Digital tools for online learning

One of the fascinating aspects of the Web 2.0 read/write web is the speed at which solutions appear.

Here are two that have grabbed my eye over the last week.

The first is an online Learning Management System (LMS) called Studeous. There are lots of LMS options around, most of them costing thousands of pounds to instal and administer. Studeous has taken a rather different business model and is very much focused on harnessing Web 2.0 tools (like blogs, wikis, secure email) into one interface that any teacher can use, without training.

The other innovative aspect to Studeous is that it's free for teachers to use. I've set up an account and will aim to play with it ove the next few weeks. I imagine that the aim is to get individual teachers who are interested in this personalised LMS approach to become pathfinders, and then use them as the marketeers within their schools. 

Should a school wish to purchase a whole-school system it runs at an afforable $2,995 a year. So far, I like the look of its design and think it offers some useful features. Sadly, I don't think the free text to all your students facility is available in the UK yet. Nonetheless, Studeous gives us a glimpse into how radically the transfer of information and knowledge is likely to be, and how the production of multimedia based learning resources and responses might possibly evolve.

The other tool that I found fascinating is aimed more at business training users, but again, shows how learning could develop in the near future. Chalk allows multimedia learning content to be produced easily and sent to Blackberry smartphones. Again, it's a pointer to the way in which many teachers and students now carry powerful computers in their pockets, whose use for learning has barely been explored. Expect that to change dramatically over the next couple of years.

There's no doubting that the ways in which teachers and students communicate and collaborate is on the cusp of great change. The trick will be in navigating both parties to the right solutions for the most appropriate of tasks.

Digital lives captured in a myriad of pictures

I've just come across the work of Jonathan Jarvis, a Master of Fine Arts student at the Art Center College of Design in California.

His work and thoughts are insightful and powerful. Jarvis is looking and thinking deeply about what the world of the digital native is going to look like. He has a specific interest in the spaces between humans and objects, as well as human to human interactions. How can these be captured? What do they tell us that we don't already know, and how might that be put to good use?

I'll give you three quick examples of where his skill in art, design, interaction, and communication are leading him. The first is a posting about how digital natives will be able to view their lives pictorially, thanks to the power of social networks and tagging. Read all about it here. The second is his observations on the act of drawing. Jarvis decided to set himself the task of drawing a sketch, on his computer, for thirty minutes, each day. He captured this process and turned the activity itself into a meaningful text. See more here.

Finally, Jarvis has produced an exquisite visual representation of how the credit crunch was created. It's both a stunning animation, and a fine example of how complex ideas can be represented in a moving image format. Watch it below. And watch out for Jonathan Jarvis. It's a name I think we'll be seeing more of in the near future.

The Crisis of Credit Visualized from Jonathan Jarvis on Vimeo.

Social networks, sociability, and a short film about love

Media pop psychologist Aric Sigman (who got his first broadcasting break on the LBC health show my dad presented and I produced back in the 90s)  has written an excellent report about the risks of using social networks,  in Biologist, the magazine of the Institute of Biology.

Dr Sigman was interviewed by the BBC and you can hear the report, and read more about his article here.

In brief, Dr Sigman warns that the aim of social networks - to keep people in touch - could be having a negative effect, especially on younger users, for whom online interaction increasingly is replacing face-to-face conversation. 

Naturally, there are pros and cons to this argument, with respondents to the BBC article arguing for both benefits and harm caused by the use of social networking sites.

Film stars repeat YouTube success story - News - South Manchester Reporter

www.southmanchesterreporter.co.uk

As a brilliant counterpoint to Dr Sigman's assertion that too many young people are online too much, up pops a fantastic short film, made by two 20 year old Media students at Manchester Metropolitan University. 

How To Say I Love You cost £200 to make, was shot in a morning, and garnered 650,000 hits in its first 24 hours on You Tube. Since its first posting a month ago it's had more than 1.7 million hits! Its makers, Hayley Stuart and Francesca Sophia, have produced a sharply observed commentary on how the Facebook generation still wants old fashioned romance to sweep them off their feet. It's just that for teens brought up on rapid Status updates, there isn't always time to waste on small talk.

How To Say I Love You is a powerful short film, that warrants your attention. Stuart and Sophia's previous YouTube upload, Olivia - Explorer, made for £7, has received over 1.3 million hits. Expect to see more from these two in years to come. Exceptional talent.

Facebook backtracks. Loses face.

After 48 hours of intense user pressure Facebook has caved in and reverted back to its old terms. These, remember, still allow the company to hold on to your data, while their latest terms, had threatened to keep the rights to sell, re-publish and generally profit from your content forever - even if you deleted your account.

Given how many students and adults use Facebook (185 million at the last count) this had posed a real compromise of privacy, in ways that might not have become apparent to subscribers until years after content had been uploaded and profiles seemingly deleted.

Yesterday, the founder of the company, Mark Zuckerberg, tried to claim the change in terms of service were intended to ensure wall postings and the like remained online, even after the poster's account was deleted. What a load of tosh. It's quite clear Facebook was hoping it could slip in this important alteration and not be rumbled.

Now, Zuckerberg has been forced to climb down, at least for the time being.

What's my take on this? Remain cautious on what you post to Facebook and other sites like it. 

Facebook keeps your data - forever!!

A worrying change to the terms of service from global social networking behemoth, Facebook.

It's bad enough the media darling of online chatter wanted to keep your personal data archived indefinitely in their former TOS. Now it emerges that even if you deactivate your account, their new agreement with users gives the company perpetual rights to sell, market and re-distribute anything you've posted. Frankly, that's terrifying and users should think very carefully about what they upload to the site.

The only light at the end of this dark tunnel is that the company does permit a small get-out clause when it notes that these rights are 'subject only to your privacy settings.' In other words, if you don't let anyone see your content, by restricting access, then they might leave you alone. But given how people use Facebook it seems unlikely anyone will notice.

Read more here.