Tablet Project - Good News and Bad news…

Many thanks to those of you that submitted applications for our new 2011 Tablet Devices Project. During the past few weeks we have received some fanatic proposals for ways that these can be used for education and training and we are excited to see how these pan out in practice. If it works as well as the last Mobile Learning Project we expect we will be able to share some great feedback with you all regarding the use of tablets for teaching and learning.

So, the bad news…

We have had unprecedented demand for this project and so now we have suspended taking any new applications at this stage. This is merely to avoid delay and disappointment as we would like Learning Providers to have an appropriate amount of time to trial the kit effectively.

And the good news…?

We have now purchased an additional set of devices which will mean that if you are on the project list, you will now receive your set of devices sooner than would’ve otherwise been the case. We are currently scheduling the project loans and will be in touch with all participating Learning Providers in due course.


In the meantime we will continue to post findings about this project on the project wiki page as they emerge. We have already recently updated the page with a selection of CNET reviews that might help anyone interested in evaluating tablet devices make judgements on the usability, pros and cons of each.
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Related Wobble links:

Your Chance to Evaluate Tablet Devices
Lessons Learned - Learning Journey Made Mobile
Using Tablet Devices in Learning, Teaching and Education

To read more of Wobble click here.

Why Students Love Technology

Some very interesting facts and figures showing how today's students engage with technology...




Via: OnlineEducation.net

To read more of Wobble click here.

20 Useful Android Apps for Students

A colleague recently pointed out that Warwickshire College had posted a link to 20 useful android apps for students on their facebook page. With so many learners now using smartphones/other mobile devices to support apsects of their education and training this might be useful to share.

The twenty apps that Dean Sherwin thinks would be most useful to students can be found here.

A useful list for android users, the list of tools compares nicely with the Top Twenty free iPad apps I shared earlier in ther year.

(Thanks for sharing Kirsty).

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Related Wobble links:

Alternatives to the iPad
20 Free Apps for the IPad
Lessons Learned - Learning Journey Made Mobile


To read more of Wobble click here.

Lessons Learned - Learning Journey Made Mobile

Earlier this year, myself and Jason Curtis (our Learning Technologist), initiated a new Mobile Project which aimed to explore and potentially increase the use of mobile technologies in the work based learning sector. This involved awarding successful bidders small amounts of funding which could be used to buy mobile devices that would enhance aspects of the learner journey.

The eleven successful applicants that were chosen to take part have now purchased and evaluated their chosen mobile devices and reported their findings back to us.

The report below summarises what these providers found, highlighting what technology they bought, what were the main challenges, what benefits were gained and what their plans are now after using their chosen device. Click the image for the report.

The illustration below offers a snapshot of what was bought by the group and shows just how varied their choice of technology was. (Click the image to enlarge.)

More details and full project information is now available on our supporting project wiki page. This includes a snapshot of who bought what and why.

We hope you find our findings useful in your own technology choices.

To read more of Wobble click here.

Funding Opportunity - The Learning Journey Made Mobile

It’s quite exciting today as we have just launched a brand new initiative which offers regional work based learning providers the opportunity to bid for capital funding to purchase mobile devices. This new project – “The Learning Journey made Mobile” is being led by myself and Jason Curtis whom I’ve introduced on Wobble previously.

The purpose of the initiative is to capture and explore ten innovative examples of where mobile technology has been used to support and enhance the learner on their learning journey.

Each successful bid will receive £500 to purchase a number of mobile devices to use in their proposed project. All we ask for in return is a short report at the end of the project which may feed into a regional case study.

You can find out more about this project and access all the supporting documentation on a dedicated project wiki page at: http://wiki.rscwmsystems.org.uk/index.php/Learning_Journey_Made_Mobile

We look forward to receiving your enquiries – but be quick, the deadline for submissions is 12pm on Mon 29th Nov 2010.

I’ll keep you posted on how this develops.

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Related wobble links:

Mobile Learning in the Work Based Learning Sector
Information Sheets on Technology for E-Learning
Molesharing Mobile Learning Resources
Kineo's mobile learning guide (pdf)
Go Mobile - free publication


To read more of Wobble click here.

Watching Social Media Grow

Interested to see how rapidly Social Media and technology is being adopted at the moment? Then the 'social media counter' developed by Gary Hayes (shown below), is worth a look.

