Collaborative Software

ITM # 6 - Walls Came Tumbling Down

This episode of the ITM focuses on social networking and online communities. The Infinite Thinking Machine helps teachers and their students turn the infinite universe of information into knowledge.

Daddy in Singapore

test

hi kids. This is my first day in Australia. What do you think

You Are What You eat

Produced by students at the Apple Teacher Institute 2006

On-line Conference - my presentation

I've been hammering on about this conference for some time now but you should try to visit it if you have not done so already. The address is below in one of my earlier postings. My presentation is a podcast about the project I have been involved with around the poetry of Hardy. You can listen and watch the podcats at (beware it is rather large and takes some time to get started). please let me have your thoughts before the Firseside Chat istelf which takes place on 26th October 2006

http://k12online.wm.edu/k12+conference.mp4

K-12 online conference starts

The K-12 online conference which i am involved with has started in fine form. David Warlick presented the keynote speech and it is well worth having a look. The link here should connect you directly.

http://k12online.wm.edu/k12online2006_optz.mp4

K-12 Online Conference

I'm really looking forward to this online conference where I have been invited to make a presentation on the subject of collaborative video editing. I've opted to base this around a project I am completing with a local secondary school. the topic is Thomas Hardy and we have called the project Hardy's Wessex. More of this soon.... The conference starts this week (16th October) and my presentation can be viewed as a podcast from next week onwards. Here is the schedule: http://k12onlineconference.org/docs/k12online06-agenda.html

Here is a short clip we produced as a trailer for the project on Hardy's Wessex: enjoy!

http://www.jumpcut.com/view?id=1BF7CE9E133A11DB99F0FEAF976EA1AD

First few weeks

My new module has finally started and things have taken some time to get going. Students are used to learning inside a relatively closed and safe VLE (a University proprietory system). Using a rnage of social software tools such as blogs and wikis will be a shock, I think. However today was a start. Three of my four students have taken the plunge and started their own blogs. I look forward to see how these will develop over the coming months

Thinking about my new MEd module - Educational Technology

Today has been an opportunity to think reflectively about the possibilities of using these Web 2.0 tools for a masters module in educational technology. I have not managed to produce a product as such but rather I have conceived of ideas and concepts for the development of my new module. It will certainly feture a Wiki(probably JotSpot or WetPaint) and blogs. It was also use on-line video editing tools such as Jump-Cut, etc

Back again

Its been some time(as you can see) since I last blogged. I would love to use the old time excuse but I don't imagine it will wash. I just have not prioritised my own learning (which is what I consider blogging to be essentially about for me) enough this week.

Its been a busy old week with lots of different insights and ideas. I seem to have been in perpetual conference mode having visited Bradford and Worthing this week to talk about developments in digital media. It has given me some time to think about the course and where it all fits into the bigger scheme of things. The one theme which has emerged from this introspection has been the extent to which schools are prepared (or rather unprepared) for the digital wave which is rushing their way. Theo and I presented in Bradford at the annual JISC conference (mainly FE and HE people) and only one or two people in each session had even heard of things like Wikis, flickr and Creative Commons. Startling really, given what you would imagine these people are doing in their daily lives. It just has'nt registered on their radar yet, but it will. And as usual they will be ill-prepared for the consequences.

That is why I believe we need disciples like ourselves doing this course. We may not always be popular in what we say but the world is changing and it is happening very quickly. There is a real imperative now to establish the basic grammar for the new language we are starting to learn. Digital literacy will soon be an imperative as Theo pointed out when he talked about Marc Prensky's concept of the digital natives. If we fail to educate our youngest about the benefits and dangers of this new world we have only ourselves to blame when they use it in ways we think unsuitable. Nowhere is this better exemplified than in the issue of copyright where I see teachers and educators continually flouting and breaking the law all in the name of education. They may never be caught in the legalistic sense of the word but they will be held to account eventually if they continue to fail to set the kind of example to youngster they normally do in other aspects of their work

Anyway enough of my rant. More thoughts to come shortly after the next session.