Engage Learning Systems Inc.

Check out Indigenous.net!

carey — Thu, 26 Jan 2012 20:05:38 +0000

On October 24 and 25, a groundbreaking event took place in Ottawa, the 2011 Aboriginal Entrepreneurs Conference and Tradeshow. This conference showcased some of the best in Aboriginal business. As described on the Aboriginal Affairs and Northern Development Canada website:

The Canadian Council for Aboriginal Business (CCAB), supported by Aboriginal Affairs and Northern Development Canada, hosted the Aboriginal Entrepreneurs Conference and Tradeshow on October 24 and 25 at the Westin Hotel in Ottawa.

Through networking and conference events, participants learned how to market and sell their products and services to businesses, governments and foreign partners, and find out about seizing major project opportunities across Canada.

This hugely successful event featured presentations and talks that were led by multiple entrepreneurs across Canada. To watch the entire event for free and to learn more, we highly encourage you to visit http://www.indigenous.net.

Check out this great video, Spotlight on Aboriginal Businesses:

Famous Photos and the Faces Behind Them

carey — Fri, 20 Jan 2012 19:59:33 +0000

If you were to walk into a student residence building on any North American university campus, you will most likely run into something in at least one out of every five dorm rooms. As much as you assume I am referring to beer cans, you would be incorrect. I am referring to a poster, more specifically an extraordinarily famous poster of John Lennon sporting a ‘New York City’ t-shirt on the roof of the Dakota building. That iconic photo has been seen by millions of people across the world, yet few people could identify the man behind the camera, Bob Gruen. This story remains to be true throughout the history of iconic photographs. The photos are elevated to legendary status while the photographers remain anonymous.

Photographer, Tim Mantoani, has created an amazing book entitled ‘Behind Photographs: Archiving Photographic Legends’, which focuses on the faces behind the world’s most famous photographs. This Kickstarter funded project is described by Mantoani:

For the past five years, I have been making portraits of noted photographers on the rare and mammoth format of 20×24 Polaroid. In each case, the photographer is holding one of their favorite or most iconic images. Neil Leifer’s image of Muhammad Ali standing over a knocked-out Sonny Liston, Harry Benson’s epic photo of The Beatles having a pillow fight and Steve McCurry’s famed portrait of the Afghan Girl from the cover of National Geographic to name a few. At the bottom of each Polaroid, the photographer has been asked to write out a short story about their image in their own penmanship. In cases, these words are as revealing about the photographer as the image itself.

The book has documented some amazing historical moments and given the legendary photos new life by showing us the people behind them. If you are a fan of photography like we at Engage are, then check it out today.

To get more info on the project go to: http://behindphotographs.com
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A Sign of the Times

carey — Tue, 10 Jan 2012 18:11:37 +0000

I remember in the late 80′s, looking forward to the upcoming release of a new movie called ‘The Wizard’. The film was essentially a ninety minute commercial for a new product being released for Nintendo called ‘The Power Glove’. As it turned out, the glove wielded very little power and was just an over-hyped controller that never really took off.

Well, now it is 2012, and a new technological ‘power glove’ has been created for a whole different reason. As explained on thenextweb.com:

Three developers, Oleg Imanilov, Zvika Markfield, and Tomer Daniel, have come up with a glove that interprets sign language and turns it into text using a custom Android app.

This “text glove” is still in it’s development stages and is hoping to gather support in the upcoming year. It is technological creations, such as this, that make for a better world. Communication is a right that we all deserve to have and these technologies are helping to pave the way to a brighter future.

These three developers may not be wizards, but what they are creating is certainly magic.

To read the article:

http://thenextweb.com/gadgets/2012/01/09/this-glove-works-with-an-android-app-to-translate-sign-language-into-text/

UPDATE: Record Breaking Stop-Motion Animation

carey — Thu, 15 Dec 2011 18:44:28 +0000

If you have ever wanted to see who the most patient people are on our planet, then look no further. Stop-motion animators create some of the most eye popping imagery you will ever witness. From films like ‘A Nightmare Before Christmas‘ to ‘Coraline‘, this unique form of animation excites audiences worldwide.

One group has brought this, often minimally scaled art form, to a whole new level, the people of www.aardman.com. Using a giant craned camera and a beach, the filmmakers made the world’s largest scale, stop-motion short film called ‘Gulp‘. Here is description of the project by the collective:

‘Gulp’ is a short film created by Sumo Science at Aardman, depicting a fisherman going about his daily catch. Shot on location at Pendine Beach in South Wales, every frame of this stop-motion animation was shot using a Nokia N8, with its 12 megapixel camera and Carl Zeiss optics. The film has broken a world record for the ‘largest stop-motion animation set’, with the largest scene stretching over 11,000 square feet.

Check out the videos below:

BLOG UPDATE:

Have you ever wanted to create your own ‘Record Breaking Stop-Motion Animation’ film? Well now you can!

Here in Canada, we are blessed to have the National Film Board. This amazing collective of creators have helped to fund and create some of our countries finest works, enhancing our culture everyday.

