Thursday, March 29, 2007

Technology Stewards a great idea from New Zealand

Helena from NZ who I was lucky enough to meet at Mlearn2006 in Banff . Has just come up with a great blog piece and phrase outlining the need for "good technology stewards’ to help bring relevant technology into areas like industry training" .
Helena has done some great work with simple tools in areas of vocational training like bakeries . I used her example of camera phones for recording evidence of bakery learners on Monday at the lets talk about txt event I keynoted at . link to event posting here

read here post its great http://mportfolios.blogspot.com/2007/03/keynote-presentation-at-industry.html

I have also added her to my blogroll a select bunch of influential blogs in the left hand panel of this blog.

Wednesday, March 28, 2007

mobile learning and skills for life researcher

Hi all
Just a little request if anybody has any links or names of people doing research in Mlearning and skills for life post a comment if you can help

A

Educause update 7things great great stuff



I first blogged these excellent publications in September 2005

http://andysblackhole.blogspot.com/2005/09/magnificent-series-of-7-things-you.html



Well they've updated them and there are loads more than seven topics goggle earth, digital story telling, facebook , youtube just great if your new or want to update your knowledge of web2.0

http://www.educause.edu/content.asp?page_id=7495&bhcp=1

Worldmapper: The world as you've never seen it before

Thanks to Lisa Valentine of RSC Northwest for this great site shows the world distorted or should I say scaled according to gdp food aid etc very cool thanks Lisa

Worldmapper: The world as you've never seen it before

VideoDownloader Firefox Extension

VideoDownloader Firefox Extension ! (29-4-06)


this amazingly allows you down load streamed video on youtube etc and play it locally through a flash player .

so if youtube googlevideo is banned at your institution you can download it at home a play it offline at work neat eh !!

Are you tired of copy&paste URLs to download a video? Now it's even easier !
VideoDownloader Firefox Extension add a small icon on the status bar at the bottom of your firefox window, and a toolbar button.

read about it first
http://javimoya.com/blog/youtube_en.php

Download firefoxplug in

https://addons.mozilla.org/firefox/2390/

Smart Mobs: Sign language for your cellphone

Thanks to Geoff Stead for bringing this to my attention no time to look at the moment but might be useful resource . Be really interested in any body from the deaf communities thoughts and evaluation of the product.

Smart Mobs: Sign language for your cellphone

BBC use term In search of the neo-nomad. Well I used term digital nomad back in September 2005

BBC NEWS | Technology | In search of the neo-nomad

well great article BBC but I would like to point out that I used the term term Digital Nomad at ALT-C 2005 at Exeter University in a discussion around digital natives and described new form of worker learning technologist. I actually used the Phrase yesterday to Steve Sidaway of TXTtools
can I claim IPR ???? ;-) nice article .
Are you a digital nomad !!

Tuesday, March 27, 2007

Talking about TXTing there raving about !!

First Txt messaging in education conference in Europe
ome of my regular readers will know I quite like SMS as a reliable simple technology. Well got to admit I better not use the word simple any more. I am currently at the lets talk about txt event at Leeds school of music. Put together by https://www.txttools.co.uk/ without a salesman in sight
seen some brilliant stuff by Mick Mullane of Yorkshire Coast college who is doing great stuff using a combination of RSS, moodle ,sms in a compelling mix see what the college are doing using moodle http://moodle.ycoastco.ac.uk/
great video in the session
http://podcast.ycoastco.ac.uk//blojsom_resources/meta/edutxt/rivet2.mp4

Ray Lawrence from how to moodle gave a great over view of moodle.

gave brisk talk through of what moodle is and also outlined a good description of open source. He made me aware of some great stats of registered moodle sites. total number registered sites world wide number 23244


Dr Kevin Lynch school of history at Leeds Uni gave a compelling reasoning how he is uses sms with other technologies to engage with learners. talked with great thought from a teaching and learning perspective and institutional view point.

Jim Busher of City college Brighton and Hove students service Management gave a really pragmatic up to date view of how they use sms to support students.





Judith Hennessey and Deborah Pinder of Norton College Sheffield
Gave a great of how they are deploying SMS to support activity in college.
A great example of doing simple things to benefit learners and for the college. classic general FE

  • varied group of learners
  • wide range of programmes
  • Learners unable to meet as a larger group to develop community
  • seen as one way of promoting virtual
Started with A/S foundation students who were both new to college and a pick and mix varied timetable.

Alan Southwell Salisbury colleges e-learning manager
gave a simple no nonsense approach of how they are using the technology . They are using moodle and are looking at installing the moodletxt in moodle they're chosen learning platform.
Interesting attendance monitoring . great virtual interview with the colleges students attendance officer


A added plus point was also meeting Leon Cynch who was covering the event with his video camera. Look forward to the result Leon.

initial reflections
  • Great workshop pragmatic and delightful mix HE & FE
  • The diversity of approaches
  • Honesty of what worked and what did not
  • SMS is being used in many ways I hadnt even thought of

Monday, March 26, 2007

Epic 2014 now 2015 is out compare the difference.

I first posted the original in December last year it outlined a possible future for the web in 2014 I posted the link and blogged some simple remarks .

http://andysblackhole.blogspot.com/2006/12/2020-vision-excellent-video.html


Now the year on version 20015 is out what is interesting is not the extra year but how previous years content/ context has changed . It does give weight to the what is important is technology you miss rather than predict model I hawk around. last version no mention or little of Ipods podcasting etc .

watch it your self.
http://epic.makingithappen.co.uk/new-master1.html

Enjoy which one is right or are they both way of the mark (only time will tell )??

John Haller's PortableApps Suite Launches




I have been using John Hallers portable firefox for a while but just discovered he has really gone to town and seems to have gone a similar route to U3. This seems to be the first iteration I have seen of a open source mobile office ( not Microsoft but term for business type package). will download it tomorrow and give it a go .
http://www.everythingusb.com/portableapps_suite.html

Saturday, March 24, 2007

M-learning or not M-learning?

At the AOC Nilta conference .Earlier this week I was lucky enough to see Geoff Elliot of Pembrokeshire College present on there beacon award winning m-learning project http://www.pembrokeshire.ac.uk/mlearning
A college that has won 7 AOC beacon awards in 6 years http://www.pembrokeshire.ac.uk/news/SevenBeaconAwards

Great presentation outlining the project the people they were trying to reach and the challenges. If you don't know Pembroke is an objectuive one area due its pockets of deprivation

I found out later in the week a nice article in FE focus on his work

http://www.m-learning.net/downloads/TES_Pembroke_march07.png

Interestingly next page was a editorial article that wasn't quite so positive

http://www.m-learning.net/downloads/TES_Editorial_march07.png


dont know what you think but to very different views I will leave you to make your own mind up.


