Kinda Learning Stuff

Generation Y - interesting little article

noreply@blogger.com (Sarah Horrigan) — Sun, 08 Jun 2008 09:25:00 +0000

Generation Y - Welcome To Their World - ReadWriteWeb: "the world of Generation Y eludes a lot of the previous generations. Generation Y is absorbed in a world made possible through technology. This is a key factor that is left out of the misconceptions made about Gen Y. Here's a glimpse into the world of Gen Y and how they're using technology."

Worth a trot through this article... if nothing else but to dispel a whole load of myths and concerns people often come out with when it comes to considering this age group.

"They don't just adopt these technologies just because they're out there. They adopt them because of what they can do with them." - isn't that just a lesson for everyone? Especially those using technology within eduction.

Our online selves

noreply@blogger.com (Sarah Horrigan) — Sun, 08 Jun 2008 09:21:00 +0000

Just updated my blogger profile because it was no longer correct and having done that (the things you find time to do when you've 'real' stuff to be getting on with, huh?)... I had a little browse at some other people's profiles and a thought occurred to me. I wonder how much we really consider how we'll come across in these little snippets of our lives?

Here are a selection of some of my favourite interests from people's profiles:

"sports.specially ball and field games , music of all types..kinda. , inventing CODENAMES , being an obssessive person"

"I love to study history Telling people about the Lord Reaching out to the 500,000 here in England"

"Taking one of my 3 dogs to Agility, Looking for craft bargains on the net, & of course crafting in my room"

"Frugal living, reading, sewing , knitting & crochet"

"251 year old female Capricorn"

What do these say about the writers? What do they think they want them to say? Should writing an online profile be given as much thought as writing a CV? I've often heard it said that to speak effectively for five minutes takes much more preparation than to speak for an hour - and I wonder if the same isn't true of these online snippets? Does personal presentation extend beyond the obvious these days and online literacy needs to encompass all those things we might not think matter... but might end up mattering a great deal? Next time want to employ an obsessive person who enjoys inventing code names... then just look on the internet and you're bound to find them... even if they never imagined you would...

Public vs. private facades. The lines between them are ever blurring.

Blogged with the Flock Browser

Why Online "Noise" is Good For You - or not

noreply@blogger.com (Sarah Horrigan) — Sat, 07 Jun 2008 06:21:00 +0000

Why Online "Noise" is Good For You - ReadWriteWeb: "Quiet time, time off-line, deep thoughts and long books are all beautiful things - essential to a healthy intellectual, psychological and social life. We argue, though, that the opposite of all those things - online social media noise, is also a great opportunity that deserves to have its worth recognized at a time in history when many of us are struggling to deal with it.

So take some time for yourself when you can, find a nice place to sit with a cup of tea and blow through a few hundred items in your RSS reader. If you can relax into it, it'll help you remember some of the reasons why you love the internet."

What a relevant little article!! It's an interesting read and I do understand what they're getting at. I quite like to have a browse through my RSS feeds and generally watch the world rushing by, dipping in a toe as I can. However, in the last month I've been so busy with other 'stuff' that the sense of being overwhelmed by the online chat, chat, chat of news, articles, blogs and general communication became too much. I switched off. And you know what? The world didn't disappear without me. Online social noise is good. It can make you think. Can switch you on to new ideas. Can give new perspectives. But let's not overstate its importance here. It's not an all or nothing world out there.

Tuning out can be just as healthy as tuning in.

Oh, and hello blog again! It's been a while! Last month we moved five times (one move around the world), I started working on two courses, had assignments due on two courses I'm studying, had no internet connection for some of the time, had to buy cars, furniture, general household possessions... and all the while look after my two little people. When real life brings in overload, online life can definitely take a back seat.

New favourite tools - Evernote

noreply@blogger.com (Sarah Horrigan) — Thu, 17 Apr 2008 20:59:00 +0000

Remember everything. | Evernote

Haven't been blogging much lately due to 'general being snowed under by life'-ness... but have recently been playing with the Evernote beta - and I have to say that it rocks!! Shaping up to be far better than Google Notebook and the online and offline synchronization is terrific. Though I might question whether an offline client isn't a slight backwards step, having lived with a dodgy internet connection for the past few months and also had my computer threaten to lose the operating system - I can see that a note-taking service which straddled both worlds has some major advantages.

You can take notes from any source either with a single click or via screenshot... you can tag, share, search. And... it's free! I used to use a version of Evernote when it was a paid for / free version only on offer via magazine kinda thing - and this is a real improvement on that. The flexibility of the formats it supports - from sound recorded via mobile, to ordinary notes and copied quotes - make it a little piece of web2.0-style genius.

