Accessibility Apps

Accessibility Apps is growing and still free for you to use with your learner. This is a suite of over 40 open source software programs which will run from the USB stick without interfering with the PC in any way.

This suite of programs is useful for planning,reading and writing and visual support software to make reading screens easier, accessible browsers and alternative input tools, multimedia and presentation tools. In the suite of programs you will also find the Open Office which replicates familiar and expensive tools like Word and Power Point.

You can download the whole suite of applications or you can pick and choose those which are more suitable for your learner. Go to www.rsc-nescotland.ac.uk/accessapps

CPD and IFL

CPD and the teaching reforms are still being talked about in many meetings and staff development sessions that I have attended. The issue no longer seems to be 'what qualifications do I need to teach my ' subject or 'how do I record my evidence' but now I seem to hearing 'Why are we doing this?

The Institute for Learning has produced several case studies, whats useful about these case studies is that you can start see different models of staff development emerging. Maybe you can use these as a guide to assess your own staff development programme.

The case studies outline if staff development is mandatory, how often it takes place and what the content is and how each learning provider encourages its staff to take part in staff development.

XERTE

At the Learning Technologies event last week I saw Xerte being demonstrated. This is a open source xml editor which will allow you to create accessible learning objects. Having used several before my heart sank to see another, however having tried it out several times I would say that its easy to use even for the non technical like me. Take a look at the demo and then download the software to your PC and your away.

Opportunities for Professional Development Advisors

Need a challenge !!
Do you remember the ILT Champions programme, the Ferl Practitioners programme and more recently the E guides programme. Well now a new opportunity is now available to act as a paid facilitator the e CPD building on these programmes.

ALT is a partner in the "eCPD Enhancing Learning Programme", which BDP Learning is delivering on behalf of the Learning and Skills Improvement Service. (LSIS has been formed on the merger of the two national agencies QIA and CEL.)

BDP Learning is currently recruiting people to act as paid facilitators in the programme. The attached link is the details of how to apply.

http://www.alt.ac.uk/docs/e-CPD_Facilitators_outline_20081104.pdf

Voicethread

http://voicethread.com/

Voicethread, is a Web 2.0 site where you can create slide shows and leave comments on each slide. This in itself is nothing new however with this account you can create various identities. So a teacher could set up one account, set up a series of slides and then ask learners to access the account choose an identity or create one and then they will, be able to add their comment. This could be useful for revision or for finding out what your learner’s know about a subject before a lesson.

Podcasting made Easy

Podcasting has never been so easy. I have tried this website a couple of times and I haven't been disappointed. Gabcast hosts your podcast. Which means that all you have to do is ring up and record a podcast. To access your recording you simply go to your gabcast account and click and play. How do you get started. Well I just went to the website and signed up for a account and a channel.

Learners can subscribe to your gabcast to keep up with this weeks learning points.

Give it a ago http://www.gabcast.com/index.php?a=create

Effective Practice with e- Portfolios

Early last week at the ALTC conference in Leeds the Jisc Effective Practice with e-Portfolios was launched. Having had time to read some of the guide I feel that this is worth a mention as it has really useful information regarding both product and process.

The guide provides a brief overview of the benefits of e-portfolios, however Jisc infoKit gives a more detailed account of e portfolios. What I really like about this guide is that process of learning is discussed in different scenarios such as a case study from a learner at Wolverhampton University, a practitioners view, a managers insight and the institutions focus.

One of the key messages from the guide is that Senior Management support is required for any e-portfolio system to be successful. Teaching and learning practices are discussed in the guide, again the key message seems to be senior manager support is must to change the way deliver and support learning.

I would be interested to her any comments from practitioners who are using e-portfolio's. Or anybody who uses the guide any comments would be useful for feedback

Oxford Paper Show

This morning in our team meeting we had a demonstration for the PaperShow. This is really an interesting idea, which could help in education. It is basically interactive paper which is designed with a unique pattern to enable transmission of your handwritten notes. It will all low to make annotations in PowerPoint and act as a digital flip chart.

The pack comes complete with the Bluetooth Digital Pen Bluetooth USB and the digital notepads and printer pens the package starts from about £117.00 paper can be purchased extra.

You will need Bluetooth either on your PC or Laptop to use this equipment. However there advantages to education are vast. This could help with the classrooms which have very little in the way of IT. It may be useful to leaner's who prefer to write rather than type or for visual learners.

