Engadget reports on the growing increase in mobile phone ownership across the world.
…the United Nations communications chief has boldly predicted that half of planet Earth’s population will be hooked on some sort of mobile phone before 2009 dawns.
Though how many of those subscriptions will include unlimited data I suspect will be very small and I suspect an even smaller number of those phone users will be using them for learning.
Learning in a digital age – are we prepared?
4-7th November 2008
Register now for the third international JISC online conference. This important conference for practitioners and managers embedding e-learning into their practice focuses on the tension between the tried and tested and the wholly innovative. e-Learning may now have established a foothold in learning and teaching, but are the demands of delivering the curriculum restricting its innovative potential? How can we plan to ensure the best possible e-enhancement of learning in the future?
Keynote speakers are Professor Gilly Salmon, University of Leicester, on transforming curriculum design through technology and Professor Rose Luckin, London Knowledge Lab, on the relationship between learners, their tutors and institutions. The closing keynote is being delivered by John Davitt, writer, broadcaster and education technology specialist.
The conference has two themes each running over two days and will also include guided tours in Second Life facilitated by the JISC Emerge team. During the reading weeks, the two weeks prior to the conference, there will be orientation sessions for delegates new to Second Life. We are pleased to have James Clay, mobile-learning enthusiast, as the conference blogger. Some sessions will make use of the Elluminate real-time web conferencing system.
Finally, the e-Learning Showcase will provide a shop window on innovative work from JISC e-Learning projects and services and social events include a virtual fashion show.
Details of the programme are available at www.jisc.ac.uk/elpconference08.
Delegates from further and higher education and from overseas are welcome to take part. The conference takes place in an asynchronous virtual environment which can be accessed wherever and whenever is convenient to you. Book now. The fee is £50 per delegate
[vodpod id=Groupvideo.1603812&w=425&h=350&fv=]
I do the Twitter.
One of the things about Twitter is the interconnections between different people on Twitter. Tweetwheel allows you to show who follows who via a very nice graphical wheel.
View my “proper” interactive Tweetwheel here. It was interesting for me to find out that though I follow a fair few people, they rarely follow the same people I follow. There is some interconnectivity, but not as much as I thought.
Apple has announced an interesting development for US Universities, the iPhone Developer University Program.
The iPhone Developer University Program is a free program designed for higher education institutions looking to introduce curriculum for developing iPhone or iPod touch applications. The University Program provides a wealth of development resources, sophisticated tools for testing and debugging, and the ability to share applications within the same development team. Institutions can also submit applications for distribution in the App Store.
Alas this is not a program(me) to develop learning applications for the iPhone, but merely a programme to teach students how to develop applications.
Though getting a large amount of criticism from various sources (including this list), the Becta Software for Educational Institutions Framework (SEIF) was never about banning software, but about getting a framework in place to allow schools to “purchase” software avoiding many of the problems and pitfalls that may arise from a school going it alone.
The problem that many found with the SEIF was that it favoured proprietary software vendors and discriminated against open source.
The Sirius Corporation revealed yesterday that it was among 12 software suppliers to have been awarded places on the £80m Software for Educational Institutions Framework (SEIF) agreement.
This means that schools that wish to use linux, Open Office, Moodle, etc… now have a framework which allows them to use the software more easily.
Sirius press release.
Are any colleges out there looking at open source alternatives beyond Moodle?
I did say in my previous post.
I wonder how long it will be before it comes to the UK.
Well according to the BBC it will be in the UK in time for Christmas on T-Mobile.
The T-Mobile G1 handset will be available in the UK in time for Christmas.
The first device to run the search giant’s operating system will feature a touch screen as well as a Qwerty keyboard.
It will be available for free on T-Mobile tariffs of over £40 a month and includes unlimited net browsing.
Other features include a three megapixel camera, a ‘one click’ contextual search and a browser that users can zoom in on by tapping the screen.
I think it has potential, but is it going to match the iPhone?
I don’t think it will have the buzz that the iPhone had. However the applications that the Google Phone could have and the way that they are installed on the phone means that it may have more potential as a learning device than the iPhone.
Well it’s out there now.
Google unveiled their phone, it will be from (in the USA) T-Mobile and is made by HTC.
Not much to look at is it?
The key with this phone, is don’t look at the phone, look at the operating system.
Images from Engadget who attended the event and who say:
We finally, finally got our mitts all over the very first Android device, the T-Mobile G1 — hanging out in the crowd, waiting for the official announce, naturally — and so far we like what we see. The phone is surprisingly thinner than we thought it would be, and it feels pretty solid in your hand (though they’ve opted for an almost all plastic device, no metal here). The keyboard seems usable and reasonably well thought-out, and the slider action is like butter, with a nice little swoop for good effect.
I wonder how long it will be before it comes to the UK.
Think of the potential of learners being able to use Google Docs whilst on the move.
In the US today sees the unveiling of the widely anticipated Google Phone.
The BBC reports that
The first mobile telephone using Google’s Android software is due to be unveiled on 23 September.
It will be available on the US network of T-Mobile and is expected to be on sale in October.
The first device to run the search giant’s operating system will be a handset from Taiwanese firm HTC called the “Dream”.
No price for the phone has been given yet but it is expected to be below the important $200 (£107) price point.
So why the interest in the phone?
Well as the BBC article goes on…
Google announced its plans for the Android phone software in November 2007 with a declared aim of making it easier to get at the web while on the move.
More and more people are using their phones less for making phone calls and more for using the web whilst on the move. Apple’s iPhone showed that you could use the web on the move, will Google’s Android do more than just the web?
A few days ago I posted about using Vodpod to embed a Flickr slideshow into a blog hosted on WordPress.com (just like this one).
However though it did seem to work, after a few hours the blog entry looked like this!
Hmm, problems.
Re-embedding initially seemed to work, but after a few hours the above error would return.
Hmmm.
Well it should work, everything I read online said it should work. Vodpod has worked with other sites before on my blog.
Hmmm.
After some more searching I found this forum article on Flickr. In that long list of comments I found that the problem arises from the Vodpod Post to WordPress button and Firefox 3.x It would appear that the two are not compatible.
If you use the Vodpod Share Video link then this “fixes” the problem and your slideshows should work as expected.
[vodpod id=Groupvideo.1585205&w=425&h=350&fv=lang%3Den-us%26flickr_notracking%3Dtrue%26flickr_target%3D_self%26nsid%3D25498841%40N00%26textV%3D58886%26ispro%3D0%26magisterLudi%3D2f04d5dddb974180d1ea045693cc5a13%26auth_hash%3D5ba3bff7bd1e772be8c720b10a569824%26set_id%3D72157601000304491%26page_show_back_url%3D%252Fphotos%252Fjamesclay%252Fsets%252F72157601000304491%252F%26page_show_url%3D%252Fphotos%252Fjamesclay%252Fsets%252F72157601000304491%252Fshow%252F%26minH%3D100%26minW%3D100]
Edit: Well I thought it had fixed it. It hadn’t. Trying now with embedding the slideshows using Safari rather than Firefox 3.x and seeing if that makes a difference. If that doesn’t work out then I am going to stop trying.