All the tech I want for Christmas....

Just a quick post before Santa comes rolling down our chimneys with his bag packed with goodies (hopefully!), I asked some of the technologists at the university what kind of tech-related stuff they would like to get for Christmas.....

James Little (Learning Technologist / School of Nursing & Midwifery)

iPad Mini - to enable content consumption on the go and ability to take notes via Google Docs.

MIDI Interface - In order to get back to being creative and composing music (last MIDI interface I have is circa 1996)

Claire Beecroft (University Teacher/ Information Specialist)

An iPad mini. I've always felt that a 7(ish!) inch tablet is the ideal for staff to carry around- its so much lighter and a real help for mobile working. I'll be installing the blackboard apps and learnist, hipstaMatic for taking my own pictures for use on Prezis, the Prezi app and Audioboo to records podcasts for distance learners.

I'd also like a copy of Camtasia for my home laptop, an Egeel iPhone mini projector so I can be a truly mobile teacher. I'll be buying an Xmini speaker for friends- its come to my rescue so many times when the audio in teaching spaces has let me down!

Paul Jinks (Learning Technologist University of Sheffield School of Clinical Dentistry)

Getting: apple TV, looper pedal for guitar.

Would like: ipad mini, raspberry pi

Would like to have access to for testing and out of curiosity: ipad, nexus 7, nexus 10, nexus 4, Chromebook

Ian Loasby (Learning Technologist, School of Law)

My head says I should get hold of the one of new cheapest model Samsung Chromebooks and see just how useful it could be in the University of Sheffield learning environment now they've ironed out a few of the quirks.

My heart says I could easily blow several £1,000s setting up equipment for doing some digital astrophotography , that might even include a new DSLR as well.

You listening Santa ?

Graham McElearney (Senior learning Technologist/CiCS)

One copy of Omnisphere 1.5 soft synth, look at the demo video for it.

One Salvi Aurora 47 string concert grand pedal harp

Distinctly non-e-learning related, and more significantly, sadly I'm not expecting to receive either :(

I have actually now got hold of Metaio Object Creator which has just been released for the Mac - so hopefully will get a chace to start looking at some Augmented Reality applications in archaeology I've been wanting to try since my PhD.

David Read (Learning Technologist, English Language Teaching Centre) 

As I recently got both a Galaxy Note phone and tablet, I would really like the Samsung Allshare Cast Dongle to allow me to wirelessly beam content directly from my phone or tablet to a tv or projector. This could be useful both at home and at work for showing videos recorded on the devices. 

I have a bit of an unhealthy obsession with stereo bluetooth headphones - not, I hasten to add, the ones that businessmen, van and taxi drivers use, I mean the ones used for listening to music -  and already have five different ones in my possession. I'm always on the hunt for the perfect bluetooth headphones and really like the look of the Jaybird Bluebuds X. However, they are ridiculously expensive, so I don't think I'll be getting them anytime soon.

On being a learning technologist... and farewell!

This is what I look like when I'm blogging... honest
(c) Sarah Horrigan, 2012

Today is my last day in the office at the University of Sheffield as I'm moving to the University of Derby in January, so I thought to round things off, I'd post a few reflections on what it means to me to be a learning technologist.

So, what does it mean to me? Well, I'm lucky enough to work both in technology enhanced learning as well as being involved in the professional development of learning technologists. Over the years I've worked with plenty of them who've zinged with knowledge, enthusiasm and understanding. What makes the difference? What makes a learning technologist stand out as being a really 'good' learning technologist?

Some of it is wrapped up in how you define the role of a learning technologist at all. Just because someone has the job title of 'Learning Technologist' doesn't mean they are one, just as someone who is a Librarian or a Lecturer isn't automatically *not* a learning technologist because they lack that place holder on their CV. If you think that a learning technologist is someone who can bridge the gap between learning and technology, can translate between the two fields, can spot opportunities and help make change happen within teaching practices and importantly, understands the context of learning in which they're placed... well... there are some key attributes that people who excel in this area seem to possess.

Image by Raymond Larose under a
CC BY-NC-ND 2.0 license

First of all they're...

Curious
One of the biggest and best tricks a learning technologist pulls off is to go around with an open mindset. And one that actively *wants* to find out new things and to learn to do new stuff. That spirit of curiosity permeates their working life. They need to find answers. They want to see how things work. They ask questions when things don't go as expected. A good learning technologist always comes with a good dollop of curiosity. They're also...

