geography / geology

From DSC:
I’d recommend that historians, geographers, geologists, archeologists — and many others as well — keep a sharp and steady eye on what’s happening with Virtual Reality (VR) — as the affordances that VR could bring seem very promising. Establishing collaborations with teams of specialists could open up some amazing learning experiences for learners in the future.

Consider the items below for example.

Virtual reality bringing artifacts to life in London — from thestar.com

Excerpt:

Virtual reality has been increasingly making its way into the museum experience. At London’s National History Museum, visitors can currently experience First Life, a 15-minute VR experience also using the Samsung Gear VR headsets, in which David Attenborough narrates a 3D journey depicting sea creatures from 500 million years ago.

Only a few major museums have hosted their own VR experiences, but several projects are working on bringing the museum experience to the masses using the technology.

Google recently launched its Expeditions project, allowing students equipped with a Cardboard headset and a smartphone to view materials from major institutions such as the American Museum of Natural History.

Virtual Reality Takes British Museum Visitors to Bronze Age — from augmentedrealitytrends.com by

Excerpt:

British Museum visitors will now be able to experience the past in a more vivid way. Apart from seeing the historical artifacts, you will be taken to the Bronze Age with the help of virtual reality headsets. You can don a Samsung Gear VR headset and explore a customary roundhouse from the Bronze Age. The exploration will consist of 3D scans of objects that are present in the museum. The museum is launching a VR weekend where this experience can be obtained.
…
Recreation of Three Bronze Age Objects
Three Bronze Age objects have been digitally recreated and will be shown to the visitors through virtual reality headsets.

One is a gold object which was recently discovered and is still caked with mud. The second object is a splendid bronze Beaune Dirk, which is a princely dagger. However, its shape suggests that it was not meant to be used, as the blade was never sharpened and the end was also not attached to a wooden hilt. The third object is a twist of bronze which looks simple but is most enigmatic. Over 50 such loops have been found within 18 miles of Brighton. They were not found anywhere else in Europe. What they were actually, is still a mystery. Users will be invited to try a replica and provide their opinions.

Virtual reality takes Baltimore students to Amazon — from wbaltv.com by Omar Jimenez
Armistead Gardens students use Alchemy Learning’s experiential learning

Excerpt:

Tech start up Alchemy Learning is using virtual reality as a tool for education.

“The ability to have a truly experiential learning moment has not been possible in traditional online education. Whereas with virtual reality you can see the students really are in a different world. They’re able to truly experience what’s around them,” Alchemy Learning co-founder Win Smith said.

Adopting Virtual Reality for Education — from alchemylearning.com

“As an educator with 20+ years’ experience integrating technology into curriculum, it is exciting for me to see a technology that so quickly captures the attention of the students, motivates them to make the effort to learn the procedures, and then opens them up to the relevant content.“

-Larry Fallon,
Instructional Technology Coordinator,
Arlington County Public Schools

That ‘useless’ liberal arts degree has become tech’s hottest ticket — from forbes.com by George Anders; with a shout out to Krista Spahr for bringing this item to my attention

Except:

What kind of boss hires a thwarted actress for a business-to-business software startup? Stewart Butterfield, Slack’s 42-year-old cofounder and CEO, whose estimated double-digit stake in the company could be worth $300 million or more. He’s the proud holder of an undergraduate degree in philosophy from Canada’s University of Victoria and a master’s degree from Cambridge in philosophy and the history of science.

“Studying philosophy taught me two things,” says Butterfield, sitting in his office in San Francisco’s South of Market district, a neighborhood almost entirely dedicated to the cult of coding. “I learned how to write really clearly. I learned how to follow an argument all the way down, which is invaluable in running meetings. And when I studied the history of science, I learned about the ways that everyone believes something is true–like the old notion of some kind of ether in the air propagating gravitational forces–until they realized that it wasn’t true.”
…
And he’s far from alone. Throughout the major U.S. tech hubs, whether Silicon Valley or Seattle, Boston or Austin, Tex., software companies are discovering that liberal arts thinking makes them stronger. Engineers may still command the biggest salaries, but at disruptive juggernauts such as Facebook and Uber, the war for talent has moved to nontechnical jobs, particularly sales and marketing. The more that audacious coders dream of changing the world, the more they need to fill their companies with social alchemists who can connect with customers–and make progress seem pleasant.

