David Truss :: Pair-a-dimes for Your Thoughts
edu blog
"Sir, why do you hate PowerPoint?" - EffectiveICT.co.uk forum
Why you shouldn't use powerpoint.
dean groom's List: A Collection on "10th Grade Commerce Voice Thread" (10vt) | Diigo
Mr Groom's voicethreads
Monday, September 22, 2008
Diigo Tags 09/22/2008
Sunday, September 21, 2008
Utterli ( nee Utterz)
It has been a day of revelation and multi tasking - Utterli ( the Utterli blog here )came up in converstaion at some point during the day..... from an Aussie I believe. Utterli is a bit more verstaile as a tool than is something like 12seconds.tv I guess. These are the audio/visual equivalent of Twitter were you can join in the conversation and invite others in to either a written or multimedia collaboration.Utterli is particulalry easy to use and I think could easily become addictive..... ooooh dear!
(Utterli was until earlier this month known as Utterz)
Using Flowgram
Following a packed Edtechroundup this evening, I can't actually remember who it was that suggested Flowgram as a means of recording a presentation, so my apologies to whoever that was! I have had a busy day trying to keep up with the conversation today having been in an OZ tech teachers flashmeeting along with my friend Joe Dale this morning. Followed by hopping into Lisa Parisi and Maria Knee's EdTech talk this afternoon, I was a little punch drunk this evening for the 8.30 to 9.30 Flashmeeting..... however I was keen to give Flowgram a go, the result is below.
It strikes me as a tool which is as easy to get your head around as something like Voicethread in that the recording procees is easy, it even gives you a time line in order that you can organise your presentation. You can use a range of different sources to which flowgram will sync. My small example uses a voice over a blog post, followed by a picture from my hard drive ( I should have voiced over that as well!) You can also upload powerpoint slides for voice overs as well. I thin that it would be great to see how kids in a real class use this tool..... more creatively than I ;-)( the sound effect in the background, not of course a steam train, but Mrs H ironing..... I did my ironing this ironing before joining Sue, Dean and the gang from downunder .... honestly I did!!!!)
It strikes me as a tool which is as easy to get your head around as something like Voicethread in that the recording procees is easy, it even gives you a time line in order that you can organise your presentation. You can use a range of different sources to which flowgram will sync. My small example uses a voice over a blog post, followed by a picture from my hard drive ( I should have voiced over that as well!) You can also upload powerpoint slides for voice overs as well. I thin that it would be great to see how kids in a real class use this tool..... more creatively than I ;-)( the sound effect in the background, not of course a steam train, but Mrs H ironing..... I did my ironing this ironing before joining Sue, Dean and the gang from downunder .... honestly I did!!!!)
Yammer - A micro-blog for your organisation
My WOW of the week - is Yammer, Twitter without the hassle!
Yammer recently won the top prize at the TechCrunch 50 event. But what is it and how could it work for you?
Yammer is Twitter-like in that it works on micro-blogging rules of short posts, where it scores over Twitter is that you can set up a Yammer network for your own organisation/ school or social network group which is then closed to others..... no followers only invitees! In addition to the micro blogging you can also tag posts to help colleagues find what they are looking for. If the organisation or someone within it wishes to takes admin rights over the group allowing access controls etc there is a fee of $1 per user per month, but if not the whole system works free for your users.
Below David Sachs the founder of Yammer explains the origins and uses of Yammer
It would be a great system to set up for all sorts of groups - especially perhaps as people consider how to introduce these tools into the classroom - Yammer can be configured to work from SMS (The company already allows interaction with the service via the site, an AIR client, iPhone, Blackberry, IM, SMS and email. This evening they’ve also launched an API to allow third party developers to build Yammer into their applications. ) The AIR client integration means that you can have a Twirl - like update on your desktop.
You could set up your class/subject group up on Yammer and use this as a means of communication for both assignments and as a method of communicating comments on assigments. It could also form part of your education of pupils on acceptable use.
Within a school a Yammer community of teachers would certainly help to begin the process of integrating web 2.0 tools into teachers daily lives with a purpose - I would advise against school admin getting involved as it could soon temper the debate within the group!!
This certainly seems to be something which would be useful in many different schools/organisations as a means of communication that the Twitter community can understand.
[yammer]
Diigo Tags 09/21/2008
ExitReality - The Entire Web in 3D
ExitReality is a free internet plug-in that allows anyone to view every web page in 3D
Saturday, September 20, 2008
Diigo Tags 09/20/2008
edubloggercon » Learning 2.008 Edubloggercon
Learning 2.0 08 wiki
Translated version of http://ikt-diginalet.blogspot.com/
Norwegian blog
K12 Online Conference 2008 | 2008-Teasers
Teaser for the upcoming K12Online2008
Friday, September 19, 2008
Diigo Tags 09/19/2008
Shanghai Community International School
Host for @learning 2.008
More slideshow creators than I can shake a stick at
With the new version of Wordpress used by Creative Blogs you have a much wider variety of slideshow production platforms than you used to have (you were pretty much limited to using Bubbleshare and Rockyou). Now a host of different services will work.
Thursday, September 18, 2008
Diigo Tags 09/18/2008
5th RunForFunds Maximise Your Potential Award Ceremony (13 Sep 2008) [JayWalk]
The 5th Maximize Your Potential Award Ceremony was held @ Geylang Methodist Primary School on 13 Sep 2008, 10am.
Wednesday, September 17, 2008
Diigo Tags 09/17/2008
The OpenSimulator Project is a BSD Licensed Virtual Worlds Server which can be used for creating and deploying 3D Virtual Environments. It has been developed by several developers. Out of the box, the OpenSimulator can be used to create a Second Life(tm) like environment, able to run in a standalone mode or connected to other OpenSimulator instances through built in grid technology. It can also easily be extended to produce more specialized 3D interactive applications. Check out the list of growing features to get an idea of what OpenSimulator is capable of.