This tool shows social media activity around the world as you watch. Its a great visualization tool which makes us aware of the impact of technology and shows how mobile devices and forms of social media tools are being adopted worldwide. As Gary Woodhall pointed out, "...the phenomenon is huge. Watch for a minute, and see how many people tweet or upload images to Facebook....

...As a learning tool, this kind of embedded dashboard could be used to teach about the impact of any dynamic activity that is rapidly changing – for example, pollution being discharged, or jobs being gained or lost."

via Gary Woodhall, Workplace Learning Today.

To read more of Wobble click here.

The new iPad

I’ve had a new iPad and despite us being commercially independant, I must admit that so far I'm very impressed.

Many of our team are iPhone users, have iPods and have used the iTouch and we can see how building on the successes of those, the new iPad opens up so many mobile learning possibilities for learning providers. I won’t list all of the pros and cons here, that’s for a future post, but for now I’ll leave you free to explore just a couple of things that have been said about its educational use:
In this post, David Muir based up in Scotland outlines what’s impressed him about the ipad and what educational application he thinks it might have. He also outlines a couple of niggles and several readers have also added their own comment to his post, which now offers a good perspective.

Here, Tony Vincent of the popular “Learning in Hand” site, has put together a great video highlighting some of the available educational apps for the iPad. (I watched this on the iPad after downloading the podcast which was very simple to do). Tony’s video outlines the iPads potential for use as a teaching tool. He’s also put a load of useful links on that page beneath the video and has also bookmarked over 30 lists of educational apps on his delicious page of links.

We’re planning to run some events in the not too distance future that will allow our supported learning providers to learn more firsthand about what iPads and other mobile devices like this can do to support e-learning. (As always, watch our events page for details).

In the meantime, should you wish to know more about the iPad, you can get a handful of guided video tours on the apple site. It’s marketing, but it highlights the main features and gives you a flavour of some of the plusses. If you are keen to know more, or get our opinion on how iPads can be used specifically for teaching and learning, feel free to forward your individual enquiries to us by email.




To read more of Wobble click here.

Free Publication for Embedding Mobile Technologies

There’s a lot of talk about enabling more mobile work based learning these days so I thought it might be worth highlighting a useful publication that JISC compiled a while ago, which focuses on embedding mobile and wireless technologies into everyday practice. 'Innovative Practice with e-Learning' is a good practice guide which explores ways in which mobile and wireless technologies have become established in post-16 learning.

Like many JISC publications, this has a lot of examples from colleges and universities etc but also still contains useful information for work based learning, including advice on getting stated with mobile learning, plus a number of really useful templates to help you plan for this. 10 case studies are included with the booklet to illustrate the use and the impact of mobile technologies from three perspectives: those of the learner, the practitioner and the institution.

The publication contains a supplementary CD-ROM which contains extended versions of all 10 case studies, video clips for 5 of the case studies, an e-learning audit tool, and planning tools for use of mobile and wireless technologies.

I have a handful of glossy printed copies of this publication which I’m happy to post out to any of our supported providers who may want one (with the accompanying CD). Alternatively, ‘being green’, you can access the supporting website here, or get electronic copies of the publication and its very useful planning tools from the links below.

• Innovative Practice with e-Learning guide (pdf) File
• A manager’s planning tool for use of mobile and wireless technologies - Microsoft Word Document
• A practitioner’s planning tool for use of mobile and wireless technologies - Microsoft Word Document
• An e-learning manager’s planning tool for use of mobile and wireless technologies - Microsoft Word Document
• An institutional audit tool for mobile and wireless and other forms of e-learning - Microsoft Word Document

To read more of Wobble click here.

Learning Technologies - Help and Advice

A quick reminder to all West Midlands based learning providers - we have a dedicated Learning Technologist in the team who is happy to offer free advice and guidance on how various technologies can be used for teaching and learning.

Jason has bags of kit which he is happy to come and discuss/demonstrate if required, and is also on hand to provide telephone and email guidance on any of your technology related questions. With lots of providers in receipt of capital funding at the moment, it can be useful to know what types of devices are currently proving popular for e-learning.

Jason provides advice and guidance on the inclusion of Learning Technologies within existing strategies. He is also keen to continue developing the learning technologies community based network started last year and to draw out and develop examples of best practice in this region. A new JISC Mail list was created last year to help support this function. You can subscribe to that list to get the latest updates here.

Jason can be contact by email at jason.curtis@wlv.ac.uk or phone on 01902 518986. His wiki pages also offer information which a busy provider might find useful in the first instance.

