EdCompBlog

Fun on Friday #51: It's Beginning To Feel A Lot Like Christmas...

2009-11-28T10:36:00.004Z

As I explained on my music blog, I realised that there are now only four Fridays to Christmas. By my reckoning, that makes this the first Fun on Friday in advent. :-)

I will do my best to post something Christmas related or the next four Fridays. However, it has got off to a bad start as the more astute among you will have realised that it is now Saturday!

To start us off, here is a perennial favourite that I've mentioned before: Elf Yourself is back... and back with new songs and backgrounds.

Send your own ElfYourself eCards

Does the re-appearance of Elf Yourself mark the start of the Christmas season? If you Elf Yourself, remember to share the results here.

I hope you enjoy the next few Fun on Fridays!

The BEds are back... and this time they're podcasting

2009-11-25T22:50:00.001Z

One of the courses I really enjoy teaching is the Computers, Creativity and Education class. We look at a wide range of creative computer use, for example, the other day they aimed to tell a story in five frames and I posted a request for you to have a look at their pictures (The BEd Students Tell A Story).

spyPod
Originally uploaded by DavidDMuir

In yesterday's class, they had a go at podcasting. I wrote about the approach we took last year (Another podcast... and an explanation) and we followed pretty much the same pattern this time. The students formed themselves into three groups, planned a podcast on a topic studied during the module and then recorded it in Garageband. The three podcasts are available below:

It is worth pointing out that all three groups were working in the same room using the Macintosh's built in microphone so there is a lot of noise leakage. It is also clear that in a couple of the podcasts, the students were on the edge of dissolving into laughter. (There were probably more outakes, where one or all of the students burst out laughing, than there is material in the podcast itself!) In this case, however, the the process is the important part. We wanted them to see that, with the right software, it is not technically difficult to produce a podcast.

Do you have any advice you want to offer the students? Are there any school/education podcasts you think they ought to listen to?

The BEd Students Tell A Story

2009-11-23T23:21:00.005Z

Last week the BEd students were telling stories in five frames. If you are signed up for Flickr and the appropriate Flickr group, you should be able to see there work here:

If you can't see the group, the photos are public so you can see them in the students' photostreams:

Kicked out! - Photo 1
The Story of an Autumn Leaf - Photo 1
Day at Jordanhill - Photo 1

Please drop by and leave them a comment.

Fun On Friday #50: New Moon Trailer... sort of!

2009-11-20T22:45:00.003Z

If you have teenage daughters, you cannot have failed to notice that the second film in the Twilight series was released this week. New Moon will have girls squeaking with delight in cinemas up and down the country. It seemed appropriate therefore to post this trailer which also involves squeaking:

In my opinion (for what it's worth) this trailer beats the film hands down.

Torbay RTC: Personalised Pocket Learning

2009-11-18T11:52:00.003Z

Live blog from #torbayrtc

Personalised Pocket Learning - making a distinction between handheld learning and netbook type devices. Studywiz uses a variety of interfaces to deliver their stuff. Can have Studywiz Mobile - browser based designed to work on mobile devices (e.g. iPhone) and also a portfolio iPhone App eLocker. Two way interactive products. eLocker and Mobile can be used as voting devices, camera, dictionaries, spirit levels... Teachers even saying they save on photocopying costs and can deliver content that might otherwise have gone on Interactive Whiteboards.

There is not a substantial body of research on mobile learning - partly because there is no stable mobile environment. Current mobile devices are convergent devices pulling in a range of functions and tools into one, pocket sized device.

Advantages include ubiquitous access - learning beyond the classroom. Includes home/school links and international links. See ~~Travis Elis's (Ellen? - not sure of name)~~ Travis Allen's YouTube video about the iSchool Initiative - he wants to see every school student with their own iTouch. {Update: Sorry about messing up Travis' name but I'm pleased he left me a comment that allowed me to fix it and add some other links. Clearly Louise's Australian accent threw me - "Allen" via Australian became "Ellen" :-) }

Children want to personalise their learning. Pupils want a space they can personalise and meet with other learners. Pocket Learning devices can increase motivation (speaker says the engagement lasts - not just novelty factor) and makes learning fun. Pupils are engaged but important to engage the wider community - parents and teachers need to know how the pupils will be using the devices educationally. It is not about goofing off in class to listen to music. Develop an Acceptable Use Policy and explain what you intend to do to pupils, parents, teachers, management...

