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<channel>
	<title>ICT in my Classroom &#187; Google Earth</title>
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	<link>http://tbarrett.edublogs.org</link>
	<description>Space for me to explore my ideas and experiences of ICT in my classroom.</description>
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		<title>100 Interesting Ways</title>
		<link>http://tbarrett.edublogs.org/2009/01/26/100-interesting-ways/</link>
		<comments>http://tbarrett.edublogs.org/2009/01/26/100-interesting-ways/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Mon, 26 Jan 2009 20:09:57 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>tbarrett</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Google Docs]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Google Earth]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[INSET]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[IWB]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[flip]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://tbarrett.edublogs.org/?p=341</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[In November 2007 I began the first of a series of Google presentations gathering together some ideas about the uses of different tools for the classroom. I thought that the easy manner of sharing Google Docs was ideal to collate thoughts, tips and suggestions from teachers and educators all over the world. I began with [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p><strong>In November 2007 I began the first of a series of Google presentations gathering together some ideas about the uses of different tools for the classroom. I thought that the easy manner of sharing Google Docs was ideal to collate thoughts, tips and suggestions from teachers and educators all over the world.</strong></p>
<p>I began with interesting ways to use the interactive whiteboard and the family has since grown to include, tips for Google Earth, Google Docs and the most recent Pocket Video Cameras. It has been great to watch them evolve as people get in touch and I add them to the document and they make their own edits.</p>
<p>Here is the family photo <img src='http://tbarrett.edublogs.org/wp-includes/images/smilies/icon_smile.gif' alt=':-)' class='wp-smiley' /> </p>
<p><iframe src='http://docs.google.com/EmbedSlideshow?docid=dhn2vcv5_106c9fm8j' frameborder='0' width='410' height='342'></iframe></p>
<p><iframe src='http://docs.google.com/EmbedSlideshow?docid=dhn2vcv5_175fp5qg9d3' frameborder='0' width='410' height='342'></iframe></p>
<p><iframe src='http://docs.google.com/EmbedSlideshow?docid=dhn2vcv5_8323t58h3ft' frameborder='0' width='410' height='342'></iframe></p>
<p><iframe src='http://docs.google.com/EmbedSlideshow?docid=dhn2vcv5_6tv55j7g9' frameborder='0' width='410' height='342'></iframe></p>
<p>My intention from the beginning was that there should be many authors of the presentations and that teachers and school staff could happily take the resource and share it with their colleagues. As it is in a simple presentation format it seems to have been successful in doing that.</p>
<p><strong>In total we have collated <span style="text-decoration: line-through;">100</span></strong><strong> 101 suggestions, tips and ideas for the classroom! (I can&#8217;t type quick enough and people keep adding more ideas!) It is fantastic to be part of that collaborative effort to share what we do.</strong></p>
<p>The most recent on pocket video cameras seems to have really hit a rich vein of classroom ideas &#8211; so far 29 ideas have been shared by people all over the world and I only started it 3 days ago. I haven&#8217;t had chance to add an idea myself yet! Perhaps this wealth of ideas illustrates the power and potential of video in the classroom &#8211; which isn&#8217;t particularly new but pocket video cameras give us, and the children we work with, much easier access.</p>
<p><strong>Who knows what the next 100 ideas will be about but I hope that you can be part of it &#8211; please take some time to take a look through some of them above, let me know if you have used the presentations with your staff. If you want to add an idea to any of the above presentations just let me know your email address and I will add you as an editor.</strong></p>
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		<title>My Maths Lesson Today &#8211; Using SMART Notebook and Google Earth for 3D Shape</title>
		<link>http://tbarrett.edublogs.org/2009/01/21/my-maths-lesson-today-using-smart-notebook-and-google-earth-for-3d-shape/</link>
		<comments>http://tbarrett.edublogs.org/2009/01/21/my-maths-lesson-today-using-smart-notebook-and-google-earth-for-3d-shape/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Wed, 21 Jan 2009 21:42:39 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>tbarrett</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Google Earth]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Maths]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[My class]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[SMARTboards]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[nets]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[SMART Notebook]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://tbarrett.edublogs.org/?p=340</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Our class had a very enjoyable numeracy lesson today in which they were further exploring nets of 3D shapes and developing their ability to visualise them. We used SMART Notebook on the class laptops to help record our work as well as Google Earth for our shape of the week. This week we have been [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p><strong>Our class had a very enjoyable numeracy lesson today in which they were further exploring nets of 3D shapes and developing their ability to visualise them. We used SMART Notebook on the class laptops to help record our work as well as Google Earth for our shape of the week.</strong></p>
<p>This week we have been exploring nets of 3D shapes and for the lesson&#8217;s &#8220;Shape of the Week&#8221; starter I had Google Earth running with the Pyramids (Egypt) placemarked &#8211; we zoomed, from right out in space, into the location of these great monuments. (I still love the awe and wonder of that, so do the kids!) It was a good link with our Ancient Egyptian history topic. I had switched on the 3D Buildings layer and I panned and moved about the modelled pyramids. We then spent some time talking about the properties of square based pyramids, their nets and the pyramid family in general. I scribed their ideas straight onto Google Earth using the SMARTBoard pens and annotated the pyramids. I good start to the session.</p>
<p><object classid="clsid:d27cdb6e-ae6d-11cf-96b8-444553540000" width="400" height="300" codebase="http://download.macromedia.com/pub/shockwave/cabs/flash/swflash.cab#version=6,0,40,0"><param name="flashvars" value="&amp;offsite=true&amp;lang=en-us&amp;page_show_url=%2Fphotos%2Fkardon%2Fsets%2F72157612790866599%2Fshow%2F&amp;page_show_back_url=%2Fphotos%2Fkardon%2Fsets%2F72157612790866599%2F&amp;set_id=72157612790866599&amp;jump_to=" /><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true" /><param name="src" value="http://www.flickr.com/apps/slideshow/show.swf?v=63961" /><embed type="application/x-shockwave-flash" width="400" height="300" src="http://www.flickr.com/apps/slideshow/show.swf?v=63961" allowfullscreen="true" flashvars="&amp;offsite=true&amp;lang=en-us&amp;page_show_url=%2Fphotos%2Fkardon%2Fsets%2F72157612790866599%2Fshow%2F&amp;page_show_back_url=%2Fphotos%2Fkardon%2Fsets%2F72157612790866599%2F&amp;set_id=72157612790866599&amp;jump_to="></embed></object></p>
<p>For the main part of the lesson and the independent task I wanted the children to visualise the top and the bottom of a net. Which face in a cube net does not move and which would become the top of the cube? So we combined the practical use of Clixi with a SMART Notebook that allowed the children to easily recreate and record the nets.</p>
<p>I shared a notebook file on the network, which the children accessed and opened on their own laptop. The children were working in pairs on their numeracy tables. They made the possible nets with the Clixi and then generating the same net in the notebook from some infinite cloned shapes I had setup. I then wanted them to colour the top RED and the bottom GREEN to show they understood how the net behaved when folded. The technology was not complex but it allowed them to quickly recreate the nets and show what was needed &#8211; less time was spent recording due to the technology. Which meant that more time was spent visualising how the net worked, exploring the Clixi nets they had made and discussing the possibilities in their pairs.</p>