Interesting Ewan MCintosh has a poll on his blog about mobile use in schools you might like to go the page and contribute http://edu.blogs.com/edublogs/2007/03/should_kids_use.html

Friday, March 23, 2007

Top Ten Blogging Tools from EPIC Newsletter

From Epic newsletter not sure I agree they sure are big fans of wordpress


  • Wordpress
  • User polls
  • Email
  • Clipmarks
  • Weblog clients
  • RSS Aggregator
  • Google Analytics
  • Technorati
  • De.licio.us
  • Spell-checker

Further detail here

Emerging technologies for learning publication

Colleagues at Becta haver done it again with another cracking publication on Emerging technologies for learning has

http://www.becta.org.uk/research/reports/emergingtechnologies


They also have have a discussion forum set up at

http://communities.becta.org.uk/technology/emergingtechnologies

The discussion forum aims to provide a space to:

Respond to and discuss the articles inEmerging technologies for learning

  • Suggest ideas and themes for any future editions of Emerging technologies for learning
  • Propose writers for any future editions of Emerging technologies for learning
  • Inform other readers of developments in technology and encourage debate around them
so go one download and join the discussion

Thursday, March 22, 2007

T-Mobile announces Ameo UMPC-like PDA

well it is coming to the UK thanks to Dave Whyley of Wolverhampton's learning to go for this snip it from Cebit.

http://www.reghardware.co.uk/2007/01/26/t-mobile_announces_ameo/


great specification

Ameo/Athena has a 5in touch-sensitive display, T-Mobile said. The device also has an 8GB hard drive, HSDPA 3G connectivity, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, a three megapixel camera, QWERTY keyboard, and and 624MHz XScale processor. Unlike true UMPCs, Ameo runs Windows Mobile rather than Windows XP.
but the hint at the end is best news of all
HTC is also said to be working on a version of Athena with a 7in screen. The device may be set to launch in Q2.
Ive said 7 inch screen is optimum for portability and every day practicalilty A5 format for us Europeans !!!

Wednesday, March 21, 2007

Digital Future of the U. S. -- The Future of the World Wide Web

Another view of Tims work from a stateside perspective.


The 'World Wide Web Inventor', Tim Berners-Lee appeared before Congress on March 1, 2007 to discuss with the federal legislators the digital future of the World Wide Web for the United States.

During a session of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, Sir Berners-Lee reviewed the first decade of the Internet, its use, and commented on how "...we have only scratched the surface of what can be realized with deeper scientific investigation into its design, operation and impact on society."; concluding with the continental relationships that are working with public, private, and academic areas to protect the systems that are in place and consider future systems.

The founder of the World Wide Web Consortuim - W3.org, Sir Berners-Lee hoped that his comments, ideas, etc. of the big World Wide Web system that he presented to Congress would be used to build the next "thing" about the web.

He discussed that the original vision included the universality of the web so that the consideration of culture, language, disability, etc. of the 'user' would not matter - a universality system where everything would be linked to everything else and for everyone.

BCS get Tim Berners Lee on the web with a little help from google video

Well a few days after the event Lecture is now on the BCS website well done . The film quality is excellent although I liked the handycam feel of the youtube version I blogged last week.

http://www.bcs.org/server.php?show=nav.8997

what's great it is actually hosted on google video so BCS does web 2.0 well done again see it large screen at

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=5333648384150664992&hl=en-GB


Tims Link to his presentation on the cern website is now live to great great !!!
http://www.w3.org/2007/Talks/0313-bcs-tbl


Resource to help inform new builds in HE and FE

If your interested in new builds in colleges or University or even cross fertilzation with Building Schools for the Future (BSF) Well done JISC Infonet a great resource to support news builds and refurbishment in the FE and HE sector

http://www.jiscinfonet.ac.uk/infokits/learning-space-design

Learning space design and development is becoming a hot topic as our colleges and universities seek to provide 21st century learning facilities, and technology has a vital role to play in this. Significant amounts of funding are being invested both by the funding bodies and by institutions investing hard-earned surpluses in their estates.

what's also great is they are using Flickr to host photos images of new build ideas and tagging them and using notes and hot spots well done !!!

http://www.flickr.com/photos/jiscinfonet

I also discovered a resource from Scottish funding council through Jisc Infonets website.

"The Scottish Funding Council has also published Spaces for Learning. These reports have provided a sound basis for the continuing exploration by FE and HE institutions of new possibilities for learning space provision."

Wednesday, March 14, 2007

Tim Berners Lee "magic is stuff we dont understand (yet)" with a web2.0 suprise !

What a evening the great presentation by Tim Berners Lee in his presentation the web looking forward and looking back . Lovelace lecture Winner


The father of the web he minded us where weve come from and he made it happen. Just little things he dropped in

First website Cern aug 6 th 1991

Number of people in world is exceeded by number of web pages !

6109 people 1010 web pages

the interesting stuff on the mobile web initiative

http://www.w3.org/Mobile/

plus of the course the future of the web semantic web etc

what is really amazing an enterprising blogger recorded it did a transcript and posted video on youtube VERY VERY COOL
see the transcript and links to youtube video at
http://www.mazine.ws/node/543

Sunday, March 11, 2007

web 2.00 stunning mindmap

This is worth a look.


stunning mindmap on web2.00 at www.yourdon.com

http://www.yourdon.com/downloads/Web2.0v028.pdf

Saturday, March 10, 2007

Planning and implementing innovative practice with mobile and wireless technologies

Interesting events these some of which are still taking bookings. But what is really good is making presentation available. The bottom of the page given in this link.

http://www.jisc.ac.uk/whatwedo/programmes/elearning_innovation/eli_innov_wksp.aspx

So do book if you can but I do urge you to down load presentations. Well done to the organisers for putting them up.

Friday, March 09, 2007

POPURLS

Popurls popular links to the latest web buzz digg,deli.icio.us,reddit.com,YouTube etc .

.



http://popurls.com/



really well worth a look to see what's popular across these sites .

Becta March addition of Technews DOWNLOAD IT NOW !!!!!!!!!!

The latest TechNews from Becta latest addition is now out what joy







http://partners.becta.org.uk/page_documents/research/technews/mar07.pdf



a few juicy bits

  • location-based technologies
  • Flash Memory in PC's

no more juicy bits just go and download it !!! Please note link to TechNews website and archive past issues in my sidebar links.

Go on download it.

Gsyncit google outlook sink ********




http://www.daveswebsite.com/software/gsync



This is what some of us has been waiting for thanks for Dan Sutch of Future Lab pointing this out.



gSyncit for Microsoft Outlook keeps
Microsoft Outlook and your Google calendar in-sync. After
installing gSyncit and starting Outlook you'll find a new toolbar
available to configure
gSyncit and synchronize your calendars. You can
manually synchronize your calendar or have it automatically sync on a preset
interval.


Madodate certainly is but mad and great !!



Thanks to Dan Sutch of Futurelab for this.
Changes the way you minimize documents
The application is simple, it adds an additional button next to the minimize button on windows. Click the button and the windows is minimized in a 3d view. Simply click the 3d application and it restores the windows back to the normal
view.
Madodate 2.02.02 Full English Translation
This can be a useful application or a complete waste of time depending on what type of user you are.

The application is simple, it adds an additional button next to the minimize button on windows.
http://bikerscafe.org/uf7/forum/viewtopic.php?p=119#119

..

ignore dodgy url and have a look.

Wednesday, March 07, 2007

Gmap pedomemeter

Do you run walk or ride a bike or just want to work out distances on a map easily well.

Gmap pedometer http://www.gmap-pedometer.com
Amazingly another clever application of google maps plot your route and it works out distances . I started in ICT as a geoographer into computer Mapping and GIS and simplicity of this site I just love . You could so easily do a sopin off that calculated areas as wll any offers you google API devlopers.

