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.
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...'
In schools, obesity levels are rapidly rising and teachers face pupils hostile to traditional competitive sports.
The solution? Dance Revolution!
According to the BBC, this computer dance programme has got teenage girls in Luton into the gym and working out.
I can't see how the actual idea is all that different from me following my yoga dvd at home, rather than in a guru-directed class, except that the pupils dance on individual mats, that score their performance.
Students can compete against each other, or simply work towards a personal best.
Now, wouldn't it be interesting if we could create a great big touch-sensitive gym floor, that enabled us to load a variety of exercise programmes into its system, rather than using a series of dance mats?
Or if we could create an interactive multi-angled camera system that films and interprets your 3D performance, rather than just your foot position?
Although, I'm not sure I really need the computer saying 'Michelle, you need to stretch 22% more into the Plough Pose to achieve maximum flexibility'.
I've recently had to attend some workshops on business skills. I learned best in the workshops where the facilitators were humourous. This made me curious about how I learn...so I've been reading more of my How the Brain Learns book (David Sousa). Here are a few laughter and learning facts:
- Laughing gets more oxygen into the bloodstream...oxygen is pure brain fuel.
- Laughing causes a surge in endorphins - these are the body's natural painkillers, and they give you a feeling of euphoria.
- Endorphins stimulate your brain's frontal lobes. This can lead to increased focus and attention span.
So laughing not only gives you a physical feel-good effect, it makes you feel better mentally.
Laughter also decreases stress, boosts your immune system and relaxes muscle tension.
I don't usually associate training or teaching with laughter. I'd say most people are the same. But I do know that my favourite teachers at school were the funny ones. Children like to laugh. School is boring. The funny teachers were popular.
I'm not an ideal training candidate. I'm not used to spending a day at a table, listening to other people's presentations. I get bored if the content is too familiar or badly presented...I need to get up and walk about, or sit on the floor, or 'get away' to focus myself...I need to eat something frequently - not just a biscuit with a coffee break - I mean I need chocolate and nuts and something to drink just about every hour...
So seeing how some trainers and presenters have managed to keep me engaged during all-day presentations has been interesting. And I've found that even if I can't get up and move around, eat or break away, I can still stay focussed if the trainers are funny.
Two trainers who made a great impact were a classic double act - Martin York and Peter Miller from G4H - a UK firm who specialise in sales and marketing execution.
Martin and Peter jokingly introduced themselves as Ant and Dec. Throughout their extremely well-polished workshop, they punctuated theory with insider anecdotes and humour.
I stayed engaged because I didn't want to miss the jokes or anecdotes, but the laughter meant the learning experience was powerful, positive and memorable. It also helped that their content was strong and concise.
And Aidan Harte of Optimum Results, Ireland was also good trainer. I'd a bad start to this workshop, having not had enough food and no nibbles with me. I then missed the mid-morning snack and ended up having to go until lunch without food...not good!
But Aidan's use of anecdotes and humour to underline points got us all laughing and bonding, contributing more stories and facts to the shared pool.
Laughter enhances Learning. Now where can I learn how to be funny?
I'm a book fiend. Ever since I was a child, I've been sneaking over to a strange bookcases, and quickly reading as much as possible of what interests me.
This can lead you to some fairly interesting discoveries. As I mostly buy my books from Amazon these days, I don't browse so much. I specifically purchase what I was recommended or intended to purchase. Online I don't go in with one book in mind and come out with three.
But still other people's bookshelves lead me to interesting new material. Having worked my way through all the things I wanted to read on my boyfriend's shelf, I was left last night with Fermat's Last Theorem, by Simon Singh.
I am not a maths fiend. I had avoided this book, which describes the solution of Fermat's Last Theorem, the World's Most Famous Mathematical Problem.
*snore*
But last night I wanted to read myself to sleep, so I figured the book would serve its purpose.
Except it kept me awake. 77 pages into the paperback and I had to force myself to put the book down and put the light off.
Apart from the fact the book is well written and explains maths in a way that even my father (a maths teacher) never did, it contains so much of the story of knowledge. It describes the building of the library at Alexandria, and its destruction. It describes scholars fleeing the flames clutching anything they could find. And it describes how these precious manuscripts and books were protected and persecuted throughout the following centuries.