<p><strong>I was really pleased with the progress made throughout the lesson as the children discussed and explored the nets of cubes, cuboids and pentagonal prisms. I was equally impressed, however not surprised, in the successful way the blended learning resources worked &#8211; how they complimented each other and how the no frills technology began to become invisible amidst the learning going on.</strong></p>
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		<title>Using Google Earth, Google Docs and Twitter in this Afternoon&#8217;s Science Lesson</title>
		<link>http://tbarrett.edublogs.org/2008/12/08/using-google-earth-google-docs-and-twitter-in-this-afternoons-science-lesson/</link>
		<comments>http://tbarrett.edublogs.org/2008/12/08/using-google-earth-google-docs-and-twitter-in-this-afternoons-science-lesson/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Mon, 08 Dec 2008 21:13:24 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>tbarrett</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Geotagging]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Google]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Google Docs]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Google Earth]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Twitter]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://tbarrett.edublogs.org/?p=334</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[In my science lesson this afternoon we used Google Earth, Google Docs and Twitter to help us get a better understanding about how day length varies across the UK, and an insight into the differences around the world. As part of our introduction to the concept of day length I used Google Earth and the [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p><strong>In my science lesson this afternoon we used Google Earth, Google Docs and Twitter to help us get a better understanding about how day length varies across the UK, and an insight into the differences around the world.</strong></p>
<p>As part of our introduction to the concept of day length I used Google Earth and the sun/shadow layer to illustrate the movement of the Earth&#8217;s shadow. We played the animation for the day and talked about what we could see in the way it moved.</p>
<p><strong>What did Google Earth do to enhance the lesson?</strong></p>
<ul>
<li>This tool allows you to control the Earth&#8217;s shadow &#8211; that is a powerful simulation in the context of this lesson.</li>
<li>The timeline at the top of the screen shows accurate timing of where the sunrise/sunset is during a given 24 hours.</li>
<li>You can play through 24 hours of sunlight and darkness in a matter of seconds.</li>
<li>It offers children a global perspective on day and night &#8211; and yet in the same moment you could be focused in on your school and explore it on a more local level.</li>
<li>If I was to continue this unit further I would consider a more prolonged and individual use of Google Earth and simple data sets of sunrise/set times. This would provide the children the link between the times and a visual representation of the Earth&#8217;s shadow.</li>
</ul>
<p><a title="P081208_13.52 by kardon, on Flickr" href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/kardon/3092963155/"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3160/3092963155_f17d76ab75_m.jpg" alt="P081208_13.52" width="240" height="180" /></a></p>
<p>In pairs the children worked in Google Docs on a set of sunrise and sunset times for UK cities. They used a simple formula to help them calculate the differences and so work out the day length in hours and minutes. They then looked at ordering the cities according to day length.</p>
<p><strong>What did Google Docs do to enhance the lesson?</strong></p>
<ul>
<li>The children were able to share document ownership of the day length calculations.</li>
<li>Docs remembers to save the progress regularly &#8211; data loss is very rare.</li>
<li>Children&#8217;s completed spreadsheets were &#8220;handed in&#8221; to me to review by sharing with me as a contact. The docs will then appear in my own list and I will get an email message too.</li>
<li>I was able to model on a shared copy of the document displayed on everyone&#8217;s laptop screen. The changes that were made were updated in real time on their copy. When they went to make their own copy the modelled examples were part of their own.</li>
</ul>
<p>As a longer extension to this task I asked on my Twitter network to provide some real locations for my children to research and find sunrise and sunset information for. </p>
<p><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/26872986@N00/3092888241/"><img style="border: 1px solid black" src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3195/3092888241_afdf07b199.jpg" alt="" /></a></p>
<p>I have <a href="http://tbarrett.edublogs.org/2008/09/06/a-little-help-from-my-network/">used</a> <a href="http://tbarrett.edublogs.org/2008/03/07/plan-tweet-teach-tweet-learn-smile/">Twitter</a> in a <a href="http://tbarrett.edublogs.org/2008/01/18/geotweets-inviting-your-network-into-the-classroom/">similar</a> <a href="http://tbarrett.edublogs.org/2008/03/29/twitter-a-teaching-and-learning-tool/">way</a> in the past and once again I was thrilled to get so many responses that challenged my class. The locations were from right around the globe &#8211; India to Australia, from Thailand to Scotland. As an extension my class chose one or more of these locations as they appeared in my replies window on TweetDeck, and found out the day length.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/26872986@N00/3092958263/"><img style="border: 1px solid black" src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3123/3092958263_82eb2c1746.jpg" alt="" /></a></p>
<p><strong>What did Twitter do to enhance the lesson?</strong></p>
<ul>
<li>Real data, from real people in real locations. I would just explain a little about the person Tweeting if I knew them. Real connections.</li>
<li>Purposeful challenges from real people.</li>
<li>It may only be a short 140 characters from those who contributed but it provided a hugely engaging task that made us think beyond our shores.</li>
<li>I cannot think of any other tool that would allow me to connect to so many teachers so easily.</li>
<li>The contributions were from so many different parts of the world that it provided us with day lengths that we could compare and contrast with our own. </li>
<li>The teachers that connected with us naturally asked other questions and challenges that allowed us to explore other things. </li>
<li>It provided the whole class an opportunity to think, if only for a few minutes, as global citizens.</li>
</ul>
<p>It was an great hour or so and I believe the tools we chose to use to support our learning were the correct ones. I was of course pleased to see the children engaging with Google Docs so effortlessly, it is just part of what we do now.</p>
<p>Curiously Google have altered the process of creating a copy of a document, removing the &#8220;Copy Collaborators&#8221; step. This caused us no end of headaches when sharing a doc with many students, as they in turn copied the document and also the 60 collaborators. You can imagine the burgeoning number of copies! I hope our efforts to share what we did contributed in a small way to that development. </p>
<p><strong>Every teacher should use Twitter, not only as a networking tool to help them learn &#8211; but in regards to connecting to the wider world to support learning. It is easy, it is fast and in my opinion peerless. Thankyou to all of you who contributed to the lesson with your messages &#8211; I hope that this post provides a context for your contribution.</strong></p>
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		<title>Google Earth is Our Paper &#8211; Part 5: A Week in Review</title>
		<link>http://tbarrett.edublogs.org/2008/12/01/google-earth-is-our-paper-part-5-a-week-in-review/</link>
