Terry Freedman's Educational Technology Podcast

It's not about the technology: keeping children safe online

Mon, 31 Mar 2008 13:01:34 +0100

At the recent Naace 2008 strategic conference, Jim Gamble of the UK's Child Exploitation and Online Protection Centre gave a powerful talk about the reality of child abuse, and what the British police are doing to combat it.
During his talk, Jim showed two videos, one at the start and one at the end. Although I don't have access to the whole presentation, I've tracked down the videos, and have included them in this article in the order in which they appeared.
Join the discussion and discover new ideas and resources at The ICT in Education social network

The brain, learning and the future

Fri, 28 Mar 2008 06:49:10 +0000

Professor John Stein, Professor of Neuroscience at the University of Oxford, gave a fascinating talk at the recent Naace conference. I recorded it, and there are pictures of some of the slides he used.

I do not have access to his presentation, but I think it will be obvious from the podcast where these pictures are relevant. Even without the podcast I think they paint a fascinating picture of what we can do to improve how we learn and retain things. If you think about it, the brain is the best technology we have, and the Professor's talk gave some useful advice on how we can get the best out of it. The conclusion seems to be: get plenty of sleep, eat a healthy diet, get plenty of physical activity and keep mentally stimulated.

The professor also made an admirable attempt to show how knowledge about the brain is relevant to educational ICT. For example, it turns out that males are better visuospatially than verbally, which means that the visual world of ICT will favour their style of learning. So perhaps the advent of YouTube, Voicethread and other non-verbal manifestations of IT are not as good for girls' learning as they may be for boys' learning?

I hope you find the talk as interesting as I did.

The future, our lives, our technology and our learning, a talk by Ewan McIntosh

Mon, 17 Mar 2008 20:50:10 +0000

In his presentation at the Naace Strategic conference 2008, Ewan makes a few interesting points....

Conference discussions

Tue, 11 Mar 2008 07:54:33 +0000

At the recent Naace Strategic Conference I spent some of my spare time (what little there was of it) to find out from delegates what they were enjoying, what they were learning, and just their general impressions and thoughts.

Here is a podcast comprising those discussions.

Listening to students

Tue, 11 Mar 2008 07:54:05 +0000

Do students have enough say in the decisions taken by their school? And does it matter anyway? In this podcast. Jack Lewars, of the English Secondary Students Association (ESSA), Elaine and I discuss "student voice", the role of the internet, and ESSA's potential role in spreading information about keeping safe online.

What technology changes have best reflected the changing pedagogical landscape in recent years?

Fri, 25 Jan 2008 15:08:14 +0000

This was the question debated at the recent BETT show. Three well-established colleagues in the field of educational technology in the UK each talked for up to 10 minutes on the theme, and I acted as Chair.

Some spice was added to the proceedings by the use of a "voting" system provided by Quizdom to determine whether members of the audience changed their own minds as a result of the debate.

Read on to find out more, and to obtain the link for the podcast.

Next Generation Learning

Thu, 17 Jan 2008 15:03:31 +0000

This is the name of a new website launched by Becta on 15 January 2008. I interviewed UK TV presenter and speaker Johnny Ball about the initiative, and this podcast is the result.

To place all this in context, Becta's research suggests that only a minority of schools use educational technology effectively, or even extensively. So it would seem that the purpose of this website is to get teachers, parents and others to start thinking about using the technology.

I will pass comment some time soon, but in the meantime I do not wish to influence you one way or the other. The website, should you wish to explore it for yourself, is here.

Podcast

An interview with Natalie Shukla

Tue, 18 Dec 2007 08:49:00 +0000

Natalie is the Producer of the Westminster Education Forum, an organisation which organises seminars on issues pertinent to the education profession in the UK.

So what makes the Forum "tick", and how influential is it? We discuss these issues and others, such as the IT skills required by school leavers these days.

And what is the big issue as far as teachers are concerned?

The Westminster Education Forum website is here. Other organisations mentioned include:

The Qualifications and Curriculum Authority

The AQA Awarding Body

The Office for Standards in Education (Ofsted)

Becta

National Assessment Agency

Natalie also referred to the "Westminster bubble", the general name given to the "movers and shakers" in Westminster.

Any comments or questions? Let us know what you think.

The interview was conducted via Skype.

