Creative ICT News

The Etherpad furore

 Etherpad is/was a nice little online tool that allowed writers to collaborate in real time. Thus made it very good for groups of people working remotely to brainstorm ideas or collaborate on creating a document. It also made it a popular app in schools where small groups could work together on a writing task and the teacher could correct, cajole and support on the spot. Everybody's edits showed up as a different colour and it was extremely easy to use with very few barriers to entry. Unfortunately, as with so many of these online tools, there wasn't really a sustainable business model to keep it going and the whole gameplan was to sell to someone with deep pockets. That someone came alang this week in the shape of Google who not only bought the product, but the whole development team too. Some would say that Etherpad was a simpler and better rival to Google Wave and they were just using their overmighty position to buy up a small but innovative rival. The more charitable might suggest that Google recognised talent and a great idea when they saw it and rewarded the creators accordingly. All well and good, but what happened next caused a minor web furore. They announced the demise of Etherpad. The word spread around Twitter like wildfire, and the number of negative comments on the announcement increased rapidly. Nobody held out much hope as the designers were doing what they always set out to do, and make a decent return on their investment. Everybody was pleasantly surprised when a new announcement was made releasing the code for Etherpad as an open source offering. It's now down to the education community to take the code on and launch a new "Etherpad" on a server somewhere and make it even better.

Obviously there is general satisfaction that a popular web tool has appeared to have been saved (as long as someone has the time/effort/technical know-how), however, it does expose the greater question, namely, how can we rely open content created in the Cloud when it is at the whim of the owners as to what happens to the platform that it was created in? 2 weeks ago I carefully planned my lesson for Ofsted using Quikmaps, a really simple Google Maps mashup that allows very easy doodling on top of a Google map. All was well until 30 minutes before the lesson when Quikmaps disappeared. Luckily for me I could do a quick rehash and work with Umapper instead (which I would have used anyway, but for a problem with saving the maps - you need to create individual user logins, something that you don't need to do with Quikmaps) and it all turned out fine. It turns out that Quikmaps hadn't disappeared for good, they'd simply scheduled site maintenance for when nobody would be using their application - Thanksgiving! 

These 2 cautionary tales reinforce the need to plan for every eventuality when committing data and mission critical applications to the Cloud. How secure is your data? Can you export it? What happens when the web application front end goes down? 

It seems that the Etherpad furore has resulted in a satisfying conclusion for all parties, but it's worth considering if you rely upon a particular web application (and it's free), how confident can you be in the long term future of that app? 

Products and Services Brochure (it's only taken 3 years!)

I'm starting my 4th year as an independent ICT consultant and felt that it was about time I pulled together everything I do into a brochure (well, a PowerPoint, actually). Please take a few moments to flick through the slides (there are only a dozen, or so) and don't hesitate to get in touch if you want to find out more...

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My Top Ten Free Web Apps to Add Value to Your Blog

Actually, it's eleven, but ten sounds better. I've been batting on about some of these for ages, but I just thought I'd do a quick post to pull them all together in one place and maybe introduce some of them to more recent bloggers.

In no particular order:

Voicethread

www.voicethread.com

A brilliant idea. You upload an image, slideshow or video to Voicethread and invite your audience to comment either by voice using a microphone; text, or now they even have a web cam comment feature. Not tried this last one yet. Fantastic for PSHE, Art, History, Global Issues etc. Here's an example: http://voicethread.com/share/20302/

Photobucket

www.photobucket.com

Photobucket is my new favourite image bank now that Phanfare has gone subscription only. Great place to hunt for image resources for your whiteboard and PowerPoints, but also great to upload your own photos as well. It automatically generates the HTML link code for you to link to your blog. Simply copy the code from the HTML box under the image and paste into your blog post using the Code tab. Alternatively, try Flickr.

Slideshare

www.slideshare.net

Fantastic collection of PowerPoints on every subject imaginable. Easy to embed in a blog post, and very easy to upload your own PowerPoints for sharing on your blog. Next time your class are doing a PowerPoint pressie, tell them that the top three are going on to the class blog and see if that impacts on the standard of work. Here's my Slideshare page

Teachertube

www.teachertube.com

An educational version of Youtube. Much of Teachertube's content is aimed at KS3 and up, but there is still some great content to share with your class and it's really easy to upload your own videos and embed them in your blog.

Voki

www.voki.com

Next time your class are writing poetry, get them to record the poem on the pc and retell it via a Voki. Super customisable characters and backgrounds to choose from and embed the result in your blog. Wicked.

Del.icio.us

http://del.icio.us

Why every school in the country doesn't use this fantastic free service is beyond me (as are the local authorities who block it (for the most bizarre of reasons, in one NW LA's case). Every time you find a useful website, instead of saving it in your web faourites on your PC, save it and tag it in del.icio.us. Your favourites are then available wherever you can find a web connection. Here's my del.icio.us page.

Bubbl.us

http://bubbl.us

Online mind mapping and concept mapping. Get good at using this on your whiteboard, then everytime you have finished your map publish it on your blog for the class to base their homework on, refer to again or simply for you to pull up next time you revisit the subject to remind them of prior learning.

Twitter

http://www.twitter.com

Twitter answers the question, "What are you doing right now". To many people it seems like an endless stream of pointless text messages, however, if you start to follow like-minded educationalists, you can soon build a very effective personal learning network who can answer your questions, collaborate in projects and teach you all sorts of new ideas. Give it a go, it's addictive. Oh, and you can embed your Tweets into your blog, too.

