Thanks for the memories

There is an old saying that you shouldn't look back when you are ploughing a field. Hmmm.... It's a good job that I'm not ploughing a field then, isn't it...? So at the top end of the year I can look back on 2007 with some fondness and think, wow, how good a year was that? So here are just a few of my highlights:

Best conference of the year: Without doubt it would have to be Online Educa Berlin, where I learnt so much, heard so many good papers and keynotes, and met so many great people. Second prize is shared by ALT-C (Nottingham) and Bazaar (Utrecht).

Best keynote of the year: Had to be that of Teemu Arina, the Finnish wunderkind, who regaled us with his clear thinking and prescience at EDEN in Naples.

Best device of the year: The iPhone of course - a gadget that I am not getting tired of.... and I've had it for almost a week now!

Best new buddy for the year: Well, I have made several new friends, all of whom I met this year, and all of whom I am now working with/collaborating with in some way. So let's see ... Marco Kalz (met him at ICL in Austria), Helen Keegan (on a bus going to the Eden conference, Italy), Gorg Mallia (ICICTE Heraklion and cartoonist extraordinaire), David Guralnick (ICL Austria), Graham Attwell (ALT-C Nottingham and all over the place ever since!), Josie Fraser (ALT-C Nottingham), Piers MacLean (ICICTE) and Cristina Costa (ALT-C Nottingham) all spring to my mind as people who have enhanced my year and given me much food for thought and a lot of laughter.

Flop of the year: Had to be ICODL in Athens, which proved to be a bit of a disappointment in many ways.

City of the year: Stockholm was great (for one night only) in April, Utrecht was great to wander around in the dark, and Frankfurt was ace (in October), but the prize for this year has to go to..... Bella Napoli!

Best food: Again, sorry all you other cities - you did your best, but it's Napoli that has the best food and restaurants.

Best experience of the year: Speaking to almost 300 people on the topic of Second Life at Online Educa in November. Large screen technology and safety in numbers comes to mind (there were 6 of us on the panel). Second prize goes to the visit I made with my mate Palitha Edirisingha to Pompeii in June, just prior to the opening reception at the EDEN conference.

Funniest event of the year: The ALT-C social event at Jongluers Comedy Club in Nottingham. We laughed until we got thrown out. Second prize goes to the farce of a speech by Andrew Keen at Online Educa. Never heard such crap.

Best group of the year: The prize goes to the Bazaar bunch who are the most intellectually stimulating group of people I have come across. That's us pictured above. Glad to know you all guys! (And Freefolio is a cool idea! - Thanks)

Presents of mind

So we're only two sleeps from Christmas day, and already I know what I'm getting. My darling wife has only gone out and bought me an iPhone, hasn't she!? I can't wait to get my grubby little mitts on it to see exactly what it can do and whether it will live up to all the hype(rbole). Someone has published a book about the iPhone, calling it the 'best little gadget ever made'. Well, we shall see, but when I tried one on in the shop, it fit me like a glove, and I was instantly hooked. (Sorry about the mixed metaphors, but hey - it's Christmas!)

There are several interesting blogs out there that focus solely on gadgets, including Ngadgeti, the Gadget Blog and probably the most eclectic - Engadget. Each provides its own style of review, and some may be fronts for commercial outfits, but it's only when you get your hands on the device that you know for certain how good it is. So give me a few days to wade through all the gift wrappings, tinsel and re-runs of the Great Escape, and I will let you know. Have a happy Christmas and try not to overindulge!

Flickring about

I've been playing around with Flickr during my holiday, and I'm quite impressed at how quickly you can upload images, tag them, geomap them (locate photos on a map to show where they were taken) and publicise them to all and sundry. In just three days of being a Flickr member, I have posted 27 photos, received 50 views and about half a dozen comments, all very positive, about my artistic expertise and skills in photogenic composition (here's one I made earlier - know where it is anyone??). If you want to see some more, you go to my photo collection and have a look. This is all very encouraging and affirmative stuff, and must be a key reason why Flickr is so addictive. Flickrites are just so darn nice!

Anyway, it got me thinking about all the teaching and learning posibilities of Flickr and other photo-sharing/social networking services. A big selling point is the fact that the discussion centres upon an object - in this case an image - which could be any kind of learning object. Another useful feature is that there is the facility to 'favourite' an image - this counts as a kind of polling or voting function - another useful learning tool.

Now I've got the hang of it, I'm busying my little mind on how I can possibly harness the potential of Flickr (and Picasa, and others) to enhance my teaching sessions, and enable students to become more creative in their learning endeavours.