Please click here to listen to the Interview with Natalie Shukla

The December 2007 edition of Computers in Classrooms contains reports from two recent Westminster Forum seminars. Subscribe now!

As a general point, what is good about these seminars is that you get to hear the views, experiences and, sometimes, research findings of a wide variety of experts in their fields. Apart from one or two keynote talks lasting around 20 minutes or so, the event is usually broken up into sessions involving a small panel addressing a particular theme. The format tends to be that each panel member speaks for around 3 or 4 minutes, and then the panel answers questions from the floor.

Fortunately, so far I have not had the experience of having my time wasted (in my opinion) by people who imagine that the sole purpose of having a 4 minute slot is to run an advertising campaign for their product or service (or, worst of all, themselves).

Discussion of "Go On, Bore 'Em" -- Where are we going?

Mon, 3 Dec 2007 12:00:27 +0000

In my book "Go On, Bore 'Em: How to make ICT lessons excruciatingly dull", I looked at the ten most common sources of the problem.

In this series of podcasts, Elaine (my wife) and I discuss my motivation for writing the book, and try to dig a little deeper into its underlying philosophy.

In this third episode in the series, we explore the third chapter, called "Where are we going?". Basically, the lesson will be more interesting and effective if the students (and the teacher) have a clear idea of what it's all leading up to.

The music in the podcast is Darryl Allen's Funktown Groove, from the Podsafe Music Network.

If you'd like to buy the book, it's available from here for Â£4.99 (around $10) + postage.

Download the podcast from here.

Discussion about "Go On, Bore 'Em" -- Students set the agenda

Mon, 26 Nov 2007 16:52:53 +0000

In my book "Go On, Bore 'Em: How to make ICT lessons excruciatingly dull", I looked at the ten most common sources of the problem.

In this series of podcasts, Elaine (my wife) and I discuss my motivation for writing the book, and try to dig a little deeper into its underlying philosophy.

In this second episode in the series, we explore the second chapter, called "Students set the agenda". Basically, if you don't set the agenda for the lesson, the students will.

The music in the podcast is Darryl Allen's Funktown Groove, from the Podsafe Music Network.

If you'd like to buy the book, it's available from here for £4.99 (around $10) + postage.

Download the podcast from here.

Discussion about "Go On, Bore 'Em" -- Starting the lesson

Mon, 19 Nov 2007 01:17:24 +0000

In my book "Go On, Bore 'Em: How to make ICT lessons excruciatingly dull", I looked at the ten most common sources of the problem.

In this series of podcasts, Elaine (my wife) and I discuss my motivation for writing the book, and try to dig a little deeper into its underlying philosophy.

In this first episode in the series, we explore the first chapter, called "The starter activity". The way the lesson starts is of paramount importance, and plays a huge role in determining whether the lesson is going to be good, ie a vibrant, learning environment and experience, or as dull as ditchwater.

The music in the podcast is Darryl Allen's Funktown Groove, from the Podsafe Music Network.

If you'd like to buy the book, it's available from here for £4.99 (around $10) + postage.

Download the podcast from here.

In their own words: Coming of Age contributors talk about their chapters

Sat, 30 Jun 2007 10:55:00 +0100

Contributors to Coming of Age explain what they would like the reader to gain from reading their chapter(s)

I was recently at the NECC Conference in Atlanta, GA, and had the privilege of meeting some of the contributors to Coming of Age 2.0, who kindly agreed to say a few words about what they hoped the reader will gain from reading their chapter. Hey, who am I kidding? They are all so passionate about what they do that leapt at the chance to do this! Darren wasn't at the conference, but we caught up on Skype a few hours after I'd arrived home.

There are some great nuggets of wisdom in these snippets of conversation. I have listened to this now several times, and each time I hear something I never heard before! Wow!

