Hi,

Hello, David.

The company I work for, Lime Design Associates, is working on a project with the Microsoft Corporation.  We are looking to interview teachers from the U.K., India, the Netherlands, South Africa and the U.S. on the diverse ways mobile technology is used to support educational practices.  If you know of teachers who would be interested in participating (their school would receive a $100 donation for their participation in the interview), could you please direct them to use the following link to complete a one-minute screening questionnaire?

https://spreadsheets.google.com/viewform?hl=en&formkey=dFhfSk5sRXlheU50SUVLY0E1SFRuYUE6MQ#gid=0

Thank you in advance for your help.
Lois Logan
Lime Design Associates
lois@limedesignassociates.com

The NLN Materials programme has seen the growth of a well-respected and widely used body of e-learning content over the last 10 years. The programme had been funded by government grants, which came to an end in October 2010. LSIS, the Skills Funding Agency and JANET(UK) have worked together to provide additional funding for the service until the end of the current academic year in July 2011. However, beyond July 2011 no further funding is available to continue the service in its current form.

Since 2006 delivery of the materials has been maintained through the nln.ac.uk domain, which has been managed successfully by JANET(UK).  All of those involved with the site acknowledge the excellent quality of the service and its contribution to learning and to learners, but without funding it cannot be maintained in its current form.  LSIS has taken over ownership of the materials and feels it is important to find a way to continue to make them available to teachers and learners.

The first step is to identify the viable options and carry out a survey to find out what practitioners want to do.

This will be available from the Excellence Gateway: http://www.excellencegateway.org.uk/ from Tuesday 21st December to Friday, 28th January.

The outcomes of the survey will be analysed and shared with the sector and a planned programme of action will be developed and published by mid February.

[From]
JANET(UK) and the Learning and Skills Improvement Service (LSIS)
[The above was sent to me by email]

One of today's topics of discussion was file sharing and the use of various facilities to create personal e-Portfolios. The e-Portfolio aspect of this discussion is certainly something that has taxed me for a long time and one that I have had a few goes at creating.

I used to use e-Snips (http://www.esnips.com) http://grab.by/57O0 (Screen shot) and to promote it as "my own VLE" but over the years it has become unsuitable for use due to the way it has evolved. It now has a tremendous amount of adverts http://grab.by/57Oo (Screen shot) not all of which are appropriate for use in an education setting. So, although it is there and although it offers up to 5 gigabytes of free storage (with sharing options), I choose not to use it. This is a real shame because it used to be the way I easily shared files with colleagues and people who had attended sessions I'd delivered.

Instead, I now use Dropbox (https://www.dropbox.com/) for storing most of my files. The benefit of Dropbox, is that I can access my files from any computer I use, provided it is connected to the internet. Where one has the software downloaded and installed on computers (I have mine on my Mac, my XP machine and my Vista machine) even the internet isn't needed. Files altered or added to the offline version are synchronised between all machines as and when they do go online. If we like, we can share individual folders on Dropbox (which I have done on several occasions) for all sorts of reason. I have a folder I share with my wife, because it's easier for us to share particular documents that way (easier than email or saving to external media); I have a folder I share with colleagues when working on collaborative projects and an further folder I share with my iTQ assessor. This is my real portfolio now.

To make the portfolio have more value and to stop filling up the 2 gigabyte free space, I also use YouTube http://www.youtube.com; to store video and http://www.flickr.com to store images. This saves room because each of these services provide embed and share codes which direct the viewer back to the hosting site - meaning that the portfolio document need only contain the code (URL).

Other facilities I've used are Scribd (see in use http://eduvel.wordpress.com/2010/06/09/building-vles/) for presenting word processed files online and TinyURL (see http://grab.by/57S7 for example) for sharing screen shots.

Use of these facilities makes my working life, my social life and my learning life much easier, whenever I have a need to share or access any form of digital documentation. They could easily be put to effective educational use if only institutions were able to agree on an acceptable use policy.

This is funny, and sums up my view of the election just announced.

Hopefully it is policies and potential, rather than politicians and pot-pissing that will win the day.

Last week I was involved in a MoLeNET ‘boot camp’. The premise was simple: we all get together and thrash out pedagogical issues which are to be included as part of a resource/activity creation tool, which is being developed on behalf of the MoLeNET community. 

We spent two days sat around our laptops in a smallish room at the excellent Novotel in Leeds. Although this post isn’t about the food, it would be a crime to mention the hotel and not mention the food. As always the lunchtime buffet was a delight, with a huge variety of seafood, cold meats and salads to start with and the usual carvery type fayre for mains – but served up in an interesting way. The first day we also had bacon sandwiches (with croissant, ham, preserves and fruit), which was a delightful surprise. Thank you Novotel.

Anyway – they also brew a passable (not great, but passable) coffee. And there’s the rub: we were all free to get tea and coffee whenever we liked. Each morning we had a selection of biscuits to soak up the drink and on both afternoons we were presented with a selection of cakes and buns. So the tables in our small rooms gradually filled up with the usual long meeting detritus.

So let this story be a warning to everyone – cakes crumbs and coffee do not go well with laptops.