Big heads up to fellow Becta Runner Mick James who had this pointed out by fellow Becta colleague Andy Gorton

Tuesday, March 06, 2007

Picasa Web Albums Google going after Flikkr

Google going after Flikkr ??? I have a flikkr acoount but will look at this

http://picasa.google.com/intl/en_us/web/learn_more_picasa.html

With Picasa Web Albums, you get 250MB of free storage--enough to post and share approximately 1,000 photos for free. But it's so easy to put your photos online that you just might want more storage. Starting at $25 a year, you can upgrade to an additional 6GB of space (25,000 photos' worth). Whatever your needs, Picasa Web Albums is perfect for amateur and pro photographers alike.

The Picasa software gives you the fastest and easiest way to upload your photos to Picasa Web Albums. (Not using Picasa? Your normal web browser can also be used to create new Picasa Web Albums.)

Computers move sparks college student protest ( a tale of three ways of collecting information)

Thanks To Kevin Donovan for inspiring this posting and a learning opportunity for me .

Read the article kevin pointed out to me from paper copy of Liverpool daily post. learners do care about access to ICT.
What was interesting was how I got various copies of the article


1) I took a picture with my new Nokia 6234 . Which for first attempt wasnt bad and I bluetoothed it to my laptop.














2)Googled it and got the link

3)Kevin Bless him scanned it and emailed me it from home.
















Now it is an interesting article but how I collected the images information was a learning journey in itself.

Web 2.00 pubication by Techwatch

Well if your interested in Web 2.0 and education you mustnt miss this one !!!


What is Web 2.0? Ideas, technologies and implications for education
(TSW0701)

By Paul Anderson
Within 15 years the Web has grown from a group work tool

for scientists at CERN into a global information space with more than a
billion users. Currently, it is both returning to its roots as a read/write
tool and also entering a new, more social and participatory phase. These
trends have led to a feeling that the Web is entering a ‘second phase’—a
new, ‘improved’ Web version 2.0. But how justified is this
perception?


This TechWatch report was commissioned to investigate
the substance behind the hyperbole surrounding ‘Web 2.0’. It reports on the
implications this may have for the UK Higher and Further Education sector,
with a special focus on collection and preservation activities within
libraries.

The report establishes that Web 2.0 is more than a setof ‘cool’ and new technologies and services, important though some of theseare. It has, at its heart, a set of at least six powerful ideas that arechanging the way some people interact. Secondly, it is also important toacknowledge that these ideas are not necessarily the preserve of ‘Web 2.0’,but are, in fact, direct or indirect reflections of the power of the network: the strange effects and topologies at the micro and macro level that a billion Internet users produce.

website site at

http://www.jisc.ac.uk/whatwedo/services/services_techwatch/techwatch/techwatch_ic_reports2005_published.aspx

at



http://www.jisc.ac.uk/media/documents/techwatch/tsw0701b.pdf


Friday, March 02, 2007

Tag Cloud

Well I have finally not only migrated onto the new version of blogger and updated my template. to the new version which allows easier editing of templates.

Primary reason for this was to blogger label cloud http://phy3blog.googlepages.com/Beta-Blogger-Label-Cloud.html

which Geoff Stead of mobile learning fame encouraged me to use (big heads up for the encouragement Geoff!!!

After a bit of editing its working nicely in the side bar. The primary aim is to encourage me more to tag blog posts to make them searchable.

Thursday, March 01, 2007

Mobile Learning blog

Well its been one of those mornings !! Got a superb tip from Bob Harrison a crusading protagonist of m learning .



Seems to be a really useful and well visited m learning site so good going to add it to my links in my sidebar.

http://mlearning.edublogs.org/



What I really like is range of tools tips and techniques and techniques showcased .

Tuesday, February 27, 2007

M-Learning event

Shame I am busy on 9th of March but if you get the chance hook up to this event at london Knowledge Lab.

Geoff is the UK's leading guru pushing m learning with vision flare and a facets that puts him above his peers of being a device agnostic. Its learning that matters not the device,

Geoff Stead from Tribal CTAD will be running a seminar on m-learning at
the London Knowledge Lab, describing some of CTAD's work producing
m-learning materials for adults with numeracy and literacy needs. The
seminar will give a brief overview of current m-learning activity for
this learner group, as well as looking at some of the trends and
patterns that seem to be emerging. There will be opportunities for some
hands-on experimentation, as well as a chance to engage with CTAD in
discussing possible future research and development collaboration.


http://www.lkl.ac.uk/cms/index.php?option=com_events&task=view_detail&Itemid=27&agid=78&year=2007&month=03&day=09



Sunday, February 25, 2007


Outlook ghost on your desktop I really like this wasnt sure at first but now convinced .

About the product by the author

Have you ever wondered why it's such a pain use calendaring programs on your computer? It's simple: they don't mimic their real life counterparts very well. People who use calendars to organize their daily lives have them visible in plain sight nearly all of the time. Yet, on the computer, you have to go through a myriad of windows and clicks before you can even see your calendar. So to bridge the gap, I've come up with this little program that will place the Microsoft Outlook Calendaring system right on your desktop. The calendar object gets pinned to your desktop and stays there all the time in plain sight so you can always see what's upcoming. Of course, the benefits don't stop there ... because it's the actual Microsoft Outlook calendar, you get all it's functionality, such as direct editing, drag and drop of files, etc. You have to see it to believe it.

http://www.michaelscrivo.com/projects/outlookdesktop

The year Mlearning goes mainstream ?

A core of people in the UK maybe at the most a dozen have been pushing Mlearn as the Next Big Thing for a while .

This article by

EDUCAUSE Review, vol. 40, no. 3 (May/June 2005): 40–53.
Enabling Mobile Learning

Author Ellen D. Wagner
Words in the preamble strike a chord with me

The mobile revolution is finally here. Wherever one looks, the evidence of mobile penetration and adoption is irrefutable: cell phones, PDAs (personal digital assistants), MP3 players, portable game devices, handhelds, tablets, and laptops abound. No demographic is immune from this phenomenon. From toddlers to seniors, people are increasingly connected and are digitally communicating with each other in ways that would have been impossible to imagine only a few years ago.

link at http://www.educause.edu/er/erm05/erm0532.asp?bhcp=1

To quote a colleagues favourite catch phrase bring it on !!

Saturday, February 24, 2007

Accessible rail timetable site is really a web 2.0 kind of site

From my esteemed colleagues Adrian Higginbottom .

Not only very clever but accessible to. This is really a web2.0 type of site high degree of personlisation etc. Brilliant quite Brilliant

http://traintimes.org.uk/
allows you to access timetable information simply by building your own web address - no need to fill in web forms.

so for example to see a time table of trains from Coventry to york use the URL http://traintimes.org.uk/coventry/york/

if you want to travel after 10:30 then
http://traintimes.org.uk/coventry/york/10:30

if you aren't traveling until the 28th then
http://traintimes.org.uk/coventry/york/10:30/2007-02-28/
and if you aren't sure what date next wednesday is then
http://traintimes.org.uk/coventry/york/10:30/next-wednesday

what better for mobile access, forms free access etc.
and it also show best available price too.

unfortunately you can't currently buy tickets via this site :-(

Thanks Adrian!!!

