Archive for October, 2007

Antarctica Google Earth resources

Published on October 19, 2007 in education, google earth and technology. 0 Comments

I have just developed some resources which may be of use to others teaching Antarctica in Key Stage 3 geography.

The first is on the Antarctic Food Web. I used it by putting a class in an IT room asking them to find information about all the animals that lived in the seas around Antarctica and making notes in their books. We then reviewed the activity by using the flash-based food web on the Royal Geographical Society’s excellent Discovering Antarctica site.

Here’s the Antarctica Food Web kmz file for Google Earth.

And here are a series of graphs that I prepared using the excellent GE Graph programme:

I used these files just as presentational tools from the front of the classroom to show the difference between the climate in Antarctica and London. Because I taught these lessons last week, I used the rainfall and temperature in London in October as a benchmark.

Please let me know if you find these useful.

TechCrunch reviews web video

Published on October 10, 2007 in technology and video. 0 Comments

TechCrunch writes a great review of web video, noting that things have moved on since Google bought YouTube a year ago. Incredibly informative and a must for anyone looking to host video online.

Community Interest Company status

Published on October 9, 2007 in enterprise. 0 Comments

Digital Explorer is now incorporated as a Community Interest Company. We join the growing ranks of social enterprises in the UK, which famously include Jamie Oliver’s Fifteen restaurant and the Oxo Tower.

Each proposed Community Interest Company must demonstrate that its operations are in the public good and show how its assets and profits will be used to benefit the community.

It’s very important that Digital Explorer is a social enterprise and that we work with our partners and sponsors to ensure that all our work goes to helping young people learn more about the world around them, have their own voice heard and work together to create a better future.

Our main activities listed with the Community Interest Company Regulator are:

  1. Set up a global network of digital youth expeditions that will change the way that young people feel about their community
  2. Train pupils, teachers, NGOs and expeditions in digital communications

Any surplus that we generate will be used to subsidize our work with schools and charities.

Web video for the classroom (pt 2)

Published on October 6, 2007 in development, education, technology and video. 0 Comments

One other thought…

Please, please, please don’t host your video only on YouTube or similar media-sharing sites. Only the most enlightened schools haven’t blocked these.

By all means use a service such as tubemogul to propagate your video on a number of sites. This will mean that young people can access your content on their own terms outside of school.

I am looking to develop a hosting service for teachers, schools and other developers of educational web video. If you don’t have the ability to host web video at the moment and want your films to be viewed in the classroom, Digital Explorer should be able to help sometime in 2008. Busy times ahead!

Web video for the classroom

Published on October 6, 2007 in development, education, technology and video. 0 Comments

There are two things that I have noticed when using web video in the classroom. The first and most pertinent is pupils asking me to enlarge the player to full-screen. When using media players such as Windows Media Player or Real Player this is fairly simple. The complication comes with embedded flash video. In a Year 11 Citizenship class examining the issues of debt and aid, I used video from the Make Poverty History website. The problem was that the videos could not be enlarged. This left some of the less enthusiastic members of the class fairly disgruntled.

The solution:

  • use a video player that has the functionality to enlarge to full-screen (the best I can find is Jeroen Wijering’s excellent flv player)
  • ask your school IT department to upgrade to Flash version 9 (this will mean that the enlarge function will work)
  • produce video using the .flv format, which will ’stretch’ without the image becoming too blocky

The second issue is the 10-20 seconds gap between pressing play and the video starting. This is enough time for young minds to wander or assume that their teacher is a technological incompetent (I still hold that by some quirk, teachers’ ability to function a DVD/Video player has a strong inverse correlation with their length of time in the classroom). This is a mistake that we made (as with the one above) on the Offscreen Student Expedition, by having a black screen and a boring pre-loader (the small animation that shows as the video gets ready to play).

The solution:

  • have an still image rather than a black screen before the video plays
  • think about having some interesting animation going on so that pupils know that something is about to happen (nothing too extravagant)
  • or maybe use some attention grabbing optical illusion that will keep their attention (if you stare at the dot below for long enough the grey haze recedes)

6 points for (expedition) blogging for the classroom

Published on October 2, 2007 in blogging, education, expeditions and technology. 2 Comments

I have been thinking about what makes excellent and engaging blogs from the field, both from my experience setting up the site for the Offscreen Student Expedition 2007, looking at other expedition blogs for the classroom such as Cape Farewell, and planning what changes to make for the next Offscreen Student Expedition in 2008, bringing 8 young people from the Arab world to the UK in July next year.

These are some inital ideas, please let me know what you think.

1. High quality digital journalism
Today’s web-users are more discerning and sophisticated than ever before, returning only to sites that both provide high quality information and can relate their stories with appropriate, timely and professionally produced digital video, images and writing.

2. Integration of online social networking tools
Web-based social networking tools, or Web 2.0, can be integrated to increase user interactivity and provide the necessary platforms to create and cultivate an engaged online community.

There are a host of free services out there and it would be a shame if you did not make use of the likes of YouTube, Flickr, Facebook, Skype, SightSpeed, tubemogul, Brightcove, etc. (thank you to Rick for the last two)

3. Fit-for-purpose educational content
If you are developing content for the classroom, make sure that you are in touch with pupils and teachers. They are the ones who will be able to tell you if the content you are providing is relevant and if the look and feel of your site is engaging for a youth audience.

4. Cutting-edge expedition communications
Updating a website from the side of a mountain or the middle of a desert is theoretically pretty simple. The difficult part is making sure that there are as few problems as possible when you are in the middle of nowhere and making sure that you produce content on time. After a hard day’s expedition, do you really want to cut a short digital video and upload content ready for the morning assembly back in London? Planning how and when digital content is going to be created and updated is essential for a good blog.

5. User-based navigation
Navigation and user-interface need to take into account end users’ requirements and design needs, rather than just the organisation’s preferences alone.

6. Best practices in appropriate moderation processes
Original content submitted to websites or blogs by the spectrum of users must be moderated in a timely and responsible fashion. This ensures that users establish and retain trust in the organisation, and prevents inappropriate content from appearing on websites.

Olympus sponsor Digital Explorer

Published on October 1, 2007 in education, technology and training. 1 Comment

Olympus is supporting Digital Explorer’s Google Earth training by providing the latest model from the Olympus TOUGH range for the practical sessions of the course. The Olympus µ790 SW is the ideal camera for fieldwork and expedition use.

With 7.1 megapixels it produces high quality images that still look sharp, even when projected in the classroom. It is shockproof and waterproof, tough enough to put up with a life outdoors and most pupils. The camera also has internal focusing, meaning less chance of dust wrecking the lens action.

We are looking forward to using the camera in the field and in the classroom.

Digital Explorer wins web award

Published on October 1, 2007 in blogging, expeditions and technology. 0 Comments

The Digital Explorer - Offscreen Education collaboration for the Offscreen Student Expedition won the Best Blog in the 2007 Web Marketing Association’s WebAwards.

The judges commented that the site was a “Fabulous idea! I can see the possibilities this opportunity can open up to the communities all over the world.”

So many congratulations to the team involved: Ciara, Chris, John, Rick and Marjan!