Playful
Great learning technologists tend to be playful people. I don't mean this is the sense of a session down the local activity centre or adventure playground. But, they know that you don't just learn things first off. It takes a bit of play (and failure and a fair few mistakes) to explore and find out what something and someone can do. The very best learning technologists I know don't restrict their work to the working arena. Their 'play' leaks into everything they do. If they find something interesting to do with learning or technology out of hours, they'll play. They can't stop themselves. They just don't clock off because why would you clock off completely from something which was inherently fun? And that leads into the next attribute because you'll also find that they're...

Connected
If you're a learning technologist and you know how to make connections between ideas, people, things and beyond - I'm betting you're good at your job. Ideas aren't picked up in isolation, instead, connections are made and boundaries become elastic and movable. An ability to look inwards and outwards, to shape your perspective by bouncing ideas off others, to be open to finding out what else is going on through the myriad of connections you've made. Working openly and collaboratively is the norm. The people I know in this field who stand out - well, this is a common trait for them - as is the fact that they're...

Proactive
Here's something. I bet if you care about what you do in your work it isn't enough to be passive. Sometimes you have to create opportunities, talk to people you haven't talked to before, listen and understand - and keep on keeping on even when the initial answer is 'no'. If something sounds interesting, then great learning technologists will find a way to make time to look into it. Excuses aren't good enough because trying to make learning brilliant is too important for that. This means that they're spotting trends and perservering with a new technology or approach rather than dismissing things because they're 'just not that kind of person' or they're 'too busy'. Their proactivity makes a huge difference as does the fact that they're...

Passionate
The best moments I've ever had in education have been when I've been talking to someone for whom passion is like electricity flowing through their body and sparking out in conversation or presentation. Passionate people create enthusiasm. They care. They inspire. They're not ashamed to tell you they love doing something. Or that something is fantastic. The best learning technologists I know make me want to explore and do more than I'm already doing. And this passion for their field means that they're also...

Learners
This is the really big biggie of them all. If you're bridging the gap between learning and technology, academia and the technical... you have to be able to talk the language of your context. And it never stops needing to be learned and refined. Let's face it, you can't *not* do your research when you're working with people who are professional researchers. You can't do things in a sloppy fashion when you're working with those who have a keen eye for detail. You need to build evidence and underpin what you're saying with solid foundations. You need to share ideas. You need to understand. You need to analyse. And you need to know there is no end point. To be a brilliant learning technologist you are forever a learner. And you accept it.

It's funny. The best learning technologists aren't all about the technology. They're not all about the pedagogy either. They walk the line between the two and care about what they do and what they *could* do as well. And if you come across a really good learning technologist - talk to them. They'll fire you up so that you'll believe you could do anything with your teaching!

Thank you for supporting the blog!

A final thought
I'd just like to say thank you to all the readers of this blog since I put online that first blog post at the start of this year. It's been a pleasure to have your comments... been a pleasure to have other people writing for the blog... been a pleasure to see an audience build and a presence develop as well as watch the spread of ideas. As ever with leaving a job, it's people I'll miss most. There are some brilliant minds at the University of Sheffield and I look forward to stepping back and following the blog to see what they're all up to in the future!

Carry on having fun and enjoying watching where technology can take us with developing our students' learning!

Sarah

10 ideas for Google Sites in Education

Working together is dead easy with a Google Site

I was just creating a few bits and bobs for a workshop on Google Sites for collaboration and thought that it might be handy to share my '10 ideas for using Google Sites in Education'.  They're dead easy to use... no, they're not the most advanced, slick thing out there... but for sheer ease of creation and collaboration, they're a brilliant little educational tool!

Student-created discipline specific sites (what a mouthful!)
One of the best ways of knowing if you know something is trying to explain it to others, so why not use a Google Site to get your students doing that? For example, AllAboutLinguistics.com - brilliant site which shows the power of student collaboration and along the way improves students’ digital literacy as well as providing a great resource for prospective students

Team wiki
Create a Google Site to act as a team wiki with page templates to structure the content people put in and get them collaborating! You’ll have a living breathing dynamic wiki started in no time.

Club or society site
Belong to a club or society and want to promote it to others? Why not try a Google Site? You can embed a Google Calendar to share important dates of events as well as share files / photos / reports from the club too.

An example Google Sites ePortfolio, this one's for
Certified Membership of the Association for Learning Technology

ePortfolio
Get students to create themselves an ePortfolio using Google Sites where they can use pages to structure the items they want to share and can embed media-rich examples such as video, audio, presentations etc, to demonstrate competence across a range of areas.

