Tag Archives: fote10

jiscel10, podcast, youtube

e-Learning Stuff Podcast #063: I’m the Mayor of Morrisons….

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Bits and pieces of news from the realm of e-learning. James gets all excited over the MacBook Air. QR Codes are back in fashion and are flavour of the month. Does the top ten YouTube videos a symptom of the death of user generated content? FOTE 10 and videos and combining video with Twitter. Some more commentary on the Kindle. James really doesn’t understand FourSquare, or to be honest Places on Facebook. James however does like Instagram. Finally James talks about the JISC Online Conference 2010.

With James Clay.

This is the sixty third e-Learning Stuff Podcast, I’m the Mayor of Morrisons….

Download the podcast in mp3 format: I’m the Mayor of Morrisons….

Subscribe to the podcast in iTunes.

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fote10, ipad

Books are wonderful things…

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Gloucestershire College LibraryThere is something very beautiful and sensual about a new book. Anyone who has ever bought a new book will know what I mean. Whether you open the parcel from Amazon, or remove the book from a bag of a high street bookseller, there is something about the smell of a new book, the feel of the roughness of the paper between your fingers as you slowly flick from page to page. As you open it for the first time you can feel the stiffness of the spine of a book that has never been read. The smoothness of the dust jacket, the rough texture of the cover, combine to produce a tingling feeling of excitement as you realise you are about to open the book and start to read.

There is even something about a used book, or one from a library. What is the history or legacy of the book? Who read it before you? Where did they read it? How did they feel when reading it? Did they share it with others? Even the annotations, that can be annoying, give a flavour of how previous readers of a book felt and used the book.

Books are extremely portable, they can be easily carried to any location and used. They fit into a multitude of bags and can be used whether you are a passenger in a car, on a train or flying in a plane. You can use books at home, in a coffee shop, on the beach, in a library, a classroom or in the park.

Books have an unique user interface that has never been adequately duplicated on any electronic device. You can flick from section to section, page to page. You can highlight and annotate. Put sticky notes on specific pages. Use a series of physical bookmarks to identify sections.

Books are also easily lent, libraries know this, but I am sure you like me have lent a book to others. You want them to share that feeling you get when reading a book for the first time, something you can’t get back when reading a book for a second time.

Books are indeed wonderful things, but still, the iPad is the future of reading…

A version of this article originally appeared on the FOTE10 website.

e-book, fote10

The future of the e-book

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This is a nice video that echoes much of what I said in my FOTE10 talk.

The Future of the Book from IDEO

The book will evolve in the same way that audio and video have evolved. Not always for the better, but sometimes it will work. Remember that the e-book does not replace or duplicate the physical book, it is a different reading experience.

fote10

So that’s my presentation….

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The other day I did mention my presentation at FOTE10 and said

I still yet to upload my presentation from FOTE10 to the web.

Why?

Well at 250Mb it’s a tiny bit large for the average user.

It’s also in Keynote format, so not very accessible for anyone other than a Mac user.

Well not to disappoint, here is the presentation using Slideshare, thanks to ULCC in uploading it.  It was removed, so I uploaded it to my Slideshare account.

I can imagine that this in isolation is not really going to explain why I think the iPad is the future of reading. Also none of the videos work from Slideshare…

The video of my presentation is now online on the main FOTE10 website. This is probably a nice way to see and hear what I said.

Update here is the video from Youtube.

I have also recorded my presentation using an mp3 recorder and that means you can listen to it here if you want to listen to it on an iPod (click the link) or from your computer.

So there is now a few ways to see and hear what I said.

fote10

Where’s your presentation?

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I still yet to upload my presentation from FOTE10 to the web.

Why?

Well at 250Mb it’s a tiny bit large for the average user.

It’s also in Keynote format, so not very accessible for anyone other than a Mac user.

Then again I think what’s the point?

Anyone at FOTE10 will know (and the photo above testifies) that my presentation had very few words in it, it was a presentation of images and video. There were more words on the final slide with my contact details than there was in the rest of the entire presentation.

If I uploaded the presentation, without the context and without the “speech” itself then it would be like a nice screensaver.

I do see the value in online presentations, but do feel that a presentation designed for the web is a different animal to one that is used in person.

I have recorded my presentation (as an mp3) and will release that, but that probably stands on it’s own feet better than the slides would on their own.

So you will be able to hear what I say, not necessarily see the slides. I know at some point ULCC will release a video of me presenting, then you can see me, hear me and watch my slides. Though without the Twitter backchannel…

Then again even that is possible nowdays…

So why do we attend events then?

Well…

Eventedness, but I leave that to a certain Mr White to explain.

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Back to the Future

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I really enjoyed ALT-C, it’s a great conference, so much to hear and learn. However it has one “flaw” and it’s not really a flaw, more a design feature.

ALT-C is in September and the submission process occurs nine months earlier. So the content of the conference is mainly about work undertaken in the one or two years before that! As a result the majority of the presentations and papers at ALT-C is on work and activity that is eighteen months old! However this is not a problem, this is an academic conference and the point of the conference is to look back, learn from the past and build for the future. However this is not a conference to go to if you are interested in what the future will bring… in other words the stuff you would hear about at ALT-C 2012 or 2013. Many learning technology conferences I attend have a similar model, MoLeNET this week for example was about MoLeNET projects that were designed in November 2009, this was before the iPad and the iPhone 4G were even announced.

So what of the future?

It is true many of these conferences do have sessions on the future, but today in London I am presenting at FOTE10. The Future of Technology in Education 2010 Conference is about the future. Though one person did think it was more the “here and now” conference. Cycnicism aside, ULCC says…

…the FOTE conference is back for 2010 and, as with previous events, is dedicated to showcasing the hottest technology related trends and challenges impacting the academic sector over the next 1-3 years.

This is why this conference is different. This is now about where we have been, or even where we are, this is about where we are going.

It is very TED like in format and structure and I think the conference benefits from that. Short intense presentations (and a few panel sessions) to get people thinking. Even though many may think the lecture is dead, in this case I see FOTE having a term I will steal from Dave White, eventedness. In other words the event is not just about the presentation, it is also about the community that attends and engages with the conference.

There will be (I am assuming) quite a lively back-channel and the coffee breaks are a hub of conversation and discussion.

Many of the key players, personalities (and even celebrities) from the world of learning technologies in the UK will be there.

It is all these features that make this conference such an exciting event. The free tickets this year “sold out” as fast as the previous two.

Of course there is one question.

Who decides whom should present and on what subjects?

That is a question that I can’t answer, but obviously it can’t be easy. There are many new technologies, themes and trends. How would you choose what should be at the conference?

Fote 09 AudienceI was humbled last year to talk at FOTE09, I talked about the future of learning. I was even more humbled when I was asked to come back and talk at FOTE10. My presentation this year is entitled, “The iPad is the future of reading”. I have already written a couple of blog articles on the FOTE blog, one on how books are wonderful things and how the Kindle is a wonderful thing, but despite this, the iPad is still the future of reading.