		<comments>http://tbarrett.edublogs.org/2008/12/01/google-earth-is-our-paper-part-5-a-week-in-review/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Mon, 01 Dec 2008 21:37:17 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>tbarrett</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Google Earth]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Literacy]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Mapping]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[digital narrative]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[digital storytelling]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[writing]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://tbarrett.edublogs.org/?p=330</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Our week of storytelling in Google Earth has finished however I wanted to wrap up my reflections on working in this way. In this post I look back over the process and review the benefits you will reap and any challenges that you may face in implementing a similar unit. A piece of Google Earth [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p><strong>Our week of storytelling in Google Earth has finished however I wanted to wrap up my reflections on working in this way. In this post I look back over the process and review the benefits you will reap and any challenges that you may face in implementing a similar uni</strong>t.</p>
<p>A piece of Google Earth storytelling is definitely manageable within a week (5-6 hours) and in that sense is very flexible. The completed outcome from each child was a set of 6 placemarks that included:</p>
<ul>
<li>An embedded Vocaroo audio snippet of a rehearsed and planned piece of the story from James&#8217; point of view.</li>
<li>A written sentence that was a second draft of that first audio clip. An improved version that built in the language work we had done as a class to support the story.</li>
</ul>
<p>You can see these two story elements in this screenshot of a child&#8217;s work.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/26872986@N00/3074693469/"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3138/3074693469_c2f232c63e.jpg" alt="" /></a></p>
<p>If you would like to hear the audio, see the other 5 placemarks and the work as a whole then you can download the KMZ file <a href="http://classroomgoogleearth.wikispaces.com/file/view/Reanne.kmz">here</a>. During the week I worked with a supported literacy group and <a href="http://classroomgoogleearth.wikispaces.com/file/view/Escape+-+Leah%2C+Tara%2C+Mark%2C+Reece+and+Ben.kmz">here</a> is the audio work we completed together.</p>
<p><strong>Challenges of digital storytelling in Google Earth</strong></p>
<ul>
<li><strong>Saving </strong>- this has been the biggest issue for us as the children will encounter temporary files saved locally in Google Earth. This is especially true when working on different laptops over a period of days. As the placemarks were the same, it led to confusion. If I was to do another unit of work with GE I would ensure that the children save work with their name included and I would also purge the local files at the end of every session. Another option is to explore the use of Google Maps.</li>
<li><strong>Uncertainty </strong>- as with most applications the more confident you are as a user the more you will get from it. Google Earth has a lot going on with various menus, folders and windows. The children often ran into a sticky spot if they could not find the item they were looking for or generally felt unfamiliar with the layout. If I was to repeat this unit again I would probably ensure there has been equivalent hours put in before hand that doesn&#8217;t just orientate them to the basics but allows them time to work with files, saving and the various layers of information. This would raise their level of confidence, consequently the layout of Google Earth would not be a hurdle to better storytelling.</li>
</ul>
<p><strong>Benefits of digital storytelling in Google Earth</strong></p>
<ul>
<li><strong>Visual </strong>- beginning with such a rich visual stimulus as Google Earth imagery gives the children such a different experience of storytelling then what they are used to. In this unit we benefited as a class not being straight-jacketed to a written, paper based plan. We were free to roam and explore the imagery we had, there were constraints that we agreed, but the plot was there in that imagery waiting for us to tease it out. </li>
<li><strong>Control</strong> - the children had control over the way they explored their story. They moved, tilted and zoomed, they controlled how their journey looked to them. I walked around the room during the week and they were all exerting this control over how the narrative space looked to them. I suppose in a small way this personalises the journey for them. </li>
<li><strong>Discovery </strong>- we began with a single location, a place I believed would be good to tell our escape story. It needed that decision, but from there we decided as a group what would happen. The snakey line you see in the example files or images could have easily taken us in another direction. The children discovered the elements of the story we included. In the first sessions we explored the local area in pairs and the children noted and discussed possible places of refuge. One child shared with us, by zooming in on the SMARTBoard, the building yard that we eventually chose to hide in as James. At that point int he lesson we had not even decided which way to turn from outside his house &#8211; but it was clear that the yard would provide us with lots of opportunities so we included it our escape. Let the children find their path, their journey &#8211; let them discover what is out there and allow the plot to be formed as you go.</li>
<li><strong>Embedding Media</strong> &#8211; Google Earth placemarks allow a whole host of media to be embedded in support of your story. We have added a simple audio player but you could easily have some drama work filmed and uploaded to a video hosting site, then embedded. That would be a great extension to what we have done and not too difficult either.</li>
<li><strong>Geotagged Narrative</strong> &#8211; beyond the huge variety of imagery children have as a starting point the sense of making your narrative happen in situ really appeals to me. You have to consider the tense that you work in, however the combination of narrative types in one place is a huge benefit to working in Google Earth. You could have written, spoken, filmed and drawn media all in the very location it is occurring.</li>
</ul>
<div><strong>Where do we go from here?</strong></div>
<div></div>
<div>In my opinion I think that this week has challenged me to think of storytelling in a new way. I think I have a good understanding of digital narrative, but working in Google Earth and defining the plot in response to the environment turns it all on it&#8217;s head. My class were not trying to conjure up some bright idea, they were inspired by the images in front of them, by the landscape and make up of the location. Just think of all of those locations&#8230;just waiting to be a location for a story. (You could even do one on <a href="http://www.google.com/mars/">Mars </a>or <a href="http://www.google.com/moon/">The Moon</a>!)</div>
<div></div>
<div>Somewhere local to the school to begin would also be a great starting point &#8211; perhaps a trip to somewhere near the school and the children do a recount of the day. I would also like to explore the potential of social stories, children generating small snippets of narrative roughly under the same plotlines, in different placemarks but again in roughly the same location. These could then be shared and the individual child chooses a path for their character to take adding their peers narrative parts to form a whole.</div>
<div></div>
<div><strong>Tear up the paper, be a location scout, let the landscape guide you, tip storytelling upside down and give it a shake &#8211; most of all let the children discover their own journey, their own path. You never know where it might lead.</strong></div>
<div>
<ul>
<li><a href="http://tbarrett.edublogs.org/2008/11/26/google-earth-is-our-paper-part-3-improve-the-story/">Google Earth is our Paper &#8211; Part 4: Improve the Story</a></li>
<li><a href="http://tbarrett.edublogs.org/2008/11/25/google-earth-is-our-paper-part-3-consolidate-and-empower/">Google Earth is our Paper &#8211; Part 3: Consolidate and Empower</a></li>
<li><a href="http://tbarrett.edublogs.org/2008/11/24/google-earth-is-our-paper-part-2-add-your-voice/">Google Earth is our Paper &#8211; Part 2: Add your Voice</a></li>
<li><a href="http://tbarrett.edublogs.org/2008/11/23/google-earth-is-our-paper-part-1-find-a-location-begin-a-journey/">Google Earth is our Paper &#8211; Part 1: Find a location, Begin a journey</a></li>
</ul>
</div>
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		<title>2 Unconferences in One Day</title>
		<link>http://tbarrett.edublogs.org/2008/11/29/2-unconferences-in-one-day/</link>
