e-book

“I like real books…”

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“…but I like real books, you know paper ones…”

This is a typical response from practitioners when I start talking about e-books.

There are three problems with this kind of response.

Firstly, e-books are not replacing paper books. Well they may in the future, in the same way cars have replaced horses. But at this time e-books can be used along with paper books. Just because e-books are available to learners doesn’t mean they are then banned from using paper books.

“Sorry, you’ve access an e-book, you no longer have the rights to read paper books!”

Secondly, which builds on the first point, is that just because we have a collection of e-books, this doesn’t mean you are forced to use them, you can still use the paper books if you want to. You do have a choice, as do the learners.

Thirdly is assumes that paper books can be accessed just as easily and quickly as the e-book collection can be (and vice versa). When I am in the library, yes it is often easier and quicker to get the paper copy of a book than start the computer, log in, download my profile, start the browser, enter the URL (or click the link), enter my credentials into the Federated Access screen, find the book, either by searching or from a “bookshelf”. Yes finding the paper copy is probably going to be faster.

However if that book has been lent out to another learner… than, accessing the book will be much quicker than asking the other learner to return the book, which could take days! Also imagine that the learner is at home or work, then travelling to the library will take time. What if the learner wants the book on Sunday afternoon at home, when the library is closed; once again the e-book will be much easier and quicker to access. This ease of access at a place and time to suit the learner is one of the key advantages of e-books.

Fourthly and finally, the initial statement is typical in that it uses the “I” word. Too many times practitioners resist using a new tool or service, or embed a technology into their teaching, because they say “I don’t like it”. Actually even worse some practitioners say that not only they don’t like it, but that there learners won’t like it… based on what evidence you have to ask? “I know my learners” they reply.

I’ll leave you with a final thought, many people did not like the fact that cars replaced horses. One of the reasons was that horses indicated position and status.

web 2.0

Churning and Waving

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At a recent presentation by Dave White, he used the word churning to describe the rapid pace of change we went through around 2007. That was the year most people joined Twitter, it was the year that Facebook became mainstream, YouTube was starting to hit the big time. There were all these new services and tools, some of which are still with us, some of which have disappeared, Jaiku anyone?

There was a lot of excitement at that time about new services and whenever new services were announced we all went and signed up for it. Did you sign up to Plurk and so on?

These services were so popular that in the end the only way that they could work sometimes was by restricting access to invite only.

Google Wave for me was a turning point, a really great idea, that everyone wanted to be part of…. however it didn’t quite turn out as expected.

It was invite only and as a result, individuals got access and not communities, so even though it took me a while to get an invite for Wave when I did, very few people I knew had access. You can’t really use Wave on your own, so I didn’t use it, by the time access was opened, it was too late, people like me had moved on, well more moved back to Twitter.

I felt at this point that the constant excitement of the new was over. We had moved from a time of “churning” or flux to a time of consolidation. It was now less about finding new, more about using what we had.

That’s not to say new services don’t come along, I for example am really liking Instagram. But the rush for the new is no longer the driver. For some though they are still churning, they are still looking for the new. I just don’t think it’s there.

We may in the future go through another churning phase, but until that time, it’s now the time to use the services for stuff, rather than the time of finding new services.

app of the week, iphone

ToonPAINT – iPhone App of the Week

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picture created with ToonPAINT

ToonPAINT – iPhone App of the Week

This is a regular feature of the blog looking at various 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.

This week’s App is ToonPAINT – Toon-FX.

ToonPAINT allows you to easily create awesome looking cartoon-paintings with your own photos.

Even if you have never drawn or painted before, ToonPAINT sets you up for quick success by providing a “MagiSketch” that you can simply color-in. It’s as easy as “paint-by-numbers”, but using your own personal images. Unlike other photography apps, ToonPAINT is not just an image filter — it’s a smart-painting application that enables you to express your creativity and obtain compelling results without requiring you to take Art classes.

Simply import a photo, create an “automagic” sketch of the photo, color-in at your leisure, and you’re done!

£1.19

I have said a few times in the past that I sometimes think the best Apps for the iPhone are the simple ones, the ones that do one thing well.

I was reminded of ToonPAINT recently by a photograph on Instagram, it had been “converted” in ToonPAINT before been uploaded to Instagram. I was impressed with the end result I checked out ToonPAINT, only to find I already had it! If I remember rightly I had bought it in the past, thought it was okay, but not what I wanted and forgot about it. As it is now on version 2.1, they have certainly improved it and it does exactly what you think it does, convert photographs (from the camera or the library) and convert it into a comic format. The key is that it does it very well and the end results do look like hand drawn comics.

So if you are using an application like Comic Life (on the Mac, Windows or the iPad now) you can create a series of comic images from photographs using ToonPAINT and then use them in the Comic Life application. Now it should be said that Comic Life does indeed have filters that do a similar trick, but I much prefer the results from ToonPAINT then the included ones in Comic Life.