So with no further ado here are the contributors and their chapters:

Steve Dembo "Blogging Vs Podcasting: How To Decide"

Jennifer Wagner "Collaboration In Online Projects"

Vicki Davis "Implementing Web 2.0 In The Classroom"; "Our classrooms are flat (with Julie Lindsay)"; "Blogs You Must Read! (with Josie Fraser)"

Sharon Peters "Book Review: The World Is Flat"; "Book Review: A Whole New Mind"; Sharon also mentioned her daughter Meg's contribution, "Music on the internet"

David Jakes "Digital Storytelling 2.0"

Julie Lindsay "Implementing Web 2.0 In The Classroom"; "Our classrooms are flat (with Vicki Davis)"; "Podcast Bangladesh"; "What’s out there: A roundup of useful resources"; "

Getting started in podcasting in the curriculum for the 10-18 age group: the tools and procedures you need for success"

Joyce Valenza "Information Fluency Meets Web 2.0"

Christine Greenhow "What do colleges and universities need to know about Web 2.0"

Wes Fryer: "Web 2.0 and High-stakes testing"

Darren Kuropatwa "Distributed Teaching and Learning"; "Pedagogical uses of blogs (working title)"

Dave Warlick: "Factoring Web Logs To Their Fundamentals"; "Flat Classrooms: The Classroom As A Learning Engine"; "Web 2.0 Handouts"

Apologies to those contributors I missed in terms of recording their thoughts.

Here's the link: http://www.ictineducation.org/podcast_files/necc2007_coa.mp3

The music is "The Cheebacabra - Operation Anaconda.mp3", available from http://podsafeaudio.com/.

Episode 23: Chat with Shawn Wheeler about Coming of Age 2.0

Mon, 18 Jun 2007 20:00:33 +0100

CoA Contributors

The trouble with Skype is that you just cannot get any work done, what with friends popping up all day and night. Still, it has its compensations. Last night Elaine and I had a great chat with Shawn Wheeler. We chatted about our house and where we live, and then I waxed lyrical about the forthcoming 2nd edition of the Coming of Age book. It is going to be published, I promise!

Coming of Age: An Introduction to the NEW Worldwide Web, came out just over a year ago and was intended to help teachers who had heard about Web 2.0 stuff (blogging and all that) to dip their toe in the water. That edition consisted of about a dozen contributors and was downloaded at least 60,000 times (I stopped keeping track after that) and almost won an award. The 2nd edition is much expanded, and I give some details in this podcast.

If you missed the first edition, it's still available, it's still free, and it's still here: http://www.ictineducation.org/db/web2

If you'd like to keep up with the developments on this new edition, and maybe even read some previews, then join the Coming of Age community at http://comingofage.ning.com.

And if you're visiting NECC next week, then do stop by the Coming of Age poster session, where you'll be able to say "Hi" to Peggy George and myself, leave your business card or sign up to be sent more information, and say how much you loved the first edition by speaking into a microphone and contributing to a podcast .

There's also a Birds-of-a-feather session where you can say how you'd like the project to develop. I've already had some great ideas presented to me, and I myself am busy planning the next iteration (I must be a masochist!).

My original idea was to do a poster session about the development of Coming of Age, but to be honest that's a book in itself. I think it best to chat to people face to face until I write that book.

Here are the details:

Poster session:

Freedman, Terry: 'The Coming of Age Web 2.0 Book: Idea To Implementation' in Galleria (Posters) at 9:00 on Monday
Tag=n07s466 Blog Posts / Blog RSS / Flickr / Flickr RSS

Birds of a feather session:

Hargadon, Steve: 'Free, Open Source, and Web 2.0 Software for the Classroom' in B308 at 16:45 on Tuesday
Tag=n07s250 Blog Posts / Blog RSS / Flickr / Flickr RSS

The jingle at the beginning of this podcast was created for me by Matt Adams through my association with the staff and students of The John Hanson Community School and its wonderful Hanson Radio http://www.hansonradio.co.uk/.

The music after the introduction and at the end is Simple Soulman by The Groovebusters. The music is under a Creative Commons licence. Hear the band at:
http://www.garageband.com/song?|pe1|S8LTM0LdsaSkYFexYGE

Anyway, here's the podcast: http://www.ictineducation.org/podcast_files/chat_with_shawn_wheeler.mp3

IceRocket tags: Coming of Age, NECC

del.icio.us tags: Coming of Age, NECC

© Copyright 1996-2007 by Terry Freedman
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Don't miss out on the developments concerning "Coming of Age..." the FREE book about using Web 2.0 tools in the classroom!

Episode 22: e-Assessment

Tue, 22 May 2007 08:17:48 +0100

This is an edited version of a workshop I ran, on the subject of e-assessment. Actually, we didn't get too far on the "e" part, spending a lot of time discussing generic issues such as validity and reliability.

