dougbelshaw.com/blog

Welcome back!
#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!)

I was interviewed last week by Tim Bradburn of Connected Teaching (@cpd4teachers) who was interested in having me expand up the ideas contained in #uppingyourgame: an educator’s guide to productivity.

In the extracts below (taken from the interview) I explain my belief that productivity is a learned behaviour based upon serenity, reliability and focus.

 

 #uppingyourgame: Serenity: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

 

 #uppingyourgame: Reliability: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

 

 #uppingyourgame: Focus: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

(if you’re reading this via email or in a feed reader you may need to click through!)

Over the next three weeks, staff e-learning sessions will focus on getting started with podcasting. This first session starts off with the basics you will need as a teacher before even pressing that ‘record’ button:

1. An understanding of what RSS is.
2. A blog onto which to put MP3 files.

The easiest way to get your head around what RSS is and how it means that audio files can be delivered to interested parties automatically is by watching this excellent explanatory video prepared by CommonCraft:

A podcast differs from simply placing an audio file on the Internet because of RSS. It means that new content can be ‘pushed’ to interested parties rather than them having to manually check for updates. The process of interested parties requesting that podcasts are delivered automatically is known as ’subscribing’.

Now that you know what RSS is, you need to have a mechanism by which you can generate one. In our case, this is going to be a blog. Anything that you add to a blog post will be automagically turned into a subscribable podcast.

To learn how to set up a blog, check out the elearnr guide entitled:
Creating a homework blog in 3 simple steps using email

If you want to jump ahead and have a go podcasting before the next session, you should visit the Box of Tricks website where José Picardo has put together an excellent short presentation entitled Podcasting in Five Easy Steps.

The EdTechRoundup meeting last Sunday night was an unusual one. We decided to record the FlashMeeting session and invited a number of VLE experts and those familiar with the Scottish GLOW network.

The resulting discussion was excellent with some great insights and useful information conveyed by a diverse bunch of educators.

You can listen to the podcast and get the del.icio.us links by visiting edtechroundup.com or click on the ‘play’ button below.

 

 EdTechroundup - Podcast Episode 5: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Sinclair Mackenzie and I are proud to present the next podcast under the auspices of EdTechRoundup. For those who don’t know, we’re a group of UK-based educators interested in the potential of educational technology to enhance teaching and learning. We’re a diverse bunch and anyone’s welcome to join us. There’s more details at our wiki – do feel free to join us on Sunday nights from 8-9.30pm!

EdTechRoundup podcast episode 4 is all about Internet Safety and features Ollie Bray – the man, the myth, the legend. He’s doing some great things up in Scotland that you really should hear about. So head over to the post to get the links and subscribe to the RSS feed, or just listen to us by clicking below!

Oh, and that absolutely rocking music at the start and end is the magnificent guitar solo from Muse’s Knights of Cydonia. Of course.

 

 EdTechroundup - Podcast Episode 4: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

I’m delighted to announce that (eventually!) EdTechRoundup Podcast Episode 3 is now available for your listening pleasure. It’s around 33 minutes long and is centered around a conversation about the merits of blogs vs. wikis I had with Kristian Still.

The quality music inbetween sections is taken from the first few seconds of Justice’s One Minute To Midnight.

 

 EdTechroundup - Podcast Episode 3: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download