Cauvery Book Reading and a contest

More details here..

Wish I could participate, but there is somewhere else I need to be at the same time. The dreaded PTM!

Hoo's Tales 2010

The musical puppet show – Flying Flower – by Katkatha was mind blowing. Simply amazing. Using very little of technology and resources, they pulled it off flawlessly. Found this youtube video of one of their puppet shows. (Very different from the Flying Flower show).

The session by Jeeva Raghunath(The Story Masala) was my favorite. Man, was she fun! Loud, animated, funny, a complete story telling package using the power of facial expressions, sounds and hands. Here are some youtube videos for those who missed it. This was my personal favorite after the puppet show.
NOTE: The youtube video sounds rehearsed and is simply no match to the live show. You must see the kids jumping and screaming along side with excitement.

More about Richard Martin here.
More about Jeeva Raghunath here.
More about Craig Jenkins here.
More about Hippocampus here.
More about Katkatha here.

!! ;  H A P P Y   &nbsp R E A D I N G ;  !!

Apple's Tablet PC

The tech news room is flooding over the release of Apple’s tablet, with Steve Job claiming this is the most important thing he has done. If rumors are to be believed, this will bring a revolution in the textbooks and newspaper industry.

With the new tablet device that is debuting next week, Apple Inc. Chief Executive Steve Jobs is betting he can reshape businesses like textbooks, newspapers and television much the way his iPod revamped the music industry

With some of us still adjusting to the e-book revolution, looks like it is a matter of time before we will have to leap frog and accept the electronic media even for textbooks and newspapers. What is appealing is the possibilities it brings. Instant access to teachers/resources/authors, get your questions answered on the spot. Face recognition technology to remember you, your needs and automatically adjust the environment. Add to it key less, touch screen and hand writing recognition technology.

One ipod per kid seems to be the norm these days, one tablet per kid might also materialize in future.

Khan Academy How To Videos

Their vision statement says “The goal of the Khan Academy (http://www.khanacademy.org or http://youtube.com/khanacademy ) is to use technology to provide a free, world-class education to anyone, anywhere. It is currently a library of 1176 videos on YouTube (and mirrored elsewhere) covering everything from basic arithmetic to advanced calculus, chemistry, economics and biology. The videos are supplemented by software that dynamically generates exercises and captures data on student usage and progress.”

I chanced upon some of their basic addition and subtraction videos. It is almost like siting in a classrom and listening to a lecture. Nothing fancy, the video’s are shot over an eblackboard, he explains the concepts with patience and clarity, show casing multiple ways to dealing with a said issue.

Sample here:

“It is our mission to accelerate learning for students of all ages” says their youtube channel message.

Salman khan received the 2009 Education Award Laureate.

The Khan Academy is a remarkable, one-person effort to educate the World.
Salman Khan has produced over 900 videos on YouTube-with 6 million views-covering everything from basic arithmetic to calculus, chemistry, and physics. Continuing to produce several hundred videos a year, Salman intends to provide instruction in all subjects to anyone, anywhere.

Millions of students around the world lack access to high quality instruction, especially in the sciences and math. The Khan Academy provides it for free in a way that can be accessed on-demand at a student’s own pace.

The videos are directly teaching tens of thousands of students on every continent on a daily basis. Other non-profit groups have even begun distributing off-line versions of the library to rural and underserved areas in Asia, Latin America, and Africa.
-Says the Tech Awards