You'll find an accompanying PowerPoint, and some notes on e-assessment, here.

Click here for the audio.

There is also an article on managing achievement in ICT here.

There are also articles on making judgements in ICT:

http://www.terry-freedman.org.uk/premium/articles/article_92.php

http://www.terry-freedman.org.uk/premium/articles/article_93.php

(Available only to subscribers to Leading and Managing Educational Technology.)

Title	Date	Size
Assessing_ICT.pdf	Thu May 17, 2007 7:52 AM	31.89 KB
e_assessing_ICT.ppt	Mon May 21, 2007 6:17 PM	561.15 KB

Social Technologies in the Classroom and Beyond

Tue, 22 May 2007 07:20:29 +0000

Episode 20: Hanson Radio Podcast

Mon, 19 Nov 2007 01:05:49 +0000

podcast episode 20 show notes

In this podcast some students at John Hanson Community School and I discuss the benefits, to them, of podcasting.

The jingle at the beginning was created for me by Matt Adams through my association with the staff and students of The John Hanson Community School and its wonderful Hanson Radio http://www.hansonradio.co.uk/. Hanson Radio also uses music by composer Kevin MacLeod http://www.incompetech.com/m/c/royalty-free/, and that was used in the jingle.

Main production credits:

Audio editing by
Daniel Hatton
Harry Dance

Audio production
Steven Major, James McGuire, Steven Warner, Corin Poore

Interviews - Sophie Robinson, Ruby Baker, Steven Warner, Alan Wylde

Studio Music support - Alastair Johnston - Head of Performing Arts

Studio Production and Station Manager - Hanson Radio UK - Mike Adams - Assistant Headteacher

A Hanson Radio UK Podcast Production.

The music at the end is Window to a Door, by F11, at
http://music.podshow.com/

1. The BETT Show
2. AfL
3. CoA 2.0: an excerpt from a podcast in which I was ~~grilled~~ interviewd by Susan Van Gelder (read the original post on Susan's blog, with a link to the full podcast, here: http://susanvg.blogspot.com/2006/11/podcast-with-terry-freedman.html
4. Hanson Radio interviews me...
5. ... and I interview Hanson Radio

Episode 19: Interview with Ramit Sethi of PBWiki

Mon, 19 Nov 2007 01:05:56 +0000

I interviewed Ramit Sethi of PBWiki about the hosted wiki service, PBWiki. We talk about what a wiki is, and how it can be used in education. Learn how to get free wiki space, and even join a user group.

Here are some important links:

http://education.pbwiki.com/
http://pbwiki.com/
http://ictineducation.pbwiki.com (my own wiki space)

To contact Ramit, email him at ramit[@]pbwiki.com

Incidentally, PBWiki now has over 145,000 wikis (in the interview, it was 130,000).

The music after my introduction and at the end is Simple Soulman by The Groovebusters. The music is under a Creative Commons licence. Hear the band at:
http://www.garageband.com/song?|pe1|S8LTM0LdsaSkYFexYGE

The jingle at the beginning was created for me by Matt Adams through my association with the staff and students of The John Hanson Community School and its wonderful Hanson Radio http://www.hansonradio.co.uk/. Hanson Radio also uses music by composer Kevin MacLeod http://www.incompetech.com/m/c/royalty-free/, and that was used in the jingle.

Episode 18: Review of Dave Warlick's Keynote Address for the K12 Online Conference

Mon, 19 Nov 2007 01:06:02 +0000

This is my critique of David Warlick's keynote address, which you can listen to here.

I thought I'd be really clever and videocast my review. In fact, I even wore a tie for the occasion. Everything went perfectly except for one small factor: I forgot to click on "Play" at the start of the session!

Fortunately, because I thought I might issue the review as a podcast as well, I recorded it separately with a higher quality microphone. You can hear the sound of the computer, and I haven't inserted any music or anything, so this is a really basic podcast, but I hope the content is interesting enough for you t forgive the lack of finesse. It lasts about 10 minutes.