In this presentation we're going to take a preliminary glimpse at SecondLife and discuss what it is, some of the important characteristics and activities taking place in the virtual world and importantly broach some questions on how or in indeed whether SecondLife can be used to facilitate learning in higher education.
Monday, September 15, 2008
Diigo Tags 09/15/2008
BeTwittered is a client for Twitter, which is a very popular micro-blog sort of service. Twitters uses are always expanding into new areas, but it’s a great way to keep in touch, or just passively follow what others are up to. If you are not familiar with Twitter, go get a free account and check it out. It’s VERY easy to sign up. Because Twitter is hard to describe well- It’s best to just try it for yourself. Feel free to “follow” me to get started (whether you choose to use BeTwittered or not ) Just visit meta_robert after you sign up, and click the “follow” button on my page.
Pat
I like to hike, read, crochet, teach, and do digital scrapbooking. I retired after 27 years of teaching in the classroom. Now I teach graduate courses as an adjunct instructor for Furman University.A new US edublogger
Shantideep Adarsh Vidhyasadan is one of the English Medium Schools established in 1998 with 13 students in a backwarded countryside of Bhaktapur district of Nepal. The name of the village is Bageshwori (altitude approx. 1500 metre). It lies in the eastern part of Bhaktapur district. It was established when the parents were not so aware of their children’s education. We (school Management) had to struggle a lot to achieve the sympathy of the parents / villagers. They weren’t convinced in the very beginning and didn’t send their children to this school thinking that we can’t run the school continuously for the long run. As a founder director, I tried my best to build up and uplift the situation of the school. By the end of that year, we were able to impress them showing the out put of our teaching techniques and methodologies. As a result the number of students reached 78 in the beginning of the second year. The number of students has been increasing gradually. But we can’t enroll all the new comers due to the infrastructural and financial problems. Now we have 137 students.We hope we can fulfill the need and desire of our parents/ villagers (target groups) if your contribution on the infrastructural or/and academic sectors can be entertained.
Monday, September 08, 2008
Saturday, August 30, 2008
Tuesday, August 26, 2008
Sunday, August 24, 2008
Diigo Tags 08/24/2008
Oh no. The twitter has lost its tweet. As of Thursday 14th August 2008, Twitter can no longer afford to let us all receive free SMS tweets. Boo-hoo.
But don't worry. Help is at hand. We've created similar mobile technology for our ZygoHubs service, so our team has oodles of experience to help you get your tweets back. Our aim is to keep the cost as low as possible – we just need your support.
Tuesday, August 19, 2008
Friday, August 08, 2008
What a night to just happen to be in NYC?
Celebrating our Silver Wedding Anniversary and Deb's 18th birthday (ha!) in New York, we happened to be sitting having lunch watching a rolling advertising hoarding on the side of the Radio City Music Hall, when up came an advert for The Police at Madison Square Garden on Thursday night...... having followed the band as I have others on and off over the years, and as we are on holiday, I thought let's go for it. I had to follow the tricky route of acquiring last minute tickets for what is possibly the band's last ever performance. Thanks to a site called StubHub ( recommended if you are ever in this position) I managed to acquire 2 tickets in a reasonable spot for the first gig I have been to since Queen at the NEC in 1979!!!!And boy what a gig it was.First the poor B52's tried to wow the crowd,who joined in reluctantly at first, but gradually warmed to things as the numbers in the arena grew to its predicted 19,000.The B52's did an hour set.
But were followed by the fab 3 who started spectacularly with 'Message in a Bottle' back by the drums of the NYPD just watch this for the start of a concert!( thanks to TheSchemer among others for the Youtube links)The guys actually did over 2 1/4 hours on stage, I guess largely on adrenaline.The audience did their very best to raise the roof off 'The Garden', sting had his beard theatrically shaved off and .....at the very end the fat lady did actually sing.
Thank you for a great night Andy, Stewart and 'Master of Ceremonies' Sting, it was brilliant and great to be able to say..... we were there.
The Police
Friday, August 01, 2008
Tuesday, July 29, 2008
'Newsflash! from Sean
It looks like the dates for the 2008 UK MoodleMoot will be October 16th and 17th. We are just finalising the venue details at present, but we suggest that if you wish to attend and present, that you send in your name and an outline as soon as you can (until we can get the database for this set up, please email them to Jon Allen, Jason Cole or myself). We apologise for the delay in announcing this - the difficulty lay in finding a venue large enough for the size that the Moot has grown to, without having to charge a small fortune in registration fees.
As soon as we have more information about the venue, and details regarding registration, we will post them here.'
by Sean Keogh.
Friday, July 25, 2008
Wednesday, July 23, 2008
Audacity and MP3 conversion on Eeepc
The final element has now been achieved, and would have been done much sooner had this 'old' dragon thought carefully about what he was doing in the Linux command line. As you can see below audacity recordings can now be converted into mp3 format.
Thanks to daria ( a french blogger-le blogue!) and his link to this simple and yet so important piece of code:
To compile put the lame file you downloaded in your user folder
Right click it and select extract all followed by ok
Go into the lame folder you just made
Click tools then open console window
Type sudo apt-get install build-essential
then type su
after you enter your password type ./configure
then type make
then type make install
That should be it Audacity should find the file automatically.
So simple but it works, and once in audacity preferences it will happily find the 'lame encoder' Now Eeepc900 is a fully functioning podcasting machine...................the podfather has to try it out......soon.
Thanks to daria ( a french blogger-le blogue!) and his link to this simple and yet so important piece of code:
To compile put the lame file you downloaded in your user folder
Right click it and select extract all followed by ok
Go into the lame folder you just made
Click tools then open console window
Type sudo apt-get install build-essential
then type su
after you enter your password type ./configure
then type make
then type make install
That should be it Audacity should find the file automatically.
So simple but it works, and once in audacity preferences it will happily find the 'lame encoder' Now Eeepc900 is a fully functioning podcasting machine...................the podfather has to try it out......soon.
