Friday, June 30, 2006

BBC blast tour go on it will be great!!!!!

Those BBC `and Ultralab chaps have done it again

Blast is taking to the road this summer with a mobile creative studio
offering digital media and creative experiences to young people. It's
more than a truck - think dream workshop space crossed with media
production studio.


Basic detail at
http://www.bbc.co.uk/blast/opportunities/blast_on_tour/about.shtml

Timetable at

http://www.bbc.co.uk/blast/opportunities/blast_on_tour/diary_2006.shtml

Futuerlab do it again Social Software and learning report and potential of open source for education

Two right on reports on hot issues
Number one




Social software and learning

By Martin Owen, Lyndsay Grant, Steve Sayers and Keri Facer


This report explores the relationship between the emergence of social
software and the personalisation of education. It suggests that there
is a changing view of what education is for, with an emphasis on the
need for young people to develop the skills necessary for today's
evolving global knowledge economy. Alongside this development is the
rapid growth of social software, characterised as software that
supports group interaction, and by combining these two trends there is
significant potential to see a new approach to education.



The potential of open source approaches for education
By Seb Bacon and Teresa Dillon


Free, Libre, Open Source Software (FLOSS) refers to any software
distributed under a licence that allows users to change or share the
software source code. Futurelab’s interest in this area stems from the
belief that FLOSS provides an example of peer-production which is
driven by collaborative, social modes of interaction and knowledge
exchange. This paper discusses some of the potential ways in which the
approaches that characterise FLOSS might be applied in educational
contexts.

For both pieces of view online and PDF versions at http://www.futurelab.org.uk/research/opening_education.htm

great stuff another thing to read !!!







 




Technews survey

Well you know how good technews is if you picked it up please help the team at Becta and do there survey .

Survey can be found
Government & partners - Becta

If you havent seen technews get it from www.becta.org.uk/technews and subscribe to the regular postings .

Friday, June 23, 2006

Read Write Talk Web

Listening to Lee Bryant of Headshift www.headshift.com  and Terry Freedman talk at seminar on web 2 and blogger creating a system so one can phone in audio bloggs http://www.audioblogger.com the following thought hit me. The situation of 2.0 is not read write web but a read write talk listen web or maybe more  .

Please note service is to a US number

RSS to SMS

Hows about this for neat txttools www.txttools.co.uk who also produce excellent SMS messenger service Edutxt. Have produced a system that converts RSS feeds on websites,blogs and feeds into mobile phones using SMS various option are available. For example just subject header or actual content.

RSS to SMS

Hows about this for neat txttools www.txttools.co.uk who also produce excellent SMS messenger service Edutxt. Have produced a system that converts RSS feeds on wesite,blogs and feeds into mobile phones using SMS various option are available. For example just subject header or actual content.

Tuesday, June 20, 2006

Ukerna survey on SMS

Those who have been demostrating the use of SMS messaging are interested to see Ukerna canvassing opinion of the sector . So please fill in the survey on

SMS in Education at http://webdev.ukerna.ac.uk/smssurvey/html/main.php

 

TechNews June edition is now available

I know I mention this every time but if you havent subscribed to TechNews (the links in my side bar on the left). Quite simply brilliant it’s one of the ways I stay up to date with whats happening and is coming over the horizon. Link here http://lists.becta.org.uk/mailman/listinfo/technews

 

 

“It’s not the things you predict, it’s the things you miss”

 

 

 

Monday, June 19, 2006

In Business tanlged Web



Caught up to this after release thanks to good old podcasting !! This programme sets out the challenges of Web 2.0 .  It has loads of good stuff and this great quote from BBC Director General  Mark Thompson

"The BBC aims to be not  on the web put part of the web"

Really worth a look link to download page here
 

Friday, June 16, 2006

Google purchase a presentation application


From InformationWeek | Google | Gartner: Google Likely To
Buy Another Online Office App | June 14, 2006


Scary thing is that on both of my
presentations this week  I have said google presentations is coming!!!! http://www.informationweek.com/story/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=189401378&cid=RSSfeed_IWK_News

looks like I might be right !!


 

VLEs: Pedagogy and Implementation, the theory and practice of learning platforms and virtual learning environments

This realy excellent Online conference looks like being a real hit get your registration in early a real bargain and excellent range of speakers. Plus no travel and accomodation costs BARGAIN!!!

http://www.online-conference.net/vle2006/introduction.htm

Tuesday, June 13, 2006

Mobile web improvements must centre on users' needs

Interesting article in BCS e-bulletin suggests that future mobile services must focus on consulting users.
http://www.bcs.org/server.php?show=ConWebDoc.4828

Interesting quote from Nokia

With this in mind Nokia is releasing its own platform to the open
source community to help service providers develop sites for mobile
users.

