Now here's an interesting challenge!

One of the blogs I follow is Jane Hart's Elearning pick of the day. Although the sites she highlights are sometimes of no interest to me, more often they fall into the "could be worth bookmarking" category. Then, every so often, she adds a link to one which is right up my street.

Like today.

The 140 University delivers learning in regular nuggets of 140 words, by means of Twitter or Facebook. There is a variety of subjects to sign up for and the material is archived to review later.

I'm not a Twitterer and not really a fan of Facebook either (though I have accounts for and have used both), but this could be something I'd like to take advantage of and I might well sign up to see what's what. It's also got me wondering how we might use this idea and take it further. Any ideas? Do share them here, in the comments!

Next big thing?

I'm not sure how we'd cope with the permissions etc but I wonder if this might add a little something to our classes?

In the Times yesterday:

"...websites such as YouTube and Flickr already allow you to upload videos from computers but now mobile phones and a new breed of video camera (such as the Flip Mino) are upping the ante - allowing gig-goers or flaneurs to upload direct to the web without a computer"

(I had to look flaneur up in case it was something rude!)

I think we could extend the group to include learners and tutors, don't you?

Oh my, we'll all be media stars before we know it!

Getting the information across

I've been looking at a couple of websites about effective use of Powerpoint and came across this impressive presentation which I sat and watched, beginning to end. Not only is it visually interesting, the guy has a relaxed approach which held my attention in a way that these things seldom do.




Having discovered the TED website I came across this.




What do you reckon?

BLOGGING WORKSHOP

This is trickier than I thought. What do others think?

Hello

I know we have a lot of new readers as a result of all the core training events recently so I thought I'd say "hi" and encourage you to leave a comment when you visit.

Perhaps it's not clear how to do that - so I'll explain!

At the bottom of every post there's details of who posted it and when. On the right hand side there's a little graphic of a speech bubble and "2 comments" (or however many have been left previously).

Click on the word "comments" and a box will open up for you to type something in. You'll have to complete a bit of word recognition, which is there to protect us from automatic posting systems and you can choose to remain anonymous if you prefer.

We'd love to hear from you, wherever you are, so please, leave a comment!


Photograph above: Yesterday's training event was at the Waterways Museum in Gloucester Docks, a really great venue - do you agree?

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Last night's telly

I would love to know what others thought of last night's "Can't Read Can't Write" programme. Did you get as agitated as I did?

The end of the flip chart?

I don't like flipcharts. Well, I suppose they are ok when they are there, ready for use, but because of the kind of teaching I do, in out of the way places not generally equipped for teaching, I often end up struggling with one in my car. Not only is mine heavy, the legs fall out unless they're screwed in really tightly and then I can't undo them. The paper flops about all over the place, unless I take it off and roll it, and then it doesn't lie flat on the easel when I get it out again.

In a discussion about the future of Home Economics Education today, thoughts and comments from the participants were logged on a flipchart by a colleague and I sat, thinking how we could have managed without it.

1. Almost everyone in that room had a mobile phone which would have a record facilty on it, most likely sound recording, but many would have video capability as well.
2. I had two cameras in my bag, both of which would record sound and video.
3. People could have written on post-it notes and we could have photographed the responses
4. Someone could have sat at the laptop which had been used for a powerpoint presentation earlier in the day and transcribed the comments as they were made

No doubt there were other options available to us as well. We just have to get our minds around new ways of working, many of which are easier and more efficient than what we're used to doing.

If it means I can leave my pesky flipchart at home, then it can't be bad, can it?

What have you done recently which would have been made simpler with a bit of kit? Please share your ideas!

Questions questions

Following Jane's report of her meeting in Leicester yesterday, I had a couple of emails with links to follow. I enjoyed browsing a new site or two, especially one about Web 2.0 which enables us to use all of these great networking sites like Flickr, YouTube and Blogger amongst others (see above) You might spot Ning (mentioned in Jane's previous post) in there too.

Then today I followed another link and in a rather spooky coincidence, found an article attributing the rise in interest and participation of young women in sewing and knitting to Web 2.0 amongst other things. Click here to read it for yourself. My own experience with online communities supports this and I'm working on several projects inspired by websites I've found in the blogs I read.