Wednesday, February 21, 2007

Firefox 3.0 to support offline apps

Thanks to Rob Englebright for finding this interesting bit of news



This is significant because
you'll be able to use your web apps - like Gmail, Google Docs Spreadsheets, Google
Calendar, etc - in the browser even when offline. I deliberately mentioned all Google
web apps there, because of course this plays right into Google's hands.



http://www.readwriteweb.com/archives/firefox_3_offline_apps.php



this is a real world changing leap. The business model changes for software

Monday, February 19, 2007

New UMPC


Interesting device at a price



NEW EXCLUSIVE to Medionshop in the UK! Mobility enters a new era with the new UMPC RIM1000, the ultimate portable PC! It features Genuine Microsoft® Windows VistaTM Home Premium, a VIA C7-M 770 ULV processor, a 30GB hard disc drive and a 6.5" widescreen display.



The Medion UMPC allows you to work, surf the internet, communicate, watch video clips of listen to music - all while on the move!



You can do so much with the UMPC - synchronise your UMPC with you desktop pc or notebook, transfer data from your MP3 player or digital camera via an SD or MMC card using the memory card slot, connect your mobile phone via Bluetooth, connect to a projector via the VGA port plus share files via the USB port.

Features



* Genuine Microsoft® Windows VistaTM Home Premium with Touch Pack

* VIA C7-M 770 ULV processor (1.0GHz, 400MHz FSB

* VIA UniChrome Pro II GFX

* 6.5" WVGA TFT Touchscreen with LED backlight (800x480px)

* High definition audio with integrated loudspeaker

* 30GB hard disc

* 768MB DDRII RAM memory

* Wireless LAN 802.11b/g with up to 54 Mbit/s

* Integrated Bluetooth 2.0 + EDR module

* Integrated webcam microphone array e.g. for video over IP

* SD/SD-IO/MMC card reader

* External AC adaptor lithium polymer battery VDE/GS approved

* Synchronise your UMPC with you desktop pc or notebook

* Transfer data from your MP3 player or digital camera via an SD or MMC card using the memory card slot

* Connect your mobile phone via Bluetooth

* Connect to a projector via the VGA port

* Share files via the USB port



http://preview.tinyurl.com/2sq6nj



memory madness

with usb memory sticks at under £7.00 for 1 GB and 4 gb under under £40.00. Can memory fall any lower

http://www.7dayshop.com/catalog/specials.php



U3 enabled sticks are getting cheaper to ! Will the applications running on a memory stick going to become reality in next 6 months ? The of course wireless USB is coming !


Friday, February 16, 2007

Thumb Drive Drive

Sadly this site is in the US but what an interesting idea anybody fancy setting up a UK based one. I am sure youve got old flash drives lying around if you have give them to your local school community centre doing ICT classes. I give mine to my sons primary school.

The Inveneo site is still worth a look.

the mission page http://www.inveneo.org/?q=mission

the thumb drive page
http://www.inveneo.org/?q=Thumbdrive


Do you have old thumb drives (otherwise known as USB Memory Sticks) at your office or home that you don't use any more?
We're collecting these drives to share with the organizations we work with. They can be used in 100's of useful ways by:

  • Students
  • Aid Workers
  • Small Business Entrepreneurs

Please keep sending them in to Inveneo here and we'll make sure they get out to people and organizations who can use them well:

Inveneo
760 Market Street
Suite 859
San Francisco, CA 94102



Cool new smartphone


It is well known love I me gadgets but am a bit device agnostic at times but this new offerring from TOSH looks good. Amazingly the usual harsh engadget liked it . Interesting as Toshiba made business decision to withdraw from the PDA market several years ago.


Toshiba's new duo may not steal the show together, but the G900 is officially ready to help redefine high-end smartphone devices. The behemoth features, as we mentioned an utterly unreal 3-inch WVGA (800 x 480) display, rear biometric scanner, 2 megapixel rear camera, front-facing video conferencing camera, 64MB of internal memory, miniSD expansion, tri-band HSDPA (yes!), 802.11b/g, Bluetooth, USB, video calling, and USB On-The-Go. The E01 is far more lower end, but still manages HSDPA, a 65k color display, A2DP Bluetooth, and that same 2 megapixel camera.

whens it going to launch and how much is it going to cost I might be in that queue . Gallery pics on engadget look good to http://www.engadget.com/gallery/toshiba-wm6-devices/157628/

Thursday, February 15, 2007

Towards Maturity - Summary and Towards Maturity: insights for employers and training providers (research into e-learning)

Report by e skills Towards Maturity is a suite of four reports intended to help employers, training providers and policy makers better understand the ways in which e-learning can support employer skills requirements. The research was undertaken by e-skills UK on behalf of the Skills for Business network of 25 Sector Skills Councils.

The research included more than 200 organisations across all sectors as well as 1,000 individuals. It represents one of the most comprehensive studies to date into technology-based learning in the business environment.

Towards Maturity –Summary

Towards Maturity: insights for employers and training providers - 4.7MB)

worth watching the website http://www.e-skills.com



For the report Towards Maturity: implications for policy-makers and Towards Maturity: facts and figures will both be available in March 2007.

Handful or is it an armful of Handheld learning research.

Gawd the worlds going Handheld crazy three lots of reports on use of handhelds and I hear from Merlin Johns excellent blog goldsmith The e-scape report from Goldsmiths TERU will be released shortly on the TERU section of the Goldsmiths website so that makes four :
http://www.goldsmiths.ac.uk/teru/


More detail on Merlins excellent blog at http://www.merlinjohnonline.net/

The previous post doubting handheld learning still being to early I think might be wrong .

From Futurelab



Learning with handheld technologies - NEW

By Fern Faux, Angela McFarlane, Nel Roche, Keri Facer

This handbook offers a guide and resource for those considering exploring handheld technologies for teaching and learning purposes. Four case reports show how different schools, LAs and individuals have attempted to tap the potential of handheld technology for learning, while a wider survey of handheld learning projects gives a sense of the range of work going on, along with contact information.

Read online version (8 web pages)
Open pdf version for best printing results (opens 229kb file in pdf format in same window)
Order free hard copy

From LSN

Mobile learning in practice: Piloting a mobile learning teachers' toolkit in further education colleges

UK college tutors taking part in the Mobile Learning Teachers' Toolkit project authored their own mobile learning materials (SMS quizzes, PDA learning games and mediaBoard activities) to cater for the specific needs of their students in their particular context. This publication reports on the impact of these mobile learning activities on teaching, learning and students' interest in learning and on how tutors integrated mobile learning into the curriculum. The challenges of setting up the project and some lessons learned are also discussed. Examples of the learning materials created and tips for using these tools with students are included to inform teachers who may be considering mobile learning for their students. sadly link to PDF isnt live yet but can be downloaded when the document is released.

http://www.lsneducation.org.uk/research/centres/RCFTechEnhanceLearn/mobile/


From Teachers TV view the video online at

http://vr-ttv-stream.lbwa.verio.net/ttv/C1133003_multi.wmv

In this programme Year 10 pupils at Saltash.net Community School, near Plymouth, spend two days testing out specially adapted software on PDAs.

