Great RSS to Website Tool: FeedoStyle

We have been using RSS feeds in WebCT for a while now and Alan Seatwo has been experimenting with them in his work with the Community Knowledge Transfer Service. We have been using Feed2JS but now there is a new kid on the block called FeedoStyle.

It allows people to pull any RSS feed into a stylised module on a web page. The idea is to allow blog and other website publishers to include new content directly onto their site in a very easy way. The service is easy to set up and does not require the creation of a user account.

The good thing about FeedoStyle is that it allows multiple feeds on a page something Alan had difficulty doing with Feed2JS.

blog.ac.uk Conference June 2nd

‘blog.ac.uk’ represents the UKs first educational blogging conference bringing together practitioner and research based expertise to explore cutting edge issues surrounding the educational use of weblogs and weblogging software.

It takes place on June 2nd in London and is free. As the blurb for the conference mentions, there are lots of events aimed at first time bloggers with 'introductory level demonstrations and workshops.' However this will be aimed at those who want to take things further.

I think we will be sending someone to this.

Online Training 4: Printing Handouts from PowerPoint (2:33 minutes)

Mark Roche has created a quick guide to printing handouts from PowerPoint, as some students were not sure of the best way to do this.

This training is in .wmv format. If you do not have the software to view it, we recomend that you install Windows Media Player version 8.0 or above.

Printing Handouts from PowerPoint - 2:33

WebCT Getting Started Guides

In case anyone needs to point students and staff towards them, the Getting Started Guides that we have produced are available online on the Learning Services website guides and support page.

These are written for version CE 4.1, so not all will still be relevant when we move to version 6.0. We hope to look at developing and updating the training guides over the summer.

Listen to Cakes! Thanks to Talkr

You can now listen to a machine generated audio version of Cakes. Just click on the 'Listen to this Post' link under each post or subscribe to the feed:

http://www.talkr.com/app/cast_pods.app?feed_id=12724

using a Podcast reciever such as Juice.

We've set this up using 'Talkr' which allows you to subscribe to audio versions of blogs, and to create audio versions of your own blogs for others to subscribe to.

Talkr doesn't accept the Atom feed from blogs set up with Blogger like this one. Sending Cakes feed through Feedburner and submitting the resulting Cakes feedburner feed worked.

The audio will only be available for those posts that are part of the current and future feed. The older posts will not be available as audio files.

Online Training 3: Updating the Glossary Wiki for the 'PG Cert in Teaching & Learning Support in HE'

We use a Wiki as a glossary for the 'PG Cert in Teaching & Learning Support in HE'. This training shows users how they can make change. The videos are in .wmv format and will play in Windows Media Player 7.1 or higher, but ideally you need version 9 or higher.

01 Introduction - 1:38
02 The Glossary - 1:49
03 Logging In - 2:26
04 Adding Definitions - 3:09

Online Training 2: Course Genie 2.0 (61 minutes)

Here is the complete Course Genie 2.0 training.

Again it is in .wmv format. If you do not have the software to view it, we recommend that you install Windows Media Player version 8.0 or above.

01. Introduction - 0:56
02. Installing and Opening Course Genie - 2:54
03. Formatting the Word Document - 5:19
04. Generating the Web Pages - 3:29
05. Setting up a WebCT Content Module - 4:38
06. Menus and Options - 3.18
07. Sections, Pages and Images - 6.54
08. Special Characters - 1.27
09. Tables - 1.57
10. Comments - 0.53
11. Hyperlinks - 2.31
12. Pop-ups - 2.04
13. Metadata - 1.28
14. Accessibility - 2.23
15. Troubleshooting - 0.42
16. Quizzes - 1.21
17. More Styles - 1.22
18. Subheadings - 1.00
19. Glossaries - 1.54
20. Importing the glossary- 1.51
21. Schemes - 1.04
22. Adding Schemes - 2.26
23. Changing the Logo - 5.25
24. Changing the Stylesheet - 2:10
25. The Final Result - 1.14

Online Training 1: Using Mind/Concept Maps to Structure your Assignment

This is the initial version of some training that we've developed using Camtasia Studio. Please give us any feedback in the comments!

Mind/Concept maps have been used for thousands of years to help people think through complex subjects. This training aims to help you start using them yourself to help your learning. The example shown is of using them to help you think through developing a structure for an essay. These files are in .wmv format.

1. Introduction - 1:12
2. Mind Map - 1:55
3. Concept Map - 1:35
4. Essay Title - 4:53
5. Developing the Map - 5:16

SightSpeed Video Mail

Mark Roche and Mark Schofield have been using SightSpeed as another possible way of allowing people to take part in meetings that they can't physically get to.

