Category Archives: conference

conference, ipad

iPad Conferencing

6 Comments

So here’s a question, will Apple’s new iPad make a significant difference to the way that delegates will behave and work at conferences?

It’s still (very) early days for the iPad, and even though it has been on sale here in the UK for less than a month, many people I have spoken to are looking at the device and wanting to buy one. Equally there are others who won’t touch it with a barge pole!

Handheld Learning (now happening in January) will be an interesting conference for many reasons, one of the things that will make this conference specifically interesting will be the number of iPads at the conference. This year if you register early you will receive a free iPad. Now this means at the conference itself, a large proportion of delegates will be bringing an iPad.

So how will they be using that iPad and what difference will it make to the conference?

I have previously on this blog written about amplified conferences and social reporting. In the article I noted at the JISC Experts meeting that:

We used Twitter quite a bit today, so much so that the tag #jiscexperts09 became a trending tag on Twitter.

Lots of comments, discussions and conversations. Some went off tag and continued outside the event.

A really useful and interesting back channel to what was happening in front of us.

I did note the limitations of using Twitter at conferences as well as the advantages.

If you are using Twitter to allow the delegates to converse about the event in a kind of back channel then the fact they are not using it, is probably not a bad thing, as they are probably interacting face to face.

I made the suggestion back then that:

One of the downsides of Twitter (which is also a plus point) is that it is just text and only 140 characters of just text. If you did use social reporters then they could also use other tools to help capture the event for both the delegates and others. They could be uploading presentations to Slideshare, posting photographs to Flickr, pushing videos to YouTube, broadcasting live using Qik, blogging, recording to Audioboo, etc…

So how would this kind of thinking relate to the iPad?

Well the iPad does allow people to use Twitter, but does not have a camera, so stuff like Qik or use of Flickr is not possible; so there are restrictions on how the iPad can be used to amplify the conference.

If lots of delegates have an iPad, then you would expect the back channel to be quite active, but would it be any more active than it is already. I don’t think it will be. Those already using Twitter on other devices, will either continue to use those devices or will switch to the iPad. The key question is will the iPad encourage and facilitate those who don’t use the back channel or use it rarely to engage with the conversation if they had an iPad. Personally I don’t think there would be a big impact, a few delegates may join in with the conversation as they now have a connected device, but I can’t see why others would start to join the conversation. If they can’t see the benefit of using Twitter in this way I can’t see them changing their behaviour as they are now holding an iPad.

However Twitter is just one way for delegates to engage with the conference and is most certainly not the only way and the iPad then can have a much greater impact.

Live conference programme

We are use to having the conference programme handed to us in paper format. People scribble, fold (and generally in my case) lose it. Imagine an iPad App that holds the whole conference programme. One that can be updated if things change, links to presentations and recordings either before, during or after the conference. It would be nice to be able to star sessions so that you don’t miss them,

Venue Maps

Interactive maps of the venue so you don’t get lost! Some venues are very compact and it is impossible to get lost, but at large events or those on university campuses it is very easy to get lost as you trek miles (okay yards) to find the room in which the session is taking place. Add in GPS tracking and you could “track” other delegates!

Sharing contact details with other delegates

There is already an iPhone App for the purposes of sharing contact details. Bump already allows you to very easily over the internet to share contact details. In order for it to work though you do need to enter in your contact details.

Shared note taking

Anyone who has used an Etherpad clone will realise how useful shared note taking can be between delegates at a conference or meeting. Ensuring URLs are correctly written, e-mail addresses, references, questions for the end of the session, etc… It saves everyone making their own version of notes from a session. It is also useful for those that couldn’t make the session, say they were in a parallel session.

Of course anyone who has an iPad who has tried any Etherpad clone will realise that Etherpad doesn’t work on the iPad. Nor do most wikis I have tried and Google Docs.

Evernote has an iPad App but in order to share a notebook you need to have Evernote Premium which is not something everyone will want to pay $5 per month or $45 per year for.

There are some Apps that allow you to collaborate on a virtual whiteboard, but this is not the same kind of functionality as the note taking capabilities of Etherpad.

Shared whiteboard

The Groupboard App allows delegates with iPads to share a common whiteboard to make “notes” and draw diagrams. The free version allows up to five people to collaborate, anymore and you have to pay.

Live streaming

Many conferences stream keynotes and sessions live over the internet. Allowing remote interested parties an insight to the conference and join in over Twitter or similar channels. Streaming sessions is also useful delegates attending the conference, for those that can’t get into sessions which are full, those that are running stands, those networking or for those sessions which start first thing in the morning! One consideration that conference organisers may want to consider is that standard Flash based streaming doesn’t work on the iPad or the iPhone. If you use services such as Ustream it is possible to send an iPhone friendly stream that can be viewed by the Ustream App.

