L2eL - Learning to e-Learn

Sometime last week I came across Mediamaster. I was looking for a way of embedding mp3s in my portal page and had a search through Google. I came across Imeem first - this allowed me to embed a widget that would play back an mp3. This would have been fine except the file I loaded wouldn’t play when embedded. With so many free tools out there, if it doesn’t work first time I frequently move on to the next thing.

Mediamaster worked first time - always a bonus. What I liked was the simple way I could upload mp3s and embed a widget. I was using Studywiz a lot last week and found this to be very simple in a multi-content resource. It also worked in RM’s Portal+ and PBWiki. In fact this page is the only place I’ve found it difficult to embed the widget - hence it’s not here.

Mediamaster saves the need for students to download mp3s and then play them - simply clicking on track in the widget will play it. This could be a useful tool for adding MFL content to learning platforms or portal pages. I could record myself or students talking in the target language. I could pose questions relating to the files. My iPod or memory stick with a mic could record students or myself. It becomes easy to share these files.

It would also be an effective way of sharing student performances in school.

Below is a quick tutorial on using Mediamaster with Studywiz.

<embed src=”http://www.teachertube.com/flvplayer.swf” FlashVars=”config=http://www.teachertube.com/flvplayer.php?viewkey=f47269ed5cea9f625f7a&vimg=http://www.teachertube.com/thumb/1_1778.jpg” quality=”high” bgcolor=”#000000″ wmode=”transparent” width=”400″ height=”350″ loop=”false” align=”middle” allowScriptAccess=”sameDomain” type=”application/x-shockwave-flash” pluginspage=”http://www.macromedia.com/go/getflashplayer”> </embed>

Filed by Paul at 5:33 am under embed, free stuff, internet, mp3, online storage, web tools
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Came across this on a blog and thought I’d see if I could embed my google map in my blog.

Filed by Paul at 10:16 am under collaborative, free stuff, internet, web tools
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I spent a couple of hours playing with PBWiki.

It promised to be simple to use, and I have to agree - it took very little effort to become familiar with the set up.

Click on the image below to link to the pages I created while exploring PBWiki.

First impressions, without having yet used it with students, is that it has a lot of potential in its use.

One of the key considerations before using a Wiki with students is introducing the culture of collaboration and the purposes behind using the Wiki. Simply providing the tools for students to collaborate doesn’t ensure that the collaboration is fruitful.

In class exercises on collaborative writing could be supportive in using an online collaboration tool. As with all of the tools and ideas with Web 2.0 they need to be introduced in a way that support realising their benefits. Lack of planning and support will quickly highlight that simply using web 2.0 tools does not in itself produce exciting learning activities.

Tecahers in using wikis need to emphasis the product and outcomes of using the technology, not the technology in itself. Wikis are not used to collaborate, they are used to collaborate to produce something - and it is the something that is of value, not that it is a wiki.

Filed by Paul at 7:32 pm under collaborative, free stuff, web tools
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Powered by Wufoo

I had a quick play with Wufoo.  I prefer this to polldaddy on first play.  Both are easy to use - but wufoo has more options and the possibility of asking more than one question.

It was quick to register, construct the question and responses and then embed in the blog.

I’ll have a play again with this at a later date. 

Filed by Paul at 10:28 am under free stuff, internet
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Spotted this being used on a blog. It was really easy to use and I think it looks good.

Here’s one I created. The embed doesn’t seem to want to work - must be missing a plug-in or something - the link will take you to it.

Put the slide show in to Google maps with no issues.

Filed by Paul at 7:53 am under free stuff, web tools
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Click to play video

Filed by Paul at 6:14 pm under software
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I have added a Box.net widget to my blog.  This was just an experiment to see how easy it is to add this widget to my blog.

No problems adding the widget - it was simply a copy and paste following the instructions provided.

Box.net provide 1Gb of free online traffic and 10Gb of traffic a month.  It’s a neat way to add several document to a blog without using up space.

Currently in the widget is a document reviewing free online storage - something I did for work.  I was suprised how much space I could get for free - about 35Gb for 30 minutes searching!

Filed by Paul at 3:40 pm under collaborative, e-portfolio, online storage
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Whilst spending a pleasant Sunday in the garden enjoying the weather and surfing the Internet, I came across this free poll tool.

It was easy enough to set up my poll and responses - click on the polldaddy logo above to access my poll.