		<comments>http://tbarrett.edublogs.org/2008/11/29/2-unconferences-in-one-day/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Sat, 29 Nov 2008 18:41:38 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>tbarrett</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Google Earth]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[amp08]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[mmod2]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://tbarrett.edublogs.org/?p=328</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[On Thursday I had the opportunity to head down to London to take part in the Amplified&#8217;08 event held at NESTA HQ. In addition I was grateful to also be able to attend the MIrandaMod2 unconference at the London Institute for Education. Network of Networks The amplification of voices is the intent for Amplified08. Voices [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p><strong>On Thursday I had the opportunity to head down to London to take part in the <a href="http://amplified.pbwiki.com/">Amplified&#8217;08</a></strong><strong> event held at <a href="http://www.nesta.org.uk/">NESTA</a></strong><strong> HQ. In addition I was grateful to also be able to attend the <a href="http://mirandamod.wikispaces.com/">MIrandaMod2</a></strong><strong> unconference at the <a href="http://mirandamod.wikispaces.com/MirandaMod+2#where">London Institute for Education</a></strong><strong>.</strong></p>
<p><strong>Network of Networks</strong></p>
<p>The amplification of voices is the intent for Amplified08. Voices that have already come together in their own social networks, to meet face to face and take the use of social media in their fields of work onto the next level. I was in the company of about 200 other professionals who passionately believe in the power of social media, in one form or another, to change what they do. I was pleased to meet <a href="http://twitter.com/digitalmaverick">Drew Buddie</a> and <a href="http://www.l4l.co.uk/">Leon Cych</a> and between us we flew the flag for education in amongst this wider group. </p>
<p><a title="P271108_16.12 by kardon, on Flickr" href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/kardon/3068026477/"><img class="alignleft" style="float: left;margin-left: 5px;margin-right: 5px" src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3054/3068026477_8f1bf70ea9_m.jpg" alt="P271108_16.12" width="240" height="180" /></a></p>
<p>The session <a href="http://amplified.pbwiki.com/Topics+for+the+Day">topics </a>were sketched out on the <a href="http://amplified.pbwiki.com/Topics+for+the+Day">wiki </a>and after a brief introduction by <a href="http://twitter.com/sleepydog">Toby Moores</a> and NESTA we huddled around a whiteboard to find the location for the conversations. I attended a session called &#8220;From conscripts to followers &#8211; new forms of leadership and organization&#8221; that sprung up from a blog reaction by <a href="http://biztwozero.com/">David Terrar</a> to <a href="http://sethgodin.typepad.com/">Seth Godin&#8217;s</a> book <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Tribes-We-Need-You-Lead/dp/1591842336">Tribes</a>. I listened to the group talk about current workforce models and how social media has a role to play, how communication streams are different then they were a year ago and how it is possible to utilise them.</p>
<p>I explained to the group that I work with 30 social media experts everyday and then said I was a primary school teacher and that the children were ten. I asked what will the large corporate world do when my class are ready to get into the workforce? I discussed some of the online tools we use and the fact we have a Nintendo Wii in the class and some of the ways we have already used it &#8211; I explained that when I talk to the children on their terms and engage with them in a place that they know and enjoy, there is an instant community of use. The children know that I am aware of the ways they use social media and other technologies &#8211; they appreciate that it is OK to talk about it and enjoy it.</p>
<p>As with many of these events, or certainly what <a href="http://teachmeet.pbwiki.com/">TeachMeet </a>was built upon, the corridor conversations were also amazingly valuable. After the session I talked with <a href="http://www.bpodr.co.uk/">Graham Stewart</a>, <a href="http://theobvious.typepad.com/blog/">Euan Semple</a> and <a href="http://www.blogger.com/profile/01949383307342758215">Anne Marie McEwan</a> about the future of Amplified and what might happen. I referred to the fact that I left Glasgow and the TeachMeet at the Scottish Learning Festival feeling inspired and empowered to organise an event of my own. We talked about the level playing field those who use social media are standing on &#8211; we can all publish, have a TV or radio station or be a journalist. </p>
<p>I hope that in supporting each other social media and the wider use of online tools can be further leveraged in our professions. I believe that <a href="http://teachmeet.pbwiki.com/">TeachMeet </a>and the wider edtech community in all their glorious guises can exemplify how to use these tools in an open way. The way that we share how we work and our successes is not the same in the corporate arena. <strong>It was a privilege to encourage people to think about education in their discussions and all the good that goes on. May the voices of teachers continue to be heard loud and clear.</strong></p>
<p><strong>MirandaMod2</strong></p>
<p>Drew Buddie encouraged me to attend the second unconference organised by <a href="http://www.mirandanet.ac.uk/home.php">MirandNet</a>. It was a quick dash up the road with Drew from NESTA but was a real pleasure to attend and once again exciting to hear about the innovative work going on in classrooms. I was thrilled to also get a chance to meet <a href="http://daibarnes.blogspot.com/">Dai Barnes</a> and <a href="http://nstoneit.com/">Daniel Needlestone</a> who I have enjoyed talking to in the <a href="http://edtechroundup.wikispaces.com">EdTechRoundUp</a> meetings.</p>
<p>Loosely organised but with a tighter rein then, say a <a href="http://teachmeet.pbwiki.com/">TeachMeet</a>, we had a range of speakers from across the education sector. Leon Cych was in charge of the video stream that went out on <a href="http://www.ustream.tv/channel/mirandamod2">UStream </a>and he monitored the chat and twitter feeds as well.</p>
<p>I had a little unplanned stint talking about multi-touch interactive devices and what the future may (already) hold for classroom technology. Rachel Jones the head of education at Steljes (who kindly supported the event with some money for the food and drink) spoke to the group about future classroom designs and how the SMART Table could play a part in collaborative learning. I look forward to working with Rachel in the near future to help ensure the most is made of the SMART Table and to explore the possibilities it and the Durham project brings to the classroom.</p>
<p><a title="london 025 by kardon, on Flickr" href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/kardon/3068029039/"><img class="alignleft" style="float: left;margin-left: 5px;margin-right: 5px" src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3022/3068029039_ed920d5bfb_m.jpg" alt="london 025" width="135" height="240" /></a></p>
<p>My planned talk to the group on the <a href="http://tbarrett.edublogs.org/2008/11/23/google-earth-is-our-paper-part-1-find-a-location-begin-a-journey/">use of Google Earth for writing</a> began with me tipping a laptop on it&#8217;s screen and sliding it underneath a visualiser. We had to improvise as my laptop would not connect to the projection system. I talked about the work we have been doing this week in class and how we used the visual support of a location in Google Earth to define our story. It was fun being able to talk and showcase what goes on in my class and another opportunity to reflect on my practice.</p>
<p><a href="http://daibarnes.blogspot.com/">Dai Barnes</a> took the floor and talked with great passion about his students work with <a href="http://www.alice.org/">Alice</a> and <a href="http://www.mindmeister.com/">Mindmeister </a>- he also did an amazing impromptu demo of how to embed a Google Form in a Moodle page. After the event Leon, Dai, Drew and I had a pint and continued the conversation. Thankyou to MirandaNet for having me and it would be great to attend the next if I can.</p>
<p><strong>Overall it was a great day of sessions, conversations and learning &#8211; there was so much to reflect upon and it was inspiring to meet my network face to face. It only serves to strengthen those connections and inspire you further.</strong></p>
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		<title>Google Earth is our Paper &#8211; Part 4: Improve the Story</title>