The cutting edge trial of interactive handheld computers is specially customised for the classroom to enhance pupil learning and assessment. These are multi-functioned with a typing and drawing facility, they take photos and can voice record comments and ideas.

The pupils can look at each others work, which is continuously beamed up onto the teacher's laptop ready to be assessed and commented upon.

The trials are part of a prototype design and technology GCSE exam being developed for the DfES and QCA by Professor Richard Kimbell of Goldsmith's College, London.

Tuesday, February 13, 2007

Handhelds in e-learning - still to early

This comment by Mark Nichols Waitakere, NZ
I i have to disagree from European perspective connectivity is getting cheaper the tools to create http://ebcnzer.blogspot.com/2007/02/handhelds-in-e-learning-still-too-early.html your own content for learners are getting easier,cheaper better . But nice review of futurelab report
PDF

I am becoming device agnostic .

one report to watch is shortly to be published

Mobile learning in practice, a soon to be released review of piloting mobile authoring tools in FE colleges, published by LSN. Authored by Carol Savill-Smith, Jill Attewell and Geoff Stead. Full publication will be available from LSN.

this link takes you to the site but publication isnt live yet.

E learning awards 2007

No involvement personally in this at all But this might be of interest. The £99.00 entry fee is also interesting.

The 3rd annual E-learning Awards will take place in November 2007 in London.


The primary objective of the E-learning Awards is to recognise real
excellence in the e-learning industry. This may be an e-learning
programme, project or strategy that is judged to be the best in that
category for that year.


The Awards are judged by the eLearning Network, the industry’s
foremost e-learning association. Receiving an Award means that an
organisation has made more than a positive contribution to clients’
fortunes. They will have created or produced something that will be
looked at years later as something that is a benchmark, to which others
in the industry can aspire to.


More importantly those that receive the awards will have excelled
and will have been recognised in doing so, by the e-learning industry
overall.





http://www.elearningage.co.uk/goawards.htm

Saturday, February 10, 2007

Google Presently a full set ??

a geek article that suggests that google are going for ther full set with an alternative to PowerPoint!



http://blogs.zdnet.com/Google/?p=465

add this to:

  • Google docs Excel and Word
  • Google mail Outlook
  • Google Base a database
watch this space.





Text-message course helping newcomers learn English

Great story via my google alerts from project helping new comers to Canada improve there English grammar using m learning . Interestingly set up by Athabasca university who helped host mlearn2006 in October in Banff where I presented.


"in Alberta pen and paper aren't necessary in an Edmonton classroom where students are learning English with a new tool — text messages on their cellphones.
http://www.cbc.ca/canada/edmonton/story/2007/02/09/text-classes.html

Under a pilot project, the students at the Mennonite Centre for Newcomers are testing "m-learning," or mobile learning, where they download an English grammar lesson, then answer a series of multiple choice, or true or false questions.

Students at the Mennonite Centre for Newcomers are testing mobile learning - downloading an English grammar lesson, then answering a series of multiple choice, or true or false questions.Students at the Mennonite Centre for Newcomers are testing mobile learning - downloading an English grammar lesson, then answering a series of multiple choice, or true or false questions.
(CBC News)

Athabasca University, a long-distance post-secondary school, created the cellphone lessons for those wanting to learn English as a second language (ESL).

"You're controlling it, which is so nice," said Tracey Woodburn of Athabasca University. "A lot of people have been telling me, 'Oh, I can do this when I am watching my kid's soccer practice or when I am on the bus coming to school.'"

Interesting project echoing the positive points many UK projects have found.

Friday, February 09, 2007

JISC/HEA Innovative Practice WorkshopPlanning and Implementing Innovative Practice with Mobile and Wireless Technologies

Got to give a huge plug to this event arranged by colleagues at JISC and the HE Academy.
Publication will be good to.

Registration is now open

Workshop: Planning and Implementing Innovative Practice with Mobile and Wireless Technologies

The JISC and the Higher Education Academy wish to invite you participate in a workshop on Planning and Implementing Innovative Practice with Mobile and Wireless Technologies.

There are four venues and dates to choose from. Register at the separate form for the event you wish to attend. Each workshop is limited to 50 participants so early booking is advised.

London Met University - 7th March
Register at http://survey.jisc.ac.uk/innovprac_070307/

University of Leicester - 21st March
Register at http://survey.jisc.ac.uk/innovprac_210307/

University of Bristol - 18th April
Register at http://survey.jisc.ac.uk/innovprac_180407/

University of Salford - 25th April
Register at http://survey.jisc.ac.uk/innovprac_250407/

Each workshop will explore the practicalities of implementing mobile and wireless technologies in an institution. As a participant you will explore technical, pedagogical and organisational change issues around implementation. A practical demonstration the hosting institution will provide an insight into the latest developments in mobile and wireless technologies at the venue. For a full programmes of each workshop see http://www.jisc.ac.uk/whatwedo/programmes/elearning_innovation/eli_innov_wksp.aspx

The workshops are underpinned by the work of the JISC Innovations Programme and the Innovative Practice with e-Learning Publication. See http://www.elearning.ac.uk/innoprac

Further details and joining instructions will be sent one week before each workshop.

If you have any questions relating the event please contact Christina Ioannou jisc@inanyevent-uk.com or Eddie Gulc Eddie.Gulc@heacademy.ac.uk

Interesting way of recording and making conference sessions available.

This with my interest in on-line conferencing and video capture software this seems like an interesting solution that I also reckon they could deliver an augmented podcast . The main page is

http://www.2dot0.co.uk/index.htmPublish


The really interesting stuff to look at Somerset web 2.00 stuff and policy implementation stuff .
http://www.2dot0.co.uk/pages/archive.html

It doesnt replace being there but if you cant or need a future reminder a really useful tool..


I really love the plug for http://www.boveyclimateaction.org.uk/ on the front page who is the mystery guest that is appearing Monday ??? I am not there but If I find out I might even blog it or get a quote for the blog!


Tuesday, February 06, 2007

Web 2.00 on Youtube

I have to give a huge heads up to Ewan Mc Intosh blog http://edu.blogs.com/edublogs/
to finally making me think about Youtube (OK I know I am late to the party) I immediately found some thought provoking resources that link nicely with the interesting but slightly depressing EPIC video i blogged link here a while ago.

Really nice read write web intro movie

Web 2.0 ... The Machine is Us/ing Us
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6gmP4nk0EOE

More formal but great video again understanding web 2.00
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nsa5ZTRJQ5w


I will look at YouTube more.

Monday, February 05, 2007

My Old school in technology forefront youtube assemblies and Suffolk school communicate closure via Bebo

found this on Merlins blog http://www.addysg.org.uk/merlinjohnonline/news.php?item.104


What is really really scary it is my old upper school !!!! Ghosts in the machine six degree of seperation what ever http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Six_degrees_of_separation what ever or just plain spooky .

Some of the buildings don’t appear to have changed I only live 24 miles away but havent been back to the school in 18 years might go back for a visit.