There is a cost implication for the paper refills however the advantages have in my opinion would far way the cost of the paper.

Take a look at there website http://www.survivingmeetings.com/en/blog/index.php/papershow

Case Studies QIA

Kirsty Hill, our Information Officer for the QIA has been gathering e-learning case studies from the West Midlands area for the past six months. The focus of the case studies is best practicee for e-learning in the context of the main three strands of the

National Improvement Strategy:

Improving teaching and learning

Improving responsiveness to learners

Improving institutional effectiveness

What I like about theses case studies is that they seem to show a cross section of e- learning. Some can be easily replicated and seem to have made a difference in the classroom.

One of the ideas is from New College Worcester who have developed the use of MP3 in Science. Take a look a the case study http://excellence.qia.org.uk/page.aspx?o=161649.

We seem to have a wealth of good practice in the West Midlands area which remains hidden. During my time in the classroom, I realised that the simplest ideas were usually the most successful. I can remember thinking at the time that the Ferl database was really useful. E-learning has progressed since then but having a resource to draw on to show good practice was often the inspiration i needed to try out new ideas.

If you have a project which you would like to share with the community please let me know. Kirsty would be pleased to publish your case study. All other case studies can be found at http://excellence.qia.org.uk/page.aspx?o=161649

Jisc Information Sheet

Take a look a the JISC information sheets regarding the issues and benefits of using personal tools and technologies.Some of these tools may not be available in every institution. However the learner may be using these tools at home to support their learning. The most popular tools were Skype, USB memory sticks, PDAs, digital audio players, such as iPods, and mobile phones. Many learners also use personal laptops.

These tools are selected for their familiarity and personal quality, their low cost and convenience. For example, higher education students in the LXP study use instant messaging and chat alongside email, because these tools are immediate, intimate and freely available to Internet users.

Click on the link to find out more http://www.jisc.ac.uk/media/documents/programmes/elearningpedagogy/iowpersonaltoolsword.doc

Wimba and Webcasting

Wimba offer some free lectures for teaching staff. The next series of lectures looks particularly interesting as this focuses on e-learning. All you have to do is register for free and be aware of some of the system requirements for Wimba.



This is a way to experience web casting, the classroom will allow you to access video, add photos and use a document sharing tool. The link to WIMBA is http://www.wimba.com/community/upcoming.php





Alternatively, have a look at Kevin Braces Blog from yesterday, Kevin talks about the web casting and compares Dim Dim to other tools http://kev-brace.blogspot.com/2008/08/dimdim-ups-features-o.html

Visiblebody.

This website is extraordinary, excellent 3D models of the human body. Register for free check what requirement s are needed for you PC for this software to work.

Maybe useful for Biology Anatomy and Physiology, Sports science or just for general interest.

http://www.visiblebody.com/

The picture is from the Visibledody website.

Accessibility Apps

RSC Scotland North and East have developed an open source accessibility applications package. All of the software is open source and includes packages like Dasher, D Speech, Thunder and many more. This will be available shortly from us in the form of a USB stick however you will be able to download this from the RSC Scotland website in the next two weeks http://www.rsc-ne-scotland.ac.uk/accessibility_inclusion.php.

Please email if you wish to receive an Accessibility Apps USB stick at a.nock@wlv.ac.uk

Thanks to Craig at RSC Scotland for the information on Audio Feedback, a previous blog.

Staff Development.

At the end of July 2008, the RSC took part in several staff development sessions. Theses were mostly face to face sessions. Many colleges now have the facility to run training sessions online for their staff. Maybe this is an area that could be developed as this would not only give the practitioner first hand experience of what its like to be a learner on a e-learning course, but also this may be a way to engage with the part time staff who find it difficult to attend staff development days. Moodle seems ideal to do this. A few examples of training that could be run in this way could include mentoring training, stress management, personnel safety and home security etc. The benefits to the learning provider would be seen as being inclusive in offering training to all its staff, cost effective and setting an example for all other courses to follow.

Take a look at the Moodle website which discusses some the peadodgical issues. http://docs.moodle.org/en/Pedagogy

If you have any examples of how moodle is being used for staff development please share this information with the commuinty.

The Busbi

Over the last couple of months I have been playing with a Busbi!! No its a video camera!

This little device is worth the money. Excellent for evidence collection for NVQ's or for the learner who is in the work place and needs to be able to make notes quickly, the list of possibilities for this piece of equipment is endless.

