Mobile Technology in TAFE

Kathryn Greenhill (Librarian Matters blog) provides her tips on blogging and blog fodder e.g. ideas for blog posts. Kathryn is a well known blogger who provides excellent blogging tips and this is her presentation from Perth PodCamp.

Virtual Worlds: Promise and Perils presentation by Alan Levine for the WA Elearning Showcase (Oct, 2007). Refer to his wiki for his slides and great his links on virtual worlds from this presentation.

Leigh Blackall (Learn Online) has been running fantastic 10 minute online lecture series in New Zealand for Learning communities Aotearoa and I was fortunate to be invited to join some of the sessions.

Unfortunately I missed James Farmer's session but I liked the recording so much that Leigh and James were nice enough to grant me permission to convert the audio into a video.

I recommend that you make the time to check out Leigh's 10 minute lecture sessions (there are links to both the Elluminate session and audio).

This is a quick demonstration on what are spyglasses. To learn more about how they are used in education go to this article. Technorati Profile

Nick Cowie, from nickcowiecom talks about the problems faced with the mobile web in terms of display size of mobile screens, the number of different mobile web browers, how rapidly the mobile web is changing, how people use the mobile web compared to the Internet on a computer, problems faced using the mobile web on a non-qwerty keyboard and the costs of accessing the mobile web.

Sales of mobile phones and PDAs capable of accessing the mobile web are increasing, and will continue to do so. The challenges we face as educators will be how to appropriately tap into the mobile web.

I normally create my video podcasts on a PC using MovieMaker but decided to buy myself a Mac for podcasting as they are meant to be better. This is a humourous look at how my learning is going. In this podcast I am working with another lecturer (who is learning how to podcast) and we are using the Macs because this is what she uses at home.

This is the first time I use iSight (the inbuilt video camera) and I could not work out how to turn on the record - it was staring me in the face.

This is our discussion on podcasting in education. Present were Michael Coghlan, Trevor Bennet (Edith Cowan University), David Day (Pilbara TAFE), Jenny Heathcote (Swan TAFE), Stuart Knox (Flexible Learning Framework) and Sue Waters (Challenger TAFE).

Michael Coghlan talks about Webheads (online community formed in 1997) in terms of: What are the Webheads; how the Webheads were formed; how the Webheads communicate; and the benefits of online communities. People involved in the discussion were David Day (Pilbara TAFE), Jenny Heathcote (Swan TAFE), Stuart Knox, Trevor Bennett (Edith Cowan University) and Sue Waters (Challenger TAFE).

Sean O'Driscoll, General Manager Community Support & Microsoft MVP, talks about online communities. This interview includes how he became involved with online communities, how to deal with disruptive online community members and the value of online communities to businesses. We also discuss his Community Group Therapy blog, how blogging has helped his work and other Web 2.0 technologies.

Marcus Ragus gives us an insight into the potential use of smart tag technology (i.e. RFID and NFC) in training. This video was created from parts of his presentation and an interview. For a more detailed explanation on the technology refer to Barcode, RFID and NFC audio podcast or Barcode, RFID and NFC video podcast. Also I recommend that you check out Marcus Ragus and Ian Whitehouse work on RFID tags be going to RFID scoping study. Thanks to Marcus Ragus for giving me permission to podcast this information.

Marcus Ragus (TAFE Tasmania) and Daniel Dacey (New England Computer Solutions explain the difference between barcode, RFID and NFC technologies. For more information on work by Marcus Ragus and Ian Whitehouse on RFID tags go to RFID scoping study. For more information on Virtual Trainer contact Daniel Dacey.

Marcus Ragus (TAFE Tasmania) and Daniel Dacey (New England Computer Solutions explain the difference between barcode, RFID and NFC technologies. For more information on work by Marcus Ragus and Ian Whitehouse on RFID tags go to RFID scoping study. For more information on Virtual Trainer contact Daniel Dacey.

Michael Coghlan's explains how to use Voice boards to enhance training programs. In this video you will see how you use Voice Boards with students. For guides and "how to information" on using online voice technologies go to New Practices in Flexible Learning 2005 Beyond Text: using your voice online. The website used for this workshop is located at Beyond Text New Practices Workshop.

