Embedding Videos in PowerPoint - Thing 7

This one was relatively easy for me as I already knew how to alter the embedded code in Youtube, however I still learned something as I did not know you could control the length of the video by altering the code.

Very interesting - and this technology is already being widely used in teaching.  It is easy to see why it is so popular with staff and students.

Thing Number 6 - youtube

A little video - called Flag Hippo!

My Embedded Map

And here it is below:


View Journey South in a larger map

Google Maps & Google Earth - Thing Number 5

Google Maps provides Zoomable maps focused on an address or post code. Maps can be searched by business category, and it also provides driving directions.  To find a location you simply type in the postcode or address.



View Larger Map

Hmm direction No 44 in getting from Japan to China is Jetski across the Pacific Ocean...........think I'll pass on that one :-)

QR Codes - Thing Number 4

A QR Code is a cell phone readable bar code that can store website URL's, plain text, phone numbers, email addresses and  any other alphanumeric data. QR stands for Quick Response.

Below is the QR Code I have created for my personal email address:

This one is for Southport College Telephone Number:

And finally a QR Code for a Youtube clip on QR Codes:

Using RSS Feeds in Education

I can see how useful this would be to students and teaching staff - allowing quick access to current new/information on curriculum topics.  This would cut down the amount of searching and enable students' to quickly evaluate information.

For example if you have a student that is doing a project or a paper on global warming then the student could actually create an RSS feed that would bring any news about global warming to his newsreader (aggregator) as soon as it was published.

If you want detailed information on how to create and use RSS Feeds click on the link below which takes you to a website giving more details:

RSS Feed Disappointment!

Unfortunately I have discovered that my RSS feeds do not work in Google Chrome Browser, therefore if you want to see the data rather than the HTML code please look at the Blog in IE browser.

Thank you.

Using RSS Feeds -My Experience!

I need a bit of practice!  I found it quite frustrating at first, then discovered that it was because I was using Google Chrome.  Feeds work much better in Internet Explorer Browser.

After a bit of patience I managed to get 3 Feeds in my Blog.  One at the bottom - the BBC Home News Feed, and 2 above the Pages section, which are linked to relevant images!

My Useful RSS Feeds

From an educational point of view I looked at feeds that would be useful for my students and have subscribed to a few BBC news Feeds:

BBC News - Business (gives up to date current news on Businesses, this is particularly useful for my Business Studies students)

BBC News - Technology (for my IT students)

BBC News - Education (relevant for the staff more than the students)

I've also subscribed to the government Traffic news feed for the Motorways:

http://hatrafficinfo.dft.gov.uk/feeds/rss/CurrentAndFutureEvents/M6.xml

This one is very useful for me as I travel up and down the country visiting relatives!

Another good one for travel news is the RAC feed.

Thing Number 3

Thing 3 is RSS Feeds

Feeds are known as RSS ('Really Simple Syndication') which are just web pages, designed to be read by computers rather than people.  They are dynamic and real time so the information delivered is up to date and accurate.

So what have I learned about Widgets

Educational Use for Widgets

There are all kinds of widgets available that can potentially enhance learning including widgets containing dictionaries, words and facts of the day, calendars, converters, translators, and photos.

In fact some widgets have been designed purely for use in education.  Click on the word Education here to link to a  website which offers a wide variey of Free widgets.

Instantly add live computational knowledge  to your Blog or Website!eg this Heart Disease Risk Calculator:


or this BMI calculator:http://www.wolframalpha.com/widgets/

Useful Widgets

The Multiple World Clocks would be a very useful widget for Travel & Tourism students, or indeed those who travel around the world a lot or have friends in far flung places!



And a very useful widget for any student/traveller is of course a Weather Widget,  the one above,  I have customised for Birkdale Golf Club in Southport:

This weather forecast is generated by the Met Office Weather Widget

Installing a Widget

Right!  I've just had a quick look and found a pretty Clock Widget which I have installed below:

The unfortunate downside is that most Widgets I have found today come with inbuilt advertisements that can be quite annoying when you click on the Widget.

Using Blogs in Education

Now that I've completed Thing Number 1 -  Blogs, I can see how this technology can be used in teaching sessions to enhance the learning experience, making it creative, fun and interesting but at the same time adding to teaching resources for the tutor as it can be used to assess students' learning and track progress on a continual basis.

Below is a link to a Website which gives more detail on how Blogs can be very useful tool for integrating technology in the classroom:

http://www.glencoe.com/sec/teachingtoday/educationupclose.phtml/47

Interesting Fact No 2

There is a setting in Design, Advanced where you can set the colour of your Post Title to change if you have clicked on it!  It's in Links, and Visited Colour.  Thanks to Heather for helping me find this, as one of my Post Titles had turned grey and I had no idea why!

My Preferred Learning Style

I've just completed a Learning Styles quiz and the results indicate that I am a Visual Learner, which surprises me a little as I would consider myself to be a Kinaesthetic Learner becauseI like hands-on learning.  Perhaps the truth is I'm both!  It was an interesting little exercise the link is below if you want to have a go at the quiz!

http://brainboxx.co.uk/a3_aspects/pages/VAK_quest.htm

Setting up Web Links

This is a simple process - all you need to do is copy the URL, go back to design view and navigate to the post/page where you want to create a Web Link, select the word or phrase then click Link and paste the URL in the dialogue box that appears:

For example I am going to link my favourite book page to the phrase below and when you click it, it will link directly to My Favourite Book Page:

Pride & Prejudice

Blog Tips

Below is a link to the  Daily Blog Tips Web Site:

http://www.dailyblogtips.com/

This site gives some useful tips including this one:


http://www.dailyblogtips.com/33-ways-to-instant-blogging-failure/

Update on Favourite Book Page

I've now had time to update my favourite book page with some images and quotes - makes it a bit more interesting and hopefully explains better why I like the book so much.  Tomorrow I am going to insert a link..........Watch this space! :-)

Interesting Fact

I've been doing a bit of research on blogging and there are lots of tips and advice on the Internet.  One of the tips is not to be too formal and to make your blogs more like interesting little stories rather than boring factual data.  Well that's actually 2 of the tips!

It's true - I looked at a few examples of Blogs, and those I found most interesting were the more informal and story-like blogs.  The formal and factual blogs soon lost my interest. :-)

I'll share some more of these tips with you in future Blogs. :-)

My 21 Things

How exciting, I've begun my 21 Things Project today.  This Blog is going to be dedicated to the Project and I shall keep everyone updated on my progress.

Thing Number 1

Number 1 for me is creating the Blog - although I've dabbled a bit with various blog software in the past few weeks, I'm still learning and updating this Blog will help me develop my blogging skills.

This project will definitely improve my skills in new technologies and enable me to cascade the skills to teaching staff, hopefully encouraging them to use the various new dynamic software and resources available to make their teaching sessions fun and interesting for students, thereby enhancing the learning experience.