All posts by James Clay

coffee, twitter

It’s all about the coffee…

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How Twitter is all about the coffee….

Using Twitter to form communities of practice.

A presentation from the Handheld Learning Conference 2009.

Do you Twitter?

Some people have “complained” about Twitter as shallow and lightweight, they have missed the point.

Is Twitter just about following people and reading informative links or is it about conversation and community?

I use Twitter in various ways, saying when I am drinking a coffee,to inform about what I am doing, blog articles and as a backchannel at events and conferences. However telling people is only half the story, the real value of Twitter is the conversation.

Of course really Twitter is all about the coffee. It’s the coffee you drink with colleagues during a break, where you discuss work, but also your commute, TV, films, the weather. It’s the coffee you drink whilst browsing the web and posting links of interesting web site to your blog or in an e-mail. It’s the coffee you drink in a coffee shop, reading the paper or a book. It’s the coffee you drink with fellow delegates during a break or at lunch at a conference. Where you discuss the keynotes, the presentations, the workshops, where you are going next, your hotel, the food, the coffee, what you do, where you’re going, what gadgets you have in your bag.

Twitter is about these moments, but without the physical and geographical limitations. Twitter allows people from different institutions, sectors, different, departments to share these moments. This presentation will look at how Twitter can be used to improve and enhance teaching and learning through the use of Twitter as a community of practice.

iphone, kindle

Handheld Learning 2009 Day 3

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Here I am at day three of Handheld Learning 2009.

I am presenting this afternoon in the MoLeNET session.

Yesterday’s Twitter session went well with some good feedback.

So much to talk about from this conference and also so much I want to talk about from outside the conference, Adobe’s Flash for the iPhone announcement, the worldwide release of the Kindle… so much to say and so little time.

Hoping to write a fair few words this evening on the train.

Expect to see a few reflections over the next few days.

stuff

It’s Day Two…

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It’s day two of Handheld Learning 2009 and we start with the keynotes (preceded by industry announcements). Graham Brown Martin starting the conference with a hard hitting commentary on the state of the learning economy.

Later we have Malcolm McLaren and others…

I am speaking in the Social Media for Learning session on Twitter at 5.30…

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Handheld Learning 2009

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Today I am going to Handheld Learning 2009, probably the biggest conference on mobile learning.

There is lots on at the conference and for it is quite a busy conference. Today I am at the HHECKL Fringe event with our excellent Gadget Cool Wall. Later I hope to be on the Pecha Kucha with twenty slides and twenty seconds for each slide.

Monday evening is the Awards Evening and that should be fun.

On Tuesday there is a lots on and I have the final slot in the Social Media for Learning session. I am presenting on the Value of Twitter.

Wednesday I am presenting in the MoLeNET session on our Glossy and Shiny projects.

The nice thing about Handheld Learning is that it is about all types of learning and all types of sectors. There is a research strand, there is an exhibition, keynote speakers and lots of different strands and sessions.

Some excellent people are going and some of these are also presenting.

Looking forward to it.

apple, iphone

iPhone gets it about a bit

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O2 have had an exclusive deal with Apple over the iPhone in the UK, that is all about to change with the news that both Orange and Vodafone have secured a deal with Apple to provider their customers with the iPhone in the next few months.

This may cause extra competition and bring down the price of both the phone and the tariffs and then again maybe not if the demand for the iPhone remains high.

Making the iPhone available on other mobile phone networks will mean that customers (and therefore learners) will be able to get the iPhone (say as an upgrade) and don’t need to change networks or their number. Yes I know you can move your number, sometimes easy and sometimes not.

Over one million iPhones were sold by O2 and it wouldn’t surprise me to see this figure rise faster with the iPhone on the Orange and Vodafone networks.

With the iPhone going to Vodafone and Orange (and thus T-Mobile eventually) it will be available on most networks.

The iPhone is getting cheaper, with more competition it may get cheaper still.

The iPhone is getting competitors edgy and therefore will start to look at how they can improve their products.

The iPhone will get better, the 3GS is significantly better than the 3G in my opinion (and I have used both).

The iPhone may get bigger (ie the Apple Tablet) we need to be prepared for that. Both Apple and Microsoft appear to be edging into the e-book (and e-journal) market after the success of Amazon’s Kindle.

The iPod touch is not a phone, as a result has huge potential in schools who may be concerned about contract costs, etc…

It will be easier more than ever to get the iPhone.

Will it change learning?

No.

Not on its own.

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Mobile learning in a military context

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Yesterday I was in that for me was in some ways a very alien environment and in other ways a familiar environment.
I delivered a session on mobile learning to a group of military personnel down in Torpoint in Cornwall. With Navy, Army and Airforce the day was looking at advanced learning and how the military can draw ideas from how learning is changing from a series of presentations from a group of experts.

I gave a presentation on mobile learning in which covered (if you have seen me present before) familiar ground. I talked about the use of mobile technologies, the use of mobile web technologies, learning while mobile and the mobility of the learner.

I did focus on how we use mobile learning at Gloucestershire College more to enhance and enrich the learning experience at this time, over replacing traditional learning modes. Eventually I know we will be able to take advantage of what mobile learning has to offer and enable our learners to access learning at a time and place to suit the learner.

Despite radical differences between the focus and operation of the armed forces and a typical FE College; we both do train and teach learners. In some cases we deliver very similar subjects, vehicle maintenance, catering, plumbing; and in some very different subjects, handling a 20mm light cannon, disassembling a GMPG.

We both face similar challenges, we both have our Innovation Prevention Departments™, we have traditions that were laid down that are believed can never be changed, a changing society, fast moving changes in technology.

We also have our differences, the security issues faced by the armed forces are different to the ones faced in an FE College. The turnover of instructors, in the armed forces often instructors will only do a two year tour before moving back on ship, back to their regiment, etc…

We have our differences, we have our similarities, in the end we can learn from each other and this can only benefit both of our groups of learners.

stuff

Mobile Broadband too slow

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3gdongle

From BBC News.

A survey by comparison site Broadband Expert suggests that UK mobile broadband providers are delivering services “far lower than advertised”.

Almost three and a half thousand broadband connections were tested over a five month period.

The firm found that users recorded an average download speed of 1.1Mbs, substantially lower than advertised.

The advertised speeds are sometimes in my opinion a bit over the top, for example Vodafone advertise 7.2Mbps which is really fast, however though I believe I have had that speed probably once, in London, I generally get a much lower speed.

However I agree with the expert critcism of the report, this is mobile broadband we’re talking about, though I would like to get a consistent 7.2Mbps I know that the technology doesn’t work that way. If I am moving, if other people are using their 3G devices, buildings, the weather and other stuff.

I have been pleased with my Vodafone 3G and T-Mobile 3G speeds, what are your 3G experience like? Do some people have high expectations for a technology which personally I am surprised works at all.

Photo source.