Michael Coghlan's "Beyond text: Using your Voice Online" presentation for the WA Training Forum 2007. Michael talks about the application of online voice technologies in different learning contexts and how to integrate voice technologies into e-learning delivery, assessment and support services. This presentation showcases the two New Practices Projects Michael was involved with funded by the Australian Flexible Framework. For guides and "how to information" on using online voice technologies go to New Practices in Flexible Learning 2005 Beyond Text: using your voice online Facilitator Guides.

In this video I demonstrate why instructional videos of "how to" do tasks (e.g. how to tie knots, braid hair, use equipment) are beneficial to both students and lecturers. I also show how to film these videos using digital cameras, digital video cameras and spyglasses. Then I demonstrate how to transfer the video footage onto a computer and edit using Windows Movie Maker. For more information check out Mobile Technology in TAFE wiki and Visage Training Centre Project wiki.

This is a new version (and a good versions) on my tips for creating audio podcasts using Audacity. In this video I show how to download Audacity and LAME encoder. Use audacity to edit audio and to create audio podcasts.

For more information go to Mobile Technology in TAFE wiki site.

This is Becky Saunders (from Teaching and Learning, WA Department of Education and Training; runs workshops on instructional intelligence), presentation on embedding professional development for Learnscope e-learning Project Planning Day.

In this presentation she talks about how professional development is change management (i.e. the goal of professional development is to bring about a change in practises or processes). She explains that change takes time plus conflict and disagreement are part of the process. Becky also explains strategies for maximising the outcomes of professional development.

Thanks to Becky Saunders for letting me record her presentation and Ann Odgers (WA Learnscope Manager) for letting me use it.

Read more about embedding professional development on my blog

These are my tips for getting more out of del.icio.us, a great social bookmarking website which lets you view your favourite websites online, anywhere using the Internet.

In this video I explain why I initially did not appreciate the value of del.icio.us. I show how to set up tags better, why bundles are important, how to use the social feature of del.icio.us and the benefits of using the Firefox sidebar add on. For more information go to my my del.icio.us page on my wiki and you might want to check out my new Mobile technology in TAFE blog.

This is an extract from Euan Semple's online presentation for E-learning Networks Community Forum funded by the Australian Flexibile Learning Framework, © Commonwealth of Australia 2007’
. Euan is a well known writer, thinker and public speaker on the subject of social computing (the use of forums, social networking tools, blogs, and wikis).

In this podcast he talks about the use of social computing (online forums, social networking tools, blogs, and wikis) in organisations in terms on how the technology impacts on how we work. He describes the path he followed through his work at the BBC and the way it grew as the tools were implemented. He shares his insight into the consequences of using social computing tools in terms on the impact on their organisation, individuals and how we all work within our organisations.

Thanks to Euan Semple and E-learning Networks Community Forum funded by the Australian Flexibile Learning Framework, © Commonwealth of Australia 2007’
for giving me permission to take extracts from the online presentation to create this podcast.

Richard Meagher, from Mt Lawley Senior High School, demonstrates how he uses Camtasia to create audio and video podcasts from PowerPoint Presentations. Camtasia is very similar to Movie Maker 2 (which is what I use to create my video podcasts) but is a bit more sophisticated, and slightly harder to use. The benefits of using Camtasia are you can create audio and video podcasts at the same time, and you can choose from a range of formats, most importantly you can save in m4a format that works on video ipods. If you want to know more about Camatasia check out it out at www.techsmith.com

Richard has two podcast sites where he podcasts excellent audio and video podcasts on chemistry and physics using Camtasia (Chemistry - meagher's classes and physics - meagher's classes). Check out his podcasts they are really good.

Richard Meagher, from Mt Lawley Senior High School, demonstrates how he uses his Mimio Interactive Whiteboard. The best features of his Mimio are: easy to set up and pack away; highly mobile; incredibly easy to use; and there are so many ways he can use it with his students in his classroom.