Louise Duncan (the speaker) thinks that many paper handouts are lost or wasted but this doesn't happen to material delived to pocket devices.

Suggests that you implement in stages - don't try and do everything at once. Start small and build on successes. Asked how long it takes from discovering a piece of software to getting it installed and usable on school machines. It can take a long time! With pocket devices, such as iTouch, it is easy to get new apps onto all the devices - sync with teacher machine to share to all pupil devices. (As an aside, she said that searching YouTube with an application name often brings up video of applications in use - gives good idea of what they are like.)

Showed a slide with some iPhone/iTouch applications. Leaf trombone, classic books, story kit, Civilisation Revolution (history simulation), Wurdle, Geared (used in science classrooms). Strip Designer used to create activities based on screenshots and maps to create geography activities - three images side-by-side map/street view/pupil folder of same location. Google earth and virtual field trips, etc. Another simulation game for iPhone/iTouch is Virtual Villagers. Numeracy: iChoose random choice tool - great for probability. Timers, spreadsheets etc. Can also give gallery of images, e.g. coins, or images to represent fractions. Engaging students in science: TouchPhysics. Brushes: goes beyond the doodle - share and comment on other children's work. Also, can show animation with Brushes Viewer that plays back creation of picture. Literacy activities include podcasting, film as text, collaboration. Storynory allows ownload of audiobooks with online transcripts - words can be clicked on and defined. Etch-a-sketch lite.

Lyrics: tune wiki can bring up album art and lyrics as it is being played. Turn presentations to movies to the pupil's pocket devices. RSS feeds can pull relevant content directly n to pupil's devices. Can use flip style video recorders, bring into iMovie and then share out to pupil iPhones/iTouches. Sound recording directly onto device. Worth looking at iTunes U at least once a week {Must find chap from Cupertino who Tweets about good stuff happening on iTunes U - DDM}

Reflections
The age we are does not determine how we use technology but it is our role as teachers to ensure relevant learning takes place and that pupils don't use devices simply to have fun. Worth integrating the devices with school admin system to deliver daily bulletins etc. Give teachers the devices six months before the pupils! Teachers at Louise's school found that pupils very quickly integrated into their lives and used much more effectively than textbooks/notebooks. Notebook and pocket devices have a three year lifespan so sustainability is an important consideration. Need configuration tools to make it easy to set up devices and add certificates to allow school internet access and filtering. More generally, a strategy to sync devices is important (e.g. ParaSync for iPods). Even basic issues like how will pupils charge their devices.

Louise has a blog that details loads of information and you can find her on Twitter at LouiseEDuncan.

Torbay RTC: RTC Project in Ukraine

2009-11-18T11:48:00.001Z

Live blog from #torbayrtc

The presenter is describing how they introduced Apple into the Ukraine. Said that they were showing Mac OS to people who had never seen it before, "Imagine!", he said. :-)

Torbay RTC: Who wants to be Golden-nuggetaire

2009-11-18T10:47:00.003Z

Live blog from #torbayrtc

The Bad Boys are up showing us a series of ideas for using technology using Who Wants to Be A Millionaire as an excuse.

First up was how to trace an image in Flash - brilliantly simple and produces really interesting images. Put a series of theses images in iPhoto and use the shatter transition in the slideshow - it looks brilliant.

Next up is Polyphontics to sample sounds for Garageband - create your own instruments.

Touch screen controller: Touch OSD + Osculator is an app for iPhone/iTouch

Karajan Ear Trainer - learn some music theory - learn about chords etc.

Screen capture software: ScreenFlow is a brilliant screencasting application and quality of video is excellent.

Quality QuickTime VR Panoramas: panoramas.dk Some great, free panoramas, e.g. moon landing.

Flash Games: Learning Arcade e.g. Attack of the Killer Bugs

Sharing something from a USB pen drive - just plug it into an airport and it appears on everyone's Finder.

Sound Flower: Routing audio from one app to another.

Print bits of a website: Print what you like. Easy and online.