What struck me most was the fact that the books stored knowledge. And normal people, whose brains can't contain all that knowledge, went to the libraries, to the books to access what they needed when they needed it.
The destruction and dissipation of the knowledge set the development of mathematics and other disciplines back by centuries.
Today so much useful information is stored across the world on servers. One rare book in a hallowed library in Trinity College Dublin can be scanned in and put online, where thousands of people can access it simultaneously. On a smaller scale, I have documents that I never print, that exist only on my laptop or Google documents space.
Microsoft is buying old bean fields in the US. They're not going to be planting seeds. They plan to build the huge data centres that will be needed to cope with our data storage and processing demands. Google operates scores of data centres, and is building more (read more at the Guardian).
As more and more information goes on line, and more and more information is just created and only exists online, it feels like we're creating the digital equivalent of the library of Alexandria. Something huge and precious, only this time it's accessible to millions across the globe, 24/7/365.
But this worries me. I don't really understand data storage. I once had my laptop and 3 year's of work fried in a matter of seconds. This taught me the value of back-up systems. But a back-up is just as vulnerable to corruption or destruction as the original.
Our access to information and the world's knowledge has never been so widespread. But what systems do we have in place to protect online knowledge? Can we expect to see modern-day barbarians - knowledge terrorists - attack the world's data centres in an attempt to destroy the information they disagree with? Have we strategies for data conservation and protection?
I suspect my 1GB memory stick isn't quite up to the job.
I listed my top ten e-learning tools on the Centre for Learning & Performance Technologies. Check out the post here. Ignore the fact I look as though I am flexing muscles only an e-learning consultant could be proud of.
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’.
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.com is a cool new language-learning website I've been using this week.
lingro is different from other language-learning sites I've seen. First of all, it's free. Working with an open-source philosophy, lingro has created dictionaries for learners of English, Spanish, French, German, Italian and Polish.
The dictionaries are open-source - if you don't find a word, you can add it. Or if you're using a derivative of a root word, you can link to the root word (not sure if what I link to affects what other people see, or if it's just my dictionary).
But lingro isn't just a collection of open-source dictionaries. The lingro team have cleverly linked together a series of tools. First you can look up a word in the dictionary. You'll get a definition(s), perhaps a phrase, and in some cases audio.
You can then add this word to your wordlist. From your wordlist you can then review words, or go to the games section to learn them. At the moment, the only game is a basic flashcard game, but the team are working on putting more together.
Apart from the dictionaries, you can also use their web viewer. The web viewer doesn't translate an entire page from one language to the next - it enables you to click individual words for a translation. I know I've used something like this in Firefox before - it's a great little tool for someone who's trying to improve their understanding, but is lacking key words. You can add the words you look up to your wordlist - giving you a list of vocab you need to work on.
Lastly, lingro has a file viewer, which enables you to open a file (.txt, .doc, or .pdf) in your web browser. You can then click each individual word in that doc for a translation, and add words to your word list for further learning.
For a test, I tried opening my 60 page word doc of 'Le Petit Prince' with images. Lingro's file viewer was able to cope with this long, image-heavy doc and quickly opened the file ready for use. Pretty cool.
Essentially, a lot of what lingro offers is not new. Language dictionaries aren't. Word lists aren't. Page viewers and integrated translators aren't. Flashcards certainly aren't. But what lingro does is it joins the dots...everything is integrated. It streamlines the process. It's pretty simple to use. And it's free.
The lingro.com team is made up of Artur Janc, Paul Kastner and Holmes Wilson who are all lingotechnophiles (I just made that word up!). They seem to be a pretty cool bunch, who are all for making it easy for people to learn and be creative using opensource technologies.
But guys...here's a question from someone who's trying to create online language learning resources, who loves opensource, who loves web 2.0, who believes learning shoudl be free and open to everyone...how are you funding your work??? I'd love to be creating free language learning materials for Irish, but can't get a model that enables me to create quality materials and interesting learning engines while not starving...and certainly no model that interests the funders!