Implementing a powerful Learning Community
Dean Groom from Parramatta Marist High School in Australia makes some very salient points in his recent post on kicking off a learning community. Firstly that we have to forget the tools and the buzz words with the kids...... don't introduce blogging, just start a reflective writing project where people will feel free to write, and others will feel free to comment. I very much agree with Dean in getting away from our over use of the names of the latest whizzy tool, I believe that this puts off the less intrepid teacher who would have a go if we were less tool led (I will get down off my soapbox now!)
Secondly, Dean as many of us believe that you have to grow this collaboration it cannot be imposed in a false way, it has to be organic using the medium that your pupils find most relevant to their voice, also don't be afraid to scaffold the learning along the way, and also to use issues which arise as 'learning opportunities' not as so often happens, as a means of curtailing discussion and as a result the whole learning experience for the pupils. I found as well that if this process is given time to grow it will take firmer root in our pupils psyche and will just become the NORM and you will have a growing community whole will act as advocates for this method of learning. All of which brings me back to Dean's excellent presentation below. Thank you for sharing this piece Dean. Learn more about Dean's work on Project Based Learning (PBL) here (courtesy of Sheryl Nussbaum-Beach)
Secondly, Dean as many of us believe that you have to grow this collaboration it cannot be imposed in a false way, it has to be organic using the medium that your pupils find most relevant to their voice, also don't be afraid to scaffold the learning along the way, and also to use issues which arise as 'learning opportunities' not as so often happens, as a means of curtailing discussion and as a result the whole learning experience for the pupils. I found as well that if this process is given time to grow it will take firmer root in our pupils psyche and will just become the NORM and you will have a growing community whole will act as advocates for this method of learning. All of which brings me back to Dean's excellent presentation below. Thank you for sharing this piece Dean. Learn more about Dean's work on Project Based Learning (PBL) here (courtesy of Sheryl Nussbaum-Beach)
Thursday, July 10, 2008
A Birthday Present
Having recently returned from NECC08, I was presented with a rather nice birthday present today from the OPLS team here at the IB - a T Shirt and mouse mat with the logo above :-)Thanks guys, I really appreciate it ;-)
I am sure that a photo of me wearing the said garment will appear here soon....... even though as you may have noticed I hate having my photo taken.
Tuesday, July 08, 2008
Mr Freedman goes to print
Mr Terry Freedman has been very busy over the past months, working as usual with willing collaborators from around the world to produce his new publication Web 2.0 Projects which follows his 2006 project Coming of Age V1 (now available in pdf format here)
Terry would welcome our feedback on the project, so if you have any points to raise follow the links on this page to leave your thoughts. All I can say is thank you Mr Freedman for continuing to promote and encourage the use of new technologies in classrooms both here in the UK and around the world..... dear reader you re encouraged to download the publications and use them with staff in your schools........ please.
Twine (beta invite)
Twine looks like one of those killer apps even before it comes out of beta testing. The idea of being able to use Twine as a semantic web interface to grow your network and all of you related feeds automatically is surely long overdue. More of these Web 3.0 semantic applications will appear as RDF technology begins to be embedded into them, it will undoubtedly help in the growth of online communities...... excellent I am waiting for my invite to join in :-) Take a look at what Twine should be able to do here.
Further Eeepc developments
As I become more adventurous with my Linux coding I discover how capable the Asus Eeepc900 is. If you look very carefully at the screenshot above you may just notice in the top left hand corner of the screen, an old friend ....... Audacity ( my favourite podcast recording software) ** message to Joe Dale following a conversation on Sunday - Yes Audacity on the Eeepc900 **
Here is a screenshot of Audacity running on the KDE operating system on the Eeepc, recording with a headset and mic is preferable to using the built in mic (I guess you might in an emergency, however it is not very good quality!). The coding was not at all difficult after a few false starts (code I used here), I reckon 10 minutes tops to get the coding done and Audacity up and running.All I have failed to do now is find out how to open the lame.dll file to fully enable MP3 conversion- so if anyone else out there has a fail safe way of enabling the lame.dll file I will owe them a drink!
Wednesday, July 02, 2008
World of Warcraft in the classroom!!
As part of my researches into the use of gaming in the classroom, I found myself in a large darkened room at NECC being taken into the wonderful World of Warcraft by Leslie Fisher. Some may know of my own ventures into the use of the Myst game in the Primary classroom, so it is a field which is of interest to me, as I guess it is for others.
Once you enter the World you create your avatar and what type of character you are with your characteristics ( mostly though not exclusively violent!).
Once settled in you can choose to accept a 'Quest' - questing gives them experience. In the World it takes you an enormous amount of time to reach the higher levels ( now 80 levels in all, and growing all of the time!) however you do have to break the questing down into small steps.
You need to go to the getting started guide you need to research the game this is a higher level skill that pupils have to achieve, so the higher level kids will soak up this like a sponge. The game will also improve pupils spelling skills and has an etiquette all of it's own, strangely not tolerating poor behaviour or bad spelling, while accepting random violence!.
There are many online sites around the world helping newbies to come to grips with their 'new world' although you will have to use your critical skills to source the best information. There are forum groups eg thottbot.com for information forums on questing and all things 'Warcraft'.
Social interaction- it doesn't matter who the individuals online as none knows who you are - very like 2life. Also there is complete equality online disability does not exist in an online environment
Bad language and being impolite are not tolerated nor is poor spelling.
You can buy or sell to people along the way thus earning money. You get rewarded for progressing in the game. You can also make things as you go along.
This game is totally immersive and will allow kids to develop their spatial awareness skills.
there are professions for characters from level1 it takes 15,000hours to reach level 70. Once you purchase the game you have to pay a regular monthly fee *see below from Wikepedia
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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* These rather garbled notes were taken during Lesley's presentation, in the darkened room, my feelings on the WoW, it's a great looking environment and gives great feedback to the player/players who are online........ its use in an educational setting is less clear cut - we heard tales of youngsters globally who are playing the game (at home) I am not sure that school authorities would see past the violent reputation of these games, it does have some educational value however it is unlikely that you will see it in a classroom near you anytime soon!
