"Where technology does have a positive impact is when it actively engages students, when it's used as a communication tool, when it's used for things like simulations or games that enable students to actively manipulate the environment."
Here are a series of tools that can be used to support reflection, with a brief discussion of the process, the advantages and disadvantages of each approach.
Hangout Quest is a Google+ game that allows participants to go on a virtual scavenger hunt inside the Palace of Versailles. The object of the scavenger hunt is to find artwork and other objects in the palace. If players invite others to their Hangout, they can compete in a race to find the objects. Hangout Quest uses the Street View imagery of Google Maps to bring players inside the Palace of Versailles. Hangout Quest also includes Google's facial tracking technology, which allows players to move around in the Palace of Versailles by moving their head instead of clicking around with their mouse.
"HippoCampus is a project of the Monterey Institute for Technology and Education (MITE). The goal of HippoCampus is to provide high-quality, multimedia content on general education subjects to high school and college students free of charge.
HippoCampus was designed as part of Open Education Resources (OER), a worldwide effort to improve access to quality education for everyone. HippoCampus content has been developed by some of the finest colleges and universities in the world…"
3 education technology experts give advice on their 3 top web based tools. Elluminate, Twitter, SlideRocket, Blogging, etc. Tool recommendations come with ideas on implementations. Quick read.
"...the latest National Atlas includes electronic maps and services that are delivered online. We are using information presentation, access, and delivery technologies that didn't exist 30 years ago to bring you a dynamic and interactive atlas. But we have held fast to our tradition of producing the finest maps in the world. We think nationalatlas.gov™ is more useful than any bound collection of paper maps."
Work with multiple map layers
An initiative to build local communities of support that will foster ongoing collaborations among volunteers, students and educators. Volunteers, university students, scientists, engineers, other STEM professionals and, more broadly, members of the community are working together with educators and students to bring discovery-based science experiences to students in grades K-12. When an educator posts a project, our system will help them get the resources needed to bring that project to fruition.