Addendum on 8/7/15:

STEM Study Starts With Liberal Arts — from forbes.com by Chris Teare
Excerpt (emphasis DSC):
Much has been made, especially by the Return on Investment crowd, of the value of undergraduate study in the so-called STEM fields: Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics. Lost in the conversation is the way the true liberal arts underpin such study, often because the liberal arts are inaccurately equated solely with the humanities. From the start, the liberal arts included math and science, something I learned firsthand at St. John’s College.

This topic is especially on my mind since reading the excellent article George Anders has written for Forbes: “That ‘Useless’ Liberal Arts Degree Has Become Tech’s Hottest Ticket” In this context, understanding the actual origin and purposes of the liberal arts is all the more valuable.

NASA Captures “EPIC” Earth Image [nasa.gov]

On 07/22/2015, in faith, geography / geology, global / globalization, by Daniel Christian

NASA Captures “EPIC” Earth Image — from nasa.gov

This is the account of the heavens and the earth when they were created,
when the Lord God made the earth and the heavens.

Genesis 2:4 (NIV)

For summer vacation: Some resources to help spark students’ interests and perhaps identify some new passions! [Dyoco]

On 06/17/2015, in architecture, engineering, geography / geology, global / globalization, ideas, K-12 related, love of learning, maker movement, mathematics, participation, passions, project-based learning, science, STEAM-related, student-related, teachers, youth, by Daniel Christian

From DSC:
With a special thanks and a shout out to Jasmine Dyoco at educatorlabs.org for the following information:

Summer vacation is upon us and students will be spending it in a variety of ways – from tinkering around the house and going swimming through brushing up on math and thinking about college. Whatever they do, we hope to inspire them to get excited about something new, and make use of their unstructured time to find a new passion.

We’ve gathered resources on different topics to help spark students’ interests in something new — from STEM through human stories — that we think will be useful and fun!

Dynamics of Space Flight – NASA
The Science Behind Airplanes
ScienceNews for Students
Math Calculators (organized by Subject, Topic & Difficulty)
archKIDecture
Fix-It Literacy Guide
Become an Engineer
Heart Attack Quiz
World Culture
The Science and History of Hygiene
The Encyclopedia of Earth – Geography

Chris Dede: The Future of Digital Learning [webinar/session recording from Adobe]

On 04/24/2015, in 21st century, active learning, Adobe, analytics, biology, blended learning, creativity, curriculum, data related items, digital learning, education technology, educational games / serious games, elearning, emerging technologies, engagement / engaging students, face-to-face, future, geography / geology, ideas, innovation, interactivity, K-12 related, learning agents, learning ecosystem, learning theories, lifelong learning, mobile learning, mobile technologies, multimedia, participation, pedagogy, personalized/customized learning, platforms, real-world assignments, research, science, student-related, teaching & learning, tools, webinars, by Daniel Christian

From DSC:
Chris uses ecoMOBILE and ecoMUVE to highlight the powerful partnerships that can exist between tools and teachers — to the benefits of the students, who can enjoy personalized learning that they can interact with. Pedagogical approaches such as active learning are discussed and methods of implementing active learning are touched upon.

Chris pointed out the National Research Council’s book from 2012 entitled, “Education for Life and Work: Developing Transferable Knowledge & Skills in the 21st Century” as he spoke about the need for all of us to be engaged in lifelong learning (Chris uses the term “life-wide” learning).

Also, as Chris mentioned, we often teach as we were taught…so we need communities that are able to UNlearn as well as to learn.

Also see:

The CreateEdu Channel on YouTube

A solid variety of tools & apps

On 04/07/2015, in Adobe, Apple, art, Augmented Reality (AR), creativity, digital storytelling, education technology, geography / geology, Microsoft, storytelling, tools, Uncategorized, vendors, Virtual Reality (VR) / worlds / learning, workplace, writing, youth, by Daniel Christian

Augmented Reality can be a reality in your art classroom — from theartofed.com

Excerpt:

Last fall, I attended a technology conference where I went to a session on augmented reality technology (AR) and how it can be used in the classroom. I was blown away by the possibilities of this tech concept and its ability to modify our students’ current reality into a compelling, virtual experience of interactive information.

AR in your Art Classroom
There are dozens of AR apps, programs and resources out there that can help encourage curiosity and inspire critical thinking and intense creativity in your students. Here are a few augmented reality options that you can start infusing into your art curriculum.

