritasium.html They have their own YouTube channel as well – http://www.youtube.com/user/1veritasium

source: http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-HanXVwUBzxM/TV043W3AshI/AAAAAAAAACE/OKeOiw4KoU4/s1600/Veritasium2.jpg

4. Web Development resources – http://www.webdesignerdepot.com/2009/07/massive-compilation-of-designer-tools/ – these are some of the sites that I have cherry picked from the web designer depot post:

• CSS property index - http://www.blooberry.com/indexdot/css/propindex/all.htm
• CSS Shorthand guide – http://www.dustindiaz.com/css-shorthand/
• Colour scheme – http://www.dhtmlgoodies.com/scripts/color-schemer/color-schemer.html
• Adobe Kuler – http://kuler.adobe.com/#themes/rating?time=30

Source: http://www.spiderscribe.net/img/site/logo.png

Next an online mindmapping tool – http://www.spiderscribe.net/ I like mind mapping tools they are a great way to visualize the relationships within information. Here is another useful one that is worth examining and considering. The last word goes to this twitter info graphic – http://tctechcrunch2011.files.wordpress.com/2011/07/twitter_history_0410.jpg?w=640

This is an excellent video clip that explains the different elements of Creative Commons. One of the best parts of this is the author is a Kiwi.

http://youtu.be/AeTlXtEOplA

Produced by Creative Commons Aotearoa New Zealand with support from InternetNZ. To find out more about Creative Commons in New Zealand visit us at creativecommons.org.nz

These two videos are quite thought provoking in different ways.

The first is project based learning explained, by the common cvraft show – http://youtu.be/LMCZvGesRz8.

Isn’t this how we should be teaching?

The second is from TED - Mike Matas: A next-generation digital book – http://www.ted.com/talks/mike_matas.html

Traditional publishing company will need to adapt if they are to remain competitive and viable. What will this mean for education?

In this on the wire update I am looking at a couple of brilliant  resources for video.

1. Mediastorm – African Air – http://mediastorm.com/publication/african-air This is a seven minute mini documentary that looks at africa in its diversity from the air. the air part of this mostly from a powered paraglider. Its stunning and the mixture of still, moving images and interview show africa in its diversity and beauty. Its a great piece for stimulus material for humanities and the social sciences etc.

The other material produced by media storm is well worth looking at. There is a disclaimer weith this that some of the content is challenging and needs to be checked by the teacher prior to showing to students. The themes are very valid but orientated to an adult audience. - http://mediastorm.com/pub/projects

source: http://mediastorm.com/sites/default/themes/mediastorm/logo.png

2. Commoncraft Show – Computer Viruses and threats in plain english – http://www.commoncraft.com/virus-video Another paper styled video from Lee leFever and the crew at Commoncraft.  As their blurb suggests this video examines the threats to computer etc.

“This video explains computer viruses by comparing them to human viruses and focuses on the role of prevention in being protected.  Major points include:

• A basic look at computer viruses as computer programs that can spread like a disease and can be prevented by anti-virus software.
• An introduction to worms, how they cause damage in networks and can be prevented by software updates.
• An introduciton to trojans, how they trick people into downloading a virus and how awareness is important for prevention.”

Source: http://www.commoncraft.com/virus-video

3. Resources about Youtube – Youtube has announced that it has a creative commons licience for material hosted on the site. This is great news for many of our students who will download and reuse content frequently. So here are some resources to help understand this and also youtube itself

• Creative Commons and Youtube – https://creativecommons.org/tag/youtube
• Youtube key events timeline -http://www.youtube.com/t/press_timeline
• Youtube press kit videos – http://www.youtube.com/t/press_b_roll
• Youtube statistics - http://www.youtube.com/t/press_statistics

Consider these facts froim the Youtube statistics page

Traffic

• More than 13 million hours of video were uploaded during 2010, and 35 hours of video are uploaded every minute.
• The equivalent of 150,000+ full-length films in cinemas each week
• More video is uploaded to YouTube in 60 days than the 3 major US networks created in 60 years
• 70% of YouTube traffic comes from outside the US
• YouTube is localised in 25 countries across 43 languages
• YouTube’s demographic is broad: 18-54 years old
• YouTube reached over 700 billion playbacks in 2010

Have a look at CITIZENTUBE which is youtube’s news channel – http://www.citizentube.com/

I have been sent two article recently that have caught my attention. The first called Some startling statistics by Robyn Jackson – http://www.humorwriters.org/startlingstats.html looks at some statistics fro reading and they are worth considering:

• 1/3 of high school graduates never read another book for the rest of their lives.
  
• 42 percent of college graduates never read another book after college.
  
• 80 percent of U.S. families did not buy or read a book last year.
  
• 70 percent of U.S. adults have not been in a bookstore in the last five years.
  
• 57 percent of new books are not read to completion.
  
• 70 percent of books published do not earn back their advance.
  
• 70 percent of the books published do not make a profit.
  

(Source: Jerold Jenkins, www.JenkinsGroupInc.com) There are more check the rest of the article out – http://www.humorwriters.org/startlingstats.html

Many would ask what has caused this and I would suspect as probably most people would the availability and ease of access to other forms of media. In fact the article continues stating -

(Source: Veronis, Suhler & Associates investment banker)
This does not paint a pretty picture for the publishing industry and books. So what is going to happen.

Enter article number two This one from the Huffington Post discussing Al Gore’s App/Book on the ipad called Our Choice – http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/04/28/al-gore-our-choice-app-push-pop-press_n_854783.html

One of the opening comments in the article is “Al Gore’s ‘Our Choice’ App Reinvents Books, Reading” It does, seemlessly embedding text, imagery, video, interactive elements, audio into an ebook. I bought the book, not only because it is interesting, but also because this is a blue print of what books will be.

When we consider the traits we seen in the Millennial generation – preference for media, viewing images first then text, predominantly visual (this is a human trait rather than just a millennial one), liking non linear approach to reading and learning (hyperlinking), speed of access (and impatience) portability, and convergence of entertainment and learning. This style of publishing has obvious value and merit.

Al Gore\’s Our Choice Guided tour

Al Gore’s Our Choice Guided Tour from Push Pop Press on Vimeo.

In this update of on the wire we will look at the IAEA, some Biology, ITGS & Mathematics resources and more

1. IAEA International Atomic Energy Agency – http://www.iaea.org/ This is an interesting site at the best of times, but in light of the tragedy unfolding in Fukushima this site provides unbiased and accurate information. The daily updated blog does not just look at the Fuushima reactor complex rather examines and documents all of the reactors. An excellent valid information source.

2. Anatomy Arcade – http://www.anatomyarcade.com/ A games based learning site for anatomy. This site is useful for Science, Biology, health, and Physical education. Worth visiting to appraise.Games for skeletal, respiratory, muscular systems and more

source: http://www.anatomyarcade.com/images/AAheader.jpg

3. Super maths world http://www.supermathsworld.com/ This is a mathematics games based site that provides an engaging way of learning mathematics.

4. TeacherZone - http://teacher.tenmarks.com/ Mathematics video resources. This is a useful site that has over 1000 videos aimed at grades 3-10. Its free for teachers but does require a sign up. Also worth examining are:

• Mathtrain.TV – http://www.mathtrain.tv/
• Brightstorm – http://www.brightstorm.com/ (also science resources)
• MathTV – http://www.mathtv.com/videos_by_topic

5. Here’s to the crazy ones video – I love this its inspiring – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4oAB83Z1ydE&feature=player_embedded

and finally for the ITGS and IT students. This infographic about the size of files and storage. Useful for terminology