These Common Craft guys are clever. They use simple and short videos featuring manipulated paper cut outs and tidy metaphors to explain the tools and concepts behind social software.
The first one I watched demonstrated the workings of wikis. They’ve also got videos on social bookmarking, blogging, RSS, podcasting, twitter … the works. Here’s Common Craft’s video ‘Social Media in Plain English’:
We’re redeveloping the Software for Learning website – a catalogue of software recommended by NZ teachers for use in the classroom. Tell me what you think of the new design for the home page – you can see it by clicking on the image on the left.
Would you be more likely to search for software on this website than on the current one? Is the purpose of the website clear? Is the layout of the content engaging or confusing?
Having shifted house and been without internet at home for three weeks, I’ve realised how much I live online – from email for family and facebook for friends, to magazine subscriptions, online research, trademe and the surf webcam. It’s been a frustrating period, where my ability to socialise, learn, complete domestic tasks and even catch a wave has been thwarted!
It’s interesting to read the findings from the Auckland University of Technology survey (part of the World Internet Project) of around 1,500 New Zealanders about their internet use – especially alongside the Broadcasting Standard’s Authority’s survey of New Zealand children’s media habits earlier this year. The insights into the internet’s role in our lives, influence on our decisions and impact on our social relationships indicate that a lot of us are increasingly living online.
Applications for the Ministry of Education’s e-Learning Teacher Fellowship for 2009 are now open. Up to 10 classroom teachers and early childhood educators using e-learning in innovative ways will be selected for the fellowship.
Successful applicants, supported through the fellowship, will explore an aspect of their e-learning practice and share their findings with the teacher community. The theme for e-fellows’ projects in 2009 is literacy.
Blogging about digital mihi in a previous post reminded me of another initiative taking tikanga and te reo into the digital realm. NaumaiPlace.com is a website launched in May last year which links marae with their whanau worldwide. It aims to connect the large number of Maori who live away from their local rohe.
At the time of launch, ten Te Arawa marae were involved, and it looks like a lot more, from all around the country, might have set up virtual marae on Naumai Place. Each marae can provide their own history, video footage, noticeboards, photo galleries, taonga detail, rangitahi section and online store.
If you know of great student work that’s available online, please send me the link. I’ll add it to my delicious page, where I’m collecting inspiring examples of student digital work. You can see the feed from delicious in the right-hand column of this blog. Thanks!
Photo cc by Pierre Pouliquin
Here’s some fantastic work from students at Point England School. They are sharing their mihi with students from around the world in a collaborative project called Rock Our World.
The mihi, implemented in the Flickr space, lets students connect with a wide audience – “weaving us together in the one house at the one time”.
Students brainstorm their story concept, create a storyboard or mockup, create and source images, and draft a title, description and rollover notes to tell their story. Students have to consider carefully the images and text that they choose to represent themselves. Students reflect on each others’ mihi and respond to comments made by their peers and other visitors to Flickr.