Research presentation
Have your students research a particular subject and get them to present their findings using a Google Site. They can include docs they’ve created, videos they’ve found as well as use pages to put their findings into their own words

Open online classroom
What about creating an online learning environment using a Google Site? If you want to collaborate between the university and the wider community, giving access to all parties can be problematic with standard virtual learning environments... but using a Google Site to share lessons / content / tutorials could be a great way to open up your classroom.

Departmental website
If you’ve got documents you’d like to share with a large group of colleagues, then sorting out sharing for all of them and making sure that they don’t disappear if someone leaves can be a problem. A Google Site, complete with page permissions to give authorship to the right individuals, is an excellent way of giving people a central place they can find out what’s what.

Help and support resources
Tired of answering the same question over and over from your students? Maybe a Google Site where they can easily find answers... and contribute their own as the course goes along... could be a great way of making life simpler for everyone. It doesn’t just have to be text, it’s easy to insert videos into your pages too.

Cross-departmental working
Students on French courses sharing work with Engineers? Chemists and Musicians? A Google Site could be a great way to get students from different departments sharing and for you to share content with them.

Online staff development
Finding time to attend a staff development event can be a complete pain in a busy schedule. A Google Site with resources which people can work through at their own pace is a golden opportunity for you to support others while demonstrating how useful online learning can be! What do you know about that others might want to know about? Could you get a group of people together to create a Google Site sharing their expert knowledge for others to work through? That could be the starting point for something excellent!

There ya go... 10 ideas for using Google Sites in Education!

Sarah

I was working late in the Labs one night..... or how to tune up your Gmail experience

For many years I had been a die-hard mail client user. For me, web based mailers were an impoverished relative with reduced functionality, and a very distinct lack of aesthetic appeal. But a few months ago, as part of my involvement with promoting the use of Google Apps at the University, I decided to take the plunge and and give Gmail  go from within my browser.

There's a host of good reasons for doing this, as Sarah pointed out in a previous posting.  But it’s also fair to say that using the out-of-the-box version can be a bit of a raw experience - so here’s a few things I’ve found to make it a bit more like your favourite client....


1 - Get yourself a shiny new browser.... 
Ok so not strictly a Gmail-specific recommendation per se but worth a try. Google do suggest slightly mysteriously that “not all features” of their Apps will work on other browsers, but they don’t say which ones. However, given that pretty much all the other suggestions I have from now on are from what Google call their not fully supported Labs features, it might be a good place to start...... *

2 - The Preview Pane.
One of the first things I disliked most about Gmail’s default appearance was the featureless list of messages. The Preview Pane allows you to combine viewing a list of messages, and reading individual ones too, without having to double click on messages to view them. It makes it much easier for quickly switching between related but separate messages. You can choose between having a horizontal or vertical split of your mail window, and swap between them whenever you wish.

3 - Right-Side Chat. 
This enables you to move the chat “tool” to the right hand side of your Gmail window, leaving space for a few more goodies which I’ll mention below. I’d personally like them to add a “get rid of the chat tool altogether” feature as I detest it intensely - so if there’s one out there somewhere that I’m missing do please let me know.

4 - Canned response.  
Google’s description of this as “email for the truly lazy” is arguably a bit harsh. These are email templates by any other name, and are invaluable if you find yourself repeatedly having to send  the  formulaic “Dear Dr xxx, as previously noted, you really will have to turn the podium mic on in order to convert the pressure waves that come out of your mouth into the kind of electrical waves that the lecture capture system uses to record your lecture” type  responses to routine enquiries. Pretty basic functionality really and kind of makes you wonder why Google didn’t include it by default.

My customised Gmail view, with Google Docs and Calendar preview on. 

5 - Google Calendar and Google Docs Gadgets. 
These are both separate features but do pretty much the same thing - they show a miniature version of your Calendar and Docs list in the left hand side of your mail window. Yes that’s right - in the space you recovered by moving the crappy intrusive time-bandit chat window to the right-hand side as suggested in (3) above.

6 - Google Docs preview in mail. 
This one’s pretty handy for getting to see a Google Doc inline with an email message, and includes Spreadsheets and Presentations as well as standard text Docs. It also includes a link so you can open the Doc in a new window.


7 - Create a Document. 
This one is actually one of my favourites, and is really useful when you’ve received a chain of correspondence relating to a particular project you’re working on. This one provides a another small arrow on the top of the message window that slightly confusingly looks exactly the same as the arrow that opens the message in a new window, so  maybe a small amount of interface development for you folks over there at Google?


