learningIT

Memonic allows you to capture, store, use and share online information. It “is a way to keep the essential information you come across every day and easily retrieve it again the moment you need it.”

They state:

A problem facing the regular Internet user today is how to keep track of information and bits of information found on the Internet. Current solutions such as (social) bookmarks do provide only partial and unsatisfactory solutions. Example: The bookmarked URL is no longer valid.

and,

In brief it’s a description of a system likened to a Rolodex of the Internet: Smallish cards holding bits and pieces of information for later use. Information becomes truly fluid.

I have mentioned Wordle and ABCya! for creating word clouds here on this blog before. Another newcomer is Word It Out. It offers a bit more flexibility, but also has less on layout features. For example, the largest text is always centered in the cloud. View my example pictured left from this very blog URL. (I never realised I used “don’t” that much).

(…or go here)

Living in Japan often celebrates the late arrival of some films. Here are a few upcoming ones about music and art that look pretty good.

The Art of the Steal:

American Artifact: The Rise of American Rock Poster Art

Died Young, Stayed Pretty:

…and if you are into music, “Sex and Drugs and Rock n Roll”

“Until the Light Takes Us”

Sorry. If your parents never had children, chances are you won’t, either…

Best regards :p, Francesca.

Dear Francesca,

You are correct. If my parents never had children, I…uh…won’t either I guess. Actually, it would be impossible. This statement really made me consider my existence. Thank you for that. It really was very deep.

Could you help me. Looks good. Very useful, good stuff. Good resources here. Thanks much. Help me! Please help find sites for: Wellbutrin 4u. I found only this – buy wellbutrin sr bupropion utah. Wellbutrin, and it is long vomiting this, whenever i am monitored by an people accounted chance, i seem. I am of the amitriptyline to get own, wellbutrin. THX  , Ned from Tuvalu.

Dear Ned,

I hope you no longer are long vomiting this when accounted. I had to look the word amitriptyline up in the dictionary.

Hello everyone. Your parents, they give you your life, but then they try to give you their life.
I am from Libya and also now’m speaking English, please tell me right I wrote the following sentence: “Criminal justice, features for arrest process in bexar sex for sheep trends and vote’s make authenticating up continued ages in-depth as employment.”
With love  , Asha.

Dear Asha,

Please, keep studying English. You will quickly learn that we usually don’t put the words “arrest,” “sex” and “sheep” in the same sentence. Too many connotations even if it doesn’t have any real meaning.

Good Day. A boy can learn a lot from a dog: obedience, loyalty, and the importance of turning around three times before lying down.
THX 8-), Lila.

Dear Lila,

I agree. It took me a while to turn three times before lying down but I have been converted to its benefits even though my wife finds it strange. It was a top tip. I even learnt it without owning a dog.

photo credit: http://www.flickr.com/photos/ocreactive/ / CC BY-NC-SA 2.0

I blogged before about the ultimate collaborative project, Star Wars Uncut. Basically, Star Wars is being remade through 15 second clips that you sign up for. We finished scene 262. For those that are interested, there are still a few clips remaining. Get involved!

Star Wars Uncut – Scene 262 from Engekiman on Vimeo.

I recently returned from Singapore attending an MYP Arts workshop. I was talking to some teachers there about resources and it got me thinking.

I’m always open to new ideas to build better units. I’ll be the first to admit that it is difficult at times, especially when under time constraints. First of all, I’ll discuss it with my department or other teachers to generate ideas. (Of course, I also look at our school’s documentation and Scope & Sequence.) Next, I’ll go scouring the web by refining my Google search. However, this isn’t the most effective method. I’ll then browse Nings, check through Twitter, YouTube, Issuu, Diigo and various blogs. Sometimes what I see one person doing in photography may inspire me to apply it to drawing. Of course, this all takes time.

However, I am currently stumped for a grade 8 art unit I do on one-point perspective drawing through Surrealist Rooms. I like teaching the perspective aspect but I feel the Surrealist element is dying a slow death with my students. The unit used to be 7 weeks but is now 5 (as we do 5 week rotations in the arts). When it was 7 weeks, they used to paint their composition. Now they are using markers. I feel I need to improve the unit but am limited due to time. I would also like to go further by introducing 2 point and 3 point perspective as well. Furthermore, more time will be alloted to the arts next academic year so I can fortunately expect a longer timeframe within the MYP framework.

Should I scrap the unit or continue to improve it? Am I missing any resource areas or ideas? if so, I’d love to hear from you.

(photo credit: Joe in Grade 8 2009)

Thanks to Christene, I found out about ABCya! Word Clouds. It’s similar to Wordle but more basic and perhaps easier for elementary students, though Wordle is pretty straightforward. Unlike Wordle though, a word will not become larger the more you type it. It is totally random but is easier and more coherent to save as a JPEG. Below is an example of my above text. Fonts, colour and layout can also be changed. You may be interested in other mapping, timeline and brainstorm tools here.

I often feel disappointed when I hear teachers discuss how they can’t find web resources for a topic. At times, teachers expect an ICT Facilitator to find these for them. Finding free resources sure is a lot easier now, but I am referring to going beyond Google. Do you have time to go beyond page 1 of 1.5 million sites (but that’s another blog entry)? What are some other alternatives?

Of course, video helps a lot now with YouTube, TeacherTube, SchoolTube and Vimeo readily available. I don’t know why I feel sad when teachers don’t use or search these options. Your internet connection isn’t so good for viewing? You don’t like the ads/comments that appear? You don’t like the related videos that appear? These are all valid points but then why not use Tooble or KeepVid to download the video onto your computer or embed it onto your own site (great reason to start a blog or wiki)?

Better yet, if teachers are struggling to find resources, why not get your class to create their own resources and then upload them to these sites, or to Slideshare, or to Issuu, or to a wiki, or to Voicethread? To me, they would be perfect opportunities for class projects as well as for assessments. Fair enough, it may take some time to get it set-up but in the long run, wouldn’t time be saved?

Students could have a sense of ownership and leave a legacy of knowledge and learning behind once the unit is finished and then students in the following years could use it or expand on it. Viewers may then rate it, comment on it, embed it or reuse it themselves. The author then slowly builds a network if they comment back and learning continues outside of the classroom. Teachers could then share it with their followers on Twitter or on a Ning they belong to. You see, not only does this benefit the student, but also the teacher. Teachers could use these sites as a source of inspiration to generate ideas or to find examples of and create a digital portfolio or an online presence.

(Hey wait a minute, this kind of sounds like authentic learning.)

If teachers are going to simply create text projects, why not upload them to Issuu or file2ws or to a class wiki or blog at least? That could involve peer editing wouldn’t it? We hear know and see that media collage is dominant, but at times teachers are the last ones to adapt. Why is that? Simple answer: Fear. A lot of teachers don’t wish to put their stuff out there (though we’re one of the first to snatch them up). They feel exposed. Naked. We are the knowledge kings and do not wish to be discovered as false prophets. Sorry, I sound negative and this wasn’t meant to be a rant. Give it some thought. Start small.

(photo credit)

I blogged before about Gauguin’s involvement with Van Gogh’s ear. Bloomberg recently reported that “…Theo’s happy news helped, at least, to push him over the edge.” Theo announced to Vincent that he was to marry. Read the full story here. The saga continues…