Turn PDFs into Keynote presentations: PDF to Keynote (There is also a plug in version.) Take iPhone books and convert to Keynote.

Press Sleep and Home to take a screenshot of an iPhone

Add a logo to a movie - use cutaways. Can watermark your school logo onto a movie.

Free mouse highlighter app: Omnidazzle variety of highlighter tools - zoom, spotlight, ... brilliant.

Storyboard app for iPhone/iTouch: iStoryboards (Lite version is free) Drop photos, add dialog and action, set scene length and then can export.

Torbay RTC: Creative Song Writing

2009-11-18T10:27:00.003Z

Live blog from #torbayrtc

Peter Baxter is showing us how to create songs with people who have no experience of creating music using Garageband and cheap chimes. He got eight people and asked them to choose a number between one and eight but not to tell anyone else. They counted out and the volunteers had to clap when they heard their number. Then given a chime and instead of clapping, they hit a chime. They then noted which chimes were played on which beat. Next they fired up Garageband and recorded a note played eight times. The recorded soundswere then moved to the position in the rhythm and notes from the chime. The notes are then quantised in case the recording wasn't on the beat.

Having created a random "tune" you can then change the instrument in Garageband. Loop it, add a drum track, share to iTunes and Flo's your auntie! Just because they could, they then sent it to someones phone as a ringtone.

Described it as foolproof and very simple!

Torbay RTC: Radio in Schools

2009-11-18T10:05:00.005Z

Live blog from #torbayrtc

Radio in Schools is a commercial service that aggregates school podcasts and provides a range of tools and support to help schools create and distribute podcast. Links with Global Radio network and so schools can access their resources, it is linked to from their iTunes page and is listened to by Global DJs and staff. Includes online podcast creation tool. Also, loads of curricular material and information of how radio activities link to literacy curriculum.

Speaker has just shared that in commercial radio, news reports have to be delivered in three sentences. I can see that this allows pupils to develop useful summarising but I'm surprised at how brief it has to be in the real world. Three sentences to describe the war in Afghanistan!

Now talking about copyright issues. Global radio provided a lot of material for schools to use but they are working on a way to allow schools to share music etc. and assert the material can be shared. {Creative Commons would seem an obvious way to go but I wonder what their industry partners make of that? - DDM}

Staff, pupils and parents are all using the service.

Torbay RTC: New World Literacy

2009-11-18T09:04:00.002Z

Live blog from #torbayrtc

Michael Munn is asking "Why are we here?" Can ICT make a difference? Michael believes that ICT can make a difference - can improve education for learners and teachers. Covering similar ground to Torbay RTC: iTunes U but emphasising the importance of content creation. If it is true that learners are moving from information consumers to information producers (on facebook, Blogger, YouTube, etc.) then content creation tools are important literacy tools.

Does adopting technology mean you have to drop something else? Or does using ICT tools enhance and develop rather than replace "traditional" elements (such as literacy and numeracy).

Talking again about iTunes U. Apparently the Open University has had over ten million downloads since they started putting stiff on iTunes. This is a sea change - universities (and others) are giving away their content instead of locking it away until someone signs up for a course. {Interesting - means that school pupils can access university level subject resources. I wonder how many do and what the implications are for school subject teaching? - DDM Also, during the presentation, somebody tweeted a link to The Argument for Free Classes via iTunes.}

Michael is arguing that there is a drive to producing interactive content. Apparently Arnold Schwarzenegger says he is not spending any more money on books for the State's schools. This implies the need for everyone to have a portable device - for example a mobile phone (see The iPhone and the Scientist and Mobile phones - A Weapon of Mass Instruction). Surveys suggest 95% of high school children have a mobile phone but most schools still ban them.

Now talking about learning communities: the ease and efficiency of creating and sharing digital content. "In times of change, learners inherit the earth while the learned find themselves beautifully equipped to deal with a world that no longer exists." Eric Hoffer.

