La rambla, Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain - Google Maps

La Rambla, Barcelona, Spain

Google Street View on La Rambla in Barcelona, Spain. I have fond memories of my time in Spain a little over 10 years ago. Of course, things change. I hardly recognize most of these places now.

This post, however, is not just a nostalgic look into my past. I want to focus attention on the use of Street View for virtual touring. You now have the ability, not only to look at a picture, but rather to get the overall lay of the land before visiting a place. If you take a look at my link, you're able to see business names and other landmarks. Heck, you could plan a sightseeing trip and where to go for lunch along the way with this tool.

This tool situates users in the context more so than anything else we have available to us. You can see the style of clothes people wear (not faces in the EU), cars they are driving, and, of course, the architecture. You can visit famous places when discussing issues in history or current events, or you can visit the places less traveled to better understand how common people live or particularly sub-groups live (i.e., Harlem, Beverly Hills, or rural areas).

I haven't seen anything published on how people are using this, but I expect that you will in the near future.

Brains: An End to Paralysis with Artificial Brain-to-Muscle Connectors

Brains: An End to Paralysis with Artificial Brain-to-Muscle Connectors

This is related to my previous posting in some ways. With this kind of science being done (actually applied) right now, how long will it be before we can virtual sensory applications?

I used to think that we would have to develop a body suit to get sensory (mostly tactile) feedback virtually, but this type of research makes me believe that we are getting closer to the ability to do this with a simple headset. Maybe this won't be done well in my lifetime, but I'm sure that my son will have this at his disposal sometime in his life.

How is it related to my previous post? Again, just as you can be in a place without actually being there, with this technology, you can feel the place without actually being there. A sort of virtual immersion. Brave New World.

EffectiveUI offers 360-degree video apps

EffectiveUI offers 360-degree video apps

This review of EffectiveUI got me re-thinking about the future of CALL. Virtual reality worlds (MUVEs), such as SecondLife, has so much potential, but they have had so much potential for many, many years in one form or another. They have never broken through into truly useful tools for your average classroom teacher to utilize.

One problem is still that development is so difficult. I know that many might argue that developing in SL is relatively easy and they anyone can learn, but that is exactly the problem. People need to be able to do, not learn. I consider myself rather tech capable in many areas, but all of my attempts at development in SL have been complete failures.

There are many great projects in SL, but these don't even come close to offering good coverage for classrooms. They can be great activities, but that seems like a lot of effort (both on the class and developer sides) for isolated activities. I have seen some great lessonplans for use in SL, but they all seem to be reaching a bit.

What a computer program can piece together videos and pictures of places, procedures, and so forth and create the environment for you? That is essentially what EffectiveIU, Google Street View, and others are doing right now. In addition, these can then be augmented by creating hotspots, overlays, avatars, and other real/virtual enhancements. Take this a step further and it can be done realtime (as in virtual, realtime participation in meetings/classes) by powerful servers in the cloud. Client-side requirements are about the same as streaming video, which, with 3G and upcoming 4G solutions here and on the horizon, can be done on pocket-side mobile units (previously known as cellphones :)

In this view, development is as easy as taking a video (with your mobile phone or higher quality unit) or even with UCC videos and pictures available on the Web (Creative Commons of course) for basic design. Advanced design will still probably be out of reach of teachers, but they could do an amazing amount of work with the basics.

The beauty of this is that there is an amazing amount of both direct and indirect crowdsourcing. Every tourist, hotelier, businessperson, and advertiser will contribute to these spaces. Basic designs will get more complex/detailed as more images are added to the environment and as more people develop for the space. That which used to require hours and hours of animation work can largely be done quickly and by amatures with cheap, readily available video cameras.

I would have thought this science fiction just a couple years ago, but now I see it beginning to happen. Faster computers, faster data transfer, and faster software development make it likely that we will see many more movements in this area. Before long, I'll be virtually ringing your doorbell and coming in for a coffee in Chicago, while actually commuting to work in Seoul.

Almost human: Interview with a chatbot

Almost human: Interview with a chatbot

There has been a little press with the recent competition for chat bots. About 30% of the people chatting with the winner couldn't tell whether it was a computer or human.

Please see the sample conversation in the article, but I'd encourage you to pay special attention to the comments. The commenters feel the same way I do. I can't believe that anyone was fooled by this test. We are safe from true AI for a long time to come.

OpenOffice 3

OpenOffice.org Download

I don't think that this is too extreme a statement, you are doing students a disservice by NOT at least discussing the use of OpenOffice. Don't let them grow up thinking that Microsoft is the only office software.

With that said, I still primarily use Office, but I am weaning myself off slowly. When I can no longer get it from IU for free (yes, a great student benefit), MS Office is OUT. I might even get rid of Windows, as my workhorse at least.

Cyprus Lip Dub - Don't Stop Believing on Vimeo

Cyprus Lip Dub - Don't Stop Believing on Vimeo

Not only a wonderful song, but an interesting project with students. I'm not sure what agreements vimeo has, but music videos on YouTube are ok (for many songs). Agreements have been made that allow even UCC music videos to remain up.

Show this to your students and have them make one of their own. There are plenty of possibilities for collaboration and cooperation. For instance, students need to create a storyboard, assign roles, learn the words to the songs, direct/take direction, edit the final project, present the final project, and so forth.


Cyprus Lip Dub - Don't Stop Believing from Brittany Bohnet on Vimeo.

Review of EuroTalk's Talk Now for KAMALL Newsletter September 2008

Review of EuroTalk's Talk Now for KAMALL Newsletter September 2008

This is the software review that I did for the last KAMALL newsletter. I have to admit that I'm not thrilled with it, but it is a good review of the functionality of the software.