Live blogging

Blogging about keynotes and sessions is a great way to make both notes and reflect on the key points. Adding images to the live blog can make it real for those remote readers and remind those who were there what happened.

There are certainly many ways in which you can live blog using the iPad, if you have a WordPress blog there is the WordPress App for example.

Another way of live blogging would be to use a Posterous blog, this can just be e-mailed from the Mail App on the iPad. You can attach images and video.

So how do you get images and video on the iPad, considering it doesn’t have a camera. By using the iPad camera connection kit, you can easily add images and video from a digital camera.

Key is that the blog posts are tagged with the conference tag.

Reflective blogging

Blogging after the presentation or keynote, during a break or back at the hotel, the iPad again makes an ideal tool for this.

Enhanced presentations and keynotes

Presenters at a conference where the majority of delegates have an iPad will have the opportunity for a more enhanced conference experience in relation to viewing the keynotes and presentations.

I have been using Twitter during various presentations, not always successfully but when it works it works well. The ability to deliver live links, images and information to delegates can really enhance a presentation make it more relevant and useful. You can also pose questions to the audience and with a voting platform or polling tool you will be able to view results.

Or just get them to raise their iPads….

This can certainly engage the audience. Using services like Twitter allows presenters to ask questions that delegates can answer via their iPad is another way of asking questions.

Enhanced workshops and debates

As with presentations, using an iPad at a conference would allow workshops to be a more enhanced experience. The iPad could be used to both deliver key parts of the workshop and as a tool to allow workshops participants to collaborate and work together. Most workshops require delegates to feedback, undertaking this activity through the iPad (say via a blog) would allow others in the workshop to comment on the feedback. Likewise it would also others (who did not attend) to see the feedback.

Using an iPad during debates for votes and questions as well as adding to the debate virtually would make for a deeper debate in some circumstances.

Shared bookmarking

From my experience, a conference is full of useful links, blogs, articles. Bookmarking services such as Delicious allow delegates an easy way of adding and sharing links.

There is an iPhone App (which works on the iPad) and an easy to add bookmarklet to Safari. The only real downside is that Copy and Paste is not as a easy as with using a standard computer.

Key is that the links are tagged with the conference tag as well as other relevant tags.

This will allow delegates to find links later back at base.

Flickr feed

As well as blogging you could also upload images to Flickr, something like FlickStackr can be used for uploading images from the iPad.

So how do you get images and video on the iPad? As already said by using the iPad camera connection kit, you can easily add images and video from a digital camera.

Key is that the images are tagged with the conference tag.

Summary

Many of the above points can also be useful for teaching and learning as well as conferences and events. Maybe the basis of a future blog post.

Anyone who has read this far will realise that none of the above is in fact dependent on all delegates having an iPad. All of the above can be easily done now even if delegates only use their laptops or their phones. In some cases it will be easier with a laptop (look at Etherpad or a conference wiki). However the key isn’t it in fact with the technology but the culture of both the conference organisers and very importantly the conference delegates. I have attended many different conferences where use has been made of social networks for the conference, a conference wiki, cloudworks and more.

However my experience is that the majority of delegates do NOT participate in these extra-curricular networks whilst at the event, some do before and some do afterwards, but generally very few do during the actual event. It is key for any of the above to work that giving each delegate an iPad isn’t sufficient, they also need to be motivated to participate over and above been a passive delegate at the conference. That is a responsibility for both the delegates and the conference organisers.

apple, conference, iphone, keynote

WWDC 2010 Keynote

Leave a comment

Today is Steve Jobs’ Keynote at WWDC. It will be on around 6pm here in the UK. There is no live feed and I expect to follow the key announcements via Twitter or Engadget.

Traditionally we get to hear about new products and new software.

As might be expected the web is rife with rumours about what we will hear about. I’ll let you Google them to find what they are.

I am expecting to see a new iPhone, and though I am pleased with my iPhone 3GS will be thinking about upgrading to the new one if it does more than the 3GS does. Key new features for me are not so much the multi-tasking that we will see in iPhone OS 4.0 as that will work on the 3GS, but new hardware features. I would like to see a new camera with a better lense. The 3G camera is rubbish compared to the 3GS, but many other phones have much better cameras and I do use the camera on my iPhone a lot. Prior to retirement I used the camera on the Nokia N95 a lot too.

I doubt we will see the portable wifi hotspot that Android 2.2 brought to the Nexus One which is a pity as that is such a useful feature of that phone. Now using it more than ever.

