Interesting tools for teaching/learning

This semester I have been bringing a simple digital camera into class, where I have a long whiteboard that I use heavily. During our class discussions I regularly jot down student responses to questions, their questions, outlines of concepts etc. on the whiteboard. I try not to erase too much so that by the end of the class I have just about everything we registered. Just before I leave class I take pictures along the length of the board. Then using a neat program called Microsoft ICE (a free piece of software) I put the string of pictures together (in less than a minute) to have a full panoramic shot of the board. I then post these in Blackboard in our class, for our future reference.

Today I also finally found a nice online image mapping software. So now I can create an image map from the panoramic shot, and each note on the board becomes a hot-spot link to a web resource that fleshes out the idea noted on the board! I can't wait to see how this might be useful as we go along! I will post the link to a sample map as soon as I get it uploaded!

Google Squared Mini Challenge!

Google Squared “Mini Challenge” (Nov. 2009)

The original challenge back in Nov., 2009 was to find creative uses for Google Squared in teaching anthropology. A further stipulation was for each suggestion to cover a different question from one of the five fields of anthropology not already covered by previous contributions. The results were:

Tad McIlwraith: "kinship." (You can see the terms used in the URL.)

http://www.google.com/squared/search?q=kinship&items=unilineal&items=bilateral&items=nephew&items=mother%27s+brother&items=grandmother

Pam: Reciprocity Here is one for reciprocity:
http://www.google.com/squared/search?q=reciprocity&items=gifting&items=potlatch&items=moka&items=balanced+reciprocity&items=generalized+reciprocity

Pam: Archaeology: Domestication
http://www.google.com/squared/search?q=domestication&items=plants&items=animals&items=maize&items=eikorn+wheat&items=chili+peppers

Ann Bragdon: Globalization
http://www.google.com/squared/search?q=globalization&items=hegemony&items=&items=&items=&items=

Katrina Worley: "Human evolution", with examples "Homo" and "Australopithecus"

http://www.google.com/squared/search?q=human+evolution&items=homo&items=australopithicus&items=&items=&items=

Well…. We haven’t covered all five fields! But the results were interesting!

Thanks for playing! Brian