WebWise from the BBC

Introduction to Social Media

This is a good introduction to social media from the BBC. Give it a try if you are unsure of anything. All the demonstrations are in easy to follow video/animation form.

Seven Predictions for Our Technology-enabled Universities 

Have a look at Sarah Porters seven predictions---

http://www.jisc.ac.uk/inform/inform33/FutureTechnologies.html

Award-Winning InfosmART Portfolio Released by Glasgow School of Art Library

The Glasgow School of Art Library’s award-winning InfosmART portfolio is now freely available to the UK’s art and design communities, following Innovation and Development funding from the Scottish Library and Information Council (SLIC.
InfosmART is the Glasgow School of Art Library’s portfolio of online interactive modules in information and research skills, specifically designed for creative practitioners. It has been produced for the learning, teaching and research communities in art, design and architecture, and helps artists and designers to develop and improve their research capabilities and information handling, at either undergraduate, postgraduate or research levels. It does this through an easy-to-follow 5-step programme: Define, Find, Evaluate, Cite and Use.
In 2010, InfosmART was recognised at the Times Higher Education Leadership and Management Awards, where its development team was named Outstanding Library Team of the Year. In 2011, its lead developer was named Information Literacy Practitioner of the Year for his work on the resource.
InfosmART was developed in-house by the Library of Glasgow School of Art. It has now been released for free non-commercial use and adaptation under Creative Commons licensing at http://www2.gsa.ac.uk/library/infosmart

Wikis and Blogs in Plain English

Ever wondered if a wiki or a blog could be useful to you in your teaching? Watch these two short simple illustrations and consider if using a blog or a wiki in your VLE sight would enhance your students experience.

 A short introduction to wikis that illustrates how they can be used to organize a group's information, in this case, for a camping trip.Follow this link to view the video

http://www.commoncraft.com/video/wikis

 

A short introduction to blogs - how they work and why they matter.

This video introduces the concept of a blog as a way for every person to have the power to share news and information. Follow this link to view the video

http://www.commoncraft.com/video/blogs

If you are interested in using a wiki or a blog to your VLE site and would like some help then e-mail

 vlehelp@gsa.ac.uk

App of the month

Two apps to look at this month both free, so enjoy----

HISTORYPIN. had its official launch earlier this summer, but August brought about the release of its iPhone app. The site and the app let you view the history of a particular location, by taking historical photos and pinning them, as the name suggests, to Google Maps. You can also contribute your own photos — both present-day and family heritage photos — to the site.

Adobe Photoshop Express software lets you use simple gestures to quickly edit and share photos from your mobile device. With Photoshop Express, it's easy to improve your photos. Choose from a variety of one-touch effects, or simply drag your finger across the screen to crop, rotate, or adjust colour. Add artistic filters like Soft Focus or Sketch. You can undo and redo changes until you get just the look you want—a copy of your original file is always saved.

Difference Between Web 1 and web 2

Web 2.0 refers to how we are using the internet today. There is no one definition of Web 2.0  and technically there’s no change to the technologies used to power the web but there is a clear distinction between Web 2.0 and 1.0. The internet has quickly become a staple in people's everyday lives. We rely on it to communicate with friends, families, co-workers and sometimes complete strangers. The internet has made things that were once out of reach, at the edge  of our fingertips.  In the 90s the internet was starting to become much more mainstream, people were typically hopping on their dial up connection to send e-mails, chat with friends and/or do research for a project. In the sense that it has helped us to communicate and learn, the internet hasn't changed. It is in how we are going about communicating, learning and using the internet that has changed. As the internet has expanded, it evolved into a much more social and interactive tools as opposed to being static. With the rise of social networking giants like Facebook the dawn of Web 2.0 arrived.





With Web 2.0 we don’t just use the internet we interact with it. Keywords to describe Web 2.0 are community, collaboration and user-driven. The way we used Web 1.0 was typically very linear. The internet was seen as a tool for business and utility. Webmasters created websites and users visited and viewed them. Communication was between webmaster and viewer. Web pages were static,

Web 2.0 sites allow users to interact not only with the site and webmaster but with other people who access the site. Some good examples of Web 2.0 sites are Facebook, MySpace, and Digg. Web 2.0 is about web applications that users can interact with and control.

So, in summary-----

Web 1.0 was about reading, Web 2.0 is about writing

Web 1.0 was about companies, Web 2.0 is about communities

Web 1.0 was about client-server, Web 2.0 is about peer to peer

Web 1.0 was about HTML, Web 2.0 is about XML

Web 1.0 was about home pages, Web 2.0 is about blogs

Web 1.0 was about portals, Web 2.0 is about RSS
Web 1.0 was about taxonomy, Web 2.0 is about tags/folksonomy
Web 1.0 was about wires, Web 2.0 is about wireless
Web 1.0 was about owning, Web 2.0 is about sharing

Dropbox

Are you tired of e mailing files to yourself, or carrying everything on a memory stick. Dropbox can help you always have the lastest version of what you are working on available on any computer.

Dropbox is a free service that lets you bring your photos, docs, and videos anywhere and share them easily. Dropbox was founded in 2007 by two MIT students tired of emailing files to themselves to work from more than one computer. Today, more than 25 million people across every continent use Dropbox to always have their stuff at hand, share with family and friends, and work on team projects.