This is a follow up of my interview with Adam Frey, co-founder of Wikispaces, where I share my tips on setting up a wikispaces wiki. In this video I show the locations of my "How to set up your own wiki tips" on my Mobile tecnology in TAFE wiki. I demonstrate the great help videos made by Wikispaces that you can watch, show you how to invite members, how to embed media from other websites, how to work with tables and how to create a Table of Contents for your wiki pages. Sorry this will probably not play properly on a video ipod because I maximised the file size to ensure viewing quality.

Adam Frey, co-founder of wikispaces, talks to me about using wikis in education (this is the longer version of the interview). We discuss how wikispaces is giving away 100,000 free plus wilkis to K-12 teachers. He also explains the features of their wikis that make them easy to use with students. He shares tips for setting up wikis & encouraging collaboration between members. We examine the benefits of wikis in education by looking at the excellent work done by students in the flatclassroomproject.wikispaces.com.

If you want to learn more about "how to" use mobile devices (such as ipods, PDAs) with students check out my wiki site, Mobile Technology in TAFE wiki

Adam Frey, co-founder of wikispaces, talks to me about using wikis in education. We discuss how wikispaces is giving away 100,000 free plus wilkis to K-12 teachers. He also explains the features of their wikis that make them easy to use with students. He shares tips for setting up wikis & encouraging collaboration between members. We examine the benefits of wikis in education by looking at the excellent work done by students in the flatclassroomproject.wikispaces.com.

If you want to learn more about using mobile devices (such as ipods, PDAs) with students check out my wiki, Mobile Technology in TAFE wiki

This video will play properly on a video ipod.

Leonard Low's Mobile learning blog site is turning one. So he has decided to have a "Mobile Learning" Gadget Giveaway! competition. So the Sue's decided that they needed to review all the posts on his site while theyr spent their day at a workshop in the country side.

This video is the different ways that Good Sue loaded/accessed his posts through different mobile devices. She explains to Evil Sue the different software that is used to do this on mobile devices and you see what each looks like on the devices. Their favourite post was "Mobile Learning" Gadget Giveaway! competition because it forced them to learn more about being mobile so they could access all his posts while doing other tasks.

Trevor Bennett, Educational Developer from ECU talks to Sue Waters, Challenger TAFE, and Ann Odgers, WA Learnscope about DYI podcasting. He explains how you can set up a Mac laptop with wireless radio transmitter (to record sound as the presenter walks around the room) and blue tooth phone (which controls changing of the slides) to podcast lectures that include PowerPoint or Key note presentations. Trevor talks about the benefits of enhanced podcasts. We also talk about a range of issues relating to podcasting.

Trevor Bennett, Educational Developer from ECU talks to Sue Waters, Challenger TAFE, and Ann Odgers, WA Learnscope about DYI podcasting. He explains how you can set up a Mac laptop with wireless radio transmitter (to record sound as the presenter walks around the room) and blue tooth phone (which controls changing of the slides) to podcast lectures that include PowerPoint or Key note presentations. Trevor talks about the benefits of enhance podcasts.

This is the Good and Evil Sue road test of the Belkin TuneTalk that converts the video iPod into a digital recorder i.e. you can use it to record voice memos, interviews or conferences. Good for recording audio for podcasting. We compared the Belkin TuneTalk to the xTreme MicroMemo and PDA.

Kate Rodgers, true Techno Whiz, tells me all about her BlackBerry and how it works. She discusses the pros and cons of BlackBerry vs PDA. She also shares her thoughts on ipods, iphones and PSPs in terms of use with students. We also discuss iWriter a program designed for ipods that insert interactive notes with audio.

Dr Tama Leaver, Associate Lecturer (Higher Education Development), Centre for Advancement of Teaching and Learning from the University of Western Australia discusses the uses of social software with students. He talks about his i-generation project where students generated their own podcasts.

Dr Tama Leaver, Associate Lecturer (Higher Education Development), Centre for Advancement of Teaching and Learning from the University of Western Australia talks about how lecturers use Lectopia to podcast their lecturers. He discusses the benefit of having an automated system to capture and deliver lectures in audio or video format as streams or podcasts.