Sleepy Suffolk is a hot bed of web 2.00

Heres a great story from Another Suffolk School in his own words better than mine

Social networking solution to rapid school communication
problem
---

You've probably experienced the difficulties of
communicating a simple message using Chinese whipsers. Following a fire alarm
raised when gas was smelt within school we had 800 students on a field, on a
cold Thursday afternoon in November. They were instructed to go home as the
school buses had started to arrive, but must to their annoyance many students
had to leave their mobile phones and wallets in school until engineers arrived
to check the building.

The school office was also off limits until the
risk could be assessed and staff returned home not knowing what would happen the
next day. Once a decision had been made that school would remain closed on the
Friday staff started to receive information through the telephone tree with
department heads contacting their staff. The message that school would be closed
was also broadcast on the local BBC radio station, Suffolk radio. Not the
students first choice of listening matter.

These established methods
were not effective in reaching our students. My experience was:
After arriving home at 4:15 I started to receive messages on my Bebo home page (
http://chrisryall.bebo.com
) from students asking whether or not school would
be open the next day. As I hadn't yet been contacted by telephone I was only
able to assure students that I would post a message to my Bebo whiteboard when I
had information. I was contacted by about 6 students through Bebo, using both
private messaging and the public comments feature. About fifteen students also
contacted me using instant messaging and Email. One of these students whose
father is a teacher at our school was able to tell me that school would in fact
in be closed. After checking this via an Email to this teacher, who was far
ahead of me on the telephone tree I was then able to post on my Bebo whiteboard
that school was in fact closed.

Posting the information on a web page in itself was not the most powerful use of the Internet. It was the fact that so many students were connected to each other through Bebo and instant messaging that the news was able to travel so quickly. Many students found out that school
was closed through Bebo and instant messaging before visiting the school website to check the information or receiving an Email.

Once the news was published on the school website (http://gcus.net)it was automatically available as an RSS feed and Emailed to pupils and parents. A significant number of these
emails bounced back however from unavailable email accounts. Either from these
Email accounts no longer being used or our messages being identified as spam
because such a large number were sent out.

Bebo and the power of community won. The message was quickly relayed from hand to hand with students
then visiting the school website to check the validity of the message.

I received my message from the telephone tree three hours after I'd heard it
through Bebo.

A wonderful example of the digital divide was that students without access to the Internet (or who hadn't been contacted by friends and didn't listen to radio Suffolk) were the ones who arrived at school to find it closed the next day!

And when the engineers arrived, they couldn't find any damage to our gas supply.
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

So all this social networking is evil I think not !





Sunday, February 04, 2007

ICT and building schools for the future: an essential guide Becta Publication

this maybe of interest to those involved in BSF (Building Schools for the Future )



Aimed at school leaders, this useful guide looks at how technology is
integral to the Building Schools for the Future programme and
highlights key things that you should be thinking about in this area.

ICT and building schools for the future: an essential guide

You might also find the partnership for schools website useful http://www.p4s.org.uk/

BBC on Demand services consultation

This sounds less exciting than it is. If you listen to BBC podcasts are interested in how the BBC is going to evolve in the future to respond on demand TV audio etc please please respond and blog this request to your blogs to.

The BBC Trust is carrying out its first Public Value Test
(PVT) – a new procedure that must be applied when the Trust considers
applications from BBC management for the approval of new BBC services.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/bbctrust/consult/open-consultations/ondemand_services.html

The first PVT concerns the BBC’s proposed on-demand services.

Here you can find out how to take part in the public consultation on the BBC Trust’s provisional conclusions.

The proposed new services

TheBBC's Executive has been developing proposals to offer BBC programmes and content 'on demand'. made an application last August for the following:
  • Seven-day TV catch-up over the internet
  • Seven-day TV catch-up over cable
  • Simulcast TV over the internet (streaming of live television networks)
  • Non-digital rights management (DRM) audio downloads over the internet (podcasting of selected radio programmes)
link to consultation is here

Dapper: Blotter (Blog Plotter)

If your interested in checking and displaying your blogs popularity over time I might incorporate this but not now. Not quite a friendly as clustrmaps see my side bar but nearly .





http://www.dappit.com/dapplications/Blotter

Friday, February 02, 2007

learning e -learning blog

New Zealand is full of great people and Selena is one I met her at Mlearn2006 in Banff in October . She is doing great stuff with learners in NZ in areas such as baking apprentices. Really clever and thought provoking her post on plans for 2007 is worth a look. Great blog Selena your in my bloglines !!! She is really thinking of the new pedagogy that some of us in the uL like Geof Stead of CTAD are talking about . Power to you Selena



http://mportfolios.blogspot.com/

Thursday, February 01, 2007

Whiteboard Research



Thanks to Rob Talbot for this from Coventry College. DFES study 'e-Learning in Further Education: The Impact on Student Intermediate and End-point Outcomes' June 2006 is a useful read.



Full study at http://www.dfes.gov.uk/research/data/uploadfiles/RR739.pdf



and research brief at http://www.dfes.gov.uk/research/data/uploadfiles/RB739.pdf



Similar research from schools sector in London



http://www.dfes.gov.uk/research/data/uploadfiles/RR816.pdf





Technews

I know keep mentioning this but it can save you hours of time and gives a good summary tech happening relating to education The January edition of TechNews is now available.

Please use the link below to download TechNews as a PDF* file:


http://partners.becta.org.uk/page_documents/research/technews/jan07.pdf


TechNews archive

An index of downloadable TechNews analysis pieces and back issues is now also available on the TechNews web
the website is also in permanent links in my sidebar.

Friday, January 26, 2007

Merlin Johns Blog

You will notice in my link in the side panel I have added links to Merlin Johns personal blog Merlin in my opinion is one of the countries top technology journalists relating to education. He has a great blog ( I wish I could write so well.)


well worth a look another legend in his own lunchtime . Link is there permanently but is here as well www.merlinjohnonline.net

go on have a look !!

New Toy Gyro transporter


Just got a Gyration transporter a nifty presentation tool from the makers of my favourite presentation tool the GyroMouse and Keyboard .


Its a really small mini mouse but with 1 Gb memory built into the receiver that plugs into your PC that can transport your presentations around.


http://www.gyration.com/en-us/gyrotransport.html


Will blog how it goes !!

Wednesday, January 24, 2007

TWO E-LEARNING CONFERENCES, OXFORD UNIVERSITY

TWO E-LEARNING CONFERENCES, OXFORD UNIVERSITY
22nd and 23rd March
Said Business School

I sadly cant go but theses events look interesting !!!

The Shock of the Old 6: The Shock of the Social
One-Day Conference on Educational Technologies

Said Business School, University of Oxford, March 22nd 2007
http://www.oucs.ox.ac.uk/ltg/events/shock2007/

The Learning Technologies Group at Oxford University Computing
Services is pleased to announce its sixth annual one-day conference
on educational technologies.

Shock 6 will explore the issues arising from the rise of social
networking tools, Web 2.0 software and related collaborative
technologies, and how best to make use of these innovative tools in
teaching, learning and research.

For more information and online booking please visit:

http://www.oucs.ox.ac.uk/ltg/events/shock2007/

Beyond the Search Engine

Said Business School, University of Oxford, March 23rd 2007
http://www.oucs.ox.ac.uk/ltg/events/beyond2007/

Beyond the Search Engine continues the successful ‘Beyond…’ series
of talks and debates hosted by the Learning Technologies Group at the
University of Oxford. This year the theme is plagiarism and academic
integrity in the modern world of social networking and private learning.

