So Much to Learn...So Little Time

A good time had by all

A good time had by all
Originally uploaded by chuffin.

This sort of stuff really drives me mad. Don't mind the drinking so much (having done it myself from time to time) but the abject apathy and laziness required to lug crates of beer to a park (not close to shops) and then just leave the empties lying around not 100m away from 2 bins is beyond belief. Grump.

A 2oh student's plea.

Sean The Bass Player has come up with some interesting thoughts in his latest Students 2.0 blog post. In short he would like not only to be taught to pass exams but to ensure that students are kept up to speed with technology. His thoughts were piqued by the Queen going all 2.0 by posting her latest Message to the Commonwealth on YouTube, along with a variety of historical films.

Uploaded with Skitch!

He asks that if an institution as old as the monarchy can move with the times, why can't education?

I think this question is very valid. Why indeed does the education establishment not move and evolve more quickly. Well we all know the stock answer boils down to funding, or lack thereof; but unfortunately there also tends to be quite a lot of inertia in classrooms. If a certain way of doing things has got kids past their exams for the last10 years ago then it will jolly well do so now...if it ain't broke don't fix it.

The inertia thing is quite a difficult problem to deal with as it involves trying to persuade folk to do things they have no desire to do, and I don't wish to go in depth about that here.
But what about the other issue that crops up...funding. Many schools operate on networks that are long past their sell by dates. (My place has only just replaced the Windows '98 machines we were operating.) Now obviously updating these costs a heap of cash, but many of the very usable applications available on the net are free, especially to educators. I'm thinking of applications such as YouTube (or any video hosting site), Flickr, Animoto, Voicethread, Skype etc., etc. All these and more are free and are outstanding resources for educators and their students, BUT how many of us can actually access these sites in schools? Many are banned in the name of child protection, for (a very real) fear that kids will access inappropriate content.

This is where we the educators and students such as Sean ( and his 2.0 colleagues) need to step in by dealing with digital literacy on a daily basis; by educating and encouraging thoughtful, sensible use of the resources on the web. Then maybe, those who hold the keys to the filters may unlock them when they see that these tools are being used wisely and how useful they are to education. And then Sean et al  will feel that they are getting an education that goes some way to preparing them for a future that we cannot yet know.

Photo credit:  Dia 48 - School's Out, originally uploaded on April 18, 2007
by MëL

PAKISTAN/BHUTTO

PAKISTAN/BHUTTO
Originally uploaded by Darriuss Royce.

How much more immediate and graphic can you get. Is there an argument for seeing more of the aftermath of these events on our TV screens? Would it encourage more protest against terrorism?

Working with eLearning Tools

Jane Hart's E-Learning Pick of the Day has provided me with loads of new applications to try out over the last few months.
Here's one I wanted to share. The E-Learning Guild has just produced a free to download ebook called 162 Tips and Tricks for Working withe Elearning Tools.
On first brief overview it is chock full of tips on how to use a plethora of web tools. The book is free to download and share but cannot be altered in anyway. So with thanks to the E-Learning Guild here is...

162 Tips and Tricks for Working With eLearning Tools

LAFTAS and Festival Pocket Films

A little while ago I blogged and posted my presentation for the LAFTAS (Language and Film Talent Awards) promoted by CILT.
In school we are using it as an opportunity for our S4's to think about the study of a language and its relevance to their future working life. I am hoping we get a whole raft of amusing, interesting films to judge.
This morning though this post cropped up in my reader from Liz Kolb's From Toy to Tool Blog. So here's a call to all creatively minded language teachers.
Enter the Festival Pocket Film. For the 4th edition of these awards the organisers have introduced an international section specifically related to producing films for viewing on mobile equipment (phones, pda's etc).
Here are some more details:

Project typology :
  All collective / participatory projects which use mobile technologies such as mobile communications terminals, small digital cameras, etc. and which result in an audiovisual presentation or diffusion of : films, news reporting, video blogs, video casts, webTV...

Examples :
  a teaching, technical or artistic workshop
  an audiovisual documentation of a particular community by its members
  the constitution of an audiovisual cooperative
  an informational relay program regarding environmental, - public health and cultural problems a participatory artistic project...

If and when I eventually get my back sorted an return to work I hope to be able to get something together for this project.

