November 21, 2008
Shortlisted for Best Education Website - Irish Web Awards
Liquid e-Learning has been shortlisted for an Irish Web Award - Best Education Website. Yay :)
November 20, 2008
busuu.com - another social network for language learners
busuu.com is yet another social network for language learners. It's a start-up based in Madrid and is still in beta. Users can access all content for free at the moment, but there's no indication of how much it might cost when it leaves beta behind.
So what's on offer? Well, busuu.com offers the usual big-hitters: English, Spanish, German, and French.
I have to admit that one of the reasons I'm reviewing this site ahead of so many others in my 'backblog' is because busuu.com is soooooo pretty. It captivated me visually. I wanted to get in and learn more about the site. And busuu.com made that easy.
It's simple to sign up. You're not browbeaten into giving away too much information - just enough to be useful.
Once you're in you've got four main tabs to navigate with:
- home
- friends
- inbox
- busuutalk
The friends, inbox and busuutalk tabs are self explanatory.
On the homepage you can see your friends, online users, recommended units, 'winners' and are prompted to take part in activities. Or you can click a tree (oh go see...it's pretty) to access the 'language garden' of your target language.
Language Garden
The busuu.com language garden lets you add units to your learning journey. You can study up to 5 units at a time. The units are pretty standard e-learning with a five step process to learning:
1 Vocabulary
Here you learn key vocabulary by watching a slideshow with audio and text. Hardly high-tech, but OK.
2 Dialog
Here you listen to an audio file with a transcript of your target language.
Alongside this, you can see and listen to an English translation.
After this, you test your knowledge with three multiple choice questions.
3 Writing
Here you can write a piece of text and submit it for peer review. Text entries are reviewed and rated.
4 Speak
In this section, you can speak to native and fluent speakers. I'm antisocial, so I only checked the feature out for how it looks - I didn't attempt to speak to anyone! Luckily, just looking completed this section for me, so I didn't have to do anything ;)
5 Test
Here's where you'll get a multiple choice picture and sound file quiz - with some very strange audio feedback in the form of cheerful or very ominous piano notes!
THE END
After you've completed a whole unit, it disappears from your learning garden and you can add another unit.
busuu.com - so what works and what doesn't?
The e-learning is not very high-tech. The slideshow method of learning a word and image by viewing and listening to about 20 words at a time doesn't really work for me. Our working memory can grasp about 7 items at a time. I'm not sure how a complete beginner could remember so many words all at one go.
Another problem with this type of picture, text and audio-based learning is that it's hard to tell what some of the images are. I ended up getting answers wrong in the test section just because I couldn't remember which image meant what. You end up trying to associate the images and audio file as much as you try to learn the meaning. It's hard to get around this.
Like a lot of the other sites I've explored busuu.com doesn't really let you practice half enough. It's a quick introduction to language but I don't know that you get to do enough for the new knowledge to be retained.
It doesn't offer one-to-one lessons with qualified teachers.
Verdict?
There's nothing very new here. And there's a lot of competition in this space now. But there's nothing terribly wrong with what's on offer at busuu.com. The site is pretty. It provides decent e-learning. It doesn't force the learner into linear learning, which is great - it's really good to be able to select bite-sized chunks of learning. It seems like a friendly site...a place you could make friends. However, I see busuu.com very much as a support to classroom-based learning. It seemed like a good way to revise or refresh knowledge, to test where you are.
Why are they called Busuu?
Apparently Busuu is a language spoken in Cameroon. A study conducted in the 80s showed that only eight people still spoke this language.
November 18, 2008
Talk Irish - new website
I've been really busy this week, trying to launch my new website, www.talkirish.com. I've finally got it up - although I'm still tweaking it - so make sure you go and check it out.
So what's www.talkirish.com all about? Well, it's an Irish language learning website, aimed at adult learners who have a cúpla focal or or no Irish. Right now, we're working hard to publish lots of free Irish language learning materials - such as podcasts, flashcards and language learning games. They're not live yet, but we're going to launch these as soon as we can.
If you're trying to learn Irish, or if you know someone who's trying to learn Irish, go to www.talkirish.com or sign up now for our podcasts. The more people I can sign up in advance, the more free learning materials I can provide on www.talkirish.com!
Irish Web Awards Nomination
Liquid e-Learning has been longlisted for two Irish Web Awards - best education website and best technology website. I'm pretty awed to be longlisted once, never mind twice. I've not been blogging much for the past month because I've been ill (I really want to blog illness and e-learning - it's amazing what you can learn about the human body online). But wow. Double longlisting!
You can check out the other longlisted sites here and if you fancy a good night's craic, you can book your ticket to the awards ceremony on 11 October in Dublin here.
