podcast

e-Learning Stuff Podcast #043: Keep Calm and Carry on

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Recording of the Keep Calm and Carry on debate at the Plymouth e-Learning Conference.

During the Second World War, the British government sought to use appropriate communications tools to convey policy to the populace, whether via posters, newspapers, radio, or legislation. Resource restrictions meant that there was not always a free choice in which to use.

Sound familiar? It should.

As James Clay indicated in a blog post on January 10th snow, floods and swine flu all have the potential bring our physical campus to a halt, for valid health and safety reasons. Institutions announce via local radio and the web that they are closed to students and staff. In most institutions such crises effectively bring the entire workforce to a halt. Despite the digital options available, the word ‘closed’ implies that no (formal) activity will take place, and sends the message to staff and students that they do not need to go to work, or even do any work, even if they could.

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?

With James Clay, Bex Lewis and Carolin Esser and of course delegates from the Plymouth e-Learning Conference.

This is the forty-third e-Learning Stuff Podcast, Keep Calm and Carry on

Download the podcast in mp3 format: Keep Calm and Carry on

Subscribe to the podcast in iTunes

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100 ways, vle

100 ways to use a VLE – #78 Taking a vote

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Whoever said education was a democracy?

Most of the time learning is not a democracy, practitioners tell the learners what to learn, when to learn and how long they have to learn.

However over the last few years, the Learner Voice has become more important and relevant to the learning experience of many learners.

…learner involvement covers a wide variety of practices that seek to enable, equip and motivate learners to voice their views and actively shape their learning…

Developing a Learner Involvement Strategy, LSC, 2007

One way in which you can involve learner views is through a vote and many VLE systems now have voting systems built in or can be downloaded.

One such system is EasyVoter for Moodle.

flickr, jisc, social networking

No more Ning

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No more Ning

Well that’s not factually correct, what the title should be is “No more free Ning”.

It would appear that Ning are phasing out the free service to allow them to focus on those customers who pay for the premium service.

So, we are going to change our strategy to devote 100% of our resources to building the winning product to capture this big opportunity.  We will phase out our free service.  Existing free networks will have the opportunity to either convert to paying for premium services, or transition off of Ning.  We will judge ourselves by our ability to enable and power Premium Ning Networks at huge scale.  And all of our product development capability will be devoted to making paying Network Creators extremely happy.

A mistake I think on Ning’s part.

Now I am not opposed to paying for premium services, if I like a free service and the Pro or premium version offers more and I perceive it as value for money I will pay.

On this blog for example I pay for the VideoPress and extra storage. I have a Flickr Pro account. I pay for the premium version of Remember the Milk. If I reached the limits I would probably pay for the premium version of Evernote.

If there are limitations on the free account or added features on the premium account then I will happily pay out money. It would appear that many others do the same.

However in all the examples I have given, as well as the paid Pro version there is also a free version. People will try out free services, if they like them and want the added functionality they will upgrade.

As Ning have decided to phase out the free version, I think this is where they are making a mistake. With no free version, you will find that key individuals won’t try the service and upgrade later… Well maybe Ning is already well known enough that this won’t be an issue. Hmmm I am not so sure. Anyone remember Gabcast? Originally a free service, went paid for only and now having checked recently it is hardly used compared to services such as Audioboo or iPadio.

Without a free version that can be upgraded I wonder if people will start using Ning or even continue using Ning if other services offer more for the same sort of cost.

So now I need to think about what to do about the Ning sites I have created. If there is a demand (and I can get funding) I may upgrade to the premium version, but I know this won’t be the case for all of the sites I have.

So what alternatives are there?

One that is been talked about on Twitter is Elgg.

Elgg is open source social networking software that provides individuals and organizations with the components needed to create an online social environment. It offers blogging, microblogging, file creation and sharing, networking, groups, news collection using feeds aggregation and a number of other features.

Wikipedia

Though of course though the software is free (open source) you will need a hosting service and the sort required for Elgg isn’t going to be free. If you are lucky your institution may have the capacity to host an Elgg service for you.

I have mentioned Crowdvine before on the blog, it was one of my top ten tools in 2008. I have used it at conferences like JISC and ALT-C.

