FutureLab and Maps etc

I couldn't get down to London today to the Futurelab Conference 'Why Don't You ...? Supporting innovative approaches in education but with the power of the technology (and the skill of Leon Cych) I was able to 'sit in' on a number of presentations. In fact, as I write, I am waiting for the final keynote to begin! - conference attendance with little carbon footprinting.

The session I was particularly keen to attend was the one by Andy Black from Becta:

BLOG OFF: these Web 2.0 tools will never make it into the learner experience
Much has been made of learners being so deeply embroiled in technology that they see it as commonplace, neutral and invisible. We call it ‘Web 2.0’, they use it without thinking. Teachers are failing to keep pace with awareness of this technology, never mind incorporating it into their practice. This workshop involves a rapid tour of some Web 2.0 tools that are already used by learners, and examines issues such as the barriers to teaching staff deploying these tools to support learning. The session also gives participants a chance to create artefacts.

In his presentation Andy went through many Web 2.0 tools many of which were familiar but one I was not aware of was 'Flash Earth' ( another thing missed!). This is a sort of web based version of Google Earth but you don't need anything downloaded to your machine to use it. As well as this it is possible, on the fly, to change the version of the map you are viewing from, let's say' Google Maps to Microsoft VE.

I feel sure that the whole of Andy's presentation ( and all of the others) will pop up soon on the FutureLab site.

A close look at the aerial photos on both of the later for my particular area suggests that both of these were imaged about 7 years ago whereas the aerials I am getting from Google Earth appear to be about 2 years old - so, swings and roundabouts.