The process in ToonPAINT is very simple, take a photograph, either with the camera or from your image library, the app converts it into a comic format, you then save it!

Simple!

If needed you can go in and edit the comicfying settings, changing the levels, thickness of lines, etc… This can help especially if the default settings don’t work just right, which from my experience was rare.

You can also colourise the resulting comic using a built in palette to create coloured comics. There are two extra in-app purchase tools, ToonColor and Photo Brush both are 59p each. I think ToonColor is worth buying, didn’t find Photo Brush as useful.

There are plenty of export options and this makes it easy to show off your pics.

Would like to have seen a Dropbox option so that I could then use the images on my Mac more quickly.

Overall I like ToonPAINT, it does what it does well and as a one trick pony, it does what I want it to do.

Get ToonPAINT in the App Store.

podcast

e-Learning Stuff Podcast #075: Bag of Pain

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A wonderful rambling discussion about lots of things including Google’s Chromebook, Cbeebies, Flash, digital literacy, gaming, robots and stuff.

With Doug Belshaw, Rob Engelbright, Zak Mensah, David Sugden and James Clay

This is the seventy fifth e-Learning Stuff Podcast, Bag of Pain.

Download the podcast in mp3 format: Bag of Pain.

Subscribe to the podcast in iTunes

Shownotes

 

podcast

e-Learning Stuff Podcast #074: Potential

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Potential, a recording of presentation from James’ keynote at a Highland Council: High Tech Day.

This is the seventy fourth e-Learning Stuff Podcast, Potential.

Download the podcast in mp3 format: Potential.

Subscribe to the podcast in iTunes

Shownotes

  • If the comments about scepticism seem familiar, that is because they probably are…
  • Slides from the presentation.

app of the week, video

4oD CatchUp – iPad App of the Week

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4oD CatchUp – iPad App of the Week

This is a regular feature of the blog looking at various 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.

This week’s App is 4oD CatchUp.

Watch Channel 4 on your iPad for free with our new 4oD iPad app

– free to download for a limited time only
– the only way to watch 4oD on your iPad
– wide selection of shows from Channel 4, E4 and More4
– huge 30-day catch up window
– free and unlimited access to content

The 4oD iPad app is free for a limited time and is the only way you can watch 4oD on your iPad. It enables you to catch up on a wide selection of programmes recently broadcast on Channel 4, E4 and More4, for up to 30 days after transmission. Once you have downloaded the app, the content is available to watch free of charge with no limits to the amount of content you can play.

Our archive 4oD content (which includes both classic shows and more recent programmes that have dropped out of the 30-day catch up ‘window’) is not currently available on the iPad, but we are looking to bring these programmes to you soon.

This application does not work outside the UK. Please note that US shows are not currently available on this app. The 4oD application is only available using wi-fi, and only supported on iOS 4.

Free (for a limited time)

One of the features I liked about the iPad was the ability to play BBC iPlayer content, however without Flash support services such as Channel 4’s 4oD weren’t available to iPad users. The 4oD CatchUp App now allows some 4oD programmes to be watched on the iPad.

Alas this is not the full 4oD service, but then neither does the BBC iPlayer iPad App offer the full iPlayer experience. What the 4oD CatchUp App does allow you to do is to see some of the Channel 4 programmes from the last 30 days from your iPad.

The App only works over wifi and this does restrict you using it on the move, but this is the same as the BBC iPlayer App.

For the me the importance of this App is the move by content providers who previously only relied on Flash for delivering video to now providing that same content via the iPad. I do expect to see more content providers move in this direction. What this means is the lack of Flash on the iPad becomes less and less an issue for consumers.

4oD CatchUp is a simple App and it works reasonably well, it did crash on me a few times. This should be fixed in a future version I suspect. Hopefully in the future we will also see more 4oD content.

Update: This app is now called All 4.

100 ways, vle

100 ways to use a VLE – #31 Providing a schedule

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Often you will need to provide your learners with a schedule. It may be a schedule for a series of presentations, tutorials, or a field trip.

Yes you can provide it to them on paper or send them an e-mail. There are a few advantages in placing the schedule on the VLE.

Firstly, if there is a need to update or change the schedule, then this can be done quickly and easily on the VLE. You may be able to, depending on the tool you use, after updating the schedule, let the learners know that the schedule has been updated. So if learners access the schedule on the VLE, they’re going to know that this is the definitive and most accurate schedule.

Learners may have questions about the schedule and as a result they could post questions about the schedule to the VLE. Staff can reply and other learners who had a similar question will be able to see the responses. This can save time for both staff and learners.

Any activities and resources that are required can be placed on the VLE and linked to from the schedule on the VLE, making it much easier for learners to ensure they have everything they need and have done all the documentation.

