Classroom 2.0 Discussion Topics

If you are interested in technology and education, join Classroom 2.0! Here is a list of some forum discussions that I think you'd find worthwhile:

How are you using your classroom smartboard?

Gaming in the classroom

Second Life?

Let's share links to our blogs!

Favorite Open Source Software

Ten things every teacher should know about technology

Games for Health conference audiocast; Game Accessibility in K-12

I recently presented at the Games for Health conference in Baltimore, Maryland. The attendees and presenters at the conference came from a variety of fields- game development, education, occupational and physical therapy, health, bio-mechanical engineering, media arts, and more, all interested in sharing ideas about using game, simulations, and virtual worlds to improve health.

Many of the topics covered during the recent Games for Health conference apply to K-12 settings. If you think about it, many children and teens are at risk for health problems that will adversely impact their lives as adults. If we can provide a means for young people to develop healthy behaviors and attitudes at an early age, we will help to ensure healthy futures, for individuals and communities alike.

If you have a little time, you can listen to the overview provided in an audiocast consisting of interviews with Ben Sawyer and others involved with the conference.

My presentation slides - Game Accessibility and Health Education in K-12 Settings - from the pre-conference, are posted SlideShare, where you can find slides from other presentations on the Games for Health group section.

You can find more information on the Pioneer Portfolio of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation website, including a section about Games for Health.

(Cross-posted on Interactive Multimedia Technology.)

News: Game Accessibility Preconference in Baltimore at Games for Health Conference

I'm writing this post from the Games for Health pre-conference about games accessibility, listening to a presentation by Eleanor Robinson, from 7-128 Software.

If you are looking for family-friendly games that are accessible, the developers from 7-128 have evaluated a wide range of accessible games, and have listed them all of them on their research. Many games on the list are free:

There are several lists that are useful- where to find the games, what to look for when selecting the games, suggestions for using the games, and who to go for for help.

Alert- Links about accessible games

More to come!

Shneiderman's book, "Leonardo's Laptop" and Don Norman's "The Design of Everyday Things: Must-Reads for Universal Design for Learning Enthusiasts

UNIVERSAL USABILITY DESIGN AND THE EDUCATION CONTROL PANEL

Don Norman and Ben Scheiderman are well known in the fields of Human-Computer Interaction and Human-Centered Computing, but not as well known by K-12 educators.

Don Norman's Design of Everyday Things (2002) was originally issued as the Psychology of Everyday Things, published in 1988. It is a fun book to read, and the inspiration for my hobby of collecting pictures and video clips for my "usability and interaction hall of shame/fame".

Don has a background in cognitive psychology and computer science, and is the co-founder of the Nielson Norman group, a consulting company that focuses on human-centered services and product development.

Here is a quote from his book:

• "Before I wrote this book, I was a cognitive scientist, interested in how the mind works. I studied human perception, memory, and attention. I examined how people learned, how they performed skilled activities. Along the way I became interested in human error, hoping that my understanding of error would provide ways to teach people how to avoid mistakes. But then came the nuclear power plant accident at Three Mile Island in the United States, and I was among a group of social and behavioral scientists who were called in to determine why the control-room operators had made such terrible mistakes. To my surprised, we concluded that they were not to blame: the fault lay in the design of the control room. Indeed, the control panel of many power plants looked as if they were deliberately designed to cause errors."

If you think about it, Norman's insights hold true for the way many textbooks, lessons, and tests are designed. School psychologists and educators are interested in how people learn, and gain much information to guide instruction and interventions from the errors students make. This is also holds true during the process of functional behavioral analysis. We look for patterns of "error" behaviors to inform the sorts of behavioral interventions and supports needed for helping the student gain effective coping strategies, social skills, and related positive behaviors.

Take a few steps back, and think about the "things" common to many schools- the layout of the hallways and classrooms, the configuration of furniture and learning materials within the classroom, the organization of the instructional day, curriculum guidelines, method of instructional delivery and student assessment. How might these be elements be similar to the design of the control panels in power plants?

From this vantage point, administrators, teachers, students, and support staff play the role of the power plant operators. They are the humans embedded in this system, and they must interact within its constraints. Without much notice, the system maximizes the "error rate" for many more students than it should. This is the opposite of the intentions of the humans involved in the design. The faulty design of the education control panel may also also unintentionally contribute to the "errors" made by teachers when they make decisions about instruction and behavior management.

