Domain Nonsense - A Logic Free Zone

As we said earlier we have been having domain issues, and in talking with others I know we are not alone. It's been a nightmare trying to untangle the mess and just when we thought we were out of the darkness it seems now our archived files are not working at all. We are working on it, so please bear with us.

In the meantime..... I came across this video session recently on Awakening Creativity I wanted to share...



Helping develop students’ creativity is a hard task, finding time for students to do a creative activity is an even harder task for teachers. Teachers often leave this task undone hoping students will find their own creative outlet. However, not all students around the world have ample opportunities to use their creativity, to be challenged to think outside the box or think upside down. Sometimes teachers can make room in the busy day by simply providing a quiet time, along with a stimulating idea, or a challenge to awaken their dormant creativity and give students have the freedom to create.

An easy way for teachers to awaken creativity is to have their students keep a design journal to quickly sketch ideas wherever they are, whenever. Teachers can also start their teaching day by giving the students a quote to draw visually, or simply a “word” for students to visually illustrate, then provide a few quiet minutes for students to create in their design journal. It’s a great way to stimulate students thinking early in the morning.

The future won’t be a world of rote memorization tests; but rather a world where the successful students will be ones who have had chance to awaken their creativity.

Innovative Thinking :: Low-Cost Multi-touch Whiteboard using the Wiimote

Scanning youtube I came across this great idea from a graduate student at Carnegie Mellon.

Johnny Chun Lee is an example of innovative thinking. In this video he shows how to make an inexpensive interactive whiteboard by using a wii remote and infared LED light pens.

And who said "youtube" isn't educational?

Get your students thinking creatively and see what they can create. Pose questions and see their innovative ideas. The world needs innovative thinkers and it is critical for us to develop innovative and creative thinking skills in our students. It's necessary for their future, and ours too.

Check out Johnny Lee's website to see more of his innovative thinking.

Thanks Johhny- keep thinking.....

AT&T Education: Four Stars for Jumpcut!

Jumpcut, the free suite of video editing and remixing tools, was recently featured as the AT&T Education "Hot Site of the Week"!

Many thanks to our friends at AT&T Education for featuring Jumpcut. Come join the Jumpcut + Yahoo! For Teachers group and share your video project and clips with other educators.

Jumpcut is Yahoo! too, so if you already have a Yahoo! ID, you're all set to go!

Related Resources

• Jumpcut
• AT&T Education
• Yahoo! For Teachers
• Jumpcut Blog

Talking about the iGeneration

Take a peek into the wired, mobile, & totally digital world of Gen Y.

Yahoo! Teachers Open House @ Tapped In

On Wednesday May 16th there will be a 1 hour Yahoo! Teachers open house in our Tapped In Group Office (Yahoo!Teachers_Grp) at 4pm & 6:30pm Pacific Time.

Tapped In (TI) is free, but if you don't have a TI login and password you'll need to get registered in order to attend the open house. My TI handle is DerekB, so look for me!


Learn How Yahoo! Worked With Educators to Create Yahoo! For Teachers.

I'll be answering questions about Yahoo! Teachers and other Yahoo! tools you can use in your classroom. It's also a great opportunity for you to get ideas, support and connect with other teachers. It's going to be pretty casual, so drop by and say hello!

If you haven't already, check out Yahoo! For Teachers, an exciting new community built by teachers, for teachers.

You can watch the Sneak Peek video and see how Sue Wright, one of the teachers we've been working with to help develop this new service, has been using Yahoo! For Teachers and the Gobbler in her classroom.

Shoot, Practice, Share - YouTube

Being a ‘research practitioner’ I research new technologies as tools for use in curriculum and instruction, and recommend tools to use along with ideas on how-to incorporate these tools into teaching. In my research phase I try them out. In other words, “I practice what I blog” in Blendedu.

Over the break I spent time playing with YouTube. I was practicing, though the word ‘playing’ sounds like so much more fun.

We easily shot some video on our digital camera, and then uploaded it to YouTube.

To begin, find something that you want to video such as your new puppy playing or your cat curled up in a breadbasket. Choose something you want to video and something you want to share with others. That’s the reason behind YouTube. It's a new tool to share video with your friends. Plus it is a great tool for your students to use in their science lab classes, in Criminal Justice, Sociology, or Math. Then practice uploading the video you created. It’s very easy and with practice you can then walk your students through it.

So…
1) Choose something to video you want to share with others
2) Practice uploading the video
3) Send the URL to others to share

It’s really that easy..so share.

Teaching Toolbox: del.icio.us Tutorial

Video originally uploaded on YouTube by jutecht on March 8, 2006.

This is a fantastic video tutorial on using del.icio.us in the classroom! Social bookmarking tools like del.icio.us are a great and easy way to find those hidden threads of community knowledge.

Give it a try--soon you'll wonder how you lived on the web with out it!

Azureus- Zudeo & The BBC

The BBC has announced the move to a file-sharing site that will make hundreds of BBC programs legally available to users.

Users in the US will be able to download copies of BBC high definition (HD) video with Azureus’ Zudeo software. After viewing it, they can comment on it, rate it, and recommend it to friends.

What’s so different about this file-sharing site is that bloggers will be able to link to the video programs from their blogs and social networks sites, like MySpace and Second Life.

“File-sharing is often associated with illegal distribution of copyrighted content. But in recent months a number of networks have tried to shake off this old image.”

This will be a great resource for instructors to find video clips to add to lecture presentations or find a short video clip for conversation starters to use in class.