Category Archives: stuff

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How to use Screenr

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I created the following screencast on how to use the screencasting service Screenr.

So what is Screenr?

It’s a web service that allows you to make screencasts quickly and easily, then have them posted to the web.

Once on the web, you can either share the URL, put it in an e-mail for example, or on Twitter.

You can embed the video into a webpage on a website or on a VLE. This is in the Flash format. What about if you have a smartphone or an iPhone, well Screenr ensures that the video is available in an MP4 format which will play on the iPhone, other smartphones and internet capable video devices.

Screenr also allows you to share your video on YouTube.

Finally one useful aspect is that you can download the video as an MP4 file. This can then be embedded into a PowerPoint presentation. You can also import this video file into iMovie and edit it, add titles, other video, to create a new video. If you have the appropriate MP4 codec on your Windows PC you can import it into Windows Movie Maker and do something similar.

What I like about Screenr over other similar tools (like Jing) is that it doesn’t require you to download an application or install anything. Go to the website, click create screencast and then everything is simple after that.

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Ashen

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Was it only a couple of weeks ago I wrote a blog post entitled “million-to-one chances happen nine times out of ten” in that I wrote about the impact of snow closures on educational institutions. I did write…

Even if it doesn’t snow really badly next year, other things may happen that result in the physical closure of the educational institution. It could be floods, high winds (remember 1987), flu or similar viral infections, transport strikes, fuel crisis, anything…

Over the last week we have seen not so much closures, but certainly some disruption due to the volcanic ash from Iceland and its impact on air travel.

Hitting the UK as it did at the end of the Easter break, many learners and staff were stranded overseas with no way of getting home.

As with the snow, little mention has been made of using technology to mediate the impact of the closure of UK airspace. One exception, BBC News reports on one teacher who is using a webcam to continue teaching despite been stranded in Spain.

A teacher from Oxfordshire stranded in Spain because of air restrictions is using an internet cafe to take lessons. He is using a webcam to make sure that his business studies A-Level students do not miss out on lessons.

Interestingly in the same article…

Meanwhile, 16 teaching staff from King Alfred’s School in Wantage have been left stranded because of the ban on flights. The school said it on its website that it would face “severe staffing shortages” and would only open for certain year groups during the week.

So it would appear that not everyone is coping with the disruption.

In the comments on the recording of our debate on this issue at the Plymouth e-Learning Conference was the following comment:

Irony time: In my mailbox this morning “Technology Enhanced Learning Workshop cancelled due to speaker unable to get a flight”. Missed opportunity for some “Technology Enhanced Learning” me thinks? The Sky is broken so use Skype?

I am aware of a few people who are stranded overseas, but are in fact continuing to work using e-mail and VPN to maintain contact and communication with colleagues back home. Time zone differences are causing a few issues, and I also know that many people rather than stay and work are travelling and trying to get home.

As far as I am aware no schools or colleges have closed because of the ash, but certainly some classes have been cancelled or disrupted due to the ongoing ash cloud issue.

Learning technologists have to be careful to ensure that they don’t appear smug about the role technology can play when we have issues such as snow and ash, but we as a community need to work with colleagues to ensure that when disruption happens we don’t worry so much, we keep calm and carry on…

Picture sources here and here.

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Privacy has gone…

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Do we have privacy anymore, do we have privacy with the internet now being so much part of our lives?

The opening keynote at the Plymouth e-Learning Conference 2010 was by Josie Fraser. She delivered an inspiring thought provoking keynote covering many different issues including digital identity, digital communities and communities of practice.

One of the key discussions was on privacy and the ability to control what I put online on services such as Twitter, this blog, Flickr or even (now and again) Facebook.

I can do lots to protect my identity.

I can decide what photographs I post to Flickr.

I can decide whether to include geo-data when I post to Twitter or use Audioboo.

What about the issue of other people infringing my privacy and putting details of my life online.

I can’t stop other people from broadcasting what I am doing…

I can’t stop them taking and posting photographs on me online.

I can’t stop them writing about what I am doing on services like Twitter and Facebook.

I can’t stop them uploading videos of me to YouTube.

I won’t be able to stop them adding geo-data to images or videos of me.

These services that people have used have take down policies, but unless the images, video or text are “not nice” then would the services taken them down because I don’t like them?

Of course I can ask, but they don’t need to say yes!

We seem to be at a stage where privacy is almost impossible to maintain if you go anywhere that others will be using cameras, online services such as Twitter or Facebook; even if I don’t use any of these things myself.

Josie in her keynote showed us the Ungooglable Man.

Does he exist? Probably?

Does he exist online? More than likely!

Even if he doesn’t use Myspace or Facebook, it is likely that friends and family do. They may place photographs of him online, they may talk about him, they may have videos of him. As a result he may be found online despite the fact that he is not online himself.

There are implications for those who have concerns about their own online identities that they may well have no power to stop others posting “stuff” about them online.

At the moment, many colleges are looking to work with learners on the concept of e-safety, part of which is digital identity. Colleges need to remind individuals that they are not the only person who needs to be concerned about what they post online, but that their friends and family need to be aware of the issues too.

Do you worry about what is posted about you online?

