The Wales-Wide Web

My blogs got a new look. Well OK - its had a new look for a few days but I must be one of the last to see it. I have been in Ireland for the last week and have had precious little connectivity. Now I am trying to get to Copenhagen - but am stuck in Hamburg airport which is closed by snow.

Once I get somewhere sensible and a little time I have a backlog of posts to write. Will be writing something on the meetings I have been at and also I will write something about the technology which runs this web log.

In the meantime many thanks to Steve and Mike for the new look.

Technorati Tags: blogging

"Many countries celebrate International Women's Day on March 8th. This year, we'd like to encourage the whole edublogging community to celebrate the women edubloggers in their lives - friends, mothers, sisters, daughters, online colleagues and co-workers. Please join in the party on this special day with at least one post about women who edublog. It might be a profile, interview, overview of their blog - or just a round up link-fest of all your favourite women edubloggers. ", she wrote.

Here is my contribution. I have known Daniela Reimann for over ten years and have always been impressed by her work. All too often non English language projects are ignored in the mainstream blogosphere.

Anyway - here is an interview in which Daniela explains her work.

1. Could you explain your project and the work you are doing?
I am working in the field of digital media art education, focusing on integrated aesthetics, design and computer science in education.

Let me start to introduce my projects to explain in more details. “Theory and Practice of integrated Arts, Design and Computer Science in Education (ArtDeCom)” was a model-project funded by the German Bund-Länder-Commission and the Land Schleswig-Holstein from 2001-2003.

MediaArtLab@School is dealing with creative use of hypermedia and mixed reality systems in aesthetic research projects at school and university level. It is actually the follow-up project to ArtDeCom and is run by the Laboratory School of Art and Media Education at the UNESCO Project School Flensburg. We run both projects in co-operation with an institute of computer science.

2. Who do you work with?
I basically work together with my students as school kids. I also work with the teachers involved in the school projects or teacher further training courses. Also I co-operate with computer science researchers involved in the KiMM project. In terms of discussion of my research, I exchange with people in informal networks I develop such as the ISEA Pacific Rim New media education working group as well as with colleagues in Linz media arts and arts education.

I am developing co-operation with the department of computer science at the University of Applied Science of the University of Flensburg (3D/saces identities/games).

3. How did you get involved in the work?
Coming form a visual arts and education background I did a European post-graduate studies programme in the pedagogy of media technology in the mid nineties. I worked in the field of interactive multimedia and learning systems and since 1998 at university institutes.

4. Why do you think this work is important?
I think this work is important because it is basic research in the area of digital media and it’s currently an innovative approach which is recognised internationally. It is a new approach to media education, based on the key disciplines and it aims to go beyond the teaching of separate subjects towards a project based orientation of learning scenarios. And last but not least, I see the pupils involved as well as the art education students are very happy.

5. What do the students learn from your project?
I hope they learn about the different uses of the computer as a shapable and programmable medium and algorithmic machine which can be controlled and linked to aesthetic design processes by the kids themselves. It is not a technology driven approach but a content driven approach related to the project and the idea behind it. The aesthetic-artistic context , e.g. when developing interactive installation or an interactive environment for play, rather than technical systems as an end in itself (as often realise din computer education) is actually the key to it. Also the key to get involved those girls as well as pupils with little interest
computers. The students as well as pupils get fun working with the media we give them.

6. Do the girls and boys approach the work in different ways? If so why do you think this is?
Yes. e.g. concenring games: The simple shooter is not attracting girls as it attracts boys. So what does attract the girls? Will be addressed in they follow-up project?

7. What do you hope to get over through your Web site ?
I think my Web site for me is a means to express my professional identity and of course a sort of passion for it. (which is, I think the special craziness of us, we are research victims / addicts.)

The Web log on media arts and education to me is a means to develop discussion in non formal ways, to meet people I do not meet because I spent most time in the office busy writing papers, reports etc etc. Also I like the idea of publishing what I want. At the moment though it is too time consuming to run properly

8. What are the main barriers to your work
Main barrier – interesting one. The gap between artist , media technology
and education is huge.

A second barrier is people who are either not interested in the area or mainly competitive.

9. What do you hope to do in the future?
I would like to run my own mobile/flexible sort of media art lab institute with people I like to work with and who are interested to exchange, not only keen on the career purposes.

I love to work with the kids and students at all age levels.

Technorati Tags: "International Edublogging Women's Day 2006"

Ed-Tech Insider: Connective Learning:

Stephen Downes' hiatus has forced me to read more blogs. Not sure I like it but it is probably good for me.

Flicking through my newsreader I came on this piece by Will Richardson who in turn was citing Alan Livine describing a presentation by Nancy White (phew - I think i have attributed everyone).

Talking of a collaboratively authored multi media learning presentation, Alan says:

"This is the way learning takes place, by 'bathing in what others share' and then by sharing what we know back to the community. Learning as process, not event."