It's benefits are that it seems easy to set up and use (you just need a webcam), it is free, and it allows to make video messages upto 30 seconds long, which you can email to people or blog. I've recorded one as an example.

OPML Reading Lists

With all the talk about reading lists in the Postgraduate Certificate course I'm doing, I was interested in looking at how OPML reading lists would fit into this.

OPML reading lists are lists of blogs that you could pass between different blog aggregators (e.g. Bloglines). You might want to export a list to a new piece of blog aggregation software that you want to use, or could pass it between people.

If there are several blogs related to an academic subject, a tutor could keep a reading list on, for example Bloglines, for thier own use. They could export the file and pass the list onto students to add to their own Blog aggregator accounts.

An example of an OPML file can be found on the BlogBridge site. This could be imported into a blog aggregator like BlogBridge (needs installing on your machine) or Bloglines (available online). This file could easily be made available through WebCT for students to use, and it could be displayed in WebCT too.

To display your list of blogs in WebCT you can use the following code in a text block on a WebCT organiser page. This links to the list of blogs that I am subscribed to using Bloglines. If you had a bloglines account, you would change 'id=pfh' to 'id=' your own username (note that your username is different to your login name and > or< tags have been changed to ]or[).

[script language="javascript" type="text/javascript" src="http://rpc.bloglines.com/blogroll?id=pfh&target=blank"][/script]

Thanks to Bruce McKenzie for this code.

In case you are interested in the technical information, OPML stand for Outline Processor Markup Language and is XML based.

PD170 Camera Workbook

Adrian discovered this guide to using our PD170 camera. It's been blogged here before, but it seem relevant again. If you are thinking of doing anything with ithe camera and have a couple of hours, this is well worth reading to get you started.

Using Wikis as Annotated Reading Lists

We were discussing with certain academic members of staff about reading lists. Some have been considering developing annotated reading lists. These are reading lists that they or their students would add notes and comments to, to share what the books would be best used for.

We’ve developed a Wiki as an example (readinglist is the password if you want to edit it) to show what could be done to enable this. If we created one of these for a module, students would need very little training to make changes to it, and it could be linked to from the courses WebCT area and the courses reading list on the Library Catalogue.

I don’t know how this would work in the context of an undergraduate module, but it feels good to be making connections between the new technologies that are becoming available, and real world situations where we can use the technologies to enable people to do things. Mark Roche is developing an innovative use for blogs as a very simple VLE for those who cannot afford one, which he might report back to us when he’s finished developing it.

Podzinger.com

If you have used podcasts and online audio much, you might have developed a slight frustration that you cannot browse them to find relevant sections, like you can with blogs and indeed any textual information. In my experience this means that listening to podcasts is not a very efficient way to 'graze' your way through relevant information, and personally I just listen to them while performing other tasks that I can do subconciously.

Well the solution to that issue is here thanks to http://podzinger.com/. This increadibly well thought out site, uses voice recognition technology to turn the audio into a searchable text file. So if you search for "Learning Technology", for example, you will get links to the registered podcasts that mention this phrase.

But not only that!

You will be able to see the context in which the phrase was used and you even get a link to that section of the podcast. If you use a podcast reciever you can subscribe to download any future podcasts that use the phrase, which might be an efficient way of searching for relevant information on very obscure topics that are mentioned little and aren't worth searching for regularly.

In my mind, this technology makes podcasts as useful as blogs for information 'grazing' and discovery.

Communication in Difficult Situations

Communication Nation is a sometimes interesting blog, with a noble aim. Today it has an exceptionally convincing article covering how to deal with difficult people and situations positively! Something that we all have to face at times.

Stop! Hammer time!

Blogger inform us that MC Hammer is demonstrating mobile blogging with his Blog, using his mobile to send photos, and phoning Audioblogger to send audio messages. Currently the Audioblogger number is in America meaning audioblogging from our mobiles would be expensive.

Until then we can't touch this unless anyone knows another way. Meanwhile today or tomorow I'll try and use Feedburner to see if we can actually start podcasting the lectures we've been putting online.

Helping Students with Pop-up Blocker Issues

We continue to see a lot of problems with people not being able to access things on WebCT due to pop-up blockers on their computers preventing the windows from opening.

The following text can be included in an email to advise students on getting past the problems. It might not be perfect, but it's the best we've written so far...


Hi,

It sounds like you might have software on your computer that blocks pop-up windows.

You can test this by holding the ‘Ctrl’ key on your keyboard down, while you click on the link.

