I am lucky enough to have had an iPad (a personal one, not a work one) from the beginning and have been using it at home (instead of my home laptop and often instead of my phone), very occasionally for work (I would use it more because of the mobile nature of my job if it was a work device) but also a lot as a learner (Open University, H800 Technology-enhanced-learning: practices and debates). I have resisted blogging about the iPad for a few weeks because I wanted to give myself time to see how I would use it for real  in all of these circumstances, rather than cooing over its loveliness (imo) and then working out what apps were available and how other people might use it. Anyway, here are my thoughts so far (starting with the ‘why nots’) about the iPad:

Why not?

• It’s expensive … especially when you already have tools that do the jobs you need them to.
• Editing online can be difficult / doesn’t happen … which I needed to be able to do via Moodle and GoogleDocs for my Open Uni course.
• It doesn’t play Flash video … which has actually only been annoying when I wanted to watch something on the BBC website.

Why iPad?

• It’s very portable … and less conspicuous than a laptop or netbook when you are using it on the move, for example on a plane or in a coffee shop. I have also literally used it ‘on the move’, taking notes as I walked about a potential venue; I couldn’t have done that with my laptop and it would have been awkward with my phone.
• It has a great battery life … plus the charger is very compact and light to carry too.
• Everything looks great on the screen  … better than a mobile, as good as/better than a netbook.
• More and more apps and support materials are being developed daily …  TeachWithYouriPad is a wiki set up to support teachers, iPads in Education is another such website; iPads are a regular blog  feature of  Gloucester College’s James Clay at the moment too and I’m looking forward to mTouch and  mBook, two Moodle apps that are being developed.
• It is another great tool for supporting mobile learning: accessing online course materials, forums and blog posts (via Moodle for me); carrying and accessing offline course materials (GoodReader app for me); making digital notes (the standard basic notepad is great for simple notes); having online access to all files (Dropbox) and bookmarks (Delicious); staying in touch via Twitter, Facebook and Skype;  listening to course related podcasts and watching videos downloaded via iTunesU or on YouTube.

I am more than happy to say that the iPad isn’t perfect and that (as a learner) there are a few things it doesn’t do well. I also agree with the argument that a laptop or a phone or a mix of both would do the job too. However, having started my working life as a new product development technologist, who was constantly looking for the ‘next thing’, I don’t think that having something that does the job OK already is a good enough reason not to innovate and be creative and think differently. Just because something might not seem to have a place at this moment in time, it doesn’t mean it won’t in the future … how many used to think there was no need for computers in the home, or that mobile phones (and text messaging) would be something for a few? I am not saying that I think everyone will have iPads (or their equivalent) in the future, I just think that when we are talking about personal technology (which I think this is) it is good to remember that it isn’t what the tool can do that is important, it is what the tool can do for you.

(If you would like this blog post as an audio file please click this link or right click the link and choose to save the mp3 file. Please note: the audio file was created quite simply by pasting the text into Balabolka (one of the tools available as part of My Study Bar/EduApps) and saving as an mp3 audio file).

A month ago today the JISC RSC Wales event ‘Learning in a Digital Wales – Dysgu mewn Cymru Digidol’ was in full swing in the All Nations Centre in Cardiff … my, how time flies! Since then I have had a 2 week holiday and now that I am back I am taking a moment to reflect on the day (having recovered from helping with all of the behind the scenes work that went into putting it together). From the outset, the aims of the day were to bring together learning providers from across all sectors within Wales to:

• share good practice and experiences in new and existing technologies from across the sectors
• focus on key questions about the transformation agenda and the role of technology enhanced learning
• look at the reasons for change in 21st Century education.

… and I think that on the whole those aims were achieved, through the keynote from Dougald Hind, the opportunity for all attendees from across the education sectors within Wales to discuss the transformation agenda during the Knowledge Cafe and the wide range of sessions led by those who are actually using digital technologies to support learning and teaching across Wales.

