Twenty Trends: The Balancing Act
Trend 1: Mix and Match
- Balance Tools and Spaces
- Reading WITH Content
- Writing WITH Content
- Technology Tools and Learning Spaces
Example: Use books, audiobooks, maps and technology together such as Lizzie Bright and the Buckminster Boy.
Example: The Geo-Literacy Project and CSI: Cemetery Scene Investigations.
Trend 2: Open Source Software
- Balance Quality with Cost
Examples: TuxPaint, CMAP
Example: Read Things that are Most in the World by Judi Barrett. Use Tuxpaint to create your own page.
Trend 3: Freeware Enhancements
- Balance Loyalty with Cost
- Free but proprietary
- Window's Genuine Advantage Program - PhotoStory, MovieMaker
- Apple Software Program - iPhoto, iMovie
Example: Photostory 3 for Windows is only available on Windows.
Trend 4: Starters
- Balance Structure with Creativity
- Pathfinders
- WebQuests
- Templates
- PowerPoint Sidekicks
- Photo Starters
Example: Photo Starters that provide starters on two viewpoints (see right)
Example: PowerPoint Sidekicks; Money
Example: 42explore
Trend 5: The Social Web
- Balance Academic Rigor with Engagement
Social Intelligence
- Social Technology
- Identify standards-based, engaging objects for discussion
Example: Social Intelligence by Daniel Goleman
Example: My Family
Example: Kids-Learn
Example: Google Docs
Example: The Smithsonian Encyclopedia of Life is a collaborative project by the US National Museum of Natural History to document the earth's diversity by scientists and citizens of Earth described by E.O. Wilson in The Creation. A related project is Consortium for the Barcode of Life. Check out the Barcode Blog.
Trend 6: Visual Literacy
- Balance Testing with Individual Needs
Trend 7: Email Communication
- Balance Skills with Ethics
- Content Areas Standards
- ISTE NETS
- Ethics Across the Curriculum
Trend 8: High Tech Gadgets
- Balance Cool with Practical
- Do I really need this?
- How does it compliment what I already have?
Example: 3D Visor
Example: Celestron SkyScout
Example: Playaway
Trend 9: Blogs for Everything
- Balance Novelty with Purpose
- What are really effective applications of blogs?
- Event Blogs - turtle nesting, conferences
- Blooks - using a blog to post a book for comments
Example: Plants that Bite Back
Example: Blogs and Blogging
Trend 10: RSS
- Balance Info Need with Info Overload
- RSS Feeds for news, blogs, podcasts, videocasts
- Learn more at RSS Feeds.
Example: Bloglines Eduscapes
Example: Google Reader
Example: Letter of the Week Podcast
Trend 11: Wikis
- Balance Authority with Collaborative Ownership
Example: Nile Kinnick
Example: The Wright 3
Example: Wikispaces
Example: CSI Wiki
Example: Wikispaces - Digital Photography
Trend 12: Participatory Projects
- Balance Primary Sources with Quality Info
- Oral Histories
- Family Histories
- Local Histories
- Plant and Animal Studies
- Human Genome Project
Example: Pearl Harbor Survivor Stories
Example: All Recipes and Mud Soup
Example: TechnoSpud
Trend 13: Collaborative Writing
- Balance Individual and Group Authoring
Trend 14: Crowd Sourcing
- Balance Quality and Junk
Trend 15: Simulations & Gaming
- Balance Motivation with Time & Cost
- Immerse Learners
- Rules, Roles, and Responsibilities
- Content Knowledge Consequences
- Intrinsic Motivation
Example: Knowledge Matters
Example: Flash Projects; Reading, Writing, Math Resources
Trend 16: Personalize, Customize, Folksonomy
- Balance Standards with Evolution
Example: LibraryThing
Example: Pandora
Trend 17: Desktop vs Network vs Web-based Applications
- Balance Setting with Security
Example: Reunion, Heredis, Roots Magic, Family Atlas (Gedcom file)
Trend 18: Multimedia
- Balance Access with Bandwidth
- Accessing, Creating, Sharing
Example: Can I Have a Word?
Example: Podcasting: Young Hoosiers
Example: Radio WillowWeb
Trend 19: Interactive Whiteboards Apps
- Balance Cost with Use
Example: National Gallery of Art
Example: Grapher; Math Interactives
Example: Read about Chinese letters Beyond the Great Mountains and use the Calligraphy tools to learn Japanese. Compare it with Korean.
Trend 20: Virtual Social Worlds
- Balance Real with Virtual Life
- Second Life - 911
- Second Life - International Space Station & Planetarium
- Second Life - Library
Example: Second Life |