November 17, 2008
Howcast.com - instructional video channel
I imagine 9 months ago, when Jason Liebman, Daniel Blackman and Sanjay Raman were still working on Google Video and YouTube at Google, they must've had a pretty clear vision of the product they wanted to launch. Because in just 8 months, they've conceptualised, coded, funded (to the tune of $8million) and launched howcast.com. The story's sexy. But is the product hot?
According to the PR, howcast.com is a new How-To Video Site for Consumers, and directors program for emerging filmmakers. What it feels like is videojug.com - another site that's got lots of FREE how-to videos like How to Paint a Wall, How to Get Paid for Donating Plasma How Not to Get Mugged, etc etc.
The idea is slightly different - consumers are supposed to watch and share instructional how-to videos. The content is scripted by professionals, then filmed (for $50) by emerging filmmakers who also share 50-50 in the ad revenue. And then we're all supposed to participate - to rate, to comment, to suggest, to subscribe etc, while the ad guys sign up to buy relevant ad space.
howcast.com's technology's more advanced - when watching a video, you can follow step by step, play them in slow motion, zoom in on certain areas, or print a text guide.
Jason Liebman, CEO and co-founder of Howcast wants to bridge the worlds of user-generated content and professional vidoe and thinks 'instructional video is a perfect place to start.'
Well. The site's slick. It looks good. It embeds great community features. It's got a good search engine. It's got a hint of sleek apple design. They've got a revenue model for their content. And the logo's got the must-have 'beta' label attached.
Howcast.com isn't doing anything new. But will it take off? I blogged videojug.com last year. A great site, great concept, but I don't use it (not even in approaching all those DIY jobs I keep mucking up in my flat). I can't see why howcast.com haven't ticked every possible box for an Internet start-up. But only time will tell if it will work.
And although I searched and searched, I couldn't find a video on How To Secure $8,000,000 funding for your cool Internet start-up company. Although if I did, I suspect it might open with the words, 'First, resign from your job at Google...'
Can Apture make Educational Blogging Better?
Apture provides a rich communication platform that allows publishers and bloggers to easily turn flat pages of text into multimedia experiences. I'm just a new user, so my review is going to focus on what they say, and what I've experienced so far.
You must sign up for apture, and then insert a line of code into your blog/website. Apture then detects you're using it, and opens a small editing toolbar, which allows you to highlight words in your content, and to search for related content.
Once you find the content, you can link to it. When a user visits your site, any linked content can be opened in a small window that you can reposition anywhere on your browser. Try it.
Apture Search and Content Selection
I've not used Apture for long - this post is an experiment in using it. But one concern I have is in how Apture searches for and suggests content for embedding. The default search provides content in these categories:
- video
- images
- reference
- News
- Maps
- Music
- Documents
- web pages
Good, useful categories. But the content it suggests within these is pulled from specific sites - so for images, you get flickr, yahoo image search and wikipedia (could they not get a deal with google images?). For reference they use
wikipedia, crunchbase, imdb and amazon. For news it's the Washington Post, BBC and BBC archive. I'm not sure how they made their selections, but I'd be concerned about a narrow search that might return narrow results.
Using Apture
As far as I can see, Apture lets you add all this rich media after you've posted your blog. I like this. Often I publish a blog a couple of times because even if I preview it, I don't get it quite right until its live. And with Apture, I can add content and tweak what appears. I like that approach.
Apture and E-learning
Apture makes it easy to prettify and enrich your blog posts. But a really interesting feature is apture's wiki mode. You can set this so that anyone with an apture account can come in and edit your content. I'd love to see how a group of students might enrich a basic text article - and what they'd learn in the process of doing so. The student as author is so much more engaged than the student as consumer.
Consuming Aptured Content
I've not been on very many sites that use Apture...so I'm testing it here and on my personal blog. It may happen that Apture is just plain annoying, rather than useful. Or it may happen that it is useful to blog readers, and keeps people on my site for longer (which would be of benefit if I made any money through that!).
Making Money with Apture
Apture claims that publishers can 'monetise' content that otherwise lies dormant but I couldn't quite figure out how. Apture themselves seem to be trying to make money through an ad system. Again, not sure how it works. And it doesn't seem aimed at bloggers. One of the reasons I've steered clear of ads on this site is that I would prefer control over the ads that appear. I want to know that the products or services that appear on this blog are good. However, I often recommend books, services and products to people. If Apture had a means for me to embed a link to the point of purchase, then perhaps I could earn a few cents from the recommendations I make. That would be nice. Sigh.
November 16, 2008
Freestyle Mobile e-Learning
I was in Morocco recently for a holiday. It struck me that in the family homes I visited (Fez, a village near Khénichét outside Sidi-Kacem, and Casablanca) that the dominant technologies were satellite television and mobile phones.
