The heart of Nintendo’s new console isn’t the Switch

A wonderful serenity has taken possession of my entire soul, like these sweet mornings of spring which I enjoy with my whole heart.

I am so happy, my dear friend, so absorbed in the exquisite sense of mere tranquil existence, that I neglect my talents.

I am alone, and feel the charm of existence in this spot, which was created for the bliss of souls like mine. I am so happy, my dear friend, so absorbed in the exquisite sense of mere tranquil existence, that I neglect my talents.

I should be incapable of drawing a single stroke at the present moment; and yet I feel that I never was a greater artist than now.

When, while the lovely valley teems with vapour around me, and the meridian sun strikes the upper surface of the impenetrable foliage of my trees, and but a few stray gleams steal into the inner sanctuary, I throw myself down among the tall grass by the trickling stream; and, as I lie close to the earth, a thousand unknown plants are noticed by me: when I hear the buzz of the little world among the stalks, and grow familiar with the countless indescribable forms of the insects and flies, then I feel the presence of the Almighty, who formed us in his own image, and the breath of that universal love which bears and sustains us, as it floats around us in an eternity of bliss; and then, my friend, when darkness overspreads my eyes, and heaven and earth seem to dwell in my soul and absorb its power, like the form of a beloved mistress, then I often think with longing, Oh, would I could describe these conceptions, could impress upon paper all that is living so full and warm within me, that it might be the mirror of my soul, as my soul is the mirror of the infinite God!

O my friend — but it is too much for my strength — I sink under the weight of the splendour of these visions! A wonderful serenity has taken possession of my entire soul, like these sweet mornings of spring which I enjoy with my whole heart. I am alone, and feel the charm of existence in this spot, which was created for the bliss of souls like mine.Paragraph

I am so happy, my dear friend, so absorbed in the exquisite sense of mere tranquil existence, that I neglect my talents. I should be incapable of drawing a single stroke at the present moment; and yet I feel that I never was a greater artist than now. When, while the lovely valley teems with vapour around me, and the meridian sun strikes the upper surface of the impenetrable foliage of my trees, and but a few stray gleams steal into the inner sanctuary, I throw myself down among the tall grass by the trickling stream; and, as I lie close to the earth, a thousand unknown plants are noticed by me: when I hear the buzz of the little world among the stalks, and grow familiar with the countless indescribable forms of the insects and

Delineation of Region

Delineation of regions involves the grouping together of local units which have similar characteristics according to certain clearly defined criteria and which differ significantly from the units outside the region on the basis of certain chosen criteria. The criteria can be unemployment rates, activity rate, migration trends, per capita income etc. The characteristics should differ significantly from units outside the region. The methods of regional delineation involve

1) Fixed Index Method

Under the fixed index method, a number of characteristics common to regions are chosen (Eg. population, density, per capita income, unemployment, rate of industrialization). An arbitrary weight is given to each index and a single weighted mean is obtained for each region, then contiguous regions with similar indices are grouped together in order to minimize the variance within the group.

2) Variable Index Method

Under the variable index method, variable weights are assigned to highlight the different regions. The weight given to each activity, in each region is different, in accordance with the value or the volume regionally produced. For e.g., if region A is the wheat region and the region B is the coal region, the weight of the wheat index will be the largest in the former, and the weight of the coal index will be the largest in the latter. This method is good when those criteria can be compared with each other. However in those cases where compatibility is not possible (E.g., in case where one feature is literacy and the other is steel production) it becomes necessary to employ the cluster method

3) Cluster Method

Cluster means grouping together. This concept is used in the planning as a strategy to strengthen lateral links and to dissipate growing vertical links in the settlement system. Such a cluster while providing greater viability and threshold for development efforts will also create for themselves a greater bargaining power in bringing about reciprocity in exchange of goods and services. Both at the macro and micro level clustering can be done by superimposing of maps and by developing a composite index of development. This concept is used to implement IRDP (Integrated Rural Development Programme).

Methods for Delineation of Formal Regions

1) Weighted Index Number Method

In this method, some indices (parameters) are chosen and given weights, total weights for each part is separately calculated and areas with similar weights are carved out. This area is termed as ‘region’.

Example: To carve out a region of economic backwardness the parameters chosen were percentage of unemployment and per capita income. Then accordingly the weights were set up. It was decided that for every 1% of unemployment 2 weights shall be assigned and setting 1000 as the base for every 50 points below 1000, 1 weight shall be assigned. Hence more is the total weight more is the backwardness.