Episode 17

Mon, 19 Nov 2007 01:06:08 +0000

In this episode:
* Blogging from your desktop
* Syndicating content
* Copyright
* Creating a technology-rich school
* Online statistics
* Coming of Age
More details:
http://www.terry-freedman.org.uk/db//podcast_rss/doc_page19.html

Episode 16: Docklands Light Railway (Video)

Mon, 19 Nov 2007 01:06:13 +0000

Description of London's Docklands Light Railway, which is a great example of control technology in practice, with driverless trains controlled by a central computer!

Coming of Age 2nd edition -- a preview

Mon, 19 Nov 2007 01:06:18 +0000

In this podcast Terry Freedman outlines what new chapters will be featured in the 2nd edition of this free resource, and who will be contributing them.

Intro music is Somebody, by The Blue Mile; outro music is Find My Way Back, also by Blue Mile. Both are available from the Podsafe Music Network http://music.podshow.com

"Terry is a tireless advocate for the timely and appropriate use of ICT in schools. His drive, enthusiasm, and hard work resulted in creation of the "Coming of Age" teacher guide, an essential resource on Web 2.0 technologies."
Catherine Howell, http://people.pwf.cam.ac.uk/cmlh2/

An interview with Adrienne Guss

Mon, 19 Nov 2007 01:06:21 +0000

Adrienne Guss is a graphic designer based in the USA who uses computers (a Mac, with Illustrator and Photoshop) extensively.

In this dicussion we cover the skill-set needed to succeed in this field (and it's not just about computers), copyright issues, repeating patterns and the flat world.

If you would like to discuss your own design work requirementswith Adrienne, email her on agussart@earthlink.net

Music

The intro is Simple Soulman by bThe Groovebusters.
The outro is also The Groovebusters, with Voodoo Dance.

The music is under a Creative Commons licence. Hear the band at:

http://www.garageband.com/song?|pe1|S8LTM0LdsaSkYFexYGE

Enjoy!

Discussion with Peggy George, Shawn Wheeler and Terry Freedman

Mon, 19 Nov 2007 01:06:25 +0000

This was also published by Shawn Wheeler as part of his Adventures in Podcasting service. This version of the recording uses different music.

The music is "Window to a door", by a band called F11, and available from The Podsafe Music Network.

The notes which follow were written by Shawn. Enjoy!

Welcome to the Special Edition of Adventures in Podcasting. This podcast was recorded on July 11, 2006 in Phoenix, Arizona. Special Guest for this show include Peggy George & Terry Freedman. (http://www.terry-freedman.org.uk)

In this episode:

Web 2.0 Book
- Why
- How did you find the contributors
- What is next
Creative Commons (How will this change the digital landscape?)
Web 2.0 tools
- Blogs
- Podcast
- Video Casting

Sites noted on this podcast...
Lulu Publishing - http://www.lulu.com
Coming of Age: An introduction to the new worldwide web http://www.terry-freedman.org.uk/db/web2/ or http://portal.peoriaud.k12.az.us/sites/Services_and_Training
/Web%20Page%20Parts/Web20Book.aspx

And finally, my name Shawn Wheeler and I welcome your comments and feedback. Drop me a note... my email address is - swheeler@peoriaud.k12.az.us

Kirsty's Story

Mon, 19 Nov 2007 01:06:29 +0000

The idea of this was to update a similar type of scenario published by the UK's Department for Education and Skills a few years ago in a document entitled "Fulfilling the Potential". The podcast was made as part of a presentation I gave to policy-makers in the UK on 23rd June 2006.

The year is 2010; Kirsty is 14 years old. All of the technology alluded to in the podcast is already available, and all I've done is to imagine how it might be applied in education. Interestingly enough, I was given a guided tour around BT's Innovation Unit a couple of days after making this podcast, and they are experimenting with mobile phones that can be worn around your neck, and which you can log in to -- so you leave it at work and pick up any unit when you return, ie you don't have your own.

The devices which BT are trying out can also locate people. For example, you can say "Find headmaster", and it will tell you where the headmaster is.

Credits

Music
Intro: Little Dancing Girl by Louis Vig; outro: What If by Louis Vig; both available from www.podsafeaudio.com; "ping" noise is cling1.wav from http://www.pacdv.com/sounds/mechanical_sound_effects/, whilst the car starting up is car_start_up_1.wav from http://www.pacdv.com/sounds/transportation_sounds.html; the sci-fi electronic effect is called Electronicfx5.mp3, but I cannot trace where I found it on the web.