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Related wobble links:

Learning Technology Loan Inititative
Staff Development (with Funding Attached)
Information Sheets on Technology for E-Learning


To read more of Wobble click here.

The Impact of Mobile Technologies

I spotted an interesting publication on a colleague’s desk recently – 'The Impact of Mobile Technologies, Examining what it means for teaching and learning'. This is the report that summarises Phase one of MoLeNET projects.

Molenet 1 involved approximately 10,000 learners and 2,000 staff, spread across 32 mobile learning projects. This resulted in lots of examples of good practice and lessons learnt, all of which have fed into the report.

Projects were led by colleges but “...More than half of MoLeNET 2007/08 projects (18 projects or 56%) addressed the national priority of work-based learning. In many cases they used mobile devices for gathering and presenting evidence through e-portfolios....Vocational subject areas in which mobile learning was deployed include hairdressing, motor vehicle, engineering, electrical engineering, industrial services, care, construction and plumbing.”

“Handheld technologies used included personal digital assistants (PDAs), mobile phones, smartphones, MP3 and MP4 players (eg iPODs), other portable multimedia players, handheld gaming devices (eg Sony PSP, Nintendo DS), ultramobile PCs (UMPCs), mini notebooks or netbooks (eg Asus EEE), handheld GPS devices, handheld voting
devices” .

The report offers useful examples throughout and key pointers from providers from their project evaluations. There is a dedicated section on Work Based Learning and also a section on Employer engagement highlighting some of the difficulties in using mobile devices in practice.

The complete publication can be downloaded without registering (for free) from the LSN website or you can request a hard copy by emailing molenet@lsnlearning.org.uk

To read more of Wobble click here.

Using iPods for Teaching

A colleague recently shared a link with me to a site that has a wealth of information about how iPods can be used for teaching/training - Learning in Hand. It’s a great site, with lots of uses, ideas, and applications for using an iPod touch or iPhone in education. It’s written by Tony Vincent, a technology specialist who uses the site to share his passion for new technologies (tied nicely into his own teaching experiences).

In the section on iPods and iPhones he offers advice on:

· Using audio and video
· Making use of photos and image sets
· Web apps (websites that are specifically designed for iPod touch and iPhone)
· Software applications
· Podcasting
· And more tips and tricks.


20 more ways...

Also focussed on the iPhone, Kevin Hickey from RSC North West has produced yet another very useful resource that shows 20 ways to use iPods for teaching. (See the video below). This is in the style of a Pecha-Kucha presentation; basically 20 slides/images, 20 seconds each. It contains some great ideas presented with the minimum of fuss.



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Related wobble links:

Mobile Learning in the Work Based Learning Sector
Things Learners can do with a Mobile Phone
Go Mobile - free publication

To read more of Wobble click here.

Waterproofs and more Digital Video Camcorders

I’ve mentioned pocket sized video camcorders on here before and several of our regional providers now own or two of the models that are out there. At a recent training event a learning provider told me about a different one that they were using in their land based provision.

This model was waterproof so could be used with his learners outdoors. It also:

* Allows you to take a photograph of the subject WHILE you are still filming (useful if you still want to print hard copies of evidence)
* Has two operating modes, simple (for the user like me who wants to just press record and go!) and Normal which offers you the option to change all its settings.
* It was fairly resilient, so suitable for working in manual environments.
* It could plug straight into an TV, no need for groups of learners to copy images to a PC before viewing them
* And it had a rechargeable battery. (Need I say more?)

The camera was a Sanyo Xacti as per the picture above.

You can learn more about this model in the ShinyTech review below (so glad they did this – makes my life easier!). If you can’t access you tube you can get the review on this site.




We’ve since bought one of these for our own increasingly expanding bag of mobile kit so would be happy to chat with you about how this and other camcorders can be used for work based learning.

With funding opportunities arising all the time, it’s certainly worth knowing what tools are out there that could possibly enhance your provision.

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Related Wobble links:

Pocket-sized Video Camcorders
Information Sheets on Technology for E-Learning
More Funding for your E-Learning Projects

To read more of Wobble click here.

Live Webcast - Increasingly Mobile Work Based Learning

As handheld gadgets such as phones, digital cameras and ipods get cheaper and more widespread, mobile learning is becoming more important for learning providers who want to be able to tap into their potential.

For that reason, during this years annual RSC online conference, Discover-e 2009, we have prepared a session that looks exclusively at mobile learning and explores how many of your learners own tools can be used to delivering learning and assessment away from a traditional classroom.