Weighted index number method

Suppose we consider a hypothetical area divided into 9 blocks having the given unemployment percentages and per capita income. If we then apply weights to each block as stated in the previous paragraph we will find that we can hatch an area with relatively more economic backwardness.

There are certain demerits of this method. To apply this method, the region must have proper delineated parts. This method can only be applied where quantifiable data is available and this method is not useful for delineating regions having natural/physiographic features.Similarly, you can use this method for employment and income level delineation.

The study area is divided into several localities varying according to unemployment rates and per capita income levels.
The aim is to isolate the main problem region; i.e. the area of economic malaise.
Weights are assigned to each criteria and when taken together and weighted, one of the region can be isolated.

2) The Factor Analysis method

In this method, each parameter is mapped out separately and then all the maps are kept one over the other. The common region that will be carved out after this exercise will form a region.

Used for delineating economic health regions.

• Used for delineating economic health regions.

• Many of these criteria are interdependent. The factor analysis method can be used to isolate these factors and to group areas on the basis of factor loadings.

• ‘Industrial change’ and ‘industrial structure’ are major industrial factors and ‘population change’ and ‘social structure’ as major socio-economic factors.

• These factors help in delineating economic health regions.

Example: To carve out South eastern mineral region. The parameters considered were geology, minerals (coal, iron ore, bauxite and silica), availability of rail, soil, vegetation, climate and population. Each line depicts an aspect and is called girdle.

Example for factor analysis method

The area which satisfied 6 girdles was carved out and was called the South East mineral region. Sometimes some parts of the delineated area have administrative conflicts at those moments, adjustment is done on the basis of smallest unit of delineation method.

Methods for Delineation of Functional Regions

1) Flow Analysis Method

Flow analysis builds up functional regions on the basis of the direction and intensity of flows between the dominant centre and surrounding satellites. Each flow will show decreasing intensity as it becomes more distant from the main centre and increasing intensity as it approaches another centre. The boundary of the sphere of influence of the dominant centre will be where the flow intensity at a minimum. When the flow significantly drops that means interaction/origin’s influence drops. In terms of distance, in a particular direction, there is the influence of the node and there onwards it drops. This gives cut off points.

Features of Flow Analysis Method

Builds up flows on the basis of the direction and intensity flows between the dominant center and surrounding satellites.
Flows may be of several types: economic (road, rail, shopping or commuting); social (such as flow of students or patients); political (flow of govt. expenditure); information (newspapers, telephone calls), etc.
Graph theory: measures the relationship (economic, social, etc) between selected group of centers on the basis of flows between the centers. The no. of telephone calls is the usual flow criteria.
The flows are plotted in matrix form, from which primary and secondary flows into and out of each center can be identified.

Illustrative Example Using Flow Analysis Method

Example using flow analysis method

The no. of telephone calls is taken as the flow criteria. The flows are plotted in matrix form, from which the primary and secondary flows into and out of each centre can be identified. The resulting hierarchy of nodes can plotted as a simple network, providing an insight into the form and extent of functional relationships within an area. Here D is the major centre, with B,E and G subsidiary centres.

2) Gravitational Analysis Method

It is concerned with the theoretical forces of attraction between centres rather than actual flows. The gravity model assumes that the interaction between two centres is directly proportional to the ‘mass’ of the centres and inversely proportional to ‘distance’ between the centres.

· ‘Mass’ can be population, employment, income, expenditure and retail turnover.

· Distance can be in physical terms (km), time, price, and intervening opportunities.

· In mathematical notation

f = k (m1 ✕ m2)/d

Where f is the force of attraction between two settlements, m1 and m2 are masses of the two settlements and d is the distance between them. K is a constant.

If Parents Can Work From Home, Why Can't Students? A Snow Day Doesn't Have To Be A "No" Day

Source: ASIDE 2015

We have another snow day today. The relentless snow this winter has forced many schools into crisis mode. Teachers are panicking about missed curriculum and make-up days. But with today’s access to mobile technology, shouldn’t there be a middle ground between all or nothing learning? Genuine remote learning should be a regular practice, not just a prediction. Even amid record-breaking blizzards, a snow day shouldn’t have to be a “no” day.

Students frequently get sick and miss school. Consider, too, how many times you’ve seen a kid in your classroom who really shouldn’t be there. He has his head down, or has bags under his eyes, or has his mind clearly elsewhere. How many times have you noticed a student who truly needs a break? She’s been burning the candle at both ends, or has been bearing the weight of a bully, or has been negotiating a tough family situation.