* Does the ready provision of information in the public sphere
detract from students’ ability to develop their own knowledge?
* Does the pressure to perform undermine students’ academic integrity?

The day will consist of talks by experts in the field, and two debates.

This event follows on from the Shock of the Old conference on ICT in
Teaching and Learning, 22nd March 2007, held at the same venue and
with similar charging.

For more details and online booking please visit:
http://www.oucs.ox.ac.uk/ltg/events/beyond2007/

JISC conference proceedings as e-books

The JISC have produced three e books as proceedings of the Jisc Innovating e-learning online conference last March .

site with links http://andysblackhole.blogspot.com/

Worth downloading reading and reflecting upon

Saturday, January 20, 2007

Free web conferencing V room by elluminate

Ok it only allows three way conversations but it is free file ,application sharing and video conferencing. sound like a groove lite .

http://www.elluminate.com/vroom/ hey I wonder how goroove networks are doing ???

Tuesday, January 16, 2007

Reflections on BETT 2007 The show and exhibits

The first of many posts .
My first reflection is the changing nature of BETT and it's audience.
It is now :-

  • Huge bigger (maybe better) with almost an American feel about it ! Though Olympia doesn't have the huge presentation theatres of US venues.
  • The current venue is quite difficult to orientate yourself in.
  • The international component is growing all the time huge numbers of European visitors and vendors had international sales people on stands.
  • Its still great and if I am honest getting even better.
My predictions were partially correct.
  • Wireless was every where in kit. Coolest kit in show was wireless see later .The problem now is to much wireless in terms of finding the network you want.
  • Handheld well wow what a prediction loads of handhled stuff Dave Whyley of www.learning2go.co.uk did a key note or two . Graham Brown Martin of www.handheldlearning.co.uk had a better placed and bigger stand that last year and was bonkersly busy . Future lab www.futurelab.org.uk where there and I gather had seminars that were over subscribed. Samsung and Intel were showing very cool ultra mobile PC's (yes they are still handhelds). Tribal CTAD were there showing there cool mobile offerings

  • Blogging was everywhere but not in your face it has the feeling of a stealth technology on education that along with other web 2.00 tools appear to be a small technology with enthusiastic followers ( how wrong they are !!) but will pop its multiple heads up and change the world !!! The fact BCS asked Terry Freedman and Miles Berry to present on Social software in the classroom was testimony to this , Both are complete legends in their own lunchtime. As regards suppliers study wiz seemed to have integrated a lot of blogging tools into there existing great offer
Kit at the show
  • Whiteboards every where prometheans new software looks cool, Mimio the whiteboard emulators just gets better for certain uses it appears to be thee solution. Smart had some interesting mounts and combinations with projectors.
  • The orange coloured for education only projectors ( a Becta suggestion I believe) were much in evidence a simple but great idea !!!
  • Sound speakers are getting such good quality (Bett was very loud !!).
  • Toshiba and Samsung laptops 3 g enabled and 8011N ready
  • Beautiful Apple stuff its looks so nice and works well ( I must buy one!!).
  • Go to gyration site and see the
its a wireless presenter combined with 1GB memory and I think non PC related presentation software. plug into any PC wander off and present its needs checking out more. At £130 odd pounds isn't cheap.
But my major reflection even if you were there all week you couldn't see it all and the chance and planned conversations with friends at the show was the only way to get an overview. A very verbal blog type approach maybe web 2.00 is gossip by another name !!!

Friday, January 12, 2007

Moodletxt

Interesting on again by TXTtools and plug in for moodle very clever eh details here

Lets talk about text event 27th March in Leeds

Interesting event by TXTtools with yours truly doing the key note details here

Tuesday, January 09, 2007

BETT 2007

Iis it really that time of year again going to be a the BETT from Wednesday to Friday .

Main aims

  • Survival
  • See whats news

  • Meeting with contacts
Any predictions

  • Handheld learning will continue to grow
  • Wireless will be everywhere
  • blogging will be everywhere in and out the classroom
I will try and blog but beware it maybe a bit rambling postcards from the edge of sanity so to speak .

Monday, January 08, 2007

Bill Gates hails digital decade

Some of us thought it was already here ;-)

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/6239975.stm
BBC NEWS | Technology | Bill Gates hails 'digital decade'

Sunday, January 07, 2007

Panorama software



Just been mucking around with autostitch software I mentioned a while ago software can be found at http://www.cs.ubc.ca/~mbrown/autostitch/autostitch.html

Install the free download and just drop your shots that make up your panorama and it does the rest. Here is an attempt from shot taken from drigg dunes in Cumbria looking back to the Western lake District very neat indeed, No work on my part apart from selecting the images it does all the rest !!!

Another reason to use Firefox 2.00

If your spelling or typing is dreadful ( mine definitely is !) Firefox 2.00 has a great spell checker built in. Great for your wiki writing or blog ramblings very cool.
http://www.mozilla.com/en-US/firefox/2.0/releasenotes/
Mozilla Firefox 2 Release Notes

Wednesday, January 03, 2007

future lab blog

Thanks to Dan Sutch for making me awre of this really useful blog to watch in my bloglines from now on !!
http://flux.futurelab.org.uk/index.php/2006/11/28/hello-world
Flux » Blog Archive » Welcome to FLUX!

One Laptop per child blog

Worth a look described by the olpc team as Your independent source for news, information, commentary, and discussion of One Laptop Per Child's computer, the OLPC Children's Machine XO, developed by MIT Media Lab co-founder Nicholas Negroponte.http://olpcnews.com
One Laptop Per Child News

BBC news story is also worth a look http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/6224183.stm
BBC NEWS | Technology | $100 laptop project launches 2007

http://andysblackhole.blogspot.com/
Andys Black Hole

Friday, December 15, 2006

Articles on mobile phones from the economist

The remote control for life is great phrase from this article from the economist this really is a must read article.
amazing stuff like this
Researchers at Nokia, meanwhile, speculate that within a decade, the cost of storage will have fallen so far that it might be possible to store every piece of music ever recorded in a single chip that could be included in each phone.
http://economist.com/science/displayStory.cfm?Story_ID=8312260
The phone of the future | Economist.com

My Leonardo

Today I was Lucky enough to meet Project Manager for Universal Leonardo, www.universalleonardo.org , who is based at Central Saint Martins College of Art ; Design, the University of the Arts London.

The team are researching an art-and- science web-based project for schools focusing on Leonardo da Vinci and interested in integrating some of the Web 2.0 technologies in it. Being an interdisciplinary project which takes its inspiration from Leonardo, key skills that we would like to develop through the project are creative thinking skills, They feel that the use of social networking tools would be beneficial to the project. The project, provisionally called MyLeonardo, will be part of the Universal Leonardo web site. UL is a programme aimed at deepening our understanding of Leonardo da Vinci through a series of European exhibitions (of which the current Leonardo V exhibition is part), scientific examinations and web resources.

So bloggers out there any ideas how best they might make use of web 2.0 tools within the site specifically in a schools context and how to involve schools who would be interested in bringing together art and science. .

A really nice project the current websites great have a look at the build a monster and the phorensic investigations.

so come on any idea??

