Digital Dialogues

Podcasts & Language Teaching

PPS. Have you thought about the value of podcasts for teaching  / learning languages?

Sebastian recently pointed me to this Spanish novel - both in written form and now podcast! What a great way to practice your language skills. I've certainly downloaded it and will be using it in an attempt to keep my fading Spanish more current!

Fireside Chats & Podcasts

PS. to add to the previous selection on podcasts in education here's another really elegant solution from James Farmer and one of the Deakin lecturers - make sure you watch the short Flash movie that explains the concept and use of podcasts!

Harry Potter Magic!

Amidst all the issues in London - there is still some magic! Harry Potter magic - of course! 

Along with hundreds of others - mainly the under 10yr olds - I queued (for an hour or so) until witching hour - and - was rewarded! Looks like it has been an incident free night - surely that's magic!

In London and OK

*** STOP PRESS ***

I AM currently in London - and thank-you to everyone that has sent me an email or sms checking if I'm OK!!

I am - and so are all my significant others - husband, family, and friends here in London....

This has been a devastating experience and is still unfolding here as we try to get on with things....I will be writing something on the blog about this experience...when I can come to terms with some of the issues.

ABB

Podcasting in Education

Lots of dialogue (or should that be podcasts) going on around podcasting in education at the moment - have a look at some of the sites below to get across the latest.....

I just have a few thoughts here - why are we recording such long audio files....?

Think about the younger generation learners - the ones who have iPods glued to their ears...what are they listening to? Music!

Are they listening to lectures? Long (often uninspiring) monologues, instead of coming to lectures? NO

They're listening to music (short time frames), or recorded programs (like Triple J) that inlcude music and interviews....

So why, as educators, would we want to be recording our lectures/classes? Beats me!

Personally - I think the use of podcasts has some enormous potential in educational settings - but we need to very carefully re-think our paradigms of audio content.

If any LTUG-er is using podcasts in their practice - we'd love to hear from you - take this opportunity to share your ideas with the group!

Perhaps a good place to start might be this article from ASTD's Learning Circuits:

Trend: Podcasting in Academic and Corporate Learning

From James Farmer at Incsub (some of the members will know James from the weblog workshops)

Using Podcasts in Education

The Education PodCast Network

From The Australian IT - Power to the Podcasters

MP3s and iPods Aren't Just for Music These Days - from the Chief Learning Officer

They're suggesting 3 - 5 minute audio files - now we're talking!!!

Podcasts from Campus Technology Journal at the InfoComm 2005 conference in Las Vegas.

Lots of podcasts to listen to, download and absorb - but you know what I'd like them to tell me first - how long is the podcast and what is the size of the download!

 

Here's a thought provoking article from the Harvard Business School that challenges the standard employee-orientation model!

Getting New Managers up to Speed

email Overload

How many emails - not counting spam - do you receive a day?  Even taking a couple of days off creates havoc in my inbox!!!

I found this article the other day in the Harvard Business School Working Knowledge newsletter and thought there was some great ideas & tips that we could all practice...I wonder where this email newsletter fits in??

Tips for Mastering email Overload

Why Mobile Learning fails to make a move

A recent article in the Sydney Morning Herald commenting on the challenges facing educators (and their institutions/organisations) about the cost of mobile learning and the how the telcos are threatening the viability of m-Learning in Australia.

I suggest you read Marc Prensky's article (see below under Trends heading) published in the Innovate - Journal of Online Education - before your read this one!

Then think about some strategies that we need to develop - as educators!

What Can Your Learn from a Cell Phone?

Almost Anything!

by Marc Prensky in Innovate - Journal of Online Education June/July 2005 issue

There are one and a half billion cell phones in operation around the world, and a large percentage of them are in the hands of students. Yet these phones are barred in most classrooms because they interrupt lessons and can enable cheating. Marc Prensky encourages educators to reconsider their view of mobile technology—and to imagine a pedagogy that embraces its potential. Essentially small computers, cell phones can support language lessons, display animations of medical and chemical processes, be used for polling and testing, serve as the gateway to larger learning resources—and so much more. Prensky explores the possibilities and presents his vision of the new classroom, one in which mobile phones are a key learning tool.

Want to read the article? Go to Innovate June/July 2005 issue - you need to register to be able to access the article - it's a great journal so why not register!

Mobile eLearning via Phone

A real success story with the young

From Checkpoint e-Learning
London, May 2005 – Key findings from mobile eLearning trials have been published this month by the Learning and Skills Development Agency (LSDA) in a report "Mobile Technologies and learning". The report presents some innovative ideas on how mobile technologies such as smartphones and PDAs (Personal Digital Assistants) can be useful learning aids - particularly with young people who have not succeeded through traditional education.

Online Courses as Video Games

Here's an engaging case study on the use of video games, role-plays and education....make sure you link through to the case study and then the link to the example of a RPG educational video game!!!

From Campus Technology

Online Courses as Video Games

By Dr. Rodney P. Riegle, Professor,Illinois State University

Online course offerings are becoming increasingly more common in education. Nearly 3 million U.S. students are currently taking university level courses online and more than half of all higher education institutions see online education as critical to their long-term strategy. The competition for online students will continue to escalate as more and more institutions realize that online education is a fast-growing, multi-billion dollar market.

Clearly, education is becoming a commodity and many educational institutions are looking to online education to improve their revenue stream. The competition for online students is bound to become more and more intense. The marketing of online courses, however, is still in its infancy. Courses designed like video games are one way to win this competition by appealing to the target demographic in a way that they embrace. A recent study found that 70 percent of U.S. college students play video games (32 percent even admit to playing video games during class without the knowledge of their instructors).

In addition to being one of the most popular video game genres (along with adventure and sports), RPGs are perhaps the most appropriate video game genre for educational purposes. RPG stands for Role-Playing Game. A role-playing game is a game in which each player takes the part of a character and participates in an adventure. The popularity of online role-playing games is staggering--there are currently more than 25 million people playing MMORPGs (Massively Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Games) such as The Sims Online, Runescape, City of Heroes, Dark Age of Camelot, Ultima Online, Star Wars Galaxies, Final Fantasy, EverQuest, Lineage, and Ragnarok.

Click here for the full story and the link to the RPG!