The TVs always seemed to be tuned into American movies (I only saw horror or action movies) or programmes like 'Real Life Survival Stories' or 'The World's Dumbest Criminals' with Arabic subtitles. TV was watched passively, with little comment.
Some of the phones in use were modern, some were ancient bricks. But every house had at least one mobile phone, and it was obvious every adult aspired to own one. Everyone expressed great admiration of the phones we had with us - not for what they looked like, but much more for what they could do - surf the Internet, send and receive email.
I visited a small village school in the North of the country. The classroom was basically equipped - desks, books, a blackboard. There were no computers. In the family homes I stayed in, I saw just one, quite old laptop. And Internet access wasn't cheap - I saw one package advertising access for approximately 20 euro per month (the average daily wage in Morocco is about $3.50).
Education is hugely important to the average Moroccan - it can greatly increase a person's earning power. So acquiring knowledge is important. In classrooms where books are precious and computers are non-existent, it seems to me that mobile phones allied with an affordable data plan could become a leading learning technology.
Learners learn best when the knowledge is necessary, relevant and timely. I know that I use my mobile phone on the go to get the facts I need for the situation I'm in or am about to face.
And these facts aren't delivered via bite-sized SCORM/AICC compliant e-learning modules. They're freestyle - thrown at me by Google and consumed in text format. And no matter how low-fi this solution is, it fits my needs and it works. Of course I'm not earning any points in an LMS. I'm not getting tested on my retention. But I'm getting more done, and doing things more effectively in real life.
I guess I'd like to teach the world to browse, with affordable data plans...
November 14, 2008
Focal an Lae - Irish Word a Day
We've launched our
Irish Word a Day service over at www.talkirish.com. We've also launched some new site features. Check out the Audio and Flashcard gallery where you can download any of the audio or flashcards for use on your pc/iPod/phone.
You can sign up to receive the service by email, or you can just visit the site every day to check out the new word.
Words so far include droim, seangán, bolg and scamall...want to know what they mean and learn how to pronounce them? Visit www.talkirish.com.
We're in the final stages of beta testing our games, dictionary and quizzes. They'll be released in coming weeks.
November 11, 2008
Irish Web Award Winner
Congratulations to Fís Book Club, who won the Best Education Website at the Irish Web Awards. Fís (Irish for both Video and Vision) is a great little site for teachers and pupils in Irish schools who can use it to upload video reviews of the books they love. Users can browse all the video reviews to see if they can find a great new book to read. Congrats again!
LexDex - online and mobile flashcards
LexDex is a new mobile and online language learning tool I found recently. It's pretty simple to use (though a bit buggy at the moment).
LexDex is a website with a database specialising in language textbooks. You can browse the database, select a textbook and use LexDex to output the content to flashcard for online or mobile study.
First you have to create a profile (which refreshingly just requires your email address and mobile/cell phone number). In order to output to mobile, you have to choose your phone make and model.
After that, I found it quite easy to search for a textbook, and to select a chapter, then select the words I needed to learn. LexDex does output them to online flashcards,mobile flashcards or as a study guide.
The online flashcards are quick to generate and are pretty standard, although I couldn't get the audio file to work. Maybe this is coming soon?
The study guide is just a HTML page with the words you're trying to learn in table format - you can also output to PDF, although I imagine have an editable doc is more important.
I found I could output a limited number of flashcards to my mobile. The process worked - I got an sms with a link to my flashcards, and I downloaded and installed the java app. Pretty soon I could view my cards on a clean, easy to use GUI. There was no audio. But when I decided to download a second set of cards, I got into trouble. Both files seemed to have the same name, so I couldn't get the second set of cards to work. LexDex still feels like a beta product.
LexDex was designed specifically to produce mobile flashcards for foreign languages. But now the team are expanding towards other subjects and are developing games. The tool was created by 3 Americans - Edward Kim, Joseph Constanty and David Pauker. They recently graduated from university and are now living in Shanghai, China. To date, LexDex has not been used by any universities or businesses, although the team are working on developing partnerships with local schools in Shanghai.
I've mentioned that LexDex use a team of databasers to input all the information from text books for use on the site. The input is checked before publication to the site. I'll admit my main concern about this website and tool is the copyright issues behind behind this.
When I asked LexDex for more info on their relationship with publishers, I was assured that publishers have been 'pretty receptive' to the idea of LexDex using their books to create flashcards, as they see LexDex as a complementary tool rather than a supplementary one. LexDex openly states it does not intend to replace the teacher, class or even the textbook, but to help students study.
I imagine the idea of generating more sales of a textbook through LexDex does appeal to publishers. However, LexDex does not actively promote the sale of any of the textbooks from its site. I imagine it would be easy to hook up to the Amazon book store, so users can purchase the textbook they aim to study, if they don't already have it. LexDex haven't (yet?) implemented this step.