Aurasma

ARPhoto#2

Jaunt VR wants to (virtually) change the way we travel — from cntraveler.com
Gaming is just the beginning. The real future of virtual reality lies in hacking the global travel experience.

52 of the best apps for your classroom in 2015 — from list.ly by Terry Heick

Adobe’s Slate is a [new] visual storytelling app for the iPad — from techcrunch.com; also an article at CampusTechnology.com on this app

The top 50 apps for creative minds — from theguardian.com
Our pick of the best tablet and smartphone tools to enable you to make video, music, art and more

[Microsoft’s] Sway is now collaborative—create and edit together with others! — from blogs.office.com by the Sway Team

Excerpt:

When we announced Sway, we knew that people would want to work on standout class projects, eye-catching business reports, engaging vacation recaps, or more, together—it’s the way things are done now, right? But Sway up until now has been a tool for individual authors to create polished content in a new and interactive way to share with their audiences. However, we know you’ve asked for shared editing in Sway in our feedback channels (such as UserVoice), and that Office has delivered real-time editing and collaboration features for years, allowing people to work together to share their collective ideas. On top of that, we can’t tell you how many times that we on the Sway team have said to each other, “I wish I could work on this Sway with you!” So now we’re rolling out co-authoring in Sway!

Microsoft debuts Office Lens, a document-scanning app for iOS and Android — from techcrunch.com by Sarah Perez

Excerpt:

Microsoft [on 4/2/15] launched Office Lens, a mobile document scanner app that works with OneNote, for iOS and Android smartphones. The app, which allows users to snap photos of paper documents, receipts, business cards, menus, whiteboards, sticky notes and more, was first launched a year ago as an application designed only for Windows Phone devices.

5 free (or low cost) tools for Flipped Learning— from Campus Technology’s April/May 2015 edition

Doceri
Explain Everything
Office Mix
Screencast-O-Matic
Verso

AppStudio for ArcGIS — with thanks to Dr. Jason Van Horn (Associate Professor Geology, Geography & Env Studies at Calvin College) for this resource
Your mobile mapping apps, built in a snap

Excerpt:

AppStudio for ArcGIS is a groundbreaking tool in the GIS app revolution. It lets you convert your maps into beautiful, consumer-friendly mobile apps ready for Android, iOS, Windows, Mac OS X, and Linux, and publish them using your own brand to all popular app stores – no developer skills required.

Moodle Mobile 2 is coming: updated look and feel of the application, transition to Ionic Framework — from moodlenews.com

Excerpt:

A few weeks ago Juan Leyva introduced a demo site for Moodlers to check out the 2nd version of Moodle Mobile the ever improving official mobile application for the learning management system. The major changes include a shift to Ionic framework which will greatly enhance the developers’ ability to focus on new features development.

Some of the best storytelling apps for elementary students — from educatorstechnology.com

Excerpt:

The apps below are particularly useful for elementary students but they can also be used with other age groups. Elementary teachers often complain about the paucity of apps that are kids appropriate compared with apps for other age groups. So we thought it would be useful to create a section in this blog devoted entirely to apps specifically curated for elementary teachers. After we have covered math and writing apps, today’s post features some very good iPad storytelling apps to use with young kids. You can use these apps to help kids develop a wide range of basic literacy skills that include: writing, reading and speaking.

5 great writing apps for elementary students — from educatorstechnology.com

Excerpt:

The selection we curated for you today contains some useful iPad apps to use with elementary students to help them with their writing. Some the things your kids will get to learn from these apps include: learning how to write letters, learning phonics and spelling, composing syllables by combining vowels and consonants, and several other basic literacy skills. Some of these apps also include tracking features which allow teachers and parents to keep updated about the progress of their kids.

Addendum on 4/8/15:

An entirely reimagined way to work is here! — from blogs.adobe.com
Excerpt:
[On April 6th] Adobe made available Adobe Document Cloud with all-new Acrobat DC – and, in so doing, offers people and organizations worldwide a better and more efficient way to work.