If you're after a tool for research, work or study (for PC or Mac) which will help you keep your online and offline snippets together and organised, then this is really looking like a very useful addition.

Anyhoo, other articles about it at O'Reilly and Lifehacker if you want to read more about it.

Flickr - photos alone no more

noreply@blogger.com (Sarah Horrigan) — Wed, 09 Apr 2008 08:58:00 +0000

What is video on Flickr?Video on Flickr is going to be defined by our incredible, diverse, far-flung and fabulously talented members. Some answers that we’ve come up with:
1. A long photo 2. Personal 3. Simple – not overproduced or slick 4. Possibly the best answer so far: The Great Unknown

Some ground rules to get started: 1. Only “safe” and “moderate” video content is permitted. Your “beautiful wife” should not be moving. (Read more about content filters.) 2. Only upload videos you have created yourself.

Flickr: Help: Video

Okay, so I can see the reasons why Flickr might have done this - but I do hope that people's photostreams aren't going to be overloaded with dross videos. YouTube's nailed the market there!

Will be interesting to watch - I'd love to think that simple tutorials might be able to be uploaded to Flickr to explain what had been done to photos / give advice on image editing techniques. Wouldn't it be great if someone else uploaded a photo critique of your images and showed you the end result? I can see that a course like T189 could use something like this (it already has its own version of Flickr in OpenStudio). But... but... I do have some reservations about it attempting to be all things multimedia when what it does really well is host photos and an online photographic community.

Wonder where this will head. Will another YouTube explosion happen or will it sit in the background as the ugly best mate of pretty old Flickr?

Blogged with the Flock Browser

OUseful Info: To Comrades in Non-Programistan - A Message from Feedistan

noreply@blogger.com (Sarah Horrigan) — Sat, 05 Apr 2008 22:08:00 +0000

OUseful Info: To Comrades in Non-Programistan - A Message from Feedistan: "To Comrades in Non-Programistan - A Message from Feedistan"

I fear Tony Hirst may have gone a little mad...

But the above is still a great blog post! Break free from the shackles of licensing and installation!!

My del.icio.us...

noreply@blogger.com (Sarah Horrigan) — Sun, 23 Mar 2008 23:13:00 +0000

Links for 2008-03-22 [del.icio.us]

Posted: 23 Mar 2008 12:00 AM CDT

PIP_ICT_Typology.pdf
Typology of ICT users

The power of marking as read

noreply@blogger.com (Sarah Horrigan) — Wed, 19 Mar 2008 00:59:00 +0000

Bye bye to over 1000 items in Google Reader. I'm sure there was really worthwhile thought-provoking stuff there. I'm sure there was relevant material there. I'm sure there was lots of current affairs I missed out on.

But... I also know that if it was worth blogging about then it'll have been worth continuing for a few weeks. My RSS and blogging break is only a break for me. The world of writing and publishing continued quite happily without me.

Kind of reassuring - you can't ever be out of the loop, because there is no loop... just a stream of 'stuff'.

PS Have had flu hence marking everything else in my life 'as read'.

Magical Masters

noreply@blogger.com (Sarah Horrigan) — Sat, 08 Mar 2008 01:34:00 +0000

New teachers to follow masters programme | Special Reports | EducationGuardian.co.uk: "Teachers in the first five years of their careers will be expected to take the new masters in teaching and learning qualification, the schools secretary announced today."

Good job holding a piece of paper will magically make every teacher a better teacher, huh? Good job teachers have lots of spare time to do this. Good job they're not already under pressure. Good job that achieving meaningless statistics like 'all teachers have got Masters' has been demonstrated to improve the experience of students within the education system. Good job it's been shown that no-one learned anything in thousands of years of evolution since 100% of teachers didn't have Masters degrees...

Right?

Why is learning not considered learning unless there's something with a fancy stamp on it being handed out??

Sigh...