		<link>http://tbarrett.edublogs.org/2008/11/26/google-earth-is-our-paper-part-3-improve-the-story/</link>
		<comments>http://tbarrett.edublogs.org/2008/11/26/google-earth-is-our-paper-part-3-improve-the-story/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Wed, 26 Nov 2008 21:20:34 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>tbarrett</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Google Earth]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Literacy]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Mapping]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[digitalstorytelling]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Google]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Vocaroo]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://tbarrett.edublogs.org/?p=326</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[In today&#8217;s literacy lesson, the third in our Google Earth storytelling unit, we made the leap from audio or spoken parts of the story to some written work.  The use of the mapping in this story has provided us with a structure through the escape route we chose and also it has provided us with [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p><strong>In today&#8217;s literacy lesson, the third in our Google Earth storytelling unit, we made the leap from audio or spoken parts of the story to some written work.</strong> </p>
<p>The use of the mapping in this story has provided us with a structure through the escape route we chose and also it has provided us with a rich visual stimulus for story content. The bushes James has to break through in his bid for freedom have caused scratches and bruises and ripped his clothing. The building site we have seen has caused James to be covered in dust and mud. In our story he hides between two large lorries and we stretched out with our senses (Jedi style!) and saw workmen chatting on a tea break, heard drills banging into the ground and the smell of diesel fumes from machinery. <strong>All of this has been generated from studying the satellite imagery in our story location.</strong></p>
<p><a title="P271108_16.07 by kardon, on Flickr" href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/kardon/3061354343/"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3033/3061354343_2a85a7b527.jpg" alt="P271108_16.07" width="420" height="295" /></a></p>
<p>Over the last few days we have been working on generating a bank of good vocabulary for the escape, which we have on our WOW WORD display. Through discussion and thesaurus work we have gathered lots of verbs and adjectives that have already proven valuable for the children to use in their stories. We have also tried to generate lots of different alternative sentence openers &#8211; many of the recorded audio sentences began with &#8220;I&#8221;. We used the verbs we had generated and coupled them with adverbs to generate powerful sentence openers. Again these are displayed on the wall for the children to see and use in their work, and in fact many of the improvements made today included many of the examples you can see.</p>
<p><a title="P271108_16.07[01] by kardon, on Flickr" href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/kardon/3062194918/"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3039/3062194918_f968467886.jpg" alt="P271108_16.07[01]" width="420" height="295" /></a></p>
<p>Today the children used this language work to improve the sentences they had begun in their <a href="http://vocaroo.com">Vocaroo </a>audio. Underneath the code for the Vocaroo player they added &lt;p&gt; for a paragraph and then wrote an improved version of their audio. We encourage them to make small changes to the original sentence, so just add a WOW word or begin the sentence in a more interesting way.</p>
<p>Here is an example of what one of the placemarks looked like and a second image of what the same item had included in the placemark properties. You can listen to the audio for this example <a href="http://classroomgoogleearth.wikispaces.com/file/view/Jumps+the+wall+onto+the+road.kmz">here</a>. The children coped well with writing in this way and had no problems with the coding as it is so simple.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/26872986@N00/3062149656/"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3015/3062149656_b291a20bc0.jpg" alt="" /></a></p>
<p><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/26872986@N00/3061309835/"><img style="border: 1px solid black" src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3166/3061309835_147b1984f7.jpg" alt="" /></a></p>
<p>The combination of audio and written text has allowed the children to really improve their writing. I have always been very encouraged when the children have used <a href="http://voicethread.com">Voicethread </a>and I think that a technology based audio element can be a powerful way to scaffold the writing process.</p>
<p><strong>I believe that in this unit there have been a few ingredients that have contributed to improved storytelling:</strong></p>
<ul>
<li>Google Earth&#8217;s imagery provided the class with ample inspiration for what to be creating in their story &#8211; they could see and explore it in front of them. They were not looking at a piece of paper and trying to drum up something.</li>
<li>The confidence and comfort that they have with the main character and the background to the story.</li>
<li>A clear and purposeful backbone to the tale &#8211; James is escaping.</li>
<li>An agreed escape route. The whole class can then discuss the various moments in the escape. The sharing and peer support is vital.</li>
<li>Easy audio recording has provided the children with a quick avenue into generating story content. There is no password/login/signup/complex method/knowledge/skill barrier to using Vocaroo. The children were recording their ideas immediately.</li>
<li>Audio and text situated on the image at where it happens in the story brings, often disparate, storytelling elements together.</li>
</ul>
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		<title>Google Earth is our Paper &#8211; Part 3: Consolidate and Empower</title>
		<link>http://tbarrett.edublogs.org/2008/11/25/google-earth-is-our-paper-part-3-consolidate-and-empower/</link>
		<comments>http://tbarrett.edublogs.org/2008/11/25/google-earth-is-our-paper-part-3-consolidate-and-empower/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Tue, 25 Nov 2008 20:58:47 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>tbarrett</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Google Earth]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Laptops]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Literacy]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Mapping]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[digitalnarrative]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[digitalstorytelling]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[GE]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Google]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://tbarrett.edublogs.org/?p=325</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Photo by debaird Attribution-ShareAlike License In our writing sessions today I took both classes, all 60 Year 5 children, over two sessions and we continued and completed our work begun yesterday. The children were completing the task of adding 6 audio recordings to the correct placemarks in Google Earth, please see Part 2 for details [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<div style="float: left"><img style="margin: 5px" src="http://static.flickr.com/3252/2391003991_22901a8a56_m.jpg" alt="" /><br />
<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/48889107219@N01/2391003991">Photo</a> by debaird<br />
Attribution-ShareAlike License</div>
<p><strong>In our writing sessions today I took both classes, all 60 Year 5 children, over two sessions and we continued and completed our work begun yesterday. The children were completing the task of adding 6 audio recordings to the correct placemarks in Google Earth, please see <a href="http://tbarrett.edublogs.org/2008/11/24/google-earth-is-our-paper-part-2-add-your-voice/">Part 2</a> for details of the process. </strong></p>
<p><strong>This post is concerned with some issues that have arisen from working with Google Earth and some classroom strategies I have found effective during my work with the application.</strong></p>
<p> </p>
<p><strong>Consolidate</strong></p>