Will be interested to see if there are any details on a new version of OS X and what that will bring to my Mac.

Not long now…

alt, conference, e-book, ipad, podcast

e-Learning Stuff Podcast #048: It’s very warm out there

Leave a comment

James talks about EdTech 2010, pilots, the iPad, JISC CETIS Mobile Tech Meeting, Android 2.2, Lessig Method and the ALT Learning Technologist of the Year Award 2010.

With James Clay.

This is the forty-eighth e-Learning Stuff Podcast, It’s very warm out there

Download the podcast in mp3 format: It’s very warm out there

Subscribe to the podcast in iTunes

Shownotes

conference, keynote

96 slides in 12 minutes – Presentation Styles

3 Comments

At a Becta LSIS Learning Innovation, Embracing Technology Conference at the NEC last year I had a twelve minute slot for a presentation on how the future of learning is mobile.

I did use slides.

Now the accepted model for powerpoint presentations is 2-5 minutes per slide, so if I was presenting according to the accepted model I would have had no more than six slides.

So how many slides did you have?

I used ninety six slides.

Did you really?

Yes I did.

I remember been asked to send a copy of my presentation to the organisers, which I had to do via a version uploaded to the web as it was too big for e-mail. I then got a “worried” e-mail reminding me that I only had twelve minutes and that I might have too many slides. I did in fact cut a few slides, I think initially it was over a hundred… so cutting to ninety six was quite tough!

Even at the event, I was taken to one side and reminded how important it was to stick to the timeslot I had been given.

Then it was time….

I use to have quite light slides when I started doing conference presentations, but was noted by someone else that my slides a few years ago were getting more text heavy… and it was true! I had more and more text on my slides.

So I decided to stop how I wrote my presentation slides and think again about how and what I present.

Most times text is on slides as a crutch to the presenter who may not know their stuff, or certainly doesn’t have the confidence to present without the security blanket of lots of text.

I decided that if I was using words I would use phrases or key words. Where possible I would use images.

So where do you get the images?

Most times they are images I have taken myself or had taken for me. But for a lot of images I use creative commons licensed images from Flickr. There is a wealth of images available on Flickr and they can be used to convey lots of different things. If I can’t find the image I want, I have been known to get the camera and go and take the image. I also upload my images to Flickr, not just so others can use them, but if I am out and about and I want to use one of my images I needn’t worry about having it on my computer as it may be on my Flickr account.

Images are very powerful and can convey and support what I am saying

But what about the text?

Presentations are not about text they are about presentations.

Word documents are about text, so write a Word document or a blog post.

I try to use a small number of words and where possible avoid bullet points.

I have seen too many presentations that consist of bullet points with lots of explanatory text, often too small to read!

But when I post my presentation online…

Come on, really who is the presentation for, the audience in the conference room or the online audience.

Remember that the core audience for a presentation is the live audience in the conference room. It is not the remote audience who will only read your presentation and won’t get the full benefit of your actual talk and any questions afterwards.

If it is necessary to offer a more detailed presentation online. then video or film the presentation. Or how about creating one text heavy presentation for the online audience who won’t hear you and one for the live audience who will.

Anyone who puts loads of text onto a slide so that it makes sense to someone who reads it online (notice the use of the word reads) then they might as well not present their work and just print it out and let us read it.

Presentations that are watched are different to documents that are read.

Use the right tool for the right audience and the right location.

I can’t take all the credit for how I create my slides for my presentations, one of the articles I read gave me a real insight into making a good looking presentation. The article talks about the different presentation styles of Bill Gates and Steve Jobs and reading it, it makes a lot of sense to me.

So what of the rules about 2-5 minutes per slide?

If you know the rules, you can break the rules.

So how did I do?

Yup, I delivered all ninety six slides in twelve minutes. Got lots of positive feedback as well. The feedback was on the content of the  presentation and what I said, and not on the presentation slides themselves.

Job done!

conference

PELC10 – Day 2

Leave a comment

It’s day two of the Plymouth e-Learning Conference.

I am looking forward to Dave White’s keynote.

The education sector is constantly chasing the tail of the latest technology. Innovation ‘out there’ on the web generates paranoia that we might be missing the latest opportunity and the suspicion that our students are experts in everything. We create profiles on every new platform just in case they become ‘the next big thing’, collecting solutions-looking-for- problems and losing our focus on what students and staff might actually need.

Having seen him speak at the ALT-C Fringe I am expecting to enjoy his presentation.

After the coffee break, it will be time for the debate session I am taking part in, Floods? Snow? Swine flu? Terrorist threats? ‘Keep calm and carry on’.

