Visualization Symposium 2008, UNC-Charlotte

I recently attended the Visualization in the World Symposium, hosted by the Charlotte Viz Center at UNC-Charlotte. I was impressed by the variety of disciplines represented at the symposium- the speakers came from fields such as architecture, psychology, and geography. The audience was also diverse.

The slides from the presentations will be available soon, so check back to follow the links, or visit the Charlotte Visualization Center's website.

If you are interested in visual thinking, visual literacy, visual communication, and visualization in education, take the time to explore the links once they are posted!

FYI: There is a growing group of people who'd like to get a "World Visualization Day" off the ground. Earth Day is celebrated in our schools, why not a visualization day?! Dr. Kosara, the author of the Eager Eyes blog, is a strong supporter of this movement.

At the moment, various colleges and organizations offer a "visualization day" from time-to-time. If you live in the New York area, you might be interested in attending Visualization Day at City College of New York.

Visualizations: Telling a Story with Data, Making an Impact

There are many new tools available to support the visual communication of information and data. To provide an overview, I've posted two videos that I recently revisited.

The first clip is of a Swedish professor, Hans Rosling, presenting at TED 2006. In this 20 minute presentation, Hans illuminates information and breaks down myths through the use of a variety of visual communication and information visualization tools:

MYTHS ABOUT THE DEVELOPING WORLD



The next video is the reincarnation of a short presentation that was initially developed in a PowerPoint format for a faculty meeting by Karl Fisch, the director of technology at Arapahoe high school in Colorado. The story behind the presentation is just as interesting.

DID YOU KNOW? SHIFT HAPPENS


Information from the Shift Happens wiki:

"Did You Know? originally started out as a PowerPoint presentation for a faculty meeting in August 2006 at Arapahoe High School in Centennial, Colorado, United States. The presentation "went viral" on the Web in February 2007 and, as of June 2007, had been seen by at least 5 million online viewers. Today the old and new versions of the online presentation have been seen by at least 10 million people, not including the countless others who saw it at conferences, workshops, training institutes, and other venues."

Shift Happens Wiki

This Wiki provides background information about the "Do You Know" presentation, including a section that discusses ideas for people who'd like to use the video for workshops, presentations, or activities in the classroom. The Wiki also has links to the sources behind the presentation, as well as related presentations. There are also links to edubloggers.


Karl Fisch's blog: The Fischbowl

"A staff development blog for Arapahoe High School teachers exploring constructivism and 21st century learning skills. The opinions expressed here are the personal views of Karl Fisch - and various other teachers at Arapahoe - and do not (necessarily) reflect the views of Littleton Public Schools."

Scott McCleod's blog : Dangerously Irrelevant
"Ruminations on technology, leadership, and the future of our schools"

Scott collaborated with Karl Fisch on the second version of "Did You Know". He is an Associate Professor in the Department of Educational Leadership and Policy Studies at Iowa State University. Scott McCleod is also the director of CASTLE, the Center for Advanced Study of Technology Leadership.

CASTLE is the organization behind School Data Tutorials website. It looks like a very useful resource for people involved with data-driven decision making in their schools!

School Data Tutorials

"The tutorials on this site highlight many of the Excel skills that are helpful when working with building- and district-level data. These tutorials are targeted at data managers, principals, guidance counselors, teachers, and other school personnel who have the responsibility for collecting, analyzing, and reporting K-12 performance data."

Comment:

I'm a school psychologist, so I think about data quite a bit. With RTI, additional data will be generated about student performance and progress. Information and data visualization tools and techniques might play an important role as the RTI model is implemented in the schools.

If you are a school psychologist, educator, or administrator who is involved in RTI, share this resource with your teams!

Link to Interactive Multimedia Technology post about JOVE in Wired: "YouTube does Science"

Take a look at my post on Interactive Multimedia Technology about an article in Wired about JOVE: Journal of Visualized Experiments.

This is an example of how video/media can support engaged learning in science. This would appeal to visual learners.

New and old- RomeReborn, old posts to revisit

I posted a link on my Interactive Multimedia Technology blog to information about Rome Reborn, an interactive 3-D simulation of ancient rome as it exist in 320 A.D. For those of you who work with "at-risk" learners and those with special needs who are visual learners, you'll find that Rome Reborn might be a great way to engage students in learning about world history.

(Rome Reborn would be great on a large interactive touch screen display or table.)

On a different note, I revisited one of my first TechPsych blog posts, Mega List of Resources and References: Technology, Education, Psychology, Prevention and Intervention, and thought I'd update it soon, since I've gathered more great references and resources over the past year. Stay posted!

Tango! An innovative augmented communication device from Blink Twice

Tango!

According to the Blink Twice website:

"Blink Twice is led by our CEO, Richard Ellenson, a USSAAC board member and advertising industry veteran whose son, Thomas, has cerebral palsy. Wanting to incorporate some of the energetic communication technologies from his industry into the world of speech-generating devices—and drawing from personal experience—Ellenson reached out to many of the world's most well-respected companies. In the past three years, Blink Twice has worked with companies as diverse as frog design, Flextronics, and Nickelodeon to develop new approaches to building communication for youngsters and school-aged children."