Yearly Archives: 2008

Flickr Commons

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Flickr Commons has been set up so that the general public located anywhere in the world can view and access photographic archives from public places such as the Australian War Memorial, Library of Congress, the State Library of New South Wales and the Smithsonian to name a few.

As well as wanting to share access to these collections with the general public, Flickr Commons is asking people to add tags and comments so that information and knowledge is shared as well.

Nice idea Flickr and great to see several Australian institutions on board already. What a great way to start a unit on War in Australian history by using the photographs from the collection of the Australian War Memorial. Nothing better than having a visualisation of the conditions and locations where wars were fought.

Keepaboo

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Keepaboo makes capturing memories of your children easy. This Web 2.0 tool lets you ‘collect and preserve your child’s precious memories, view your child’s life in colorful (sic) online 3D books, and share with your family and friends.’

Keepaboo homepage
Keepaboo homepage
Keepaboo’s homepage says that you can ‘keep a diary, record milestones, track growth, add pictures and save quotes.’ The ability to share with selected family and friends is a wonderful way to share milestones, especially if there is a geographical distance between the child and extended family and friends.
There is a sample Keepaboo book shows what can be created; go to ‘view sample book’ on the homepage. Also, check out the Keepaboo FAQs.

Happy holidays

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Well we’ve all made it through a long term 4! Well done to everyone on another year of hard work and making a positive difference to the lives of our students (and teachers). On behalf of SLAV, wishing you all a safe and happy Christmas and New Year.

There will be one post a week for the 5 week break for Victorian schools, then back to regular posts once school goes back on 28th January. All the best for a relaxing and restful break.

ToonDoo

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ToonDoo is another social networking/comic strip creator that has relevance to education but is also a lot of fun!

The best part about it is that the ‘toons’ use just one, two or three frames. Such a short toon means that students must really think about how to get their message across in three ideas. Applications for ToonDoo could include:

  • Book reviews
  • Demonstrating understanding of a historical event by using three key ideas
  • Writing Haiku poetry

And as users can select from multiple languages, there are endless uses for LOTE classes.

ToonDoo also have their own blog that gives examples of educational uses of ToonDoo. One example is to learn a new word each day and make a one frame toon that shows understanding. A great tool for literacy.

For teachers and parents worried about the content of the site, there is a ‘safe search filter’ which edits out any toons that have been flagged as inappropriate by other users. And toons and books do not have to be shared with other users if you prefer students to keep them private or share with friends only.

It is also simple to embed toons into blogs by simply clicking on the toon and dragging it into the blog. You can also save your toon to your computer and then copy it into Word, PowerPoint, etc.

ToonDoo also has ‘books’ where comics that are longer than three frames can be created. Books are perfect for story writing or longer presentations such as planets in the solar system.

ToonDoo has a range of images, props, backgrounds and effects that you can select from or you can upload your own pictures to incorporate into the toon or book.

ToonDoo also has a help wiki linked to its site and you can add features that you’d like to see on ToonDoo to their wishlist. If you would like to see how ToonDoo works, access this slideshare presentation which outlines the steps.

Have a look at this toon I created in about 5 minutes:

ToonDoo has a lot to offer educators and students. The use of the three frame toon means that students really need to identify the three most important points of any idea they are addressing. An excellent tool!

Totlol

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Just in time for the holidays, but with educational applications too, comes the fabulous Web 2.0 resource Totlol.

Labelled YouTube for toddlers, Totlol uses videos from YouTube that have been selected by parents/educators as appropriate for children aged 6 months to grade school (primary school). Videos are then placed in a queue to be moderated by other Totlol members before they are uploaded and available for public viewing.

Parents or teachers that are still concerned about the possibility of inappropriate content can set filters, parent locks and timers (so that children do not watch videos for too long).

As with sites like Hakia, Totlol’s viability really depends on the community helping to build it by recommending videos to be added to the site. Totlol is a brilliant idea as there are so many useful and educational videos on YouTube, but YouTube users are meant to be aged 13 and up. Parents/educators worried abour questionable videos available on YouTube can now breathe a sigh of relief!

Thanks to Gerald Brown via IASL listserv for the heads up on this great resource.

Scrapblog

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This is one for the holidays. Scrapblog is an online scrapbooking tool that lets you ‘create stunning multimedia scrapbooks. Share them online with family and friends and print them.’