And what will happen if any of the publishers decide that they want in on the revenue stream from the flashcard sales? LexDex will soon be charging a very reasonable $7 per book for the ability to access and create flashcards for 6 months. Although it's early days, and there can't be a huge revenue stream in this tool alone, I can see publishers in a tightly-squeezed publishing industry eventually demanding their slice of this pie.
November 10, 2008
Learn about ancient Celtic Law...and how to make money on a leap day
I didn't know that St Patrick and St Brigid were the two who started the whole tradition of enabling women to propose marriage on a leap day.
Apparently St Brigid had a chat with St Patrick about letting women have the right to propose to a man. And the cautious St Patrick ruled that woman could certainly propose to a man. But only on a leap day, which falls once every 4 years.
In Scotland, the tradition developed that if a man rejected a lady's proposal on a leap day, he had to pay a fine, ranging from a kiss to a new silk dress.
And did you know that if you're proposing to a man, all you need is a football, not a diamond ring. Are men really so easily pleased?
Anyway. I'd advise anyone to have an enlightening 3 minutes with this videojug.com production, and then to spend the next 12 hours either hiding from ladies, or stalking gentlemen.
voxswap.com - social networking and language learning?
Just thought I'd squeeze a post in before I head off to the Mournes (outlook is mixed: forecast of blizzards, ice and hot toddies).
I joined voxswap.com a few weeks ago. It's the first British language learning community I've found. It's very new - having had its official launch on January 17 2008. It was founded by husband and wife team Sean and Nicole Hargrave.
The site's recently achieved a core community of 600 users. They're aiming at 1000 users before long. It's built on kwiqq.com.
voxswap.com - what does it aim to do?
To connect millions of people around the world who have an interest in learning or improving a language.
voxswap.com - what does it offer?
Voxswap feels very much in beta. There is a community, yes. And you can use an internal email, chat and a discussion board. Then there's the virtual keyboard, which enables people to add characters and accents that are foreign to their keyboards (and there was me just figuring out which magic key combo could give me an accent). But there's not much else.
voxswap.com - how do you learn?
There's no free content offered on voxswap yet, or any other kind of content. I'm actually not sure how they fund themselves, as there are no ads either.
voxswap.com - did I make friends?
I signed up for French and Irish. Needless to say I've not been overwhelmed with Irish learners looking to connect. But I've not actually made any other friends. LONELY.
voxswap.com - does it work?
I've spent a lot less time on voxswap.com than on any other language learning community. But that's because there's not the community, content or features to engage me.
Sean Hargrave has commented on socialmediaportal.com that he 'couldn’t find the site I was looking for, so I decided to build it.' I think Sean should take a good look at his non-UK competition. I've reviewed italki.com, palabea.net and livemocha.com in previous posts. I've also blogged about chinesepod.com, who have now branched into spanishpod.com. There's serious, more established competition from these and more.
November 08, 2008
Open Source for Schools
http://www.opensourceschools.org.uk/ is a new site that aims to promote, review and document usage of open source software and tools in UK schools, although I imagine they're happy to include Irish schools.
OSS offers a space where schools can share their experiences of open source software, with the aim of increasing confidence and knowledge levels - they hope thes factors will drive uptake.
Open Source For Schools is just in beta, so they're happy to listen to all your feedback and will welcome and support new members.
They're seeking Case Studies from schools using open source, so if you're in this space, share your knowledge.
I don't know if the UK or the Irish governments have strategies on driving the uptake of OS software in schools...seems like something that might just have got missed out...the government pushes the use of computers in school, and loads classrooms with computers, but is there a strategy on what software and tools are useful?
November 07, 2008
What is non-linear video?
When I first worked for the BBC in 2002, I'd come from a corporate e-learning background, where I learned how to write a non-linear video simulation. These simulations enabled a learner to watch an opening clip, then choose from a number of options. Each option led the learner to another video clip.
These non-linear video simulations reminded me a lot of those Choose Your Own Adventure novels I used to read as a kid - you read a chapter, then got to choose an action at the end. Then you'd turn to the right page to see what happens.
I didn't live long in these adventures. Mostly I got ate by a Dragon or fell down a well (much more interesting than the e-learning equivalent, where you could make your boss look disappointed or perhaps fail to sell a printer).
So when I joined the BBC, I talked about potential of a non-linear approach to using video. But I found it very hard to get people from traditional media to understand the concept. Five years on at the crea8ivity.com event in January this year, I was surprised to hear how little things have changed.
The phrase non-linear video was bandied about during the event by a few different people - Emma Somerville - BBC Head of Interactive TV in particular used it - but nobody seemed to have a clear idea of what non-linear video is. There seemed to be an impression that simply by allowing viewers to choose which video clip they wanted to watch, you were creating a non-linear video experience.
Well not really.
