Augmented reality, or the blending of the real world with computer graphics on the fly, is one of the most exciting fields in tech right now
Zugara, an interactive marketing agency, has built something a bit more practical for the time being. It’s put together the Webcam Social Shopper, offering a way to help you try on clothes online from the comfort of your bedroom.
t lets you overlay a static image on top of your body and pretend you’re wearing it. Which is sort of a start.
Zugara is also trying to weave a social element into the application, offering examples of sharing outfit choices over Facebook or allowing friends to help choose outfits in real time, which could turn out to be the app’s real strength.
Found this resource when looking for a mobile theme for e-fiesta 2012. There are some promising sections on addressing conflicts between informal and formal learning as well as methods for evaluating mobile learning.
While edX shares the common theme of scaling the online experience to very large groups, it adds an important component lacking from the various Stanford spin-offs, namely research.
EdX partners will be doing more than putting content online, they will be studying how people learn in these environments in an effort to improve both classroom and online learning.
According to this article, the most significant factor is not the scaling of online instruction (which isn't a new thing already) _but_ the ability for educators to study how people learn in various environments. Timely and accurate feedback is an essential component, not only for students, but also for educators, in improving the quality and relevancy of education for smaller groups.
Personally, I think that the rise of massively open online courses (MOOCs) will ironically lead to a huge increase in the number of customized and localized courses tailored for niche sub-groups. Instead of seeing a huge dissemination of one-size-fits-all education, we will see an increasing diversity of different educational strategies, similiar to how the diversity of an ecosystem increases when its geographic size increases.
It's a very exciting time for educators out there indeed...
1- Easel.ly
This is a great tool that allows users to create visually rich infographics from pre-designed themes. It is very easy to use and only drag and drop. It actually supports Chrome, Firefox, and Safari.
Create visually creative info-graphics in classrooms. Great for educators or anyone who wishes to display visually attractive information that doesn't bore the audience. There's eight to choose from. My favourite to use is Easel.ly.
Purdue University has a page in its wiki repository that details foursquare, including its history, how it relates to other applications, and its real world application. The real world application section includes lesson plans from geography, economics, technology, and music.