Torbay RTC: Free Software for Macs

2009-11-17T16:17:00.004Z

Live blog from #torbayrtc

Simon Elliot from West Cornwall RTC started by saying that Penzance is not in the middle of nowhere, it's at the end of nowhere! :-)

First bit of software displayed is iWeb. He thinks that this is a much neglected piece of software and is dismissed by some because it is "not a proper web design tool". (Twets during this presentation included "iWeb = iWin" and "iWeb is the unsung hero of the iLife suite".) However, it has many advantages - not least the very low technical knowledge required to use it. Also thinks MobileMe is a very cost effective way of storing and sharing content. Can be used for backup too. Could just about be used as a distributed VLE. Parts of the iWeb site can be locked down. Makes it easy to allow parents secure active to children's work. It has a drag and drop interface that makes it easy to put a site together.

Other useful free software
Simon wanted to help schools justify buying Macs and so decided to put together a web page with a list of free software so that schools could get off and running at no extra cost after buying a Mac. He said, "It got a bit out of hand!" - I for one am glad it did. The Freemac.com site is brilliant! Stunningly brilliant even.

Torbay RTC: Filemaker - A Whole School Approach

2009-11-17T15:58:00.000Z

Live blog from #torbayrtc

We live in a data rich environment but this raises some challenges:

Management
Accessibility
Consistency
Connectivity

The word database has some negative connotations but many of the exciting things happening now are database driven. iTunes is a database. iPhoto is a database. The web is a database!

FileMaker is a content manager. It takes the ease of use idea and tries to make content manager flexible, versatile, and visual. Manage, teach and learn - Filemaker can help with all three.

Bento is meant to be Filemaker for home use. Can be used by very young children and has a very cheap site licence. The presenter described Bento as: "Filemaker with no learning curve".

Bento lets you take different types of content and bring them together into the one place. Can be used to link content from iPhoto, iCal, iMovie…

Where does Filemaker sit in schools? Pupil use, such as a castles database and staff use such as showing database of photographs of children's work through the year. It makes it easy to collect and share information.

Presenter shared a tip on how to see what's important on a screen - squint at it. The important information should be the bit that still stands out.

Filemaker syncs with the iPhone and there are Bento and Filemaker apps for the iPhone.

Torbay RTC: How we use Macs at Isca College

2009-11-17T15:38:00.000Z

Live blog from #torbayrtc

One of the interesting things they did was hire a cherry picker to film children from above (Talk, Talk style video).

[Sorry missed most of this because Internet came back!]

Torbay RTC: iTunes U

2009-11-17T15:24:00.002Z

Live blog from #torbayrtc

John Hickey talked about iTunes U and how it came from Dukes University who provided their students with iPods but wanted to give them a way to use them educationally. Originally started just by recording their classes but this meant students had to keep going back to the site many times a week - so much information that it becomes too hard to deal with.

Basic Literacy
Information Literacy (How do people cope with the sheer amount of information?)
Media Literacy (From consumer to participant)

New students expect learning environments that support and accommodate the way they interact online outside of school.

Duke University came to Apple and talked them into making minor adaptations to iTunes that ultimately allowed the creation of iTunes U. This is not something Apple planned but they believe that iTunes U is now the largest repository of online educational content. Not Apple content - comes from and is controlled by the institutions themselves. Cambridge University, Teachers TV, LTScotland, Open University, and many others are on iTunes U. It has over 5,000 public courses from (currently) 77 countries.

For use in schools, it s possible to turn off the commercial side of iTunes and just leave iTunes U.

What are the tools for 21st Century learners?

Torbay RTC: Introduction to Theatre Control Software

2009-11-17T15:05:00.002Z

Live blog from #torbayrtc

Introduction to Theatre Control Software from Mark Hartley - JAM Theatre Company. They are a professional theatre company who aim to bring people into the theatre. Their workshops look at theatre, music, animation, … creative arts generally.

They showed some video clips to demonstrate the range of techniques and skills, including stop motion animation, musicals, pop videos, … The iLife software meant tey didn't ha to worry about the technology.

Looking at Arkaos (not supported any more?), Catalyst (a bit too high end?), Keynote (great way of doing live animation and text effects during a production), BoinxTV (looks amazing but add supported). For sound, they are investigating QLab - a free sound control program. Design the sound effects, timings, order, fade cues, etc. and then trigger through the software. The software allows you to control what speaker sound comes out of. The latest version of the software allows the triggering of video cues as well as switch between live camera feed and other outputs.