My del.icio.us...

noreply@blogger.com (Sarah Horrigan) — Fri, 07 Mar 2008 00:18:00 +0000

Links for 2008-03-05 [del.icio.us]

Posted: 06 Mar 2008 12:00 AM CST

Web 2.0 Applications in Learning : eLearning Technology
Fairly lengthy blog entry, but covers a lot of issues connected with introducing web2.0 into education
Students aren't passionate about their subjects any more, say lecturers | Students | EducationGuardian.co.uk
Traditional academic publishers are ‘on the move’, new report suggests : JISC
Free is Good: It's Delightful; It's del.icio.us
Education World ® Technology Center: Doug Johnson: some good uses of del.icio.us in education. Worth noting.
Online gamers play at swapping gender | Technology | guardian.co.uk

Internet Explorer 8 - is 'can't be bothered' an okay stance?

noreply@blogger.com (Sarah Horrigan) — Thu, 06 Mar 2008 04:21:00 +0000

Internet Explorer 8 Beta Is Out: "You know you’re installing an important program when you need to reboot your computer to finish the setup. When you need to reboot twice, you know you’re installing something really important. Well, that was what happened when I just installed the new Internet Explorer 8 Beta on Vista."

I know I should give it a go. I know I should try it to see what new functionality it has. I know I like trying new applications and services. I know I should try it because invariably one of the students I work with will ask me about it. I know I've almost had a change of heart about all things Microsoft recently.

But... but... but... I don't want it on my machine.

IE7 already infested my version of Vista without me asking. Why would I want to 'upgrade' an experience I don't actually experience?

I guess that some people will like it and think it's better than IE7. But there's nothing that I can see which would tempt me away from Firefox and all of the lovely, lovely add-ons which make online life so much easier. Or Flock for its integration with Twitter, blogging and other web2.0 services.

I suppose that although this is me shying away from jumping in and giving it a go, it's worth thinking about the fact that learners generally can be and are equally apathetic when it comes to someone selling them the 'next big thing' that they need to install in order to be able to study 'more' effectively. Just because it's there, doesn't mean you need it. We're always busy looking to the future to see what else is out there and how it can be used. Why does everything need to be shiny and new anyway? Change is good. Change is interesting. But change can be a hassle and if all it's going to do is mean another learning curve and not produce anything you couldn't already do anyway... then... ermmm... let's just say... IE8... What's the point? It's okay not to care, isn't it?

Office Live Workspace vs Google Docs: Feature-by-Feature Comparison - ReadWriteWeb

noreply@blogger.com (Sarah Horrigan) — Wed, 05 Mar 2008 09:22:00 +0000

Office Live Workspace vs Google Docs: Feature-by-Feature Comparison - ReadWriteWeb: "Today, Microsoft announced that the Office Live Workspace beta is publicly available for everyone to access. The site, a free web-based extension of Microsoft Office, lets you access your documents online and share your work with others. Some say that the service's launch is a direct response to Google's entry into the web office space with their Google Docs online service. If that's so, then the question now is: did Microsoft just trump Google Docs? Or does Google Docs still rule online office suites?"

ReadWriteWeb have done the comparison of Google Docs and Office Live... worth a read if you're tempted to try online services for your office app-type stuff. Me, I'm going to give it a go to make my own mind up. Well, until I get distracted by the next shiny new thing o'course. :o)

Reason the world has gone mad number 352

noreply@blogger.com (Sarah Horrigan) — Wed, 05 Mar 2008 07:38:00 +0000

The latest street danger? Walking and texting | Technology | The Guardian: "There are those who believe that the pattern etched by humanity across the great book of world history is one of linear progression. Of improvement. Of advance. Of some nebulous but discernible form of betterment. Those are the people who have not yet heard the news that Brick Lane in east London has started padding its lampposts to prevent those who use its thoroughfare from suffering 'walk and text' injuries.

In case anyone reading this is one of the 68,000 individuals who apparently interfaced thus with street furniture in London last year (mostly resulting in cuts and bruises, but with a fair proportion of broken noses, cheekbones and one fractured skull in the mix too) and therefore is self-evidently stupid enough to need the problem further delineated, these are injuries caused by people who do not understand the importance of peripheral vision. Until, that is, they compromise it by texting as they walk along the street and into lampposts, signs, bollards and other pedestrians."

Right. People. Here's a solution for you. It doesn't require padding the streets. It doesn't require the threat of litigation. It doesn't require a trip to casualty.

PUT YOUR BLOOMIN' PHONE DOWN!

68,000 people?! The Darwin Awards might have a tough job deciding on a winner this year...

On change...

noreply@blogger.com (Sarah Horrigan) — Wed, 05 Mar 2008 07:34:00 +0000

Seen on Tony Hirst's Deli.cio.us links... click to take a peek...

50 Reasons Not to Change

Doesn't it just describe the gap between early adopters / innovators and 'management' perfectly?