Source: ASIDE 2015

A kid sometimes needs a personal day. It used to be that a student’s absence meant a day of missed learning. Today, this not only seems strange, it seems unforgivable.

For parents, “working from home” is a common occurrence. Many companies have no problem with their employees telecommuting at a distance, staying in contact via phone, email, and instant message. With all of the dynamic digital tools available to schools today, why can’t students work from home? Many teachers post all of their assignments online anyway.

Source: ASIDE 2015

Video conferencing and social media and collaborative documents all offer easy avenues to engage a class of home-bound learners. Many teachers use these resources daily inside of the classroom. Why can’t these tools also be tapped to coordinate a corps of kids, either in real-time or at the students’ own paces?

Backchanneling, for example, has emerged as a valuable way to invite feedback and questions during an in-class lesson. If we can turn backchannels into forechannels, then we can transform these supplemental tools into primary vehicles for distance education.

Tools for remote learning:

Sources: Company Logos

TodaysMeet – The leading real-time channel, TodaysMeet creates discussion groups for instant message communication.
Twitter – The ultimate social media tool for education, Twitter mimics the classroom environment with chats, text, links, images, and videos.
Croak.it – Both teachers and students can create a 30-second audio file with a url that can be embedded in a backchannel, website, or tweet.
Remind – This free way for teachers to text students protects everyone’s privacy and instantly reaches kids on their phones.
Cel.ly – Cel.ly creates individual social networks via its texting feature that can be moderated directly from a smartphone.

Sources: Company Logos

Verso – Flipped learning with Verso can include videos, images, or links in self-contained classes with rich commenting features.
eduCanon – This site collects videos from across the web and allows teachers to add flipped learning elements.
EDpuzzle – Teachers can crop videos and add questions and explanations to fit any age group.
Zaption – Zaption makes videos interactive by adding assessments.
audioBoom – Teachers can record podcasts to pass lessons on to students, and kids can capture their own answers, readings, or projects.

Sources: Company Logos

Nearpod – The teacher guides the presentation, and students on their own devices see the slides progress as they interact from anywhere with polls and assessments.
Issuu – Intended to publish webzines, Issuu turns any .pdf into a scrolling web document for students to read and save at their leisure.
iBooks Author – The ability to publish customized content on iBooks is becoming easier and easier.
Wikispaces – Still one of the most flexible platforms for a class website, Wikispaces accepts any media and any embedded content.

Sources: Company Logos

Skype – Teachers can broadcast themselves in full video and audio to reach students in their homes.
Facetime – As more and more schools opt for iPads and Apple TVs, Facetime provides an easy way to videoconference.
Google+ Hangouts – Multiple participants from any device can come together in a live-streaming video chat.

Sources: Company Logos

Google Docs – Google Drive keeps getting better and better, and the real-time collaboration is still the industry standard for essays, presentations, and spreadsheets.
Padlet – Padlet is an infinitely customizable public space with customized urls to post text, links, images, videos, and student projects.
Dropbox – The larger storage capacity of Dropbox makes it ideal for file-sharing.
Email – When in doubt, simple email can allow students and teachers to swap instructions, questions, and assignments.

"What Is Graphicacy?" — An Essential Literacy Explained In An Animated Motion Graphic

What Is Graphicacy? from The ASIDE Blog on Vimeo.

We live in a visual world. Smartphones, television, Internet, and social media all push information in real-time, all the time. Visual media bombard us in constant streams. Learners of every age, therefore, need to understand how to analyze pictorial information. This skill of parsing images, interpreting pictures, and decoding diagrams is known as graphicacy.

The motion graphic (or explainer video) in this post describes the many reasons for graphicacy education. Maps, cartoons, and photographs all feature symbolic cues and metaphoric elements. An animated infographic itself can become a conduit for graphic instruction.

Sixty-five percent of people today identify as visual learners. In fact, the brain processes optic inputs 60,000 times faster than text. Yet schools and scholarship rarely apply the tools and time to train people how to understand all of these visual streams.

Source: ASIDE 2015

The Key To Visual Thinking In A Differentiated Classroom

Graphicacy stands with literacy, oracy, and numeracy as one of the four indispensable corners of education. It dates to W.G.V. Balchin‘s coinage of the term in the 1960s to identify the visual-spatial aspect of human intelligence. What began as a staple of South African geography education has ballooned in importance, especially in today’s 1:1 classroom. With today’s rightful emphasis on differentiated instruction, contemporary classrooms need to incorporate coaching in graphicacy to reach students via their learning preferences. (Continue reading for more information….)