If you need to provide a schedule, as well as the usual channels, also ensure it gets placed on the VLE.

app of the week

Retro Camera – Android App of the Week

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Retro Camera – Android App of the Week

This is a regular feature of the blog looking at various 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.

This week’s App is Retro Camera.

With Retro Camera you’ll take delicious old-school pics your friends will drool over. 5 cameras, 5 sets of vintage vignetting, film scratch & cross processing effects for that off-the-hip analog look. Inspired by the old Lomo, Holga, Polaroid, Diana & toy cameras whose iconic styles we treasure. Instant Nostalgia now free.

Retro Camera comes with 5 different cameras:

The Bärbl – An East German classic, naturally faded with a scratched film and medium vignetting, the perfect all-round choice.

The Little Orange Box – The Soviet Staple with aggressive cross processing and scratched square film. It’s crappy plastic lens leaks in light and exhibits strong vignetting. Black and white option for even more emotion.

Xolaroid 2000 – Its inspiration is obvious! We love the candid snapshots this camera produces – you simply can’t fail, every shot is a keeper. Blue / Green cross processing effects and timeless contrast. Black and white option for that classic touch.

The Pinhole Camera – A DIY gem and more unpredictable than Schrödinger’s cat. Full bleed developing and vignetting through the roof, be sure to give this cardboard chimera a go.

The FudgeCan – The perfect rig for outdoors; developed on square film that wasn’t quite stored… or developed right. But therein lies the charm that’ll make your pics with this beauty, memorable and instantly nostalgic.

Free

On my iPhone I have lots of camera and photography apps and they can be used to create some nice photographic effects, Instagram is one I use a lot.

The Google Nexus One does have a nice camera and if you want to get some nice effects for your photographs similar to the effects you can get with the many iPhone camera apps then you might want to look at Retro Camera for Android.

The App is ad supported, so you do see ads in the apps, you can buy the Pro version which is add free for £2.99.

There are five different cameras each with a unique effect.

The advantage of these kinds of apps for learners is that they speed up the process of taking and manipulating images that they want to then use in their assignments, projects, presentations and web activities such as wikis and blogs.

Of course you can get superior results using a proper DSLR and Photoshop, but though that may be the road that media and art students would travel along, students in other curriculum areas may not have access to the kit to do this. Those students probably do have a phone.

I was pleased with the results from the app and would certainly recommend it to anyone who has an Android phone with a camera.

mobile

Turn off that phone! Mobile technologies in the library

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At UKSG’s 34th Annual Conference in Harrogate I ran a couple of breakout workshop sessions on the use of mobile devices in the library.

Is there a role for mobile devices in the modern library? What are the issues, challenges and opportunities of using mobile devices to support learning and resource discovery in the library? Is it time to stop telling people to turn off their mobile phones? From communication, collaboration, storage, notes, books, journals and more, mobile technologies are changing the way in which users can and are using libraries.

The presentation first looked at the importance of changing cultures and resistance to change, before we discussed in small groups the potential of mobile devices in the library.

Here are my slides from my presentation.

This is a recording of the workshop.

Download the recording (in mp3 format).

Nicole Harris wrote a very nice review of the session.

100 ways, vle

100 ways to use a VLE – #46 Ask the learners

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I am still surprised by how many practitioners don’t even consider asking and listening to their learners about how the VLE could support them in their studies.

I remember a conversation from a few years ago with an HE institution and they said that something like 70-80% of the calls to their VLE support line were from learners having problems finding content on their VLE. The reason they couldn’t find the content, was because it wasn’t there. The students were using the VLE with some of their lecturers and made (what they perceived) to be a valid assumption that other lecturers would use the VLE in the same way. They weren’t and as a result, difficulties in finding the content and the calls to the VLE support line. Imagine also how many learners who were having the same problem and didn’t call the support line.

These learners wanted to use the VLE, they had an idea of how they wanted to use the VLE and were not able to use the VLE in the way they wanted as some of the staff had decided not to use the VLE in a consistent way as their colleagues were.

The lesson to learn is that consistency is not only important for learners, but listening to what learners were asking and wanting is also important.

One of our business staff decided that he should ask the learners how they wanted to use the VLE. What came out of the exercise were some really interesting observations from the learners about how they wanted to use the VLE. As a result the business team decided to change the way in which they used the VLE across all their courses.

One of the challenges for learners is understanding the functionality of the VLE, but the question we should be asking them is not what functions they want to use on the VLE, but what their needs are, and using the VLE to meet those needs if appropriate.

So we should never be asking our learners, “do you want to use a wiki on the VLE?” More we should be asking “what do you find difficult, where do you need help?” and then using the VLE to solve those problems.

At the end of the day, learners should inform practitioners about how they want to use the VLE and not lead how it should be used. They however shouldn’t be ignored. Where we can let them inform, but also be aware that the learners are there to learn and using the VLE to enable them to learn to new things and new ways of doing them is also valuable.

So are you asking your learners?

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