This is our road test of the xtreme MicroMemo that converts the video iPod into a digital recorder i.e. you can use it to record voice memos, interviews or conferences. Good for recording audio for podcasting.

Aquaculture e-learning students study their theory online (WebCT and Elluminate) and then attend practical workshops several times during the year. This is a video showing what they did at their Silver Perch workshop.

This is a video of Sean Waters interview with Sue Hickton (aka Evil Sue) and Sue Waters (aka Good Sue) about how good Sue is lost in this digital age of NetLingo, Emoticons and Leet Speak. They both try to educate her. Please note for the full version of the interview you will need to listen to the audio podcast.

Sean Waters interviews Sue Hickton (aka Evil Sue) and Sue Waters (aka Good Sue) about how good Sue is lost in this digital age of NetLingo, Emoticons and Leek Speak. They both try to educate her. If you suffer digital illiteracy issues then this is a must listen. Visit Lingo2Word and Basic Emoticons and Smilies for help!

This video shows how spyglasses can be used for recording evidence when assessing learners. I also plan to use the spyglasses to create instructional videos for use on our PDAs. Normally to create videos that demonstrate "how to do" skills you need to record the video from over the shoulder - which means that two people are involved. Spyglasses means that only one person is needed and you could even do the recording while demonstrating to students.

This is a video podcast created by me and my son, Sean, to explain my absence from podcasting. It is a good example of why they say never work with kids (also they can be ungrateful!). Thanks Sean for your help (nagging for the computer).

This podcast created by Sue Waters and Ann Odgers and the many teachers attending a Professional Development day at the Western Australian College of Agriculture in Cunderdin. Cunderdin is a small wheat-belt town located approx. 2.5 hours inland from Perth. This uncut audio was created by some of the teachers who were let lose with PDA's. They were asked to record material as they walked around the agricultural college. Ann and I would like to thank - the organiser John Willox from Agricultural Education, the wonderful teachers who partook in this activity and not forgetting the pigs for the fabulous contribution they also made to this podcast.

This is a digital story created by my 8 year old son. I decided to investigate comments in the EDNA forum that said that primary school students as young as Year 1 were gaining benefits from creating their own story. This sparked my interested so I decided to test it for myself using a willing, volunteer. We hope you enjoy his story.

Daniel Dacey, New England Computer Solutions, explains Virtual Trainer. This program has been designed so that teachers can easily create content for PDAs on desktop PCs.

Kathy Gooding, from McCusker Learning and Development talks about their e-learning trial with age care workers.

Rowena Melling, Learnscope Project Manager for "Taking an E-step forward" from Swan TAFEWA, talks about their project in terms of the e-learning skills they gain. She explains that the participants had minimal exposure to e-learning and then highlights what was gained from the project. They did a skills audit prior to the commencement of the project and plan to do another at it's completion.

Yolanda MacPherson, E-learning Coordinator from Swan TAFEWA, talks about their learnscope project titled "Taking the mystery out of E-learning Facilitation which involved staff from a range of industry areas. She discusses the different projects undertaken by the participants such as blogs (set up by trainers to allow students to give feedback), induction CDs and videos for staff on PD available in the College.

Neil Griffiths, automotive lecturer from Swan TAFEWA, talks about their Learnscope project. The idea of this project was to create digital resources that would give prospective and current students a better understanding of the automotive industry.

Robert Svanbery and Jane Looker, IT lecturers from Great Southern TAFEWA, explain how PDAs are being used by Health Care trainers. They discuss how PDAs are an integral part of the health care industry and provide excellent information on PDAs in general. They also explain how they have created a database for the PDA using Visual CE that is used for workplace assessing.

Dana Bishop, Hospitality lecturer from Central West TAFEWA, talks about the Jasjar PDA and spyglasses she trialled this year.

For more information go to spyglasses and PDAs

Cheryl Galloway, from Central West TAFEWA, gives an overview of their mobile technology project. She discusses the process used to select the mobile devices they trialled.

For more information go to m-learning.

This is Mark Davies, lecturer in Civil Construction, from Central West TAFE presentation on UMPC at the WA E-learning experience. He talks about how he uses the UMPC: the benefits and challenges

For more information go to UMPCs.