When I was growing up, I learned what I knew from these main sources:
- people teaching me things they knew (like how to tie your shoelaces, where to get the sweetest blackberries in Autumn - a limited number of books (purchased in bookstores, or borrowed from libraries) - TV (both educational and entertainment) - newspapers - school
I read a book a day as a child. I read anything I could get my hands on, mostly because the supply was so limited. And I learned what I could where I could.
But now the Internet gives us 24/7/365 access to almost any information in a bewildering array of formats. And Christian has asked said that the challenge is not now in getting information to people, but rather in making sure information is "being continuously accessed and kept alive in the minds of individuals...to create the conditions which sustain a dimension of human capital which results in the data being continually accessed and "embedded" in living humans."
I don't think that this is a new problem...we've had this problem for centuries. We've always had information...but have we always embedded it, shared it and used it?
And I feel this issue now compounded by new problems. Our digital information formats haven't been around long - we're still learning how best to use them. We have to figure out how to get people to read and understand our digital information. And once they've read it, how do we get them to remember it?
The way I work now, when I read any information, I make a decision about whether or not I need to store the fact. If it's something I know I can access on the Internet via mobile or my laptop, I often make a decision not to remember the information. If it's something I've read in a book, I often make digital notes so I can quickly access the information later on my trusty laptop, rather than trying to find the book. But this information is just data. It stays on my PC. I can come back and find it, but it doesn't feel like part of the knowledge I carry in my head.
However, some information is so amazing, so sticky, so exciting or so interesting it just embeds itself in my head. I don't get a choice. And this then becomes part of my knowledge.
I agree with Christian - Libraries or the Internet can contain infinite amounts of information. But it's how we use that information, the connections and deductions we make, that create knowledge. I guess data/information are like building blocks. But knowledge is what enables us draw up the architect's plans.
Recently I got to chat to Tom Harte of imcreative.co.uk. Tom is an Interactive Incentive and Performance Management solutions provider.
A what?
Tom designs interactive games that enable employers to drive productivity in a creative and competitive way. These games enable workers to compete against each other at work.
Tom demo'd some of his solutions for me. By rewarding productivity with real-life rewards - anything from extra holidays to cash bonuses - his games increase motivation levels. Workers can view their performance on their PC, or on a big screen on the operational floor. They can even compete individually or as a team against co-workers across the globe. And it turns out that harnessing the basic human urge to win is very good news for productivity and profits.
From the instant Tom showed me his solutions, I knew they work. Because one summer I worked in a shirt factory. We did a 10 hour day with one half hour break for dinner. I was at the end of the factory line - ironing shirts before they were packaged for delivery. I had to iron a minimum of 80 shirts an hour to earn my basic wage.
Everyone had their minimum number of pockets to sew, sleeves to cut out, or collars to fit. And all we did all day long was mentally compute whether or not we'd done enough work to make a bonus. And if we had made our bonus, how much it was. And whether we'd earned more than the person sitting nearest you.
If only Tom's games had been around then! Providing workers with incentives makes them perform better. And providing learners with incentives makes them learn better.
It's long been known that a Hogwart's style 'house' system helps children in schools achieve more. In a house system, pupils belong to one of a number of houses, and these houses compete over the year to win points.
But we only have Performance League tables, pored over retrospectively by anxious parents and governors. These tables report on how pupils have performed - they don't actually help the pupils perform.
So is it about time that our Government perhaps invests in an Interactive Incentive solution for our schools? Perhaps a nationwide performance board that reflects who's doing what well, when and where?
Imagine a system where the houses in each school compete internally for points, then the highest performing house goes on to compete locally, then nationally. Couldn't this really motivate all types of learning performance - from sport and academia through to social action?
Incentives like education-related trips or scholarships could be awarded. Top houses could be profiled. And instead of an empty facebook-style chattering space, we could have an educational space that rewards, connects and motivates learners.
In 2003 I read this BBC article on teaching children to write using computers, rather than pencils and paper. I haven't heard much about the practice since, but following a conversation with my mother (an ex-primary school teacher) on how myself and my brothers and sisters learned to read and write, I became interested in it again.
