altc2007, altc2008

“It’s not for girls!”

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One of the reasons I go to ALT-C is the workshops! Now don’t get me wrong I enjoy the short papers and some of the longer ones even interest me. The keynotes can be inspiring, whilst the demos can inform, but I seem to get more out of the workshops than the other parts. Though it has to be said that I did also enjoy the debate and discussion at the F-ALT events.

Last year at ALT-C 2007 one of the workshops I enjoyed was the Web 2.0 Slam, from which Hood 2.0 was born.

This year at ALT-C 2008 Frances, Helen, Josie and Christina presented us with the Digital Divide Slam.

It's not for girls!

Creatively create something which explores the digital divide.

So myself, Steve Wheeler and Joss Winn got together and thought about what to do.

We decided to do a talking heads video, influenced by Monty Python, Smith and Jones and Pete and Dud.

We had 30 minutes to develop, write, create, film, edit, export and upload this video. Shot in one take it’s not perfect, but it was never suppose to be perfect.

We enjoyed making it, and the other workshops delegates seemed to enjoy it too – they voted us the winners in the workshop vote.

I was surprised to find out later that a lot of people thought we had created it the day before, or even before ALT-C. No we actually created it in 30 minutes. Thanks to a wonderful camera a Panasonic HD Camera and iMovie ’08 on my MacBook Pro it was possible to shoot, edit and export a short film like this. Obviously the technology can’t do anything about the acting.

It wasn’t as easy I make out. I didn’t have a SD card reader, and the Panasonic HD Camera I used records onto SD cards. Helen’s laptop did, so I had to copy the files from the SD Card onto my 1GB USB stick which I did remember. I then managed to import the HD video files from the USB stick into the MacBook Pro. I then realised I had left my DVI-VGA adapter in my accommodation and there wasn’t one to be found. Hmmm, so I had to export the movie from iMovie as a Quicktime movie, I then used VisualHub to export the movie to a Windows Media format, copy back to the USB stick and show the audience on Helen’s laptop. I couldn’t use Windows Movie Maker (as you may have thought) on Helen’s laptop as it doesn’t support the HD footage from the HD camera.

In the end it worked.

More slams can be found here.

Vote for this video here by Monday in the online voting.

stuff

Parents ‘want texts from schools’

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Parents 'want texts from schools'

BBC reports on the survey from Becta about how schools need to use e-mail and SMS to communicate more with parents.

Many parents would like school reports on their children’s performance texted or e-mailed, a survey says.

One in 12 of the 1,493 parents polled by government education technology agency Becta said schools kept them informed using these methods.

But 68% of parents said they wanted schools to use such technologies to keep them up to date more frequently.

Of course if schools are to take heed of this survey, then FE Colleges need to do likewise. Does your FE College already communicate to the students by e-mail and/or SMS text messaging? Can the students communicate back?

podcast, podcasting, web 2.0

It’s not black and white, it’s grey

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I recall in a forum once, someone thought we should not allow recorded lectures to be available as podcasts because this would be unfair to deaf students.

So the spoken lecture is fine, but the podcast is not….

Hmmm

I think part of the problem is that people think in black and white terms, either/or and forget that we can have both or grey areas.

I was showing some staff an UMPC once, the Q1 Ultra, which I am thinking of using in our library, and first comment was that the 7″ screen would be too small for some students.

This is a fair comment, but I am not going to replace all the computers in the library with UMPCs, there would still be big computers with big screens for those that wanted them. The UMPCs would be in addition not a replacement. Some users will be fine with the UMPC, others will want what they see as a “normal” computer.

It’s not black and white, it’s grey

I would say it is similar with web services, just because a service is not accessible to everyone, doesn’t mean that it shouldn’t be used, but consideration needs to be given how you would support the users for whom it *may* be inaccessible.

In my lecture/podcast example, I would say that if a signer was provided for the lecture, then a signer could be provided for the podcast.

If “services must be accessible to all or they shouldn’t be deployed” then non-web services should be subject to the same constraints, in which case nothing would happen in an educational institution!

It’s not black and white, it’s grey.

altc2008, m-learning, mobile, nokia, psp

The mobility of learning: using mobile learning to rethink the digital divide – done!

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I ran a workshop at ALT-C yesterday afternoon on mobile learning though didn’t have time to blog about it yesterday.

Session seemed to go well though I did have about sixty people in a long narrow room.

The feedback from the session can be found here:

http://altcworkshop.blogspot.com/

Please feel free to add comments to people’s blog posts.

Recorded Gabcast podcasts from my sessions at #altc2008 today. They are online now at http://tinyurl.com/hood2feedback

altc2008, flickr, twitter, web 2.0

Hood 2.0 It’s a Web 2.0 World out there now, job done…

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I ran a workshop at ALT-C yesterday morning on Web 2.0 though didn’t have time to blog about it yesterday.

Session seemed to go well though I did have about sixty people in a long narrow room.

Hood 2.0 It's a Web 2.0 World out there now, job done...

The feedback from the session can be found here:

http://altcworkshop.blogspot.com/

Please feel free to add comments to people’s blog posts.