Tuesday, July 01, 2008
Conference or Unconference?
Apparently the queue for the main exhibit hall resembled the opening of the January Sales on Oxford Street, I can't comment as not only wasn't I there, but I wouldn't have wanted to be either!
The stroll along the Riverwalk to the Convention Centre was as relaxing as usual, in the pleasant summer heat. I guess that San Antonio differs greatly from other American cities, in that above ground is an American city, which seems a little quiet compared to others, while below and flowing under those city streets The Riverwalk is where the city comes alive - all of the bird song that you here is down there, while the bustling arteries that are the Riverwalk are rich in the sights, smells and sounds of this city so close to Mexico.
Contrast this to the vast air conditioned Convention Centre, large, impersonal and COLD! I was in discussion this afternoon with a group of teachers who were a mix of newbies like me and some 'old hands' about the ethics behind the conference, what is the target audience for these 'Mega' conferences? The conclusion was......... not us. But and it is an important but, to pull in a wide range of national and international visitors an event like this has to have a critical scale and reputation.
ISTE to be fair do their best to recognise the educational benefits of risk taking and has scheduled presentations and panel discussions linked to using new technologies in new and creative ways.
The Blogger's Cafe is also a recognition of the worth of the community, for me though here is the dilemma, how it is solved I would be interested to discuss. How do you create an area where meaningful discussions and collaboration between teachers can take place, while at the same time not hiding this place from those who may be curious and would be likely to 'stop by' to see what is going on. The positioning/design of the space is not quite there in my opinion. It has been placed on a main walkway for those going to presentations which is great, it means that it is not hidden away as a place where only those 'inside the fish tank' will go, however the space lacks the intimacy and feel of a space where people can find a quiet corner to have a chat or ask that question that has been bugging them about how to move forward with their ideas.
From this newbies point of view ISTE positioning is good, organisation/design of the space could do better. I must add though the positioning of power sockets enabling great power hook-up is a definite plus.
Perhaps today I might just dip my toe into the 'Great Hall of Commercialism' we'll see....... I might just take the easy way out and seek the company of those with whom I have more affinity!
The stroll along the Riverwalk to the Convention Centre was as relaxing as usual, in the pleasant summer heat. I guess that San Antonio differs greatly from other American cities, in that above ground is an American city, which seems a little quiet compared to others, while below and flowing under those city streets The Riverwalk is where the city comes alive - all of the bird song that you here is down there, while the bustling arteries that are the Riverwalk are rich in the sights, smells and sounds of this city so close to Mexico.
Contrast this to the vast air conditioned Convention Centre, large, impersonal and COLD! I was in discussion this afternoon with a group of teachers who were a mix of newbies like me and some 'old hands' about the ethics behind the conference, what is the target audience for these 'Mega' conferences? The conclusion was......... not us. But and it is an important but, to pull in a wide range of national and international visitors an event like this has to have a critical scale and reputation.
( For me San Antonio City = Conference Centre, The Riverwalk = Unconference! It is difficult to be objective though from inside the tank!)
(cc image from Hapal )
It is really difficult, as the edublogger community's main focus is to bring in others, to show them what is possible if they are willing to take a risk. All of the members of the community have by the very nature of their belonging, taken risk as far as trying to show their pupils a new, exciting and more relevant method of learning. Risk taking is not in the nature of the teaching community as a whole, so how to encourage them to give it a go?(cc image from Hapal )ISTE to be fair do their best to recognise the educational benefits of risk taking and has scheduled presentations and panel discussions linked to using new technologies in new and creative ways.
The Blogger's Cafe is also a recognition of the worth of the community, for me though here is the dilemma, how it is solved I would be interested to discuss. How do you create an area where meaningful discussions and collaboration between teachers can take place, while at the same time not hiding this place from those who may be curious and would be likely to 'stop by' to see what is going on. The positioning/design of the space is not quite there in my opinion. It has been placed on a main walkway for those going to presentations which is great, it means that it is not hidden away as a place where only those 'inside the fish tank' will go, however the space lacks the intimacy and feel of a space where people can find a quiet corner to have a chat or ask that question that has been bugging them about how to move forward with their ideas.
From this newbies point of view ISTE positioning is good, organisation/design of the space could do better. I must add though the positioning of power sockets enabling great power hook-up is a definite plus.
Perhaps today I might just dip my toe into the 'Great Hall of Commercialism' we'll see....... I might just take the easy way out and seek the company of those with whom I have more affinity!
Monday, June 30, 2008
Friday, June 27, 2008
Ddraig-Goch's TravelBlog
As mini Dylan 'The Dragon' and I will be travelling a bit this year we have set up a travel blog(Ddraig Goch's Travel Photoblog) which will be used as a photoblog site over the coming months. This will free up the main blog for regular blog posts - do keep up with our travels :-)
Saturday, June 21, 2008
Cool Browser Firefox 3.0
It has finally been released following its beta testing - cool Mozilla Firefox 3.0 is here.... sorry there are visuals from me yet -I need to work out how to upgrade the Asus 900 to 3.0!!! But believe me when I say that Firefox 3.0 will not disappoint. Among the host of apps which integrate is PicLens v1.7 from CoolIris ( thanks to Dave Clancy from IB Cardiff for showing us this)
It really is the coolest way to search and view video and images on line -this is how the web should be web 3.0 is getting closer. Other features of Firefox 3.0 can be found here. As ever open source development shows the big companies the way......well done Mozilla I for one hope you make it into the Guinness Book of World Records for the total number of downloads in the first 24 hours of release.
The OLPC guys celebrate Firefox 3.0's release.Isle of Wight Conference 2008
My mate Joe Dale from Nodehill Middle School, Newport Isle of Wight has finally released the details of his Isle of Wight Conerence for 2008.