My del.icio.us...

noreply@blogger.com (Sarah Horrigan) — Wed, 05 Mar 2008 00:16:00 +0000

Links for 2008-03-03 [del.icio.us]

Posted: 04 Mar 2008 12:00 AM CST

Digital kids ditch homework for networking | Technology | The Guardian
British 15-to-19-year-olds admit spending significantly less time doing homework than they used to as a result of their use of social-networking sites such as Facebook, MySpace and Bebo, according to research published today - no... really?!
del.icio.us network explorer
Visuwords™ online graphical dictionary and thesaurus

Slave to Microsoft

noreply@blogger.com (Sarah Horrigan) — Tue, 04 Mar 2008 11:55:00 +0000

Despite my love of all things free and web2.0-ish... I'm giving the new Microsoft Office Live bits and bobs a try and am typing this blog entry using the free Windows Live Writer. Free sign up. Integration with Microsoft Office 2007. The ability to manage and store your documents online. Able to share documents with others in a Google Docs-esque way.

What's not to like?

Well, I'm going to give it a go and see if my Google-addiction may be reigned in a tad. Google Docs just aren't quite there with regards functionality for me... but they did offer collaborative working and online storage of documents. Microsoft Office had the functionality I wanted... but no easy collaborative working and no online storage of documents. Well, the latter has just changed, so let's see... Windows Live Writer is certainly prettier than Google's publish from Docs function. Am I going to be a slave to Microsoft once more? Have they finally woken up to web2.0??

Digital kids ditch homework for networking - no... really?!

noreply@blogger.com (Sarah Horrigan) — Mon, 03 Mar 2008 06:46:00 +0000

Digital kids ditch homework for networking | Technology | The Guardian: "British 15-to-19-year-olds admit spending significantly less time doing homework than they used to as a result of their use of social-networking sites such as Facebook, MySpace and Bebo, according to research published today.

While teachers and parents will be dismayed, the 2008 Digital Entertainment Survey also makes uncomfortable reading for commercial TV executives. It shows that not only does a significant proportion of the important 15- to 19-year-old audience watch less television as a result of social networking, but that the vast majority of Britain's 15-to-54-year-olds fast-forward through adverts when they watch programmes they have recorded."

Got to love stories like this. Kids ditch homework for anything. Social networking is just the latest thing they ditch it for.

So... kids... two options... do your homework... or find some way of not doing your homework. What? You're opting for the second choice?? You *are* kidding!!!!

Oh, and the second bit... shock horror that people fast forward through adverts.

You know what? Sometimes day turns to night as well. Now then, must just find the funding for my research to prove that this is in fact that case... :o)

My del.icio.us...

noreply@blogger.com (Sarah Horrigan) — Mon, 03 Mar 2008 00:17:00 +0000

Links for 2008-03-01 [del.icio.us]

Posted: 02 Mar 2008 12:00 AM CST

CogDogRoo » 50 Ways
Digital story telling resources

My del.icio.us...

noreply@blogger.com (Sarah Horrigan) — Sat, 01 Mar 2008 00:17:00 +0000

Links for 2008-02-28 [del.icio.us]

Posted: 29 Feb 2008 12:00 AM CST

Photography - Lifehacker
Quick tips and advice for all things photography ranging from the obvious (crop your photos to get rid of clutter) to the bizarre (plastic bag + alka seltzer = underwater camera casing)
Learning Circuits -- ASTD's Online Magazine Covering E-Learning
More women lecturers working in universities | Special Reports | EducationGuardian.co.uk
Is Web Technology Making Your Life Better? - ReadWriteWeb
Does web technology overload or ease? Interesting blog post on the topic
The Advantages of Closing a Few Doors - New York Times
Thought provoking - sometimes the sensible option is just to close your eyes and ignore stuff

How 'Google generation' technology is effecting HE

noreply@blogger.com (Sarah Horrigan) — Fri, 29 Feb 2008 13:27:00 +0000

How 'Google generation' technology is effecting HE | higher news | EducationGuardian.co.uk: "A UK-wide independent inquiry that will look at how the use of new technologies by the 'Google generation' will shape higher education was launched today.

Prof Sir David Melville, former vice-chancellor of the University of Kent, is to chair the inquiry, which will consider the impact of the newest technologies - such as social networking and mobile devices - on the behaviour and attitudes of learners who are approaching or have just arrived at university, and the issues this poses for universities and colleges."

Definitely on my 'one to watch' list! Wonder how long this inquiry will last though? And if the mutation from web 2.0 to 3.0 will have happened by the time it's ready to announce anything productive?!

Cynics 'r' us today. Is that what Feb 29th does for a gal??