Other stuff from the workshop can be found on

Flickr

http://flickr.com/photos/jamesclay

Qik

http://qik.com/video/285383

Seesmic

http://seesmic.com/jamesclay

Jaiku
http://molenet.jaiku.com/

Recorded Gabcast podcasts from my sessions at #altc2008 today. They are online now at http://tinyurl.com/hood2feedback

A few comments from other people’s blogs and links mentioned as part of feedback.

http://www.projectwhite.com/tag/altc2008/

http://www.scribd.com/doc/2286799/Can-we-use-Twitter-for-educational-activities

http://onlinejournalismblog.com/2008/04/04/live-reviewing-a-book-on-twitter-here-comes-everybody-by-clay-shirky/
and here’s a reflection
http://onlinejournalismblog.com/2008/04/07/twitter-reviewing-some-reflections/

http://ashleywright.org/2008/09/09/hood-20-its-a-web-20-world/

http://www.projectwhite.com/tag/altc2008/ – loads of stuff , excellent

Thanks everyone, some great feedback and ideas.

stuff

So do your students cheat?

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So do your students cheat?

Never?

They don’t hand in plagiarised work?

How do you know?

Did you know that essays by the bundle are sold on eBay?

Dave Foord (an external educational consultant) has written an interesting blog post on Turnitin which is a piece of software that can be used to detect plagiarised work. He believes that the software also has a value in acting as a deterrent to plagarism.

What are you thoughts?

altc2008, facebook, twitter, web 2.0, youtube

Hood 2.0: it’s a Web 2.0 world out there

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I am running two workshops at ALT-C 2008 next week, one on mobile learning and the other on Web 2.0.

Hood 2.0: it’s a Web 2.0 world out there

This workshop will explore how using Web 2.0 can rethink the digital divide.

Gloucestershire College has been using Web 2.0 to enhance and enrich the learning process for a wide variety of learners across the breadth and depth of the curriculum. They have developed a range of learning scenarios and activities that are integrated into the learning process and support a diverse range of learners.

This workshop will demonstrate how Web 2.0 can be used to solve some of the issues facing diverse learners in this era of Facebook. YouTube, Twitter and then some…

The concept of Web 2.0 services in addressing the tensions between formal and informal learning, and empowering learners to take responsibility for their own learning will be examined. Then, how we need to address the pedagogical needs to drive the use of Web 2.0 services and not be blinded or awed by the technology of Web 2.0, will be explored.

During the workshop participants will be able to discuss and debate different learning scenarios and activities which utilise Web 2.0 services. Web 2.0 services will be used to demonstrate these scenarios.

Participants will discuss and debate these scenarios in small groups, covering how they could be utilised within their own institutions, examining the potential conflict between formal learning scenarios and the informal learning scenarios that Web 2.0 offers.

The groups will also discuss how the pedagogy needs to drive the scenarios and not the technology and address how Web 2.0 can empower learners to take responsibility for their own learning. Each group will provide feedback through either a blog entry, an audio podcast or a video presentation. These will then be made available online to allow participants to comment and continue the discussion beyond the workshop, and also allow other conference delegates to participate in the discussion.

After the workshop, the participants will have a greater understanding of the role of Web 2.0 in addressing the digital divide.

They will have considered how Web 2.0 can help resolve the tensions between formal and informal learning; discussed how Web 2.0 technologies in themselves mustn’t drive the learning, but support the pedagogy; and debated how Web 2.0 can empower learners to take responsibility for their learning.

The participants will have presented the results of their discussion and debate, through the use of a variety of learning technologies, to other participants and to other conference delegates.

it’s a Web 2.0 world out there

altc2008, m-learning, mobile

The mobility of learning: using mobile learning to rethink the digital divide

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I am running two workshops at ALT-C 2008 next week, one on mobile learning and the other on Web 2.0.

The mobility of learning: using mobile learning to rethink the digital divide

Mobile technologies and mobile learning have the potential to change the way in which learners can engage and interact with learning.

Gloucestershire College has been using mobile learning to enhance and enrich the learning process, for a range of learners, across the curriculum. They have developed a range of learning scenarios and activities that are integrated into the learning process and support a diverse range of learners.

Mobile technologies will be used by the participants within the workshop to examine how they can be used for learning and will also be used to feed back the outcomes from the workshop.

In this workshop, small groups of participants will examine the potential of mobile technologies and mobile learning to rethink the digital divide, including addressing the tensions between formal and informal learning, enabling access and removing exclusion, and empowering learners to take responsibility for their own learning.

The workshop introduction will provide an exploration of mobile learning and mobile technologies. Participants will discuss and debate mobile learning scenarios, and cover how they could be utilised within their own institutions, examining the potential conflict between formal learning and informal learning that mobile learning offers. They will also debate the idea and concept that mobile learning is accessible and inclusive for all learners. The small group discussion will also address how mobile learning can empower learners to take responsibility for their own learning. The groups will then feedback through a blog entry, an audio podcast or a video presentation. This feedback will be made available online to allow comment and further discussion beyond the workshop and with other conference delegates.

After the workshop, participants will have a greater understanding of the role of mobile learning in addressing the digital divide. Mobile technologies will have been used within the workshop by the participants to understand the learning scenarios, and the participants will have presented the workshop outcomes through a variety of learning technologies.

using mobile learning to rethink the digital divide

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