This is the audio only to the presentation by Andrew Nicholson (Project Officer: Trades and Rural) from Great Southern College of TAFE at WA E-learning Showcase, 2006. He talks about how trade lecturer's are using PDAs with trainees. Discusses how lecturers went to Nerd school to increase their skills.

Presentation by Andrew Nicholson (Project Officer: Trades and Rural) from Great Southern College of TAFE at WA E-learning Showcase, 2006. He talks about how trade lecturer's are using PDAs with trainees. Discusses how lecturers went to Nerd school to increase their skills. Showcase flipbooks that they use with students.

This is the audio from interview with Kathy Keay, Great Southern TAFE, where she talks about her College's Learnscope project on "Putting the bigger "e" in management". The idea of their project was to increase the knowledge and skills of their managers so that they had a better understanding of technology and e-learning. Thanks to Kathy Keay and Great Southern TAFE for permission to podcast their presentation.

Kathy Keay, Great Southern TAFE, talks about her College's Learnscope project on "Putting the bigger "e" in management". The idea of their project was to increase the knowledge and skills of their managers so that they had a better understanding of technology and e-learning. Thanks to Kathy Keay and Great Southern TAFE for permission to podcast their presentation.

This is a window media player video of Challenger TAFE's presentation on Web 2.0 at WA Learnscope E-learning Experience. The main focus is how the training was delivered and what the staff gained from the process. Unfotrunately some of the audio was recorded too low.

This is a quicktime video with Markus Beuke (Program Manager, Hospitality and Toursim, Challenger TAFE) talking about how he is use a small rugged Tablet PC for RPL (skills recognition). He discusses why he needs the Tablet PC for his work compared to the PDA.

Markus is currently trialling two different brands of Tablet PCs - iX104c2 Rugged Tablet PC by Xplore and CA27 Tablet PC.

This video was created using Camtasia Studio 4 (saved as a quicktime movie) and was converted with using Quicktime Pro. I had to save as a quicktime movie because I used imported audio and avi format would not open properly with Quicktime Pro (this does not seem to be a problem with audio recorded while you are recording the PowerPoint). You can either watch it on your computer or a video ipod. Alternatively if you would prefer just audio let me know and I will upload the audio file separately.

David Day talks to Bob Hunter, from Pilbara TAFE, about how they are using PDAs with their workplace trainees. He explains the type of material that is used on the PDAs and the benefits of the PDA.

Karen Higgins talks to David Day about their podcasting project. They discuss how their project is going and the challenges they have faced.

For more information go to pdocasting

Karen Higgins talks to David Day about how Pilbara TAFEs PDA project is going. David discusses how professional development has improved the computing skills of trade lecturers and the types of content they are using on their PDAs. Thanks to Karen Higgins and David Day from Pilbara TAFE for sharing your PDA project experience with others.

Karen Higgins interviews David Day about how technology is being used for elearning in the Pilbara. David discusses the benefits of elearning in terms of catering to the needs of their students who are spread across WA. He also compares Web 2.0 to LMS (WebCT, Moodle) and discusses the benefit of both. Thanks Karen Higgins and David Day, Pilbara TAFE, for giving me the permission to share your elearning experience with others.

For more information go to Mobile Technology in TAFE wiki.

This is a video that I created using Moviemaker for a presentation on my PDA project. It shows the reasons why I started using PDAs, the types of materials I use on PDAs with students, the students thoughts on using the PDAs and how other lecturers find using PDAs with students.

For more information go to using PDAs with students.

I trialled PDAs with aquaculture students in 2006. The PDAs were not used in every session, and were only used when I felt they were appropriate. The material on the PDAs relate to fish health (i.e. how to use microscopes, how to do fish dissection, anatomy of fish, how to diagnose fish diseases, common parasite diseases of fish and include videos that show what fish diseases look like using a microscope.

This is an interview with my students, from two different classes, on how they found using the PDAs. Did they like them, if they liked them why and if they didn't why not. I was surprised by the response that majority would have liked more information on the PDAs.

