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The Territory of the Little People - Storm Clouds Approaching

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  The Territory of the Little People - Storm Clouds Approaching The atmosphere over Pine Creek churns before it breaks. The sky stops being a distant ceiling, and tears open into a fevered, gestural vortex, churning in fierce ribbons of cadmium gold, raw ember, and bruised ink. Here, in the suffocating stillness of the build-up, the heat plays violent tricks on my inner eye. As the squall gathers, the twisting ironwoods and fractured ridges don't feel empty; they crawl with the uncanny belief of the Little People, low-slung, watchful phantoms spun from wire, red dust, and dry static, waiting out the road's fragility. Every jagged branch and swirling filament of cloud becomes a face, an arm, a sinister presence breathing inside the rising storm, drawing the traveller deeper into the delirium of the interior. Pine Creek Storm Front Torn black filaments of wind and shadow seemed to claw straight out of the atmosphere, dripping down like hot tar, twisting through the spindly ironwo...
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UniTube: Youtube and and Virtual Classrooms

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UniTube: Youtube and and Virtual Classrooms
based on an article in the Weekend Australian (July 11-12 2009, Weekend Professional p7)

University of NSW has demonstrated that YouTube can be used as an effective way to teach students. 16 selected High School students from 100 applicants throughout Sydney were enrolled in this innovative program, to advance students in a Higher Computing course. The computer lectures are videoed and placed onto YouTube. Anyone can view the videos. The videos are supported by weekly face-to-face tutorials (outside of school hours). The course also involves a two hour lab session. Essentially the videos mean that those who cannot attend a lecture can still gain the knowledge.



Why are High School students doing this course? Lecturer Richard Buckland wanted to address the 'bored' students at High School. It is about raising the bar and allowing secondary students to do university quality material. It is about simulating and stretching minds.

The YouTube lectures are one year old. The 1st year course was recorded last year. This is to guarantee that on-line students are in sync with the course time line. And it means that the videos can be accessed on YouTube within real course synchronicity. The secondary students are seeing the 1st year course one year on.

The videos are filmed by students. The camera views both the lecturer and the students. The videos give the impression that the viewer feels they are part of the room.

The secondary students assessment outcomes, in general outscore the university students.

Secondary Students comments:
“Amazing Experience”
“Really opened up my experience with computers”
“parts of it were stressful but so worth it”
“Really, really fun”

The Lecture 1: Higher Computing 1 – Richard Buckland UNSW 2008 is well worth viewing. Richard Buckland delivery style. He introduces the course with passion, humour and real information. On the 12th of July 2009 Lecture 1 was viewed 52,994 times

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