Leadership Think Tank

Five 'design your own game' sites for creative students and learners to take gaming to a deeper level by creating and designing games them self.

Check out what Personalized Learning will be like in 2013.

Robin Good: Microsoft Research has recently released its own authoring tool to create cinemagraphs, by utilizing short video clips in which, only an element is kep "alive", while all others are rendered as a traditional still photo. 

From Wikipedia: "Cinemagraphs are still photographs in which a minor and repeated movement occurs. Cinemagraphs, which are usually published in an animated GIF format, can give the illusion that the viewer is watching a video.

...

The term "cinemagraph" was coined by U.S. photographers Kevin Burg and Jamie Beck, who used the technique to animate their fashion and news photographs beginning in early 2011."

My comments: Cinemagraphs / cinemagrams is a new emerging visual art form with great potential. It captures "moments" in a unique way, providing a new exciting and infinite exploratory space for the artist/author creating it. I'd recommend it as a "core" topic in all visual communication courses. Start experimenting with it yourself on your PC with this very tool from Microsoft, or on your iPad/iPhone with Cinemagr.am

For Windows PCs only.

Gallery of examples: http://research.microsoft.com/en-us/um/redmond/projects/cliplets/gallery.aspx

Software Download + Tutorials: http://research.microsoft.com/en-us/um/redmond/projects/cliplets/tutorials.aspx

Cliplets Forum: http://social.microsoft.com/Forums/en-US/cliplets

Find out more: http://research.microsoft.com/en-us/um/redmond/projects/cliplets/

"It has been said that imagination is more important than knowledge, and for any experienced classroom teacher it is easy to see daily evidence of this...

Dr. Murray Hunter of the University of Malaysia Perlis has listed the 8 types of imagination we use on a daily basis, with explanations for each." His definition "Imagination is a manifestation of our memory and enables us to scrutinize our past and construct hypothetical future scenarios that do not yet, but could exist. Imagination also gives us the ability to see things from other points of view and empathize with others."

Read on to learn the 8 types of imagination and links to additional resources.

Slides from an invited speech given to the Technology in Higher Education Conference, National Convention Centre, Doha, Qatar. 16 April, 2013.

There are many places where one may go and download free audtio books. This posts lists 10 locations, providing a brief explanation for each. The sites vary with some geared to to children and others to adults. Audio books are great for students whom may struggle with reading, as well as for long drives and walks. And all these sites are legal. They host books in the public domain.