In Norway, 18 schools decided to teach children how to write just by using PCs. So instead of spending hours and hours being taught how to draw the 26 letters of the alphabet using one hand, the children are taught how to type using all ten fingers. This makes the act of writing a lot easier for children.
Arne Trageton, the associate professor in education at Stord/Haugesund College says he is not opposed to handwriting. But points out that in the 'real' world, hardly anyone writes by hand anymore. Yet in our schools small children are forced to handwrite at a time when it is a challenge to their developing motorskills.
Traditional hand-writing skills are taught in the Norwegian schools - but they are introduced at the age of 8, when the children pick the skill up much more quickly.
The director of the school district, Vidar Aarhus, describes the practice as 'learning by playing' and believes that the children become better writers because they avoid 'technical difficulties' of mastering the physical act of writing.
Handwriting still matters in today's school system. Despite the fact that most pupils will graduate into a world where the occasional scribbled post-it note is likely to be the most they will have to hand-write, they must take exams by hand. Research has shown that pupils with faster handwriting get better exam results. The researchers who discovered this have recommended that we teach handwriting throughout school. Why? Why not teach children the keyboard skills they're going to need - the skills that will give them an advantage in the 'real' world? And why not let them take exams by PC?
But back to Writing without Pencils. I really like the idea that children can spend time becoming creators at an early age, rather than consumers. And instead of making small children sweat over recreating a legible 'q', you can free them to explore creating words and sentences, to expressing themselves.
Has anyone experienced this method of teaching a child to write?
I've been taking a bit of time out to get my place in Belfast redecorated and as near to finished as I'll be able to do, so I've not been focusing on my e-learning work. But I have been thinking about some discussions I've read on the left-brain, right-brain theory. It started with Donald Clarke's reaction to Clive Shepherd's Neuromyths post.
I only know the basics of how the brain works, although I've bought some books and bookmarked some sites so I can read up on the subject when my DIY torture is over. My interest in how the brain learns isn't just academic or professional. In my early 20s I acquired a brain injury. The first thing I was told about my brain injury is that brain damage is permanent. That what has been destroyed will never come back. That I might be able to 'compensate' for my losses, but I would never get anything 'back'.
This is a frightening situation to be in when you can't remember your second name, what you did five minutes previously, or how to finish the sentence you have started. When you don't know how to tie your shoelaces, how to make a cup of tea or even feed yourself. I didn't know the names of objects like a cooker, fridge or chair. At 23 I was bedbound, feeling like a toddler with a whole world of learning in front of me. Except my brain wasn't the information-hungry tabula rasa of a child. It was full of holes. Damaged.
Recovery has taken years. And in the event I feel I have learned a lot about how I learn, how I retain information and how you it's possible not just to 'compensate' for brain damage, but how you can overcome it.
One of the things i feel very strongly is that my brain has two very different basic modes, which may be labelled as 'left' and 'right', but would probably be more usefully described for me as 'verbal' and 'non-verbal'.
After my brain injury I had difficulty in perceiving depth. I would walk into a shop or down a street, and if I was unfamiliar with the space, I could not see any depth - it was as if a poster was in front of my nose, and I could not tell what was 2D or 3D. Every step felt like a step into an abyss. I overcame this simply by forcing myself to enter spaces and making my brain work. A lot of early recovery felt like this. Brute force. Making my brain work but not understanding how it was working.
Prior to the injury I was a very good portrait artist. Afterwards my depth-perception problem meant I could copy from a 2-D picture, but really struggled with drawing from life. After several frustrating years of trying to recapture my drawing skills, I found a book called 'Drawing on the Right-Hand side of the Brain'.
This book is full of the cheap pop-psychology of left-hand, right-hand brain...but the book works. It will teach you how to switch your brain into the non-verbal mode that best helps you draw. It taught me how to switch consciously into the mode best suited for the activity I was doing. It also taught me how to draw again, a skill I thought I'd lost forever.
Learning to drive was one of the last big achievements I've made since my illness. I've posted earlier about how I found this a difficult process, as it felt to me like a 'right' brain activity - non-verbal, but I felt my brain to be in constant conflict as I was being taught how to drive verbally. Since getting my licence my driving has improved leaps and bounds, because when I'm in the car, my learning is not interrupted by having to talk or listen. I simply drive and absorb what I'm doing without words. This mode is non-verbal or 'right-brain'.
