No comments

Why I’m Obsessed with Google Earth

  November 9, 2014 ,

I have a confession to make. I am addicted to Google Earth. Google Earth is a virtual globe, that also serves as a map and geographical information program, which has been around since 2004. By mapping the Earth through collections of satellite imagery, aerial photography, and a 3D Globe and by offering additional capabilities such as viewing 3D buildings and landscapes, it makes for a fun and engaging user experience. Pin points can be added, symbology can be changed, information pop-ups can hold explanatory text or be embedded with videos. And the program is free and just requires a quick download to your desktop. GE can create a special visualization experience in the classroom-especial through the creation of personalized tours. GE allows you to record tours as you zoom in and out between points, change perspectives, or even enter into street view (how-to video here). These tours could easily be incorporated into a lecture or group project.  You also have the ability to see historical imagery in some areas. There are additional fun tools such as flight simulator and Ocean View. Did you know that you can see a 3D rendering of the Titanic using GE? But that’s not all! GE now lets you adventure to places you aspired to visit when you were a child with aspirations to be an astronaut: through the GE sky feature you can tour the galaxy. Visit the constellation of Orion, the  Moon and Mars. There are a lot of possibilities when it comes … Continue reading

No comments

Collaborative work in the humanities

  November 9, 2014 ,

This weekend, the South Atlantic Modern Language Association is coming to Buckhead, and the Hoccleve Archive team will be there. The last couple of weeks have been spent getting ready for what, for us at least, is the first public roll-out of our work. For me, this has meant a lot of time doing graphic design work, getting our poster and power-point ready for display. One of the things I have learned in the process is that the Hoccleve project is larger & more institutionally diffuse than I previously knew. I learned earlier this semester that the University of Texas was involved, as the host institution of our digital repository and the home of the general editor of the Hoccleve Archives project, Elon Lang. Robin Wharton has established a hub for the project here at GSU, and as best I can tell, GSU is currently the most active institution involved in the project, largely due to the considerable investment the SIF project has made in it. But while working with Robin on the poster, I learned the that project also has branches at two Canadian Universities, the University of Manitoba and Concordia University. At Manitoba, a professor in the English department is seeking funding from what I gather is the Canadian equivalent of the NEH to help digitize the Hoccleve Archives large collection of microfilmed manuscripts and to acquire microfilmed copies of the few manuscripts we do not yet have. At Concordia, another professor is using Hoccleve Archive materials to … Continue reading

2 Comments

Changing the dialog around sustainability

  November 5, 2014

Yesterday, I spoke on a student panel for a conference that centered around issues of sustainability.  There were speakers from various universities (including President Becker from GSU), company heads, interested scholars and a diverse group of other individuals all with a vested interest in integrating and sustaining green systems into our schools, our work and our daily life. Many of the sessions were informative and enlightening, but what I enjoyed the most is when all 4 panelists (emory, ga tech, spellmen, and myself) came together with other interested participants to discuss specifically ways we can share our resources and knowledge to further the goal of sustainability on campus and around Georgia. We were able to exchange ideas, ask questions on how others have implemented certain programs with success, and discuss in general some innovative ways to approach the issues facing sustainability without falling into the trap of sounding like a “liberal, tree hugging hippie”. Now,  I say liberal, tree hugging hippie with love because that’s what many of my southern family members think of me.  I work in urban gardens, I buy organic food, I try to stray from overly processed and chemical based products, I recycle and I strive to include green development in my thesis work and future plans for a career.   The problem is that in this country, and especially in the south, sustainability is too broad of a term that many times is disregarded or resented because of its association with things that might be … Continue reading

1 Comment

eTextbooks

  November 5, 2014 ,

I recently read a 2014 article about eTextbooks; the focus of the narrative study, published in College Teaching and written by Jenny Bossaller and Jenna Kammer, both at the University of Missouri, centered on faculty experience with eTextbooks, particularly those developed by college textbook publishers, and the advantages and disadvantages of this approach and arrangement. Bossaller and Kammer’s purpose in the article was “to inform instructors and administrators of the positive aspects (such as convenience, portability, and currency) and negative aspects (such as privacy, cost, and outsourcing) of teaching with etexts” (69).  Their methodology included a literature review about etext use in higher education and narrative interviews with eight faculty who had used etexts produced in conjunction with vendors (and in some cases, faculty who had also produced their own eTextbook). The authors list from another study (Cheverie, Peterson, and Cummings, 2012), “six major policy areas for etexts in higher education: affordability, broadband (network connectivity), information policy (encompassing access versus ownership, Digital Rights Management [DRM], and preservation), accessibility, privacy and security, and identity management (capable of single sign-on)”, but focus in their paper on affordability, privacy, and access, and add to this list outsourcing etext production, which they define as an important policy decision made by the faculty and university (69). The information in the study surprised me in several ways: 1.  I had not read much about nor thought much about the policy implications of the fact that college textbook companies have expanded their roles these days and are … Continue reading

1 Comment

Consumption vs. Production in the Hybrid 2110

  November 3, 2014 , ,

With a lot of help from Ameer, I am finally reaching the point where I can make videos more or less on my own. As I have been making them, I have been thinking about how educationally useful the experience of making the videos is. The countless decisions about what edit out, how to write captions that add to the content of the talking heads, and how to select images that enrich the storyline are really useful exercises in critical thought. The making of the video is more stimulating and engaging than the experience of watching them. Maybe this is simply a reflection of my still-modest chops as a filmmaker, but I think fundamentally it has to do with the difference between consumption and production – or, to use Halverson’s terms, between the kinds of content based technologies educational institutions have often been drawn towards and the learning technologies that have proliferated on the internet. So, I have been thinking about how to use the hybrid 2110 and its video component in ways that try to capture something of the experience of making the films. I know of at least one person at GSU, a VL named Nicole Tilford over in Religious Studies, who has been teaching students in upper division classes to make video as an assignment. You can see some of the results of her student’s work here. However, Nicole has been doing this with upper division courses, which has several significant advantages for projects of this nature. … Continue reading