Universal Design for Learning principles entice us to look at how our schools are structured and and instructional methods and materials are designed, in ways that are very much akin to Don Norman's observations. From the UDL perspective, up-front design decisions made by educators or teams of educators, can ensure the likelihood that outcomes for students are maximized and errors are minimized.

On a similar note, Ben Shneiderman, in his book, Leonardo's Laptop: Human Needs and the New Computing Technologies , discusses ways that computers and technology can support the participation of all ages, abilities, and levels of literacy , in modern society.

Shneiderman begins his discussion about the concept of universal usability with the following quote from Thomas Jefferson, from a reply to the American Philosophical Society (1808):

• "I feel... an ardent desire to see knowledge so disseminated through the mass of mankind that it may.. reach even the extremes of society: beggars and kings."

Universal Usability combines the concept of Universal Design with the concepts of accessibility and usability. It is apparent that Shneiderman's thinking is strongly influenced by Jefferson's quote, which in todays terms, can be viewed as a desire for universal knowledge dissemination. This means that we must work towards inclusiveness, and exclude no one.

Shneiderman suggests that it is important to work collaboratively in order to develop methods that bridge the gap between what people know and what people need to know. Although Shneiderman's book has a broad scope,much of what he discusses holds true for K-12 settings. He proposes that education should provide students with learning opportunities beyond the traditional lecture-discussion format. Below is an outline of the components that should be incorporated into the classroom:

• Collect: Gather information and acquire resources

• Relate: Work in collaborative teams

• Create: Develop ambitious projects

• Donate: Produce results that are meaningful to someone outside of the classroom

Take the time to read Design of Everyday Things and Leonardo's Laptop. I think they would be great for school-based book studies.

muCI: Muscle-Computer Interfaces- Link to post on the TSHWI blog

Take a look at my recent post on the Technology-Supported Human-World Interaction blog about an article written by Desney Tan and his colleagues. Their recent research focused on the development and user-testing of a muscle-computer interface.

I think that the muCI system holds promise for children, teens, and adults who have special needs. I believe that this sort of interface will prove to useful in healthcare, education, homes, and community spaces, if it allows for interaction and interoperability with the technologies that people encounter in their daily lives.

This was cross-posted on the Interactive Multimedia Technology Blog

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.

Links to papers presented at the CHI 2008 Workshop on Technology in Mental Health

A workshop on technology in mental health was held on April 6th at the 2008 CHI conference in Florence, Italy. The workshop participants covered a range of topics, including the use of technology with children who have autism spectrum disorders.

Several of the papers focused on how technology or digital media can support storytelling, an effective therapeutic tool. There is a need for technology-supported mental health interventions- I've read that In the US, up to four out five young people who have mental health problems have inadequate mental health care.

• Timothy Bickmore, Laura Pfeifer, "Relational Agents for Antipsychotic Medication Adherence". PDF

• Christine L. Lisetti, "Embodied Conversational Agents and Psychotherapy". PDF

• Julie A. Kientz, Rosa I. Arriaga, Gillian R. Hayes, Gregory D. Abowd, "Designing and Developing Technology for Caregivers of Individuals with Autism". PDF

• Joshua Hailpern, Karrie Karahalios, Laura DeThorne, James Halle, "Encouraging Speech and Vocalization in Children with Autistic Spectrum Disorder". PDF

• Eileen Brosnan, John Sharry, Carol Fitzpatrick, "Using collaborative multimedia stories as a means of engaging adolescents in psychotherapy". PDF

• David Coyle, Gavin Doherty, "Designing Adaptable Technologies for Talk-Based Mental Health Interventions". PDF

• Connor Graham, Mark Rouncefield, "‘Reminders’ for design in mental health care". PDF

• Giuseppe Riva, Andrea Gaggioli, "Virtual Reality as Experiential Tool for Supporting Empowerment and Clinical Change". PDF

• M Alcañiz, R. Baños, J Guixeres, J Gomis Tena, J Saiz, "TIPS-Intelligent Sensory Platform for Clinical E-Therapy" PDF

• Marije Kanis, Mark Perry, Willem-Paul Brinkman, "Positive Expressive Technologies for Mental Wellness". PDF

• Mark Matthews, Gavin Doherty, John Sharry, "My Mobile Story: supporting content creation and analysis in mental health interventions". PDF

