Digital Dialogues

Bathroom surfing....

I'm not sure what to make of this story...Sounds of logon from the John ... I picked up from the Australian...according to the story..

"...a [US] survey of internet use finds more people are logging on in the bathroom.

The snapshot of how the internet has changed life in the US finds that home wireless connections are allowing people to stay connected everywhere, even in the smallest room in the house.

"Many Americans are using the computer connection in the bathroom," says Jeffrey Cole, of the University of Southern California Annenberg School Centre for the Digital Future.

Since people were unlikely to be surfing in the bath or while brushing their teeth, Cole says, he has concluded that many went off into cyberspace while on the throne.

"More than half of those who used WiFi had used it in the bathroom," Cole says, remarking that he believed some people in busy homes retreated there for some privacy. "

Right...now...a number of responses spring to mind...generally focused on toilet humour - however, seriously though...in the bathroom? On the toilet??
I might be a little out of touch here...but I'd like to know how many people are doing this - c'mon - leave a comment if you're a toilet blogger...I'm just busting to know!!!  :-)

Edublog Award winners!!

The winners have been announced...and they are.....

Most innovative edublogging project, service or programme 2005
James Farmer: Edublogs
(That means lunch is on you today James! Congrats!!!!)

Best newcomer 2005
Konrad Glogowski: Blog of proximinal development

Most influential post, resource or presentation 2005
George Siemens: Connectivism: Learning as Network-Creation

Best designed/most beautiful edublog 2005
D’Arcy Norman: D’Arcy Norman Dot Net

Best library/librarian blog 2005
Joyce Valenza: Joyce Valenza’s NeverEnding Search

Best teacher blog, joint winners 2005
Konrad Glogowski: Blog of proximinal development

Anne Davis: Edublog Insights

* Best audio and/or visual blog 2005
Dave Cormier and Jeff Lebow: Ed Tech Talk

Best example/ case study of use of weblogs within teaching and learning 2005
Thomas Hawke, Thomas Stiff, Susan Stiff, Diane Hammond (YES I Can! Science team): Polar Science

Best group blog 2005
Rudolf Amman, Aaron Campbell, Barbara Dieu: Dekita.org

Best individual blog 2005
Stephen Downes: OLDaily

Make sure you drop by the EduBlog Awards site for more info AND visit the winners site - well worth spending some time spent exploring!
I hope some of these projects will inspire and inform your practice for 2006!

Online Educa - Review # 2

Another contribution from Carol Daunt:

1. "Sir John Daniel, President & CEO, The Commonwealth of Learning, Canada addressed the topic: Digital Divide to Digital Dividend: What Will It Take?
   
   He first posed the question: Does e-learning fit the bill?
   In developing countries there are 4 billion people who need education. Can we combine connectivity to learning resources? He spoke about open educational resources (OERs) that apply to teaching & learning. These have the basic principle of sharing. There are several barriers to sharing: not invented here, copyright, non-digital formats.
   
   There are 4 questions to ask about e-learning:
   - Accessible? - connectivity, OERs available
   - Appropriate?
   - Accredited? How to promote trust & confidence?  UNESCO  guidelines
   - Affordable?
   
   Barriers to e-learning
   *Issues of bandwidth:
   - Telecoms legislation & monopolies
   - Little joint buying - institutions should club together to buy bandwidth
   - Poor policy & management
   
   * Non-technical issues
   - institutional development
   - Academic issues - choice of program, being student centred
   - National & international environment - need for partnerships &
   collaboration
   - Management - propriety or open source?
   
   **Some sites for follow-up:
   COL Learning Object Repository
   
   LMS Evaluation Tool User Guide
   
   Lots of reports about e-learning across the Commonwealth:
   http://www.col.org/resources/consultants/index.htm
   
   The Commonwealth of Learning Virtual University
   
   UNESCO virtual university

Online Educa - review #1

from Carol Daunt - LTUG Executive Officer

"Online Educa opened on a cold Berlin day (0 degrees C) with 1860 delegates from 73 countries - including a small contingent of Aussies are here waving the flag for e-Learning downunder.