But the best is yet to come the price, £29.99. This wont break the back if it breaks down or gets lost. The Busbi is very easy to use, with just three buttons, training will be minimal.

This can be found at http://www.amazon.co.uk/Busbi-BUSCD0001-Point-Digital

Audio feedback.

Users with a specific learning difficulty may find audio feedback useful because they may have slow reading speeds and/or poor reading comprehension skills. Most users might also find the use of text to speech a good way to review their own writing content and highlight grammatical errors.
Users who have a visual impairment or whose study environment makes visual concentration difficult, might prefer text-to-speech as a more effective reading method.

Click on this link and take a look at the Tech Dis website this will give you some useful ideas, http://new.techdis.ac.uk/index.php?p=9_5_6_16

Video Clips

Well its been a while since I last blogged, I have stored so many ideas to unleash over the summer ready for the new term. Take a look at the following websites for video clips, really useful for ice breakers summaries and revision.

Try http://www.teachertube.com/ for inspiration ideas for lessons.

Teachers TV also has some inspirational lessons and ideas http://www.teachers.tv/

PatheNews http://www.britishpathe.com/ excellent resources for history geography citizenship.
One of may favourites would be the BBC website which has wealth of information if you know where to look for it try this link for video. clips http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/gcsebitesize/hotlinks/history.shtml

Online Discovere 8 Conference

This years conference was again a outstanding success. One hundred and fifity delegates joined the conference and took part in numerous sessions. These included Martin Dougaiamas from Moodle who discussed the future of Moodle and how it is being used in education.

Other sessions include Accessibility Review, with TechDis, and Free software for education with Derrin Brown etc etc. To access the conference log on to RSC http://moodle.rsc-wm.ac.uk/rscmoodle/login/index.php.

Also Rob Englebright sums the conference up really well on Ustream take a look at his video, the url is http://www.ustream.tv/recorded/431282

Tools for E-Learning

Theresa Welsh the RSC's Work Based Learning Advisor has a interesting article on her blog relating to the top 1oo tools for e-learning. The tools are a mix of personal productivity tools for managing your own personal learning as well as authoring tools for creating all kinds of learning and performance solutions. Many of them are Web 2.0 tools that promote a social, collaborative, sharing approach to learning. Take a look at the the top 25 and the top 100
Thanks Theresa for the useful link to this site. Theresa blog if you need information on Work based learning can be found at http://wblwestmids.blogspot.com/

Teacher Training and E-Learning

If you are interested in E-Learning and Staff Development please take a look at our event which is running on the 14th of May at Leicester University. The day is to provoke thought!

What are you doing in your teacher training courses about blogs for reflective diaries; a blend of on-line and face to face delivery; interactive whiteboards; podcasts of key ideas; social networking technology such as Facebook and MySpace … … ?

Teacher training courses prepare course members for teaching careers that may last forty years into the future. New teachers must be comfortable not only with the technology that will be available to them, but more fundamentally, the culture of change they will need so they can constantly update their skills, understanding and values.

The programme includes contributions from.

Life long Learning UK – responsible for the creation of the Standards the courses use
· East and West Midlands Centres of Excellence for Teacher Training
· learning providers from the West and East Midlands – sharing what they are doing
· advisors from the Regional Support Centre from the West and East Midlands

To book click on this link this day is not to be missed
http://info.rsc-wm.ac.uk/events/events_list.asp?action=month&month=5&year=2008

Interactive Whiteboards

Whislt visiting colleges I am being asked more and more for resources for Whitebaords. Colleges are now becoming more proactive with use of Whitebaords, and on the look out for resources. Recently I came across some useful webistes which have resources fWhiteboard Webs Discussion forums have a wealth of hints and tips to help you get the most out of your IWB. With nearly 150 users its a great place to start if you have interactive whiteboard questions you're looking for an answer to forums take a look at the following links this maybe useful for your lecturers.

Curriculum Online
How to use interactive whiteboards in the classroom, teaching tips, learning benefits and things... http://www.curriculumonline.gov.uk/Howto/howtouseinteractivewhiteboards.htm

The National Whotebaord network.