We’d almost finished our two-day meeting and I was returning from the bathroom to begin packing up, when a cup of coffee was accidently knocked over my (I still think of it as new) MacBook Pro. I think I went into an instant ‘oh it’s only a keyboard’ form of stasis. It had never seemed a big thing before, keyboards on college machines had always been the cheapest of the cheap and any lasting damage from spills could only be caused to the PC itself, often hidden right away under the desk or sat at the back of the desk – a fair way from potential damage. But the Mac (or any laptop) is much more vulnerable than that – potentially £1,200 of vulnerability.

Luckily, the MoLeNET Mentors are such a stellar team that they instantly sprang into action. Instructions were being shouted from all over the room: the main one being ‘remove the battery’. I’d already pulled the power cable and the machine was by now being held upside down so the ‘remove the battery’ instruction was probably a laptop saver, as I would not have thought to do that. Paper towels and serviettes were coming from all over the place as colleagues rushed to help and the mess was eventually cleaned up. Apart from one person’s ashen face, my otherworldly stasis and an upside down MacBook Pro with an overwhelming smell of coffee, things soon settled down to the normal goodbyes and see-you-laters.

I was advised not to use the machine again for a minimum of three days to let it dry out completely, before being allowed to cross the fingers of one hand whilst turning it on with the other. All the advice was coming from people I trust; long-term Mac users, so my stasis would continue into Sunday – only 48 hours, but my fingers WERE already very tightly crossed.

When I finally turned on the MacBook Pro, it worked. I opened as many windows as I thought fair and breathed a slow sigh of relief when nothing ‘blew’.

Then, later, I noticed that the keys were sticky. We’d wondered whether the coffee had had sugar in it, but not knowing whose it was made that impossible to know – I’d hoped not, as the sugar would have made it nigh on impossible to fix without some kind of surgery. But all of the keys eventually came unstuck and now, 24 hours later, they seem to be working fine.

I’d looked on the Internet for sticky keys advice and two helpful addresses were sent to me by Simon Finch on Twitter: http://bit.ly/6SATq8 and http://bit.ly/4qiBmw. Apparently you can carefully lift off the keys (which I didn’t do) – James Clay suggested cleaning them with baby wipes; Mick Mullane said cotton buds and distilled water. In the end I loosened the sticky keys by tapping them and then blowing compressed air across the keypad. I’m sure that this practice is frowned upon as it may move debris into more corruptible areas of the machine – but it worked for me.

So three things to say as I wrap up this post

• There are many sites out there aimed at helping you in times of technological stress:
• Thank you to all those of you who volunteer to help people in need – Simon, James, Mick – thank you.

and

Don’t leave coffee (or tea, or biscuits, or food/drink of any kind – and while we’re on it – all pets, young especially - but older are not immune to walking all over the keyboard) anywhere near your laptop!

(I'm posting this via Posterous because Wordpress is playing up today. I'll re-arrange the pictures when I can)

Returning to work this week has not quite gone as planned. The snow that came just before Christmas didn’t really go and then at the beginning of this week it returned with a vengeance.

This time however, it came in waves and eventually covered the whole country.

Sitting behind my desk and watching Twitter reports come in from all over has been an interesting experience. Some local councils have taken to announcing school closures on Twitter which for many has been a real boon. Some still use phone/text ‘trees’ to inform staff and students of closure and others the local radio. The more enlightened use all methods.

There has been some debate about how soon schools (etc) closed “too soon” say some, “not early enough” say others – so what is the right answer?

Well, I wonder if there isn’t just the one answer but certainly, just because the school closes – learning doesn’t need to stop. How many institutions are set up and prepared for closures like this? Not as many as there should be, I’ll bet. Last year, when snow brought the country to a stop (albeit not for so long as this year) we discussed the possibilities on James Clay’s e-Learning Stuff podcast [Link – full URL at bottom of page] and noted that there are many options open to teachers and learners alike. Ideally, the institution would have prepared contingency measures for staff and learners (with the collaboration of staff and learners) to follow. This issue was also raised by Col Hawksworth this week on his MindMug blog.

But how many institutions actually have the foresight to prepare in this way?

With no contingency in place, my wife sent texts to her learners and told them that ideas for work would be posted on the Moodle and that she would be there – on chat – during the class time. But no one came. There is no culture amongst the learners (in Sharon’s case full time nursery workers/managers who were probably too busy with extra children anyway) to visit online learning activities at times like these.

So, how do we change that culture? How do we prepare our colleagues AND our learners for ‘snow time’?

I believe that we have to get them all thinking about the use of audio and video for instruction and assessment as a matter of course and to use online collaboration tools as part of their day-to-day college, school (whatever) life. We need to wear the technologies and associated techniques like comfortable coats!

There are plenty of choices out there – either paid for or free, and it only takes a little imagination to use them.

[the list is taken and adapted from Jame’s podcast notes – with thanks]

·  Ping.fm which can be used to send the same message to various micro-blogging and picture services.

·  Spinvox a service which converts audio into text. Allows you to phone into your blog, convert voicemail to SMS, and much more.