As well as their premium services Crowdvine also have a free version.

CrowdVine builds simple and powerful social networks for events and groups to help people connect and meet. Use us for your conference, event, or organization.

Interesting though that JISC moved from Crowdvine to Ning for JISC 2010. Wonder what JISC will use for JISC 2011?

Another one that I have found, but not used is SocialGO.

SocialGO allows you to build a custom social network, whether you are a beginner or a seasoned developer.  No software, hosting or coding required, as our team offers full support for your social networking site.

As with Crowdvine there are cost plans and a free plan.

So Ning is no more, well the free Ning is no more.

Does it really matter that much?

I have  talked before about inappropriate advertising on services and why sometimes a paid for service may be better.

One of the issues with using any free Web 2.0 service is that they may not be here forever. Gabcast is no longer free, but Audioboo is. Jaiku is pretty much dead, but Twitter is alive and well. Etherpad has gone, but iEtherpad is up and running.

At the end of the day this is not about a service disappearing or now charging, it’s much more about how when using these services you don’t think about long term, but have the capability and the technical knowledge to move between different services as and when they become available.

Use what is now and in the future use what is then.

vle

Just remember teachers are like starship captains…

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Providing any e-learning service to staff in an institution is a challenge.

Providing a service that meets the varied needs of staff in an institution is also a challenge.

Providing a service that exceeds the expectations of staff in an institution is sometimes an impossible challenge…

…unless you manage the (sometimes) unrealistic expectations of staff.

I remember many years ago in my previous role at the Western Colleges Consortium (WCC) explaining to key stakeholders about how long it would take to process a course creation request on the shared VLE. The process was in place to remove the burden of the task from staff in the partner colleges, ensure that it was only visible to the relevant staff and learners and had some content in it! Once created it was handed over to the staff to add activities and more content.

I recall announcing that we would ensure that all requests would be   fulfilled within seven days.

But the cry came out…

“This is the internet, it’s available 24/7, why can’t you just do it there and then!”

The issue was not about doing it there and then, but managing expectations. We needed to be realistic based on the staff available to complete the requests, holiday, conferences, and levels of requests.

Usually we would complete requests the same working day, however if we said we would do a request within one day and we fulfilled that request in two days, we would have been seen to have “failed”.

By setting a service agreement of seven days, say we completed the request within three days we would be seen as a miracle worker!

It was all about managing expectations.

If your users expect you to complete something in seven days and you take less than seven days then you have exceeded their expectations. Likewise if you say within 24 hours and it takes 25 hours, you have failed in their eyes and not met their expectations.

Realistic service level agreements need to be in place to ensure that you meet and exceed expectations from users. The agreements you have in place should be based on staffing and other resources.

You can of course review and evaluate the agreements over time to ensure that they continue to be realistic, fair and working.

So don’t say within 24 hours and seen to be continually failing, set a level of five days and be seen as a miracle worker!

Why is this The Scotty Model of e-Learning Services, well….

Have a look at this video…

It should start at the correct timeframe of 2 mins into it.

Just remember teachers are like starship captains…

apple, ipad, iphone

Annoyed with Apple

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I am officially annoyed with Apple.

Why?

Yes you guessed it, a further delay on the iPad.

BBC News reports:

Apple is to delay the international release of its touchscreen tablet computer, the iPad, by one month.

It will now launch the device around the world, including the UK, at the end of May, and will begin accepting pre-orders on 10 May.

…and there I was expecting to get mine at the end of April!

As I have said before on this blog:

Part of me is sad that I didn’t go out to the states and buy an iPad, and part of me knows how sad that would be!

I have also discussed how I think I will be using the iPad too.

Since the iPad was announced and launched in the US, there have been numerous alternatives announced by other manufacturers and we also have Courier from Microsoft.

These “alternatives” have many more features than the iPad. They have cameras, front and back, built in SD card slots, USB ports, they can print, they can be tethered, they can tether, etc… etc…

So why oh why am I going to get an iPad then?

Firstly it’s not about the features its about the functionality and the user interface.