There were 3 opening plenaries:
Prof Ricardo Petrella, President of the group from Lisbon, Economist & Political Scientist, addressed The Globalisation of Education Supported by Technology & its Impact on the Human Condition.

Prof Petrella is known for his views on globalisation and it's effect on the'weak'. (Click through to his bio from the OEB page:http://www.online-educa.com/en/) He gave a thought-provoking presentation that I couldn't possibly encapsulate in a few paragraphs. The most profound statement I took from it was that the role of education is so that we can all learn to say good morning to each other and live together in peace. He feels that technology has a great capacity to support this aim.

Dr Brandon Hall, Author, E-Learning Expert & CEO of brandon-hall.com
presented Key trends in E-learning. He feels that the trends are:
- Focus on success
- Enterprise solutions (solutions for the entire organisation)
- Simulations (realistic work situations, tools & consequences)
- International (cultural issues)
- Funding (change from on-going training budget to initiative basis to
address a specific need)
- Flash (impact of media rich content in small file size)
- Innovation (m-learning, podcasts, wikis, blogs, RSS)

***FOLLOW-UP***
I wrote down: 50+ New Tools by Dr Gary Woodill, Opertil but I can't find it
by a quick search, However I did find a bunch of white papers by Gary at:
http://www.learnflex.com/learnflex/Whitepapers.aspx

Dr Richard Straub, Director of Learning Solutions IBM Europe, Middle-East & Africa discussed Competing in a 'Flat' World - the Transformational Power of E-Learning. He talked about how disruptive technologies lead to innovation (a la Skype). He pointed out the innovation is when you start to USE technology to achieve outcomes.

He highlighted the quote by Alvin Toffler: "The illiterate of the 21st century will not be those who cannot read & write, but those who cannot learn, unlearn & relearn". Straub feels that lifelong learning is no longer a nice to have but must be part of our culture.

Another strong point was that e-learning is not just about formal learning and replacing face-to-face with technology. It is a new type of learning and will play a big role in supporting lifelong learning.

Books to source:
The World Is Flat : A Brief History of the Twenty-first Century by Thomas L. Friedman

Learning Alliance Report: 'Thwarted Innovation: what happened to e-learning & why?' Zemsky & Massey (2004). You can download a pdf of a ppt presentation on this at:
www.becta.org.uk/page_documents/corporate/effective_use_ict_holistic_approach.pdf

e-Portfolio New Zealand

EIfEL is going to be in New Zealand in a couple of weeks for e-Portfolio New Zealand - 12 & 13 December at the Auckland University of Technology.

The program looks great with a diverse range of international and local speakers - and not too much all packed in so your head starts spinning!

Really disappointed I won't be able to make it over for this one - just a bit too close to Xmas and all those end of semester admin duties that need to finalised and early prep for 2006 subjects....bummer! :-(

And the winners are......QAS!

Congratulations to LTUG members from the Queensland Ambulance Service who have just won the Australian Flexible Learning Framework 2005 Australian Training Initiative Award!!!

"The QAS’s award winning program is using flexible training options to deliver critical medical training to ambulance offices in regional and rural communities.

In 2004 the QAS received funding and support from the Framework to assist in the development of this training initiative and to undertake research to investigate the best ways to deliver this training and determine learning needs.

The research resulted in the development of flexible training methods such as online and CD-ROM teaching materials; digital video-conferencing for recording and personal coaching; online forums for problem solving and exchange of ideas; and the introduction of e-learning leaders to assist with the planning of training activities."

( I bet the $10,000 video conferencing system from Polycom that Sally White won at LT2004 conference might have been a bit of a catalyst for some of these ideas and innovations!!!)

Find out more about the award winners from the Flexible Learning Framework site.