More Free Online Storage - Introducing Google Drive

We spent some time in the office yesterday discussing the launch of Google Drive, Googles own online storage service. This service offers 5 gigabytes of free storage to users and looks set to challenge services such as Dropbox and Microsoft's SkyDrive.

This post in the Telegraph shows how Google Drive compares to Dropbox, iCloud and others and shows what amounts of storage you can expect to have from each. Another Telegraph post here, also notes an important consideration – the cost of any additional storage, particularly as Google has already set its prices at a quarter of those of Dropbox.

The video below will show you how Google Drive works. This previous wobble post shows what features have allowed existing services like Dropbox to gain such popularity.




To read more of Wobble click here.

Practical Guide to Web Conferencing

Our colleagues in RSC South West have produced and now published a very practical guide to web conferencing. This guide covers the benefits, tips on delivery, and the key features of some of the major web conferencing tools available.

Matt Ewens, Information Officer for RSC South West notes:

“...Web conferencing is a potential growth area in the future. The guide is aimed at practitioners and anyone really that works in the post 16 FE and Skills sector that is either interested in finding out a bit more about the benefits of web conferencing, or those that are already using systems to help them plan more effectively..."

The guide includes information on Blackboard Collaborate (formerly known as Elluminate) - the tool which is widely used by the RSCs for its online events and webinars. The guide is available to download as a pdf document here.

To read more of Wobble click here.

E-books for Adult Community Learners and Work-based Learners

To date, JISC Collection’s E-books for FE project has already helped many Further Education students across the UK by providing free access to e-resources for students studying a wide range of vocational and academic course in colleges. This works because by coordinating centrally, JISC Collections has been able to negotiate favourable pricing, terms, and conditions with content vendors.

The E-books for FE project so far reaches only full-time students attending college. However, there are many other types of learners, including those developing their skills through part-time study, apprenticeships, and informal learning in the community. The E-books for Skills project now aims to extend access to e-books licensed for FE colleges to these learners, and to identify and provide other relevant resources. The Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS) is sponsoring the new project as part of its aim to make learning as accessible as possible to all.

The project launched early this year and will run for one year. As the project progresses, its Manager Hugh Look, will be investigating how to make the service work for these additional types of learning providers, and working with them to identify resources such as e-books that will help adult community learners and work-based learners.

Should you wish to get involved in this or find out more you can contact: Hugh Look, Project Manager, E-books for Skills. Tel: (0)20 3006 6007


To read more of Wobble click here.