One area of photography that acts as a bridge between classic still image photography and video is time-lapse photography. Time-lapse photography consists of taking a series of photos at regular intervals and then displaying them one after the other. The effect can be used to show patterns that are not normally observed in real time. Clouds make a terrific subject for time-lapse photography as they roll across the sky. My clouds time-lapse long photo consisted of taking 150 photos using a intervalometer set to take one photo every 5 seconds. Using QuickTime Pro the photos were converted into a sequence displayed at 15 frames per second in a QuickTime movie with a total elapsed time of 10 seconds. How long did it take to shoot this time-lapse?Was is worth the time? The first question requires basic math skills the second one is based on opinion. One stunning use of time-lapse was produced by Dan Chung during China’s 60th Anniversary national day on October 1, 2009.
Helping teachers think through their desire to integrate technology into their classroom instruction requires patience and an attention to detail similar to that required to produce good time-lapse images. Teachers know that good classroom instruction requires an enormous amount of thought and attention to detail. Adding technology to the mix increases the demands made on teachers to acquire new skills. Many teachers are inspired to take the plunge to learn a new technology if it means their students will respond positively to the learning experience. What technology tool is the most important one for teachers to master? It’s the wiki. Why? Wikis build on basic word processing skills so you can quickly add text content to a sharable web page. The sharable nature of wikis make them part of what’s termed Web 2.0. The key to harnessing the instructional potential of the wiki lies in their ability to show growth. Think of a wiki as a time lapse learning tool, where learning can be captured and nurtured over a period of time.
Google Analytics Becoming America wiki report map for Massachusetts (8/14 thru 10/17)
A recent example of time-lapse learning can be illustrated through the Becoming America wiki. Becoming America is a new Teaching American History Grant project that provides professional development for teachers in six school districts. The end goal for teachers is to create an American history lesson composed of primary sources found in the many libraries, archives, and historic sites located across eastern Massachusetts. Through this research process, teachers learn to think historically while breathing new life into their American history curricula. Since the wiki’s launch in August 2009, it has logged 3300 hits with Braintree teachers accounting for 27% of the hit count. Braintree teachers use the wiki the most because they cannot attend face-to-face meetings. All teachers use the wiki to respond to questions posed by project historians using the discussion tab. Historians appreciate being able to view teacher responses before giving their seminars. As teachers begin creating their lessons the wiki will be a critical resource for organizing primary sources and weaving them into compelling learning experiences. The concept of wikis as time-lapse learning tools is best seen using the history function for any page. The Unit Teams 2009 page’s history tab reveals there have been 16 updates to the page since it was created on Oct. 5th. Clicking on any of the updates shows what changes were made. Each individual update represents one frame of a time-lapse record of learning.
It’s been a cloudy, cool start to the summer throughout much of the Northeast. So when I departed Boston for this year’s National Educational Computing Conference (NECC) in Washington D.C., I was ready to feel some heat. It was my fifth consecutive NECC and the 30th anniversary of the conference. NECC attracts around 20,000 educators from around the world who are passionate about designing and developing digital-age learning experiences. The digital universe has grown so vast that it’s easy to become overwhelmed by the complexity of processing and synthesizing new information. My compensation strategy is to use concept mapping to emphasize important ideas gathered during the conference and attempt to relate them to practical classroom use. The concept map to the left was created with the new MyWebspiration web application (view the web version). A web application runs entirely through your web browser. There’s no software to download and install. Why would the makers of Inspiration software decide to create a web version? The answer can be found in the CLOUDs. These aren’t those pesky precipitating clouds, but rather an array of computers pushing virtual versions of software through the Internet into your browsers. NECC was dominated by these cloud computing solutions. One major issue for schools is the need to constantly update software on individual computers. The cloud version of Inspiration requires a browser with a stable Internet connection. Now here’s the real kicker, myWebspiration concept maps can be shared and edited by multiple users. Imagine assigning your students an assignment to collaboratively visualize books for homework.
The cloud metaphor is a good one to characterize the current status of educational technology. I spent NECC 2009 thinking about the creation of compelling Digital-Age Learning environments. MyWebspiration concept map shows a link between the world icon, NECC 2009, and a cloud symbol containing Digital-Age Learning. Controling clouds is notoriously futile therefore teachers will get wet. Your students will benefit from Information Technology experiences such as collecting temperature data with a USB probe directly into a computer and then sharing through the Information Technology in Science Instruction portal. Social Networking is also critical for making your curriculum global. Educators are using Twitter and Ning to create social networks that bring students together to design solutions to real-world problems and build their digital literacy skills.
Photographyand Collaboration are also given the cloudy treament. Adobe Photoshop.com enables image editing through the web. flickr is one of the largest photo sharing communities on the web. Wikis are the single best method for initiating a web collaboration. I created the NECC09 wiki page to share information and resources with K-8 educators back home. To document my NECC experience, sessions and workshops were listed by date with notes posted as text comments and concept maps! Selected photos were either embedded into the page or streamed from my flickr account.
I watched Nature’s The Loneliest Animals over the weekend about the plight of endangered species. My first thought was that educators have a tremendous responsibility to teach today’s students about the facts concerning loss of habitat and the importance of biodiversity.