8 - Undo Send. 
Let’s imagine a hypothetical situation whereby you accidentally send a frank and forthright appraisal of a certain “leading provider” of learning technology products to a national list of professional colleagues with over 1,000 subscribers by mistake, and rather wish you hadn’t. Get the picture?  You’ve got 10 seconds..... 9....8....7.....

9 - Send and Archive. 
This is one that I think has graduated into the core product, as I know I installed it as a Lab feature but isn’t listed as such anymore. If you’re ever in that situation when  someone sends you a message that isn’t quite irrelevant enough to ignore and delete, yet imponderably seems to defy being sufficiently important to warrant filing away, then this one’s good. Politely reply and then it’s gone.

10 - Being able to click and drag a group of selected messages onto an appropriate label on the left hand side. 
This clearly isn’t the name of the feature and I think like 9 above it’s not in the Labs list anymore. I doubt you need me to explain what it does now, but it’s worthy of note because (a) you might not know it’s there and (b) drag and drop functionality is something often missing from browser-based mail interfaces.

* Labs features can be accessed by going to your settings, and choosing Labs from the horizontal menu. They have many useful features, and quite a few totally naff ones, some of them graduate into fully-fledged default Gmail features, and some are so obvious they should have been there from the start  They are unsupported, and can “change,break or disappear at any time” according to Google. But then again, so can many other things in the computing industry......

Graham

So, what can you actually do with a Chromebook?

At the English Language Teaching Centre (ELTC) we recently bought 16 Chromebooks to allow teachers and students a bit more flexibility with computers. We do have three computer labs at our centre, but the fixed layout of those rooms means that it does discourage collaboration and teachers feel obliged to use the PCs the whole time they are in there. With the Chromebooks, they can be taken into class, used when needed, but then set aside when the teacher wants to focus on other things. 

Our Chromebooks quietly charging

And why Chromebooks rather than netbooks or tablets? Several reasons, price was a consideration, though the ones we got were probably dearer than some netbooks and not that much cheaper than an ipad (Samsung have recently released even cheaper ones though).

Speed was a factor: because Chromebooks don’t run a full operating system, they start up very quickly, ready to use within ten seconds. Netbooks - on the other hand - with their slow processors and limited ram can take a long time to boot up into Windows and that can lead to a lot of dead time in the classroom.

It also helps that we use Google Apps at our university as well. From within the Chrome OS, it's very simple to sign in and out with your Google account and have access to email, docs and calendar. This would be a particular issue with ipads, I'm really not sure how multiple users could securely sign in and out of them.

But what can you do with the Chromebooks once you've got them in the hands of the students? Here are some suggestions based on my limited use with them over the last few months:

Collaborative document creation and editing

Through Google Documents, it’s very easy to create a shared document for the class and then get different sections of the class to work on different parts of it. As an example, a few days ago I wanted to get my students to brainstorm the kinds of questions they might be asked by interviewers in an exam. I created a Google Document and then brainstormed various topic areas (food, transport, studies etc) and added them as header titles on the document. Students were then assigned one of those topics in their small groups and used the Chromebooks to add questions to each one.

I had the whole document up on the projector screen and it was fascinating to watch the document being created in real time as students added their ideas to it. It also meant that it was then easy to look at it together and discuss the appropriacy and accuracy of the questions they created. 

Students working together using Chromebooks

Backchannelling and polling

There are lots of ways to get ongoing feedback and reactions from students during your lesson. One way is to set up a back channel where students can add comments or questions and which the tutor can refer to later. Today's Meet is an excellent example, simple to set up and doesn't require any registration, just a weblink. Alternatively you could periodically check students understanding using a polling or quiz tool such as Poll Everywhere, Strawpoll or Socrative. 

Posterboards for brainstorming

A great way to brainstorm ideas is to use a posterboard site like Wallwisher or Linoit. Multiple students can edit the same board at the the same time and they can add video, pictures, text or documents. At the end they have often produced something that is both informative and visually attractive. I’ve used it to brainstorm arguments for essays or for students to create informal presentations on subjects. Of the two Wallwisher is the easiest to set up but Linoit is the most reliable. And rather like using Google Docs collaboratively, you can see the the page being created in front of everybody on the class projector. 

Brainstorming from students in Linoit

Webquests

A webquest is a series of tasks that students have to complete collaboratively using the internet.
For our students at the ELTC, having tasks that encourage real world skills while learning English at the same time can be very useful and webquests are perfect for that. I’ve done various quests with our students: one of them involved them discussing the features needed in shared student accommodation and then going to the Right Move website to find a suitable house they could live in. Another one got them to plan a trip together for the weekend in a small group with a limited budget. They had to use hotel, transport and tourist sites to plan the weekend and then write up a short description on a Google Doc for others to read and comment on.