A video clip played out on the web or any other platform are still 'linear video'. For me, a true non-linear video experience is about scripting and providing content that doesn't have to be played out in a straight line - content that plays out in response to user choice.
NON-LINEAR VIDEO LEARNING EXPERIENCE EXAMPLE
On a freelance project, I once got to script, shoot and build a really interesting non-linear flash-based video quiz. It used a pool of video clips in conjunction with a database of thousands of questions and images.
The design meant the learner could play the game millions of times, without ever getting the same questions. The video clips slotted together in response to the user's actions.
The game was a hit with our testers and the ROI on the game was massive. For a small investment, we ended up with a fun quiz game that could be used again and again. And we could update the quiz database whenever we wanted, providing fresh content.
LINEAR VIDEO LEARNING EXPERIENCE EXAMPLE
For the same project, I also wrote a soap opera. It consisted of 5 short episodes that had to be watched in order. The learners couldn't interact with it. It couldn't be updated. And it cost a lot more to produce.
I didn't feel that many content producers at the crea8ivity event were clear on the distinction between delivering linear video online and creating a non-linear video experience. I got the impression that people thought that once you put a documentary or short film or video clip online, it somehow stops being 'linear video'.
It doesn't. Non-linear video content needs to be carefully scripted from scratch - check out those old adventure novels! You can't take a Barbara Cartland novel, cut it up into 10 chapter, then upload it as 10 word documents and call it interactive. Sure I can choose chapter 7 instead of chapter 1 first, but the content isn't designed to be experienced that way.
I didn't think that the BBC presentations did anything to enlighten the content producers about creating non-linear video. We were bombarded with 'exciting new formats' like
- made for mobile Tardisodes
- Minisodes from archive material
- web-only programming experiences
It struck me that what the BBC are doing at the moment is creating fancy names for video content, instead of actually looking at how to create interesting video experiences.
And instead of the BBC working with the content producers to create interesting new video content, they're bamboozling them (and their audience) with fancy new names for what is essentially always always the same thing - a 5 minute linear video clip...
This is an old link...but still interesting...check out samsung's interactive film showcase. There's 10 characters. 1 event. 10 possible endings. And 11,000 ways for the story to play out.
November 06, 2008
Is Surfing the Internet Changing Your Brain?
Well yes. Of course it is. Working in a repetitive factory job or driving a taxi around London will change your brain. But it's still interesting to read this news story on how the the Internet is not just changing the way people live - it's also changing the way our brains work. If you search the Internet or text message, you're making your brain better at filtering information and making snap decisions.
Gary Small, a neuroscientist at UCLA in California, argues that this is an evolutionary change. As with all evolutionary changes, there are winners and losers - the winners in the digital evolution will be those who are tech-savvy at the top of the new social order.
So the Geeks Shall Inherit The Earth? It's not as simple as that. Technology can accelerate learning and boost creativity. But it also allows people to isolate themselves and 'live' online. But succeeding in the new 'digital' era will require a mix of traditional and technological social skills.
I know many people who can communicate and connect effectively through blogs, twitter, linkedin, facebook, myspace, podcasting etc etc etc. But not all these people can connect effectively in real life. Then there are those who are brilliant at traditional social skills. But can barely type an email or reply to a text.
I learned my traditional social skills in a variety of sometimes challenging situations - by having to attend funerals and weddings, by participating in cultural gatherings such as birthday parties, or through institutions like school and college. Mostly I was guided (or coerced) through these situations by an adult who taught me how to socialise. But I've been learning my technological social skills by trial and error.
Gary Small's conclusion that tomorrow's winners need to be comfortable in two worlds is hardly mind bending. But I like to think that those of us who straddle two worlds, who know how to sit on a bus with a complete stranger and talk about the weather for an hour as well as twitter our way through the US election, maybe we've got a headstart in this race :)
November 03, 2008
iPhone as an e-learning device
A pretty interesting discussion has sparked off at my post about Smartphones vs Stupid Operators...worth checking out - I've certainly learned loads!
Slovoed - mobile language learning
Language learning in real-life situations is both important and effective.
But when I'm on holidays, I'm not into carrying bulky phrase books or dictionaries around all day. And I hate not having audio files for pronunciation. The solution? An audio and text dictionary on my mobile.
slovoed.com are a Russian software team who provide great mobile dictionaries in over 130 languages. I've been using Slovoed's French-English dictionary to:
1 pick a word and listen to an audio file for pronunciation guidance
2 read example phrases of the word being used in different contexts
3 create flash cards
4 review flash cards with a quiz
5 personalise the dictionary with your own vocab
6 explore hot links in every entry, so you can easily jump from word to word
That's just a list of the features I find useful - you can see a full list of OS-specific features here.
With slovoed mobile dictionaries, you can get a dictionary on your mobile from just $15 (price for the Simbian OS English-French dictionary - different language partners have different prices - the Spanish-Catalan dictionary is about $60).