DMX is the new way of controlling lighting and fairly cheap USB to DMX devices will allow you to control lighting from Macintosh. See for example miniStage Console (another free package).

Using Macintosh technology to control live performance not just for recording events! See their website http://www.abiteoftheapple.co.uk/

Torbay RTC: Tackling Literacy with iLife

2009-11-17T13:02:00.003Z

Live blog from #torbayrtc

Key goals:

Get visitors to learn something (teachers and pupils)
Make visitors want to learn
Give as many different learning styles a chance to learn as possible
create exciting learning environment
Develop partnerships
Sustainability

Describing a project involving 30 "excitable" Year 5 pupils and their teacher. Project wrote a rap about literacy. The original idea was to get the pupils into a studio and record the rap. Extended by getting students to create a backing track in Garageband. The class produced fifteen backing tracks and had an X Factor vote to choose the best. The next step was to storyboard and produce videos. The project took place over five weeks. The students edited the video:

The Rose Report says that their should be more emphasis on performing and visual arts. The presenter said, "They are speaking our language".

Torbay RTC: Cambridgeshire RTC

2009-11-17T12:33:00.004Z

Live blog from #torbayrtc

David Fuller and Paul [Didn't Catch it] are talking about what they are doing formally and informally in their school - Thomas Deacon Academy.

For example, they run an animation club (informal) where the pupils created "stages" using cardboard boxes for stop motion animation. Also run Digital Cre8tor and showed great photo slideshow with You Got A Friend In Me as the background music.

Also showed some Illustrator work that used live trace to produce impressive results. Also, used Illustrator in Literacy Day activities to illustrate a poem. Young children (year 9?) also producing Julian Opie style portraits (see this photoshop How To...) which they said was a great way to introduce layers.

They have a fantastic looking school newsletter (although "newsletter" does not do it justice) which is pupils produced and a radio station which the children not only host but also do the technical stuff.

Clearly a school that is using technology in very creative ways.

Torbay RTC: e-Learning Foundation

2009-11-17T11:58:00.004Z

Live blog from #torbayrtc.

Kevin Pay is talking about overcoming the digital divide. The e-Learning Foundation aims:

"...to reduce the effect of this “Digital Divide” by working with schools, parents and other stakeholders to ensure that all children have access to the learning resources that technology can make available, when and where they need them, both at home and at school."

They have three core principles:

Equity of access
Sustainability
Home use

The third is seen as important - it is not a way for schools to get extra kit! Becta are distributing the funds and it is going directly to families. The Home Access fund is means tested (based on eligibility for free school meals. Home access but the child will bring to school so has educational benefits too.

E Learning - Computer from School Website on Vimeo.

There is also a School Affiliation aspect to their work to help schools provide personal ICT access for their pupils.

Fun On Friday #49: Bobby McFerrin

2009-11-13T22:50:00.003Z

I think pretty much anything with Bobby McFerrin in it would qualify for a Fun On Friday (for example, this Ave Maria is stunning) however, today's Fun on Friday combines McFerrin, Music and the Mind:

World Science Festival 2009: Bobby McFerrin Demonstrates the Power of the Pentatonic Scale from World Science Festival on Vimeo.

How cool is that? ...And I love the "scientific" question asked at the end of the video. :-)

If this whets your appetite, you can check out the videos of the whole session on the World Science Festival site.

Appology: Many of my favourite links recently have come from Twitter contacts. I note the site but usually forget to note who posted it. So, thank you to whoever directed me to this video. Please claim credit in the comments so I can thank you properly.

21st Century Assessment

2009-11-12T08:58:00.006Z

I read an article on Internet use in exams on the BBC news site with interest. It begins:

"In Denmark, the government has taken the bold step of allowing pupils full access to the internet during their final school year exams."
From: Danish pupils use web in exams

One Of These Buttons Will Get Me Out Of Here
Originally uploaded by Cayusa

Now that's eAssessment! For some time pupils in Denmark have been able to choose whether to handwrite answers or type them on a computer. I suppose it could be argued that this is just a logical extension. The article says that on the morning of the exam, the students are helped to set up "their laptops". It is not clear whether they are the student's own laptops or if it just means the laptops they will use. The opportunity to use your own machine, with the software etc. set up just the way you like it would be an interesting.