Visual Literacy + Visual Thinking

Visual literacy is about learning how to look. It involves learning how to internalize and deconstruct the images that the brain sees. It involves input. Visual thinking is about learning how to design. It involves imagining graphic representations of new or traditional concepts based on the mind’s unique creation. It involves output. Graphicacy, therefore, is the union of the two acuities. It marries the essential skills of decoding and encoding to embrace a range of pictorial proficiencies. (Continue reading for more information….)

Source: ASIDE 2011

Teaching The Art Of Seeing

Tommy McCall hit the nail on the head when he called “graphicacy the neglected step child in the classroom” during his TEDx East talk on Literacy, Numeracy, And Graphicacy. In the new e-cology to design and create digital content that is transmitted, interactive, and shared, it is even more vital to incorporate graphicacy skills in daily lessons. By training kids to thoroughly study what they see, we reinforce their visual acuity, attention to detail, and ability to notice conspicuous absences of information. We want them to develop a keen eye for seeing, to detect problems, and to understand the message inherent in the design. (Continue reading for more information….)

Graphics As Literacy

Graphicacy often takes a backseat in traditional classrooms, because understanding pictures is thought to be a natural consequence of basic vision. The conventional wisdom says that if people can see, then naturally they can comprehend what they see. Parents, however, know this is untrue. They know children must learn to decode images and connect the visual parts to the cognitive whole. Mothers and fathers dedicate evenings to paging through picture books with their toddlers, pointing out clouds and jackrabbits and smiling moons. (Continue reading for more information….)

Graphicacy in the Primary Grades

Whether graphicacy is the “fourth R” or the “third skill,” as Howard A. Spielman refers to it, the format for representing data and visuals is much more complex today. Data visualizations such as infographics and the myriad of designs used in their creation are arguably more complex in many cases. This is quite the opposite of what infographics are by definition, which is to present complex information quickly and clearly. They often combine images and data in ways very different from standard graphs, charts, and maps in most elementary textbooks, thus prompting a need for graphicacy in education. (Continue reading for more information….)

Source: ASIDE 2015

4 Steps To Understanding An Image

We use four steps in guiding students to interpret charts, maps, cartoons, infographics, and logos. These four steps progress from base-level identification toward more analytical and sophisticated skills. The understandings proceed from: 1) Substance, 2) Scaffold, 3) Story, and 4) So What? (Continue reading for more information….)

Is There A Visual Thinking App?

Amid the national emphasis on STEM programs, charts are becoming key tools to represent visual statistics. As more and more schools migrate to 1:1 tablets, therefore, students need a foundation in reading and rendering their own optic inputs. The language of apps today is printed in icons. On handheld devices, colorful squares dance across each swiped screen. Children need to recognize these badges and identify the relationships between the logos and the corresponding actions. (Continue reading for more information….)

Renderforest: An Amazing Tool For Students & Teachers To Create Motion Graphic Videos

Source: Renderforest

Motion graphics are some of the most effective learning tools today. Sometimes called explainer videos or animated infographics, these multi-sensory clips deliver information in a high-octane fashion that appeals to all of the learning modalities.

These colorful, spirited videos combine voice, images, and kinetic typography to employ all of the brain’s receptors in internalizing ideas. They elevate static infographics to a whole other plane. Here are some of the best motion graphics for classroom and individual learning:

Source: Renderforest

Even more powerful than watching an explainer video is creating one’s own animation. We recently produced our first, professional-quality motion graphic, called “What Is Graphicacy?” These types of films can teach a lesson or bring a project to life or demonstrate mastery of a concept. Until recently, complex videos like these were the sole purview of trained graphic artists. Now, teachers and students alike can design and publish their own motion infographics with simple, elegant, free interfaces. Adobe Voice has long been one of our favorite apps for making videos, but Renderforest kicks the options and energy up to a higher level.

Renderforest is a web tool that offers a range of easy yet powerful templates for producing videos. Signing up for an account is free. Within minutes, you can be publishing your own content. The templates walk a perfect balance between customized choice and preset parameters. You have a range of selections in style and length of video, and you can then select a color theme to unite the presentation. Each slide has text elements that you can personalize, and the magic of Renderforest turns everything into a lively animation.

Renderforest: An ultimate Video Maker from Renderforest on Vimeo.