I've been using various ipod packages for language learning, but haven't found anything that works. I'd be interested to hear if anyone else has found an effective way of learning a language on the go?
PS...My favourite French phrase on my slovoed dictionary is under Drink/Boire:
"Elle l'a fait boire pour qu'il avoue."
Translation
"She got him drunk so that he'd confess."
A useful phrase for a very specific situation...
Twitter Ye Not...100 e-learning tweets
Jane Hart of the Centre for Learning and Performance Technologies recently published a list of 100+ (e-)learning professionals who twitter. My twitter feed was on the list. This explained to me why I have suddenly been getting followed by all sorts of interesting e-learning heads from all different parts of the world.
The problem? My tweets were personal tweets, designed to feed into my personal blog. I've been intending to set up an e-learning twitter - two in fact. One for this blog, and a content-based feed for my Irish language site. I'd started twittering for my personal blog just to get a feel for how it worked, before doing it 'professionally'.
Tony Karrer has since reviewed and slammed the tweets from Jane's list as being 'banter' and not something he'd subscribe to. And underneath there are a lot of comments both in favour of Tony's opinion, and against. I don't really get the need for people to decide whether or not e-learning twitterers are good or bad, whether Jane's list is useful or not. Try twitter. Like pistachio ice-cream, you can take it or leave it.
Personally, I'm a twitter convert. I love the way I can connect to people I don't know but have heard of, and learn about their work flow, what's interesting them, and get tidbits about their life. It helps me talk to them when I meet them face-to-face, or to reach out to them on email.
And I think twitter can really add something to my blog. I'm overwhelmed by the sites and tools I've discovered that I want to blog about. My backblog of really great sites I've been asked to review is weighing me down. So I want to use twitter to alert people to those great little tools or sites that I want to blog about, but either won't find the time, or don't need to write a long post about.
I don't have a problem with anyone following the saga of my broken gas boiler as I twitter as michellegallen. But if you'd like to get the fewer and more relevant e-learning tweets, try following searchfindlearn at Twitter.
November 01, 2008
Possible Multiple Choice Quiz Ban
I recently read about Naomi Gadian, a medical student with dyslexia. She's taking legal action to try and prevent the use of multiple choice exams as part of doctors' training.
Naomi believes that multiple choice exams discriminate against dyslexics and wants the General Medical Council to scrap them. If she wins her case, all medical schools might have to drop the exams.
But it's not just medical schools who'll have to change. Institutions across the world rely on simplistic multiple choice quizzes to test learner's knowledge. It's how the UK government tests learner drivers. So as Naomi Gadian's solicitor, John MacKenzie, has pointed out, "Every professional body or employer who relies for a professional qualification, or as a promotional gateway, on multiple choice questions is heading for a fall."
Is it true that students with dyslexia are discriminated against in multiple choice quizzes? I'm not sure.
Students with dyslexia are usually allowed extra time in written exams. Multiple choice quizzes are no different. Students with dyslexia get extra time to complete these. However, a student with dyslexia may struggle in particular with multiple choice exams due to the particular eye control it takes to read AND select the correct option.
It doesn't state anywhere if Naomi is struggling with a paper exam or a PC exam. But I'm assuming it's e-learning. Today, most e-learning content produced by professional bodies or employers is screenreader compatible. It's designed to be accessible to blind or visually impaired students. In fact, any learner can choose to read text with the assistance of a screen reader. The correct answer can be typed in. There are lots of ways in which a student with dyslexia can get assistance in completing a multiple choice exam to the best of their ability, so I'm not sure how this case will proceed.
However, Naomi doesn't just seem to be questioning how the questions are delivered. She's also questioning whether testing a doctor's knowledge using multiple choice questions is valid.
The BBC quoted Naomi as saying "In normal day life, you don't get given multiple choice questions to sit. Your patients aren't going to ask you 'here's an option and four answers. Which one is right?'"
I hope not. Any time I've been to hospital or my doctor's surgery, I've given the doctor as much information as I can about my problem. Then I've expected the doctor to generate a list of possible options, which they may or may not share with me. I get to wait as they select the option they think is the most likely one.
So it seems to me that multiple choice questions are not the best way to test doctors for this type of knowledge. Multiple choice questions ask a question and provide the user with a list of possible answers.
However, user input quizzes (whether spoken or typed) more accurately reflect the situation Naomi describes. But would she be happier if user input questions were used? User input questions simply ask a question and require the user to come up with an answer. User input questions are an awful lot harder than multiple choice questions. It's sometimes hard to find the right answer when staring at a blank sheet, or at an empty screen. User input questions reflect real life.
