Printing on common paper? Unbelievable!

(via Memo From the Monastery)

Flat Classroom Project: Fresh start in a new world

The brilliant work by Julie Lindsay (Beijing, China) and Vicki Davis (Westwood Schools, Georgia, USA) continues in The Flat Classroom Project 2010-1 which is now is well under way for 2010.

The Flat Classroom™ Project is a global collaborative project that joins together middle and senior high school students. This project is part of the emerging tend in internationally-aware schools to embrace a holistic and constructivist educational approach to work collaboratively with others around the world.

One of the main goals of the project is to ‘flatten’ or lower the classroom walls so that instead of each class working isolated and alone, 2 or more classes are joined virtually to become one large classroom. This is done through the Internet using Web 2.0 tools such as Wikispaces and Ning.

The Project uses Web 2.0 tools to make communication and interaction between students and teachers from all participating classrooms easier. The topics studied and discussed are real-world scenarios based on ‘The World is Flat‘ by Thomas Friedman.

I was honoured to be invited to present the Keynote, ‘Pandora’s Box: Fresh Start in a New World’ for FCP10-1. This time there are  over 200 students from 10 classrooms across 6 different countries.

Here are some guiding questions to get them thinking about how to respond and start a discussion or foster an existing discussion:

1. Is global collaboration using emerging technologies a pandora’s box? Why?
2. How can we best prepare the ‘17 year old Internet/connected world’ to mature and grow into ‘adulthood’?
3. How has the flat world impacted on you as a teenager? as a teacher?
4. What place do immersive worlds and virtual realities have in education?

PDF sharing online

What do you do when a graduated student  sends you a pdf (on the weekend), needing it for a reference file for uni accommodation application?

What do you do when you have no scanner or appropriate software on hand – and the silly form is meant for print use only?

You ask your contacts on Twitter for help of course!  I got lots of recommendations, but the one from @sandnsurf was the  one  that won the day.

FillAnyPDF free PDF Editor.

FillAnyPDF.com is a website where you upload your PDF form and link to it so other people can fill it out and sign it online. No software is needed. Any PDF form can be used, even if it’s not “interactive”, so you can get started right away. You can even invite a group to fill out your forms and track the results. Anyone that collects signatures or filled out forms will find FillAnyPDF.com to be a valuable time-saving resource.

I loaded then filled out the form – and then was given a link to either download the edited pdf or a url to send to the student. The link expires in 7 days. Pretty cool!

Open Source ethos

I have been spending a bit of time thinking about The World is Flat by Friedman in preparation for the first Flat Classroom Project in 2010. Amongst other things, I thought about Open Source thinking and flat world communications which I planned to share in the  Keynote kick-off.

Well, you now how it is – I just couldn’t share everything  I wanted to (lots out in the rough cuts), but the ‘finds’ are still inspirational.

You have to be inspired by the powerhouses of  Open Source software and Open Content. There is no doubt in my mind that an ‘Open Source ethos‘ is the best way to collaborate, create, share, and be empowered to inspire future learning.

For example, during the crisis in Haiti, the Open Source community did amazing work in Haiti OpenStreetMap to assist aid and rescue workers to do their work and help the relief and reconstruction effort. It was a Flat Classroom Project in action – creating up-to-date  maps of  Port au Prince. Dozens of mappers and developers were able to lend a hand, coordinating on the OSM Haiti WikiProject.

Thanks to Paul Hamilton, I was inspired by yet another amazing example of the power of work taking place using Open Source Software to help people. The development of the  Eyewriter is inspirational. The Eyewriter uses low cost creative technology an free open source software to enable graffiti writers and artists with paralysis to draw using only their eyes.

posted with vodpod

ePUB an iRevolution?

Overlooked in much of the hype about the iPad announcement earlier in the week was a comment by Steve Jobs in the Keynote presentation where he mentioned that the iBooks app for iPad would take advantage of the popular EPUB format for electronic books.

EPUB is the same format used by the popular Stanza [free, iTunes link] app for iPhone and iPod touch. It’s a free and open standard format created by the International Digital Publishing Forum (IDPF), and it’s designed for reflowable content that can be optimized to whatever device is being used to read a book file.

ebook readers that currently use the format include the Barnes & Noble Nook, the Sony Reader, iRex Digital Reader, and the iRiver Story.

Read more at  All about EPUB, the ebook standard for Apple’s iBookstore.

Does this mean that Apple might be pushing for a robust EPUB standard.

(I do like the Shelfari-look on that screen!)

Climbing up the social ladder …

Two and a half years ago Social Technographics presented a visual analysis of social technology behaviour. Despite the rapid pace of technology adoption, the rungs on the ladder have shown steady growth, with some (like Joiners) growing faster than others (like Creators). In an update -  Social Technographics: Conversationalists get onto the ladder – which includes not just Twitter users, but also people who update social network status to converse (since this activity in Facebook is actually more prevalent than tweeting).

Where do you fit on the ladder?

2010 – A roadmap for the future

Futurist Richard Watson has updated his annual trends and technology timeline for 2010.  What an interesting conversation starter at a meeting looking at technology!

The map has 16 lines representing everything from society & culture to news & media. There are also 5 time zones representing 2010-2050, so everything that falls outside the central zone (zone 1) is obviously a prediction.

The map is published under a Creative Commons Share-A-Like Licence.

Be sure to look at the full A3 sized image to get the full impact! PDF version available here.

(via 2010 Trends – A Roadmap for the Future)

Working at Web Scale

The Web as “humanity connected by technology”. This is the Semantic Web -  the web of linked data, according to Sir Time Berners Lee vision. Tim Berners-Lee spoke  at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland about the future of the Web and the value of working at “Web Scale”.

The next generation of the Web promises greater opportunity for advancing human intelligence by making us part of the technology system. Social networking is people working together – but they are not using the intelligence of the system. What would it be like if we got the mass of humanity connecting with machines?

(via titticimmino.com )

Unique (and amazing) PDF tool

This is amazing – absolutely amazing!

Nothing more to say really – except it also has a nifty bookmarklet that you can add to your toolbar.  Has website and server tools too!

Google – very social searching

Last year, Google unveiled its Social Search and launched into Labs. The idea is that you would see blog posts and other content from your social network in your search results.

Now, the feature is being rolled out to everyone as a new beta feature of Google.com. As part of the release, Google has also integrated social search into their Image search. You’ll see pictures from photo sharing sites such as Flickr and Picasa.

via blog.searchenginewatch.com