Being involved in organising and supporting an event on the day you often miss out on the detail, which is why the information and resources area with presentations, videos, photos and comments from the event has been a great way of reminding myself what happened. The ‘Learning in a Digital Wales’ online information and resources area is available to anyone at: http://moodle.rsc-wales.ac.uk/learninginadigitalwales.  If you would like just a snapshot of the day I would recommend the Flickr photo and delegate comment slideshow … or if you prefer video then how about the YouTube hosted video of attendees’ thoughts, shot (with a Flip camera) by our roving reporter Lis or the compilation of keynote and Moodle videos created by Richard Wenner.

On reflection, a good day … and, now I have had a holiday, I think I’m looking forward to the next one!

(If you would like this blog post as an audio file please click this link or right click the link and choose to save the mp3 file. Please note: the audio file was created quite simply by pasting the text into Balabolka (one of the tools available as part of My Study Bar/EduApps) and saving as an mp3 audio file).

… an eLearning Advisor (Learning Technologies). Taking my lead from my colleague Karl’s recent post  ‘A month in the life of … an eLearning Advisor (Learning Resources), I thought it might be an interesting experience to do the same thing, for myself but also for anyone who reads this and is interested to know what a month in the life of a JISC RSC Wales eLearning Advisor (Learning Technologies) can look like. The first thing to say is that every day/week/month is different but that ultimately I am here to provide a service to our supported post 16 learning providers in Wales. Karl’s blog post focussed on the wide range of queries he and Sam deal with, so to make this different from his great blog I’m going to give an example of a selection of the activities I have been involved in over the last month, starting with the queries.

Queries
These are just a few of the queries (received in person, via email or Skype or over the phone) I have delt with this month:

Text Wall - we use a text wall to collect comments and questions from delegates who attend our events. During our recent ‘Learner Voice, Learner Choice’ roadshow we also suggested it might be one of the many tools that could be used to record the learner voice. A number of the organisations who attended the event had borrowed the text wall for a short period (in return for some feedback on how it goes) to try it out with their learners (Learning Centre suggestion box, opinions of Moodle, during Adult Learners Week, for feedback on lessons …) and one contacted me to ask for more details of the service (options for different walls, cost) because it was proving to be successful and she was interested in having their own wall. One follow up job for this week is to contact all of those who have borrowed a wall to find out how they got on. I’ll share the results via this blog.

Legal advice – at the last of our roadshows ‘Small Steps … Great Strides‘ I had a query from a college about whether there were any legal requirements or implications regarding allowing parent’s access to learners eILPs. JISC Legal, one of the JISC Advance services are almost always my first port of call for education related legal advice, so I contacted them and received a response within days which I passed on. Rather than attempt to summarise the response here the legal information regarding eILPs and parental access received can be found on a GoogleDoc.

Moodle – there have been a few Moodle queries this month but 3 of the most common ones are asking for a recommendation, asking for a way of doing something and asking for a solution.

• The recommendation was for someone who had experience of networking a number of Moodle’s together … I recommended the North Wales 14-19 Network;
• The way of doing something was for how to embed a web page in a Moodle page … I suggested using a handy piece of code (with the relevant web address inserted) given to me a few years ago that has been very useful: <iframe width=”100%” height=”500″ align=”middle” frameborder=”0″ src=”http://www.rsc-wales.ac.uk” border=”0″></iframe>
• The solution was for a problem a Learning Centre were having regarding how to push news out to their students, rather than expect them to go looking for it … and I recommended the RSS feed for Moodle forums that anyone could then subscribe to.

Facilitating the Moodle-Wales group
As the vice chair of the Moodle-Wales Steering Group, I have the honour of facilitating meetings. Usually the Steering Group meet face to face after one of the Moodle-Wales User Group meetings or via video conference but this time we decided to try something a bit different and we chose to use Skype (the latest beta version that allows up to 5 videos). This meant that we could all meet from our desks rather than having to book and travel to VC studios. It worked surprisingly well for a tool that is in beta.  After the meetings I compile and publish the minutes online and then get on with my actions!

Visits to providers
We try to visit all of our supported learning providers at least once a year to find out what they are up to and how we can help but we also do follow up visits too. The following are some of the real (and virtual) follow up visits I’ve done in the last month:

• Coleg Elidyr to show staff the potential of some of the free, open source applications available via Edu-Apps.
• Coleg Glan Hafren to collect the Turning Point interactive response system set we loaned them, along with feedback about its use.
• Barry College to take them on a virtual tour of our Second Life Office, followed on another day by a face to face session to show them the basics of building in Second Life so that they could borrow some space on the University of Wales Newport, School of Health and Social Sciences island (where our SLOffice is based) to try and engage with learners who won’t engage face to face.
• Coleg Gwent to take a virtual tour of our Second Life Office and the island and later to test (virtually) the Skype (Beta) multi video setup for a session they want to run.

