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| Version | User | Scope of changes |
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| May 9 2008, 3:08 PM EDT (current) | ricardoo3 | 4 words added, 4 words deleted |
| May 9 2008, 2:57 PM EDT | ricardoo3 | 1 widget added |
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Hi, my name is Richard Webb and I am currently working on a dissertation which aims to provide examples of the latest developments and benefits Google Earth is providing specifically in the context of Irish geographic teaching. My main interest is in virtual fieldwork, which offers opportunities for students and educators to highlight areas of interest on GE and combine it with text, still and moving images. Content is growing every week so hopefully you will get involved by downloading interesting lessons, layers and attachments for Google Earth. In return for my efforts I would appreciate if you would complete the short and anonymous online survey here.
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| LINKS You have to start somewhere A Finger on the Pulse  Why are schools so afraid of web 2.0? The Guardian online also had its say on the issue: http://education.guardian.co.uk/elearning/story/0,,2074232,00.html He has a lot to offer and hopefully he will visit Ireland in the near future to provide some inspiration to the web 2.0 nation! Where did you get those gloves?  People are always asking if that is me with the lit up gloves in the picture above. No, maybe soon it will be but at present I should respect these folks! What an amazing invention and something you could try with the students. 2 LEDs, 2 ping ball balls and a projector and eh presto watch the demo video here: http://atlasgloves.org/demo or visit the website. I don't have time to make gloves!  Well try this instead. For the price about 30 Euro you can have a 3D connexion Space Navigator. It uses sensors to allow total freedom of movement within Google Earth. Say goodbye to the pesky mouse. You can purchase the navigator here www.amazon.co.uk .The demo video below is class and will put you right in the mood to own this little piece of kit. Make sure you have the volume up. I want to be educated on general Google Earth Stuff Well fear not... here is another site on wetpaint that will take care of your all round Google Earth needs. Learn about future developments and download/discuss interesting images and layers at: http://googleearthblog.wetpaint.com/page/News Are you a Geography Geek?  Don't believe what they say... Here is a handy site to measure your true Internet upload and download speed. It is pretty common for providers to sell you x amount when in reality you are getting ...click here to find out. This site is oozing with geography ideas  Noel Jenkins site focuses on ICT and GIS in Geography classrooms.  | BLOG TUTORIALS ARRIVE! Great stuff has been happening the last couple of days. I have worked out how to record the desktop on the computer so that you can listen and watch Google Earth video tutorials. This is a major step forward and I hope you enjoy my efforts. The first tutorial focuses on adding placemarks with photos/video and can be found below. This video was featured on teachertube and in four days was watched 2000 times! PART 1 ADDING PLACEMARKS USING GPS PART 2 ADDING IMAGES TO PLACEMARKS PART 3 ADDING VIDEO TO PLACEMARKS UPLOADING VIDEO So Teacher Tube finally allowed us to upload a video. They say upload is unlimited but don't get to excited, anymore than 15mb and it is likely to crash! Instead you have to reduce the quality of videos you make. There is an excellent free converter you can get here. I would recommend selecting mp4 and best quality to get a 100mb film down to 7mb. If your video is more than 5 mins start breaking it up into parts. This is quite common and can be done very simply using windowWindows movieMovie maker.Maker. Anyway, here is the result below. The 3 minute movie focuses on urban regeneration and contested Space in Belfast. Remember you can do all this yourself by setting up a tour. See the virtual fieldwork page and video tutorial page for more information. Here is the version with text and music on youtubeYoutube And, as Teachertube can't deal with large files, here is it without tet and music... Here is another attempt at creating a video tour in Google Earth, this time using the course of the River Liffey as it meanders through Dublin. My latest headache is the video server teacher tube. Basically they are awful but on the plus side schools can access the content. The quality of upload is so poor I would not subject anyone to my videos on teacher tube at present. If you are in a school in Ireland and want to watch this tour the best thing is to view it on Google Earth here. If you can watch you tube then lucky you! Click on the video below. 08/04/08 DARFUR CRISIS ON GOOGLE EARTH  Here is a link to a super layer from the United Nations Outreach Programme. It weaves together satellite maps, photos, videos and eyewitness accounts to give viewers a close-up look at the refugee crises in Iraq, Chad, Columbia and Darfur in Sudan. Download to Google Earth here 18/03/08 JUST LOOK AT WHAT GOOGLE EARTH CAN DO! I came across this tonight. The first video is a flight over the Swiss Alps. The second is Noel Jenkins (from Juicy Geography) attempt to copy it using Google Earth. Surely this is the one if the finest examples of the power and realism of the software. You will have to stop one video now and again to get them in sequence but that in itself is part of the fun. However, if you want someone to do it for you then I know a nice Spanish man click here 14/03/08 GOING PRO! Good news today. Received two free copies of Google Earth Pro worth $800 in light of the work I am doing in promoting GE. This means I can record movies on GE to show my work on this site. It also means a whole lot of other stuff but that is for another day. 10/03/08 The earlier problems regarding my website access through schools have been fixed. The NCTE were surprisingly helpful and my thanks goes to them. Tomorrow I will attempt my first case study of virtual fieldwork using the pupils from St. Michael's Special Needs School in Dublin (my school). The full lesson can be viewed on the virtual fieldwork page here. It is aimed at primary level and the subject is 'creating a virtual tour of Brazil'.  My GPS arrived at the weekend so advanced virtual fieldwork is on the way. Keep an eye out for that over Easter. 29/02/08 CONTOL FREAKS! First contact with NCTE today. An informal phone call as I realised while showing a colleague my site that none of the attachments can be download by schools. The dangers of being bored by a Google Earth file are too great it appears. They were nice on the phone mind you and I await a call from the superior on Monday but this does not exactly enamour teachers to create content in Ireland. While waiting for the NTCE to decide how they will deal with the 'real' world you can read what Jerome Morrissey, director of the NCTE had to say on the matter last year. From what I gather he is resigned in a positive way to web 2.0 in schools but still believes they can control the content by selecting relevant material. At the end of the day this is impossible. They are proud of the fact they have sanctioned 27 million websites, but what about the 7 billion web-pages they intend to control? Even if this was possible they are still intent on blocking priceless shareware sites. What they need to look at are ways of blocking key word searches on sites such as youtube as they do at present on search engines. Blocked sites can be annoying but restrictions are lifted within 24 hours, so at least the control is not totally restrictive as I am finding at present. 27/02/08 AD FREE! Well tonight was a good night for the site. I got rid of the ads thanks to wikipaint recognising ad free in education. I have added some more to the GE layer and word pages and got an email from Amazon saying the GPS is in the post. Watch this space! 25/02/08 BIG BROTHER At present I am in a process of communication with The National Centre for Technology in Education (NCTE) to try and change their short-term attitudes to web 2.0 and sites such as youtube and google videos. Why do they not realise the value media-sharing sites and web 2.0 can give in engaging children with other communities around the world and in providing up to date and hugely relevant lesson material for educators? I for one cannot post virtual fieldwork properly without the use of youtube to en-bed video on GE. Instead we must use teachertube that Jamie points out is slow and contains a constant stream of inappropriate advertising. Are they saying children cannot access just as much junk elsewhere by blocking certain web 2.0 sites. We have waited long enough to get broadband into schools so why can't we access it before it all goes out of date and we are left behind on ICT matters even more. |
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