Kirsty
Kirsty was played by Naomi Joseph

Advanced Driving Commentary

Mon, 19 Nov 2007 01:06:33 +0000

Here's an example of the sort of running commentary that some advanced driving enthusiasts and examiners like to encourage.

Speed-dating

Mon, 19 Nov 2007 01:06:38 +0000

Flushed with the success of my first foray into fiction, I offer the world my latest magnum opus (well, minimum opus, as it's pretty short), which is the form of a play. Should any impressarios like Andrew Lloyd Webber wish to approach me about making a musical version, I am open to negotiations.

The play was created entirely with text-to-speech synthesised voices.

I am hoping to improve on future works of fiction by using a random plot generator and a random text generator, thereby reducing the human input to almost zero.

Music used in this podcast:

The intro music is called Maxines, from http://freesound.iua.upf.edu/samplesViewSingle.php?id=2686

The outro music is In love with you baby, by Timothy C. Lee, from http://podsafeaudio.com/, released under a Creative Commons Licence.

Podcasting in schools

Mon, 19 Nov 2007 01:06:41 +0000

So, you know what podcasting is, but are wondering how you might use it with your students? Here's a quick list to help you get the mental juices flowing! You can also read the article here:

http://www.terry-freedman.org.uk/artman/publish/article_610.php

Music used in this podcast:

The intro music is called Maxines, from http://freesound.iua.upf.edu/samplesViewSingle.php?id=2686

The other music is from http://podsafeaudio.com/, all released under a Creative Commons Licence. Please visit the website and listen to more works by these fine artists:

The background music is Little Dancing Girl by Louis Vig

The outro music is In love with you baby, by Timothy C. Lee

A gender item

Mon, 19 Nov 2007 01:06:47 +0000

A gender item

Why are women so under-represented in the I.T. industry? And what can schools do about it?

This podcast was created entirely using text-to-speech technology! I used this because I wanted to create a reasonable podcast without having to spend hours on it. The way I see it, this is a win-win situation: you get to hear an article you may not have time to read, and I get to create that facility for you without having to spend hours on it.

Please give me your feedback! Would you like more of this kind of thing?

You can read the original article here:

http://www.terry-freedman.org.uk/artman/publish/article_605.php

URLs mentioned in the podcast, in order of "appearance":

Music used in this podcast:

The intro music is called Maxines, from http://freesound.iua.upf.edu/samplesViewSingle.php?id=2686

The other music is from http://podsafeaudio.com/, all released under a Creative Commons Licence. Please visit the website and listen to more works by these fine artists:

The outro music is In love with you baby, by Timothy C. Lee

!ICT in Education 000: An introduction

Mon, 19 Nov 2007 01:06:54 +0000

ICTinEducation000

In this introductory podcast, Terry Freedman explains what the ICT in Education website is all about, in the auditory equivalent of bullet points.

Topics covered:

* The free section of the website

* Subscribing to the website

* The Computers in Classrooms newsletter

* The Leading and Managing ICT subscription service

* The ICT in Education podcast

References:

The ICT in Education website: http://www.ictineducation.org

To subscribe to the podcast , click on Podcast in the menu on the left-hand side of the website and follow the instructions.

Shawn Wheeler's Adventures in Podcasting:
http://portal.peoriaud.k12.az.us/personal/swheeler/My%20Pages/Adventures%20In%20PodCasting.aspx

The intro music is called Maxines, from http://freesound.iua.upf.edu/samplesViewSingle.php?id=2686

The other music is from http://podsafeaudio.com/, all released under a Creative Commons Licence. Please visit the website and listen to more works by these fine artists:

The outro music is In love with you baby, by Timothy C. Lee

The music in the middle is Push by The Cheebacabra

The ICT in Education Podcast 4th March 2006

Mon, 19 Nov 2007 01:06:57 +0000

The ICT in Education Podcast 4th March 2006

In this edition:

1. A podcsasting commercial from Shawn Wheeler, creator of Adventures in Podcasting at http://portal.peoriaud.k12.az.us/personal/swheeler/My%20Pages/Adventures%20In%20PodCasting.aspx (at approx 1 min 17 secs)

