Google’s ‘Expedition’ project visits Arizona

January 19, 2016April 16, 2018 / Angelo Fernando / 1 Comment

So I’ve got ‘Google Cardboard’glasses ready, and I’m excited to hear that Google will be here in Arizona this week. It’s part of their roll out of Google Expeditions – a classroom project using virtual reality. A few weeks back I applied to have them come out and run VR sessions, so –fingers crossed — I’m hoping my school gets picked.

So what’s Google Expeditions? There’s a good explanation here on this EdTech site, EdSurge. The Google team is visiting selected schools in the US, Australia, New Zealand, the UK, Brazil, Canada, Singapore and Denmark. Each school will get an Expeditions kit – probably a VR ‘Cardboard’ headset, and apps. I noticed that the ‘expeditions’ feature a wide range of topics from ancient civilizations and rain forests, to space and historical events.

Think of it Expeditions as a virtual field trip, or more appropriately, an immersive experience that you could not get out of a text book – something I touched on in the recent Sri Lanka STEAM workshops for teachers.

Sri Lankan Workshop YouTube Channel

January 15, 2016April 10, 2016 / Angelo Fernando / Leave a comment

To support the recent science and tech workshop, our YouTube channel is up and running.

If you’re one of the 100 teachers in Sri Lanka who attended the sessions, you could find it here.

This is one of them, on Augmented Reality – featuring Google Cardboard

Science and Tech Workshop in Sri Lanka

January 3, 2016April 10, 2016 / Angelo Fernando / 1 Comment

Just got back from a short trip to Sri Lanka, where I conducted two workshops for teachers.The first was in Maharagama on Dec 15th & 16th. The second workshop was in Kandy on Dec 18th.

Here are some stories about the workshops:

Nanda Wannianayake’s post: Full STEAM Ahead – Best Practices in Science, Technology, Engineering, Art and Maths Workshop in NIE

KJZZ Radio – Andrew Bernier’s report: Arizona Native American Students Travel To Sri Lanka As STEAM Ambassadors. Listen to Andrew Bernier’s report here.

LMD Magazine: U.S. Native American “Science Ambassadors” Program Helps Sri Lankan Science Teachers

Much thanks to my co-presenters:

Dr. Paul Funk – Engineer, US Dept. of Agriculture, New Mexico (Via Skype)
Ruben Gameros – Autonomous Collective Systems Laboratory, Arizona State University (Via Skype)
Scott Logan – Montessori International School, Mesa, Arizona (Via Skype)
Lal Medawattegedera – Lecturer, Open University of Sri Lanka
Nalaka Gunewardene – Science writer, author, trustee of the Science and Development Network
Nazly Ahmed – Web App Dev at Social Seed Media

Also the two Keynote Speakers:

Dr. Ajit Madurapperuma – Dir. Of Information Communication Technology, ICTA
Dr. Nalin Samarasinha – Astrophysicist at Planetary Science Institute in Tucson, Arizona (Via Skype)

Finally, thanks to the American Center in Sri Lanka who made this possible – especially Joshua Shen.

Hands-On Engneering – Spaghetti Tower Challenge

Hands-on session on Audio Recording

Hands-on session on Motors and Electro-magnetism

Scott Logan & students at Montessori International School, teach class – via Skype

Aaron Fernando facilitates session

Using audio and video for content creation

Photography in Science – From SLRs to GoPro

Nazly Ahmed, Social Seed Media explains Depth of Field

Engineering & Problem Solving – Building a Solar Oven

Paul Funk, US DOA

Teaching Science Writing

Nalaka Gunewardene

Future Ready Classroom – Google Cardboard & Augmented Reality

Future Ready Classroom – Teaching Robotics

Ruben Gameros, ASU, teaches class on robotics – Via Skype

Joshua Shen - STEAM Workshop Introduction

Joshua Shen Delivers Opening Address

STEM Student Ambassdors to visit Sri Lanka

December 8, 2015November 16, 2017 / Angelo Fernando / Leave a comment

STEM Ambassadors - Salt River Elementary 2 Two students from my school district have been invited to visit Sri Lanka as ‘STEAM Ambassadors‘ in December.

They will represent the Salt River Pima-Maricopa Indian Community at two workshops for teachers on Science, Technology, Engineering, Art and Math. The workshops will be held in Colombo and Kandy.

The students are:

Dominique Grey, a sixth-grade student at Salt River Elementary.

Haley Smith, a seventh-grade student at Salt River High School.

Maria Chavez, the school’s Parent/Community Involvement Specialist, will accompany them, as well as one parent of each of the students.

Listen to the story here, on KJZZ.

Citizens’ voices matter

April 6, 2013April 16, 2018 / Angelo Fernando / Leave a comment

A few years ago I conducted a series of webinar-style workshops for the U.S. State Department, for content creators, educators, marketers and those in traditional and new media. The workshops were called “Passport to Digital Citizenship.”

I was convinced that citizen’s voices would be valuable, and –despite technological barriers and people who would try to keep them quiet– they could be heard.

So today, as my book is about to launch, I am thrilled to see this report by CNN on the importance of citizen-driven media.

Journalism has been forever changed — I’d argue for the better — thanks to the fact that people can interact with media organizations and share their opinions, personal stories, and photos and videos of news as it happens. This year’s nominated iReports are prime examples of how participatory storytelling can positively affect the way we cover and understand the news.

(“36 stories that prove citizen journalism matters.” By Katie Hawkins-Gaar, CNN | Wed April 3, 2013 )

When we talk of ‘participatory journalism’ we mean that ‘CitJos’ work alongside traditional media. They are not here as a replacement model, but to complement the changing media industry. Of the 100,000 citizen stories submitted to CNNiReport.com in 2012, they used 10,789 –having vetted them first.

I just interviewed the creator of a leading citizen journalist outfit in South Asia, and he stressed the importance of community guidelines, and careful design.

Citizen journalism, and the power of citizen voices is a big section in my book, Chat Republic.

My graduating Class of ‘digital citizens’

November 18, 2010November 18, 2010 / Angelo Fernando / 2 Comments

Just got off from the awards ceremony in Colombo, where I spoke, via Skype, from a spare bedroom, to a gathering of 35 attendees who qualified for a certificate.

This was the conclusion of a 6-part series of webinars I conducted for the US State Department, at the USIS in Colombo, Sri Lanka. The series was called Passport To Digital Citizenship.

Ambassador Patricia A. Butenis who addressed the group after me spoke of the ‘Republic of the Internet’ –a very fitting reference, considering the times we are in as nations and communities meld together into a global community that is at once powerful and complicated –as Republics are!

Many of the graduating class are already very active members of this diverse, passionate Republic, using social media that is becoming their glue (to hold things together) and the thread (an infinite, unravelling ball of thread, that is) that binds us all together. See larger picture here.

Some of you in my class are already moving forward, collaborating and connecting across your specializations, ethnic communities, employee networks and global and local communities.

First, to all of you in this graduating ‘class’ of digital citizens, congratulations! But as I mentioned in my address, don’t just hang that certificate on your wall.

Put it to work. Go light a fire under a sleepy old organization that is stuck in ‘anti-social media’! Show people the power of collaboration and digital storytelling through social media.

Because this blog, Hoipolloi Report, is all about those voices out there, I am taking a step to add a few guest bloggers over the next few weeks. The first of them will be two people from the Class of 2010 Digital Citizens. Who will they be?

Stay tuned!

End Note: A big thank you to Steve England, Dan Wool, Gary Campbell, Derrick Mains and Dave Barnhart who were my co-presenters in this series.