These webquests are specific to our learners at the ELTC, but these could obviously be adapted to whatever subject you are teaching.

Could all of these tasks have been done as easily on a netbook or a tablet? On a netbook probably yes, but using a device with Windows would have meant slower boot up times and shorter battery life. And on an administrative level, the amount of maintenance needed for a Windows device (installing programmes, anti-virus etc) is far greater than a Chromebook, so life is much easier on the technicians. As for a tablet, probably not, Google Docs is still awkward on both ios and Android and I’m not sure how well a tablet could handle the kind of task-switching needed for some of these activities.

As a teacher and technology coordinator, I’m very happy with the Chromebooks, minimal training and upkeep, excellent battery life and portability and most of all they allow students and teachers to engage both with each other and with the technology at the same time.

Top 10 Books for Technology Enhanced Learning

Image by Eric Mueller, under a
CC BY-SA 2.0 license

Okay, so this is my top 10 (and they're in no particular order) and you may well have other books you rate... but here are some books which have really influenced my thinking / proved useful for reference when it comes to technology enhanced learning and I thought it might be useful to share them.

Rather than linking to book sales sites with each book, I've linked to related resources you might find interesting!  If you want to buy them - Google is your friend.

1.  John Biggs and Catherine Tang - Teaching for Quality Learning at University
I have many rant-worthy subjects which, if triggered, will be produced and put on display for the audience... not understanding that we are involved in the practice of educating and learning... and not understanding that we also have to model practices to others is one of those trigger points.  Understand processes of learning.  Understand learning design.  And if you're a learning technologist, working with academics / students, speak the language of learning!  Start here.

2. Rhona Sharpe, Helen Beetham, Sara de Freitas - Rethinking Learning for a Digital Age: How Learners are Shaping Their Own Experiences
Another of those books which gets across the learner perspective brilliantly - and gets you to challenge yourself with your own learning and teaching practices in the process.

3. Ormond Simpson - Supporting Students in Online, Open and Distance Learning
When I had not long started working for the Open University I picked myself up a copy of this book - and it was just SO useful to me supporting my distance students.  Now about to come out in a third edition, I still rate his learner-centred approach highly and the clarity of his writing is spot on.

4. Malcolm Gladwell - The Tipping Point : How little things can make a big difference
Heard someone use the phrase 'the tipping point'? You probably have... and if so, then this'll tell you all about it. Why is this useful for technology enhanced learning?  Because spotting that moment when things tip from being 'just a few' to 'just about everyone' is part of the trick of seeing what needs support and where the potential areas for future development lie.  And understanding how you can influence that too is also important.

5. Chris Anderson - The Long Tail: How endless choice is creating unlimited demand
You can't avoid the technology bit of technology enhanced learning (nor can you focus on it too heavily, it should be said!), so why not understand how and why technologies become established?  It'll help you see where tech fits and get you to think about what might be just around the corner too.  It'll also help you think about the value of that niche you might just have ignored, but which was existing and thriving in the long tail.



6. Daniel Pink, Drive - the surprising truth about what motivates us
Now, this one may seem like a bit of a random recommendation, but I honestly believe that if you're going to work in any area connected to learning and teaching, you have to understand where people are coming from to help support them get to where they could go.  You want real engagement?  You need to get motivation.



7. Etienne Wenger - Communities of Practice - Learning in Doing
Another of my rant-triggers is people bandying about phrases without understanding them in anything more than a superficial way.  For a while 'communities of practice' was that phrase!  It is a really important concept when it comes to e-learning and learning support / engagement - and for getting your head into what learning is and where it might exist, blurring the boundaries between formal and informal education.  An influential work.

8. Jane Seale - E-learning and disability in higher education
Of all the things that technology can do, opening up the possibilities for accessing education / learning to a wide range of people is one of the most exciting things.  So, why not understand the landscape of e-learning and disability as well as pick up lots of hints and tips too?

9. Garr Reynolds - Presentation Zen
If you're going to work in Technology Enhanced Learning then communication is vital - and getting yourself some solid presentation skills that are going to get your ideas noticed, and your presentations appreciated should be pretty high up your list!  Free yourself from bullet-point hell!

