Michael Coghlan presented on cool tools and technologies that can be used to enhance teaching, focusing on exploiting the "wow factor" to engage students. Some technologies discussed included blogs, wikis, YouTube, and smartphones from 10 years ago, as well as more recent tools like augmented reality, gesture-based computing, and visual data analysis. Coghlan emphasized unleashing technology on students and letting them discover things for its own sake. Overall, the presentation highlighted several emerging technologies and their potential to make learning exciting and fun when integrated into teaching practices.

1. COOL TOOLS AND
TECHNOLOGIES
Exploiting the WOW Factor
Michael Coghlan
Student Services Conference
Creative Commons (CC) licensed music
17/11/11
by Lohstana David
found at JAMENDO

2. 10 YEARS AGO (2001)
• BLOGS • VIRTUAL CLASSROOMS
• WIKIS • FACEBOOK
• PODCASTS • IPADS
• RSS FEEDS • IPHONES
• YOUTUBE • EBOOKS
• TWITTER

3. EXPLOITING THE WOW FACTOR TO
ENHANCE TEACHING PRACTICE
The WOW factor is very
much underrated when
attempting to engage
people in educational
technology. I was always
hearing ' you can't let the
technology' lead, and yet all
my most exciting moments,
and those I observed in
others, were when that it is
exactly what we did - we
followed the technology
FOR ITS OWN SAKE and
discovered wonderful
things!

4. THE PALACE (1997)

5. unleash the technology on students –
let them decide what could be done with it –
let them play (FUN)

7. THEORIES ABOUT TECHNOLOGY
1. Technological determinism: technology is an external
agent that acts upon people and changes society.
2. Social construction of technology (SCOT): it is human
decisions and processes that create the technologies we
have, and that the prevailing social milieu has an
influential role in the decisions we make about how we
use that technology.
3. A middle ground between people and machine is the
theory of Social Shaping. Nancy Baym refers to
technologies having ‘logics’ that influence how we use
them. Nicholas Carr calls them ‘ethics’:
“the message that a tool or medium transmits into
the minds and culture of its users”

8. “We shape our tools
and thereafter our
tools shape us.”
(McLuhan)

9. “ALL GOOD
TECHNOLOGY IS
INDISTINGUISHABLE
FROM MAGIC.”
(Arthur C Clarke)
Creative Commons Image from dibytes

10. MAGIC TOOLS
• Centra
• RSS
• Wordle http://www.wordle.net/
• Phone to Web Services (eg media to Flickr,
Facebook)
• QR Codes http://qrpedia.org/
• Twitter Trends - http://trendsmap.com/
• Tag Galaxy http://taggalaxy.de/

11. RSS Feeds
Feed from TAFESA PodZone
Flickr Badge

12. MAGIC TOOLS
• Centra
• RSS
• Wordle http://www.wordle.net/
• Phone to Web Services (eg media to Flickr,
Facebook)
• QR Codes http://qrpedia.org/
• Twitter Trends - http://trendsmap.com/
• Tag Galaxy http://taggalaxy.de/

13. WORDLE
Visual Data Analysis
http://www.wordle.net/

16. MAGIC TOOLS
• Centra
• RSS
• Wordle http://www.wordle.net/
• Phone to Web Services (eg media to Flickr,
Facebook)
• QR Codes http://qrpedia.org/
• Twitter Trends - http://trendsmap.com/
• Tag Galaxy http://taggalaxy.de/

17. QR Codes

18. QR Codes
Make your own
QR Codes at
QRStuff.com
See also RFID tags: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Radio-frequency_identification

19. MAGIC TOOLS
• Centra
• RSS
• Wordle http://www.wordle.net/
• Phone to Web Services (eg media to Flickr,
Facebook)
• QR Codes http://qrpedia.org/
• Twitter Trends - http://trendsmap.com/
• Tag Galaxy http://taggalaxy.de/

20. OTHER COOL TOOLS
• Flickr
• POV (Point of View) Technology
• Eyejot (video mail) http://www.eyejot.com/
• Slideshare (sharing ppt slides)
http://www.slideshare.net
• Screenr (creating screencasts)
http://www.screenr.com/
• Wolfram Alpha (numerical search engine)
http://www.wolframalpha.com/

21. TEACHING WITH
http://teachingwithflickr.wikispaces.com/

22. Annotating Images using the Notes Tool
See http://www.flickr.com/photos/ha112/234233755/,
http://www.flickr.com/photos/mikecogh/4090354867/

23. Choose Your Own Adventure
See http://www.flickr.com/photos/daviddmuir/1924752950/

24. POV Glasses
http://blip.tv/alexander-hayes/cleaning-a-paintbrush-1042481

25. POV GLASSES IN ACTION
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DrGbfYkuu8E
An apprentice using POV technology in remote Australia
fitting service gauges.

