Mobile Learning: Catalytic Change – Online Webinar

July 28, 2011 James Clay 6 Comments

The recording of my online webinar is now available.

http://vimeo.com/27001017

James Clay of Gloucestershire College will deliver an online seminar (webinar) on the implementation of mobile learning across a college. The session will consist of a definition of mobile learning, looking at learners, learning as well as devices. It will look at the issues of a whole college approach to mobile learning. The session will demonstrate how mobile learning can be used to improve teaching, learning and assessment.

Thank you to LSIS for funding the session and the JISC RSC SW for hosting the session.

conference

Mobile Learning: Catalytic Change – Online Webinar

July 26, 2011 James Clay Leave a comment

On Wednesday 27th July 2011 I will be delivering an online webinar.

Mobile Learning: Catalytic Change – Online Webinar

James Clay of Gloucestershire College will deliver an online seminar (webinar) on the implementation of mobile learning across a college. The session will consist of a definition of mobile learning, looking at learners, learning as well as devices. It will look at the issues of a whole college approach to mobile learning.

The session will demonstrate how mobile learning can be used to improve teaching, learning and assessment.

The session will be hosted by JISC RSC SW and is part of the LSIS Technology Exemplar Network.

The webinar takes place on Wednesday 27th July at 11.00am, it is expected to take around an hour. The session will be recorded.

More information and how to get to see the webinar here.

app of the week, ipad

Bamboo Paper – iPad App of the Week

July 26, 2011 James Clay 3 Comments

Bamboo Paper – 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 Bamboo Paper.

Enjoy the ease of your own natural handwriting as you sketch your thoughts on a neat digital paper note book.

Bamboo Paper, a seriously fun new app from Wacom, provides you with the ability to create virtual notebooks for your iPad, letting you share your ideas visually with handwritten notes, sketches or doodles. Paired with the Bamboo Stylus, it turns your iPad into the ultimate paperless communications tool for use at:

School – map out math and science equations, compose music, create arts and crafts projects, learn proper penmanship, write non-Western language characters (think Chinese, Japanese and Arabic)

Work – Communicate with charts and graphs, collaborate during brainstorming sessions, sketch a design while on the go

Home – jot down grocery lists, rough-out landscaping and home improvement designs, entertain kids with coloring and drawing activities at home or in the car

What else can the Bamboo Paper app do?

Quickly scan your book by browsing through thumbnail images of your pages

Share your ideas – send an individual page or an entire book by e-mail

Present your thoughts to a group – connect your iPad to a projector to show off your sketches and ideas to others at meetings and brainstorm sessions

Print an individual page or entire book

Mark important notes by bookmarking individual pages

Who is Bamboo Paper designed for and what are some key benefits?

It’s for everyone especially for creative people like you.

In Short it’s for: note taking, sketching, doodling, inking plus:

Environmentally friendly – no paper waste

Free flow thinking

Capturing thoughts and ideas

Mind mapping, brainstorming

Use the app as a journal or for travel notes

Using it at work for meeting minutes

Doing homework

Bamboo Paper is designed by Wacom, the company dedicated to creating harmony between technology and you! Millions of Bamboo users worldwide can’t be wrong!

Free

On the surface, Bamboo is a nice simple free drawing app for the iPad. Using your finger you an draw diagrams, make notes and draw doodles. You can then e-mail the page, save it as an image or if you have a compatible printer you can print the page.

Where Bamboo Paper I think will excel is if you use the Bamboo stylus. An ordinary stylus won’t work on the iPad, but a specially designed stylus will. Wacom the people behind the Bamboo Paper App have produced a Bamboo Stylus for the iPad.

Using the Bamboo Stylus further enhances numerous applications designed for the iPad by allowing users to express themselves and personalise their work. The pen brings a more accurate and precise way to take notes in meetings and classroom settings or to sketch out rough ideas while on the go. It gives creative thinkers the opportunity to be expressive and visualise their life.

The authentic and satisfying feel of the pen is achieved through subtle design elements, such as a sophisticated black and silver design with satin-textured metal body, a focus on ergonomic comfort and balanced weighting of the pen. In addition, the fine tip gives the user more detail control.

Ideal for handwriting notes, giving a personal touch when editing documents, drawing, sketching and much more, the Bamboo Stylus enriches the way in which users interact with their iPad. Users can now be even more creative, using it in the way that suits them.

Looks great, but does cost £24.99 however there are other iPad stylus out there and a quick search on Amazon brings up the Pogo Sketch Stylus for just £6.99 (+£3.99 shipping). Alas I haven’t had a chance to use either, but am tempted to buy the Pogo stylus. I think for apps such as Bamboo Paper will be great and even better for art apps such as Sketchbook Pro.