Di Dawson of DawsonLoane will be sharing some great tips and tricks with us, showing us how we can use mobile learning for capturing evidence, professional discussions, managing video, audio and much more. Di is familiar with both current and emerging practice so there’ll be lots of opportunity for discovery of new ideas.

For the session itself, we will present information live, using the free video conferencing tool Dim Dim, that we also used to deliver our conference sessions last year. This will enable anyone who is new to video conferencing to gain first hand experience of using that too – for free!

The full conference takes place over three days from 19th – 21st May and there’s plenty more in there to accommodate ALL learning providers. There'll be session on using e-portfolios, Moodle, games based learning and much more. To take part, you simply register online and access the live sessions by clicking on a given web address on the day – no special equipment required, just a pc with sound.

Hope you can make it!

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Related Wobble links:

Go Mobile - free publication
Mobile Learning in the Work Based Learning Sector
Ten things learners can do with a mobile phone
Kineo's mobile learning guide (pdf)


To read more of Wobble click here.

What to Look For in a Digital Voice Recorder

Digital voice recorders are being used more and more in work based learning and previously I have been asked what to look for when buying one. I recently noticed that Jay Dougherty had done a good job of answering that particular question in this post.

What Jay considers are points to note:

* Sound quality
* Storage
* Features
* Controls
* Batteries

The full article explains these in more detail.

(Jay notes that prices range from ‘a low of just over 20 dollars to over 200 dollars’ which is in the USA. In the UK, a quick search shows products ranging from less than £20 to over £300).

If you’re thinking of investing in voice recorders yourself, that post is a good first place to start. A second is here or here for examples of ways they are already being used in work based learning.

To read more of Wobble click here.

Netbooks - everything you need to know!

One of RSC Scotland’s newsletters has just caught my eye with an interesting article on netbooks or ultra mobile pcs.

In their latest edition of "E-Quality - a netbooks special", Martin Hawksey, eLearning Advisor for the RSC Scotland North & East discusses the pros and cons of netbooks. He discusses a number of things learning providers should consider before investing in them, focussing on their operating systems, issues relating to connectivity, screen resolution, storage and size. He then goes on to address the all important question…

...Which Netbook should I buy?

Net books are becoming increasingly popular in work based learning because of their size, portability and their affordability. They are also useful because a lot of data and applications are now being stored online and staff and students can access these resources from anywhere using these devices. On his blog, Tony Vincent also discusses why they’re making such a big splash.

Like Tony and Martin, I expect we will see a lot more netbooks making their way into education and training, making this E-Quality article useful pre-purchase reading.

We are running several projects ourselves at the moment that focus on how netbooks can be used for teaching/training and will feedback on the experiences from these when completed. In the meantime, this Excellence Gateway case study shows how Nottinghamshire County Council are using these and outlines some of their findings so far.

Upcoming Webcasts - Accessible from where you are

This month and next RSC Scotland have some interesting subjects lined up for a series of webcasts that they’ll be hosting online using Instant Presenter. The webcasts will all be accessible from simple web links and will allow participants to interact with presenters discussing particular topics. Viewers can also interact with other online attendees via text chat.

The following sessions are lined up for the next month:

Using Blogs for teaching and learning (17th February)
Access this session to find out more about blogging and how it can be applied to teaching and training.

Using Voting Systems for teaching and learning (3rd March 2009)
This session will look at the various types of Electronic Voting Systems on the market and how they can be used to make lessons more fun.

Mobile Technologies for teaching and learning (31st March 2009)
This session will outline the possibilities for the application of mobile technologies for teaching and will also highlight some of the issues that need consideration by learning providers.

To access any of these online sessions you’ll first need to follow the urls above and register your interest, RSC Scotland will then take it from there. Then on the day, log in with your allocated url, sit back, listen and enjoy!

Go Mobile - free publication

I’ve just stumbled across an interesting looking publication on a colleague’s desk called “Go Mobile -Maximising the potential of mobile technologies for learners with disabilities”. This new publication has been developed jointly by the Learning and Skills Network (LSN) and JISC TechDis to showcase stories from the Molenet projects. It focuses on the use of mobile technologies for learners with learning difficulties, but also offer of examples of ways that mobile devices can be used more generally to engage all learners.

The case studies show how learning providers nationally are using mobile technologies and once again it’s great to see examples from this region included (good work New College Worcester! As I’ve noted before, us Midlanders really are keen on learning!)

