BBC is reporting on how visually impaired users will soon be able to access virtual worlds.
Online virtual worlds could soon be accessible to blind people thanks to research by students at IBM in Ireland.
Some estimates predict that 80% of active internet users will be using a virtual world in four years’ time.
As I write it’s about five minutes before the Apple event at the Apple Store in London gets underway.
Generally it is accepted that this will be the launch of the iPhone in Europe.
It will be interesting to see if it is a 3G version or whether the fact that O2 have been upgrading their network to EDGE will mean that the UK iPhone will still be EDGE only.
Not long to wait now…
According to a report by Sheffield University the UK exported £28bn worth of learning in 2003-04.
That’s a lot of learning…
My top ten applications which I use to create and support the use of e-learning are…
Keynote – a superb presentation package, not matter how many times I start creating a presentation in PowerPoint, I virtually always end up in Keynote. The latest version (iWork ’08) is a real improvement on the previous version and I will admit I do like the audience going “ooh” when I use the cube transition.
Toast – not only a superb disk burning piece of software, but extremely capable of converting a range of video file formats and doing it well. Another useful video conversion tool I have started using is VisualHub.
EyeTV – though Windows Media Centre (and now Vista) has a much better interface, the versatility, the editing and exporting functionality make EyeTV the only real choice when it comes to recording and editing television. Combined with Toast and VisualHub you suddenly can record, edit and watch that video wherever, whenever and on whatever you want.
Dreamweaver – steep learning curve, but if you need to get your hands dirty with HTML and websites then this package is perfect. Though I do like Dreamweaver, I know with web tools such as WordPress and Drupal tools such as Dreamweaver are becoming less essential than they were in the past.
Fireworks – For manipulating images for the web then I go with Fireworks every time. Can also be used to create simple animated gifs. I do use PhotoShop, but for web image editing I always start Fireworks first.
Firefox (with Safari a close second and Flock in third place) – I can’t work with non-tabbed browsers, so on the PC it’s Firefox all the time, on the Mac I mainly use Safari. Safari with it’s .mac integration allows me to share my bookmarks over multiple computers and over the web. Now Safari (in beta) is available for Window and I like how Safari for Windows looks almost exactly like Safari for the Mac. Flock is for me relatively new and I do like the integration with online tools such as Flickr, del.icio.us and WordPress.
The JISC have released a podcast on the large digitisation programme.
The £22m JISC digitisation programme is making available a wide range of vital scholarly resources to UK education and research. One of its programme managers is Alastair Dunning who, while talking to Philip Pothen for this podcast, discusses what the programme is delivering and why the international conference in Cardiff represented an important landmark both for the programme and for wider attempts to make available scholarly resources of national importance.
I dragged myself from my PSP to wonder if playing games is such a waste of time…
Today I still walk around and ask students to stop playing games on the computers in the Library.
Some students tell me that they are undertaking a course in Computer Games Design at which point I throw them out…
The JISC have recently published a guide on using gaming for learning.
Since the earliest times, games have been used to support training and learning objectives. With the development of computers and more recently the Internet, there has been increased interest in how leisure games and simulations can be used to support learning.
A newly-published report Learning in Immersive Worlds: a review of game-based learning explores the increased attention being paid to games to support learning objectives, presenting the findings of a literature review and a set of case studies of game-based learning from everyday practice contexts.
The JISC-commissioned report finds that computer games could have an important role to play in learning but that for learning to take place, games must be related to learning outcomes and be relevant to real world contexts of practice. Factors that influence learner motivation include, the report suggests, the player’s sense of challenge, the realism of the game, opportunities to explore or discover new information and learner control.
A copy of the full report of Learning in Immersive Worlds: a review of game-based learning is available with other guides from the JISC website. It makes for interesting reading.
Plasq have launched their third beta of Comic Life for Windows.
Here is Comic Life Windows beta 3! Please UNINSTALL your old version of Comic Life BEFORE INSTALLING the b3 version. Remember it is still a beta. So remember anything can still go wrong! We do try our best to make it as reliable as possible – but as it is a beta, we do ask that you are cautious and don’t recommend using it for time-critical work in case anything goes awry.
You can find the download, new beta serial number and release notes in this forum post here.
I do like Comic Life on my Mac and I am pleased to see a version for Windows.
Google Docs and Spreadsheets are proving very popular in the e-learning community, though one obvious application is “missing”, and that is presentation software (a PowerPoint replacement).
Mashable is reporting that Google is about to launch their web based presentation software, Presently.
Google’s PowerPoint killer looks to be on the horizon. Called Presently, the presentation-creation tool will offer a web-based solution for users.
This will provide a real solution to delivering online presentations and also enable learners to access PowerPoint presentations via the web (say delivered from a VLE). Not every learner will have Microsoft Office installed and though PowerPoint Viewer is an option for some, it is not an option for all.
Regardless of whether you think PowerPoint is not an useful e-learning tool (death by PowerPoint anyone) or is, it is used on a regular basis by a lot of practitioners across the world.
I think despite the dominance of Microsoft Office there is room for a web based presentation application and I am hoping that Presently will fit the bill.
Brian Kelly (who writes the UK Web Focus blog) has been asking the question:
Externally-hosted blogs, wikis, etc: (a) valuable solution for institutions which can save effort and resources; (b) to be avoided, as institutions need to be able to manage and tweak their own services or (c) an alternative view (please describe)?
He’s been using Facebook to ask the question and it is a valid question to ask. Should we as institutions take advantage of such services or should we be running our own services.
Some of the answers on Brian’s question make for interesting reading (Facebook login required) and he has been discussing this on his blog.
I use Flickr quite a bit now, finding it useful for not only organising photographs but allowing staff within Gloucestershire College to use them simply and easily. Now if I used an internal service this would probably also meet their needs, however those of you who have checked my Flickr feed will know I also used it quite a bit at ALT-C and delegates (and non-delegates as well) would have been unable to view (and in some cases use) the photographs. From my perspective using a single service makes life easier, there are lots of guides online, also using an external service allows me to use such clever applications like ShoZu.
One potential downside is what happens when staff leave? They can remove the photographs very quickly and easily.
Also though most Web 2.0 services are free, some like Flickr have limitations on the free account. The “pro” upgrade does cost and the question is who pays for that?
There are many more questions. Luckily for us some Universities have already been down this route and have created guidelines, check lists and risk assessment so providing the basis for any college which is looking at using external web services.
When I was told I had to teach statistics to a group Advanced GNVQ Business students many years ago I did wonder how I would approach it.
In the end I went with themed series of bitesize lessons.
Each lesson had a theme, some of these included:
Time Series – Toy Story, to infinity and beyond, could now use Doctor Who
Correlation – Indiana Jones
Regression – Star Trek
Dispersion and Range – Blackadder goes Forth
Normal Distribution – X-Files
Each lesson was self-contained and included theory and different kinds of assessment.
It seemed to work well, with students who years later still remembered many of the lessons.
As for copyright, well I was a different person then…