• Helen Minnis, Warren Read, Tanja Schumm, Suren Putter and Jonathan Green, "The Computerised Manchester Child Attachment Story Task: a novel medium for a measure of attachment patterns". PDF

• Marcela Musgrove, "Towards a More Inclusive and Ethical InterventionT". PDF

• Markus Wolf, Stephanie Bauer, Markus Moessner, Benjamin Zimmer and Hans Kordy, "Online delivery of mental health treatments – Approaches and future perspectives for research and practice". PDF

SymTrend: Use of a PDA for tracking progress for children and adults with Asperger Syndrome and other disorders

I'm always on the lookout for applications that can support intervention and progress monitoring. SymTrend is a company that provides coaching and monitoring software for a variety of social and emotional difficulties and disorders. SymTrend looks like it has potential for intervention and progress monitoring in schools for RTI (Response to Intervention), Positive Behavior Intervention and Supports, and IEP's.

The beauty of SymTrend, in my opinion, is that it helps people develop self-monitoring skills through providing a means of analyzing data that is gathered frequently. From what I understand, through interaction with the software, the student/client establishes a better understanding of themselves, and also and understanding of feelings, triggers, reactions, and coping strategies. A rich amount of data is collected that can be helpful to treatment providers, or special educators.

The following video from Minna Levine, Ph.D., president of SymTrend, explains how it can be used for young people who have Asperger syndrome:



Information I "reblogged" Dan Brickland, a SymTrend Advocate:

"SymTrend is an electronic diary system that is designed to optimize symptom and behavior reporting, progress tracking, and session to session progress. It combines tracking tools to see how things are going, with analytic tools for seeing what might subvert or retard treatment efficacy. It also contains guidance tools that can help make things go better. SymTrend is most useful when one or more of the following occur in a health or educational challenge:

• The course of change is slow and the indices of progress may be mixed or ambiguous.
• There is no single magic bullet solution or cure.
• There are, instead, multiple solution strategies that can be tried.
• The best combination of solution strategies depends on individual circumstances.
• The delivery of multiple services occurs at different sites and requires some coordination in time or over developmental stages.
• The road to success has hidden mine fields that impede progress, must be located, and that must be circumvented.
• The indices of progress - symptom reduction and skill building - are best measured at home or in the community not in an office.
• Progress indices change through out the day or from day to day in response to events.
• Verbal report is compromised by observational and memory failure.
• The verbal report takes longer than the service provider can give to listen.
• The person with the problem would benefit from on the spot "when to" reminders to improve progress.
• The person with the problem would benefit from how to reminders which enhance presence of mind and executive functioning reminders to improve progress."

-From "My Take on SymTrend"

If you are using SymTrend in the schools, clinical practice, or for research, please leave a comment!

Learning, Arts, and the Brain: The Dana Consortium Report on Arts and Cognition

I came across an interesting article Education Week, written by Debra Viadero, that reviews some of the findings of a report by the Dana Foundation. The report is the result of three years of research conducted by a variety of neuroscientists and psychologists who investigated the impact of training in art, music, and dance on thinking abilities.

Here is the link:
Learning, Arts, and the Brain (pdf)
(Organized by Michael Gazzaniga, Edited by Carolyn Asbury, ScM.P.H., Ph.D. and Barbara Rich, Ed.D.)

I noticed that two of the researchers were people who were strong influences on me when I an undergraduate student at the University of Michigan. John Jonides, Ph.D., was a professor for one of my psychology courses, and introduced me to the work of Michael Posner, Ph.D, another contributor to Learning, Arts, and the Brain. Dr. Jonides is currently the Daniel J. Weintraub Professor of Psychology and Neuroscience, and co-director of the fMRI Center at the University of Michigan. Dr. Posener is currently Professor Emeritus at the University of Oregon and the Adjunct Professor of Psychology in Psychiatry at the Weill Medical College of Cornell.

AT&T and Universal Design

"AT&T Unveils Universal Design Approach to Help Developers Meet the Wireless Needs of Customers with Disabilities"

This is good news!

From the AT&T website:

"It is our goal that the concept of 'design for all' is not viewed as a constraint but as a catalyst for innovation across the industry," said Carlton Hill, vice president of Marketing for AT&T's mobile unit. "We believe that, by making our methodology on Universal Design available for all to see, we can show the importance and value of creating wireless products and services that are usable and beneficial to as many people as possible. The end result will be more choices for more consumers."

