The Educated Kiwi
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New Geography Standard for 2011 may kick off the use of GIS, finally
Aug 25th
Geography 1.8 Apply spatial analysis, with direction, to solve a geographic problem
For next year we are looking at adopting the new Geography standard 1.8 which will allow us to do amongst other things use data in ways such as:
• measuring
• layering
• changing the symbols used
• sorting and editing a table
• querying the map
• using coordinate systems
• displaying a graph based on the map.
I order to do this I have been looking at a few resources. Initially Arc Gis explorer, which is an awesome resource (here is a Link to the iLearn blog with more information) I am currently using this with my Junior classes to test the use of Silverlight from behind the proxy at school and how it goes bandwidth wise as opposed to Google Earth. I have also started looking at Open Street Map. Mark initially reminded me of this with the following TED video:
Having now created an account I have used Motion X GPS To start doing some edits. Would be interesting to see a Geography field trip where the students can actually contribute to a real Map. My only problem is the ease of using the basic Garmin Etrex I have and using the serial converter to get the data off, as opposed to my phone which simply emails the data in .gpx and .kml format already. Still some issues to look at but I am very keen to continue.
Ask Dr Wiki
Aug 5th
For help with using mediawiki Dr Wiki is there to help. Many of the things that may seem dificult are possible with simple commands. For example [[Image:kaka.jpg|thumb|100px|Caption goes here]] will give you a nice thumbnail image in mediawiki. For further help with Katipedia let me know.
Moodle Blocks
Jun 25th
Recently here at Tek_ we have been toying with a few new ideas. I guess we call them Tek_Labs some of these are just a bit of fun others have had some good outcomes that we can then try at school. The latest have been:
Gallery2 – php gallery site that allows you to have a flickr like service of your own, it also has a wordpressplugin.
PHPAuction – Kind of like e-bay, not sure how we would integrate this with school but maybe as a fundraiser or for economics classes.
And then there is Tek_Net – our own moodle site which has some of our own teaching resources and allows me to trial out new ideas as far as moodle blocks goes.
Today I just added the Game moodle block and have been really impressed as it uses our existing quiz questions and allows you to make a number of different style quizzes (thanks to the moodleman for this and of course Sharon for pointing it out 
) I have started putting links to these blocks in the tek wiki to try and remember what a I have customised. Feel free to check it out and see what we have been adding outside the standard moodle install.
Katipedia
Oct 8th
I know it sounds somewhat like a bug but Katipedia is KKC’s attempt to get a full school wiki going. This along with our Blog server are some of the things we are trialling. Our reasoning behind all this was to bring all our blogs together under one url and have a front page similar to stj school’s iBlog which should be very doable with the WordPress platform. WordPress also gives us all the themes and widgets that our students are already using and by allowing them to export their blog it can be something they take with them when they finish college.
I’ll be interested to see how Katipedia goes as a lot of this functionality is already offered by Moodle. But I’m hoping that it will provide a place for class essays and unit work to be shared in the senior school. Would be interested to hear from others who are having success with mediawiki.
Wiki Wiki
Aug 1st
I have been using my wiki, the link for which can always be found on the right hand side of this blog, a lot lately. The ease of editing and creating makes it a very useful tool. I remember creating a year 13 History website a few years ago and eventually giving up because editing and keeping it updated in dreamweaver/frontpage made it too difficult and time consuming to be worthwhile. A wiki on the other hand is just like its name, quick. So if you are getting your students working on a collaborative essay or other work try out a wiki. You can either use one of the free ones or both our schools have them within our moodle sites.
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