Collaborate with a Rock Star

Attention Music Teachers!

Students can collaborate with Rivers Cuomo, frontman for the rock band Weezer on his latest songs. Rivers has a You Tube channel where he posts videos with specific instructions for collaborating with him.

Use Wordle to Study Inauguration Addresses

Using Wordle students can create word clouds to compare inaugural addresses. The more prominent the word is in a speech the larger it appears in the cloud. Above is a screen shot of JFK's address. It will be interesting to compare Barack Obama's to it.

Online University at the Forefront of Education?

It seems fitting that an online university points out the 21st Century deficiency of our current educational system.

Video Games in Science

NPR did a story on the video game Crayon Physics Deluxe. While the game appears simple at the start you quickly realize the power behind it. You create crayon drawings that behave according to the laws of physics. The potential here is huge in a physics or science class. See the video demonstration below.



Here are some free web based games that use physics in the same way Crayon Physics Deluxe does.
Miniclip has a game called Magic Pen which is a simple version of Crayon Physics Deluxe.
Fantastic Contraption acts as a physics emulator.
Line Rider looks like you are drawing on a sketchpad with a pencil. Physics are applied and a cult following is on You Tube sharing game clips.

These games led me to some other video games that might be useful in science.
While Crayon Physics is only for PC currently Phun Physics is available for both PC and Mac. The big difference between Phun Physics and Crayon Physics is Phun is a "sandbox" where you have a blank canvass to experiment. Crayon makes you complete the levels to use the "sandbox" feature.



Little Big Planet is for Playstation 3, you are a sock trying get through levels of the giant planet around you. This game is more collaborative than the physics games above. Multiple players need to help each other complete the levels. The laws of physics apply to the world you are in as well as the interactions of the teammates. The game has both a game mode and "sandbox" mode. Any level you create in the "sandbox" mode can be shared.



In this video the developers talk about the features within the game.



Crazy Machines is similar to Incredible Machines it gives the student (scientist) an objective and supplies which are used to create a solution.



Crayon Physics will become an App on the iPhone but until that happens check out the Trace App on the iPhone, Physics in your pocket.

Video Games providing 21st Century Skills?
Problem-solving
Communication
Higher-order thinking
Creativity
Collaboration

The above games deal with physics but if you are teaching oceanography you need to check out Endless Ocean for Wii. You scuba dive through the ocean finding and archiving different types of fish.

An Academic View of You Tube

Lately I have caught myself relying very heavily on videos for information. If I go to a new website and want to figure out what it is all about I don't go to the About section but look for a video that previews the website. The same happens when I look up how to do something. I used to go to howsuffworks.com for written tutorials but now I just search You Tube for a video tutorial. It is amazing how You Tube is influencing our behavior. Michael Wesch is a Professor at Kansas State University. He presented "An Anthropological Introduction to You Tube" at the Library of Congress. The video looks at the phenomenon of You Tube and its videos while becoming a phenomenon itself. The video explains that we are becoming more isolated while at the same time forming communities. A value system has developed within You Tube with views acting as a currency. Hint at any "fakeness" in your video and risk losing all currency. Next time you are at the office or a party and someone starts passing around a laptop to show a You Tube video think how this one site has become a social glue.

There is a talent in developing a good You Tube Video. The best videos have a narrative. Search 30 Second Movies on You Tube and you will find 2 hour movies shrunk down to 30 seconds with an intact narrative. This narrative voice is changing in the digital age but why not use it to teach in English classes. Have a Refilm Contest where students recreate their favorite movie in no longer than five minutes.

Collaborating on Searches

With the rise of web 2.0 and social networks this year I predict 2009 will be the year where collaboration of searching online really takes off.

ReFrame It is a browser plugin that lets users highlight text on websites and add notes in the sidebar. The highlights and notes can then be shared with friends.

Search Together from Microsoft is a plugin for Internet Explorer that lets users share websites with notes. It seems very similar to AIM. There doesn't seem to be any feature where users can highlight specific text on each individual website.

Google's Search Wiki lets users promote or remove search results. Users can also apply notes to search results and add any websites Google may have missed. You can even see other people's results for the same search. I think the Search Wiki has the potential to become a lot more collaborative in the future.

Some Quotes to Start Off the New Year

Use the following quote when talking about the use collaboration tools.

"None of us is as smart as all of us."
-Japanese proverb

Trying to encourage forward looking technology pioneering teachers on your staff.

"Be the change you want to see."
-Mahatma Gandhi

"Not teaching your students how to properly search the internet is worse than taking them into the New York Public Library circa 1988 to do a report when the librarian is off duty and they don't know the first thing about the Dewey Decimal System."
-Christopher Polizzi