Surely this conference with its focus firmly on first class practitioners talking about what they have done in their own classrooms cannot be bettered,as these are teachers on the cutting edge of the creative use of technology with pupils. I certainly intend to be taking a trip across the Solent to the beautiful Isle in October....... you should to!
The Isle of Wight Conference 2008 takes place this year on 25th-26th October at Nodehill Middle School in Newport and will cost £100 to attend. As in previous years, the event will feature a host of practical sessions delivered by inspirational speakers from around the UK on topics such as:
* Mobile Phones
* Wikis
* Primary Languages
* Ning networking
* Songs
* Virtual Learning Environments
* Digital Storytelling
* Games based learning
* Gender differences
* Videoconferencing
* eTwinning
* Digital Voice Recorders
* One Stop Animation
* PowerPoint
* Interactive Whiteboards and Voting Systems
* Blogging and Podcasting
* Assessment for Learning
* New KS3 curriculum
* Web 2.0 tools
* vodcasting
* eCreativity
Speakers include:
* Sharon Tonner - ICT specialist, High School of Dundee
* Jo Rhys-Jones - AST in MFL, Kingswear Primary School
* Lisa Stevens - Spanish Teacher and eTwinning ambassador, Whitehouse Common Primary School,
* Carole Nicoll - Language Factory
* Drew Buddie - ICT coordinator, Royal Masonic School for Girls and eTwinning ambassador
* Nick Mair - HoD in MFL, Dulwich College
* John Warwick - Deputy Head, St Luke's School and eTwinning ambassador
* Kathleen Holton - HoD in MFL, Argoed High School
* Mark Pentleton - Radio Lingua Network
* Lesley Welsh – AST in MFL, English Martyrs School and Sixth Form College and SSAT languages lead practitioner coordinator
* Chris Fuller - Spanish teacher, Edgehill College and SSAT languages lead practitioner
* Sharon Balch - French teacher, Swanmore Middle School
* Doug Dickinson - Independent ICT consultant
* Kathy Wicksteed - Languages advisor for new KS3 curriculum
* Adam Sutcliffe - MFL teacher, The Gordon Schools and Glow Champion
* Lesley Haggar-Vaughan, Shireland CLC manager
* Julie Adoch, HoD in MFL, Heathfield Foundation Technology College and her students
There will also be promotional sessions run by our sponsors Podium, Televic, Sanako, ConnectED and Babelzone and other publishers such as Heinemann, Oxford University Press and Espresso will have stands in the exhibition.
A free MFL Show and Tell session will take place in The Function Room of The Bargeman's Rest on Saturday 25th October and like last year, delegates will be able to sign up on the conference wiki if they would like to speak or just watch.
In the next month or so, I will publish a delegate pack including details of how to book, session titles, biographies, travel arrangements, where to stay etc on my blog which will give you plenty of time to persuade your school to let you come to this exciting opportunity for continuing professional development!
Here are some pictures and quotes from 2007 to whet your appetite:
# Taken sooo much away from today. Thanks a million! Lisette Begue – Sneyd Community School)
# Excellent. Well done to everyone who took part and looking forward to next year (John Bald – Education Guardian)
# Thank you for running this inspirational event (Annalise Adam – Gregg School)
# Excellent. Well done and a big thank you to the speakers. Really inspiring (Virginie Rayner – Wheatley Park School)
# You surpassed last year. Fantastic! (Volker Green – The City Academy)
# A great conference that has given me some great practical ideas to use in my teaching. Thank you. (Tamsin Cobden – Solent Middle School)
So see you in October and spread the word.
Surely this conference with its focus firmly on first class practitioners talking about what they have done in their own classrooms cannot be bettered,as these are teachers on the cutting edge of the creative use of technology with pupils. I certainly intend to be taking a trip across the Solent to the beautiful Isle in October....... you should to!
The Isle of Wight Conference 2008 takes place this year on 25th-26th October at Nodehill Middle School in Newport and will cost £100 to attend. As in previous years, the event will feature a host of practical sessions delivered by inspirational speakers from around the UK on topics such as:* Mobile Phones
* Wikis
* Primary Languages
* Ning networking
* Songs
* Virtual Learning Environments
* Digital Storytelling
* Games based learning
* Gender differences
* Videoconferencing
* eTwinning
* Digital Voice Recorders
* One Stop Animation
* PowerPoint
* Interactive Whiteboards and Voting Systems
* Blogging and Podcasting
* Assessment for Learning
* New KS3 curriculum
* Web 2.0 tools
* vodcasting
* eCreativity
Speakers include:
* Sharon Tonner - ICT specialist, High School of Dundee
* Jo Rhys-Jones - AST in MFL, Kingswear Primary School
* Lisa Stevens - Spanish Teacher and eTwinning ambassador, Whitehouse Common Primary School,
* Carole Nicoll - Language Factory
* Drew Buddie - ICT coordinator, Royal Masonic School for Girls and eTwinning ambassador
* Nick Mair - HoD in MFL, Dulwich College
* John Warwick - Deputy Head, St Luke's School and eTwinning ambassador
* Kathleen Holton - HoD in MFL, Argoed High School
* Mark Pentleton - Radio Lingua Network
* Lesley Welsh – AST in MFL, English Martyrs School and Sixth Form College and SSAT languages lead practitioner coordinator
* Chris Fuller - Spanish teacher, Edgehill College and SSAT languages lead practitioner
* Sharon Balch - French teacher, Swanmore Middle School
* Doug Dickinson - Independent ICT consultant
* Kathy Wicksteed - Languages advisor for new KS3 curriculum
* Adam Sutcliffe - MFL teacher, The Gordon Schools and Glow Champion
* Lesley Haggar-Vaughan, Shireland CLC manager
* Julie Adoch, HoD in MFL, Heathfield Foundation Technology College and her students
There will also be promotional sessions run by our sponsors Podium, Televic, Sanako, ConnectED and Babelzone and other publishers such as Heinemann, Oxford University Press and Espresso will have stands in the exhibition.