Next time I'm going to add many more screen shots. I've been given a page limit in the past, but that just doesn't make sense, does it?

Enjoy.

ekkoTV

ekkoTV

This is very cool and simple to use. It enables you to do a video chat with 2 other people. No muss no fuss. No sign ups or other hassles. Flash interface with your mic and webcam.

I don't see many options at this point. There is a link that you can share with friends (anyone you want to speak with) at the bottom of the screen. I'm not sure how long this is good for. Maybe you could add it to your blog or other page and use it as a regular meeting place.

They also have a text chat box, which is wonderful for sharing that text information that audio is terrible for. Things like URLs are easier to cut and paste that having to listen while someone spells it out for you.

Very cool application. I can't wait to see it grow up.

Dan

English Language Learning Software Hunt

The other day a friend asked me if she could borrow some of my CD-ROMs (or DVD-ROMs) for English language learning OR for some suggestions. I was a little embarrassed that not only didn't I have many (aside from a couple old ones), but I also couldn't think of any besides Rosetta Stone and TELL, which are a little more than I can afford.

My interests have included CALL-related topics for many years, but it's been a long time since I paid attention to instructional software. I've focused for so long on the use of ICT that I am clueless on the state of "traditional" disk-based software.

I have NEVER seen a software that impressed me. They have all been warmed-over grammatical syllabi with little other than multiple choice, fill in the blank drills to fill space between cute animations and lame texts (can you tell I'm skeptical?).

I'm not against drilling. I think that there is a place for it and a software might be the right place. However, these also don't seem to have much relevance to the average classroom. That is unacceptable.

Can anyone prove me wrong? What have you used that you loved? If you do make any recommendations, please describe why it is good.

Don't bother sending on things that can be modified for language learning. There are countless materials to do that with. I would like to know a good, dedicated software (CD, DVD, Downloadable, or even online) that learners can use on their own. If there is interaction with other students or teachers, that's great, but students still have to be able to use it on their own.

Dan

-----------------------------

Updates: I'll update here with suggestions that I receive.

• EuroTalk
  
• Qedoc - Quiz-maker and cache of quizzes.
  
• EduFire - Flashcards and collection of videos in various languages (mostly YouTube).
  

Top 100 Tools for Learning 2008

Top 100 Tools for Learning 2008

Great list of applications and services. I love these, because they boil down much of what I've learned this year from blogs, Twitter, and other places on my network into one neat package.

Of course, this list doesn't include how these should be used. That's what you'll have to hit your network up for :-)

Dan

Learning technology teacher development blog for ELT: Advertisement Project

Learning technology teacher development blog for ELT: Advertisement Project: "Nik Peachey"

Cool idea and site referral from Nik Peachey. Having students create advertisements that will be watched and judged by the public is great.

I see the downsides of this too: making students corporate agents, filtering through nasty comments, and less than optimal outcomes. However, I really do think that the authenticity of this activity blows away the negative criticisms. You students become advertisers. Not pretend, not psuedo, REAL advertisers (without the expense accounts and 3 martini lunches).

Great idea Nik.

Dan

Google Sites

The buzz has been pretty big about Google Sites, so I had to check it out. It's amazing that Google has lasted this long without having a wiki. I always considered Google Docs to be similar to wikis, yet with limited editors.

So, I went there. I wasn't sure what Google Apps was. I vaguely remember hearing about this service in the past, but being very uninterested in it. It is an enterprise system that requires you to belong to an organization that participates in this or that you have a domain that can be associated with this. I actually started to set this up on my domain, but it seems that I have to change my DNS settings, which I really didn't want to do.

Then I realized that Indiana University was probably set up to do this, so I used my IU email to setup an account. Then I saw that 73 others were signed up along with their email accounts (thanks Google, but please don't post those). There was no other way to contact them. I would have assumed that a page like that would have links to their spaces.

So, then I finally set up a "site" (wiki). The templates are terrible, but you can do a significant amount of editing of the template (no CSS access :( The interface design is pretty good. The editing options are much better than Wikispaces (sorry guys, I still love you) or any other wiki that I've used. This is a multi-billion dollar corporation going after a traditionally touchy-feely market and they are going to kill (in the future).

Why do I say "in the future"? Because there is a major flaw in Sites right now. Only folks in my network can edit. In a world where things are becoming more and more open, why would Google (GOOGLE!) play with walled gardens? It just blows me away. Everyone can see the site (Here is mine -- Seoul Daddy), but the most open option that I can choose is "everyone at Indiana University" for the editors setting.

That being said, this might be a welcomed addition to K-12 teachers who are required more and more to have these walled gardens. This makes it really, really easy to do.

Dan

BricaBox

BricaBox

I was very excited with the concept of BricaBox. Kind of like a Ning for content communities. I love Ning and was hoping to do some quick development work, but it was not to be. I'm not impressed with this site. The set up is straight forward, but I'm not sure what to do with the resulting site. It's bare bones. If you want to dedicate time to do design on the site, it's probably a great platform, however, it's not going to take off until the built-in templates give users a nice looking site to start with. Then they can toy with it later.

Also, the administrative design is difficult to use. I couldn't figure out how to do some of the things that I wanted to do. The most important was to delete the site that I started. If I couldn't delete it, at least give me the option to start over again with the design. Neither seem to be options. Very frustrating.

This is a recent beta and I hope that they can get some money pumped in to work on design elements, both for their site and the user sites.

Dan

Overview of Web 2.0 Technologies Used in the CALL Course

Overview of Web 2.0 Technologies Used in the CALL Course

This video is a more in-depth look at some of the technologies introduced to the CALL class (though not all were actually used by them)

Web 2.0 Collage

Web 2.0 Collage

This is the collage of Web 2.0 sites that I show at the beginning of my presentation at KOTESOL.