I think that the real reason much e-learning relies on the multiple choice question format is that it's easy to write. And it's easy to assess. And I think multiple choice questions are easier for learners to pass - the odds of getting it right are usually 1/4. Much e-learning is over-reliant on multiple choice quizzes. It's easy. It's sometimes lazy.
But ban them and what happens?
October 30, 2008
100 useful web tools for different kinds of learners
You might not need 100 useful web tools, but you'll probably find one or two little gems on this list sent to me by Fiona King.
The list groups tools according to the type of task in hand (podcasting, mindmapping, notetaking), but has also organised them for various learning styles.
If you're an auditory learner who learns best hearing text rather than reading it, you can scoot down the list and check out sites like readplease.com, which can read aloud text for you (and is apparently also a great proof-hearing tool).
An tÚll Mhór - Learning Irish in New York
I'm in New York from tomorrow for 8 days. I'm there to talk to Irish language learners and teachers about what they use to learn Irish outside of Ireland. I've been working really hard to get the podcasts, flashcards and quizzes ready for launch on www.talkirish.com - I haven't got an official launch date just yet, but I'll email everyone who's already signed up and post here as soon as I do!
Seems like Irish is a hot topic now, and Des Bishop, the Irish-American comedian, has a great show called 'In the name of the Fada' which tackles the national problem with the national language. Catch up with the show online at RTE.
Des's website, www.desbishop.com, has a link to some interactive Irish learning materials. The materials certainly look good, but I haven't had a chance to test the content out yet, and I'm not sure at what level it's aimed at. If anyone else has tried it out, let me know!
October 29, 2008
10 scientifically-proven facts about learning
Donald Clark has written a nice piece for Line entitled '10 facts about learning that are scientifically proven and significant for training'.
There's nothing terribly new in the article, but it's great to read and remind yourself of these key factors in learning. I've printed the list and pinned it up to focus me when I'm planning work. Synopsis below, but I think you should go read the article - it's short and snappy.
* Spaced Practice - we learn through practice, little and often
* Cognitive overload - too much, too long!
* Chunking Information - less is more
* Order - learn stuff in a useful order
* Episodic and semantic memory - teach for the types of memory we use
* Psychological attention - hello? anyone out there?
* Context - learn on the job/task
* Learn by Doing
* Understand peer groups - teachers and parents don't matter. Peer groups do.
* Murder the myths - bye bye to learning styles, left-right brain, NLP etc etc
Line have also published a series of white papers - I've not read through all these, but they look useful:
Rapid development of e-learning - risks and opportunities
Making e-learning a viable business tool
Understanding the culture of e-learning
Podcasts and learning
Beyond blended instruction
Web 2.0 and learning
Thanks to Deborah Limb of Learning Pool for the link!
October 27, 2008
Smartphones vs Stupid Operators
Up until May 2007, I was a very basic mobile user. I had an old Sony Ericsson that I used mostly for texting. I didn't ring on it much because after a few minutes, the phone hurt my head. I didn't use the built-in camera as my digital camera was much better.
I didn't invest money in a new phone because I never really knew what a phone could do for me. I knew what my needs were, but the ads and shops were just plain confusing. And even though mobile operators only had to provide text and talk packages that made them loads of money, the packages were always so convoluted that I only ever felt like I was signing up to be ripped off. So I just stuck to my old O2 pay as you go, 200 free texts a month sim.
Buying a new phone always seemed to be about how it looked. How pretty it was. The ringtone. And for some people, the camera. I'm not big into brands or the latest gizmo, and couldn’t care less about what my phone looks like.
But then my boyfriend introduced me to the world of smartphones. He explained what the different phones and operating systems could do. And with his advice, I quickly bought a nokia n73 and changed from O2 to T-mobile to get a decent data plan, although I got ripped off on T-mobile's roaming charges (not cost effective if you live between Derry and Donegal).
But with the dataplan, I could access the web all day for the flat rate of £1. So suddenly I was able to check gmail through the gmail app, check google maps, browse the web etc.
Of course, checking mail meant needing to reply to mail...needing to reply to mail meant a data input problem, so I bought a bluetooth igo Stowaway fold-out keyboard for £40.
Having solved my data input problem, I installed quickoffice - so now I can view and edit word docs, excel sheets and powerpoint presentations. I've got the 85,000 words of my unfinished novel on my phone. That's where I edit it these days.
When I wake with great blog or game ideas in the middle of the night, I input them into my phone. It's where I do my shopping list. My expenses. I use the calcium calculator app.
I've stored music and podcasts on my phone. I've used the camera instead of my usual camera. I've taken pictures and videos of the neices and nephews. And pictures of the wine labels I've enjoyed so next time I'm in the offie, I can browse my wine label collection for one I liked.
And for learning French, I use my slovoed French dictionary - with thousands of text and audio entries, I can translate and learn on the go.