Would you agree that the development of our ability to use technology effectively is promoting traditional skills at the same time?

What do you think might happen if you set up a group exclusively for your learners? If your group shared ideas and experience with another group doing similar activities - in much the same way as we are doing here? Don't you think there is potential for much excitement in all of this - or am I just a sad person who spends far too much time sitting at my computer?!

Don't answer that!

The benefits of training

Just thought I'd add my two-penn'orth to the comment about training left in Lizzie's Docucam post. I quite agree that initial training is important to build confidence and inspire us to seize the opportunities that the technology offers. However, those of us who attended the day with all the "Ruckee" kit found it of limited use, simply because until we'd got our hands on the kit, tried it out and identified where we had problems, we didn't know what support we'd need. In fact, everything worked perfectly that day because it was an ideal setting - trouble is, not many of us work in situations like that!

Better still has been the real-world, hands-on experience, taken at my own speed and with the support of buddies who've been there done that, themselves. This has not been a fast process and I find that I am easily overwhelmed - I have to work at my own pace and take it one step at a time, even though I'm a dive in first, ask questions later kind of person! (Yes, classic Active Experimenter, Accommodating, slightly converging learning style, that's me!)

One aspect which has been really beneficial is having the kit to ourselves 24/7 - we get it out exactly as we left it - no-one has toggled the settings or misplaced the cables and we can play, learn and discover in our own time. What luxury!

The other benefit has been having this source of advice and shared experience. Yes, I think I could benefit from a little extra - specific and targeted - training now, but I am finding that my confidence increases with each use nevertheless as I gently push my own boundaries and explore the extra buttons and features one at a time.

What I need most of all, however is TIME. Time to explore, discover, read and get to grips with all of this in a relaxed and easy manner. and time is one thing that we AdEd tutors have in limited supply. Added to which, as I write in my blog profile, I want to do everything now, or at least in the next five minutes!

But I did get a manual out last night :-)

getting to grips with all this

I have been rather silent re posting on the blog - but I have been 'head down' trying to get to grips with this flood of new technology. I am getting there - far too slowly for my liking - but to summarize progress so far: just managed to work out how to post a blog! - can show a DVD on big screen using projector and computer. I have put some photos on Flickr. I am checking out copyright, as I have a series of commercial textile DVD's felt making, Indian textiles etc. and it would be great to use short clips in class. Feel quite confident with camera, but havn't used it to record student comments yet - hope to try on Saturday. I have made several collections of photos to show as slide shows in class (starting points for inspiration, example of textile work and recording progress and achievements). I have been using the docucam for a while and found this easy to set up with just projector - but am stuck at the moment as far as connecting to computer as well. Grey USB lead plugs into docucam but I can't find port on computer for the small connection on the other end of the computer. I feel I need a USB lead with 2 (normal sized) USB connections. The Epsom photo printer is excellent and very user friendly. Am working out the cost of printing. The ink cartridge that cam with the kit only lasted for 15 pictures. I studied the Epson printer manual when I was away from the equipment and got really excited, because I read that you could store photos from the camera directly onto a disk. Unfortuneately the model we have doesn't have a disc. It does have a USB port so I plan to try to save directly onto a memory stick. (page 37 of manual) I hope so - because it is very easy to follow instructions on Epson printer and so students could come up and select pictures taken on the camera to build up a personal record of photos. Otherwise it is possible to connect an external device (disc) to save photos. If gathering a personal selection of photos to record progress and achievement can be made easy students can do this themselves. The more learners can take responsibility to do this themselves the better, as there is the big question as always, on time management. Saving photos this way can be quick and simple and done during a session. Learners would need their own memory stick however. A disc would be cheaper.
With the help of a big son I have got going with the MP3 player. All this is totally new to me - but I am so excited (partner could say obsessed!) about it all - just wish there were more hours in the day - having to use the night! I have lots of ideas and will share some of these on next blog. Just wanted to blog that I am on the case to use equipment. Children find it all quite amusing - when they came for a meal the table was covered with technology instead of the usual well laid meal table!