All posts by James Clay

altc2010, e-book

Do you like books or do you like reading?

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I am running another symposium at ALT-C, this year it is on ebooks.

eBooks and eBook Readers bring new challenges and new opportunities for learning technologists. Sony has the eReader, Amazon the Kindle and now Apple has the iPad. Publishers are now offering more titles as eBooks.

There is a huge growth and interest in this new medium. Some learners prefer physical books and the feel of paper, but do eBooks have the potential to offer more to the reader? Are eBooks a new way for learners to access information and learning? Are they just a digital version of print, ignoring the affordances of new technologies?

This symposium will explore the potential of eBooks, the role of eBook Readers for learning, and the ways in which learning technologists can utilise eBooks to enhance and enrich the learning experience.

The panel consists of: educators who have used eBooks with learners; researchers who have researched the use of eBooks in education by learners; publishers who have designed and developed eBooks; and learning technologists.

Each member of the panel brings their experience of embedding the use of eBooks with learners. These experiences have been through using eBooks in the classroom and in the library with learners. Researching user behaviour in the use of eBooks and designing eBooks for learners.

The session will commence with an overview and introduction of eBooks and eBook technologies, through mobile devices such as the iPad and using the browser.

The members of the panel will each deliver a presentation on their view of the future of eBooks. They will pose questions to the audience to stimulate debate and discussions. Panellists with the audience will debate the strengths and weaknesses of eBooks and the various eBook Readers available. They will discuss whether eBooks offer new pedagogies or reinforce existing ones.

By the end of the debate participants will have had an opportunity to discuss the advantages and challenges that eBooks bring to education and the role they could play in the enhancement and enrichment of learning.

The symposium takes place between 17:10 – 18:10 on Tuesday, 7 September in Room 1.

app of the week, ipad, twitter

Osfoora HD, for Twitter – iPad App of the Week

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Osfoora HD, for Twitter – iPad App of the Week

This is a regular feature of the blog looking at the various iPhone and iPad Apps available. Some of the apps will be useful for those involved in learning technologies, others will be useful in improving the way in which you work, whilst a few will be just plain fun! Some will be free, others will cost a little and one or two will be what some will think is quite expensive. Though called iPhone App of the Week, most of these apps will work on the iPod touch or the iPad, some will be iPad only apps.

This week’s App is Osfoora HD, for Twitter.

Osfoora HD for Twitter is a blazing fast and clean twitter client for your iPad. Provides elegant and easy access to all of Twitter’s functionalities. Osfoora HD has all the features of Osfoora for iPhone and more.

With a gorgeous user interface, multiple account support, optional full landscape mode (customizable), text expander, boxcar support, twitter lists, nearby tweets, and the ability to tweet songs… using twitter becomes a joy!

£2.39

There are many Twitter Apps out there for the iPad some are free and some like Osfoora HD cost money. With the wonderful screen size of the iPad is that you don’t even need an App you can just use the web interface, the Safari browser works just fine. So why would you spend £2.39 on an App like Osfoora HD?

That’s a good question.

If you use Twitter only occasionally then you probably wouldn’t want to spend hard earned cash on a Twitter App, to be honest I am guessing if you are reading this review you probably are a regular Twitter user and as a result are looking for a tool that enables your use of Twitter to be easier and more effective.

The main reason I switched to Osfoora HD over the free Tweetdeck and the web interface was conversations. When I dip in and out of Twitter I often come across a conversation I don’t just want to know the end of the conversation I also want to know where it started. There may be a way of doing that on Tweetdeck, but I couldn’t work it out. On Osfoora HD all I need to do is click the blue conversation icon!

As with most Twitter Apps you can easily add images, via TwitPic or other Twitter image services, video. Unlike some Apps you can add multiple photographs to single posting if you want.

Yes I know that the iPad doesn’t have a camera, but if you have an iPad camera connection kit you can very easily transfer images from your camera to the iPad. When you add URLs you can “shorten” them making it very easy to add multiple long URLs to any Twitter posting. You can also add your location if you want to.