Do you know what others have posted about you online?

Should we care?

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PELC10 – Day 0

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So it’s the day before the first day of the Plymouth e-Learning Conference (PELC10).

I have travelled down the day before, in the main as the conference starts quite early and I want to hear the opening keynote. Tonight I am hoping that there will be a Tweetup, a gathering of PELC10 delegates who are also on Twitter.

There isn’t a huge amount of Fringe activity planned at the conference, which is a pity, but at least the site gives people a chance to chat, share and work out where to eat and stay.

I did enjoy the conference last year, I ran two workshops, one on mobile devices and another on Web 2.0. This year I am chairing a debate on digital natives and taking part in another on emergency planning and use of web tools to support learning.

It’s nice to meet up with people from the region, but it should be noted that this is an international conference with delegates from all over the world.

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“million-to-one chances happen nine times out of ten”

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One of my favourite quotes from Terry Pratchett is that “million-to-one chances happen nine times out of ten”. When something awful happens, or freakish, we hear news reporters say “it was a million-to-one chance that this would happen”.

In February 2009 we had the worst snow for twenty years. Across the UK many schools, colleges and universities closed for a few days as travel made it impossible (and unsafe) for learners to get to their lessons and classes.

As it was the worst snow for twenty years, any idea of planning to use the VLE or similar to support learning from home was thrown out of the window, as it was obvious that such bad snow probably wouldn’t happen again for another twenty years…

Of course less than twelve months later, we had even worse snow. We saw even more closures and for even longer!

What were the chances of that happening?

What are the chances of it happening again?

Probably less than a million-to-one!

Even if it doesn’t snow really badly next year, other things may happen that result in the physical closure of the educational institution. It could be floods, high winds (remember 1987), flu or similar viral infections, transport strikes, fuel crisis, anything…

So how should educational institutions be responding? How should they prepare?

Personally I think that it is not about preparation, but having the staff and learners in the right frame of mind about using online and digital tools before any such million-to-one chance happens.

We are going to discuss these issues and more on day two of the Plymouth e-Learning Conference, April 9th, between 11.15 and 12.45.

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. Although this debate will centre largely upon Web 2.0 methods, it will take an outcomes-focused approach, rather than a tools focused approach, in line with William Morris’s quote “Have nothing in your house that you do not know to be useful, or believe to be beautiful”. We consider what is necessary, not just in times of crisis, but in implementing everyday e- practice to meet learning and teaching needs.

With a focus upon communities rather than machines, and a recognition that no tool offers “one size fits all”, each panellist will focus upon a specific relationship, specifically ‘Institutional Representation’, ‘Collaboration’ and ‘Teaching Purposes’. What institutional cultural factors will need to be addressed? What do electronic communications approaches offer that previous methods haven’t? What drawbacks are acknowledged in the use of each with regards to the outcomes required? Which tool is most appropriate for the outcome required, and what are its pedagogical purposes?

It also links in nicely with Dave White’s keynote that happens immediately before our panel discussion.

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.

How can we change the culture of our organisations when we sometimes focus too much on the new tools that appear in our Twitter stream?

Changing the culture is going to take time, having access to the right tools can help, but attitude towards those tools is just as important. Culturally we have some way to go I think before snow or any other “disaster” only closes the physical location and doesn’t close the institution.

Is your institution prepared?

Further reading:

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Digital Natives: The Great Debate

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So do you consider the concept of digital natives and digital immigrants relevant to the work that you do?

The 8th and 9th April at the Plymouth e-Learning Conference there will be a (great) debate on digital natives.

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.

Questions the forum will consider:

  • Which of these systems is a more effective guide when attempting to provide appropriate technologies in configurations which encourage participation?
  • Is it possible to see ‘generational’ or age based trends in approaches to the web or is this an over simplification?
  • Does categorising learners along these lines act as a useful guide for edtechs/learning techs or are they just conceptual toys?

The two systems will be promoted by members of the panel after which the discussion will be opened to the audience.

The forum panel will be Tara Alexander (Lecturer, Health and Social Work, University of Plymouth), David White (Manager/Researcher, University of Oxford) and Steve Wheeler (Senior Lecturer in Education and Information Technology, University of Plymouth).

I have the task of chairing this session. There are some great speakers and the topic is controversial, people have many varied views on it. Should be both fun and stimulating.

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Augmented Reality Explained by Common Craft

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Common Craft have released another of their excellent videos, this one on Augmented Reality.

This video is an introduction to augmented reality – a new and growing way to use smartphones to learn about the world around you. This video introduces the technology and covers the basic applications. It includes:

  • A high level introduction to the big idea
  • Using it to find a restaurant
  • Using it to compare products, be entertained
  • A look at future possibilities of augmented reality
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Beware the big bill…

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BBC reports that the EU cap for downloading data doesn’t come into effect until the 1st July.

The consumers’ association Which? is warning that people going abroad with smartphones can still face huge bills if they connect to the internet.

By 1 July, new rules will come into force in the European Union which will cap bills for downloading data.

But, until then, people travelling in Europe could face unlimited bills.

So beware the big mobile data bill if you travel to one of the foreign conferences…