Originally intended for business users, Renderforest has enormous potential for education. Its subtle options in are its best. You can pick from its list of background musical tracks, all of which are nice. Or you can upload your own tunes and voiceover. In other words, any recording you have produced can be added to their frames. You can invite students to record podcasts or narrations, or use Garageband to layer original music with audio tracks. The app-smashing potential is tremendous.

When you export your finished product, you can easily go back and edit any element. The free option features a basic video quality with a company watermark in the corner. You can, therefore, show student or teacher videos in class for no charge. If you would like to choose from the HD playbacks, or download your film, there are modest pricing options available.

Source: Renderforest

We had no trouble designing our video, recording the audio in one take, converting it to HD, downloading it, and then uploading it to Vimeo in a surprisingly brief period of time.

This act of creating motion graphics nudges both students and teachers to blend a host of proficiencies. It involves visual design in colors and templates, just as it requires language skills of narration and storytelling. It supports key technological skills in manipulating online media, and it reinforces the importance of publishing in sharing child creations with peers and parents. Kids teaching kids is the purest model of learning. Renderforest allows them to produce permanent instructional videos that can reach global audiences and live on after their own school years have ended.

How to create motion graphic videos for free? Renderforest for Business from Renderforest on Vimeo.

What Is "Interdisciplinary Geography"? – 5 Animations To Get Kids Excited About Maps

Source: NATS

Students like geography more than most adults think. Kids are actually drawn to maps’ visual characters, their quirky variabilities, their puzzle-like natures that hold secret troves of meaning just waiting to be decoded.

For evidence, take a look at these ideas that reveal maps’ complexities:

The problem with most geography instruction is not that maps are boring; it’s that they are largely cordoned off within the confines of social studies classes. Maps, however, are by definition interdisciplinary. They unite physicality with artistry. More specifically, they combine political borders with spatial terrains. They expose slave trade routes across temporal spans. They chart celestial bodies through time and space.

Source: Business Insider

The five animations below take map visualizations a step further by adding movement to standard geography. These interactions uncloak a whole new way for students to examine the world they inhabit. Each of these explainer videos adds an unexpected interdisciplinary twist to traditional maps, making them perfect for a range of lessons.

Geography + Sociology

The video entitled “Animated Map Shows How Religion Spread Around The World” was produced by Alex Kuzoian for Business Insider. It elegantly and efficiently traces the progression of global faiths through their continental migrations. It would make an effective companion to a range of sociology, anthropology, history, and religion lessons.

Geography + Technology

London 24 from NATS on Vimeo.

This mesmerizing visualization by NATS (formerly National Air Traffic Services) is called “London 24.” It sketches the number of airplane flights over London each day. The animation is being used in the debate over expanding UK runways, to handle the 3,000 daily flights to these five metropolitan airports. It is a nifty representation of how technology, science, and global wealth have created unexpected issues for modern safety.

Geography + History

This motion graphic from Vox, entitled “220 Years Of U.S. Population Changes In One Map,” explains why the mean center of population is one of the most important and the most understudied metrics of U.S. density. The video offers unique insights into the growth of the American frontier, the expansion of states, and the effect air conditioning has had on the South’s emergence as a population powerhouse.

Geography + Science

“What The Earth Would Look Like If All The Ice Melted,” from Business Insider, offers a compelling case for amping up the awareness of global climate change. Behind oddly disarming music, the animation moves its lens around the world, laying bare which major cities would be flooded if the earth’s temperature continues to rise.

Geography + Geology

Due to cartographic distortions, many people misjudge the size of the world’s landforms. This clip, also from Business Insider, is called “9 Animated Maps That Will Change The Way You See The World.” With jaunty music and cartoon graphics, the video gives a side-by-side slideshow of how the globe’s countries really stack up.

Everything You Wanted to Know About mega city’s

A wonderful serenity has taken possession of my entire soul, like these sweet mornings

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Metro city’s should make road with protection In mind

I am alone, and feel the charm of existence in this spot, which was created for the bliss of souls like mine.

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Go For Western Economy With These Pioneering

but it is too much for my strength — I sink under the weight of the splendour of these visions!

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Where to travel asia Kind Mid Spirit

I am alone, and feel the charm of existence in this spot, which was created for the bliss of souls like mine.

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Cargo industry welcome foreign investment

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Business Together To Make Investments

I am alone, and feel the charm of existence in this spot, which was created for the bliss of souls like mine.

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Working Together to Make Investments

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