Events
Organising and facilitating events is also another part of my role as an eLearning Advisor (Learning Technologies). This month I supported colleagues at the Cardiff  ‘Small Steps … Great Strides‘ roadshow, which was the last of the series of three roadshows, the other two of which I was much more involved in (’Barrier Busters, Accessibility and Inclusion‘ and ‘Learner Voice Learner Choice‘). For the last few months I have also been working on organising the one big, cross sector event that we are running in Cardiff on 30th June this year – ‘Learning in a Digital Wales – Dysgu mewn Cymru Digidol‘. There are still some places available on this FREE event so if you are interested then you’ll have to be quick and book now!

Virtual communication
We communicate with our learning providers in many different ways but 2 areas I have responsibility for contributing to (as do most of the team) are:

• Twitter – I tweet as@HelenHRSC on a very regular basis but also as @rscwales when it is my turn. As a learning technologist I am constantly on the lookout for news ideas and examples of effective practise and I find that Twitter is an excellent way of sharing what I find quickly … as well as also finding out what others are doing and sharing that too.

• Our teaching and learning (and technology) blog – I managed to blog 3 times last month (twice about Moodle and once about digital communication) but this varies depending on how much I am at my desk and whether I have been inspired to blog and feel I have something worth saying!

Twitter is my first virtual port of call for sharing stuff, followed by our blog and also the news pages on our website.

Keeping up to date and sharing with the team
I use a whole variety of ways to keep up to date with what is happening in the world of education and technology (RSS feeds, Twitter, mailing lists, newsletters, attending events, taking courses,  talking to people … ) and as well as sharing all of this with our supported learning providers I also make sure I share with the team too. A couple of tools that I have come across and shared recently are Twiddla (a bit like Etherpad(as was) but allows images and password protection) and Wallwisher (a web page for sharing ideas and comments that can been used in many ways).

As I said at the beginining, each day is different and this is just a flavour of the things that I am involved with as an eLearning Advisor (Learning Technologies). I guess the job is like both education and technology … always something to learn and share … but also ever changing!

(If you would like this blog post as an audio file please click this link or right click the link and choose to save the mp3 file. Please note: the audio file was created quite simply by pasting the text into Balabolka (one of the tools available as part of My Study Bar/EduApps) and saving as an mp3 audio file).

Last week I blogged about the oodles of Moodle I had come across (mainly via Twitter) in the last few weeks. No sooner had I posted the blog, then more Moodle stuff came winging my way … so I am back to add a post script to the last Moodle post!

Moodle Tool Guide for Teachers which, in the words of its creator @catspyjamasnz is a ‘poster size guide for teachers, allowing them to compare the functionality and pedagogical advantages of some standard Moodle tools’. It also includes notes about how easy or tricky the tool is to set up.

Moodle Course Round-up (where are all the shared resources?) is a post from Moodle News that lists some of the places you can go to access and use other’s Moodle courses. It also includes a link giving you the opportunity to share your own courses … as does this invite from Moodle HQ, asking for courses that could be part of the new Demo Moodle mentioned in my last blog post.

5 Steps to Moodle Success – a blog post sharing (via an easy to follow mindmap) how one organisation has introduced Moodle to their staff in 5 straightforward steps. I am pleased to see that the first step is for staff to use Moodle as a learner themselves … there’s nothing like putting yourselves in the shoes of the learner to see how it ‘feels’ and to work out how you can make it the best experience possible, imo!

And one last thing before I sign off on Moodle for now … did you know you could create your own RSS feeds for Moodle forums? I didn’t until I was discussing how a Learning Centre could push their news out to students and staff rather than relying on them visiting their Moodle page and we both were wishing that Moodle Forums had their own RSS feeds. Well (following a bit of investigation) our wish has come true … thanks Moodle!