Clearly, allowing Internet access changes the nature of what you assess. For example, the article notes, "The teachers also think the nature of the questions make it harder to cheat in exams. Students are no longer required to regurgitate facts and figures. Instead the emphasis is on their ability to sift through and analyse information ."

There is a Have Your Say page linked to this article and the responses are fairly polarised. I find the number of people posting comments such as, "An even better way to ensure success would be to give them the examination answers already, that way nobody has to fail and feel upset." slightly depressing. Is that really what people think is happening or is it trolls at work? In the response page there is a clear school of thought that believes memorising and recalling facts is the only thing that assessment can do and that any deviation from that undermines and devalues examinations. And why is there an assumption that changing what is assessed and how it is assessed is about dumbing down? Analysis and synthesis are much higher order skills than factual recall.

What are your thoughts? Good thing? Bad thing? What kind of change would that bring to the kinds of exams we set and the way we teach if a system like that was introduced here?

Twitter let me down… sort of.

2009-11-11T13:49:00.004Z

…Or Facebook comes to the rescue. While trying to put together a presentation, I was looking for a link to a site I half remembered. Since I needed an instant answer, Twitter seemed to be the obvious place to go.

day 207 - 24.03.2009 - so not ready
Originally uploaded by ardenswayoflife

Here's the message I posted on Twitter:

I think I've seen a photo project with people holding hand written notices in front of their faces. Anyone know what I'm talking about?

It didn't exactly draw a flurry of responses, so I reposted a short time later. One response came from gbrown057 who suggested the Bob Dylan sequence from Don't Look Back. This was good, but not what I was looking for. I in turn referred him to the Dylan message generator where you can add your own messages to Bob's boards. Both digitalmaverick and pkkelly half remembered something too but essentially, I drew a blank with Twitter on Friday night.

I decided to have another go on Saturday morning.The Saturday morning set of Twitter contacts might help where Friday night's lot failed but once again, despite repeating the message a couple of times, no answer was forthcoming.

Then on Sunday, Daughter Number 2 asked if the video she sent me was what I was looking for. This caused me a bit of confusion until she said Facebook. I was asking on Twitter but I'd forgotten that my Twitter messages automagically update my Facebook status. And four people had responded there: my sister, my daughter, a friend from university and a chap I've never met but made contact with through Flickr and a shared love of the music of Rush. They were all making suggestions and getting miffed that I wasn't responding.

Silly me. I had my answer… I was just looking in the wrong place. The suggested answers were:

Daughter Number 1: All American Rejects: Dirty Little Secret. Interesting and is connected to the PostSecret site. Not what I wanted but an interesting project that I had forgotten about.
University friend: Suggested A Vision Of Students Today. Again, it was good, but not quite right. (To coin a catchphrase.)
My sister: Sent a link to a song of palindromes called Bob by Weird Al Yankovic Which was interesting since it's a parody of the Bob Dylan song that Gordon had suggested on Twitter.

However, the link that if it's not the one I was thinking of is at least as close as I'm going to get was sent by my fellow Flickr using Rush fan who suggested the Someone Once Told Me group on Flickr.

Lessons learned: two social media tools are better than one and sometimes you find the answer in unexpected places.

Any other lessons I should have learned? (Or any other suggestions?)

Grumpy Old Man

2009-11-09T20:36:00.003Z

Grumpy old man rant coming up rather than something educational… How can it cost less to buy Gillette three blade disposable razors than it does to buy Gillette three blade replacement blades?

Azor - The Razor with Personality
Originally uploaded by Simon Starr

After looking around for longer than is sensible trying to get less expensive replacement blades, I finally decided to buy a whole new razor. This worked out to be even cheaper than buying the disposable razors (and even came with three extra blades in the pack). Throw away culture or what?

In case anyone cares, I bought an Azor from King of Shaves which was on special offer. Quite apart from saving me money compared to buying new blades, it is a fantastic razor. It does a great job and is both comfortable and easy to use.

Honest, I'm not on commission from them, but if you find your replacement blades cost more than a new razor, I can highly recommend the Azor. If that's not enough, when you look at it from behind, it looks like it's smiling at you.