Saturday, December 09, 2006

Everything 2.00 Bob Stompel

A huge heads up to Bob Stumpel for this its quite simply a great blog .

http://bobstumpel.blogspot.com
Two huge things of note

The most brilliant Web 2.0 things in 2006
web2.0 2006 most brilliant

Great stuff there note sure about chick adviser is that real !!!! Hitchhikr sounds interesting share knoweledge on conferences.

Then Telecoms 2.0
http://bobstumpel.blogspot.com/2006/12/telecom-20.htm
Without a doubt, "social phone apps & services" are amongst the most interesting areas within the 2.0 zone. And I expect this category to explode in 2007. Bobs words but he is right the telecoms area and social networking mobility is going to go mental in 2007

Remote access keeps you in touch

Well as I live the mobile life this story rings to worth a read. is it really a story or not .http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/programmes/click_online/6161813.stm

Monday, December 04, 2006

2014 Vision Excellent video

Possibly the best blog I have read in recent months. From the Fischbowl from Karl Fischer 2020 Vision

I wish I had could write so well !!!

"
This post - and resulting presentation - has been kicking around in my head for the last month or two. One of the difficulties I've encountered with our staff development efforts is being unable to define a specific vision for what the future is going to look like. While I have many ideas about the changes that are occurring - and are going to occur - and the general direction we should head, I can't nail down specifically what school - or the world - is going to look like 5 or 10 or 15 years out. The pace of change is so great that it's nearly impossible to predict what's going to happen. And, for teachers that are used to the seemingly endless pendulum swings in education, that makes them hesitant to commit."

watch the video shades of blade runner or hope for the future its great.


EPIC video

Friday, December 01, 2006

Manchester plans free city wi-fi

Following on the announcement of free Wi Fi in Norwich Manchester is joining the push for free City wide WIFi networks!!

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/manchester/6199382.stm

Saturday, November 25, 2006

Government 2.0

After web 2.00, e-learning 2.0 comes government 2.0 are we and political circles ready for this I think not . this artciles sounds like establishment 2.00 rather than government 2.00
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/blogs/sfgate/detail?blogid=19&entry_id=11228
The Technology Chronicles : Government 2.0


what do you think ?

Dion Hichcliffes web 2.0 blog

Dion writes so well this piece building on the web 3.0 debate and great links and background reading: Take a look at eight end-user mashup platforms available today link

The plea for tools to do the integration we currently do by cutting and pasting people in web 2.0 space dont want to do the coding themselves the tools are theyre but maybe not fully integrated but the there coming .

Great piece here on a better way to do things on the fly at here
Innovation Creators: A Better Way to Do Things on the Fly

Things are really gathering speed

Ban on MP3 transmitters is lifted

Specially for my friend Rob who has an I trip well now they are legal nearly. Interesting things is the link between car and MP3 player could also be link between apple Iphone or other phone mp3 players another step on the rise of the phone MP£ player device !!
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/6177820.stm

Monday, November 20, 2006

George Bush Sings Sunday Bloody Sunday

this actually was used at the recent web 2.00 conference http://www.web2con.com/ earlier the month in where else but San Fransico sadly they havent shared the presentations .
Those that know me well know I am a bit of U2 fan this google video clip is quite clever . A way from e-learning but clever video editing !

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=6805063692754011230

Why CEOs should learn to love the blog

Interesting article in Guardian unlimited of a gap in blogging from carphone warehouses boss Charles Dunstone. Well the company have had some issues re its broadband service and he hasnt blogged at all for a couple of months.



Is this really bad form its portrayed as in the blogging world or has he just been busy ??





link



leave it up to you to make your mind up !!

Ilearning Paris forum 29th to 31st January

Ilearning Paris forum partnered with our friends from European Institute for eLearning – EifEL . this seems really interesting shame my French isn't good enough to participate in e portfolio strand though rest of conference is in English as well as French.

Main conference site
http://www.ilearnforum.eu

Contributions page
http://www.ilearnforum.eu/call-for-contributions





I am considering submitting a paper on mobility but will have to wait and see.

Saturday, November 18, 2006

Mars Exploration Rover Mission:1000th martian Day

Well I know its not e-learning but aren't these two little craft doing well

Mars Exploration Rover Mission: Press Release Images: Spirit

November issue of Technews

If your interesting in emerging tech education and ICT and you dont subscribe to Becta TechNews WHY not !!!

registration link can be found in my side panel
latest editions has got stuff on


  • trusted networks
  • growth in GPS related service
  • wimax
  • 8011n
  • semantic web
  • quad core processors
so going register and get in the loop !!! Look in the archive to !!

Well done to colleagues at Becta another hit !!!!!

Thursday, November 16, 2006

Apple iphone

Well I got it wrong the Apple people are going to add not only key pad pda style to the Apple IPod but also phone connectivity .

If I was any other manufacturer I would be very nervous indeed!! The march of the smart phone and the IPOD combine. Not here yet but coming

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/blogs/sfgate/detail?blogid=19&entry_id=11032


no wonder the knowing smile !!

Firefox 2.00

Just got my update and seems really good updated look and feel better feed subscriptions phishing protection and even more improved tabbed browsing ( is that possible ;-)).



things I like :

  • spell check on web forms
  • close button on each new tab
  • opens web pages in new tabs rather than new windows by default
  • The feed subscription your chosen rss reader aggregator is great

  • session restore feature remebering last page your were looking at and where you were in say filling a form

basically well done all you mozilla developers its great !!!!!



Tuesday, November 14, 2006

web 2.00 summit



























Interesting stuff from web 2.00 summit. If you have a summit does it mean web 2.0 is no longer subversive?.

Fred pointed me to flikkr site of Dion Hinchcliffes with some lovely graphics on web 2.00 I wish I did such nice graphics but a bit of googling and I found Dions Hinchcliffes excellent blog on web 2.00 http://web2.wsj2.com/

duly added to my blog lines. One of excellent graphics from flikkr site loaded to wet your appetite

Top Ten Lies of Web 2.0

Thanks to Fred garnett for pouinting this out made me smile

http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/blogs/sfgate/detail?blogid=19&entry_id=10620


Interesting blog added to my bloglines !!!!

Friday, November 10, 2006

Kevin Hickeys Blogs Wikki & stuff


Kevin Hickey RSC Northwest ILT Inspire conference has done a great load of resources of blogs,wikki & stuff

http://del.icio.us/smilt

My bloglines

not social bookmarks in true sense  but I have shared my favourites with you http://www.bloglines.com/public/ajb1962

andy at the ILT inspire conference at South Trafford College

Currently at this event Kevin Hickey mentioned social bookmarks if you want to learn more look at the link from Educause from the states

7 Things You Should Know About Social Bookmarking

PDF handout on social book marking
7 Things You Should Know About Social Bookmarking

Wednesday, November 01, 2006

100 million websites on the internet



From the BBC
"There are now more than 100 million web sites on the Internet, which
gained 3.5 million sites last month to continue the dynamic growth seen
throughout 2006. In the November 2006 survey we received responses from 101,435,253 sites, up from 97.9 million sites last month."


 http://news.netcraft.com/archives/2006/11/01/november_2006_web_server_survey.html

But the question I pose how many do you and how many a redundant ???

Andy