The brain is an incredibly complex organ - we can't pretend to understand much more than the basics. And as humans, we like simplifications. What could be nicer than pretending that this mysterious mass of nerves and neurons can be divided into two parts and easily understood? After all, don't we have men and women, darkness and light, rain and sun?
Left-brain, right-brain isn't correct. The advances in neurology we're currently seeing will of course reveal to us a much more complex picture - after all, it wasn't so long ago that we were taught that we only use 10% of our brains.
But for me, I found that the simplification of left-brain, right-brain helped me recover from my brain injury. It has helped me immeasurably since. Of course it doesn't help any learner to apply a strict theory to how they should learn - an intuitive approach is best.
When I was a wee thing, I was lucky enough to have a father who was both a maths teacher and a gadget lover. He liked any new technology, which is why we had a radio/cassette/mini tv player at a time when we couldn't afford a new roof for the house.
It's also how we got a BBC Micro computer when I was just a tot. These were great educational machines, and we spent hours in front of it. I remember learning about grids in a game that we called 'Find the Rhino', which consisted of an 8x8 grid, somewhere in which a rhino was hiding. We all took turns in keying in a co-ordinate, and eventually someone would find the rhino, which would flash up large and green on the 2-colour screen. We LOVED our BBC micro, and used to spend hours coding and debugging games for it.
But all that was just fun...the first learning experience I remember identifying as a formal learning experience was trying out a demo copy of Mavis Beacon Teaches Typing. The demo only taught one row of the keyboard - asdfghjkl; - but we were hooked. Why did it work so well? It was simple, repetitive and visual. The programme had the feel of an arcade game, so the six of us would sit around and compete at who was fastest and most accurate at typing.
When I went to secondary school I had to take typing classes. How did we learn? On manual typewriters. The teacher had a book from which she'd shout out the letters we were to type. We had a keyboard diagram stuck on the blackboard. Everyone was stuck at the same pace. And it took years for us to learn what we'd learned at home in just hours.
I was frustrated then. I felt slowed down and held up. I wonder how today's students - with access to a huge range of online learning materials - feel? Perhaps like the student who explained that 'Whenever I go into class, I have to power down'.
In this digital age, will home schooling become the choice of education for tech-savvy, informed parents?
Did you know that when you sit down for more than 20 minutes your blood pools in your behind and feet?
If you get up and move around your blood recirculates, and inside a minute, your brain gets a hit of about 15% more blood. This helps you think.
So to learn better, we should get out of the seat and onto our feet...which is not necessarily good news for e-learning, which often requires physical inactivity in front of a PC.
I haven't seen any e-learning that incorporates physical movement into the learning experience (send me links if you know of anything!), but it's something I'd love to try out...particularly using mobile technologies.
If it makes financial sense, it'll be adopted in the business world...which is why more and more employers are mobilising their workforce. Mobile phones, smart phones, PDAs, Blackberrys and other devices are changing the way in which we work, communicate and learn. And businesses everywhere are interested the knock-on effects of a mobilised workforce: more effective working hours and greater team efficiency.
- Blackberry users produce an extra 56 minutes of effective work a day (that's an extra 196 working hours a year) - work teams with mobile communications found themselves to be 29% more effective
So what about use of mobile phones in education? Well, not all educationalists view mobile phones as a great learning opportunity, with mobile phones being lambasted as Offensive Weapons that should be banned from the classroom.
But there are some interesting things happening. In the ALPS project, 900 students in the north of England are using T-Mobile MDA Varios for mobile learning and assessments during work placements. Using T-Mobile’s Web’n’walk service, students can access learning resources from a central virtual learning repository and blog their work experience as part of their assessment. And this project will roll out to 9,000 students in the next three years.
I've been crawling through different language-learning websites on the Internet. It was a pretty samey experience...I'd click on a link that promises to teach me a language online, get delivered to a site that would let me download a few pdfs, half-hearted podcasts, but really just wanted me to buy their book (first authored in the 80s, but Newly Updated!) with accompanying audio CD-ROM. If I was really lucky, I'd get a website offering me the chance to purchase an interactive language learning programme...which would be posted to me on CD-ROM.