A free MFL Show and Tell session will take place in The Function Room of The Bargeman's Rest on Saturday 25th October and like last year, delegates will be able to sign up on the conference wiki if they would like to speak or just watch.
In the next month or so, I will publish a delegate pack including details of how to book, session titles, biographies, travel arrangements, where to stay etc on my blog which will give you plenty of time to persuade your school to let you come to this exciting opportunity for continuing professional development!
Here are some pictures and quotes from 2007 to whet your appetite:
# Taken sooo much away from today. Thanks a million! Lisette Begue – Sneyd Community School)
# Excellent. Well done to everyone who took part and looking forward to next year (John Bald – Education Guardian)
# Thank you for running this inspirational event (Annalise Adam – Gregg School)
# Excellent. Well done and a big thank you to the speakers. Really inspiring (Virginie Rayner – Wheatley Park School)
# You surpassed last year. Fantastic! (Volker Green – The City Academy)
# A great conference that has given me some great practical ideas to use in my teaching. Thank you. (Tamsin Cobden – Solent Middle School)
So see you in October and spread the word.
Thursday, June 12, 2008
Running a KDE OS on the Eeepc
For those who think that the only option on an Eeepc is to run the basic Linux screen with its tabbed headings, think again. Above is a screenshot of the KDE OS running quite happily on notebook and making it very Windows friendly to those who feel the need for comfortable friendly and familiar surroundings.Is it complicated to do....... no this Linux programming novice managed it courtesy of Linux Format Magazine which in its current issues is running a series on how to tweak your Linux based machine to run in a more user friendly way. It took around 15 minutes in the command line to effect the change on the 900 and around the same on the 701 ( the 900 looks better running the KDE OS),however the 701 owner in my house said she preferred the tabbed simple screen.
The beauty of this change is that you can easily switch between the 2 modes , from the launch bar of the KDE ( where the tabbed Linux screen is called Easy Mode)..... it is this easy :
Ctrl+Alt+T (opens terminal window)
wget http://download.tuxfamily.org/eeepcrepos/key.asc (enter)
sudo apt-key add key.asc (enter)
rm key.asc (enter)
sudo kwrite /etc/apt/sources.list (enter)
at the end of the list you add a line
deb http://download.tuxfamily.org/eeepcrepos p701 main ( close and save)
sudo apt-get update (enter)
sudoapt-get install advanced-desktop-eeepc (enter)
at prompt say Y
It should now be done - you can close the window. Now when you press the shutdown button you have an extra option on the left Full Desktop press and the system should swap over to the new full KDE OS. It is truly a revolution and will feel as if the notebook has been liberated from its blinkered former life. There is a slight delay in opening programmes but this is still nothing compared with the lumbering monolith that is the Windows OS.
Also recommended is Abi-Word as a replacement for the OpenOffice w/p although I haven't successfully managed this change yet.
I intend over the coming week to look seriously at the competition for fear of becoming an Asus bore! There also seems to be an issue in some of the current IT magazines as to who/what is the market for these machines..... my answer to them is the market is defining itself, be it us who simply love the idea of having a mobile and compact device for use on the move, to the kids who see advantages in these compared with lugging large laptops around. This 900 stays mostly in my bag during the day but can appear if necessary without causing the stir and awkwardness of a full sized laptop.
Friday, June 06, 2008
NECC 2008
Unfortunately a colleague of mine here at the IB is unable to attend NECC 2008 as he had originally planned, this meant that the place was offered to me!! My decision was easy, the chance to go to possibly the biggest and best edublogger, web2.0 educators conference in the world, or attend my Hockey Club annual dinner in Abergavenny............ no contest! I am really looking forward to meeting up with everyone in San Antonio on the weekend of the 29th June to 2nd July. I know that this year there is a large contingent of Oz/NZ teachers ( unfortunately AK - we are doomed to only meet in cyberspace I think!) including Jo McLeay and Sue Tapp ( the drinks are on sujokat!). I will miss the Edubloggercon on the 28th as I won't arrive until around 11pm on 28th, but from then on I am really looking forward to some great PD and listening to some inspiring speakers.2008) at the end of the month along with some tech bits and pieces I will be packing my Mini Dylan Dragon ( to be renamed Ddraig Goch - Red Dragon for NECCfor the trip to Texas.... really very excited now ;-)
SmallWorlds Beta goes live
Well it's finally here- SmallWorlds in beta form has been released. Smallworlds operates in your browser without any need for a hefty download ( as with some other virtual worlds I could name!)
Welcome to my as yet unfurnished abode ( I did buy a candle, but sadly don't have a table yet to put it on!). There is a teleoport function which allows you to jump to other spaces - I did visit Barak Obama's space and leave him a message of congratulations. Moving seems easier than SL - no flying here :-).Communication seems to be by text bubble which is cool as at least you can see who is actually talking. The space seems to resolve fairly quickly even here on the Eeeepc, I certainly couldn't do this with SL.
I would encourage fellow educators to give it a go - let's see that if this is a space that can be used for education and educators from around the world!!!
Welcome to my as yet unfurnished abode ( I did buy a candle, but sadly don't have a table yet to put it on!). There is a teleoport function which allows you to jump to other spaces - I did visit Barak Obama's space and leave him a message of congratulations. Moving seems easier than SL - no flying here :-).Communication seems to be by text bubble which is cool as at least you can see who is actually talking. The space seems to resolve fairly quickly even here on the Eeeepc, I certainly couldn't do this with SL.
I would encourage fellow educators to give it a go - let's see that if this is a space that can be used for education and educators from around the world!!!
This is a sad indictment of society today!!!
Taken from an AOL news link from CBSnews in the US
"HARTFORD, Conn. (June 5) - A 78-year-old man is tossed like a rag doll by a hit-and-run driver and lies motionless on a busy city street as car after car goes by. Pedestrians gawk but do nothing. One driver stops briefly but then pulls back into traffic. A man on a scooter slowly circles the victim before zipping away."
