Ok, so this is one for you innovators and early adopters. Augmented reality is where the real world and the online/virtual world collide. The simplest example is an old text book that is a little out of date. Simply stick a sticker of a barcode on a page and link it to a youtube video (or website, or wiki, or blog, or... well you get the idea!). Anyone with the (free) app on their smart phone can “read” this barcode with their phone’s camera and it will automatically go to the link on the phone’s internet browser. Voila! You know have handheld, multimedia content next to your “old” style materials!
Biblio Odysessy is beautiful. It’s a blog that collects something of the most stunning images that you might use in education. Take a look at these amazing Victorian maps and charts, or these detailed cut-away diagrams of nuclear reactors . There is a wealth of stuff here... just browse through by clicking “older posts” at the bottom of the screen. When you click on the image you can choose to download them as small, medium or large. If you see something you like as a poster then why not try downloading an image, upload it to blockposters.com and then printing it out in A4 pieces that join together to make a poster.
Aerial imagery of Europe in 1943 that shows the devastation of World War II is now available in Google Earth. Comparing photos immediately after the war and today really brings to life the incredible destruction and amazing recovery of bombed European cities.
If you want a free and simple space to share ideas among pupils or collagues, you might want to give Wallwisher a try. If you want to create your own then visit wall wisher and click “build a wall”. You can choose to have your walls private or public. Obviously, if your wall is public you have to be a careful about who posts what!
Ok, so maybe you can’t see the use of this straight away but this web service allows you to send timed emails to yourself... in the future! This can be extremely useful to remind yourself to do something or maybe you could just set up an email to arrive on your birthday (alright, so that might be a little sad).
Chicago public radio have a nice collection of short stories that they have recorded and broadcast and then made available online. There’s some really good writing and performances here that will allow for much discussion in English and Media lessons. Maybe this could inspire pupils to create audio versions of their own?