"Integration of Universal Design into business practice is fundamental to our mission of equitable access to wireless technologies for people of all ages and abilities," said Jim Mueller, project director, User-Centered Research, Rehabilitation Engineering Research Center for Wireless Technologies at Georgia Tech. "We're glad that AT&T shares our commitment and is making its Universal Design methodology publicly available."

Examples of accessible products/services:

* Mobile Speak is a powerful, full-fledged screen-reader with an easy-to-learn command structure, intuitive speech feedback in several languages and Braille support, which can be used with or without speech. Unlike other screen-readers for mobile phones, Mobile Speak automatically detects information that the blind user should know, just as a user with sight would easily find highlighted items or key areas of the screen at a glance.
* Mobile Magnifier is a flexible, full-screen magnification application that supports low- and high-resolution screens and can be used with or without speech feedback. Magnification software is compatible with a wide variety of mobile devices.


AT&T's Universal Design Policy
AT&T's Universal Design Principles (pdf)is a good resource about Universal Design and mobile/hand held technology, complete with pictures, example scenarios, and links to additional information.

Hug from a Distance Video; Hug Shirt: Wearable Interventions for people with autism spectrum disorders?

"Hug from a Distance" is a vest that can be electronically controlled to give someone a hug over the Internet. The vest was created by Floyd Meuller, who has a rich background in interactive technologies, multimedia, and interdisciplinary research.

Children with autism spectrum disorders who calm with pressure might benefit from this type of vest.



Another wearable technology is the Hug Shirt.

"Wearers hug themselves, then using Bluetooth technology and their cell phone, they can send it to someone else wearing a Hug Shirt that simulates the feeling of the hug," says Francesca Rosella, creative director of London-based CuteCircuit, which developed the interactive top. "It copies the strength, length, temperature and heart rate of the hug."

It would be interesting to research the effectiveness of these wearable technologies with children and teens who have autism spectrum disorders.

E-learning and 2.0 tools for K-12 staff development, students, and parents

I'm a member of Classroom 2.0, "the social network for educators using collaborative technologies", and over the past few months, I've sensed an increase in the number of people working in K-12 school districts who are faced with moving much of their staff development content to the web. Others are in the process of providing more on-line learning and communication opportunities for students - and parents.

Folks used to delivering workshops in front of tired teachers at a staff meeting at the end of a long day know that moving to on-line delivery methods will be a challenge, but if done right, most likely will provide our colleagues with a much richer and meaningful experience.

I my case, I can't wait to get going with Moodle, the open-source learning management and collaboration system my school district has adopted.

If you are new to all of this, keep in mind that the time-line for acceptance and adoption of Web 2.0 tools in K-12 settings varies between schools, school districts and regions. In some schools, students and teachers use blogs, wikis, on-line journals, interactive multimedia portfolios, and other 2.0 related sites to share content, upload presentations, and communicate with other classes within their school, and around the world.

If this isn't happening in your school, it is likely that you'll experience changes within the next two years or so. If you are new to "Web 2.0" concepts and scratching your head, know that there is a lot of support out there! Many members of Classroom 2.0 share resources and "how-to" information via the Classroom 2.0 forum and the resources wiki.

From now on, I'd like to devote an occasional post focused on the topic of using 2.0 tools for staff development, and also touch on the use of 2.0 tools for e-learning for students and parent education and support.

In the future, I'd also like to share information about how on-line tools are currently being used to support counseling and social skills activities for students.

Related Resources:

Learn N.C. offers distance education for teachers and students, including interactive video conferencing, NC Virtual Public Schools, and classroom resources.
http://www.ncpublicschools.org/distancelearning/

Learn N.C. also offers educators the opportunity to obtain a certificate in on-line instruction, through the COLT program.

If you don't have time to take things slowly, you can get a few quick tips from Tom Kuhlman's recent post on his Rapid E-Learning blog. Although Tom's focus in staff development for people in the corporate world, the principles are the same:

How to Create E-learning Courses That Don't Waste Your Learner's Time

For school psychologists and related professionals:

School psychologists might be faced with preparing workshops for staff related to RTI (Response to Intervention) and school-wide positive behavior support implementation. Using web 2.0 tools to get the job done is something worth considering.

The first step is to take a giant step back and look at the big picture. Look at your school district's long-range technology plan, and revisit the technology plan that is in place for your school. You might also want to look at your state's technology plan and get a list of the contacts assigned to your region.

