Now that the first phase of the Triple A Approach to Lecture Intervention project has been delivered and since I'm not in a position to go after more funding, I will have to let the beast rest. (You can view a mirror of the Inukshuk learning object here: http://www.newmediaworkshops.com/tripleA/ - it is scheduled to be removed from this location once it is officially launched on the CLOE site)
Left with the decision of either letting my educause blog lie dormant or putting it to another use, I've decided upon the latter. This blog will become a place where I discuss the education technology projects and research in which I am involved.
So...what's up? ..... As I settle into my new homestead for a year (Colombo, Sri Lanka) I've decided to follow up on an idea that blind-sided me at a recent presentation I gave in China on ed-technologies.
Here's the background information as I described it in an 'invitational' email I sent out:
While I was in China (my final placement with Nipissing) doing a presentation about podcasts and blogging to ESL teachers, I wanted to talk about digital storytelling but could only find a math screencast (like these: http://faculty.uoit.ca/kay/courses/CURS4141/student/2005f/mc.html) to show. Upon watching one of the screencasts, a few of the participants immediately perked up, as they could see definite application of screencasting techniques to grammar (grammar is really big in China...or so was the sense I got!). Upon further contemplation, I'm thinking grammar is much like math in that the 'rules' don't change much and therefore, one could get a lot of 'screenplay' out of well-done screencasts on a variety of grammar topics.
My email continued...
In order to find out more about screencasts, I think it's best to send you to this portion (http://www.newmediaworkshops.com/2006/screencasts.htm) of a presentation that I did at Nipissing in January. It may take a bit to load...and then, to get the full info, I would recommend that you select the circle with the line through it (lower right navigation) - this makes the page act more like a web page and not powerpoint slides...I've added a lot of information that is not on the slides which is accessed through the "does not enter" circle.
What I'm thinking
I would like to create one or two grammar screencasts since I have not seen the technology used this way before. What I'm looking for from you is a variety of things... a few of you are definitely subject matter experts so I'm hoping you might recommend some topics that would be suitable for screencasting or perhaps being a subject matter expert since my area of expertise is certainly not grammar!; others may be interested in being co-developers; while others may have access to research grants that may be applied to this endeavour; and lastly, a few of you might just be interested in keeping a breast of this project as I stumble along.
So, please let me know what you think... I'll create a more formal 'community' space if there is enough interest. Also, please pass on this idea if you know of someone who might be interested in tagging along!