Despite many valiant attempts by other phone companies, none have come close to the way the user interface on the iPhone works. I remember getting the LG Viewty and feeling very short changed by the touch screen experience compared to the iPhone. Likewise, though I do like the Google Nexus One and it has compared to other touchscreen phones a fantastic touch screen and a very intuitive user interface, however even it does not match the iPhone interface. It is for this reason that the iPad will succeed over the alternative devices been proposed or released by other manufacturers will be the touch interface that Apple have managed to excel at on the iPhone and according to the reports from the US have likewise done with the iPad.

The Apps market, though a closed market seems to have been very successful. Though history says that open standards win over closed walled gardens (think of the internet versus AOL) proprietary closed markets do win now and again. Developers like the App Store and the ease by which consumers will purchase apps from it. The reason for this is quite simple, create one account, purchase from many developers. As a consumer I don’t want to have to create accounts everytime I want to buy an app and I certainly don’t want to do this using a mobile device if I can help it. Entering credit cards on my iPhone is something I would prefer not to do, on an iPad probably wouldn’t mind so much!

So even though this further delay in the iPad has annoyed me, I think I will still be getting one when they are eventually released in the UK!

Picture source.

conference, keynote

96 slides in 12 minutes – Presentation Styles

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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!

app of the week, iphone

The World Factbook – iPhone App of the Week

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The World Factbook 2010 – iPhone App of the Week


This is a regular feature of the blog looking at the various iPhone 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. Though called iPhone App of the Week, most of these apps will also work on the iPod touch.

This week’s App is The World Factbook.

The World Factbook is the reliable and extremely popular source of information on all the nations of the world.

It provides up-to-date, valuable data for more than 250 countries and territories in a concise, well-organized format whenever and wherever you want.

Topics addressed include natural resources, industries, GDP, religion, ethnic groups, legal system and much more. Key data are grouped under the headings of introduction/background, geography, people, government, economy, communications, transportation, military, transnational issues.

£0.59

So all the information in this App is available online for free…

So why on earth would you spend 59 pence on an App?

Well…

Good question!

The main reason is that the information is “available online for free” and that’s the crunch, you have to be online to be able to access that free information, which means it isn’t free! Going online costs money, okay if you have access to free wifi, less so if you are using expensive 3G data.

But you can download the Factbook….

True, but if you download it to an iPhone (or iPod touch) you won’t be able to access it, as you can’t access the file system on  the iPhone you won’t be able to open the downloaded Factbook.

So for 59p you can have offline access to the Factbook and this in my opinion is 59p well spent.

The key with any App is, is it value for money, and I think the World Factbook is value for money. It provides detailed information and maps on the countries of the world quickly and easily and can do this without needing a 3G or wifi connection.

gloucestershire college

Using data

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Some of you may know that as well as responsibility for ILT (e-learning) at Gloucestershire College I am also in charge of the Libraries.

This case study from the Excellence Gateway is an interesting one.

Tresham College of Further and Higher Education has introduced learning resources loan data into the main College reporting system, which has allowed all staff to see the information. This has encouraged the closer integration of learning resources with the curriculum. As one of a series of innovations this has helped almost double the amount of resources borrowed by learners.

The more you know about how the resources are been used allows you to target the resources you do have better. It also needn’t be an issue of the Learning Resources staff doing all the work, involve practitioners and learners. As Tracey Burrows, Programme Co-ordinator, School of Business and Professional Studies says:

I have used the book loan statistics with my learners and it has been useful to see which books they have used. This has allowed the group to recommend resources to each other and has led to increased book borrowing which has benefited the learners in achieving their objectives.

Of course you can overload users with data and information, so care is needed. I will be looking at this case study to see if we can implement the lessons learned.

podcast

e-Learning Stuff Podcast #042: Don’t feed the pelicans

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Thoughts, reflections and recordings from the 5th Plymouth e-Learning Conference.

With James Clay and others….

This is the forty-second e-Learning Stuff Podcast, Don’t feed the pelicans

Download the podcast in mp3 format: Don’t feed the pelicans

Subscribe to the podcast in iTunes

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news and views on e-learning, TEL and learning stuff in general…