Culturally, most institutions do not incorporate online or virtual learning into everyday working cultures, at any level: management, staff or students. Those who do not routinely use digital options can’t see that closing the physical institution need not have a significant impact on the business of the institution, if that business can be carried out at home or online. The issue is not to focus upon contingency planning, but to focus on changing the way people work when there isn’t snow and changing the way people think when there is. A

Also read my original blog post on the snow in January and my more recent post, “million-to-one chances happen nine times out of ten”.

After lunch I am chairing another debate, the great debate.

This forum will explore methods for categorising learners approach to online platforms and how this can influence edtech/pedagogic strategies. It will focus on Marc Prensky’s famous ‘Digital Native & Digital Immigrants’ trope and the more recent ‘Visitors & Residents’ idea proposed by David White.

Following the infamous Devon Cream Tea it will be the closing session and the prize draw! Overall a busy second day.

conference

PELC10 – Day 1

Leave a comment

So it’s the start of the Plymouth e-Learning Conference down here in, well… Plymouth.

A packed day with an excellent keynote expected from Josie Fraser.

The use of social media platforms, tools and practices are increasingly recognised as a critical way to facilitate learning and teaching and staff development. Josie Fraser explores how the shift towards more informal and less centrally controlled forms of communication and activity has come about.

Focusing on two critical concepts – digital identities and digital communities, Josie will explore the opportunities and issues that these present the education sector with, and the role they can play in designing and facilitating learning.

I am after the coffee break tempted by a couple of sessions. One of these is Twitter is dead: Reflections on student resistance to microblogging by Tony McNeill from Kingston University.

This paper will argue that Twitter occupies an awkward space: neither part of the institutionally supported digital environments and toolset accepted by students and used within their ‘curricular sphere of practice’ nor currently part of the digital services used in their ‘personal sphere of practice’. As such, Twitter initiatives risk being marginalised, falling outside the repertoire – both ‘imposed/top-down’ and ‘vernacular/bottom up’ – of the technology-enabled communicative practices of the students we wish to engage.

The other is Technologies Are Bad News for Adults Who Work With Children with Simon Finch of the Northern Grid for Learning.

Not so long ago if a teacher wanted to communicate with a student they would either speak with them or write a note in the learners’ book, or on their assignment. If they wanted to communicate with the learners’ parents, they would phone or write. Today, with increasingly accessible, affordable and usable social media, teachers and learners can communicate anytime, anyplace and anywhere. Digital cameras, mobile phones, micro projectors, and internet access can all be powerful tools to support learning and yet increasingly teachers struggle to manage their digital identities and interactions – sometimes with serious consequences.

As with many conferences there is another session on at the same time that I would also like to go to – ASSET: Enhancing feedback provision using video.

ASSET is a JISC-funded project led by the University of Reading which aims to tackle the sector-wide issue of improving feedback provision for students. ASSET uses Web 2.0 technologies to support staff in providing ‘feedforward’ and timely, quality feedback to students, via video and audio casts.

Another session I will go to, The Sage on the Video- Recorded Stage by Fiona Concannon and Sharon Flynn of the National University of Ireland.

This paper outlines a case study of the use of an automated lecture capture within an Irish university. It considers students’ reported experiences in using and viewing lecture recordings, and the implications of rolling out the service campus-wide.

Over lunch I hope to record (and stream) a live episode of the e-Learning Stuff Podcast as part of the Fringe.

Following lunch there are a couple of sessions that I quite like the idea of, the Learning Cafe which is looking to the future of learning. There is also an interesting sounding workshop, How to use social software to boost learning.

There is no doubt that web 2.0 and the use of social software has changed the way people use the Internet. The majority are familiar with tools like social networks, blogs and wikis. The fact that social software can support students while they are using an e-Learning environment or a personal learning environment is widely accepted.

But how exactly does social software support users? Which social software concepts should be used, and which should not? What can they be used for? And how can technologies, available today, help us to design a better education?

The goal of this workshop is to raise awareness that social software has to be integrated intelligently and as a form of connection between different techniques. It is not enough to add a specific gadget, there has to be a particular benefit. Educators have experiences on how to design lectures and computer scientists know what technologies are available to support learners. Interactive tasks will involve the audience to exchange experiences from a technical and an educational perspective.

Hmmm, choices, choices.

Later on, after the tea break, I think I will go to Fleur Corfield’s session, entitled, Supporting an Innovative Curriculum in a Traditional HE Environment.

Universities have a recognised need to react to a changing environment, from changes in the economy to government initiatives with a focus on widening participation. There is acknowledged need for them to fit this changing environment by taking a new approach to course/ product development.