The global market for language-learning products and services is estimated to be in excess of $100 billion. So with web 2.0 in overdrive all around, I was beginning to wonder just what's the story with language learning?
But then I found Ken Carroll's ChinesePod. Sigh :)
Don't get me wrong, this educational offering isn't perfect, but they're head and shoulders against the other language-learning sites I've been on.
ChinesePod starts by offering a free podcast every day. And thanks to their buy-in to the Creative Commons licence, you can download the podcast, cut it up, play with it, share it, and even republish it (apparently a French guy has been going through some podcasts replacing the English instructions with French). As long as you credit ChinesePod, they're happy for you to play with their content. A very good start.
But ChinesePod isn't just podcasts. It's split into three environments: 'explore', 'study' and 'connect'. In explore you can check out over 500 lessons at 6 different levels. Topics include 'I've lost my keys' and 'closing a meeting'. You can assess your level of learning with a free listening test, or you can arrange to speak with a real live teacher who will perform a needs analysis. You can pick and choose your own lessons, add them to a calendar and get them delivered by rss to your PC.
When you're ready to study, you can print transcripts or view them on your mp3 player. And online you can get consolidation with interactive lessons and games.
The connect section makes use of social networking principles to provide learners with a well-designed space in which they can ask and answer questions and connect with other learners with the same interests or in the same geographical location.
So what's the revenue model? There are no ads. So once you've exhausted the free content, or when you fancy a bit more, you can subscribe. $9 a month gets you access to PDF transcripts and other bits and bobs. $30 gets you an additional range of guides, exercises, games and tests. And if you fancy the human touch and you've cash to burn, for $200 you can get a needs analysis, a personalised study plan and someone to practise with for 10 minutes every single day of the week.
So it's all good, right? Well I think it's mostly good, if not fantastic. But I've not explored ChinesePod in depth. I have no interest in learning Chinese, but I will be checking out Spanish Sense, Ken Carroll's new baby.
So without having tried hard to learn I'm not the right person to make an informed critique...but I will admit that I have shades of doubt over the instructional design of the content. This is not to say that the ChinesePod team aren't paying their fullest attention to this matter. I think there's room for improvement in how the learning is presented and structured. But ChinesePod seem keen to explore and improve not just the web 2.0 technologies that drive this site but also their learning content.
As a language-learning model, ChinesePod is so different to the rest, I'm delighted and amazed they've got so much right in such a short space of time...just six months after setting up they had 20,000 people subscribing to their free podcasts...and 3,000 people had subscribed to receive a fuller service. But a year ago, interest in ChinesePod exploded...and they had notched up more than 10,000,000 lesson downloads.
ChinesePod and Spanish Sense now have a mobile site which enables language-learning on the go. Oh for the new iPhone...
I just came across this well-received post and presentation by Leisa Reichelt, who is a User Experience Consultant (someone who creates customer experiences that are both pleasurable and effective).
She's an advocate of a non-linear, user-centred approach to design and build of anything from a retail space or a phone call, to a website.
She's posted a presentation which explains the pros of the washing machine approach (an iterative design process) versus the cons of a traditional 'waterfall' approach (used often in advertising, broadcasting, and much corporate e-learning solutions) where the design and build cycle follow a strict and linear process of
SCOPE DESIGN BUILD TEST
Although I'm not convinced by the washing machine metaphor*, the presentation is worth a watch for an compare/contrast between the two design styles.
*in my experience, you open a washing machine, put stuff in, click on and leave it until it's finished...not much scope for opening it halfway and adding another pair of jeans or switching cycles...
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:
I've signed up for a few more of these language learning communities that are built on social networking software. www.italki.com is the first up for review...
italki.com - what is it? italki.com offers 90+ languages. The site's free and doesn't mention that it might move to a subscription model any time soon. But being a social network, you've got to sign up, give away the usual personal info, before you're free to explore.*
italk.com - appearance Ok. So italk.com wins out over livemocha.com on this one. They're prettier. They feel younger. Their palette is pretty pink and cool grey on white white white. It's clean and simple.
italk.com - what you can do Once you're signed up, you can find a language-learning partner or group to practice with. You can get answers to questions, and share and find resources.
italk.com - will you learn? italk.com doesn't work for me. The site is a pretty much a social network for language learners, which is great. But they don't have any bespoke learning materials - the only content seems to be user-generated or skimmed from other sites.