·  Audioboo and iPadio are both simple tools to make podcasts, by just using a telephone.

·  Dim Dim is a free to use online conference and presentation tool.

·  Elluminate another online presentation tool

·  Instant Presenter as used for the MoLeNET and NIACE online conferences and activities.

·  Oovoo which is an alternative to Skype and can be used for four way video conferencing.

·  Ustream is a online video broadcasting service.

Also see James Clay's 'Top Ten Tools of 2009' for more useful tools.

Last year's e-Learning Stuff podcast.

http://elearningstuff.wordpress.com/2009/02/08/e-learning-stuff-podcast-012-its-snow-joke/

Having prepared your sprouts ala Twitter:

My perfect recipe for Sprouts this Christmas.

1) First of all arrange for all sprout haters 2B out of the house. #lovesprouts

2) Trim outer leaves; put one deep cut into root (no need for cross). Place pan of water on stove to boil #lovesprouts

3) When water boils, add a litte salt (stuff your arterial thrombosis) and the sprouts - boil for one minute. #lovesprouts

4) Remove from boiling water: immerse in cold (preferbly iced) water. #lovesprouts. Now - 3 versions for completion

Version 1 - plain

Cook dinner. As you start serving (I suppose you'll have to allow everyone back in the house now - Mmmm) anyway, as you start serving, slowly melt some butter in a pan and add the par-cooked sprouts as they begin to sizzle, lower the heat and cover with a lid for maybe 3-5 minutes. Serve. You should have lovely crunchy (or JUST past crunchy), delicious sprouts. If your guests suggest they are not soggy enough - remove them from the house and don't let them darken your doorstep again.

Version 2 - Tourangelle

Make a white sauce (just make one - this isn't a cookery course). Copy Version 1 above but with two slight changes: 1 - add a little crushed garlic to the butter and 2 - add the white sauce as you serve the sprouts. Super delightfully delicious.

Version 3 - A meal in itself.

This time you need some chunks of smoked bacon or ham (sliced rashers will do) and some walnuts (no other nut - just walnuts). Melt some butter (or duck fat - yummy) and cook the bacon/ham. When cooked and about to begin browning, add the sprouts for 3-5 minutes and then the blanched and peeled walnuts (look it up - the peeling is not essential for me, but the blanching probably is). Drain, serve. Actually - for this one, youprobably don't need guests, just sit alone with a pint of cold beer and a chunk of bread and ENJOY.

Merry Christmas.

Well, it was my birthday on Monday. Celebrations started on Friday last when Sharon took me to Leeds for the night. We'd decided to go on Friday because many of the Last Minute hotels in Leeds were booked up on Saturday. Even our recently favourited Ibis.

We stayed at the Hilton which was surprisingly dour and second rate. Sharon worried constantly about the 1" plus gap beneath the fire door but I had more positive views about the likelihood of fire anyway (Positive in the sense that there wouldn't be one). We had no towels and two phone calls plus a face to face request at reception failed to make these appear. In the end I had to visit the housekeepers myself (as they 'sorted' a room down the corridor). Then having been out and bought a bottle of wine, we noticed that there were no glasses! Sharon sorted that one with the same housekeepers. And, to finish, the room was noisy - all night. Cheap but hardly cheerful.

  We had no luck with our planned meal either, at Strada, Red Chilli or La Tasca as they all professed to have hour long waiting lists - but this turned out to be a good thing as we ended up at Anthony's, one of the finest restaurants in the north of England. I suspect that this was down to timing: At 9.15pm they had probably 'sat' all their bookings and could see just enough room for two more. I believe that an hour earlier our cold call would have received a 'no'. The food was delightful. Each morsel had flavour, taste and texture and the 'service' was unobtrusive - which is, in itself a delight and far from the normal "is everything ok?" you get as you sit there with a mouth full of food, listening to your co-diner tell you something really interesting. All restaurants should take a leaf out of Anthony's book and teach their waiters to hover - wait - watch - be invited to talk.

On Saturday, we had a nice relaxed breakfast at Bagel Nash. Their coffee turned out to be the best I've tasted in England this year and coupled with an 'everything' bagel (with butter and jam) was a great surprise. We went to Gill and Tony's on Saturday night, a last minute invitation which, once again, turned out to be gem. We're always relaxed in their company and it was a nice addition to a stretching birthday weekend. Emma and Charlie brought the girls around on Saturday afternoon - which is always  nice. Ben and Shiv came around on Sunday. It's so great to see my kids from time to time - but like the old song by Harry Chapin suggests http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zH46SmVv8SU time is always tight.

Then I began one of the busiest weeks of recent months. On my actual birthday, Monday, I travelled to London to meet my colleagues and friends before our delivery of the Advanced e-Guide/PDA programme Day 2 on Tuesday. I went early so that  could attend the MoLeNET event being held at the Apple Store on Regent Street. I learned lots of things here - one of which I will pursue at some time in the future - the iPhone accessibility features. I think I need to reflect on the week a little more.

Anyway - many many thanks to everyone who sent me birthday greetings and best wishes. I like to think that my electronic replies of gratitude reached you - but as I can never be sure: Thanks you again. :-)