Find out who is the "2.0" go-to person or group where you work. Keep in mind that some school districts roll out 2.0 tools in phases. Even if your school's technology is "2002-ish", take a look around at what other schools in your district, region, and state are doing, and ask questions so you can be prepared.

Feel free to leave a comment and share what your school district is doing!

"A Fresh Look at Brain-Based Education": Info from Eric P. Jensen's article in the Phi Delta Kappan; Dr. Judy Willis

"Brain-Based Education" is a buzz-phrase that educators have been hearing about for a while now. I'm sure that some of us have wondered if the term has been over used in an attempt to sell more educational materials and products.

Connie Weber, a member of HASTAC, posted an interesting message in the HASTAC on Ning forum about an article written by Eric P. Jensen in the February 2008 issue of the Phi Delta Kappan (Vol. 89. No.6)


From Connie Weber--

"This article in Phi Delta Kappan got me thinking a lot. Here's a list of 10 connections for educators; surely these discoveries have relevance for our Cybernetic Age, for planning out how to nurture positive brain development..."

From Jensen:

"Schools present countless opportunities to affect students' brains. Such issues as stress, exercise, nutrition, and social conditions are all relevant, brain-based issues that affect cognition, attention, classroom discipline, attendance, and memory. Our new understanding is that every school day changes the student's brain in some way. Once we make those connections, we can make choices in how we prioritize policies and strategies. Here are some of the powerful connections for educators to make."

...

---

ERIC P. JENSEN is a former middle school teacher and adjunct professor for the University of California, San Diego. He co-founded the Brain Store and the Learning Brain EXPO and has written 21 books on the brain and learning. His most recent book is Enriching the Brain (Jossey-Bass, 2006). He currently is a doctoral student in Media Psychology at Fielding Graduate University, Santa Barbara, Calif. (c)2008, Eric P. Jensen.

FYI

Somewhere in the TechPsych archives is my previous post on this topic, highlighting the work of Dr. Judy Willis. Dr. Willis is a board-certified neurologist who practiced neurology for 20 years. She is now a teacher at Santa Barbara Middle school. She is the author "The Neuroscience of Joyful Education", an article that appeared in the Summer 2007 edition of Educational Leadership.

Dr. Willis is the author of Research-Based Strategies to Ignite Student Learning: Insights from a Neurologist/Classroom Teacher and Brain Friendly Strategies for the Inclusion Classroom". (These are two books worth reading!)

Judy Willis (jwillisneuro@aol.com; www.RADTeach.com)

Smartphones in Education: Project K-Nect in North Carolina

If you serve on an RTI or Problem-Solving Team at the high school level, you know how difficult it is to find evidence-based resources for interventions that are geared for students beyond the elementary school level.

The project currently targets ninth grade students in Onslow, Durham, and Winston-Salem/Forsyth counties in North Carolina.

Ninth grade is important grade to target, since ninth grade historically is the level with the highest percentage of students who are required to repeat a grade. Failing Algebra is often one of the reasons behind this phenomenon. Ninth grade is also the level that experiences a significant increase in suspensions. Students who fall into one or both of these categories have a higher risk of dropping out of school.

Project K-Nect is something that is worth following:

"Project K-Nect is design to address three core needs that include the lack of at-home Internet Access for our country's poorest families, 21st century skills development, and the math and science deficit."

The project is a collaboration between the North Carolina Department of Public Instruction, DMC -Digital Millennial Consulting, and Wireless Reach (Qualcomm).


From the website -

"Goals & Objectives:

To develop, implement and test an integrated system that will deliver supplemental digital instructional content and foster peer to peer collaboration through mobile devices to increase
mathematic achievement for 9th and 10th grade students in the State of North Carolina.

To test the efficacy and viability of mobile devices as digital assets that can be utilized as both a social communications tool and educational resource for students in US secondary education institutions.

To foster the design of a system that enables safe closed social, educational communications between students, teachers and parents.

To empower students with 21st century skills through secondary education institutions

To determine if mobile devices can be utilized as a mechanism for reducing the disparity between those who are and are not connected with particular attention on rural areas within the State.

The project targets 9th grade "at-risk" students who have limited math proficiency, limited or no access to a home computer or the internet at home."