Windmills on the mind

The dust has settled over the Bazaar 'Show that You Share' conference held this week at the University of Utrecht, Netherlands, and it's all been a bit of a whirl, so now I have some time to reflect, here are some of my thoughts on the proceedings:

On the theme of social software, managing digital identities is a concern, with personal content on the web being both an asset and a liability. Copyright is an issue, and not many people understand the notion of creative commons. The question was posed: do students know the possible consequences of posting for example, images of themselves in compromising contexts on FaceBook? (for this read 'drunk and disorderly'). Anything can now be in the 'public domain' in seconds with pervasive mobile technologies around to capture the moment. How much do we own our digital self?

The second theme was 'Hey dude, where's my data?' Someone remarked that there are complex and comprehensive privacy and copyright rules in the user agreements in most social networking systems, but no-one ever reads them. We simply tick the box to say we have and then ignore them. Decentralised storage of data in open content systems makes it sometimes difficult to locate the data at a later stage. The delegates decided that current legislation in most countries is not adequate to deal with the new uses of digital technology that are emerging.

Theme three was Open Education Resources. It was agreed that new skills are required on the part of teachers and students to be able to use them to their full potential. However, institutional structures (or even strictures?) hinder rather than advance learning and a culture of sharing, due mainly to direct competition between universities competing for the same market.

Other conclusions included the comment that metatagging when used outside of a community of practice or interest may make no sense to anyone else. New methods of metatagging are needed to ensure cross-operability of platforms, and portability of digital objects between sites. Great conference - pity it's the swansong for the Bazaar project, as the funding has now ended.

Small, but perfectly formed

I'm just back this evening from 'The Networks, Communities and Learning: Show that you Share' conference hosted at the University of Utrecht, Holland by the Bazaar Network. It was for me, an excellent experience, and well worth the effort to attend, even though I got lost in Utrecht and wandered around trying to find my hotel in freezing temperatures for over 30 minutes when the bus driver dropped me off 2 stops away from my destination! It truly was 'show that you share' when a Dutch car-park attendant helped me to find a taxi, and offered to share his coffee with me. All I can say is: "Dank u wel, Mijnheer!"

So, along with 40 or so other delegates, I participated in Bazaar's final conference - a small and intimate event. The sessions focused on subjects such as Personal Learning Environments, Open Education Resources, Metatagging and Interoperability, and Data Security - all explored by experts and students alike. For those who stayed to the end, a fullsome summary was given by several of the delegates, who had participated in round tables and workshops from myself, as well as Helen Keegan (University of Salford, UK), Josie Fraser (EdTechUK), Wolfgang Greller (Open University, NL), Veronica Hornung (University of Salzberg, AT) and Marco Kalz (Open University, NL).

Tomorrow, when I have had more time to reflect, I will write a summary of all the key points that emerged from this final Bazaar event. In the meantime though, there are some useful summaries already up online, including Pierre Gorrison's blog (in Dutch) and in English, and some great Flickr photos that captured the whole day, from Helen Keegan and Wytze Koopal.

The Digital Classroom

I'm thrilled that my new book will be published this side of Christmas. Entitled 'The Digital Classroom: Harnessing Technology for the Future', it will be published by Routledge (David Fulton) next week, and it's something I have been working on with my co-author professor Peter John, for the last year and a bit. We actually wrote it last summer, but due to pressure of work and a change of job for Peter, things have lagged a little and the publication was delayed. Peter has now taken up the post of Vice-Chancellor at Thames Valley University.

Here's the blurb from the book for those who are interested: "Based on a major research project (the InterActive Project), this book explores and illustrates how digital technologies can transform learning across the curriculum. Using a wide range of educational settings - primary, secondary, school and home - it will help practitioners think about, plan and execute effective learning in their classrooms and beyond. It will show teachers how they can 'harness technology for the future' by covering important topics such as: personalised learning; using ICT for pupils with special needs personal; use of ICT and home-school links designing; and, 'digital' classrooms. By weaving 'evidence based practice' into each chapter, the book will provide extensive guidance, practical advice and insights into working in the 'digital classroom' for all primary and secondary school teachers."

We are looking forward with this volume, tracking trends in learning technology, particularly within the compulsory education sector, and there are sections on social software, interactive whiteboards and extended classrooms so it should appeal to a wide readership. If you read it and have any comments to make on it, please let me know via a comment on this blog. It would be great to hear from you, good, indifferent, or bad....!

An eventful month ahead...

I'm very pleased to be so busy at the moment. It keeps me off the streets but on the road. There are several events that I have been invited to participate in over the next month or so, starting with an online event hosted by Yale University tomorrow night. It's a webcast for edubloggers only, in which a new online initiative is being launched. Main speaker will be Professor Diana Kleiner, Deputy Provost at Yale.

On Thursday I fly out to the University of Utrecht to lead a workshop for Bazaar's 'Show that you Share' Networks conference. Other speakers include Marco Kalz, Helen Keegan, Graham Attwell and Josie Fraser.