When the iphone arrived, I couldn't understand the fuss to be honest. Yes it is soooooo pretty. And touchscreens are where it's at (no more figuring out what buttons to put where – just produce one really nicely designed device and let the software do the work. When you've figured out how to do something better, you just upgrade the software).
But I'd been using my phone to do pretty much anything the iPhone can do, and maybe a bit more. So when I read in this Guardian article yesterday that 'The launch last year of Apple's iPhone proved that people will use the internet on a mobile phone' I got a bit annoyed.
The iPhone did not prove that people will use the Internet on a mobile phone. However, the iPhone ad campaign was the first mobile campaign that took time to teach people how they could use their phone.
The iPhone, ironically, is the first phone that I can think of that wasn't sold on its looks. No sexy models caressing the casing. No hot young dudes connecting with their equally hot friends on the latest must-have phone.
Apple didn’t have to sell the phone on how sexy it looked. It was an Apple product. Looking sexy was a given.
What they did instead was use their 30 second ad to give the consumer a brief tutorial in how to use your mobile. They showed us how to send an email. How to browse the web. How to check the weather on your phone.
Irritatingly, this does mean that proud new iphone owners spend their time giving me tutorials in how to send an email or browse the web. I have to say, Apple do it better. And quicker - check out their ads here.
The same Guardian article has quoted Scott Horn, general manager of Microsoft's mobile communications business group as saying "Our goal is to put a smartphone in every person's pocket."
First things first, for advertising, communications and learning, mobile technology's where it's at. More people have mobiles than have PCS. Smartphones are a stepping stone. Google and Microsoft are both throwing lots of time and money at the mobile market.
But the big problem I find here is not the phone or the software. It's the data plans. Scott Horn can put a smartphone in everyone's pocket, but what's he going to do about the rip-off data plans?
The mobile phone operators have realised that consumers want more than just text and talk. And that if we want to talk, we might want to use VoiP. Instead of texting, we want IM. And they don't want that.
I’ve got an O2 web bolt-on on my phone. O2 describe this as being ‘Unlimited Internet Access’.
What it really means is that I can browse the web and get email. I can use no more than 200MB of data per month. I can’t use internet radio, audio streaming, video streaming, skype, msn or any other instant messaging, no VoIP, no P2P, no FTP, no remote desktop, no remote access of any sort, no modem use.
And this wonderful deal only applies to UK usage…if I go abroad (which for a Northern Irish consumer means if I visit sunny sunny Cavan) I’ll be charged £8/MB.
Mobile operators used to only have to figure out ways of selling incredibly lucrative talk and text packages to consumers. Now they have to deal with all the different types of demands that mobile web brings with it.
And I get the feeling that until the mobile operators can figure out a way to truly fleece me on each individual mobile need I have (which might take them years), or until Google become a network provider, I’ll have the endure the joys of ‘Unlimited Internet Access’.
A Model explains how to Use a Mobile phone
This is an old video on mobile technology, but it's quite interesting. It features American model, Anina, who has been named Nokia Champion the last two years in a row for her innovation in the mobile space.
The interview was NERDTV's first interview with a woman. And it shows. The interviewer, Robert Cringly, seems mostly pleased that he is interviewing a model, rather than being engaged in Anina's talk. But the video's well worth the watch.
Couldn't find it on youtube to embed here, so you'll have to visit PBS.
Lingro launches new free language learning tools
Lingro have translated their site into French, Spanish, German, Italian and Polish, so massively expanding their targe user base.
And they've launched some brand new FREE language learning tools (again I ask, HOW are they doing it???). I've not had a chance to play properly with everything, but I've grabbed two of their widgets to help ESL readers of my blog.
The first of these is a badge that enables users to open my page in Lingro. This means they can then translate it to the language of their choice. If this is helpful for any of my readers who have English as a second language, please please let me know! It's near the bottom of the right-hand column - try it out now.
The second widget for your blog or website displays a real depth of thought from the Lingro team. When users find a translation missing in Lingro, they can use the widget to contribute a translation for the missing word. This is clever because although the Lingro team have put a huge up-front effort into creating their tools and resources before launching, the Web 2.0 model of their ongoing project requires user-generated content to continually add value. Disseminating widgets to where their people might need them most is a great idea.
I haven't had time to check out the other tools, so if anyone has a go and wants to feedback here, they're more than welcome!
New FREE Lingro language learning tools include:
- a "sentence history" page that lets you see the sites you've visited through Lingro, the words you clicked on and the sentences they were in.
- A new dictionary building tool that lets people enter translations of missing words.
- A Swedish dictionary which translates back and forth between all the other languages on Lingro (Lingro say they've had loads of requests for it from users).
I'm a fan of Lingro...but I'd love to know what other people think! Post a comment with what you think of Lingro's new tools.
Check out my previous post on Lingro for more info on the website and tools.
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