One limitation of the free version of Bamboo Paper is you only get one notebook, however you can buy twenty more notebooks as an in-app purchase for just £1.49.

Bamboo Paper is a really simple app that does very little, which is it’s real strength. If you want to draw diagrams or make notes, then Bamboo Paper is great for that. Looks like it would work even better with a stylus.

Get Bamboo Paper in the iTunes Store.

vle

The Image on the Right

July 23, 2011 James Clay 7 Comments

In the most recent posting in 100 ways, a couple of people asked how I got this effect.

How did I get the image to be on the right and all the text or links on the left.

The answer is…

Well there are two answers.

Firstly the image itself is from an excellent collection I bought quite a few years ago. These photo objects allow me to match the background of the image to the background of the page. Most image editors allow you to do this with images, advantage of the collection is I don’t need to do the editing so saves time. Alas the image is no longer available, which is a pity.

Secondly how to get the image on the right? Well you do need to know a bit about HTML.

When you add an image to Moodle (and in this example I am using Moodle 2) to a label or another text field, the default is to have the image embedded into the page.

Find the image.

This then inserts it into the label or other text box.

The end result is the image is to the left and any text added with just an inserted image, the text is at the bottom.

If you are using Moodle 2 you can click the image and click the align right button. However this won’t work in Moodle 1.9 or earlier.

Hit the Edit HTML button.

The code for the image will be something like this.

<img src="https://yourmoodle/draftfile.php/13/user/draft/197347461/oldbooks.jpg" width="200" height="169" alt="Old Books" />

What you need to add to the tag is align=”right” or style="float: right;"

<img src="https://yourmoodle/draftfile.php/13/user/draft/197347461/oldbooks.jpg" width="200" height="169" alt="Old Books" align=”right” />

<img src="https://yourmoodle/draftfile.php/13/user/draft/197347461/oldbooks.jpg" width="200" height="169" alt="Old Books" style="float: right;" />

Of course use “left” if you want your image aligned to the left.

The text with the image aligned to the right now wraps around the image and importantly starts from the top aligned to the top of the image.

Allowing you to have text on one side or content and the image on the right. If you align to the left then the image will be on the left, and the text wraps around the image and importantly starts from the top aligned to the top of the image.

If after the label you have activities or links to resources these will also be wrapped around the image.

You do need to consider the design of the page. By having images on the right you do need to have enough content on the left, otherwise you may have too much white space. Then again some white space can add to the design of the course.

100 ways, vle

100 ways to use a VLE – #55 Embedding Titles

July 22, 2011 James Clay 5 Comments

Often many VLE courses look very “boring”, a list of resources and activities. This is partly down to the fact that a VLE is often seen by practitioners as a repository of content, with links to resources and activities. One way to break up the list is to use embedded graphics to enhance the visual appeal of the course on the VLE. Graphical titles are an easy way to add visual appeal and signpost activities or content within a course on the VLE.

Of course using graphics instead of words is generally an accessibility no no and even an ALT tag isn’t usually enough. However my view is for titles (and accompanying graphics in general) that though not 100% accessible if not essential to the actual content in the course won’t be too much of a loss or a distraction. For most learners though the graphical titles would (if done right) enhance their experience on the course and engage them.

One of the issues with titles is creating them and there are various tools available. I am sure a lot of people have used WordArt in Microsoft Word. I have used Fireworks, Comic Life and other applications to create titles.

Another issue is design and “taste”, here are some examples of good and bad practice, I will leave you to choose which is which.

Enhancing Lessons

Topic 5

Using the VLE

Module 13

Module 4

The way to add these is by adding an image, ensure though that you add an ALT tag. In Moodle 2 you can change the topic names from “Topic 1” to a more suitable title making the use of graphical titles slightly less inaccessible.

The main reason to use embedded titles is that though the standard CSS (stylesheet) may allow for nice headings it may not be something that every practitioners wants to use. In some cases embedded titles may be used in addition to standard headings to emphasise an activity or an event.

A criticism often laid against the VLE is that it is “boring” to look at. There is very little to stop making the VLE engaging and attractive, with a little thought and the right graphical application, you can enhance any course on the VLE. There is the danger though that with excessive use of fonts, colours (and even animated gifs) that the VLE course could turn into a ghastly MySpace page! So be careful out there.

google

Google Plus One

July 20, 2011 James Clay Leave a comment

Yesterday Google released their iOS app for Google+ and now those of us with iPhones can interact with Google+ using a native app rather than the mobile web interface.

Alas the new app doesn’t work on the iPod touch or the iPad, no idea if Google have submitted an app for either device, but it does seem limiting to restrict the app just to the iPhone.

I have used the Android App and the iPhone App is very similar in appearance and in many way very similar to the mobile web way of accessing Google+.

In these screen shots you can compare the home screen across the three platforms.

