Watching the paint dry

It's been a busy day teaching with two of my BA groups having a stab at creating their first blogs here at the University of Plymouth. I have shown them how to integrate these into a Wetpaint wiki (probably the best of the bunch at the moment for functionality, ease of use and ad-free response). 'Watching the paint dry' is usually a euphemism for boredom - but on this occasion, I found it truly rivetting to watch them explore Web 2.0 tools. Time will tell what content is generated, but I'm encouraging the students to read and comment on each others' postings so that they can get the feel for how blogging works and the benefits it can accrue. Hopefully this will encourage all to create content that is engaging and informative. I also touched on social tagging and the theory behind it - the use of Delicious tagging was a particularly popular part of the session. My slideshare set has also created some interest.

In future sessions we will examine a number of other Web 2.0 tools including aggregators (probably Crowdvine and Twemes), microblogging (probably Twitter) picture sharing and podcasting. I'm impressed with the manner in which the students (almost all of whom have never done any of this stuff before) have taken to the concept of Web 2.0 and how enthusiastic they are to learn more about how these tools can be used to promote collaborative learning, encourage knowledge generation and create new educational experiences in schools and further education.

danah et mobile

I have just been into the National Express office and booked my coach travel to London for Handheld Learning next week. The bus is still cheaper than rail travel, although not as exciting. I'm following the tweets from MLearn 2008 which is on as I write and I'm a little bemused. Not a lot of new things seem to be coming out and those twittering seem to be less than enamoured by the proceedings. Maybe it's just my reading too much between the lines, or perhaps we are all becoming a little too cynical?

No matter, next week I'm attending Handheld Learning 2008 at the Brewery in London, and for once in my life, I am not presenting a paper, chairing, organising, demonstrating, exhibiting or otherwise making a nuisance of myself. I'm simply there as a punter (.....*and relax*). I am really looking forward to hearing how people are using mobile and handheld technologies in teaching and learning, and hope to make some new contacts while I'm there. Their organisation looks excellent, and they have already set up an online discussion forum and several services including Twitter and Twemes streams (just as we would expect them to!).

There are several noteworthy speakers I will be making an effort to go and hear, including Stephen Heppell, danah boyd (why is it she has her name in lower case, and what dreadful revenge does she mete out on those who fail to comply?) and Keri Facer. Marc Prensky, who is speaking at both events, will no doubt cause some consternation and controversy as usual. All have contributed significantly to our understanding of digital learning technologies, and all will no doubt have some interesting things to say. And of course, old friends such as Mike Sharples, Kath Trinder, James Clay, Mark Kramer and John Traxler should all be on good form. If you see me, say hello. I haven't bitten anyone in years....

Going for the hat trick

This year I'm going for the hat trick - speaking at the three most prestigious e-learning conferences in Europe (in my opinion at least, so don't go writing in). It will be the first time I have submitted and had papers accepted for EDEN (Lisbon), ALT-C (Leeds) and Online Educa (Berlin) all in the same year, so I'm quite pleased.

To celebrate this, I am posting my PowerPoint presentations from these conferences and others up on Slideshare just in case anyone wants to view them again. The EDEN presentation, on blogging as a teacher mentoring tool, and the ALT-C presentation, on my 5 stage wiki activities model are both up already. The Online Educa (Berlin) conference presentation will be posted nearer the date (mainly because I haven't created it yet). Also up are presentations I did in Salzburg for Edumedia, and my Edupunk presentation for F-ALT, which has already posted 200 views (That's me in the picture above, at F-ALT - a great action picture taken by Josie Fraser).

I hope my ramblings and jottings are useful to somebody out there.

Czech this out

Blimey. I'm a published photographer, me. Digital photography is a many splendoured thing. Schmap came to me a few weeks ago and asked if they could use Timbuckteeth's photograph of St. Vitus Cathedral in Prague in their latest online travel guide of the Czech Republic.