For example, the Shared Files tab lets you search files uploaded by other members of the site. You can choose to view content by selecting the most recent, most liked, most viewed, most discussed and most downloaded. My problem with this is quality control. How do I know what's decent? Not having time to waste at the moment, I simply didn't touch any of these learning materials. I need to know what I'm learning is quality assured.
The Language Resources tabs leads you to what seems to be a search engine that pulls in language resources from the general web. Again, not knowing exactly what the content was, who authored it, or of what use it was, I simply didn't use it. And I wonder how they're dealing with the copyright issues of sharing and finding content.
So for learning materials, italki.com scores a big zero for me. Compare them to Livemocha.com, who offer you a social network integrated with learning materials. Ok, so the materials are sometimes inaccurate and I still question their instructional design methods, but the content is there, you're encouraged to take a course, you're tracked on your learning, your performance is rated on a leader board - even if no-one makes friends with you, you can learn.
italki.com - did I make friends? No I did not. I messaged a few of the Irish language learners, but no-one's replied yet. No-one has asked to be my friend. I feel LONELY.
*I just wish someone, somewhere could create a little app that would let me fill out this basic info just the once, have it on my PC so I could upload it to all these sites. I'm sooooooooo tired of typing my name, address, DOB, favourite film and favourite funny quote of all time.
Palabea.net is a German site that aims to connect native speakers and learners from all over the world. Palabea is an open to everyone and is free of charge. It's a social network - so to get anywhere you've got to sign in, and create a profile before you can get on with business. palabea.net - appearance It’s prettier than livemocha.com. It uses a palette of cool blues and greens with grey on white. It feels fresh and light. palabea.net - what you can do Well…Palabea offers lots more than italki.com, and offers a very different service to livemocha.com. Livemocha.com provides a solid offering of social networking and a range of linear courses you can work through – but you can’t share audio/video/images or docs. italki.com just really offers social networking in a foreign language and the chance to upload materials. Palabea.net doesn’t offer a structured course, but there’s lots more to do, with content organised under four main tabs – my palabea, e-learning, community and news. My palabea tab Your private space where you can read docs, chat friends, watch video lessons, share pics and videos. E-Learning tab The tab somewhat off-puttingly named 'e-learning' is described as being “Your classroom - where you'll discover the possibilities of learning languages online with people from all over the world. Learn from other people while teaching them in your own language.”
And here’s where you can communicate with native speakers through video/audio conference and text messages or find a classroom. These are set up and run by users. Their biggest classroom is Let's Learn English and has 1038 members.
You can check out Palabea’s cool wee video app. Using your webcam, you can record and upload video instantly. It’s handy, but I want to know who's checking the video to see whether I'm saying Hola or swearing for Ireland? Palabea.net are serious about user-generated video – they encouraging content creation by offering 80GB ipod video player to the best video lecture submitted by a user.
You can also advertise as or find a teacher, translator, au pair, or host au pair family. Community tab Find friends online, video chat. palabea.net- will you learn? Hmmm. Not sure. I’ve not learned anything yet, but then I really do require the formal course approach that livemocha.com have taken. But they certainly look like they’re experimenting with every angle of connecting learners. It’s just a shame there is no structured learning materials. palabea.net - did I make friends? Yes. The learners at Palabea.net are friendly. I got 4 friendship requests by the first day. However, two of these were French students, and neither of them have done anything more than be my friend. The other requests came from people who want my help in learning English. I've also had messages from people who want to be penpals. So I'm not LONELY and I guess if I put in more effort, I would connect with more learners.
Other language-learning sites that use social networking platforms Palabea.net is the third language learning community I've reviewed this year. Check out my posts on italki.com and livemocha.com to see what I thought of them. And check out my lingro.com post to find out more about 'open-source' language learning.
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.
I've been meaning to blog about non-linear video for ages, but haven't had the time.
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.
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).