I love the sentiment. But...lets get real. Education and training systems remain geared to individual learning and to proof of individual learning attainment. That's what's assessed, thats what's certificated. Not learning as process, not learning as event, but learning as outcomes. Individual outcomes. Whilst there are great examples of real learning experiences like this one which break the rules, this will never be mainstream until the whole culture of what we recognise as leaning is changed. It is not a question of getting professors to recognise the potential of the media but an issue of getting systems ( and that means society) to change what we recognise as learning and learning and learning achievement.

Technorati Tags: education and training research, informal_learning, pedagogy

BBC NEWS | UK | British Rail flying saucer plan:

Defenders of Patent law say that patent allows inventors to protect their investment and time spent of developing innovation. Opponents - including myself point to the tendency of organisations to patent any half baked idea to stop anyone else developing it and thus stifle innovation.

Whilst I can't claim this patent filed by British Rail in 1970 has held back innovation I think it does proof my point of organisations registering patents 'just in case. '

"Recently uncovered plans show bosses filed for a patent in 1970 for a space craft powered by "controlled thermonuclear fusion reaction".

With a passenger compartment upstairs, it would have been cheap to run and super-fast, according to its inventor.

The proposals were recently found on the European Patent Office website.

The original patent application said the reaction would be "ignited by one or more pulsed laser beams".

The application was made on behalf of the British Railways Board and the patent was granted in March 1973.

A patent document reads: "The present invention relates to a space vehicle. More particularly it relates to a power supply for a space vehicle which offers a source of sustained thrust for the loss of a very small mass of fuel.

"Thus it would enable very high velocities to be attained in a space vehicle and in fact the prolonged acceleration of the vehicle may in some circumstances be used to simulate gravity."

Technorati Tags: patents, no patent law

Removal of constraints - "Entgrenzung des Lernens":

That the pressure towards lifelong learning is growing seems undeniable. But the reactions of different education 'cultures' to such economic and social change is different.

In the UK the stress is on ever faster technology implementation linked to ease of access to flexible course provision.

Germany has been resistant to such change. Technology implementation is limited in education and training. Access to educational and training is still governed by traditional barriers - both educational and social.

But there is a growing movement to promote self learning competences - to provide learners with the competence to direct their own learning. In this regard Germany is building on traditions around key qualifications and autodidactic learning.

Seb Fiedler's comments are interesting in this regard:

"If we accept this description of how the concept of "learning" is changing, we can speculate about what kind of "learning cultures" are likely to emerge. If we are (really) increasingly forced into a continuous, (largely) self-organised process of change, an efficient learning culture would support the improvement of our capability for such self-organised change.

What role should/could "pedagogical" work play under such circumstances? It becomes very hard to maintain the ideal of linear transformations from a situation of well determined deficiencies towards a set of well determined goals. So, what else? And... if we cannot pre-scribe and pre-design our instructional means to ensure the desired tranformation(s), what actions and interactions should/could be meaningfully enhanced or supported through the application of ICTs?

If we really want to talk about "personal learning environments", we should be very explicit about our assumptions on how the overall circumstances are (very likely) developing and what kind of interventions remain possible under these emerging conditions.

Too many "wet dreams" of technologically enhanced learning are simply ignoring their dependency on assumptions of determinable deficiencies, determinable goals and outcomes, and the controllability of the necessary transformations."

Technorati Tags: e-learning, e-portfolios, education and training research, informal_learning, pedagogy

I have been working for the last three days on an evaluation of the European Social Fund Objective 3 programme. Doesn't sound too exciting but I am quite enjoying it. I am doing a case study based on East Wales and am looking at two projects run by the Welsh Development Agency dealing with Equal Opportunities in SMEs. I will write a future post on these projects.

Most of the work involves desk research - ploughing through endless reports and documents and academic studies to pick out relevant information appertaining to the specific focus for the evaluation I am undertaking (Support to Structures and Systems since you ask!).

Seven years ago I recall working on an early XML editor which was supposed to help in this by allowing 'deep markup' of the contents of reports. The editor was not bad but it was too time consuming and difficult to use. Seven years on and we have still not cracked it. Most research documents and reports are available on the web but in Word or PDF format. Google sort of lets you search inside them but is pretty poor.

At the end of the day we still have to pay people like me to find the reports, download and print them and skim read to find the relevant information which is then reentered on my computer in the form of a new (and unsearchable) document.

There has to be a better way - this should be part of the developing Open Content agenda.

Technorati Tags: Open content

Just got this email from Ray and Sara - been meaning to post about this for the last few days but the email says it all - sign the petition now!

Hi All,

In one way or other you share our interests in the field of e-learning, as a collegue or a friend, and that is why we are sending you this e-mail.

As partner in the SIGOSSEE EU funded project we were one of the organizers of the Conference on Open Source for Education. Research and Practice, which was held on November 14-15 2005 at the OUNL in Heerlen, The Netherlands. Information about the conference: http://www.openconference.net/

At that conference we brainstormed in one last session about a pre emptive position paper on no EU software patents for e-learning. One of the main issues is, as we see it, guaranteed access to information and knowledge for all.