Follow me on Twitter: HGjohn

Widgetbox

www.widgetbox.com

Many of the classes blogging through the Creative Blogs community have virtual class pets, educational games, countdown clocks, local weather, maps and loads of fun stuff on their blogs courtesy of Widgetbox, a collection of tens of thousands of widgets specifically designed to embed in blogs. It's all about engagment, and Widgetbox provides it in spades.

Solidcasts

www.solidcasts.com

Probably the easiest site I've seen to use for creating podcasts. The first 100mb of hosting is free, thereafter you pay (it's still cheap, though). Simply edit your podcast in school, upload to Solidcasts and put a link in your blog Easy.

Rockyou

www.rockyou.com

Rockyou allows you to upload digital images and then incorporate them into some really cool slideshows. There are loads of themes and transitions to choose from, and you can even add copyright free music to your show. The resulting slideshow is simplicity itself to embed into your blog. Mystifyingly, some authorities choose to block this, but usually not the alternative: Bubbleshare which is pretty good, and just as easy to embed, if not quite as cool as Rockyou. Nothing like a consistent web-filtering policy!

So there you have it, my top eleven free services to add value to your blog site. For instructions on embedding most of these into a Wordpress MU blog, go to http://support.creativeblogs.net. For those apps that I haven't done a "How to" yet, I will be adding one during half-term.

I'm hoping that, through the magic of web 2.0, teachers who've come across other equally great resources might care to comment and add them to this post.

Facebook is Dead, Long Live Twitter

Actually, Facebook is obviously not dead. It has upwards of 60 million users and is worth maybe $7billion. "Facebook is Dull" might be a more appropriate title. I've got a Facebook account and find it completely useless for my work. Do I really need to know that my sister-in-law has been challenged to a movie quiz by someone I've never heard of? Am I bothered that I've only got six Facebook friends? I signed up to see what the fuss was about and to see if there was any worthwhile educational app for it. Couldn't think of one, even though Teachmeet has a Facebook group: I got all the info I needed about it by following the wiki.

I'd written Facebook off as a worthwhile use of my time, and then this came along, spotted by Dougmuses. A beautifully crafted rant about Facebook - with some surprising revelations about the owners. Now I feel doubly vindicated.

Twitter, on the other hand, rocks. I've already blogged about how useful I find it in my working life: it's a constant stream of useful ideas, weblinks and resources. And now people are starting to use it in all kinds of innovative ways. Paul Harrington describes how he picked up on a live streamed discussion with teachers in Bangkok through Twitter. MrMayo has set up a wiki to manage his Manyvoices project using Twitter for collaborative writing; and I am convinced we will see many more such projects develop in 2008.

Follow me on Twitterhttp://twitter.com/hgjohn

Wigan Tech Event a Great Success

I spoke at the Wigan Tech Event today to an audience of about 100 teachers - pretty daunting stuff to someone used to speaking to a staffroom sized audience, but I think it went ok.

Also speaking at the event was DK from Mediasnackers. I'd not heard him speak before and I have to say that, quite apart from his ultra-slick presentation, and his ultra-laid back delivery style (loved it) he set the context for the event terrifically well. His brief was to answer the question why we need to change the way we teach. Just glad he spoke after me! Anyway he finished up with this terrific video from Teachertube.

more about the Tech Event at the weekend when I've had time to collate some of the materials.

Prometeus, the future of the web?

Web 2.0 and Schools

In discussions with Ian Billups, the managing director of INCERTS about how to harness the collective wisdom of the teachers who use his outstanding assessment system, we got to talking about Web 2.0, and what it all meant. He pointed me to this excellent article by Tim O'Reilly, that examines in some depth the phenomenon that is Web 2.0.

It is somewhat technical in nature, but leaves the reader in no doubt that the approach of organisations to the web has to radically change from the past. I would contest that this included schools. Green Park Primary School have decided to use a blogsite instead of a traditional school website. The ICT co-ordinator writes to me that "parents and children are fighting over the home pc in order that they can make comments on the day's activities at school". The headteacher writes that the blog project is "really exciting and has unbelievable potential". How often have you heard comments like that about a school website?

For me, the essential component of Web 2.0 is that the person accessing the web is also a contributor. A school website becomes much more than just articles posted by staff and children; it becomes a genuine collaboration with the whole school community (and other web communities).

For more information on turning your school's website into a dynamic and thriving community, contact  john@creativeict.co.uk

To see INCERTS in action come to one of the Northwest regional roadshows starting this week.

Shocked

I was shocked to read this article on BBC Education about a website where children could anonymously rate their teachers. One of the recent winners of the Teaching Awards was highly commended for his use of feedback. At the end of each lesson, children were invited to rate that lesson on their way out via a little device with buttons on. This strikes me as being significantly different from the ability to make general comments about a teacher's competency with no evidence, and no accountability. If you want to check whether this site is accessible via your LEA broadband network try: www.ratemyteachers.co.uk .

Useful Tool

I picked up this very neat countdown timer from a thread on the Naace primary forum. It has a number of useful features, including the setup of preset timers (5 minute, 2 minute, or whatever). I particularly enjoyed the ability to use any piece of music as an alarm.

Get it from Cool-Timer

For loads of other free resources and software try http://del.icio.us/creativeict

Smart Notebook 9.5

I have been playing with Smart Notebook 9.5. It has an excellent new feature: namely the ability to link objects to sound. You simply click on an object and link it to a soundfile and it will play in your notebook. The sound file could be a piece of music; it could be the word that you have just clicked on spoken aloud; or any pre-recorded piece of sound. It gives you the ability to make your own interactive big-books; your own phonics activities; music activities etc.

If you have still not upgraded your version of Smart Notebook to 9.x, you are really missing out on a fantastic piece if software. Get it here.