Normal EdCompBlog service will be resumed shortly. :-)

Fun On Friday #48: Too Big For My Boots?

2009-11-06T22:34:00.005Z

John and David have done a smashing job with EDUtalk and I honestly just posted an audio file because I thought it was a good idea. However, apparently, I won the competition. :-)

I am well pleased but, as the saying goes, pride comes before a fall. Today's Fun On Friday site is therefore perfect. It will cut me down to size and stop my head becoming too inflated: Despair Inc.'s Demotivators. Just what I need.

I think the Winners poster is the most appropriate. What do you think?

An EdCompCast for EduTalk

2009-11-04T11:21:00.006Z

I happened to notice a Twitter message on Monday announcing the arrival of EDUtalk. After the success of SLFtalk, John Johnston and David Noble decided to set up a more general site to provide a location for educators to post audio material to the web. They were aware that not everyone has the skills or the time to create a regular podcast, so they aimed to make it as easy as possible to get audio material on the web.

The Googly eyePod
Originally uploaded by DavidDMuir

EDUtalk is simply a website which gives as many ways as is sensibly possible to post audio. You can email directly to the site with an audio file as an attachment, or you can use one of a number of existing phone/audio blogging tools and EDUtalk will pick up your post and, after a moderation stage, post it on EDUtalk too.

As stated above, if you can create an mp3 on your computer, you will be able to email it to EDUtalk. Other ways to post to EDUtalk currently supported are:

During the launch FlashMeeting, David and John were asked why would someone, who could already post audio material on their own site, want to post to EDUtalk? Two possible reasons were given. The first reason was that it would increase the audience for the audio, which is probably true. However, I found the second reason more compelling: it gives a location where audio related to an event can be aggregated. Certainly, one of the reasons SLFtalk was such a success was that you could go to one location and access audio material from a range of contributors - much easier than chasing round umpteen blogs.

In theory, I have been meaning to produce more EdCompCasts for a while now but it's been about a year since I published the last one. I have material recorded that I meant to turn into a podcast but never got around to it. The launch of EDUtalk seemed like a good excuse to give it another go and, in the spirit of EDUtalk mobile audio blogging, do something quick and simple.

As it happened, I was going to talk to some Computing Science students at Glasgow University the day after EDUtalk's launch, so I decided to record some of their questions. Today I did a minimal edit, put a top and tail on it and saved it as an mp3 file. Here it is here as an EdCompCast:

EdCompCast09Eps01 - Questions from Computing Students

In a few moments I'll email it to EDUtalk and I'll update this post as soon as I see it's been moderated.

Since it's been a while since the last EdCompCast, I thought I'd remind you how to subscribe to the podcast. I've added a button to the sidebar (second from the bottom, below the Subscribe To section which is intended for the text posts on this blog). You should see a link to iTunes that will add EdCompCast as a subscription for you.

Remember to answer the students' questions as well as letting me know what you think of EDUtalk.

Update: The audio from this post is now live on EDUtalk.

Fun On Friday #47: But Is It Art?

2009-10-30T23:36:00.003Z

Daughter Number 2 brought this one to my attention: We Feel Fine. The site's tagline is: "An exploration of human emotion, in six movements" - which is at least intriguing if not downright interesting.

Big Heart of Art - 1000 Visual Mashups
Originally uploaded by qthomasbower (away - ill)

I'll quote a fairly large chunk from the site's Mission statement, however, you really have to see it, and play with it, yourself to get an idea of what it is all about:

Since August 2005, We Feel Fine has been harvesting human feelings from a large number of weblogs. Every few minutes, the system searches the world's newly posted blog entries for occurrences of the phrases "I feel" and "I am feeling". When it finds such a phrase, it records the full sentence, up to the period, and identifies the "feeling" expressed in that sentence (e.g. sad, happy, depressed, etc.)...
The result is a database of several million human feelings, increasing by 15,000 - 20,000 new feelings per day. Using a series of playful interfaces, the feelings can be searched and sorted across a number of demographic slices, offering responses to specific questions...

If you haven't done so already, go to the We Feel Fine site, open it, and explore!

Fascinating and mesmerising... but is it art? I think probably yes. What do you think?