LightintheWoods

As I surfed the web today, I found this beautiful timelapse, tiltshifted video of life in Sydney, Australia. It truly warmed me up on this Saskatchewan winter day.

The North Wind Blew South from Keith Loutit on Vimeo.

What I love even more about this is the story of Keith and his new fame. He is creating new art in a way that hasn’t been done before and it is spreading to wide audiences around the world. This is a story of an amateur who has perfected his craft to become a professional who is being requested for art shows and exhibitions around the world.

I tweeted the link to Keith’s Vimeo Channel and soon my acquaintance, Neil, replied with links to two of his favorite tiltshift artists Olivo Barbieri and Toni Hafkenschied.  This inspired me to learn more.

Tiltshifting was new to me. I needed to learn more. I found info on composing tiltshifting on wikipedia and realized it needed special equipment or edditing software. Upon further searching I found tiltshift maker, a program that automatically tiltshifts pictures. Below is a slide show of some pictures from my European vacation this past summer that I experimented tiltshifting with.  Do you have a favorite?

I like this style because it adds a different perspective. I get the feeling that some of these images could be minature models or toys. As in life situations, value can be gained by looking at things in a different way.

Neil, tiltshifted some of his photo’s and commented that he wanted to try this project with his students. Without this web based program, timeshifting would be difficult for his students to do. Hopefully he and the class give it a shot.

My former instructor and current mentor, Dean Shareski, asked Darin, Nicole and myself to spare a few moments in order to speak to his under-graduate Educational Technology class this past October 1st.  This was great chance for me to look back, to reflect and to re-discover all that I had learned during Dean’s course and how he has influenced my development as an educator.  It was a neat experience to share via elluminate as a guest rather than participant or assistant.

Dean is one of my many mentors that have modeled these major learnings. I have learned how to use social web tools to connect and collaborate with strangers and new friends around the world; access knowledge and information I never knew existed; share resources, thoughts and opinions; discuss pedagogy, book reviews, teaching practices; build a personal learning environment; feel confident playing with new media creation; and think about my future classroom in a way that is more social, more active, more engaging, more empowering and more meaningful. I have learned to be a better learner.

With all of this said, here is Dean’s podcast recording from the class.

Podcast42…student voices

Not only was Dean’s class influential, but I am fortunate to live in the same town as Dean. This has lead to extended personal learning through a number of invitations to sidekick him on classroom adventures to observe and work with students in Prairie South Schools and to sit in on training sessions he offers to his teachers. Together we had a post-conference run down and reflection on ride home from the TLt Summit in Saskatoon last spring. He just is there when I have a tech/ed related question. Because of all of what he means to my own learning, and all leadership he offers so many educators, I was more than happy to sit in and visit his class for the evening.

I am proud to present the teaser for Dr. Alec Couros‘ K12 Online Presentation.  I was fortunate to be involved with Alec’s graduate course ECI 831: Computers in the Classroom as a course assistant. Observing first hand, I watched as the class modeled web tools and pedagogy in tandem. The result was extraordinary for participants as they connected, shared and expanded their learning networks around the globe. Check out the Alec’s teaser and then take a peak at what the rest of K12 Online has to offer.

Today, I met with the Centre for Academic Technologies at the University of Regina. The topic of discussion was possibilities for, and the potential of, mobile tools and learning. In preparation for this discussion I prepared this wiki on Mobile Tools. You will find links to stories, possible tools, ideas around teaching & learning, strengths/opportunities & weaknesses/barriers to consider and a selection of related links. In the end we agreed on the importance of remaining current on these technologies and attempting to ensure that courses are designed with possibilities for mobile tools in mind.

Hopefully in the near the future we will see these tools integrated into courses as they are needed and not because mobile seems to be the latest & greatest trend or flashy gizmo. My feeling is that some students are already self equipped with devices that have the potential to expand upon their access to content and overall learning experience. It was evident that his area is ripe for experimentation and innovation, as we generated far more questions than answers. We are continually looking for models of success and ideas of sound pedagogical application, please share if you have any stories of mobile technologies and learning.

There is much more on this topic that I want to unpack and think about. As tools advance, barriers to efficient use of the tools will decrease and learners will continue to find ways to utilize the mini computers that we carry.

I have a related post on MP3 players from January that has more thoughts on possibilities for tools.