Tuesday, May 31, 2005

Atlas of the Orient
Tore Kjeilen has put an extreme amount of work into this atlas and encyclopedia. The maps are interactive in a basic HTML fashion. The site also points out the pitfalls of a standard ad-driven business model: one really can't focus on the content for the blinking, iritating ads. But kudos to Tore for giving it a go. What a real labor of love and information.

Friday, May 27, 2005

Theban Mapping Project
Another outstanding example of interactive media. Explore some 60 tombs throughout the Kalley of the Kings, with videos, dynamic maps, diagrams, and more.

Thursday, May 26, 2005

Experts: Throw Away the Tests, Pick Up Good Books
"The major difference between the students I've taught at Harvard and Columbia, and other [bright] young people..., is that the students at Ivy League universities read better books, starting when they were very young." There's no hard evidence presented, but this seems true enough. However,...kids have to know something to understand the great books. Which is where this project comes in.

Wednesday, May 25, 2005

Uncle Roy All Around You Blast Theory
Again highly creative, this was actually billed as theatre. The mind spins, however, over the educational possibility.

Tuesday, May 24, 2005

Headline History - Key Stage 2 educational interactive history for children
And the creativity continues!! Here you pick a time, read the news, and then go back to the scene to interview witnesses and edit the story! This one was an award winner.

Good content for all ages, including video interviews with the Roman Emperor Claudius and many other figures.

Monday, May 23, 2005

Benjamin Franklin | PBS
Today's interactives concern Ben's kiteflying, his effects on a modern town, the cities of the world he influenced, and his electrical experiments.

Friday, May 20, 2005

Bible Literacy Report 2005 BibleLiteracy.org
One reason I started this project is that even with 20+ years of formal education and 12 years of Sunday religious classes, I knew remarkably little about the Bible. Yet much of literature and many of the great speeches of history are rooted here.

Too many kids get almost no exposure to the stories and literary tradition of the Bible. This report looks at that problem. If you want to laugh and cry, watch this Jay Leno's Jaywalking.

Thursday, May 19, 2005

News Schools and Old Edexcellence.net
A fantastic essay on the evolving education landscape.

Tuesday, May 17, 2005

Battlefield Britain BBC
Supporting the BBC series, this site starts with the interactive Battlefield Academy. Here, four missions await you:
* stop the Romans from capturing your Celtic hill-fort
* eliminate your Wars of the Roses rival in a river-crossing battle
* hammer the French fleet in a Napoleonic sea battle
* defend the UK from the Luftwaffe

Wednesday, May 11, 2005

From the OSU Libraries
Why is the engineering library always full and active and vibrant; whilst the Education Library is dreadfully dead?

Monday, May 09, 2005

An Unusual Experiment
Yesterday's Sunday front page headline again blasted the experiments we're running in Ohio with new forms of school organization. Our reporters loathe experimentation and change. This recording captures an earlier radical experiment: the founding of Booker T. Washington's Tuskegee College.

Wednesday, May 04, 2005

A History of Navigation BBC - History
What is good; what is bad about an individual web interactive? This one has a lot of both! If you have a lab and a 2 year grant, this would make a fine study.

Monday, May 02, 2005

Roper Global Geographic Literacy Survey National Geographic | Roper
Among US 18-24 year olds,
  • Half could not find India on a globe.
  • 85% could not find Afghanistan, Iraq, or Israel
  • Barely 1/4 could guess the population range of the US.

    This is multiculturalism?
  • Sunday, May 01, 2005

    Fifty Million Downloads
    What can open source, volunteer labor do? The Firefox web browser just passed its 50,000,000th download.