"Web 2.0 may come to OU before 22nd Century" Shocker!

noreply@blogger.com (Sarah Horrigan) — Fri, 29 Feb 2008 04:41:00 +0000

The Ed Techie: The Social:Learn project: "The project has gone through the initial conceptualisation phase (this can be summarised as asking the question, 'so what is social:learn exactly?' repeatedly), and is now entering an initial development stage. It's still early days and I'll blog more about it as it goes on. Below is an overview slidecast that I gave to the Hewlett Foundation last month."

Is this where the theory side of the OU's MA in Online and Distance Education becomes reality? Or will it be corporate-ised out of any glimmer of educational creativity and end up as dull as other OU offerings such as MySpaceStuff / the VLE / Library 2.0? The words sound right, but the fear of actually relinquishing control of absolutely everything connected with learning delivery and all the multitude of 'problems' dreamed up by those vetting it along the way... well... here's hoping that it's not just words and a nice idea.

Will be interesting to see...

My del.icio.us...

noreply@blogger.com (Sarah Horrigan) — Fri, 29 Feb 2008 00:19:00 +0000

Links for 2008-02-27 [del.icio.us]

Posted: 28 Feb 2008 12:00 AM CST

Fearful schools banning staff from touching children | News crumb | EducationGuardian.co.uk
"Researchers found current practice regarding touching to be confused, contradictory, based on staff rather than child protection, contrary to known best practice regarding child development, increasingly contested and not required by legislation"
Newswise Social and Behavioral Sciences News | The Downside of a Good Idea
Interesting study which shows that greater connections are good for solving simple problems, more difficult issues are better performed by small groups - a drawback off too much connectivity?
The case for long articles : February 2008 : Ian Douglas : Technology : Telegraph Blogs
Longer isn't necessarily worse as far as online content is concerned
Beware of Freeconomics - ReadWriteWeb
VLE a safer bet than web-based 'free'?
Free! Why $0.00 Is the Future of Business
"To Do" list template
Useful for time management planning
Time Management from Mind Tools - How to manage time and maximize effectiveness

Web desktop targets 'cybernomads'

noreply@blogger.com (Sarah Horrigan) — Thu, 28 Feb 2008 09:44:00 +0000

BBC NEWS | Technology | Web desktop targets 'cybernomads': "A virtual desktop aimed at users who access the web via cybercafes is attracting interest from organisations set up to bridge the digital divide"

Looks interesting (although not especially 'new' since web-based operating systems have been around for a while), and it would be good to see it make it out of beta into something really beneficial. Mind you, I do have to say to the founder of Jooce who uses the word 'cybernomad' with gay abandon... "No, no, no to stupid made up glued together words!!" Or should that be, nononotostupidmadeupcluedtogetherwords...? :o)

Size doesn't matter...

noreply@blogger.com (Sarah Horrigan) — Thu, 28 Feb 2008 00:34:00 +0000

The case for long articles : February 2008 : Ian Douglas : Technology : Telegraph Blogs: "Certainly the Poynter Eyetrack surveys don't think it's true. They found that online readers get through 75 per cent of an article, as opposed to 62 per cent for broadsheet readers and 57 per cent for tabloids. Even for long-form articles, people get through more on a screen than on paper.

The same survey found that short paragraphs encourage people to continue reading, but the number of paragraphs and having to scroll didn't put anyone off."

Hooray! Content is king! Seriously though, good to see an article which goes beyond the cliché that 'people don't read serious stuff on screen' and looks at how people can be helped to get through their online reading rather than simply watering down the content.

PS Shame about the typos in the article itself. Online doesn't have to mean that you didn't proof-read it first... "huge variety of sibject matter". Tut, tut!

PPS Yes, I have read, re-read and re-read again what I've written above just in case I made some kind of typing bodge-up too. :o)

Fearful schools banning staff from touching children | News crumb | EducationGuardian.co.uk

noreply@blogger.com (Sarah Horrigan) — Wed, 27 Feb 2008 06:57:00 +0000

Reason the world has gone mad number 259:

Fearful schools banning staff from touching children | News crumb | EducationGuardian.co.uk: "Researchers found current practice regarding touching to be confused, contradictory, based on staff rather than child protection, contrary to known best practice regarding child development, increasingly contested and not required by legislation.

Piper said: 'Touchy-feely seems to have given way to touchy-feary. Everyone expressed concerns about practice.'"

Why do people do this? When did they forget they were dealing with children and prioritise hyper-protective practices above meeting their needs? Education, education, education = litigation, litigation, litigation?!