All new Dropbox accounts and downloads, are completely free.

Dropbox Basic accounts include 2 GB of free space but you can build up more space if you refer your friends.  If you ever run out of space, you can upgrade your account with a monthly or yearly subscription to a Dropbox Pro 50 GB or Dropbox Pro 100 GB account.

You can get extra space for your Dropbox by inviting your friends to try it out. Once your friend registers and installs Dropbox, both of you will receive bonus space.

·                 Basic (free) accounts get 250MB per referral and can earn up to 8 GB, for a total of 10 GB.

·                 Pro (subscription) accounts get 500MB per referral and can earn up to 16 GB of extra space.

·                 Students can earn up to 16 GB of extra space and double the referral credit (500MB per referral), simply by submitting their e mail address.

In the 100 top technologies from 2010, dropbox went from 71st place to 13th, an impressive jump of 58 places, so why not give it a try.

https://www.dropbox.com/

 

App of the Month

A winner or a dis—app—ointment?

This is going to be a regular feature of the blog, looking at various apps available. Some of the apps will be useful for those involved in learning technologies, others might be useful in improving the way in which you work, and a few will be just fun. Some will be free, others will cost a little and a few will be expensive. Here’s hoping you find something interesting, informative or quirky in the apps that follow.

This months App is------- British Library: Treasures HD

The description from the provider includes-‘Treasures’, the British Library’s first app for iPhone and iPad, makes it possible to explore some of the Library’s rarest and most extraordinary written and printed material – from wherever you are in the world.
Literary highlights include Charles Dickens’s handwritten draft of Nicholas Nickleby and Jane Austen’s teenage writings, while key historical documents include 2000-year-old Oracle Bones from China, an original Magna Carta of 1215, Elizabeth I’s famous Tilbury speech before the Spanish Armada, and a recording of suffragette Christabel Pankhurst’s speech after her release from prison.
The section devoted to music includes manuscript scores from some of the best-known classical composers, such as Handel, Purcell, Mozart and Schubert. A section devoted to maps showcases some of the most interesting and beautiful maps and views from the collection.
The scientific documents, which are generally less well-known, explore fields such as astronomy, botany, zoology and medicine. They include manuscripts, notebooks and letters that reveal some of the key scientific developments of all time, including Fleming’s discovery of penicillin, and Copernicus’s and Galileo’s findings on the structure of the cosmos.
Alongside these images, the app also includes sound recordings and nearly 50 short videos. This multimedia content totals over 1.2GB and is best when viewed over a WiFi connection. The app will be regularly updated with information on British Library exhibitions, highlighting some of the star items that will be on display.

This app, as you can read from the description, has a huge amount of stunning visual content. The interface is clear and uncluttered and when browsing the images you can swipe and zoom as though they were your photographs on the iPad.  However, the developers of the app do say:

“Please note that due to the large amount of multimedia content included in the app, a WiFi connection is recommended to watch the videos and listen to the audio.”

So, not really an app for browsing on the move. The interface is impressive and the functionality and the visual display of the content within the app make it seem like you are browsing a coffee table book, or a magazine. This isn’t for the serious historian, but at £3.99 it is certainly value for money and worth a look.

Lucky Number 7

The Educause Learning Initiative's (ELI)
7 Things You Should Know About series is one of my favourite monthly publications. Recent publications have included 7 things to know about Organizing Files in the Cloud and iPad apps for Learning. Back issues include Next Generation Presentation Tools, E books and Creative Commons, so if you want to stay up to date on emerging technologies but have neither the time or the inclination to endlessly seek out the "latest" then give Educause and The 7 Things You Should Know About a try.

7 Reasons Why I Love 7 Things
1. Relevance: The topics are always just at that leading edge, where there is an awareness of the issue or technology but not a good shared understanding
2. Style: the publications are always written in a clear, concise and "jargon free" style. Each one answers the following 7 questions and is available to download in Pdf format.
what is it---how does it work---who's doing it---why is it significant--what are the downsides--where is it going--what are the implications for teaching and learning
3. Learning Focused: The 7 Things topics always have a direct learning focus and application
4. Frequency: the monthly format insures that a lot of topics are covered without being overloaded.
5. Future Proofed: Each 7 Things provides a road map to understand how the topic covered is likely to impact teaching and learning in the future
6. Level Playing Field: The 7 Things work well as pieces that we can share with colleagues, providing a third party credible source to initiate discussion and ensure that everyone has a similar understanding and is aware of the common language being used.
7. Balanced: Each 7 Things strikes a good balance between the innovative and the practical.

Top 100 Tools for Learning 2010 List

Have a look at this list and see what's new, what's going up, what's going down and if you can, contribute to the 2011 compilation. One that caught my eye is VOKI.

Voki is a free service that allows you to create personalized speaking avatars and use them on your blogs, e-mails or your VLE courses.






Here's how it might look if you used it within your VLE course. Think how this type of presentation could enhance your students experience
It took me five minutes to create this. The voice can be pre-recorded or typed.

press play to listen to this

If you think this might be useful to you and need some help setting it up, contact
vlehelp@gsa.ac.uk