Doug Clow's Imaginatively-Titled Blog
Data science, research, analytics, technology development, and people
(First in a series of liveblog notes from the CALRG Conference 2010, 24-25 May 2010, Jennie Lee Building, The Open University – Conference Programme, Cloudworks discussion)
Patrick presents the background to OLnet, followed by short pieces from many of the researchers.
An IET Tech Coffee Morning on eBooks, with a panel discussion: Giles Clark (co-publishing guru), Agnes Kukulska-Hulme (learning tech prof), Keren Mills (exciting innovation honcho in the Library), Rhodri Thomas (Learning Innovation genius), Claire Grace (head of licensing and content in the Library), Gerald Schmidt (development adviser expert in LTS).
Giles chairs and introduces a glittering array of OU experts. (Liz Mallet can’t make it. ) Continue reading “The Impact (or not) of E-Books”
Liveblog notes from another IET Tech Coffee Morning – Supporting ‘exploratory talk’ around an Interactive Whiteboard in primary school science, by Marilena Petrou, Cindy Kerawalla, Eileen Scanlon.
It was an ESRC-funded project, run last year. Develop & evaluating software to support particular sorts of talk.
Many people have already mentioned that the Open University has adopted Google Apps for Education (including the OU official announcement, Will Woods, Niall Sclater, Tony Hirst, John Naughton). My department – the Institute of Educational Technology – hosted a workshop exploring the possibilities on 3 February. These are some notes I made in the discussion.
Liveblog notes from an IET Technology Coffee Morning, 16 December 2009.
Presenters: Patrick McAndrew, Graham Healing, with input from Elpida Makriyannis and Anne Adams
We have a Tobii eye-tracker in the labs, which isn’t used as heavily as it could be. Aim for today is to show how easy it is to use, and explore some of the ways it could be developed.
History – a few years ago, Graham and Patrick were trying to improve the OpenLearn website. It was hard to know whether their worries about its effectiveness were real. Used an eye tracker to do a brief study of what actually happens. It was amazingly revealing, and very efficient – just a few minutes of recording and playback showed them the interactions on the site. That then grew in to quite a study, with analysis. At that point, the technology was hard work – took many extra hours. But now have bought more recent kit, with software upgrades, which make it very easy to use.
Some classic research in to how people read pages – like Jakob Nielsen’s classic (2001) work showing an F-shaped reading pattern for web pages. But is it still true?
Has been around since the 1950s! Now more up to date – see e.g. this presentation, which is about the machine we have:
Continue reading “Seeing how people really use online technology with the Tobii eye-tracker”
Live notes from IET Technical Coffee Morning – Robin Stenham on accessibility.
Accessibility is one of the things I particularly care about so it’s good to have this session.
Robin is Manager – Curriculum Access in Disabled Student Services. Two main areas of responsibility: single enquiry point for students (or their intermediaries) about the interface between their assistive technology and the OU’s products and services – particularly courses. Has a team, has backup from IET staff, but it’s literally one man plus half another one and half of his dog! The other area of responsibility is policy development, again working with IET and LTS, affect and effect policy. Wants to rebalance and embed accessibility in to the mainstream.
Things are changing quite quickly – announcements on Monday folded in to talk at the last minute.
He talked broadly about the issues around accessibility, and specifically for the OU, and then about the new focus on embedding accessibility across the OU, which promises a step-change in the way we manage making our products and services accessible to all. Continue reading “Enabling Greater Accessibility”
Liveblog notes from a presentation by Robin Goodfellow. Part of an ESRC Seminar Series on Literacy in the Digital University, which has its own blog. Of course. Also has an ordinary dull website.
(Robin’s notes and PowerPoint are available – to OU people – on the Knowledge Network)
Liveblog notes from an IET Technology Coffee Morning by Yvonne Rogers, on Tangibles, tabletops or mobiles: which is best for collaborative learning?
(Podcast version will be available at podcast.open.ac.uk)
Review of her work over the last 10 years. Has been looking at new technologies – shareable technologies – and how they support different activities.
15-20 years ago, students working together f2f would huddle round a PC. One would take control of the mouse, the others would be onlookers. Taking control was awkward. Touchpads and laptops allowed people to move outdoors – but interaction much the same. Then 10 years ago, mobiles came along – designed for one person to use, but children use them in pairs.
Now, new technologies – tabletops, tangibles – designed specifically for multiple users at one time. Reactable for collaborative music-making using tangible things on a tabletop.
These seem to give better support for collaborative learning than 1-person PC. But which works best for what activity? What are the opportunities and constraints of these technologies and contexts?
Continue reading “Tangibles, tabletops or mobiles: which is best for collaborative learning?”
Liveblog notes on a book discussion seminar on The Public Domain, by James Boyle, led by Ray Corrigan. It’s another in the series of senior seminars on the implications of technology for the world that I’ve liveblogged before (last was on The Future Of The Internet).
The audience included notable OU blogger and genius John Naughton, Niall Sclater and a host of other clever technology-informed people from round the OU. Ace senior administrator Tony Walton introduces things by self-deprecatingly observing that he spends half his time reading boring reports, and the other half writing them, so it’s nice to have a discussion like this.
The book covers ‘the second enclosure movement’, enclosing the ‘commons of the mind’. Ray says the book is the Silent Spring for the information society and should be compulsory reading for all OU senior management.
Learning about the opportunities of Internet-connected TV with a Boxee application.
Liveblog notes from a Technology Coffee Morning given by Liam Green-Hughes, held in the Jennie Lee Building Laboratories, 16 September 2009.
Doug Clow's Imaginatively-Titled Blog 