It’s also very easy on the App to either use the Twitter version of Retweet or to use RT if you prefer that method.

If you use Twitter a lot you may have more than one Twitter account, Osfoora HD allows you to add multiple accounts. This is something that is often missing from many free Twitter Apps.

It’s quick and easy to access searches or lists, though I do think Tweetdeck does this much better.

At the end of the day there is no real reason to buy a Twitter App for the iPad, however I find that using Osfoora HD makes using Twitter easier and more effective. I liked the App so much that I wanted it for my iPhone, this is one downside, unlike a lot of other Apps that you buy once and works on both iPad and iPhone, with Osfoora you need to buy one App for the iPad and one for the iPhone!

100 ways, vle

100 ways to use a VLE – #10 Gradebook

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Keeping track of student assessment can be an administrative problem for some practitioners. Who has done what and what they got needs to be recorded so that the practitioner has a fair idea of the progress learners are making on the programme.

Obviously this can be done on paper, on a spreadsheet or a piece of dedicated gradebook software.

You can also use the VLE as a gradebook. Used in conjunction with an assignment submission and assessment system it will allow the practitioner to know easily who has submitted a piece of work, what grade they got, revisit the feedback given and check the status of any referral work.

This data can then be exported and imported into any proprietary gradebook system the institution may have.

Another advantage of using the VLE is that the information is very easily accessible by the learner, so that they can see their grades.

Photo source.

google

Google Chrome Tablet in November (perhaps?)

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Download Squad are reporting that there will be a Google Chrome Tablet coming in November.

Yes, our source tells us that Google is building a Chrome OS tablet. It’s real, and it’s being built by HTC.

HTC of course made the Nexus One.

If this is real, are Google doing this for the same reasons they released the Nexus One. It has been said that Google made the Nexus One so that it would stimulate the Android phone market. Google aren’t going to make a Nexus Two as there are loads of Android phones now available out there.

So I do wonder if there is to be a Google Chrome tablet, are Google doing this for the same reasons they released the Nexus One to stimulate the market for a Chrome tablet?

With the success of Apple’s iPad most of the manufacturers who announced tablets before Apple made their iPad announcement seem to have backtracked and aren’t going to make them now.

Maybe if a Google Chrome Tablet takes off, we will see a whole load more tablets released.

app of the week

aSmart HUD – iPhone App of the Week

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aSmart HUD – iPhone App of the Week

This is a regular feature of the blog looking at the various iPhone and iPad Apps available. Some of the apps will be useful for those involved in learning technologies, others will be useful in improving the way in which you work, whilst a few will be just plain fun! Some will be free, others will cost a little and one or two will be what some will think is quite expensive. Though called iPhone App of the Week, most of these apps will work on the iPod touch or the iPad, some will be iPad only apps.

This week’s App is aSmart HUD.

aSmartHUD is simple and clear vehicle digital dashboard.

£0.59

This App provides a simple heads up display that gives you an indication of your speed, direction and position.

It is designed so that you can “reflect” it onto your windscreen so you can pretend your car is a fighter jet!

A bit of fun really.

Get aSmart HUD in the iTunes App Store.

100 ways, vle

100 ways to use a VLE – #98 Embedding RSS feeds into the VLE

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Keeping the content on the VLE current, topical and updated can be a real challenge for many practitioners. It can be both time consuming and if you are new to adding regular additional content to the VLE it can be easily forgotten that you said to yourself that you would regularly add content.

Of course for virtually all subjects there are loads of other people out there creating new, current and topical content. On blogs and news sites, lots of relevant and interesting content is being created.

The key is to ensure that the learners are made aware of that content quickly and easily.

You can of course copy and paste links and content into the VLE, but this has to be done manually and sometimes you are busy or just plain forget…

So that’s where RSS comes in.

What’s RSS?

Really Simple Syndication!

What’s Really Simple Syndication?

I knew you might ask me that!

The simple explanation is that RSS allows for content to be easily used and shared (syndicated) onto other web sites automatically. As that content is updated, the RSS ensures that the updated content is made available on the other web sites.

