Search

Training session for McMaster Museum of Art docents, in preparation for a museum display of rare maps: "The Evolution of the Cartography of the Gulf Region between the 2nd and 19th Centuries"

The 2009 Horizon Report on emerging technologies identifies “Geo-Everything” as a critical trend for educators in the next two to three years. How can busy professionals keep on top of these rapidly developing technologies? There is so much happening and so little time! This session will focus on tools and strategies for keeping oneself up-to-date and aware of emerging trends in neogeography, geolocative devices and just about geo-everything. The emphasis will be on achieving efficient and effective personal current awareness, with practical tips on selecting the most productive information sources and making use of web technologies to gather and winnw through the masses of journals, blogs, listservs, commercial alerts and other news sources.

‘Neogeographies’ are Web 2.0 applications using geographic information. This session will show a few examples of this type of web-based tool but will focus mostly on Google Earth. Cathy Moulder has done some research specifically on Google Earth and its application to student assignments in higher education. This particular neogeography offers considerable potential for incorporation into student assignments in many disciplines.

Robert Clifford was an Englishman, a renowned map collector – and probably a spy. He lived a quiet scholarly life in Paris during the French Revolution and early years of the Napoleonic era. But his correspondence with John Graves Simcoe reveals an exciting escape from France in 1803 with a trunk of secret maps and plans. Could the maps in McMaster University Library's collection have been part of that daring escape?

Educators in many disciplines are embracing the wonders of Google Earth to engage their students. This session explains the context of change in education (Web 2.0 and the NetGen students) and how these two trends merge in a new area called Neogeography. The session presents preliminary findings of a research project to identify the early adoption of one Neogeography (Google Earth). Results show a developing use of Google Earth in course assignments at the college and university level, with several resources identified that will become available in summer 2008.

Liaison librarians at McMaster University Library are actively collaborating with faculty members to incorporate emerging technologies into their classes. This session will describe three recent projects to incorporate wiki technology. The librarians played key roles to incorporate this Web 2.0 application into the curriculum of existing courses and into the requirements of a new course. The wiki initiatives strengthened partnerships with those faculty who were early adopters. Student reactions were varied and sometimes surprising. Faculty assessed student engagement and the quality of deliverables as much higher in quality than expected, suggesting that wiki use had a positive effect on learning. This session will share lessons learned and next steps for McMaster University Libraries in the harnessing of emerging technologies to the institution’s teaching mission.