<p>There is no better way for children to be successful then to have time to complete their tasks &#8211; today was a chance for them to consolidate the process they had begun yesterday and to once more practice embedding code in the Google Earth placemarks. All too often we want to rush the children onto the next great thing, it was useful today to take a breather and just ensure we had done a good job of the audio we worked on for our escape story.</p>
<p>Although a powerful and popular application, Google Earth is not used daily and so some children struggled to find their way around the different task panes and views. Having more time allowed them to become more confident. </p>
<p>As both classes were running into difficulties about what they could or could not see. Often they would think that all of their work had gone, or it has just disappeared &#8211; when in fact the placemark had just been unchecked in the Places window. Today I consolidated their basic understanding of the task windows and how to switch between them. I demonstrated the different possible views you could have within the Places window &#8211; and pre-empted some of the possible problems based on situations that may or may not have already arisen. </p>
<p>An issue that is well worth knowing about prior to working in Google Earth on a class laptop set is that of multiple content. For our escape story we have 7 placemarks and a path that loads up and is visible &#8211; when another child begins their own work another set of the placemarks is loaded up. Today some laptops had 3 sets visible. Children were saying they could not right click any of the placemarks but they had not realised (as the placemarks are identical) that there were multiple placemarks on top of each other. Again I reinforced checking only those placemarks which you need to be visible in the Places pane.</p>
<p><strong>Empower</strong></p>
<p>One of the disadvantages of working in Google Earth is that it is intended to work on a local level &#8211; as in the placemarks and items saved in My Places remain on that machine. This causes every laptop to have a different looking Google Earth Places pane, which naturally leads to some confusion. It is worth spending some time keeping on top of what files should and should not be there. My children would be using different laptops everyday and it is unfeasible to try and work with the same one everyday which would have been a time sapper of an organisational problem. Saving work is a little tricky due to the nested nature of the placemarks and content, however this is what we had to do.</p>
<p><strong>I gave myself a good slice of time at the end of each session over the last few days to walkthrough the saving process with both classes.</strong></p>
<ol>
<li>Any opened work from a network drive will begin life in the Temporary Places folder.</li>
<li>Find the main folder for your work, all of your placemarks should be below it in a list. Select it.</li>
<li>Right click this main folder to bring up the sub-menu.</li>
<li>Click &#8220;Save to My Places&#8221;.</li>
<li>The folder moves up and out of Temporary Places.</li>
<li>Find the main folder for your work again. Select it.</li>
<li>Right click this main folder to bring up the sub-menu.</li>
<li>Click &#8220;Save as&#8230;&#8221; or &#8220;Save place as&#8230;&#8221;</li>
<li>Navigate to your network folder.</li>
<li>Name the file appropriately so you know what it is.</li>
<li>Save.</li>
<li>If saving over the top of previous work allow it to replace the older file.</li>
</ol>
<div><strong></p>
<div>We wouldn&#8217;t have been as successful if it wasn&#8217;t for about 6-8 children in each class who became the experts. <span style="font-weight: normal">These children had completed the tasks set them and had a very good understanding for what we had done. They knew their way around Google Earth. I would encourage you to seek these children out and empower them to support their peers.</span></div>
<div></div>
<div><span style="font-weight: normal">The class experts for the saving routine above, were simply those who had been successful &#8211; I just called upon them to go and support someone else doing it. They were willing and supportive with their peers and guided them rather than taking over an important difference which I am always pointing out. This supportive ethos has always been with us as we help the children to understand how to problem solve with their class laptop resource. We try to encourage them to ask two other class member to help before talking to an adult.</span></div>
<div></div>
<p></strong></div>
<div><strong>Quick round-up</strong></div>
<div>
<ul>
<li>The slightly tricky nature of local content in Google Earth and saving work can cause younger children to get a bit disorientated.</li>
<li>Take plenty of time with younger students to demo and walkthrough the save process to a network folder.</li>
<li>With panes and folders open or closed the views can be very different on different machines so it is worth having confident children to help support their peers and to try and pre-empt some issues.</li>
<li>As everyone in this set of activities is altering the same placemarks, multiple copies can arise and can confuse. Ensure the children only have one set of placemarks checked.</li>
<li>Take time to consolidate Google Earth skills and confidence &#8211; use outside of the writing time and just allow them to explore. Reinforce the basic layout and structures.</li>
<li>Encourage a general sense of independence in problem solving &#8211; ask 2 friends for help before an adult. Do not underestimate the impact low level informal peer support can have on a technology rich lesson or environment.</li>
<li>Empower those confident students to actively support their peers, call them experts and make them feel special.</li>
</ul>
</div>
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		<title>Woices and Google Earth for Digital Fiction</title>
		<link>http://tbarrett.edublogs.org/2008/11/01/woices-and-google-earth-for-digital-fiction/</link>
		<comments>http://tbarrett.edublogs.org/2008/11/01/woices-and-google-earth-for-digital-fiction/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Sat, 01 Nov 2008 21:54:34 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>tbarrett</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Google Earth]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Literacy]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Mapping]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[My class]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[comiqs]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[digital storytelling]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[photostory]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[woices]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://tbarrett.edublogs.org/?p=316</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[These are some of the ideas I have been brewing over during my half term break from school. Today I managed to have a great few hours and got 3 solid looking weeks of planning done which incorporate all of these concepts. As the next few weeks pass I will reflect on their effectiveness in [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p><strong>These are some of the ideas I have been brewing over during my half term break from school. Today I managed to have a great few hours and got 3 solid looking weeks of planning done which incorporate all of these concepts. As the next few weeks pass I will reflect on their effectiveness in the classroom with our classes.</strong></p>
<h3>Photostory</h3>
<p><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/26872986@N00/2993337752/"><img class="alignleft" style="float: left;margin-left: 5px;margin-right: 5px;margin-top: 3px;margin-bottom: 3px" src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3233/2993337752_6f758e02f4.jpg" alt="" /></a>Not a particularly new idea as this is a firm favourite for digital storytelling. I have always spoken highly of this simple application from <a href="http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/using/digitalphotography/PhotoStory/default.mspx">Microsoft </a>because it has such a clearly set out structure to follow. It is particularly beneficial for young children as there is noa chance they will get lost in an open application searching for features or trying to remember how to do things. Photostory is linear in structure and so each step has to be passed by to finish.</p>
<p>We have had success in the past with Photostory so it is familiar territory for the staff in Year 5 but our classes have yet to look at it with us. They had some brief experience with their classes last year but not on the scale we want to use it.</p>
