So, what has Jules Verne got to do with my blog? November 1, 2006
Posted by Joseph Papaleo in General, Google Earth, Janine Lim, Tom Barrett, Video Conference, k12online, k12online06.trackback
Jules Verne wrote the book “Around the World in 80 Days” around 1872. Just a few years earlier, he and many others of his time were captivated by technological breakthroughs. These breakthroughs were related to transportation – the Suez Canal opening and the linking of train lines across the US and also in the sub-continent. And what did this technology breakthrough lead to? The rapid circumnavigation of the globe, hence his book.
So, what does this have to do with my blog I hear you ask. Well, in recent times, we too have had various technological breakthroughs that have led to people like me being captivated by the potential in our classrooms. What are these breakthroughs? The advancement of ISDN and now Broadband, the compression of audio and video files are just some. Coupled together, they allow us educators to take our class anywhere we like. I have written before about the possibility of Videoconferencing. And in the last few weeks, I have put together a presenation for the k12onlineconference and it is all about the uses of videoconferencing in the classroom. So, sometime today, my presentation “Around the World in 80 Minutes” will go live at the conference site with tips and where to find resources and the possibilites of videoconferencing, as well as tips on Google Earth. I must also note that I have referenced the work of: Tom Barrett; Janine Lim; ReefEd and National Space Center, UK
Thank you to these people for their blogs which I have been reading with interest for some time or for the services they have provided to me.
Welcome to the 21st century, Joseph! (I think that was what you wrote on someone else’s blog!) This is a truly strange experience – encountering someone on a blog whom you have only heard about from someone pretty close to them…
I think you’ve got a great blog, though – and I admire – and envy – your technical expertise. Videoconferencing – like podmail – really interests me. I’m sure we’ll meet up again sometime!
Hey, wow! My wife’s uni lecturer!!
Jane, I must thank you for this blog. After many attempts to bring my wife into the 21st Century (with limited success), you got my wife into educational blogging at uni.
At that stage, I had played around with blogs, but it was only Christine started that I got serious about it.
Thanks and thanks for the comment. How did you find it?
This is a fascinating – and totally coincidental ‘meeting’ – isn’t it? It really makes one realize the intimacy – as well as the extent – of the blogging world. It’s the overlapping from one ‘world’ to another which really interests me, as well as the concept of community. These two concepts are really the fundamental elements in my current research. And, as I begin to examine them in greater detail, I discover that such deceptively simple ideas become increasingly complex, often further confused by the fact that existing terms and accepted vocabulary do not always translate easily into the language of the new world.