Online Teens

How creative are you?
Thanks to David Warlick for drawing my attention to a recent survey of teenagers in the US, by PEW Internet.

Content creation by teenagers continues to grow, with 64% of online teenagers ages 12 to 17 engaging in at least one type of content creation, up from 57% of online teens in 2004.

How much longer can the vast majority of educators continue to ignore the fact that a huge number of the youngsters they teach each day are connected and online AND being creative. How many educators can seriously say they have actually created something recently. (I can. I can.)

Girls continue to dominate most elements of content creation. Some 35% of all teen girls blog, compared with 20% of online boys, and 54% of wired girls post photos online compared with 40% of online boys. Boys, however, do dominate one area – posting of video content online – online teen boys are nearly twice as likely as online girls (19% vs. 10%) to have posted a video online somewhere where someone else could see it.

Interesting that girls are dominating the blogging side whilst boys dominate the posting of video online. Could we learn from this fact. Do we need more visual ways of educating to bring more boys on board?

Another thing that comes out from the survey is that teens appear to be inveterate commenters:

89% of those teens who post photos say that people comment on the images at least "some of the time." Teens who post videos report a similarly large incidence of feedback, with nearly three quarters (72%) of video posters receiving comments on their videos.

Now we all know that at times these comments can be insulkting and appropriate but there are times when these comments can be useful critiques and show a level of thought and dare I say it a kind of Peer Assessment.

For me the "killer" info in this survey is this:

For many teens they are now an integral part of the system of communication that they use to conduct the work of their lives. Fully 41% of the teens who use MySpace, Facebook or other social network sites say they send messages to friends via those sites every day.

If just under half of all teens are using social networking sites to communicate educators must get involved in this (r)evolution at some time, otherwise we are going to lose all contact with those we are charged with educating.

Tellingly, even more so than internet stuff, mobile phones are THE preferred method of communication:

Nearly two-thirds (63%) of teens now have a cell phone and for teens who have them, they are the premier communication method for talking with friends.

Why? Well they are relatively cheap, easy to use and many can do most of what kids want them to do (and they don't have to share access with parents????). Although it pains me to say it I think these things are going to overtake computers as the primary net access source, so rather than banning them in schools
we need to educate about appropriate use and harness their power and omnipresence.

What do you think?

All quotes taken from PEW Internet and American Life Project Press Release (19 Dec 2007)

Using I Can Animate

Yanick Gets His Hair Done.

I'd been looking for an excuse to use I can Animate. When Yanick said he wanted his hair braided I took the opportunity to use the time lapse function. Just look at the clock to see how long the patient lad had to sit down. Bravo to Jeannette as well. I'm now the only one in the house his hair not braided...if you know me me you'll know why...

Click To Play

Something for A/H French

Hugo* is one of my Flickr contacts and produces wonderful examples of photo journalism. This weekend saw a demonstration in support of the homeless in Paris broken up in typical fashion by the Paris police. Hugo* was there and has produced an wonderfully human photo story, see embedded slideshow.
However this series of pictures could be used as a fantastic resource in H / AH, A'Level French when looking at the topic of homelessness or even simply protest. On the photo set's Flickr page, Hugo* has also included the article to which his photo's contributed. Every picture tells a story. Students could use individual pictures to describe emotions or use the whole show to produce their own news article. What could be more up to date and immediate than using 2 day old flikr photos.
What is wonderful is that these photos are free to use for non-commercial purposes and without alteration as long as Hugo Leglise-Bataille is credited.
Thanks Hugo*.

Created with Admarket's flickrSLiDR.

Photos by Hughes Leglise-Bataille

1st anniversary

I would like to celebrate my first year of broadbandedness by congratulating my provider.
You hear lots of stories in the media about bad customer service, slow connections speeds etc. I have no complaints thus far with my Eclipse Evolution Broadband service. I have the cheapest option and everything has worked supremely well, touch wood.
Could it be because its not some big promotional offer which is soooo good everyone wants it and the systems can't cope. I don't know but it works
Thanks Eclipse for your super service. (How about a month or two free for the promotion.)

New...Talking Pictures

This looks like a fun piece of software.
Make your photos talk. Check out this preview, also get this software for free (worth nearly $60) if you blog about it before christmas. Click here.

Thanks to AB for the heads up.

Select a text and
click here for voice