Well, I am on the bandwagon now. Promoting videos left, right and centre. TedTalks presentations are always good. Lifehack.org has gone to the trouble of selecting ten videos that could change how you view the world.

Further to my post below. Two other edubloggers have praised the video created by Michael Wesch and his students. Take in the alternative views of Steve Hargadon and Bud Hunt. Steve’s post has a link to another video by Michael Wesch. This was one of the videos that peppered a variety of presentations and workshops at the NavCon Conference. I cannot help but feel that I am doing the same thing in promoting each video yet via a different medium.

Kathy Schrock has evaluated a number of tools that can be utilised with the iPod touch in an educational setting. Her blog post, iPod touch online applications for education lists and describes 18 online sites that could be uitlised with the iPod Touch. A number are straightforward sites such as “This Day In History” while others, such as Listingly, can allow for more practical uses of the iPod Touch. Can you suggest any others?

I have been interested in the human-computer interface since the early 90s when I was undertaking my postgraduate studies in educational technology at the University of Wollongong. I read books by Tognazzini, Donald Norman and Brenda Laurel. I was reading articles by John Seely Brown and Paul Duguid. I was working with HyperCard on the Mac designing interactive apps for use in the teaching of history. The design of useful and intuitive interfaces was interesting. The advent of html seemed such a backward step. Anyway, I digress.

Earlier this year I was browsing through the TED Talks web site and came across two presentations that demonstrate innovative human computer interfaces. I thought back to the interfaces of the eighties and nineties and it is true that not much has changed. Each demonstration speaks for itself. The first is by Jeff Han. The second is by Anand Agarawala. After viewing the demonstrations you cannot but help but desire to be working with each of those interfaces now.

Jeff Han

Anand Agarawala

Each presentation is enjoyable, informative and inspiring. Anand’s web site is here. Jeff Han’s new company is called Perceptive Pixel.

Today is Blog Action Day and the theme is the environment. Today, bloggers “around the web are uniting to put a single important issue on everyone’s mind – the environment”. I felt that I would like to share some photographs I took of the mangroves on Brisbane Waters on the NSW Central Coast. They were adjacent to St Edward’s Catholic College where I was attending a conference. The mangroves were in good condition although there were the remains of an old brick structure in one section on the shore. Mangroves are key to the survival of our fisheries as many fish species use the mangroves for breeding. Seeing the mangroves reminded me of the excellent work of the International Coastal Cleanup group in Singapore.