Technodemia would like to wish you all happy holidays. Be safe, party hard and have fun.
Author Archive
Happy Holidays
24
Dec
Ancient Rome in 3D
18
Dec
Google has recently released a new layer for Google Earth. This time it’s Ancient Rome in 3D with the help of the University of Virginia Institute for Advanced Technology in the Humanities Rome Reborn Project. Translated for you acronym lovers, UV’s IATH’s Rome Reborn Project. This is the first time and hopefully not the last time (hint hint Google) that your favorite “little big company” has released a layer for an ancient city. Just a fair warning you need to add it to your current Google Earth install.
There is tons of three dimensional data for this layer so the just with anything Google Earth, the larger your “tubes” the smoother the application flows. I suggest avoiding the wireless network in your school. Break out the cat5 and jack up! The system requirements for the Ancient Rome 3D layer is also greater than what is needed to run Google Earth, so you have been warned.
Google has also added a competition with the release of the Ancient Rome 3D layer. Christened the Ancient Rome 3D Curriculum Competition (ingenious). It’s open to K-12 educators who want to show off what you got. No, not those booty shots on your MySpace page (profiles are only private if you don’t know how to hack it). Your get to show off your techno-demic skills in creatively developing a curriculum integrating Ancient Rome 3D layer content and your classroom curricula. In addition to Google granting the top 6 submission Google educator honors online as they explain on the site, the prize packages include:
* Apple MacBook laptop
* Digital classroom projector
* Digital camera
* 3D Navigation mouse
* $500 in gift cards to Target or Office Depot
* Engraved Google “Top Educator” plaque
You can register as an individual teacher or as a team at the contest site after the jump. The submission deadline is February 9, 2009.
Flashcards Go Digital
14
Dec
A week ago I was in my local multipurpose store/pharmacy looking to purchase some index cards. I needed to practice my lies before I was to fill my fake prescription for Hillbilly Heroine and pain lollipops (it’s only a crime if you get caught). I entered the stationary isle to buy a pack of index cards and was shocked to find out that it would cost me about two dollars to make my felonies more believable. How is a young entrepreneur like myself suppose to make a prophet from my ill-gotten gains if I’m already spending money. Not wanting to burn 2 bucks I went home and searched for an alternative.
Quizlet is an online flashcard creation site. Yes there are many flashcard sites but none like Quizlet. “Quizlet eats flashcards for breakfast”, according to the website. You create a list of words and definitions and Quizlet used it’s online tools to teach it to you.
One method used is a game called “scatter”. Just imagine 52 pickup but with flash cards. You just drag and drop the term on top of the definition and vice-versa. Scatter is timed which kept me playing it over and over to beat my time. It’s not all about games here. There is conventional term to definition matching with a twist. The system monitors which terms you know, shows them less and shows the ones you don’t more. Not bad for a site who’s creator was still worrying about homeroom and study hall when it launched a few years ago. Yes, he was in high school when it all came to him. Talk about initiative.
Check out Quizlet today, you may find it good to create a list and share it with your students as a cool method to prepare the class for your next quiz.
A Starchild is Born…
12
Dec
- 2001: A Space Odyssey
Welcome to Technodemia. This the place where technology and education mix to create a sort of hybrid lovechild which is the seed for the next evolution in technology education.
I’m not sure if that made any sense but I thought I should at least try to start with something profound, but may have over shot my target. In any event, the idea for Technodemia spawns from the lack of innovative thinking when it comes to meshing technology with the field of education. It may be due to the fact that the majority perspective comes from educators whom enjoy technology and the lesser group of technologist, for lack of a better term, whom enjoy education. By no means am I faulting either group, but there is visible absence of technological knowledge past “Fisher-Price, My First Inter-Webs” or as we like to call it, an E1 as it relates to a higher level of technological knowledge or the lack there of.
Technodemia tries to bring you technology and education with a higher level of knowledge that you expect from sites that deal exclusively with technology and exclusively with education. With that said, welcome to Technodemia. “My God, it’s full of stars.”