For more information go to using PDAs with students

Annelieske Noteboom, e-learning coordinator, talks about Challenger TAFEs PDA project. She discusses: how the PDAs are being used both onsite and offsite for assessment and content delivery; the benefits of PD; and how the workplace assessment databases are going.

For more information go to PDAs.

I talked with Karen Higgins, e-learning coordinator, from Pilbara TAFE about how PDAs are being used by workplace assessors and trainees at Pilbara Iron. She discusses how the workplace assessors are using the PDAs for assessment and how the trainees are using the PDAs to access learning material. I hope you like the photo she supplied when I asked her for a photo that I could put with the podcast (normally I receive a photo of the person I interview however Karen being the individual she is has sent us a lovely picture of a lizard oops unless sorry Karen if that is you?).

Here I am talking to Rhoda Takiwa, workplace assessor for warehousing and logistics, about why she has a PDA, why it is benefical for her as a workplace assessor and how she is using it with trainees in workplaces. We also discuss what she likes about her PDA (HP iPAQ hw6965 Mobile Messenger) compared to her orignial PDA (HP iPAQ rw6800 Multimedia Messenger). This is an excellent example of why choosing a PDA is personal.

To learn more go to using PDAs for workplace assessing and 2007 Assessing with PDAs Project.

This is an interview with Rajiv Singh, maritime lecturer, at Challenger TAFE on how he uses PDAs to enhance his work. He talks about how he uses his PDA as a mobile reference source and the usefulness of PDAs for his maritime students.

For more information go to technology and PDA software.

This is a an interview I had with Andrew Matthews, an aquaculture lecturer. In the interview we discussed how he used PDAs with TAFE students to assist them learn task related activities. He discusses the benefits of using the PDA, how he uses a digital video camera to create the resources and gives suggestions on how to record videos for students.

For more information go to using PDAs with students.

This is an interview with Becky Saunders, who teaches Instructional Design to TAFE lecturers, on her thoughts of using emerging technology, including PDAs, with students. She makes excellent points about how we need to consider the needs/wants of our students when using any teaching strategy with students. If you look further down the page you will see this is also a repeat because of the chipmonking issues.

This is an interview with Becky Saunders, who teaches Instructional Design to TAFE lecturers, on her thoughts of using emerging technology, including PDAs, with students. She makes excellent points about how we need to consider the needs/wants of our students when using any teaching strategy with students.

This is a an interview I had with Andrew Matthews, an aquaculture lecturer. In the interview we discussed how he used PDAs with TAFE students to assist them learn task related activities. He discusses the benefits of using the PDA, how he uses a digital video camera to create the resources and gives suggestions on how to record videos for students.

For more information go to using PDAs with students

This is an old episode that does not play properly in the embedded player however if you press download it will view okay

I have much better examples of videos that we use on PDAs. However the unique thing about this video is iIt was originally in VHS video format and I used a video capture card (AVerMedia EZCapture) to obtain a digital image which was then edited using Microsoft MovieMaker.

This information on how to create video podcasts explains how I created this movie. If you want my later videos you will see my skills have greatly improved.

This is an interview with John Pozzi, a fishing lecturer, on how he found using PDAs with his class of 14 fishing students for knot tying. He explains: How their use benefited both him and the students; Suggestions on how we could optimise the benefit of using PDAs with students; I recommend you listen to his thoughts if you are planning to use PDAs in the classroom.

For more information go to using PDAs with students.

This is the first podcast I created. The part I enjoyed the most was working around grabbing people to interview (not sure if they felt the same). I found the PDA recorded the interviews well and gave the recordings a nice out there feel. I did however learn do not place PDA to close to their face as it causes distortion.

I interviewed 4 TAFE students using a PDA to learn about how they thought podcasting could be used to enhance their learning. It is 5 minutes and gives some interesting insight which we should consider if we plan to podcast material for TAFE students.

The sound quality is poor, not because of the PDA, but inappropriate use of noise reduction in audacity.

I have learnt a lot more about podcasting since I recorded this original podcast; check out my information on podcasting in TAFE to learn more!