Blog Safety advice for parents carers

The organisation Childnet has produced a great publication on Blog Safety

Keeping up with Child's Online social life!
http://www.childnet-int.org/blogsafety/

Link to publication at http://www.childnet-int.org/downloads/blog_leaflet.pdf

worth a read

Monday, June 12, 2006

Panorama software

Ever wanted to create a panorama using digital images .Merv Stapleton of City of Sunderland College made made aware of this. Looks really good. Follow link below
http://www.cs.ubc.ca/~mbrown/autostitch/autostitch.html

Autostitch is the product of two years of research by Matthew Brown and
David Lowe at the University of British Columbia. For details and
research papers please their panorama research page.

Friday, June 09, 2006

Exchange 2007 the challenge

exchange 2007 the challenge how we can change the system and still get the good bits we want The challenge from Stuart Robinson

Xchange 2006

The quality of debate has been really high. the programme supported by interactive technologys such as

  • Qwizdom interactive voting kits
  • crystal wireless feedback tool
Plus of course a blog from Alan November http://www.novemberlearning.com/

really interesting use of blogging to support the conference . great stuff

Xchange 2006

what an expereince 4 countries of the UK all in one place for three days in gorgeous Belfast

Xchange website
http://becta.org.uk/xchange2006/index.cfm

but more use the blog with loads and loads of presentations and personal relfections by participants.

http://xchangeblogs.com/communities/xchange2006/

Wednesday, June 07, 2006

Veotag add information to mediafiles

"Veotag is a new service, in beta, that lets you display clickable text, called "veotags" within an audio or video file.

"Veotagging" is designed to let you make tables of contents, chapter headings and menus; add tags, transcripts and comments to enhance the user's experience; and even to let you tag audio and video files you find on the web."

www.veotag.com

Gadgetgumption

A thoughtfrom xchange2006 from Mick Waters at QCA he says how we give learners gadget gumption to pick up and use technology. Do we have to teach them does our current teaching in some way put them off just picking up tools (gadgets).

Tuesday, June 06, 2006

3D modelling by google

Thanks to Geoff Stead at CTAD for this meaty morsel clever stuff. As somebody who spent years learning dark arts of AutoCad I feel vaguely depressed!! see link at :


http://sketchup.google.com/

Google Spreadsheet next building block in google Office ??

The March of Google continues with a spreadsheet offerring, We have :

  • Google Mail
  • Google Calendar
  • Google Spreadsheet
What next ??

See details on this new google product.

http://www.google.com/googlespreadsheets/tour1.html

Monday, June 05, 2006

Becta Review 2006 published

The annual state of the Union review of ICT by becta is now available.

The Becta Review is an annual publication that draws on a range of recent surveys and research studies to summarise trends in technology adoption and use, and to assess the progress and impact of technology in education. You can order or download the Becta Review 2006, which includes a section on personalised content and the use of digital resources in schools and the learning and skills sector, from Becta publications http://becta.org.uk/corporate/publications/index.cfm

BETT Awards 2007 now open for entries

Details of the categories for the BETT Awards 2007 and an online entry form are now available on the Becta website. The BETT  Awards - a partnership between Becta, BESA and EMAP - will focus this time on products that demonstrate innovation and  support the personalisation agenda. The twelve categories include two new ones: 'Creative and constructive tools' and  'Learning objects to support personalisation'. The closing date for entries is 19 July 2006, and you'll find full details on the BETT Awards [ http://www.bettawards.com ].

 

 

Personalised LearningPamphlet published by DfES

Want to know what the Department for Education and Skills (DfES) actually means by personalisation?

 

The DfES has published a pamphlet summarising current thinking about personalised learning with the intention of stimulating  debate. You can download the pamphlet, A national conversation about personalised learning, from the DfES Standards Site [  http://www.standards.dfes.gov.uk/innovation-unit/personalisation/anationalconversation

Saturday, June 03, 2006

OLD news Gmail mobile

thanks to Rob for pointing this out a neat interface for PDA/smartphone for gmail looks really good . The google juggernaut continues. It renders to whatever size of device you have. http://www.google.com/gmm/gmail

Friday, June 02, 2006

Orange start the great convergenge


Orange are offerring the concept of one handset to cover

  • Mobile
  • fixed line
  • VOIP

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/5032846.stm

Accessibility Colour Wheel

Italian site that has really interesting accessibility colour wheel that stimulates various conditions relating to vision really worth a look.

http://gmazzocato.altervista.org/index.php?lingua=en