LSIS – STEM (Northwest)

I’ve been invited to give a presentation & a short workshop on “Developing the use of Mobile Technology and Virtual Learning Environments for STEM subjects” for the LSIS North West Regional STEM meeting, tomorrow at Daresbury Labs.  Now, as I don’t yet know how many delegates will be there… I’m a little unsure as to how I’m going to tackle the workshop.

 

In action...

 

The presentation is not a problem – anyone who has witnessed my previous attempts will testify that I’m not one for over-rehearsing. In fact, I tend to run with a general theme of a few relevant (or sometimes irrelevant/irreverent) slides topped-off by a stream of verbal consciousness. And that’s largely it.  OK, I ramble on and probably repeat a few things over – but they’re usually points that I want to ensure people remember.   I’m not a pro-presenter and I hate sitting through boring slide shows – so I like to try and be informal and feel that I’m chatting with people rather than talking at them.  Maybe that’s why I like the Pecha Kucha style?

So, to the workshop… Eeek!

Well, I’m going to run through our VLE (Moodle), nothing too techie (that really DOES switch people off!) – if anyone wants technical info, I can always go over it afterward.  Really, I guess it’s a matter of demonstrating what a VLE can and can’t do for STEM subject areas…  I like to give a realistic and truthful demo – after all I’m not a salesman.  If something doesn’t quite function in a usable way – then I’ll offer up an alternative.   Personally, I think the Wiki feature in Moodle is awful – so why not use something like Wiki Educator?  The blogs are also naff, so why not use WordPress?  Whatever tools you choose, shouldn’t really matter, so long as they function and they are relevant.

As for the mobile learning – well that’s going to be an overview of our MoLeNET Project… ‘thin.clusion‘.  The Phase 3 MoLeNET dissemination will be available in December.

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I’m sure I’ll add another blog entry about the event tomorrow evening.

re-purposed data

I was having a chat about ‘mobile web’ during MILT, which we hosted last week @BSFC, so decided to have a look at Wirenode (wirenode.com) – if you’ve never heard of it or used it, the site enables you to create browser pages specifically designed for use on mobile devices.

* It is free
* It is quite quick & easy to navigate & learn
* There are no apparent advertisement pop-ups or banners

It took me about 5 mins to create a basic test page with a few links – though I haven’t got round to adding any information yet… which is how I started thinking about the re-purposing of data/info.

It occurred to me that we appear to spend quite a lot of time re-writing information which is already ‘out there’ – hence the development of the Wiki model… – perhaps I should suggest (again) a college Wiki for our staff to enhance sharing effective practice and knowledge.

Has anyone tried using the Moodle Wiki? I had a brief try about a year ago but didn’t really think much of it – it does not really resemble a ‘Wiki’ and wasn’t operating much like one – it was neither intuitive nor aesthetically effective. I am currently contributing to an online book Wiki at WikiEducator, which does function really effectively and is very intuitive.

Pass it on?

Blogging Research Wordle

Original photo by Kristina B

OK – so I’m now blogging about blogging…. well not quite.
I’m moving on from F2F communication, to on-line communication.
There are some very interesting stats about the ever-increasing numbers of websites/blogs/wikis, etc. which sound astronomical to me – when I consider them in context.

BUT – How many of these sites are actually creating original material/thoughts/innovations? How many are simply forwarding/rewording/republishing or ‘mashing-up’ existing information?

Why do we feel the need to pass on information when it already exists online?

Using wikis and blogs in class

Check out this SlideShare Presentation:

Using wikis and blogs in class

View more presentations from Megan Poore.

Too much choice…?

I was working late into the night, last night (as usual), trying to ensure I had completed the Podcasting element of Block 2. Having had no end of trouble this year with the OU web-based software – I decided that instead of trying to upload my podcasts to an OU site (which I could not actually login to!), I would ‘find’ a site… so off I went – in search.

This is when it struck me that there are *SO MANY* Web2.0 sites out there now – how can we know which are good/bad/ugly? I’m lucky enough to have access and knowledge myself and be part of many communities of practice – BUT what about those who don’t have access to these routes?

I’m a great advocate of the principles of Web2.0 and of Open Source software – however, I am now starting to wonder if we have created a lot of problems regarding quality and reliability? I’ve uploaded a lot of work to many different ‘free’ sites over a number of years now. How sure can I be that a 3rd party site will still be available (with all my work on it) in 6 months time? What about privacy and the intellectual rights of my own work?

So anyhow – I’ve created yet another account on a ‘free’ website… taken my chances and uploaded my podcasts for this part of the course.
Check them out at http://colhawksworth.mypodcast.com/

Oh yes – before I forget – I’ve managed to RSS feed this directly into the H807 group Ning… so won’t have to duplicate anything (I hope!)

Cheers everyone – not long till TMA02!!!
Col