27. OTHER COOL TOOLS
• Flickr
• POV (Point of View) Technology
• Eyejot (video mail) http://www.eyejot.com/
• Slideshare (sharing ppt slides)
http://www.slideshare.net
• Screenr (creating screencasts)
http://www.screenr.com/
• Wolfram Alpha (numerical search engine)
http://www.wolframalpha.com/

28. WHAT’S ON THE HORIZON?
a summary of recent Horizon
Reports 2010/2011

29. Technologies to Watch

30. TIME TO ADOPTION – 1 yr or less
Mobile Devices
Examples include:
• Google Sky Map for Android platforms, which
serves as a mobile planetarium
• History: Maps of the World, containing full-colour, historical
maps
• iSeismometer - capable of measuring vibrations and tremors
• Reference works such as the Australian Oxford Dictionary and
the Aussie Slang Dictionary, featuring more than 700 common
Australian phrases.

31. TIME TO ADOPTION – 1 yr or less
Mobile Internet Devices
The knfbReader Mobile is designed
to help those with learning
disabilities or visual impairment. The user
snaps a picture of text using his or her mobile
phone and the phone converts the text to
speech.

32. TIME TO ADOPTION –
1 yr or less
eBooks
• Flipboard – a magazine featuring you and your
social network

33. WIKIPEDIA + COOLIRIS = DISCOVER
http://www.cooliris.com/ipad/discover/

34. TIME TO ADOPTION – 2 to 3 years
Augmented Reality (AR)

35. TIME TO ADOPTION – 2 to 3 years
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tb0pMeg1UN0

36. The future is already
here — it's just not
evenly distributed.
(William Gibson)

37. TIME TO ADOPTION – 2 to 3 years
http://www.vimeo.com/2341387

38. TIME TO ADOPTION – 4 to 5 years
Gesture Based Computing
Relevance for Teaching and Learning
The kinaesthetic nature of gesture-based computing
will very likely lead to new kinds of teaching or
training simulations that look, feel, and operate
almost exactly like their real-world counterparts.
The ease and intuitiveness of a gestural interface
makes the experience seem very natural, and even
fun, making them relevant for learning at any age
or level of study..

39. Gesture Based Computing
http://www.youtube.com/user/oblongtamper

40. Sixth Sense Technology
http://www.ted.com/talks/pranav_mistry_the_thrilling_potential_of_sixthsense_technology.html

41. TIME TO ADOPTION – 4 to 5 years
Visual Data Analysis

42. TIME TO ADOPTION – 4 to 5 years
Visual Data Analysis
Examples: http://www.google.com/publicdata/home

43. TIME TO ADOPTION – 4 to 5 years
Visual Data Analysis
http://www.ushahidi.com/

44. TIME TO ADOPTION – 4 to 5 years
Visual Data Analysis
http://www.christchurchquakemap.co.nz/

45. THE APP WORLD
These are MAGIC:
• SoundHound
• My Tracks
• Google Goggles
• Flightradar 24
• Etc etc

48. THE COOLEST TOOL OF ALL
IS
YOU!!!
JanneM @ flickr.com

49. Organisations will need to adapt to the fact that web 2.0 citizens will
enter places of work and learning highly connected to a network of
peers that they rely on for entertainment, mutual learning, and
collaboration. They may expect to be able to make use of these personal
learning and social networks, and the technologies that make these
networks possible, in their places of work or study. These web 2.0
citizens operate in a world that is open and mobile, and they are unlikely
to accept authority that is automatically assigned to a position. Their
world is flat and devoid of hierarchy. In a world where information about
their areas of interest or expertise is increasing exponentially they will
place greater store on connected networks, which may extend beyond
classroom or workplace boundaries, and knowing where to get the
knowledge and information they need, is more important than having
that knowledge and information themselves.
http://flickr.com/photos/7447470@N06/1345266896/

50. THANK YOU
Michael Coghlan
michaelc@chariot.net.au
Australian – New Zealand 2010 Horizon Report HERE
Creative Commons (CC) licensed music
by Lohstana David
found at JAMENDO