There are a couple of sessions later that sound good, including Zak Mensah’s Methods and merits of good design practices for digital media.

Digital media: where to start? In this session we explore why you may wish to consider digital media, and how appropriate preparatory design of digital media supports the creation of good resources for teaching and learning. We focus on the challenges of using digital media, and offer suggestions for meeting these challenges.

Tonight is the conference dinner with Snorkel the Turtle, who is not on the menu, but will be swimming around the tanks of the National Aquarium.

conference

Packing my bag, actually my bags

3 Comments

This week I am off to the Plymouth e-Learning Conference and I am packing my bag (or bags). It’s a couple of days and I will be away a couple of nights.

These are a few things that will be useful or make life easier.

6 way gang – instead of fighting people for the power sockets, you can immediately make five friends! Also useful when you are back in your hotel room and need to charge the laptop, the phone, the iPod, use the hairdryer, etc…

Coffee – I can’t stand instant coffee and that’s what you generally find in hotel rooms. So I take some of those Coffee Bags you can buy or Rombout Coffee filters. Of course if you drink that tea stuff then you can bring your own bags of what you like and are use to. I always pop out and buy fresh milk too!

If you believe everything you see on the BBC then you might also want to take your own cup, actually I have a mug, because I like a large cup of coffee and not a piddly little cup of tea!

Snacks – room service can be very expensive, so a few snacks or fruit now and again to meet those hunger pangs. Having said that, I know that Sainsburys is next to my hotel, so I can always pop in there for extra supplies, saves having to carry them down, but with other conferences this isn’t always possible.

Chargers – don’t forget your chargers, easy to forget and a nightmare when your phone or laptop runs out of juice. Or you can’t use it for the conference. I find that conference activity can be power heavy on my mobile devices.

Velcro fixings – For your poster and bring enough because someone you know will have forgotten to bring theirs.

Camera – to take the odd photo or two, I use mine to take photographs of really good posters so I can review them later at my leisure. Amazing how much detail a 7.2MP image can capture of a poster. I also use it to capture slides in presentations (ie URLS and e-mail addresses), I even use it to photograph flyers so I can carry less.

MiFi or 3G Dongle – I am sure that the WiFi at the conference venue will be fine, however what about at the hotel, the dinner, the train… I will be bringing my new MiFi which allows me to connect to the internet over 3G, wirelessly through a wifi connection. The MiFi acts as a wireless access point for up to five clients – will probably make four new friends as a result of bringing it to the conference.

Business Cards – always useful to swap, play cards with, pass ones you have received to others who you don’t want to contact you…

USB Cables – you never know when you are going to need one.
Spare batteries – for your MP3 recorder, etc… Due to the differing sizes of USB, normal, micro and mini, I now carry three of them!

Spare SD card – in case you lose yours.

Spare USB Stick – for moving files around, taking copies of presentations, etc…

Paracetamol – some of those presentations do give you headaches…

What are you going to pack?

alt, conference, jisc

Rewiring Inclusion

Leave a comment

Rewiring Inclusion: Strategies, tools and techniques to promote barrier-free learning

A national one day conference in Nottingham at the National College on Tuesday 9 February 2010, with an optional evening session on 8 February. Organised jointly by the Association for Learning Technology and JISC TechDis.

With an outstanding range of workshop sessions, and plenary contributions from:

· Google’s Julian Harty – “Wave, Chrome OS, Online Docs, and Android.
What impact will they have on the environment for learning?”;

· Jane Seale from the University of Southampton;

· Yahoo! Europe’s Artur Ortega – “The Yahoo! approach to accessibility”;

· Dónal Fitzpatrick from the School of Computing at Dublin City University – “The contribution that computer science is making on inclusion”;
· Peter Hartley from Bradford University;

· Alison Mills from The Manchester College – “How a large urban college has taken inclusion to the heart of its operations”;

· James Clay from Gloucestershire College.

Full programme for the event [1 MB PDF]

A large print version is available.

The conference will focus in particular on browser technologies, Web2.0, e-learning, and mobile learning, and on the benefits these can offer to
all users, including those with disabilities or learning difficulties.

All sectors were represented in the workshop proposals and we are delighted that Independent Specialist Colleges were successful in being
selected to present alongside Universities, FE colleges, Project Consultants, and JISC Regional Support Centres.

Costs to attend:
£120 members of ALT
£160 non members of ALT
£100 dinner, bed and breakfast at the National College

Booking deadline:
Tuesday, 2 February 2010 – http://www.alt.ac.uk/conferences.php