September 5, 2007

Upcoming events: iPod Boot Camps, sessions on faculty innovation in flexible learning spaces, and Fall Break workshops
Service or program spotlight: Downloadable foreign language content from SCOLA
Teaching resource of the month:  New photo sharing sites
New and cool:   Google...Sky?
Project profile: "Science of Networks Faculty Learning Community" accepting applications

Upcoming events

iPod Boot Camps, sessions on faculty innovation in flexible learning spaces, and Fall Break workshops
http://cit.duke.edu/events

Faculty or other instructors who are interested in a broad overview of many aspects of using an iPod, from setting up iTunes to creating iPod content, should consider signing up for an "iPod Boot Camp," a 3-hour session offered at various times through September.

On October 1 and 2, 2007 Dan Gilbert from Stanford University will be at Duke to present about faculty innovation in flexible learning spaces. Gilbert's talk is part of a series of events about Flexible Learning Spaces hosted by CIT this fall. More information about this series is coming soon, or see our events on this theme at http://cit.duke.edu/help/events/classteach.do.

Also, mark your calendars now for Tuesday of Fall Break (Oct. 9, 2007). CIT is offering workshops on Google Earth, Facebook, using student groups effectively, technologies to enhance your class lecture, and language technology workshops on collaboration and student assessment.

Information about these and many other CIT-sponsored events and workshops are at our website, linked above.


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Service or program spotlight

Downloadable foreign language content from SCOLA
http://itunes.duke.edu

Beginning September 10th, CIT is making available to the Duke community downloadable versions of news and entertainment programming from around the world, courtesy of our subscription to the SCOLA foreign language satellite channel.

Content will be available in Duke on iTunes U: go to http://itunes.duke.edu and log into the "My Classes & Duke Materials" section (Duke netID required). Once in Duke on iTunes U, click "Watch TV from around the world" on the main page, or search for "SCOLA" in the search box. The programming is organized into three spaces: Western European languages, Asian and African languages, and Slavic and Eurasian languages.

Over 30 hours of programming will be available each week in over 12 languages taught at Duke. Recordings will be available for one month and then will be removed to make room for current programming. The files can be downloaded for viewing on iTunes or for synchronization to an iPod.


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Teaching resource of the month

New photo sharing sites

Many faculty are already using Flickr in courses, with students using this web based service to discover and discuss user generated images.  What many faculty may not realize is that there are some other online photo sharing services where you and your students can look for user generated content.

Picasa Web Albums was recently launched by Google; the service allows you to upload images directly from Google's desktop image manager Picasa, and a plug-in is available for uploading images to the service from Apple's iPhoto.

Other photo sharing services include DropShots, which features both photo and video sharing and private image sharing; Slide, which can generated slide shows that can be embedded in a blog or website; and Pickle, a service that allows users to submit photos "live" from a cellphone or other connected network device.

When using any of these services for classes, note that some have upload or storage limits or might require a subscription for some features.  Also, talk with a CIT consultant to get more information about Fair Use and copyright and to discuss ways to protect student privacy when using non-Duke hosted services.

Picasa Web Albums
http://picasaweb.google.com/

DropShots
http://www.dropshots.com/

Slide
http://www.slide.com/

Pickle
http://www.pickle.com/


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New and cool

Google...Sky?
http://earth.google.com/userguide/v4/

Google Earth has been recently updated to version 4.2.  With this version you get not just the earth, but the sky as well!   A new option allows you to switch to a sky view and select layers to explore the moon, planets and galaxies and views from the Hubble Space Telescope.

Google Earth 4.2 even has  a new, hidden feature - a flight simulator!  Read about it and see a movie at http://www.gearthblog.com/, and then try it for yourself.
If you are a new user, you might want to start with these:   


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Project profile

Science of Networks Faculty Learning Community accepting applications
http://cit.duke.edu/flc

Social networks such as Facebook, YouTube, Twitter and others are a staple of existence for many these days, including many Duke students. They are also interesting conceptually, as models to help students learn about a variety of topics from disciplines such as economics, sociology, business and management, computer science, and more. The Computer Science Department and CIT are co-sponsoring a faculty learning community in 2007-08 to support faculty in building and teaching with interdisciplinary materials about social networks. Questions? Contact Jeff Forbes in Computer Science, at forbes@cs.duke.edu.

Application materials are linked above; applications are due Friday September 14, 2007.  
 


Last modified February 7, 2008 10:10:10 AM EST