2. Is the future half-full or half-empty? A response to Steve Denbo's podcast of a similar name -- see http://www.teach42.com/podcasts/teach42-010306.mp3 (at approx 2 mins 20 secs)

3.Early blogging and podcasting? Info-gathering in the time of Samuel Pepys! (And see my blog of 10th Feb: blogging in the 13th century! (at approx 7 minutes 35 secs)

Featuring the following music from http://podsafeaudio.com/, all released under a Creative Commons Licence. Please visit the website and listen to more works by these fine artists:

In love with you baby, by Timothy C. Lee
Funkytime by Manic

The intro/outro music is called Maxines, from http://freesound.iua.upf.edu/samplesViewSingle.php?id=2686

VLOG01: An email retrospective

Mon, 19 Nov 2007 01:07:00 +0000

It's the start of a brand new year, and my website is now at least 10 years old (I started it in 1995 I think). So now seems as good a time as any to have a look back over some of the emails that I've received in the past decade, and ask the question: has anything actually changed?

The music for this video is called Maxines.mp3 and is available via a Creative Commons Licence. The URL of sample I used, which is called Maxines.mp3, is given below; registration is free. Thanks to all concerned.

http://freesound.iua.upf.edu/samplesViewSingle.php?id=2686

Anyway, this is the first proper video log we've made, so bear with us as regards the quality: it's good to experiment!

Podcast Out-takes

Mon, 19 Nov 2007 01:07:05 +0000

If the big TV networks can do it, why not me?! Here are a couple of out-takes from my interview with Kathy Malsbenden: the whole thing lasts just about 30 seconds, but is a bit of a laugh! All part of my philosophy of celebrating mistakes as stepping stones to success (cf Oscar Wilde: "Experience is the name men give to their mistakes")!

The sound effect is called "Giddy laugh" and was downloaded from http://www.a1freesoundeffects.com/cartoon.html

Setting up an open source software computer suite: an interview with Kathy Malsbenden

Mon, 19 Nov 2007 01:07:07 +0000

Setting up an open source software computer suite

Kathy Malsbenden is an educator in the USA who has set up a computer lab (ICT
suite) based almost entirely on open source software. I interviewed her using
Skype, because I was interested in finding out just what her computer lab
consisted of and how she went about setting it up.

The interview lasts about 45 minutes, and covers the following:

* a description of the computer lab, including how much it cost to set up, and why
the open source route was chosen

* a sense of the range and quality of the open source software available

* educational open source software

* the technical requirements for setting up a Linux-based network (non-techies
should feel relieved after listening to this!)

* what about long-term licensing costs?

* strategic issues: how do you actually go about doing it?

* is it possible and feasible to introduce an open source solution in a piecemeal
fashion and have a mixture of open source and proprietary systems operating at
the same time?

* what advice does Kathy have for others, given the benefit of hindsight?

Finally, in the true spirit of open source, the music for the podcast is available via a Creative Commons LIcense. The URL of sample I used, which is called Maxines.mp3, is given below; registration is free. Thanks to all concerned.

http://freesound.iua.upf.edu/samplesViewSingle.php?id=2686

The effects of the digital revolution on the music industry

Mon, 19 Nov 2007 01:07:11 +0000

Katie Cimerman?did her BA dissertation on the effects of the digital revolution on the music industry. In this interview she talks about how a tiny device -- the mp3 player -- has turned the music industry on its head. Artists, consumers and the big record companies have all been affected, and what is apparent is that this particular digital revolution has shifted the power balance between the players.

This podcast could be quite useful for students to listen to if the course they are doing covers the social effects of technology.

Hooks: Helping children to internalise the concepts of information and communication technology

Mon, 19 Nov 2007 01:07:13 +0000

-- In this podcast we examine what it means to internalise concepts, and how we might use certain concepts in our teaching. The four concepts we touch on are:

-- Bloom's Taxonomy of the Affective domain

-- Ausubel's concept of the Advance Organiser

-- Bruner's concept of the spiral curriculum

-- The Constructivist approach to learning

The emphasis in this podcast, which lasts a little over 20 minutes, is the practical application of these concepts in the classroom.

Interview with Terry Freedman

Mon, 19 Nov 2007 01:07:15 +0000

Terry explains why he set up the ICT in Education website and the Computers in Classrooms newsletter.