Tools of Innovation

In an earlier posting, we talked about the Technology Innovation Grant at JCCC and where ideas come from, see http://bit.ly/3vcJkp. The TIG funds are still available for JCCC faculty…and additionally, since innovation often just requires elbow grease (and no funds), we thought we’d share some resources with you.

JCCC is a member of the New Media Consortium (NMC) and they host a cool technologies site at http://www.nmc.org/cool. Check it out (and contribute, if you wish).

Tracy Newman, Ed Tech Center Sr. Analyst, brought to my attention an article about a 3D Video Projector. As the blurb states: “The automobile, moving pictures, personal computers, cell phones, and social networks—all of these technologies, once considered frivolous, have made such a huge impact on our culture that our daily lives would change dramatically without them. Could 3-D video be next?” Check out the article at http://tinyurl.com/yldyqn7. From page 3 of the report: “Sound Video Systems, maker of the AVRover brand of portable audio-visual systems, has partnered with BenQ to release the AVRover 3DSVS24, which the company says is the "first fully integrated 3-D Stereoscopic Educational System." The product is a portable and rugged 3-D AV system with all components securely mounted inside. It features a powder-coated, scratch-resistant steel console, as well as a 3-D projector from BenQ and sequentially numbered active-shutter glasses, storage, and sanitation for an entire class. It lists for $7,895.” Who at JCCC (or elsewhere) will be the first to find an important instructional use for a 3D video projector?

Also from Tracy, who would have thought $148 would buy students a chance to snap pictures of Earth from space? Check out http://tinyurl.com/mz54zs. Images are shown at http://space.1337arts.com/flight and at http://tinyurl.com/m5rrzs.

One of the current innovations currently offered by Google is the new Google Wave tool. From the NMC, comes word that a visitor to their web site shared a research paper on "A Study and Analysis of Google Wave and its Potential Impact on Education and Collaboration." The paper was written by Johanna Hane (johanna.hane@gmail.com) who gave permission to share with NMC Members. A PDF format copy is available at http://web.nmc.org/files/google-wave-revolutionary-tool.pdf

And while we’re talking about innovation, what will the classroom of the future (Classroom 3.0) look like. Check out the “Classroom 3.0: the brave new world of high-tech teaching” blog posting at http://tinyurl.com/yl25crx. As the article’s subhead indicates “iPhone apps, teachers on Twitter, downloadable lectures: Will a university education ever be the same?” What are you doing to include relevant technology in your courses?

Finally, Marziah Karch attended the Web 2.0 Expo in New York recently. The Expo keynote addresses are all available on YouTube at http://www.youtube.com/view_play_list?p=A0D433518BDA7856. Got a few minutes? Check out topics ranging from “Radical Abundance: How We Get Past "Free" to “The O’Reilly Radar” to “There’s a #Hashtag for That” to “Streams of Content, Limited Attention: The Flow of Information through Social Media” and more.

Do you have innovative tools or sites you’d like to share? E-mail me at jbacon@jccc.edu.