Yesterday we met with Microsoft who showed us some really exciting new (and older) tools and resources they have developed. Some have an obvious educational application while others are just very cool pieces of software! All except SenseCam are available to use now (and most are free).

DeepZoom:

Part of the Silverlight suite of web tools, this is a tool that allows you to create photo montages with many layers. As you navigate around a seemingly normal photograph or montage you can click on elements of that photo to zoom deeper within that image, revealing other photos, details, etc. Lovely! A nice example from the Hardrock cafe is here: http://memorabilia.hardrock.com/

Photosynth:

This is fantastic too. It intelligently combines multiple photos of a scene or subject (from many angles) and then allows you to navigate around that subject by making through and between photographs. Again, this looks really lovely (I think we saw a demo of this a year or so ago, but it’s available for you to freely use now!)

BSF (Building Schools for the Future) Showcase:

A demo of a possible future classroom tool that integrates a visual web search, student portfolio, instant messenger, etc. Allows you to drag content from the web search into your portfolio, augment work with 3D intercative diagrams, etc. Very positive reactions from students.

OneNote:

This is part of the Office 2007 suite (and has been available since Office 2003 I think), so you may have used this. A virtual notebook which allows you to share your virtual school exercise book with your teacher, fellow student, or colleagues. The interface is similar to PowerPoint, but adds the key functionality of being able to tag content, and also being able to ‘clip’ content from other applications (Internet Explorer or Excel for instance) and drag that clipped content into your notebook to supplement the work you are doing. It seems like this is a really underused but great tool.

Worldwide Telescope:

Virtual telescope/observatory. A bit like the software on Futurelab’s Space Signpost, except it uses data stored on Microsoft’s servers to give you up to date space facts, tours and generally very nice visuals.

Photostory:

This has been around for a while. It allows you to drag photos on to a storyboard, add narration, music, text and effects to create a ‘Photo Story’. Simple to use and photo stories are saved as small, shareable video files.

Sharepoint:
Seems to be getting used by schools to tie together their VLEs (virtual learning environments) and MISs (management information system) in quite nice ways. Schools seem to collect a lot of data but don’t necessarily analyse it much. Examples of what analysis Sharepoint can help with include giving schools traffic light indicators of various metrics (financials, attendance, behaviour, etc.) or maps to show where ‘incidents’, such as pupils fighting, happen. Also funtions as a document repository so pupils can access resources from home, parents can see what their kids are working on, etc. There are lots of 3^rd party web parts for Sharepoint, such as the Sharepoint Learning Kit: http://www.microsoft.com/education/slk.mspx

Innovative Schools Case Studies:
A library of video case studies on several UK schools that have restructured the way they teach with the help of Microsoft platforms and applications. This site also has white papers and guides.

SenseCam:

A digital camera automatically captures photos every 30 seconds to build a ‘flip-book’ style visual record of an event (for example a 3 hour event can be viewed in 30 seconds). Seems to help people with memory loss rebuild and retain memories of events (see http://research.microsoft.com/sensecam/memory.htm)

Innovative Teachers Network:
Guides, resources and a community for innovative teachers and schools.

Learning Gateway:
Where Microsoft promote their education solutions, tools, etc. Also includes a community for sharing ideas.

Live@edu:
A suite of student collaboration tools.

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