Scrapblog homepage

Scrapblog homepage

Here is an example of what can be created. The rest is up to your imagination!

Great example of a Scrapblog

Great example of a Scrapblog

Please consider sharing your Scrapblog if you find the time to complete one over the holidays.

Comiqs

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Students are just going to love this Web 2.0 resource! Comiqs lets users create and share their own comics, which can be created by using your own photos, photos from Comiqs’ photo library, or photos from the internet and then adding text. There is also  a privacy option when saving completed comics, so it is ideal for schools. Comics can be published publicly, just for friends or only for you to see.

Students could use Comiqs to create their own stories, but also for school work such as

  • How a science experiment was conducted
  • A book review
  • A review of a school production
  • How to apply a mathematical formula
  • Explain the rules of a sport
  • And many other ideas

In fact, when Google launched their new web browser, Google Chrome, they produced a comic to show people how it worked.

Here is a short example of what can be created in a few minutes. This example was achieved using the Comiqs photo gallery. Comiqs could also be a good holiday boredom buster for the kids.

aka-aki

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The Horizon Report (Australia and New Zealand edition) focussing on emerging technologies, where next generation mobile phones were selected as one of the six most important emerging technologies (out of over 100 considered) has been released. And recently, one new application for mobiles has caught the attention of Bright ideas.

aka-aki is a kind of scary tool (users do have the option to turn on privacy settings if they don’t want to be contacted) that once downloaded to your mobile phone, enables other aka-aki users to contact you if you come within 20 metres of them. Bluetooth technology enables user profiles to be viewed by you once another registered user is within the 20 metre distance.

aka-aki homepage

aka-aki homepage

The main difference between aka-aki and other social networking sites is that aka-aki is designed for people who are not in front of their computer. aka-aki is a German development that offers free unlimited messaging and chat to other aka-aki users in groups of your choice, but beware that your phone carrier could charge for data use. Texts can be sent from phone to phone, computer to phone and phone to computer. All mobile encounters are saved on the aka-aki website, so you can follow up contacts later via the Internet.

No doubt there is at least one enterprising and creative soul out there who can think of an educational application for aka-aki. If so, please share it with us!

Roman Hansler, Founder of aka-aki says that it is available for use in Australia now. For more information, go to the aka-aki blog. And for a laugh, have a look at this video.

Secondary ICT Web Literacy

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This Teachers TV video focuses on Web literacy in secondary schools.

ICT Web literacy video

ICT Web literacy video

The program synopsis says:

“This programme reveals the critical importance for teachers to provide guidance to their pupils when using the Internet for research.

A group of Year 9 pupils at Wortley High School in Leeds are asked to look at three websites. The subject matters are Martin Luther King, the holocaust and Victorian robots.

None of the websites are what they seem. The first two are fronts for racists and holocaust deniers. The last is a good-natured spoof. None of the pupils spot any problems with the validity, reliability or authority of the sites and many say they would cut and paste information from the sites for use in homework or other projects.

ICT expert James Green leads a lesson that reveals the truth to the pupils, passing on valuable tips on website cross-checking and validity.”

Comments left by Teachers TV subscribers are extremely positive about the usefulness of this video. It may well give you inspiration for ways of teaching Internet literacy in 2009.

Seesmic

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Seesmic is a video blogging site that is currently in the developmental stage. Users are able to start their own conversation by posting their own videos from their desktop, webcam, mobile phone or social networking URL. Or you can reply to a conversation that is already in progress.

Seesmic homepage
Seesmic homepage

Although all videos are public at the moment, the creation of groups, where only invited users can see and post replies to videos, should be coming soon. That would revolutionise the use of Seesmic for school use. Imagine the possibilities. Online video conversations with sister schools overseas could lead to collaborative international projects. Students would feel more connected to those from other schools if they could see and hear them. If you would like to know when this feature will be available, you can:

  • sign up to Seesmic
  • go to the questions page
  • type in the word ‘private’
  • click on the question mark
  • click on ‘I have this problem too’
  • enter your login details

When the ability to use groups/private videos becomes available, you will be emailed by Seesmic. Seesmic is being developed by Loic Le Meur, who has been the Internet advisory to French President Nicolas Sarkozy.