"HARTFORD, Conn. (June 5) - A 78-year-old man is tossed like a rag doll by a hit-and-run driver and lies motionless on a busy city street as car after car goes by. Pedestrians gawk but do nothing. One driver stops briefly but then pulls back into traffic. A man on a scooter slowly circles the victim before zipping away."
Monday, June 02, 2008
Happy Birthday MediaSnackers
I would like to wish DK and all at MediaSnackers a very happy 2nd Birthday. If you haven't caught any of MS's work with young people using new media- now's your chance follow the link to MediaSnackers
Saturday, May 24, 2008
Hey SecondLife watch out SmallWorlds is coming - 2nd June 2008
A group of techies from Auckland New Zealand may have come up with the virtual world that the web has been calling for - doing away with all of those downloads that are needed by 'other' virtual spaces and offering a world which you build within your browser - with a distinct url which you can share with your friends .The world which you can customise ( design your own avatar) and build will have the ability to play videos from Youtube and other sites which you will be able to invite friends in to view (possibility of online presentations ). There will be a chat facility, and the possibility of taking part in competitions/online games with other users.
SmallWorlds has been on beta test,but is scheduled to go 'live' on Monday 2nd June. Above is the latest entry from their blog. The SmallWorld gang have given their brainchild a good 12months of testing which hopefully will mean that what we get on launch should be a very slick product. As someone who tried several times to come to grips with SecondLife and largely failed, I am certainly looking forward to the launch of SmallWorlds ( the fact that it comes from New Zealand is an added bonus).Just for now you will have to take the SmallWorlds tour to whet your appetite!
Thanks to Lee Davis (sivadeel) for the heads up on SmallWorlds.
A Moblog from Cafe Nero (updated with thoughts on HP Mini-note)
This is the first Mobile blog post made from a coffee shop in Abergavenny (ooh advertising!) while enjoying a latte.Yes I am the geek in the corner with the laptop, on not free wi-fi. Then of course just as MrsH arrives fresh from having her hair done....... I ran out of wirelsss credit!!!!!
Above Deb and Sian ( who who is off the Camp Lake Hubert in Minnesota for the summer with Camp America)...The result that this moblog post was posted from home (on the patio so technically still mobile?) some 4 hours later after some much needed grass cutting.
**Bargain of the day for UK readers the Asus 701 (4GB) in Curry's Digital (Dixons!) £219 -My guess is that anyone looking to buy a setof 10 or more of the little beasts could probably drive a good bargain as they need to get rid of the 'old stock'!
*Reference my previous posts on the mini notebooks,following a comment from Kellett School in Hong Kong regarding their decision making on purchasing sets of notebooks, I must look at the HP Mini note
This video and blog post originally posted on the LaptopMag site
.......along with the other competitors from Dell and MSI
Thursday, May 22, 2008
OLPC and Eeepc900 (update- updated with OLPC 2.0
(photograph taken by my colleague Tim Millwood on his iPhone and TwitPic'ed to Twitter)We got the chance at the IB today to put the new Eeepc900 ( this example actually arrived the day before and is my new toy) against the OLPC ( purchased in November by the IB in North America under their get on give on scheme *), and my don't they look a handsome pair? Definitely aimed at different audiences, but together showing the way things have to go in order to get anywhere near one laptop per child in education. Both full of open source software and running Linux operating systems allowing them to be sold at a low price. Size is also important!! I mean of course, that their notebook size enables them to be carried around much more easily than a standard laptop, the functionality and connectivity ( both wireless devices) of both allied to their laptop-ness takes them beyond the pda method of personal computing ( I look forward to looking into this further at the Handheld Learning Conference at the Barbican -Oct13th-15th).
But back to the micro laptops:
The OLPC certainly scores well on its durable/rugged build allowing it to be proof against rain and being dropped (both use solid state flash drives) - it also scores well on its battery life ( the screen can be viewed without back light allowing even further battery saving) and can even be hand charged if necessary. On software it is certainly well targeted towards the 7-11 age range, I was particularly impressed by the Squeak E-Toys programming software and the range of music software.
above- Squeak Etoys screenA winner also for the OLPC is its sharing ability. It is able to seek out and show visually on screen where other OLPC's are that are in range, these machines can then talk to each other and pupils and teachers can share files and work collaboratively on projects.
* The give one get one initiative in the US meant that everyone who bought one knew that an OLPC was being donated to a child who had previously never had a laptop/computer in a developing country.
How does the Eeepc900 shape up against the OLPC, it shares the Linux operating system - though you can get an Eeepc and OLPC with Windows if you really want to - which takes up more memory and I guess will operate more slowly, a bit of a no brainer! I have seen it working with Ubuntu as the operating system. It also uses entirely Open Source software( see my previous post on the 900) This device is aimed at slightly older kids than the OLPC- it is for the generation who store thier work on GoogleDocs and need The Periodic Table, Planetarium and the maths and science software - my guess is from 12-99 ( certainly includes this 50 year old!!!). Screen size compares well with the OLPC, screen resolution seems a bit sharper on the Asus ( although it cannot operate with the back lighting off), battery life is an issue and I plan to run it from 100% out to see how it matches up to Asus's claimed 3.5 hours. ( the Asus was tested by listening to the latest EdTechRoundup podcast (episode 5) on VLE's in education and streaming Internet radio(BBC radio 4 of course!) both using a wireless connection and trying to prevent the screen going into sleep mode, the result starting at 9am was that the Asus finally auto shutdown with a dead battery at 11.53am - giving me 2hours and 53 mins battery life from a full overnight charge)The Asus is aimed more at being that device you will carry in your bag in order to keep up with emails and post blogs and photographs onto the Internet from an increasing amount of free wi-fi spots. In other words the Eeepc is much more of a personal notebook than an education tool.
