e and other learning

2009-01-21T13:13:00.000-08:00

A man sat at a metro station in Washington DC and started to play the violin; it was a cold, December morning. He played six Bach pieces for about 45 minutes. During that time, since it was rush hour, it was calculated that thousands of people went through the station, most of them on their way to work. Three minutes went by and a middle aged man noticed there was a musician playing. He slowed his pace and stopped for a few seconds and then hurried up to meet his schedule.

A minute later, the violinist received his first dollar tip: a woman threw the money in the till and without stopping continued to walk. A few minutes later, someone leaned against the wall to listen to him, but the man looked at his watch and started to walk again. Clearly he was late for work. The one who paid the most attention was a 3 year old boy. His mother tagged him along, hurried but the kid stopped to look at the violinist. Finally the mother pushed hard and the child continued to walk turning his head all the time. This action was repeated by several other children. All the parents, without exception, forced them to move on.

In the 45 minutes the musician played, only 6 people stopped and stayed for a while. About 20 gave him money but continued to walk their normal pace. He collected $32. When he finished playing and silence took over, no one noticed it. No one applauded, nor was there any recognition.

No one knew this but the violinist was Joshua Bell, one of the best musicians in the world. He played one of the most intricate pieces ever written with a violin worth 3.5 million dollars.

Two days before his playing in the subway, Joshua Bell sold out at a theater in Boston and the seats average $100.00 each.

This is a real story. Joshua Bell playing incognito in the metro station was organized by the Washington Post as part of a social experiment about perception, taste and priorities of people. The outlines were: in a commonplace environment at an inappropriate hour: Do we perceive beauty? Do we stop to appreciate it? Do we recognize the talent in an unexpected context?

One of the possible conclusions from this experience could be: If we do not have a moment to stop and listen to one of the best musicians in the world playing some of the best music ever written, how many other things are we missing?

Lost: One Moodle....

2009-01-19T11:55:00.000-08:00

In the next week or so my Moodle will be live. This is a system at my place of work that I have been developing for sometime. At launch there will be 30 e-learning modules and a pile of other documents available. The users are spread across two sites and it will allow us to log who is using which e-learning program and who is making use of the documentation that is available to them.

It has been a long haul, not least of all due to the lack of support from our IT department. However, if I can set up and administer a Moodle, then anyone can !!

As part of my research I have looked at a few installations to see what they are doing. Some are very good (Coleg Gwent and Barry College for example). However there are some which are there, but no one seems to be using them.

My son attends a school which sends him to a college to study for one of his A levels. Both have Moodle, yet I don't see much evidence of them being used for his courses.

For example, for recent mocks and resits, all the revision documents, practise papers and revision primers were sent to both of my sons via e-mail direcetly from the teacher. I am puzzled as to why they didn't upload them to their Moodles and allow the pupils to access them from there? One upload, once and the guides are there for multiple occasions. So why e-mail ?

Likewise pupils from other schools I have spoken to are aware of their Moodle, but don't use it and know what it is for.

So why is it that some schools and colleges are using theirs and other aren't ?

I would like to venture a few thoughts:

1. Time

Teachers are busy. There is a lot to do with marking, teaching plans and everything else that takes up the days. The idea of spending time learning yet another new system might just be unwanted.

2. The Over Enthusiastic Sales Pitch

When Moodle is pitched to new users, it is easy to discuss all it will do. A person who has limited experience of IT can be overwhelmed by the idea of e-learning, quizzes, surveys, blogs wikis, podcasts etc etc. They may feel that this is just too much and stay clear.

3. The lack of understanding.

This generation has been dubbed 'The Facebook generation'. Yet whilst some have taken the concepts of Web 2.0 to heart and are blogging, social networking and podcasting to their hearts content, there are others for whom these new emerging technologies are alien. Even some died in the wool Facebook users are dubious about the 'next thing' and look upon Digg, Twitter and the like with some suspicion.

Is there a solution to technological dyslexia or phobia, to the lack of time and the fear of this new magic application which will cure all and make tea and toast while it does it ?

Perhaps the solution is to start small and keep it simple. A few Word documents, the odd PowerPoint and copies of some revision primers. One or two documents at a time and the benefits will reap themselves. Certainly quicker than e-mailing every pupil in years 11, 12 and 13 with a batch of separate documents.

Can we change and make the UK a country which allows our pupils to make use of a range of resources out of school. If the above can be addressed then the answer is 'yes'. And maybe a few more teachers will spend a lot less time mailing stuff that can simply be uploaded once and for all.

A look into the future of e-learning - Part 1 hardware

2009-01-04T12:31:00.000-08:00

This is the first of a series of blogs on my thoughts of e-learning and the future.

My thoughts are random and, perhaps, a bit far fetched, but they may stimulate thought and maybe even action.

Part 1 considers Hardware.

As I type this, the web is, once again, buzzing with rumors of an Apple tablet. These have been around for so many years, even when I worked for an Apple dealer, there was talk that the next ‘thing’ would be a tablet. And yet, only now 15 years later could we finally see a large iPod Touch with a 9 inch screen and all the functionality of the apps store, touch screen, etc.

Why would this be so significant ? The reason is that, as far as hardware is concerned, from my perspective, we are not actually where we need to be just yet with the correct machine to be the big breakthrough for educational e-learning from nursery to the board room.

So what would this magic machine consist of ?

In my opinion it would need to be a tablet with at least a 10” display. Included would be touch interface with an optional (Bluetooth) keyboard, wi-fi and Bluetooth interfaces, a SD card reader to allow for personal storage of files and access to a wide range of applications including e-learning and social networking solutions.

Add to this a webcam and the ability to utilize a Bluetooth headset for input and output and you have a purpose built device that could be utlised from entry level education throughout the whole of education an beyond.

There are a number of hardware solutions that are available, however they all have certain limitations. This many be small memory or storage options, a lack of networking interface, or an unfamiliar operating environment.

The one deciding factor in all of this however is cost. If it is possible to build the machine described above, and have it as a tablet (let’s call it an ePod) how much would it cost ? Would we be able to afford it.

This opens up another issue altogether and one which I will look at in a further entry.

For now I will leave you with the image of a mass of children, carrying their ePods home having spent the day talking to other children around the world via their Webcams and VoIP links, accessing supplementary learning modules to help them understand their core learning and utilizing Blogs and Forums to share the knowledge with their fellow pupils.