This website provides basic technical instruction on using the Interactive Whiteboard Software p...
http://www.nwnet.org.uk/pages/software_guidance/interactive_whiteboards.html

Teacher Resource Center
The Teacher Resource Exchange (TRE) is a moderated database of resources and activities created ...
http://www.furl.net/item/31220721/forward

The LSC and Becta Exemplar Network

The LSC and Becta have selected the ten learning providers to “leading the way in the effective use of technology for learning” and noted as having Exemplar Status. They will now work with other providers to help share and develop the use of technology across the sector. (A full list of these Exemplar Status Providers can be viewed online).

The programme will lead to the development of a national support network by encouraging providers with a track record of successfully embedding technology into their learning and teaching to create a forum to share best practice with other providers.

50 providers can apply to join the Technology Exemplar Network as' developing providers.” Those selected as part of this process will be able to benefit directly from these exemplars’ knowledge and experience to improve the way technology is used to support their own learner achievement”.Revenue grants of £7,500 and Capital grants of up to £50,000 are available to support providers participation in the Network. More information and documentation is available online.

Mobile Learning

Last week, I visited a Strathmore College in Stoke on Trent. Strathmore have been using mobile technology to help their students navigate on walks as part of the Duke of Edinburgh Award. The aim of using technology is to integrate Literacy and Numeracy into the award schemes and prepare the student for their final expedition. Strathmore College were successful in gaining project money through the Innovation scheme. The money allowed them to purchase a two Weather Stations, 5 Digital Walkers and Memory Map Software. A lecturer from the College identified that the technology has helped to improve student motivation, as the students are able to take control of the walks by planning the route, identifying the type of terrain, and creating short videos of their walks for evidence.The College felt that the use of technology had improved student motivation; it had also fulfilled a need in the teaching observations to provide technology for the students.

Learner Response Systems

Learner Response Systems are becoming more popular with Learning Providers. The Resposne Systems are an excellent way to bring your lesson to life in a meaningful way. The RSC will be running a Leaner Response System workshop on the 29Th of April. You will be able to take part in assessments and create your own assessment or generally just look at a few of the systems available. The Project Manager for the REVEAL Project will be avaialble to discuss the use of these systems in education and give you some advice and guidance on useful resources.

To book on the workshop take a look athe following link http://info.rsc-wm.ac.uk/events/event_details.asp?eid=360

QIA Case Studies

Kirsty Hill, our Information Officer for the QIA has been gathering e-learning case studies from the West Midlands area for the past six months. The purpose of the case studies is to highlight good practice with e-learning from across the country. The focus of the case studies is best e-learning practice in the context of the main three strands of the

National Improvement Strategy:
Improving teaching and learning
Improving responsiveness to learners
Improving institutional effectiveness

What I like about theses case studies is that they seem to show a cross section of e- learning some can be easily replicated and seem to have made a difference in the classroom.

One of idea is from New College Worcester who have developed the use of MP3 in Science. Take a look a the case study http://excellence.qia.org.uk/page.aspx?o=161649.

We seem to have a wealth of good practice in the West Midlands area, which remains hidden. During my time in the classroom, I realised that the simplest ideas were usually the most successful. I can remember thinking at the time that the Ferl database was really useful things have progressed since then but having a resource to draw on to show good practice was often the inspiration i needed to

If you have a project which you would like to share with the community please let me know. Kirsty would be pleased to publish your case study. All other case studies can be found at http://excellence.qia.org.uk/page.aspx?o=161649

E- Portfolios

There has been tremendous debate regarding the use of e-portfolios within education, the use of e portfolios is raising questions which can only be answered with time and experince. Many questions I have heared being disscused include:

How would I use e portfolio to commuincate with my learner?

Will other e- learning tools do the same job?

Are e- portfolios a priority?

Becta state 'Priority 2 of the e-strategy is to 'ensure integrated online personal support for learners'. There is an action to 'provide a personalised learning space for every learner that can encompass a personal portfolio', and a milestone to make a 'personalised learning space with the potential to support e-portfolios available to every school [and college] by 2007-08.'

This is an interesting statement however for practitioner’s to see the real value of the e portfolio then we need more positive examples of how they are being used. Here are a few examples to have a look at.

http://efoliomn.com/index.asp?Type=B_BASIC&SEC=%7B7C6E76E5-3711-46DC-A7D3-43DF8E09581C%7D

If you have any examples of how e portfolios are being used, please add a comment to the blog and let the region share your experiences.