Both are very impressive, and I must admit that even though the price point of the Eeepc takes it very close to low end laptops - the sheer ease of carrying it around more than makes up for its limitations.
There are more of these notebooks coming to the market (Elonex One - oooh ugly!!!) this niche will as if it hasn't already become a very competitive area of the market place and the OLPC and Asus Eeepc family certainly have a great head start on the competition.
I guess it's all in the timing, just as we report on the OLPC and ASUS, out come OLPC with their version2, which certainly looks very slick in these pictures from the Techcrunch report ( A striking E book and a step in the right direction). It certainly looks the part with 2 touch sensitive screens one of which can operate as a keyboard for normal use or as a additional screen for paired work. The new device seems aimed at being a genuine E book, view here the video of the release of the OLPC2.0
Tuesday, May 20, 2008
A Guest Post by Heather Johnson
Top 10 Online Collaboration Tools for Distance Education
Distance education offers many benefits to students, though there are some unique challenges that accompany online learning. Thanks to the advent of Web 2.0, there are new educational tools being designed all the time. Collaboration programs are perhaps the most useful to both students and educators, as they help to open channels in a more traditional way. Below are 10 collaboration tools that have proven to be effective for improving distance education.
- Whiteboard– Whiteboard is a free online tool that allows users to share Web-based documents. You can compare changes and easily revert back to a previous incarnation of the documents, as well. This is a great way for teachers and students to work together on projects.
- Vyew – This free service provides live conferencing and collaboration, which makes the site invaluable to both students and business professionals. With Vyew, teachers and students can meet online for presentations, Webinars and more.
- Basecamp – Designed by the same company that made Whiteboard, this collaboration tool is actually a high-volume project manager. This program can allow teachers to assign work to students and will serve as a central hub for everyone to upload their finished work.
- FirstClass - This collaboration suite is popular with both K-12 and higher education teachers. Here, teachers can assign work and host class materials in one online place. Likewise, students can upload their work and start their own Web pages.
- Gliffy – Gliffy is a collaboration program that is designed for sharing flow charts, diagrams, technical drawings and more. It is perfect for distance courses related to business, architecture and any other subjects that use such materials.
- SLATE – SLATE, or Strategic Learning and Teaching Environment, is used by both distance educators and traditional teachers who wish to integrate the Internet with classroom instruction. It allows teachers to build Web pages for students to visit and retrieve assignments and worksheets.
- Mindomo – Known as "mind mapping" software, Mindomo allows teachers and students to share their brainstorming. The program aims to increase productivity and aid project management.
- Notecentric – Take notes and organize them online for sharing with Notecentric. This can be helpful for fellow classmates when collaborating on projects. Also, it is now available as a Facebook application.
- NoteMesh – Another note-sharing program, this service allows college students to share their lecture notes with each other in a wiki style. NoteMesh refers to itself as the Wikipedia for classroom notes.
- WebOffice – Similar to FirstClass, this virtual environment hosts live meetings for collaboration between teachers and students in real time.
By-line:
This post was contributed by Heather Johnson, who is an industry critic on the subject of university reviews. She invites your feedback at heatherjohnson2323@gmail.com.
Tuesday, May 13, 2008
Have you ever been frustrated by a Google search?
It's the occasion that you need to find out a vital point and you do what everyone does these days, and Google it........ and back some 15,000,450 answers which work on a percentage basis on the words you have used in your search!!! what we need is a natural search engine which looks at the way language is used in a question, and more over actually seems to understand the question...
Could the answer be at hand.... well perhaps according to Mike Butcher (12th May)over at TechCrunch with his article from 13th May where he discusses the merits of Powerset
See this Vimeo video of Powerset in action "Powerset’s first product is a search and discovery experience for Wikipedia, launched in May 2008. Powerset’s technology improves the entire search process. In the search box, you can express yourself in keywords, phrases, or simple questions. On the search results page, Powerset gives more accurate results, often answering questions directly, and aggregates information from across multiple articles. Finally, Powerset’s technology follows you into enhanced Wikipedia articles, giving you a better way to quickly digest and navigate content."
In the TechCrunch article Mike goes on to talk about a British company also in the field True Knowledge based in Cambridge, I must admit if their product, currently in Beta testing ( apply
by email to TrueKnowledge from the website) if it lives up to their video it will outshine Powerset
- I tried some of the search questions from TrueKnowledge out on Powerset and it wasn't terribly impressive or intuitive... as it is at present using the wikepedia database does not seem to allow it to be as intuitive as it needs to be.
I am sure that as this semantic web development gathers pace more of these application will appear, and I am sure that the big guns - Google and Yahoo are looking at which they need to be considering for their own future ...... they may be Googled themselves..... perhaps in the long term - The king is dead, long live The King!
Could the answer be at hand.... well perhaps according to Mike Butcher (12th May)over at TechCrunch with his article from 13th May where he discusses the merits of Powerset
See this Vimeo video of Powerset in action "Powerset’s first product is a search and discovery experience for Wikipedia, launched in May 2008. Powerset’s technology improves the entire search process. In the search box, you can express yourself in keywords, phrases, or simple questions. On the search results page, Powerset gives more accurate results, often answering questions directly, and aggregates information from across multiple articles. Finally, Powerset’s technology follows you into enhanced Wikipedia articles, giving you a better way to quickly digest and navigate content."In the TechCrunch article Mike goes on to talk about a British company also in the field True Knowledge based in Cambridge, I must admit if their product, currently in Beta testing ( apply
by email to TrueKnowledge from the website) if it lives up to their video it will outshine Powerset- I tried some of the search questions from TrueKnowledge out on Powerset and it wasn't terribly impressive or intuitive... as it is at present using the wikepedia database does not seem to allow it to be as intuitive as it needs to be.
I am sure that as this semantic web development gathers pace more of these application will appear, and I am sure that the big guns - Google and Yahoo are looking at which they need to be considering for their own future ...... they may be Googled themselves..... perhaps in the long term - The king is dead, long live The King!
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