Thursday, November 8, 2007

Mashups

Mashups, a web application that combines data and/or functionality from more than one source has gradually impacted teaching and learning. Developers are getting creative, taking APIs from multiple Websites and merging them to form new, innovative applications. A good example of mashups is as follows. Mashup Directory Given the innovative feature of mashups, let's brain we can incorporate them in language teaching and learning!

3 comments:

spotspot said...

As a system developer, I am pretty excited about Mashups. It overcomes many technical limitations which used to constrain the functionality of web applications.
I have another Mashup example, iGoogle, which I use everyday. iGoogle is the personalized Google home page. Everyone having a goolge account can customize your own iGoogle by adding gadgets to it. Your iGoogle home page can contain many gadgets. Each gadget is a web application provided by diverse sources and serving different functions. Each gadget works independently, which means if one gadget doesn't work temporarily, other gadgets won't be affected by the breakdown. It's quite possible to find many useful gadgets in iGoogle. One gadget related to language learning I use frequently is Google Translation. There are other good stuffs as well, such as Dictionary, Word of a Day.....By putting these stuffs together, I have a collection of language learning tools and access to them everyday. Mashups..I really like it. :)

Kyle Huang said...

My first impression of Mashups is, "Wow, this is cool!" By combing the information and database in a web-based platform, we provide users with authentic/discovery learning environment that support learner interactions and technology as a tool for individual as well as social development. I'm pretty interested in the development of the semantic webs and its application in assembling language-related materials. Would be excited if someone can teach me the basic programming of mashups.

jlauriemeixin said...

Wow! I would like to get into this "mashups". Especially if it is related to language learning.