(If you would like this blog post as an audio file please click this link or right click the link and choose to save the mp3 file. Please note: the audio file was created quite simply by pasting the text into Balabolka (one of the tools available as part of My Study Bar/EduApps) and saving as an mp3 audio file)

Moodle and how it can be used effectivley to support learning and teaching is just one of the many things that JISC RSC Wales offer advice and guidance on. I am very conscious that over the last month or so I have been tweeting lots of really interesting stuff that I have seen about Moodle BUT that as not everyone is a Twitter fan (or follower) it might be an idea to collect all of the Moodle stuff I have seen in one place … so here goes:

Moodle 2.0 is due any day now (I think) and there have been a few good introductory videos including this one on You Tube from @moodlefairy: ‘A brief tour of Moodle 2.0′ . There is also a Moodle 2.0 demo site if you are interested in fnding out more for yourself at: http://qa.moodle.net/

A new Moodle Educational demo site is in the process of being put together and details about how it is progressing can be found on Tomaz Lasic’s website.

The recent Moodle ‘Cool Course’ competition winners were announced a few weeks ago. All of the winning courses can be found and downloaded on the competition site

2 Moodle plugins that have come to my attention recently are:

• Moodle plugin for Microsoft Office 2007. I have plugged in and tried this one and after a bit of help from this blog it worked well. I can see how useful it would be for anyone who has Word documents that they want to update in Moodle or who wants an easy way to upload new documents … although I have to admit that I won’t be using it very often myself because I rarely upload Word docs to our Moodle, preferring to go for a more accessible pdf version, a Google Doc or other potentially more accesible and flexible alternatives. More about the tool can be found here on Moodle Monthly
• Easy Voter for Moodle, from Solihull College. I discovered this when I was looking for (free) alternatives to the audience response systems/voting sytems, like Turning Point and Qwizdom. It is a free plugin that basically enable you to create an interactive quiz to use in real time with learners BUT the learners need to have access to computers in order to participate. Here is more information about how Solihull College (the developers) use Easy Voter as well as  a case study from Cumbernauld College about how they are using it too.

Moodle use seems to be growing and growing, not just within the education sector but also within industry. Tesco, Subaru and Cisco are just some of the big names in industry that I have heard of recently who are using Moodle to support workplace learning. This article in the Western Mail (Wales Online) from Dr Geoff Elliot, Pembrokeshire College, also highlights the Moodle situation in Wales.

Moodle events are happening worldwide all of the time but closer to home the recent MoodleMootUK 2010 appears to have been a success, with more information available on their website. In the wake of MoodleMoot UK 2010, the first UK TeachMeetMoodle has also been organised for 3rd July in London. Closer to home again (for JISC RSC Wales) we helped to organise another of the very well attended ‘Moodle Meets’ for the Moodle-Wales users and videos and resources from the ‘Prepare to share’ event can be found online in our Moodle. Moodle also features in a number of the sessions in our forthcoming ‘Learning in a Digital Wales – Dysgu mewn Cymr Digidol’ event on 30th June in Cardiff.

I shall end this post on that final note of blatant promotion for our annual big event … but will no doubt be tweeting oodles more Moodle stuff over the coming months.

(If you would like this blog post as an audio file please click this link or right click the link and choose to save the mp3 file. Please note: the audio file was created quite simply by pasting the text into Balabolka (one of the tools available as part of My Study Bar/EduApps) and saving as an mp3 audio file)

The wonders of modern technology (a netbook with a respectable battery life and a mobile dongle whilst on the move, Dropbox, an iMac and a blog in the cloud) enable me to share and reflect (out loud) on the things I have heard today at the ‘Moodle Wonderland’ organised by ULCC and hosted at Westminster Kingsway College’s brand new Kings Cross Centre … so here goes:

A refreshing start

Andrew Williams from Kingston College started the day largely focusing on learning, with a bit of technology integrated appropriately … which was great to hear! Andrew began his presentation by considering learning and spirituality, defining both and drawing thought provoking parallels between the two. He introduced the concept of personalisation and then ended with a number of questions asking how technology can enhance different aspects of learning. The key things I took from his refreshing presentation were:

• The verb ‘educe’ (the origin of the word education) means ‘to draw from within’ … but this is not what the education system in general does for our learners today, is it? The focus is much more on pumping knowledge into them and then testing what they can remember, rather than drawing it from them.
• If we want to move back towards the original definition of learning then we need to appreciate what it is we need in order to be able to learn and Andrew suggested three things we need to do: open ourselves to wanting to learn new things; accept that we will change; acknowledge that we don’t learn alone, we need other people too.
• Personalising learning is a step in the right direction if we want to make learning more about the person rather than the information they know.
• Technology may well be able to help to personalise a learners experience but some of the questions to consider are:

? How can technology create space for learners to thrive?
? How can technology enrich the process as well as the product of learning?
? How can we mobilise e learning to enlarge the creativity and imaginative ability of learners?

A gallop through assessment

ULCC’s eagerly awaited Assessment Manager was introduced by James Ballard (ULCC) and then demonstrated and discussed by Scott Hallman (CONEL, one of the pilot colleges) in the first breakout I attended. A summary of what I heard and saw about the Assessment Manager follows:

• It is a Moodle plugin that has 2 parts: (1) Assessment Manager (for the learners, tutors and assessors) enables you to map user evidence to course outcomes, track progress and give assessors and verifiers an overview. (2) Qualification Manager (for the organisation) enables you to select and customise the qualifications.
• It started as an NVQ eportfolio but has developed to be able to encompass almost all criteria based qualifications … CONEL use it for BTECs, Diplomas, NVQs, Access, ESOL, SLDD, IFL staff.
• Moodle courses, gradebook, activities, calendar, outcomes and scales integrate (to a greater or lesser degree) with the Assessment Manager. They are now working towards fuller integration on some of these, including the gradebook and also Mahara.
• It is being used in 3 ways by CONEL: (1) confident tutors are using it fully with their learners (2) the e learning team take the paper portfolios and digitise them for the not so confident staff (3) it is used purely for tracking, rather than as a tracking and digital evidence store.
• It has been tested with Moodle 2.0 and will upgrade.
• It has been piloted with a number of colleges and has changed extensively over these pilots … but there is still work to do before full release in July 2010.
• Information about Assessment Manager on the ULCC website is limited but you can sign up for a demo account at http://amdemo.moodle.ulcc.ac.uk

A whistle stop tour of 21st century learning

ULCC’s James Ballard introduced the afternoon session by considering 21st Century learning and suggesting how we move forward with the aim of meeting the needs of the 21st century learner. The key things for me were:

• Learners are most definitely at the centre of 21st century learning.
• Knowing what to learn next and how to learn it is as important as what we have already learnt.
• Personalised learning is one solution that aims to meet the needs of the 21st century learner.
• Learners need to learn about the subject, about learning and about themselves as learners. The ’system’ (whatever it may be) should be there to support this.
• The future is interoperable, i.e  a collection of tools that all add to the learning process or experience and work together (for the end user) seamlessly.

A flying visit to view some Moodle practice

The second and final breakout I attended was a showcase of 2 provider’s Moodle practice.

Newcastle City Learning (ACL provider) have just embarked on their 3rd year with Moodle and the positives that have come out of it for them are: that it provides a place for shared resources that can be accessed by their geographically spread learners; online submission of work has made things easier for learners, tutors and assessors; information sharing and collaborative working of staff is much easier. Two other things that were of particular interest interest to me were that one tutor uploads learners work (with their permission) to her course for all to see, share and learn from and another tutor has one course with all of the support materials, tutorials etc and another that all of the learners are ‘teachers’ on so they can upload their work for all to share … and for the tutor/assesors to easily access too.

Hackney Community College have implemented ULC’Cs Personal Learning Plan Moodle plugin and are using it as an electronic ILP, which integrates with their MIS system and electronic registers, links to the Moodle gradebook, allows regular progress reports from the tutors to be added and enables the learner, parent or other nominated person to easily check on their progress.

The last stretch

And so ended my brisk but informative walk through a Moodle Wonderland. Presentations and videos from the day will be made available and I will post the link here once I have it. Thanks to ULCC, Westminster Kingsway College, all of the presenters … and not forgetting our sister RSC in London too

I hope that in lieu of a proper blog entry, the usefulness of this site will suffice:

How to embed almost anything in your website