Student Video from Classrooms

The digital world we live in has made video capture any time, any where, and at times, without the subject's knowledge, permission, or awareness. Today's classroom is such a place.

Take a few minutes to look at this post from Leader Talk, a blog about educational administration. Be sure to take a few minutes to read the comments posted by readers as well. It brings up a great many questions.

Check out the posting and commentary here.

Some of my thoughts...

It's alarming at times the antagonism that can be shown, not just student - teacher, but person to person. Purposefully pushing someone's buttons just seems... I don't know the word. Having lived through some of these types of experiences, I understand the frustration on both sides in some, but the first and last video seem extreme, antagonistic, and purposefully mean.

As one of the readers commented, it's not surprising that teachers are leaving the profession in droves, yet they are often not prepared for the classroom of today. I know my professional training offered a lot on pedagogy and subject matter, but almost nothing on classroom management, which was, by far, the biggest challenge of my first several years (and, if I was still in a classroom, current years, I'm sure). How do we expect new teachers to excel when the most difficult aspect of the job is the one they learn the least about?

That may be the best question to examine out of this posting... the legalities of the videos seem insignificant to me next to this.

Your thoughts?

2,000 Frames Per Second

Advancements in cameras project a 1/1,000,000, per second frame camera coming out before the end of the year. I'm sure there will be some phemominal things done with that type of frame capture.

Have a look at this very cool video of a popped water balloon at a relatively pathetic 2,000 frames per second.




Very cool.

Free Online File Conversion Tool

Ever wondered how to download online files in any format you wish? For free?

Zamzar is now offering a great, free tool that takes any embedded online video and allows you to save the video on your own computer in several different format option.

This really is fantastically easy to use. You can sign up for a free account, you can do it without signing up, or you can pay a fee for even more benefits.

I've used it without registering, and it worked well, and is very simple to use. Keep this valuable tool in your toolbox.

Blackboard Gradebook

One of the larger LMS (learning management systems) around is Blackboard, who has finally overhauled their Gradebook in the next release of 8.0. You can see a preview of the gradebook's release here.

Nanobots and Cancer

There's a lot of questions floating around asking about nanobots, and what are the actual application of them. It all sounds so sci-fiction, and sounds a long way off.

This story from 60 minutes (12 minutes long) shows some of the future applications of the nanos, and how the greatest of scientific discoveries can come from the most unlikely of sources. While this is still several years away, and is still a long way from a saviour, it is a good indication of how close the world is to the land of sci-fi.