<p><strong>The children will be generating illustrations, clay models, images and paintings to help tell the story of James and the Giant Peach for the first few days.</strong> We are not taking on the whole story though, as the children have already written a letter explaining about his early predicament to an imaginary character. We are going to use Photostory to bring that letter to life and make it multi modal in nature. The prior writing will be a good source of support and the children will add audio and narration of their correspondence in this new digital way.</p>
<h3>Comiqs</h3>
<p>I first came across <a href="http://comiqs.com/">Comiqs</a> from <a href="http://mrkp.edublogs.org/">Steve Kirkpatrick&#8217;s</a> <a href="http://mrkp.edublogs.org/2008/07/04/its-only-a-comic-isnt-it/">excellent blog</a>. There are growing numbers of online comic and cartoon sites but the feature that makes this so useful in the classroom is its simplicity. I am looking forward to mashing up their writing into this <strong>different digital form</strong> following our Photostory work. The children will have to reappraise their writing and look at the direct speech of characters in more detail due to the comic book genre.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/26872986@N00/2993320410/"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3142/2993320410_e70af96240.jpg" alt="" /></a></p>
<p>I have contacted Michael at <a href="http://comiqs.com/">Comiqs</a> regarding multiple logins and just asking advice in general about using it with a class of 30 or even 60 children in total. It is clear that a class sign in system, like Voicethread, is not yet in place so I wanted his opinion &#8211; single login for the class or multiple logins. He replied:</p>
<blockquote><p>Currently, it might be best to use a single login and password for the site. However, managing the photos, etc, would be a bit of an issue. However, we might look into implementing a paid service with better much login and classroom support.</p></blockquote>
<p>If this is the case it should be interesting looking out for this in the future. I am excited about letting the children loose on <a href="http://comiqs.com/">Comiqs</a> and know they will enjoy using it for their <strong>digital narrative</strong>, nonetheless it remains to be seen how well it copes with large amounts of media in a single account, accessed by many children.</p>
<h3>Google Earth</h3>
<p>During a seminar at the <a href="http://www.ltscotland.org.uk/slf/">Scottish Learning Festival</a> <a href="http://edu.blogs.com/">Ewan McIntosh</a> explained about using <a href="http://earth.google.com/">Google Earth</a> for narrative in <a href="http://wetellstories.co.uk/">Penguin&#8217;s</a> <a href="http://wetellstories.co.uk/stories/week1/">21 Steps examples</a> from <a href="http://wetellstories.co.uk/authors/charles-cumming">Charles Cumming</a>. The idea struck me that beginning with a journey would be a great way to tell a story and combined with the children&#8217;s general confidence around <a href="http://earth.google.com/">Google Earth</a> it should be a great medium for narrative.</p>
<p>The idea for our own work is using James and the Giant Peach as our launch pad, but taking it in a different direction. I thought today that the class could write his escape from the clutches of his Aunt and to write the ongoing story using placemarks in Google Earth.</p>
<p>I spent some time hunting around for a place in England somewhere that matched the location of the house from the Dahl story. I found somewhere in Dorset I think, on a hill with a thin sliver of sea visible in the distance.</p>
<p>I will show the children how to create a path using <a href="http://earth.google.com/">Google Earth</a> and talk through James&#8217; possible escape.<strong> We will use the real features of the land to help inform the narrative. </strong>I will ask the children to write 6-10 parts of the escape story from James&#8217; point of view. Each placemark could form a paragraph and must refer to the real environment around it.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/26872986@N00/2992430075/"><img src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2107/2992430075_be73f7c435.jpg" alt="" /></a></p>
<p><strong>I love the idea of a visual pathway beginning the story rather than traditional plans or notes.</strong> I think the children will respond well to this digital form of stroytelling and perhaps we can make it an option in the future for writing narrative. The possibilities are huge for the scope of this work and combined with other information and creative media within <a href="http://earth.google.com/">Google Earth</a> layers it could really support children&#8217;s storytelling. This is the one I am most looking forward to exploring.</p>
<h3>Woices</h3>
<p>To support the location driven narrative of Google Earth and to provide the children with the opportunity to talk through their writing ideas prior to using GE, I have decided to plan in a few sessions using <a href="http://woices.com/">Woices</a>. This is a geotagging audio site and is meant to be used for recording audio references &#8220;<strong>echoes</strong>&#8221; about places in the world, they then can be combined together to form a &#8220;<strong>walk</strong>&#8221; of &#8220;<strong>echoes</strong>&#8221; with something in common.</p>
<blockquote><p>An echo is an audio record that is attached to a physical real-world location or object. Echoes are words, left by one person at some precise place, that can be listened to by anyone, as if their author was still there. Echoes can speak about any topic and respond to any user&#8217;s purpose. They can speak about local history, art, curiosities, personal memories, and so on. Just something you think its worth to leave that may make the world a more interesting place.</p></blockquote>
<p>As soon as I saw this tool i thought digital storytelling on a map! And that is how I am planning on using it, the children will take their journey from Google Earth (see above) and record audio of James&#8217; escape story. The children have to navigate on a world map to the location of the first piece of audio, so giving them a real location to search will be important, and then they record part of the narrative. <strong>Whereas Google Earth placemarks are the written version, <a href="http://woices.com/">Woices</a> is the spoken version.</strong></p>
<p><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/26872986@N00/2993329102/"><img class="alignleft" style="float: left;margin-left: 5px;margin-right: 5px;margin-top: 3px;margin-bottom: 3px" src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3283/2993329102_40734f1c33.jpg" alt="" /></a></p>
<p><strong>This is still very much an unknown service and I am unsure how it will cope with the media we will throw at it in a very short time.</strong> I will be getting in touch with the folk at Woices to forewarn them and to get some advice about usage. Once again their is an issue around many users on one single login and with lots of media being generated.</p>
<p>I am planning that the children will work in pairs to create their Woices audio on the map &#8211; once the &#8220;<strong>echoes</strong>&#8221; have been created they then can choose a bunch of them to create a &#8220;<strong>walk</strong>&#8221; and this will tie in together theor work creating a seamless narrative.</p>
<p>Of course now thinking about it the pooled audio provides for an interesting option of generating a whole variety of &#8220;walks&#8221; by combining different children&#8217;s ideas. I also had the thought that the Google Earth journey type narrative could lead from one path to another. The starting point for one child&#8217;s story could be the end of another, the whole class has the same theme and you begin with a shared/modelled piece of work and then the children take different parts of the journey. Combining to form a whole class digital journey narrative.</p>
<p><strong>There are many unanswered elements here and a completely new application to explore in the classroom, but there is also the reliability of Photostory and the exciting prospect of geo-narrative in Google Earth. I am looking forward to what the children make of it all and broadening their horizons to the nature of storytelling and narrative.</strong></p>
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		<title>iFrame Goodness: Embedding Google presentations</title>
		<link>http://tbarrett.edublogs.org/2008/03/17/iframe-goodness-embedding-google-presentations/</link>
