In a nutshell DreamSpark is a selection of enterprise level, pro standard development tools that students in HE and now high schools can download and use for FREE.

When you look at the list of tools available it truly is a mindblowing project:

Visual Studio 2005 Professional Edition
Visual Studio 2008 Professional Edition
XNA Game Studio 2.0
Expression Studio, including   
Expression Web   
Expression Blend   
Expression Design   
Expression Media
SQL Server 2005 Developer Edition
Windows Server Standard Edition

and 12-month free Academic membership in the XNA Creators Club

There’s even subsidised MTS Certification!

My school has just signed registered.. lets see how it goes!

Here’s Bill Gates on Microsoft Channel 8 discussing DreamSpark

Still fresh and pertinent today. Excellent stuff

found via Edugeek.net

Apart from the recent buzz about Twitter and the related band wagon jumpers who now all want to tweet for no reason other than it’s currently fashionable to use Twitter – and it appears to be a current obsession with the mighty BBC – a rather worrying trend is rearing its ugly head.

The current trend is for one to get DMs (direct messages to those who don’t use Twitter) from people you follow / follow you requesting you comment on their recent blog posts. I’ve had nine now in the past 3 weeks.

Now, Twitter is all about me me me. It’s  tag line is ‘What are you doing?’ so it was originally intended for the self publicist / egotistical types who really believed that the world actually gave a fuck about you cleaning the cat’s litter tray, or that you were stuck behind a really fat person at the express check out at Tesco.

So publicising a blog post is part and parcel of the game – no complaint there.

What I do object to is people publicising their posts AND asking for me to comment on them too. Why not DM me saying you’ve got a thought running around your head and wondered if I’d write a blog post for you?

If I want to visit your blog and read your posts I will. If the post is soliciting a dialogue and if I think I’ve got something to say that will contribute something constructive to the meme I will comment – because I want to comment, not because I’ve been requested to do so.

If you want comments on a blog post, write something that will engage and enthuse a visitor to comment.

Please don’t solicit comments.

The Minoru, which apparently means ‘reality’ in Japanese is a web cam, but what makes this web cam different from the masses is that it’s a 3D webcam and the 1st 3D webcam that’s affordable, accessible and simply just downright cute

It was recently awarded the ‘fan fave’ vote at I-stage and won a “pod” stand in the CEA TechZone at CES. Anyone who’s ever seen the grilling presenters get from the judges at an I-stage event will know that any product that gets the thumbs up must have some mileage in them.

It works as a standard webcam for those non 3d moments so it will be giving my trusty Logitech Quick Cam Pro a run for its money but its main purpose is 3D video creation. This is done by having two lens inputs instead of the usual single input of a regular webcam. The images are split then ‘layered’ to create an image called an ‘anaglyph’.

Needless to say it will taken into school for a thorough going over by school’s ICT Club

Videos will be posted soon, so get your 3D glasses ready!

1 As well as being an avid guitar player I am a collector of guitars. I currently have 37 guitars. My favourite and main guitar amongst my Fender Strats, Gibson Les Pauls and PRS’ is an unknown Stratocaster style guitar worth £115 nicknamed Chairman Mao – as it had the word ‘Mao’ written on it in black marker. I also name all my guitars.

2 Outside of ICT, I’m useless with almost all forms of electrical items – I have difficulty in using microwaves, washers, DVD recorders etc.

3 I have broken or fractured 8 bones. 4 toes, 2 fingers, cheekbone and jaw.

4 I once, while under the influence of several beers on a night out in Manchester, asked a rather attractive blonde haired woman “could I buy you a drink?’ and went on to spend some time chatting to her. My friends thought this was quite amusing as it was Caroline Aherne aka Denise Royle from The Royle Family. I didn’t recognise her at all. By the way I never saw her again

5 I am the world’s worst driver. I’ve failed my driving test twice.

6 I was a pretty capable boxer when I was younger but had one major flaw. I didn’t like being hit.

7 When I was a child I had an almost phobia like dislike about going to the barbers for a hair cut. I hated people touching my hair. Now I have none so it isn’t an issue anymore

Here are my 7 people who I’d like to know 7 things about

Tony Sheppard, Russ Dyas, Kate Klingensmith, John Howarth,  Carmen Holotescu, Bill Brandon, Terry Freedman

With the likes of University of Edinburgh’s VUE, the SCHOME project and Shropshire Local Authority and others looking into and actively using Second Life as a method of delivery for classes, conferences and community building there must be a huge potential for extending learning into virtual worlds.

My interest is, initially at least, a purely technical one. I want to see:

• How Second Life will scale,

• How Second Life will cope with ‘class size’ participation

• The effects ‘class size’ concurrent users on inet connectivity

• The ease of resource creation

• The porting of existing resources into Second Life.

As an aside, my first ponderable is why I’m given, or to be more accurate, only get a limited selection of Second Life surnames to choose from.

Is there any reason for this?

Minor issue, but could be an issue with managing dual identities with classes..

Btw I’m ‘Karl Greybeard’ on Second Life

I actually conceded that, as a technician, I sometimes feel part of the problem.

I’m directed to filter, restrict and generally ‘lock down’ the schools ICT infrastructure. Part of this remit is definitely needed – security, integrity, privacy and provisioning of resources is of paramount importance.

But where should my role and input ‘end’ and where should the teacher take over?

It’s a two way street.

If a pupil was continually reading a book in a lesson, even after the pupil was told to put the book away, would the teacher call a librarian to remove the book from the pupils grasp?

No, but this is exactly what happens with ICT.

A pupil misbehaves using ICT facilities and we get the call to restrict them from ICT facilities. They continue to view a website we get a call to block the website.

Ultimately the teacher should deal with discipline. End of. Technicians are neither employed, experienced or qualified enough to start brandishing out their own brand of ICT justice.

We’re here to block websites that *need* blocking. We’re here to plug the gaps in the network before they become a hole. Getting involved in classroom management? I’d rather leave that to the professionals.

This may seem a bit of a ramble but it leads very nicely into my next post…. ‘Technician 2.0′