The 60 page booklet also comes with an accompanying DVD ROM which enables everyone to get involved in mobile learning. Its title “Upwardly mobile – getting started in inclusive m-learning” highlights its role as a toolkit for those new to m-learning.

Over in Wales, Helen Hodges notes that the DVD….

“.. contains a huge amount of information with loads of really easy to follow guidance on how to create text, image, audio and video resources (from both the tutor and learner’s point of view) for the mobile devices, using a lot of things that are free or you are likely to have access too already. My favourites so far are:

* using Powerpoint and a free GIF animator (UnFreez) to make animated images for a mobile device … click here for a ‘walkthough’ of how to do this
* making use of a BT phone with the 1571 answerphone service enabled and access to the account online to create an audio mp3 recording … click here for more details...”

I have a few spare copies of the booklet with DVD to give away so if you would like a free copy for your own organisation, send me an email with your name and address and I’ll get one out to you.

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Related links:

Mobile Learning in the Work Based Learning Sector
Ten things learners can do with a mobile phone
Kineo's mobile learning guide (pdf)
Moleshare site for mobile learning resources

Molesharing Mobile Learning Resources

Are you looking for e-learning resources to use on mobile devices? If so, the new Moleshare site might prove useful.

This new site offers a number of mobile friendly learning materials that can be freely downloaded, for use on your intranet or your Virtual Learning Environment. The materials have been designed with mobile devices in mind (so they resize to smaller screens etc) but they can be displayed and used on PCs too.

The site has various sections - the resources area is useful if you are looking for specific learning material to download and use while the examples and tools area shares some of the outcomes of the Molenet work that has taken place this year.

There are already a variety of resources there ranging from videos to Photostorys, to PowerPoint Presentations to images and audio files. Each listed resource shows what mobile devices they are suitable for too.

More information..

This is another useful site to add to the list of growing sites that support the fast growing area of mobile learning. I’ve mentioned several others in a previous post here. I’ll now also be adding Moleshare to the new look Work Based Learning delicious site where there is already a growing list of resources that are available for use in the sector. If you haven't already seen those might be worth a look.

Wobble on your Mobile

Thanks to a referral from a colleague and another free site you can now access a version of wobble formatted especially for your mobile. This great (free) tool turns a html version of a blog like this one into something that on your mobile looks more like the image below.

The MoFuse, or Mobile Fusion web tool allows anyone to easily and instantly create a mobile version of their blog or website. Its simple navigation makes reading updates in your phone much simpler - so now, to read wobble on the go you just need to point your mobile web browser to: http://wobble.mofuse.mobi/

Several learning providers are already using blogs to share information with their learners. Sandwell Training Agency and Swansea ITeC to name just a few. Through the e-guides programme, work based learning providers are also increasingly considering ways that blogs can be used to keep in touch with their learners.

Using this free tool this could be further extended by providers very easily creating mobile versions of the same for free. This has the added advantage of keeping learners up to date in a format that is mobile friendly and easily accessible to them. With so much interest in mobile tools at the moment, content in mobile friendly format is certainly something worth being aware of.

Related links:

· Blogs in Plain English – short video highlighting what blogs are and how they might be used.
· Discussion about Blogs on Innovate
· Molenet - 32 Projects that focus on using mobile technologies for learning

(Thanks for the link Jim)

Pocket-sized Video Camcorders

Day Three of our West Midlands E-guides event last week showcased more useful technologies for e-learning, with one of the favourites this time being a very inexpensive pocket-sized video camcorder, Disgo.

These video cameras have raised considerable interest in the work based learning sector because of their portability, ease of use and starting at just £35 their price! The basic Disgo model has only three buttons so you can’t go far wrong with using it either making it a great tool for learners to use (to capture evidence for e-portfolios for example).

There are a couple of models available, the basic Disgo video retailing at £35 or a disgo Video Pro at £99.99.

Both are great little tools and signal the way technologies are becoming more affordable and accessible. The reviews from BBC's "Something for the Weekend" programme on the Disgo site are worth watching as they show just how easy these pocket-sized gems are to use. This You tube review offers a users review of the Disgo and this one shows a good comparison between the two models.

With capital funding being made available though the current round of Learner Innovation Grants what better time to be exploring technologies like these and looking at ways they can be incorporated into your own provision.

Finally, if you like the idea of using video but don't fancy making your own who not explore some of the ready made content that's out there. Business and Learning Conections is certainly a good place to start!