The picture appears in the Prague sights and attractions section. The travel guide blurb says:

Rising up from the centre of the castle grounds, the Gothic cathedral dominates the Prague skyline and is one of the defining images of the city and its tourist centre. The cathedral hides a number of valuable monuments including the Royal Crypt wherein lies the remains of Czech Royalty, the St Wenceslas Chapel, and the Coronation Chamber where the Crown Jewels are exhibited. The cathedral's foundation stone was laid in 1344 on the initiative of Charles IV (1316-1378) on the site of an earlier 10th century rotunda dedicated to St Vitus. It was not until 1929 that the cathedral was actually completed. Entrance to the cathedral is free although there are discreetly placed collection boxes. A charge is made for entrance to the crypt and other attractions.

I have to admit I had never heard of Schmap before now, but they seem like jolly decent chaps, and are obviously very discerning of high quality photography.... their tag says 'Beyond the Map'. All those hours spent in the darkroom were not wasted then. Timbuckteeth is off now to practice his exposures....

A proper twit

It's better than Technorati and more accurate than guesswork. It's probably also excessively self-indulgent, but then, so is a lot of the read/write web. What is it? Why it's the Twitter Grader and it informs you of the power and effectiveness of your microblogging activities.

In short, it lets you know just how big a Twit you really are. Here's how it works. It grades you on a score of 1-100 based on the following criteria:

• The number of followers you have


• The power of this network of followers


• The pace of your updates


• The completeness of your profile
  
• ...a few others (I would really like to know what those are, but they ain't telling).
  

There is even an automatic Tweet hyperlink to so you can send your rating direct to your Twitter feed (check me out - I'm Timbuckteeth in the Twittersphere). With Twitter becoming increasingly important as a social networking and communication tool, and more and more twits appearing every day, this little gismo seems like a neat tool to use to measure your progress and success levels. So I did a little exercise to see how high a Twit score my Twittersphere friends have and here are the results...

Howard Rheingold = 99.8

Josie Fraser = 95.7

Andy Powell = 91

Cristina Costa = 85

James Clay = 75

Kath Trinder = a big duck egg (0) - some mistake here, surely?

And finally, get this - Graham Attwell = Proxy Error!

My own score is 68 on the Twit scale - which means I am only a low grade twit in comparison to all my mates. So now you know just how successful a twit I am. All I need now is something similar to measure how I'm doing as a human being....

Resident evil?

Well good grief. There is plenty follow up to the digital immigrants and natives debate. Where? I hear you ask... Well, James Clay over at e-Learning Stuff has just posted up a commentary entitled 'Are you a resident or a visitor?' which addresses the debate from another perspective (read it and you will know). He includes some really useful links to other recent postings by Josie Fraser, Andy Powell, David White and others (you know ... the usual suspects) on the topic of natives and immigrants.

I must admit, this alternative distinction 'visitor' and 'resident' offers a view of behaviour in that 'other place'. I suspect though, that the 'residents' and 'visitors' tag may have been transmitted directly from the Second Life realm, and at present, my SL avatar Loudli Singh still refuses to dance....

In your face, Prensky

Marc Prensky's much quoted work on digital immigrants and digital natives is under attack (again), and his distinction between preferences, behaviours, and ... yes... even cognitive structures ... has been challenged in some recent research. Tom Hanson, Editor of OpenEducation.net shared some links with me this morning and writes:

"In recent months, research has been emerging that calls into question several of the assumptions surrounding the current generation of learners dubbed 'digital natives'. As but one example, the notion that today's students are masters of technology is simply not borne out by research. At OpenEducation.net we recently took an in-depth look at the net generation as it relates to teaching and learning."

Articles he has highlighted for free download include: 'Digital immigrants teaching the net generation much ado about nothing', 'Net Generation Nonsense' (By Mark Bullen), and 'Net generation concerns overhyped'. Well, from the titles, it looks as though these guys have already made up their minds. I have just given a keynote presentation on this very issue to a group of school teachers. I highlighted the widening gap between their use of technology and that of the children they teach. Is it all an illusion then? or is the jury still out on digital natives and immigrants?

I'll get me coat....