Addendum on 4/9/15:

Apple releases update to OS X, introduces new Photos app — from talkingnewmedia.com by D.B. Hebbard

Addendums on 4/13:15:

Six ways to make movies on a smartphone — from quib.ly by Laura Celada
Excerpt:

Have you tried using mobile devices to make movies? Film-making is such a great way for your children to express themselves and nurture their creativity and imagination. We’ve selected the most powerful apps and programs that can even the least techy kids become creative moviemakers.
None of these require any special equipment, just a tablet or a smartphone. Children can take videos, edit their work and make professional quality movies on the go. Check out the list below and bring out the Spielberg in them. Maybe next year you and your little thinker might be walking down the red carpet…
.
Nice for Every Device: 15 Tech-Agnostic Tools — from edsurge.com
Posting included tools for:
Student Response Systems
Student Collaboration Activities
English Language Arts/Social Studies
Math/Science
80 Twitter Tools for Almost Everything — from hongkiat.com

Breakthrough technologies 2015 [MIT Technology Review]

On 02/20/2015, in 3D, biology, business, data related items, emerging technologies, geography / geology, human-computer interaction (HCI), machine-to-machine communications, Near Field Communication (NFC), technology (general), by Daniel Christian

Excerpt:

Not all breakthroughs are created equal. Some arrive more or less as usable things; others mainly set the stage for innovations that emerge later, and we have to estimate when that will be. But we’d bet that every one of the milestones on this list will be worth following in the coming years.

Rome 320 AD – Interactive App [Carey]

On 11/25/2014, in 3D, education technology, Europe, faith, geography / geology, history, user experience (UX), by Daniel Christian

Rome 320 AD – Interactive App — from indianajen.com by Jennifer Carey

Excerpt:

The app follows the lives of four Romans as they travel through the city on a summer day in 320 CE. You can explore 3D, interactive models of the city in high resolution and detail.

Also see:

Rome320AD — by Noho Ltd.
Professor Bernard Frischer

Does Studying Fine Art = Unemployment? Introducing LinkedIn’s Field of Study Explorer [Hwang]

On 08/14/2014, in art, Augmented Reality (AR), biology, business, career development, chemistry, computer science, corporate / business world, corporate universities / corporate training, design, drama/theater, engineering, entrepreneurship, geography / geology, higher education, history, instructional design, interaction design, interface design, K-12 related, leadership, liberal arts, library / librarians, marketing/social marketing, marketplaces, mathematics, MBA, media/film, music, new media literacies, organizational change, photography, political science, professional development, programming, psychology, publishing, reinvent, staying relevant, student-related, tools, user interface design, web design and production, workplace, writing, youth, by Daniel Christian

Does Studying Fine Art = Unemployment? Introducing LinkedIn’s Field of Study Explorer — from LinkedIn.com by Kathy Hwang

Excerpt:

[On July 28, 2014], we are pleased to announce a new product – Field of Study Explorer – designed to help students like Candice explore the wide range of careers LinkedIn members have pursued based on what they studied in school.

So let’s explore the validity of this assumption: studying fine art = unemployment by looking at the careers of members who studied Fine & Studio Arts at Universities around the world. Are they all starving artists who live in their parents’ basements?

Also see:

The New Rankings? — from insidehighered.com by Charlie Tyson

Excerpt:

Who majored in Slovak language and literature? At least 14 IBM employees, according to LinkedIn.

Late last month LinkedIn unveiled a “field of study explorer.” Enter a field of study – even one as obscure in the U.S. as Slovak – and you’ll see which companies Slovak majors on LinkedIn work for, which fields they work in and where they went to college. You can also search by college, by industry and by location. You can winnow down, if you desire, to find the employee who majored in Slovak at the Open University and worked in Britain after graduation.

24h Jerusalem: A new transmedia project by ARTE and BR [vast-media.com]

On 03/22/2014, in digital learning, digital storytelling, faith, geography / geology, media/film, mobile learning, multimedia, platforms, religion, second screen apps, social learning / networks, transmedia, by Daniel Christian

24h Jerusalem: A new transmedia project by ARTE and BR — from vast-media.com

Excerpt:

On the web, 24hjerusalem.tv will enrich the users’ TV experience before and during the broadcast with synchronized extra content such as texts, interviews, Vine videos and more. Users will be able to explore information, share content and discuss about the program. The platform can also be accessed on mobile devices.

Also see:

Five transmedia projects – spring 2014 — from Developing Media by Simon Staffans

National Geographic Thematic Maps Launch in New Google Tool [Howard]

On 03/07/2014, in education technology, geography / geology, global / globalization, Google, by Daniel Christian

National Geographic Thematic Maps Launch in New Google Tool — from National Geographic by Brian Clark Howard; with thanks to Jen Carey for the Tweet on this
Google Maps Gallery brings classic cartography online.