I’ve been collaborating with several Ferryway 4th grade teachers on a project-based unit designed to lead students through a set of inquiry-based activities on animals and biomes. The goal is to build higher order thinking skills in our students as they learn about the link between habitats and animal life. According to our state (MA) curriculum science standards, students in grades 3-5 record details of the life cycles of plants and animals, and explore how organisms are adapted to their habitats. In 5th grade, students are assessed on their understanding during the MCAS science exam. OK wait a minute, you mean students take the high stakes science exam a full year after receiving the instruction. YES!!! In fact, an analysis of the questions on the MCAS science exam shows that between 10-15% of the exam deals primarily with animals and their biomes. Additionally, 1 of the 5 open-response questions usually requires a deep understanding of animals and biomes. To differentiate our instruction and increase the likelihood of student retention we have incorporated new digital media into our biome lessons. Where can teachers find good digital media assets that aren’t completely off limits due to strict licensing terms?
An excellent, free source for high quality digital media is provided by Teachers’ Domain. Teacher’s Domain (TD) is hosted and maintained by WGBH Boston. One terrific aspect of the site is the ability to download videos, audio clips, and Flash interactives to your desktop. In most cases, teachers and students are granted permission to download, share and remix these digital media assets. I downloaded and integrated a 2 minute QuickTime on Nihoa Island as part of vocabulary lesson (PDF 763KB) using a student response system. Students watched the clip and were asked which vocabulary words best described the movie. I think you are beginning to see how useful this can be for teachers. The interactive Animal Classification Game created in Flash fits perfectly with the goals and objectives of our biome unit. Students are presented with animals that they must classify as mammal, reptile, bird, amphibian or insect. I also appreciate the citation function that makes it easy to copy and paste the correct reference to the TD resources.
Search Teachers’ Domain before you try to create your own interactives or videos. Register for a free account to gain access to hundreds of digital media assets. Let me know what you find and how you used it in a lesson.
Maybe. Not all technologies should be embraced by teachers with open arms. As an educator on the front lines of technology integration I keep my eyes open to the digital horizon. I’m interested in finding technologies that can actually make classroom life easier for teachers. Lately, the mass media has become enamored with Twitter as evidenced by the constant invitations to “follow me on twitter.” Before I render a final verdict on Twitter let me describe my experience. My Twitter birth was August 2008, username: NeoTech03http://twitter.com/neotech03. I first joined because several colleagues were constantly talking about it. OK, I’ll give it a try. My first impression was positive since my colleagues posted messages that often linked to news articles on relevant issues in the educational technology world. As a Twitter novice, following a few people is easy and satisfying.
I’ve posted a total of 39 updates or Tweets. I’m following 7 people and organizations, and I have 12 people or organizations following me. The name of the game on Twitter is to create a network to share resources in a fast and efficient method. Twitter limits each message or post to 140 characters which makes it supposedly easier to consume information. Issue #1, the use of shorthand notation and acronyms to stay within the character limit make deciphering some messages difficult for novices.
During March, I joined a wikispace group called The Gr8Tweets Wiki that welcomed educators to experiment and learn more about the educational potential of Twitter. The Gr8Tweets Wiki was an opportunity to build upon my knowledge and comfort level using wikis on wikispaces.com by adding Twitter. Anyone could join the wiki by editing the Who’s Playing page. Participants were encouraged to post messages, sorry…Tweets, using the hash tag, #gr8t. The hash tag is a method that allows Tweets to be automatically tracked and searched. The home page of the Gr8Tweets shows a stream of the last 15 Tweets tagged with #gr8t. In the spirit of Web 2.0 openness I set my profile updates to be unprotected to encourage people to follow me. Protecting updates means that you have to approve anyone who wants to follow and read your updates. Issue #2, Twitter spam. I blocked 5 users who started following my updates with the express purpose of trying to sell me a product. Since the bulk of my updates were posted during March, I’ve noticed an uptick in emails informing me that spammeister is following me. Policing my Twitter account may become annoying if the rate increases. Issue #3, Useless tweets. Mixing personal and professional messages is a major issue when considering to use Twitter. I don’t want to know what you had for dinner, but I would put your professional opinion about the impact of stimulus funding on educational technology in the NEED to know column. Another aspect of useless tweets is wading through messages that don’t interest or apply to you. I’ve mainly used my Twitter experience to document my activities implementing technology at the Ferryway School. I can’t imagine managing a network of hundreds, if not thousands of people. I do like the ability to stream updates though, especially embedding them on a wiki page because it documents the many facets of technology integration.
My advice to teachers is to spend your time mastering wikis and blogging before committing to Twitter. No, I don’t NEED Twitter.
While vacationing on the Big Island of Hawaii, I visited the active lava fields of Kilauea to witness the birth of new land as lava meets the Pacific Ocean. The incredible plume that rises into the air is created from the instantaneous vaporization of water into steam as the hot lava hits the ocean water. Learn more about Kilauea at the United States Geological Survey’s website. http://hvo.wr.usgs.gov/kilauea/
I used a digital SLR camera and a small pocket-sized FlipVideo camera to capture the action.
Slide show images of the approach to the Kilauea lava flow. Watch a time lapse view of the violent interaction of lava and water. Look carefully and you can see rock exploding out of the ocean.
Watch a two minute video from the “safe” viewing area looking out to where the lava meets the ocean.
