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#uppingyourgame: an educator's guide to productivity is now up to v0.4!
(I'm looking for people to translate it into other languages when finished - if you're interested get in touch!)
Read/Write Web have a great post entitled e-learning 2.0: All You Need To Know which has some great links to various education-related Web 2.0 apps.
The idea behind this cartoon so neatly encapsulates some of the frustration I feel sometimes that I wanted to keep this cartoon for future reference. So though I might as well share it here:
(by Hugh MacLeod at gapingvoid, via Joyce Valenza)
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I came across some demotivators, reminiscent of despair.com, yesterday. Here’s my favourites:
Last week a colleague got in touch to ask my advice about improving a project his Year 8 (12-13 year old) students do each year. He was using Dreamweaver with them to produce websites, but felt that the project was overly focused on the ICT aspect than the subject-specific skills he was trying to develop.
The two options he was considering were either for each student to create their own wiki or for them each to have their own blog. After some discussion, he decided that perhaps using Wikispaces might be the best option – especially when I pointed out that they’re ad-free for educational purposes.
No, however, I’m not so sure. After stumbling upon a link via del.icio.us/popular which got me thinking, I reckon that a combination of Google Docs, Google Page Creator and iGoogle could work even better. Students could even use Picasa Web Albums to show off images they have collected/taken. The process would go something like this:
Advanced uses of this might include using Google Notebook to collect information from relevant websites, Google Reader to keep track of relevant RSS feeds, Google Video to create documentaries, and Google Talk and GMail to collaborate with people further afield!
If you find these Google tools useful then you might want to consider Google Apps for Education for your establishment.
Has anyone done something like this? Have I missed anything out? You’d think I was paid to promote Google, wouldn’t you? Nope, just enjoy using their tools… 
I’ve just come across MindTouch’s Deki which aims to evolve wikis to the next level. Although I haven’t had chance to install it yet – it’s only free for up to 5 users and then prohibitively expensive – Deki looks like it could be the next wiki paradigm. You can see it in action at OpenGarden, a Mindtouch-sponsored Open Source community. The main feature of Deki is its semantic web possibilities. There’s a review of Deki over at Read/Write Web if you’re interested in more details. Personally, I can’t wait for this type of web app to filter down to the free level so I can use it with my students!
Update: I’ve discovered that Deki is actually Open Source, but that it’s an ‘OSI-approved commercially supported open source wiki’. This means that the source code is available, but to use it as-is, you have to buy it. Fear not, as Mindtouch’s Wik.is site will allow you to create a free wiki with a version of Deki that is a couple of releases old!
I didn’t even realise until this morning that you could play Nintendo DS games online. I knew you could use the wireless feature to play other people within, say, the same room, but was completely unaware of Nintendo WFC. Upon discovering this I became frustrated at my inability to connect via our Orange Livebox. What follows constitutes a solution for people experiencing similar problems…
The comment facility wasn’t working properly – thanks to Paul Lewis for pointing that out (rather belatedly, may I add…) I’ve now sorted it out, so feel free to add your thoughts on my inane ramblings!
Anyone who saw Steve Jobs preview the upcoming Time Machine feature of Mac OSX Leopard will know that visualizations can be very powerful. Via Steve Dembo, I came across SpaceTime, a browser by which you can do something similar for items (blog posts, auction listings, etc.) on various websites.
If, like me, you haven’t listened to the excellent EdTechTalk podcasts for a while, you’ll be glad that there’s an archive available here. Time to get listening… (via elearnspace)
An interesting article in the Guardian caught my eye. Entitled Ariadne’s Thread it looks at the impact on students of the availability of online tools and texts. I’m currently doing an Ed.D. so have been in higher education since 1999. In that time things have changed dramatically. Whilst I’m in Durham University’s School of Education library as I type this, it’s only because I needed a face-to-face with my supervisor and to get my hands on a couple of books that aren’t available online.
When I return home later today I’ll still be able to access journals electronically by signing into the library’s website, use Google Scholar to find articles and books of interest, and record what I find on my wiki and Ed.D. blog. This was pretty much all unthinkable in my first year as an undergraduate. I have to say I think it’s a change for the better!
Now we just need to reform the school system to take advantage of educational technologies…