Excerpt:

National Geographic has been producing thematic maps for decades, revealing not just physical features but also location-based details on cultures, history, wildlife, science, and more. Now, a treasure trove of more than 500 of those maps are available online in a new service from Google Maps.

The National Geographic maps can be found in their own section of Google Maps Gallery, which launched officially on February 27. This includes reference maps, wall maps, National Geographic magazine supplement maps, and other creations from over the years, all laid on top of the relevant Google basemaps.

Some amazing art!

On 01/08/2014, in architecture, art, creativity, geography / geology, by Daniel Christian

20 miles of stained glass colored ribbon hang inside a SF cathedral — from mymodernmet.com

A reflective palace of rainbows by Kimsooja — from thisiscolossal.com

Elaborate new portraits drawn on vintage maps by Ed Fairburn — from thisiscolossal.com

Mapping the Bible in Google Earth [Byrne]

On 10/14/2013, in education technology, engagement / engaging students, geography / geology, Google, higher education, innovation, interactivity, K-12 related, tools, by Daniel Christian

Mapping the Bible in Google Earth — from freetech4teachers.com by Richard Byrne

Excerpt (emphasis DSC):

A few years ago I shared a small collection of interactive maps based on Biblical stories. Recently, through the Google Earth Blog, I learned about a collection of Google Earth files that map Biblical stories. The blog Biblical Studies and Technological Tools put together a collection of seven Google Earth files. A couple of the files that I downloaded from the collection were a Complete list of Bible Place KMZ and Biblical Rivers and Bodies of Water (both links trigger KMZ/ KML file downloads).

“Apps for High School” featured on iTunes this week

On 05/01/2013, in Apple, art, biology, chemistry, cloud-based computing / apps / other cloud-related, geography / geology, history, K-12 related, languages and translation, mathematics, music, physics, reading, by Daniel Christian

From DSC:
With thanks going out to Mr. Mike Amante (@mamante) for posting this item out on Twitter.

Check out SEA Biofuels for some excellent news! Then consider helping out.

On 03/28/2013, in future, geography / geology, global / globalization, health, hearts -- matters of the heart, society, sociology, by Daniel Christian

From DSC:
Check out this very cool news from my friend and Bible Study fellow — Mr. Patrick Mohney, President of SEA Biofuels, LLC

This is really amazing.

First of all, people in the developing world, even today, use either campfires or some other smokey cooking system. This type of cooking is the norm for three billion people today, this leads to millions of deaths per year, as well as a leading contributor of greenhouse gases. Also, I learned that in some parts of the world, women that normally collect the cooking fuel, are the subject of physical violence and rape as they collect fuel in a territory that another clan, family or tribe feel belongs to them. I hear these things and think, “Seriously, we have to fix this!”

We could fix this, if we had a clean and environmentally friendly alternative fuel that they could afford. Now we have just that. We make fuel from excess agricultural waste like rice husks, coconut shells or almost any woody bio-material.

The stove-fuel combo is the most efficient in the world, but the reason that I am excited about it, is that it is less expensive to operate for the consumer than the alternative fuels. As it turns out, people that use wood or charcoal to cook with, usually pay for it, and it is not cheap. Our fuel is usually half to three quarters of the price of the status quo fuel at retail to the consumer. This is why our stove and fuel is presently the only option that is scale-able and can help millions, or billions of people.

I know you are busy, but we can solve this for half of the worlds people, if you could just pass this on or make some noise. Like us on FB.

Our mission statement is, “Be a Blessing to others and you will be Blessed”.

God Bless you and your family.

Patrick Mohney
President
SEA Biofuels, LLC

From DSC and Patrick:
Contribute something today — make the world a better place to live in.

Learning Ecosystems

That ‘useless’ liberal arts degree has become tech’s hottest ticket [Anders; Forbes]

NASA Captures “EPIC” Earth Image [nasa.gov]

A solid variety of tools & apps

Aurasma

Rome 320 AD – Interactive App [Carey]

National Geographic Thematic Maps Launch in New Google Tool [Howard]

Some amazing art!

Check out SEA Biofuels for some excellent news! Then consider helping out.

Categories

Tags