		<comments>http://tbarrett.edublogs.org/2008/03/17/iframe-goodness-embedding-google-presentations/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Mon, 17 Mar 2008 10:25:11 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>tbarrett</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Google Docs]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Google Earth]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[presentations]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[edublogs]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[embed]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Google]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[googledocs]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[iframe]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[IWB]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[javascript]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://tbarrett.edublogs.org/2008/03/17/iframe-goodness-embedding-google-presentations/</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[I was pleased to discover that Edublogs now has the functionality to embed iframe, javacript and most object code into blog posts and sidebars. Below I have embedded the two different Google presentations on sharing good practice in Google Earth and using the IWB. If you would like to contribute to the ongoing development of [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>I was pleased to discover that <a href="http://edublogs.org">Edublogs</a> now has the functionality to embed <a href="http://edublogs.org/2008/03/17/widgets-javascript-iframes-and-objects-and-all-that-jazz/#comments">iframe, javacript and most object code</a> into blog posts and sidebars. Below I have embedded the two different Google presentations on sharing good practice in Google Earth and using the IWB.</p>
<p><iframe src="http://docs.google.com/EmbedSlideshow?docid=dhn2vcv5_106c9fm8j" frameborder="0" height="342" width="410"></iframe></p>
<p><iframe src="http://docs.google.com/EmbedSlideshow?docid=dhn2vcv5_175fp5qg9d3" frameborder="0" height="342" width="410"></iframe></p>
<p>If you would like to contribute to the ongoing development of these two presentations just <a href="http://tbarrett.edublogs.org/contact-me/">let me know</a> you have a tip to share.</p>
<p>In order to embed a Google presentation into a post, like I have done above, just follow the screenshots.</p>
<p><a href="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2159/2340365584_88ac1ebba3.jpg"><img src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2159/2340365584_88ac1ebba3.jpg" border="1" height="334" width="480" /></a></p>
<p><a href="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2053/2340369186_9e6284b309.jpg"><img src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2053/2340369186_9e6284b309.jpg" border="1" height="241" width="480" /></a></p>
<p><a href="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3107/2340377086_db13986abb.jpg"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3107/2340377086_db13986abb.jpg" border="1" height="240" width="480" /></a></p>
<p><a href="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3263/2339548947_40073af022.jpg"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3263/2339548947_40073af022.jpg" border="1" height="256" width="480" /></a></p>
<p>If you have any other ways you have used javascript, iframes code etc in your Edublogs <a href="http://edublogs.org/2008/03/17/widgets-javascript-iframes-and-objects-and-all-that-jazz/#comments">let James and the rest of the community know</a>.</p>
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		<title>Geotagging images using Google Earth</title>
		<link>http://tbarrett.edublogs.org/2008/02/27/geotagging-images-using-google-earth/</link>
		<comments>http://tbarrett.edublogs.org/2008/02/27/geotagging-images-using-google-earth/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Wed, 27 Feb 2008 19:34:23 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>tbarrett</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Geotagging]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Google Earth]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[GE]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[images]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[photography]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://tbarrett.edublogs.org/2008/02/27/geotagging-images-using-google-earth/</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[This afternoon we embarked upon the most challenging technology related work we have done to date in Year 5. The children are 4th graders, 9 or 10 years old. Recently we all went to Perlethorpe Activity Centre to support our work on rivers &#8211; we measured the velocity and profile of the River Meden, as [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>This afternoon we embarked upon the most challenging technology related work we have done to date in Year 5. The children are 4th graders, 9 or 10 years old.<br />
Recently we all went to <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Perlethorpe">Perlethorpe </a>Activity Centre to support our work on rivers &#8211; we measured the velocity and profile of the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/River_Meden">River Meden</a>, as well as enjoying a lovely sunny walk around the grounds of <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thoresby_Hall">Thoresby Hall</a>. As we walked round I snapped away some pictures and this afternoon we had the opportunity to geotag them in Google Earth(GE).<br />
<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/kardon/2296045193/" title="Perlethorpe Visit - a photoset on Flickr by kardon, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3161/2296045193_e0641c5ca9_o.jpg" alt="Perlethorpe Visit - a photoset on Flickr" align="left" height="186" width="244" /></a></p>
<p>The <a href="http://tbarrett.edublogs.org/2008/01/18/geotweets-inviting-your-network-into-the-classroom/">children have used GE</a> many times already this year, so I decided to take advantage of this knowledge as opposed to using Google Maps or Quikmaps as I have done in the past. The geotagging work ties nicely into their ongoing map skills development and is a good conclusion to the visit.</p>
<p>This video clip is one of the children completing the process of embedding an image from Flickr into a GE placemark, using the correct written code. (&lt;img src=&#8221;"&gt;)It certainly was a challenge for the children but once they had written the code a number of times, and often corrected their mistakes, they were flying.<br />
<code>[kml_flashembed movie="http://video.google.com/googleplayer.swf?docid=-5612066013521995380" width="400" height="326" wmode="transparent" /]</code></p>
<p>Here is what you have seen Kyle do in a step by step guide.</p>
<ol>
<li>Find an image stored somewhere online, study it carefully and try to pick up on any clues as to where it is. Remember when you geotag an image it should really be located where the photographer was standing when it was taken, not the subject of the image.</li>
<li>Copy the location or url of the image &#8211; in Firefox you can just right click and “Copy Image Location”. IE take the URL from &#8220;Properties&#8221;</li>
<li>Now navigate back to your new placemark in GE. Make sure you are looking at the properties window &#8211; you will add the code in the &#8220;description&#8221; part.</li>
<li>If you just paste the address it will not display the image because you have not told the map to retrieve anything, it will just return a link. You need to add in a little code.</li>
<li>All you need to do is ensure the image URL is encoded with the highlighted parts in the example below.</li>
<li><font color="#ff0000">&lt;img src=&#8221;</font>alovelypicture.online.234.jpg<font color="#ff0000">&#8220;&gt;</font></li>
<li>Now click OK. If you click on the placemark it should open up with the image inside.</li>
<li>When embedding video or other media &#8211; just look for the “Blog This” option, and paste the generated code straight into the placemark balloon. Google video can be added pretty easily in this way.</li>
</ol>
<p>The visual / spatial skills needed to correctly place an image on a map is an interesting one to explore. The children were looking very closely at what clues the image revealed as to the exact whereabouts of it.</p>
<p>I told the children that they would have had a successful afternoon if they could embed just one image in a placemark at the correct location. But, just as they often do, the children ran with it and tagged many pictures correctly on the map. A challenging but ultimately successful afternoon of GE mapping work.</p>
<p>(I will add a link to some example KMZ work as well as a Google Map of our work from today when I can.)</p>
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