In January, I will be speaking at a number of events including the HEA hosted e-Learning Symposium at the University of Southampton - Jon Dron will also present; an 'Ask the Experts' online event for the University of Staffordshire, which also features Dave Foord; and last but not least, a paper presentation for the BETT show at Olympia in London. Then I'm going to lie down in a darkened room with a damp towel over my head, Ricky Hatton style...

Caledonian Academy blog

One of the best and most comprehensive series of reports I have come across about this year's Online Educa Berlin conference can be found at the Caledonian Academy blog. Written by staff at Glasgow Caledonian University, previous contributions have been contributed by the likes of Colin Milligan, Allison Littlejohn, Kathy Trinder and their colleagues. The most recent postings contain some analytical and perhaps even forensic accounts of the parallel sessions, workshops and keynotes at Educa courtesy of blogger Anoush Margaryan. Well done folks - good reading!

Buzz words for 2007

Running under the title of Schott's Alamanac, the Times newspaper today carries an article about all of the new buzz words that have supposedly been introduced in 2007 and suggests that these are the words that will define the year. Many of them are technology words already familar to Edubloggers and some are irritatingly unfamilar.... shall we?

• Podslurping: Illicit copying of data to a portable storage device (e.g. iPod)
• e-Thugs: Online cyber bullies
• Lifecasting: Webcasting all your life's activities 24/7
• iSlavery: Apple's attempts to lock iPhone users into one network provider
• Macolyte: Someone who worships at the altar of all things Apple
• Network promiscuity: Tendency by social networkers to spread their membership across FaceBook, MySpace, Bebo, etc... (See also FaceHooked, an addiction to FaceBook; Face vs Space, war for supremacy between FaceBook and MySpace; FaceBlocking, where companies ban employees from accessing social sites at work)
• GoogTube: Offspring of the marriage between Google and YouTube
• Flog: A fake blog run by a company or marketing agency posing as a real-life consumer
• Upgrage: Upgrade rage experienced by all those installing Windows Vista
• Exergaming: Unlkely combination of exercise and gaming (Wii all need it)
• Cyber-vetting: Use of the web to assess the (inter)NET REP(utation) of potential employees
• UGC: User generated content
• Blogola: Fees (or bribes) paid to bloggers for favourable comments (Never had any offered...)
• Digerati: Elite members of online communities and computer industry
• Meganiche: The theory that because of the vastness of the Internet, even obscure items or content can receive massive exposure and publicity

Well fancy that. Any of the above resonate with you? Some of it sure does with me. But some of them go back a few years, so although they may now define 2007, some may actually also define the first few years of this century, I think.

Clark is not Keen

I'm back home from Online Educa Berlin, and it's time to reflect. Germany was a lot of fun, cold, festive and ... well, Germany. I'm left wondering though who this woman is everyone keeps talking about - anyone know anything about Alice Klar...?

Anyway. In comparison to all the other conferences on elearning and ICT I have been to this year, Educa just has to be the best. It had everything - an excellent environment for relaxing, thinking, discussing and networking (the Hotel Intercontinental on Budapesterstrasse must be one of the best and most expensive venues for a European elearning event), great social events, and an excellent line up of sessions. With over 2000 delegates at this year's event, it was also packed with diversity, both culturally and in terms of alternative perspectives. The content in most of the sessions was stimulating, challenging and in some cases absolutely inspirational.

I'm referring in particular to a keynote session on the final day of Educa, presented by Donald Clark (above), who was articulate, humorous, and at times, deeply profound in his analysis of the process of learning. He began by debunking many of the established and commonly accepted learning theories espoused by the likes of Benjamin Bloom (Taxonomy), Robert Gagne (Stages model) and Abraham Maslow (Hierarchy of needs). Maslow's model is particularly popular in the corporate training sector, said Clark, because most people like to put pyramids on their PowerPoint slides. Glib, perhaps, but also inherently true when faced with the oversimplification of Maslow's model. (Don't forget that Carl Rogers onces stated that we don't have to work our way through all of Maslow's hierarchy - some people can self-actualise instantly). Clark also launched into learning style theories by the likes of Kolb and Honey & Mumford.

By far the most delicious experience for the audience however, was Donald Clark's response to the earlier keynote by enfant terrible Andrew Keen. How the two differ in their approach! We should all feel insulted, said Clark, by Keen's dismissal of bloggers and wikepedians as merely 'monkeys with typewriters'. There were audible gasps when he labelled Keen 'an idiot', but I think the gasps were of admiration rather than surprise or outrage. Donald Clark was simply articulating what many people were thinking. 14 years olds have as much right to post internet opinions as Harvard professors, we heard him say. And social software is not about making money, but about liberating learners to contribute their own content to the mix.

But... 'get a grip, Andrew!' was perhaps the most apposite soundbite of the day...