The stream view is pretty similar too.

Of course the main difference between the apps and the mobile web version is that within the apps you can more easily attach photographs to a posting.

The advantage of the Android App over the iOS app is how you can configure it to automatically upload photographs, but I am suspecting that many will see that as a disadvantage. The photographs are uploaded to a private web album and you can turn it off.

At this time I have no idea how and for how long I will be using Google+. For me at this time it has advantages over Twitter in terms of conversations and also advantages over Facebook too.

Download the Google+ App.

app of the week, ipad

BBC iPlayer – iPad App of the Week

July 19, 2011 James Clay Leave a comment

BBC iPlayer – iPad App of the Week

This week’s App is BBC iPlayer.

BBC TV and Radio programmes now on your iPad.

Watch and listen live, or choose your favourites from over 400 hours programming from the last 7 days.

– Watch live TV
– Listen to live radio
– Scroll through and find Featured and Most Popular programmes
– Add programmes to your favourites and have them ready and waiting when a new episode or series is available
– Drag and drop programmes to Favourites with one easy move
– Browse through the schedule for upcoming programmes

Free

Sometimes you will want your learners to watch a programme that was on the telly in the past seven days. Even if your institution has an ERA licence you may have “forgotten” to have it recorded, or even if you have, you might want your learners to watch it in their own time and a place of their choosing. BBC iPlayer for many is a great service and allows people to watch a lot of stuff from the last seven days and in some cases with some series, catch-up an entire series. What you can see and what you can’t is not a technical issue, but a rights one. The more we have had iPlayer the more the rights issues are been settled for new content.

There is an App for the iPad for BBC iPlayer. Learners, if they have an iPad can watch the programme when they want to. I have used it a few times and it does work as expected. I think it is better than the website version of iPlayer on the iPad and it seems to be a little more stable. A bit easier to go back to a video you have paused for example. Navigation is slightly different to the website version you get on the iPad, but not much really too different.

This is the iPad App.

This is iPlayer on the iPad browser.

So my next question is why?

Why on earth did the BBC spend time and money on an app for the iPad if it adds virtually nothing to the experience that you get from using the website on the iPad?

So is the content different from what you get on the web on the iPad?

So can you download content for offline viewing? Like when you are on a train? Something you can do on your computer. Well no, you have to have a decent internet connection to watch BBC iPlayer. Also you can’t use the service on 3G, you do need to be on wifi.

The main difference is that the app allows you to watch live BBC TV which is probably the main reason for getting the app, though remember you will need a TV licence to watch the live streams!

In the end I can’t see what the app adds that viewing on the iPlayer on Safari doesn’t have already, apart from “favourites”. What’s the point of that as most content disappears in under seven days anyway…

Neither the App or the web version of iPlayer support AirPlay which is what you would use to stream content to your Apple TV. Now that would be useful especially as BBC iPlayer is not native on the Apple TV (and in the UK it should be). Of course if we could put Apps on the Apple TV then we could put this BBC App on the Apple TV! Sometimes I wish life was a little easier and simpler.

The BBC iPlayer App is an App it currently doesn’t support AV-Out. You can do AV-Out with the web version. If you have an iPad 2 then you can mirror the app using the Digital AV Adapter.

Disappointingly for some this app is only for the iPad, you will need to rely on the web version if you have an iPhone or an iPod touch. Though for those with an Android handset, there is a BBC iPlayer App for Android.

Get the BBC iPlayer App for the iPad in the iTunes App Store.

news

Comic Life 2 for Mac

July 18, 2011 James Clay Leave a comment

I am a great fan of the Comic Life application and have used it quite a few times at work to create comics for handouts, flyers and pages in our staff newsletter.

Comic Life 2 for Mac has been out for a while but the special introduction price of £13.99 ends on the 1st August. So if you like the idea of creating comics and have a Mac then Comic Life 2 is a great piece of software that makes it easy and fun.

Turn your photos into comic layouts (even entire books!) with Comic Life. Speech balloons, fonts and filters give you all the tools you need to make the perfect photo comic.

Check it out in the Mac App Store. For Windows users version 1 is available.

podcast

e-Learning Stuff Podcast #079: Turbo Telling

July 17, 2011 James Clay Leave a comment

James recently presented at the JISC RSC SW Turbo TEL event in Bristol. The RSC SW recorded one of his sessions and interviewed him. These are those recordings…

eLearning Stuff

Mobile Learning: Catalytic Change – Online Webinar

Mobile Learning: Catalytic Change – Online Webinar

Bamboo Paper – iPad App of the Week

The Image on the Right

100 ways to use a VLE – #55 Embedding Titles

Google Plus One

BBC iPlayer – iPad App of the Week

Comic Life 2 for Mac

e-Learning Stuff Podcast #079: Turbo Telling

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