Research questions involved in this project, according to the website:
1.Do positive correlations exist between cell phone usage and student performance?
2.Does cell phone usage and student performance correlate positively to the implementation and technology?
3.Can education delivered through mobile devices increase access to e-learning for students with no home access otherwise?
4.Can mobile devices be utilized as a mechanism for increasing student achievement among academically at-risk students?
5.Can math curricula delivered through comfortable and familiar cell phones increase students’ levels of interest in math?
6.Do positive correlations exist between peer-to-peer social networking for mathematics support and student achievement?
7.Do students’ report satisfaction and useful learning support from the social networking systems?

NCDPI Press Release

NORTH CAROLINA DEPARTMENT OF PUBLIC INSTRUCTION AND DIGITAL MILLENNIAL CONSULTING JOIN WITH QUALCOMM TO GIVE 100 SMARTPHONES TO STUDENTS IN NORTH CAROLINA

NCDPI Contacts:
Vanessa Jeter, Communications Director
Phone: 919.807.3469
Email: vjeter@dpi.state.nc.us

Digital Millennial Consulting Contacts:
Shawn Gross, Project Manager
Phone: 919.386.0341
Email: info@projectknect.org

Qualcomm Contacts:
Yennie Rautenberg, Corporate Communications
Phone: 858.845.5959
Email: corpcomm@qualcomm.com

John Gilbert, Investor Relations
Phone: 858.658.4813
Email: ir@qualcomm.com

Note: For more information about the use of hand-held devices for education, do a search on this blog as well as the Interactive Multimedia Technology blog.

EduBloggers Directory

After an active discussion in a Classroom 2.0 forum (Let's Share Links to our Blogs!), Patricia Donaghy put together the International Edubloggers Directory.

Each Edublogger in the directory has a page that gives information about their interests and the theme of their blog or blogs. Be prepared to spend some time in the edublogsphere!

Here is information from the "About" section of the directory:

Purpose of this Site
"The purpose of this site is to provide an up to date directory of edubloggers from around the world. The site will provide an easy way to find out what other edubloggers are blogging about."

"I hope you enjoy using the site and that you are able to make many useful connections. Please feel free to add any suggestions or recommendations for improvements by adding a comment."

Patricia Donaghy
Site Administrator

Contact
Email me: edubloggerdir@gmail.com

My Blogs
Using ICT in Further Education
Free Resources for Education

Thanks, Patricia!


Here's a link to one of my previous posts about edublogging:
Links to Edubloggers, Blogging Psychologists, and More

Virtual Worlds and Games in Education: Link to posts

If you are interested in learning more about virtual worlds and gaming in education, take a look at my recent posts on the Interactive Multimedia Technology blog. Sharon Burns did an excellent job in her video overview that includes virtual worlds for children, such as Whyville.

More about Virtual Worlds in Education: Link to Edutopia's articles and resources.

Post from Johnathan Tarr, HASTAC, about Sharon Burn's Virtual Worlds Tour ( includes an 8-minute overview video)

Blogmarks: knann's bookmarks to interactive websites.

"knann" has posted several bookmarks on Blogmarks about interactive websites and applications for education, including some that look appropriate for interactive whiteboards and displays.

Blogmarks provides screen-shots of bookmarked web-pages that are helpful in locating information quickly.

Click on any of the above screenshots to discover some of the links on knann's Blogmarks.

Cross Post from Interactive Multimedia: Online Multimedia Library for K-12 and Higher from LEARN N.C.

Learn N.C. has a wealth of on-line resources for educators, students, and parents. I particularly like the on-line multimedia library. Below are links to resources for the following topics, obtained through the "tag cloud" on the multimedia library site.


4-H clubs Agra American Indians American Indian towns Angkor animals archaeology architecture artAsia Bali Bangkok beaches birds boat Buddhism Cambodia carvings children Colombia colonialcostumes deities demons drawings Ecuador Emerald Buddha Temple excavations families farming fishing flowers food forests geography girls grass Green 'N' Growing Hanoi Hanuman Hinduismhistory houses illustrations India Indonesia Jaipur Jodhpur John White Khmer kings labor landformslandscapes maps markets men's work Mexico monkeys monuments mountains murals music Mysorenational parks Nepal North Carolina Occaneechi paintings palaces performance Rama RamayanaRavana religion rice rivers rural life salt marshes sandstone Sita snakes Southeast Asia technologytemples Thailand theaters tourism transportation trees turkey Ubud urban life Utah Vietnam Vietnam WarVirginia water women women's work

LEARN NC is led by a number of knowledgable staff and consultants.

The website is worth exploring for a while!