When content sites (like the BBC) update their content, they update their RSS feed. This feed can then be “added” to the VLE ensuring that when the content (and the RSS feed) is updated, the content on the VLE is automatically updated.

So by adding RSS feeds into the VLE, you can easily add new and exciting content into the VLE that update automatically without either the practitioners or learners needing to do anything.

I should point out that a few learners may want to subscribe to the RSS feed direct using a browser or feed reader. They may for example have a feed reader on their iPad or other mobile device.

So how do you add an RSS Feed into the VLE?

Well different VLEs do it in different ways. On Moodle the easiest way is via the Remote RSS Feeds Block.

This then allows you to add an RSS feed (like the feed from this blog) into the VLE.

The next question is I know, how do you know where the RSS feed is?

Well the address for the feeds will look something like this.

http://feeds.bbci.co.uk/news/technology/rss.xml
https://elearningstuff.net/feed/
http://screenr.com/user/jamesclay/rss
http://audioboo.fm/users/2631/boos.atom

As you can see it’s not just news and blogs that have RSS feeds, you can also find RSS feeds for services like Screenr, Flickr and Audioboo.

So when you visit a page with an RSS feed on most modern browsers they will have an RSS icon.

Click the RSS icon to see the feed. Another way of describing an RSS feed is as content without the formatting.

In this example the feed is in the address bar.

Copy that into the Add a news feed URL field on the VLE.

This will allow you to embed the RSS feed into the VLE.

What’s nice about the Moodle Embed RSS block is that you can add multiple feeds into a single block.

Adding an RSS feed to the VLE can be for many practitioners quite a complex and challenging task, mainly as it can be difficult for many of them to understand what RSS is and means. However once you get past that hurdle it is then a quick and easy way to add current and topical content to your course on the VLE automatically.

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ipad

iPad of the Tiger

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A few Music Technology staff at the college have approached me (as they do) and asked for some iPads to allow their students to create some music.

I have already posted some videos of others doing this.

This version of Survivor’s Eye of the Tiger was recorded completely using iPad applications.

Created by photographer Jordan Hollender and musician Scott Harris.

There are some very interesting iPad applications for music and musical instruments, something we might look into at a later date at the college.

Found via TUAW.

app of the week, ipad, iphone, news

BBC News – iPhone App of the Week

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BBC News – iPhone App of the Week

This is a regular feature of the blog looking at the various iPhone and iPad Apps available. Some of the apps will be useful for those involved in learning technologies, others will be useful in improving the way in which you work, whilst a few will be just plain fun! Some will be free, others will cost a little and one or two will be what some will think is quite expensive. Though called iPhone App of the Week, most of these apps will work on the iPod touch or the iPad, some will be iPad only apps.

This week’s App is BBC News

Get the latest, breaking news from the BBC and our global network of journalists.

By downloading the BBC News app you can view:

  • News stories by geographical region
  • News by category including business, technology, entertainment and sport
  • News in other languages including Spanish, Russian and Arabic
  • Video including one minute news summaries to keep you informed on the go
  • You can also personalise the app to suit your interests and download content for offline browsing

Free

The BBC News website is a wonderful resource and place for news on the web. The mobile version is okay too. Both versions do work on the iPhone and the iPad.

However the BBC News website does rely on Flash for video. The obvious solution would be, as other news providers have, build an App.

So the BBC did build a BBC News App for the iPhone and the iPad…

However…

UK media companies complained, so the BBC Trust said that the BBC News App would not be available in the UK, but they could make it available overseas!

Eventually after much deliberation and consultation the BBC Trust said that yes the App could be made available in the UK. Yay!

So what about the App itself?

Basically it is similar to the website, the news is divided into sections.

The advantage over the website is that any video is in h.264 format so it plays! Not all the news and video though on the main BBC website is easy to find on the App though.

The user interface is much more iPhone like than the website so making it much quicker and easier to use.

This is a really good App, just a pity that it wasn’t available in the UK for so long…