Blogging Made Easy

If you are looking for help and inspiration in creating a blog, Commoncraft have created a video to help people understand why you might use a blog and how it works. A blog is a excellent way to support learners throughout a course with extra information or to help to reinforce the learning.Here are some links which will help you undersatnad the basics of blogging.


http://education.guardian.co.uk/appleeducation/story/0,,1682441,00.html

http://www.build-your-website.co.uk/Blogging/index.htm

http://www.problogger.net/archives/2006/02/14/blogging-for-beginners-2/

Free Software to help with Accessibility issues

Earlier this week I attended a training session with TechDis, the session focused on 'Free' Assistive Technology Software. This software may be useful for learners with different learning styles and specific learning disabilites. Take a look at the following link.

Stickies

Really useful for making notes, reminders and organisition.Stickies will allow the learner to customise the colours fonts and backgrounds. Great for collecting information to use within an assignment.Take a look at http://www.stickiesforwindows.com/

Staff Development and Assisitive Technology

Accessibility Essentials 4 'Making The Most of PDFs' is now available from TechDis. This Accessibilty Essentials guide makes it easy to create accessible PDFS. Using some of the techniques described i the guide will help a range of different learners to be able to access content.There are many potential benefits to using PDF'S in education. These include offering a high quality reproduction of print, an easier way to navigate through the document, reflow of text and being able to alter the colour and the contrast. PDF are often used for Learning Provider’s prospectus, curriculum resources, and policy and procedures documents. If you would like to know more about creating accessible PDFs take a look at the following link. http://www.techdis.ac.uk/index.php?p=3_20

JISC E-Books

e-Books are now available from this years JISC Online Conference which looked at the impact of e-learning from an internal institutional perspective and from the view of the lifelong learner. The two e-books capture some of the feedback of this four day event and contain session presentations and papers, links to recommended resources and summaries of the discussions.The conference mainly attracted delegates from further and higher education. In the second e-book, Supporting lifelong learning (pdf format) “…Several papers addressed issues around the use of technology to support work-place learning and the transitions between institutions, as well as the use of technology to support the discovery of progression routes.”“…technologies. Student expectations and their own use of technologies were identified as significant drivers in this area.”Both e-books can be accessed from the JISC conference site online.

i Pods

At the end of last year we purchased some hand held technologies for demonstration purposes, we now have the following, ipod nano, i pod touch and a Samsung Digital Freedom. If you would like a demonstration of any of this equipment please email me at a.nock@wlv.ac.uk

Ideas for Use


Finding credible uses for this equipment is not too difficult, not only can this type of technology be used within the classroom it is excellent for homework, revision, fieldtrips and work experience.






The i Pods have a facility known a i Notes this allows the leaner to make notes throughout their lesson and giving them the opportunity to go over the lessons again in their own time.

Other uses may include displaying photo collections, viewing e- books, listening to audio books quizzes and Podcasts and Vodcasts.The nanos may help to provide some solutions to accessibility issues as they have excellent playback facilities making it easier for the leaner to digest information and simple solutions for differentiation with the i Pod Reporter which allows for voice recording.


If you are looking for lesson plans or just ideas on how to incorporate this type of technology into your lesson take a look at the following links.


http://learninginhand.com/ipod/index.html

http://www.apple.com/education/products/ipod/

Jack Pc's

Earlier this week I visited Hereford Sixth Form College, I was impressed with their use of Jack PCs

This is Thin Client Technology, this acts the same as a normal PC however the difference being is your PC is replaced with inexpensive dumb-terminals and a central server, known as a 'terminal server', this does all of the work.

The advantages of using Jack PCs over normal PCs is not just bout space and cost but the environmental issues. Jack PCs use around 20 times less energy than a PC. The Jack PC uses only 5W! Longer life-span - thin clients typically last 5-10+ years trouble free, unlike PCs which need replaced every 3 years or so.


I have attached the link to our Wiki which will give you a better picture of how the Jack PC is being used http://wiki.rscwmsystems.org.uk/index.php?title=JackPC%27s_and_Citrix&oldid=1898

Happy New Year

Happy New Year to everybody. I hope that this Blog continues into 2008 and provides you with essential information for Staff Development. If you have any resources or excellent websites that you would like to share please add any comments or email me at a.nock@wlv.ac.uk and I will post the information.

Coming up for 2008

• JISC e-books Online
• Accessibility and e-learning
• Smartboards and Airliners
• Mobile Techonolgy
• Web Resources For Education