There genius doesn’t stop at film making though. It seems they have a knack for creating revolutionary apps. Thanks to the NFB’s team of web developers, you too can create your very own stop motion films using their amazing, new PixStop app. As described on their blog:

PixStop [is] a fresh new app that enables you to make stop-motion films on your iPad 2. Designed to capture as many as 10,000 images, Pixstop allows you to create mini masterpieces up to 13 minutes long.

To buy the app, go to:

http://itunes.apple.com/ca/app/nfb-pixstop/id481791763?ls=1&mt=8

To learn more about the NFB and the PixStop app, go to:

http://blog.nfb.ca/2012/01/11/want-to-create-stop-motion-films-we-made-an-app-for-that/

21st Century Entrepreneurial Pirates

carey — Wed, 14 Dec 2011 16:36:52 +0000

Forget Black beard and the grizzled pirates of old, we have a whole new breed of scallywags running the waters, entrepreneurs. Blueseed, a collective of young entrepreneurs, is creating a “high-tech visa-free entrepreneurship and technology incubator on an ocean vessel in international waters.” As described on wired.com:

Blueseed says U.S. immigration law is choking the flow of “bold and creative” entrepreneurs into Silicon Valley. So it’s building a floating IT fortress where entrepreneurs can be bold and creative right next to Silicon Valley without actually setting foot on U.S. soil.

Backed by the founder of Paypal, this project looks to be the home of many new technological innovations that will ideally benefit the struggling US economy. Be sure to check out the article and the Blueseed website to discover more on this jaw-dropping project.

Article: http://www.wired.com/wiredenterprise/2011/12/blueseed/

Website: http://www.blueseed.co/

Music Training Fun for Everyone

carey — Wed, 07 Dec 2011 19:48:58 +0000

Have you always wanted to take music lessons? Have you wanted to be the next Canadian Idol or rock star filling the Air Canada Centre? Well look no further, thanks to Theta Music Training.

We came across this site and instantly fell in love with it. The online training site integrates an array of differing teaching techniques from interactive games to fun ear training activities.

At Engage we continue to create and further new and innovative ways of educating the learner. This site is a great example in demonstrating the ways in which we can harness the power of technologies and create a whole new system of learning. Theta is a perfect demonstration of this.

Click on the link below to start your new career in music:

http://trainer.thetamusic.com/en

Engaging Animation for a Better Education

carey — Wed, 07 Dec 2011 19:04:31 +0000

The world wide web has changed the way we approach almost every aspect of our lives. This can not be seen more clearly than in education. The internet has given us the power to search and discover any educational area that we choose. The website, www.thersa.org has created a series of videos, covering a wide array of topics, from philosophy to the sciences, using animation as it’s key educational tool. As described on their site:

“The RSA (Royal Society for the Encouragement of Arts, Manufactures and Commerce) is an enlightenment organization committed to finding innovative practical solutions to today’s social challenges.”

The highly entertaining and thought-provoking videos utilize the power that animation has on an audience to convey intricate ideas.

At Engage, we take inspiration from companies such as the RSA, who continue to explore and expand new ways in which we tackle education in our modern society.

To check out more of their videos: http://comment.rsablogs.org.uk/videos/

To check out their youtube page: http://www.youtube.com/user/theRSAorg

Why go 3D, when you can have 360!

carey — Thu, 01 Dec 2011 18:16:22 +0000

Thanks to the upstart website Kickstarter, a company called GoPano have created an unbelievable product for the iPhone 4. What is this product? A 360 video camera. GoPano’s 360 camera allows the user to shoot full streaming videos in 360 degrees. Once the video is uploaded, the viewer can watch and rotate the screen from any angle they like.

At Engage, we are constantly looking for new and innovative ways to push the envelope in all the projects we take part in. GoPano is a company that is striving to do the same and it is exciting to see what they will have in store for us next!

An App to Help Your Appetite

carey — Thu, 01 Dec 2011 18:16:08 +0000

Cell phones are quickly becoming the go-to technological gadget for just about anything. From the time to the temperature, there are cell phone applications for all aspects of oulife.

Having worked with Breakfast for Learning, Engage knows the importance a healthy meal bring to the daily routine. Now, with an App called ‘Meal Snap’, you can simply take a photo of your meals and have a calorie estimate sent right back to your phone. The app was created by a ‘Daily Burn Apps’, a company that specializes in food and fitness applications. To check out more of their life altering products, go to: www.mealsnap.com

The Evolution of Classroom Technology

carey — Thu, 16 Jun 2011 14:50:41 +0000

At Engage, we continually get excited about the new technological advancements in the learning process. The article that we came across on edudemic.com showcases a brief history of these advancements as described here:

“Classrooms have come a long way. There’s been an exponential growth in educational technology advancement over the past few years. From overhead projectors to iPads, it’s important to understand not only what’s coming next but also where it all started.”

It is exciting to see just how vastly different the classroom setting has become. One can only imagine what type of technologies will be around 400 years from today’s I-Pad world.

Click on the link below to check out the article:

http://edudemic.com/2011/04/classroom-technology/