Out of this came a petition which aims to alert European authorities and policy-makers to the dangers of software patents, and particularly to the negative impact they could have on e-learning that uses information and communication technologies (ICT) to enhance education. This petition will be sent to the European Commission as an input for the “Consultation on future patent policy in Europe” by March 31st. The petition will be distributed to other European and national decision-makers to raise awareness on the issue of EU-wide software patents and how they threaten to inhibit innovation among European e-learning developers and practitioners.

If you are a concerned teacher, learner, parent, researcher, decision-maker, e-learning practitioner, developer or citizen, read this petition on-line at:

http://www.noelearningpatents.info/

Consider signing it! Let others know about it.

We aim to raise awareness and gather as many signatures as possible by Thursday 30th March 2006.

Technorati Tags: no patent law, software patents

Did a presentation last thursday at the German Hochshultage 2006 conference. My presentation was entitled "Pedagogies, content enrichment and social software - challenges for European vocational education and training".

I have done a number of this type of presentation lately - basically looking at the interface between new pedagogies for ICT based learning and the use of social software. I am especially excited about how we can use social software and Web 2 micro formats to develop lightweight and flexible Personal Learning Environments (much more on this in next few weeks).

These presentations are quite difficult in that most of the audiences have only a limited understanding of technology developments. So it is a question of how to make it simple without being patronizing. I think I about got it right this time.

The presentation is attached below - sadly I forgot to bring a microphone so no audio - but will remember in the future.

Technorati Tags: e-learning, e-portfolios, pedagogy, social software

The name that strikes fear in the hearts of Europe's elite clubs: Bolton - Sport - Times Online:

Yesterday we were campaigning against software patents. today it is against the so called G14 'elite' group of European football clubs. You may think these are disconnected. I do not. It is all about powerful elites trying to dominate our society.

Unusual to find the UK times newspaper saying something I agree with

“The voice of the clubs,” is G14’s slogan, but it is as false as the claim to superiority. G14 is not the voice of Bolton or Bremen, nor even of Chelsea, kept out by this quivering elite for daring to challenge its monopoly. It is not the voice of the World Cup or of the champions of Europe. It is not the voice of anybody who cares for football or for the level playing field. It is the voice of lawyers, of faceless political manipulators, of shortsightedness and reckless self-interest.

Above all, it is the voice of frightened little men. Frightened that they are not good enough. And on this, for once, they are right.

Technorati Tags: football

Regular readers will have noticed the big change in style on this blog.

But there are also small upgrades happening almost every day.

One of those relates to the licensing.

I have - for a long time - had a Creative Commons logo on the site.

Instead of being a graphic, The license is now generated in RDF through a new addition tot eh management interface. OK doesn't look much different.

BUt it is an important upgrade. Using the Creative Commons license properly is a big tool fro fighting the stupid Copyright restrictions the EU are trying to introduce.

Whilst I am on the subject of the blog software - Knownet have released an upgrade of KNotes on Sourceforge. Al Harris says "Knownet has just released a major OSS discussion system for Plone, it's on Sourceforge and it's called KNotes.

To gain a flavour of the product visit

http://www.knownet.com/writing/elearning2.0/entries/knotes_in_mature_beta

This developement platform allows us to quickly produce customised
Personal Learning Environments (PLE's) and develop powerful collaborative
workflow processes. It allows us to harness all the goodness of Web 2.0
distributed services. "

Great stuff. If you'd like to know more about how you can use KNotes for learning, email me.

Technorati Tags: edublogs, OSS, plone, Knotes

Just was trying to access an on-line conference (won't say whose) and shortened a url - got this response -

"error 403: Forbidden!

The server understood the request, but is refusing to fulfill it. Authorization will not help and the request SHOULD NOT be repeated."

Ooh - scary!

I have always been interested in how language is evolving with the use of mobile devices. My niece who is aged 12 has just got an email account. She is already immersed in the world of text messaging. Had an email form her last night entitled Emarangy (sic).

The email said "Have rung nanna 4 mothers day dad wants me to ask coz u might of forgot if you have ring her now ok BY ellen"

Joise Fraser points to the "frenzy of e-Portfolio related activity in the UK at the moment".

She explains how "The UK Government’s e-strategy, Harnessing Technology outlined a clear commitment to ensuring learners have access to Personal Learning Space (PLS) where they can “store coursework, course resources, results, and achievements…with the potential to support e-portfolios”, available in every school and college by 2007-08", and goes on to say: "It’s proved to be a popular idea – with many institutions engaging in research and investigation, and even becoming early adopters of the currently available e-portfolio products."

'Harnessing Technolog'y is an interesting document - unusually so for an official government publication. However, whilst the policy does promote e-Portfolios, the main thrust is less ambitious.

The major emphasis is on personalisation. So far so good. But it is open to interpretation what is meant by that. My reading is that they mean primarily the ability of teachers to provide individually focused learning materials for learners and the use of intelligent agents (or something like that) to provide individual learning pathways. This falls far short of the more radical idea of Personal Learning environments and, critically, leaves control of learning in the hands of the institutions and teachers.

Still - that such a debate is even happening is good news.

Technorati Tags: e-portfolios, education policy, Persanal Learning Environments