Polldaddy instructions indicate that pasting in the html for my poll should allow the poll to appear in my blog.  I tried this a few times, even using the flash embed, however I couldn’t get this to work successfully.

For the time being I am happy to create a link from my blog to the poll.

The Democracy plug-in for Wordpress is easier to use in a blog, but the Polldaddy poll creator would be easier to use in other contexts.

Polldaddy would be a useful tool for students to create their own polls.  There are plenty of polling tools so it would be unlikely that schools or teachers would want to use Polldaddy.

It is straight forward to use and would allow students to easily create a poll.  A link could be added to a discussion board or emailed to fellow students.  Being web-based removes issues of software to create a poll for students.

Polldaddy has a custom style option using CSS.  This would allow those with an understanding of cascading style sheets to create a poll with the same look as their website.

Many learning platforms provide online environments that offer the ability to create a poll.  Polldaddy is comparable in terms of outcomes and is as easy as the simplest to create a poll.

Filed by Paul at 1:05 pm under collaborative, web tools
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My Google Reader was littered today with news of Google’s My Maps.

I have looked at Platial, Microsoft Live Maps and Mapsack and thought that these tool offer a great way to present information for students.  I was interested to see what Google Maps would offer and assess if this was the leader of the pack.

So, I’ve spent an hour this morning putting together my first map.  I am impressed with how easy it was.  I firstly created a Picasa Web Album to store the images I wanted to add to my map.  I then created My Map presenting my holiday photos from last Summer.  I guess if I was more adventurous I could I added some text to describe the pictures or added details about the history of the areas visited.

Creating the Picasa Web Album allowed me to easily add the images to my map.  Picasa We Album has a ‘Link to this Photo’ button that provides the html code to add to My Maps.  To add the html code I added a placemark and then pasted the html code in ‘Edit HTML’.

The Google My Maps help is very straight forward in explaining how to create a map.

This would be a create tool for students to use for a geography field trip, a local history project or any topic where geographical location was related to the infromation presented.

So after an hour this morning I was very impressed - this is my favourite mapping tool.  It was simple, straight forward and quick to create my map.

Video can be added in the same way as images were added from Picasa.  Selecting the embed html code from sites such as YouTube and Google Videos and adding this to a placemark is as easy as it is for a picture.

To add sounds I could a link to a file I had stored on Archive.org or a podcast I had created with software like Podium.  I could create a movie in PhotoStory or MovieMaker, add this to my OurMedia page and link this to my placemarker.

The easy of use and versatility, as well as the emphasis on creativity, would make it very appealing to students - well at least for the first dozen times students are asked to create a my map!

Filed by Paul at 9:45 am under collaborative, web tools
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An increasing number of schools are purchasing learning platforms for their students.  One of the key features of these learning platforms is the provision of a student online learning space.

An online learning space for most of these products appears to comprise of some online storage, a facility to add bookmarks and notes and a calendar.

Pageflages appears to offer a lot of the same functionality.

Experimenting with Pageflakes, I was able to add ‘flakes’ that contained my emails, add a to-do list and add notes.  Here’s a link to my example.

The all important online storage is available by adding a ‘flake’ that links to your Box.net free online storage account of 1Gb.  Files are limited to 10Mb max and 10Gb of traffic is permitted a month.  This compares favourably with many online storage spaces provided to students through learning platforms.

A calendar and a timetable can be added to the page, along with a message board.  RSS feeds and images from a Flickr account can be added.

There are an increasing number of ‘flakes’ available that allow you to further personalise your Pageflake.

Pages can be ’shared’ allowing other to view these.  Clearly emails and other ‘flakes’ would not want to be on shared pages, but calendar, notes and to-do lists might be helpful.  You can select who has access to your page and even provide them with access to edit your page.

Overall, this free tool offers a lot of the functionality of an online learning space.  The learner manages this space as opposed to a school on behalf of its students.  This is a significantly different way of working to schools managing learning spaces.

The key feature missing is a link to a virtual learning environment and the ability this provide for teachers to support the students learning by providing resources, tasks, tests and feedback.  A link to Wikipedia will have to do instead.

For the student who is looking for a more customizable space than the one provided through the school’s learning platform, Pageflakes make have an appeal.  The student can add a link to their school’s online space to access their work assigned from a VLE.

Filed by Paul at 9:12 am under e-portfolio, online storage, web tools
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