This should allow it to open. However you might want to solve the problem long term by changing the settings on your computer, so we’ll go through how to do this.

You are probably using an Internet Explorer Web Browser. Go to the 'Tools' menu at the top of the screen, and look for the 'Pop-up blocker...' option. If there is one, you can select 'Turn off pop-up blocker'.

If there is not, or if the problem persits, the following link will help you disable other pop-up blockers on the computer that you are using.

Go to:http://www.webct.com/tuneup/viewpage?name=tuneup_start

On the first page, select the Operating System that your computer is using. It will probably be 'Windows'.

On the second page, select the Web Browser that you are using. It will probably be 'Internet Explorer'.

On the third page, scroll down to near the bottom of the page where there is a section called '6. Disable Pop-Up Blocking for WebCT'. In this section are links to pieces of software which might be stopping the discussion windows from opening.

Hope that is some help, but please get back in touch if you need any help.

Dull Universities can Damage your Brain!

This creating passionate users post looks at the effect of different environments on the brain’s development. To quote, “research suggests is that in unstimulating, unenriched, stressful environments, the brain STOPS producing new neurons”, which I guess is added reason to invest in the college environment at all levels, from art exhibitions to attractive, effective architecture to innovative classroom environments.

Also see the comments on http://goldenswamp.com/2006/02/20/what-makes-kids-grow-new-neurons/

CLTR Symposium: E-Literacy

The CLTR Learning and Teaching Symposium on Wednesday 22nd February 2006, had a focus that was quite relevant to our work. I‘ll try to note in these next posts some things that will be worth considering from our point of view.

The ‘round-table’ discussion that I took part in was about e-literacy, and led by Lindsey Martin. The supporting paper was subtitled ‘Providing non-technical support for online learners’, which points towards an idea of what e-literacy might cover.

The discussion looked at how ‘e-literacy’ was different to ‘literacy’ as that term has been understood, and it was noted that the understanding of this term has changed through time. A couple of hundred years ago, someone would be considered literate if they could write their name, whereas now we expect more. It was suggested that in time, e-literacy would be just part of what we mean by literacy. But deciding on a definition will help us move towards that place by enabling informed and directed teaching. Literacy involves understanding and being understood, and as such e-literacy involves understanding and being understood in the digital age.

So what skills do people require to understand and be understood (trying to keep away from basic technical skills as an answer)? Well an understanding of conventions on the web would be an example – knowing how sites generally work (e.g. hypertext), that a picture of a house will take you to the site’s main page, that a blue underlined word is a link… there are probably huge amounts that I take for granted.

E-literacy also moves ideas of literacy away from just looking at text, which reminds us that literacy is only meaningful in particular contexts. I could be able to read books, but struggle to read txt msgs, struggle to navigate web sites (even those using general conventions).

How can we help our students to become more ‘e-literate’? We can help them by designing online materials that have intuitive designs, making the strange digital environment a little more accessible. I guess our ‘Introductory Module’ on WebCT is an example of e-literacy training, and as has been noted in earlier posts online discussion (even face-to-face discussion) requires skills that people will not necessarily come to Higher Education with, and training for discussion could be experimented with.

Here are some links that might have more ideas:

The International Journal of E-Literacy – This has a definition: “the awarenesses, skills, understandings, and reflective approaches necessary for an individual to operate comfortably in information-rich and IT-enabled environments.”

Add yourself to our Frappr! Map

Thanks to Frapper! we have added a map where readers of Cakes can add themselves so we can see where you are all from. Click on the "Where are you?" link on the right and get yourself on the map!

Online Discussion: Research

Last night Cathy Sherratt and Graham Rogers presented us with some facinating research on online discussion. It will be certainly worth catching them at a conference this year, perhaps if they present SOLSTICE or at Lancaster, because online discussion is something that we use in so many courses. By the time they next present, I think they will have taken their research and findings further.

They have studied the posts in several different groups from the same course, and found unexplained variations with student interaction with online discussions. The presentation was a search for reasons why.

Very basically the groups who posted fewest messages and interacted in a very simplistic way, were posting statements of their own belief, often addressed to the tutor. The group posting most messages tended to engage with each other, posting shorter messages, asking questions, and developing ideas together.

While there are many avenues to go down to further this research, I think one thing that we as the Learning Technology team need to do is to look at the need to give students training in discussing online. Graham Rogers pointed out that discussion, whether online or face-to-face is a complex skill, and I suppose that it is not something that we can necessarily expect students to have developed.

So is 'Being Involved in Discussions' training, something that we can develop online guides and training for? Or should learning those skills be more integrated in the students' courses?