10.  Chip and Dan Heath - Made to Stick: Why some ideas take hold and others come unstuck
This kind of goes along with the presentation skills I mentioned with Garr Reynolds book.  Present ideas beautifully... sure... but present beautiful ideas which will stick and then exciting things can happen!  You have to be a salesperson for your ideas - and this is especially true in technology enhanced learning.  It's not necessarily the tech that's the biggest issue... getting people to get on board and to engage with your ideas... that's where the tough stuff lies!

There's not a great deal of tech there, I admit it... but what there is are books that will get you thinking.  Get you reflecting.  And provide a platform from which you can build your own practice.

And that has to be worth it, I think!

What would be on your top 10 list?

Sarah

Welcome to the University of Google - Online Information 2012 Conference Presentation and Review

Welcome to the University of Google - Online Information 2012 Conference Presentation

Last Tuesday I was lucky to present to a very full room at this year's excellent Online Information 2012 Conference. Moving from what I regarded as the conference's spiritual home of Earl's Court and Olympia to the Victoria Park Plaza there were a wealth of topics covered from my own on the Cloud to Social Media, ebooks and mobile devices.

Even though I only attended the first day, it was jam-packed with brilliant, educating and entertaining sessions - possibly the best day's conference schedule I'd been part of.

Sadly I missed Cory Doctorow, Editor of the popular weblog boing boing, Contributor to The Guardian, The NY Times, Publishers Weekly, Wired Magazine and his plenary - There is no copyright policy; there is only Internet policy. There is no Internet policy; there is only policy.

I did however get there in time to see the insightful presentation by The Guardian's Technology Editor Charles Arthur and his session Platform Wars: After the Digital Wars which looked at the on-going mammoth battle between Microsoft, Google and the biggest of them all Apple. Arthur is a superb speaker who moved across the platform landscape with a collection of statistics and figures that showed the technology arms race and the war is going to continue on a global scale. He was followed by Lucia Adams, Digital Development Editor, The Times, UK. Adams gave a brilliant talk about how the famous news company has tackled the problem every newspaper is facing - how to remain as a viable business. Since dipping its toe into the tablet and Apps market, The Times has now no less than 12 apps and is making a real fist of staying relevant in the era of more content, social media and less advertising revenue. As an ex-journalist, I found these two sessions really interesting, and I couldn't help but note my ex-employer, The Press Association’s London Office as I walked back to Victoria Tube Station at the end of the day, I gave a nod as I passed by

I have to say that I was impressed with the venue, despite looking grubby on the outside, the inside was very sleek and welcoming - the presenter’s green room felt more like a boardroom with several people doing some last minute cramming ahead of their sessions, I was sat next to Charle's Arthur who you'll be keen to know was using a Mac.

After a brief break it was my turn in track 3 - ‘Making sense of big data and working in the cloud’ alongside the co-founder of the excellent Altmetric site Figshare, Mark Hahnel

I hadn't been feeling the pressure as I'm usually OK speaking at large events, but felt a sudden wave of anxiety on the way down when I checked the #online12 Twitter feed to see a post by the Director of our computing services department, Dr. Christine Sexton. Christine had Tweeted: “Two fire alarms and hotel evacuations later, I'm up. Looking forward to talks from @doctorow, @charlesarthur and our own@Andy_Tattersall”

Considering I was giving a talk on a topic that Christine had been instrumental in, by getting Google for the University, I was worried that I’d say something that wasn't factual, I did say that I used to be a journalist didn't I? Luckily my concerns were unfounded as I met with Chris beforehand and was reassured that there was nothing I could wrong. The room I was speaking in held 140 I was informed and it was evident that the word Google in my title was a crowd puller as the room filled up with just a few spare seats with many others stood to the side and back of the room (although they all could have been there so see Mark of course). I talked about how my own experiences of using Google Apps since 2006 and how that had aided myself and my department in adapting to the University transition to the Google Apps Suite. I covered why the University had taken the decision to not only move students, but staff on wholesale and what it meant logistically and culturally. I received lots of questions, more than I could have imagined and did the best to deal with them, but in the end as I’d already primed Chris - the Director of CICS eventually had to step in to answer questions on security, legacy and stability. Chris had been live blogging throughout the day, and a review of my session, which was written as I presented - it takes a real skill to do that - can be read here: http://cicsdir.blogspot.co.uk/2012/11/the-university-of-google.html

My slides can be viewed here:

Welcome to the University of Google from Andrew Tattersall

Lunch was lovely, but isn't that one of the high points of a conference? Beef Bourguignon with a variety of sides, followed up by some kind of vanilla mousse - I know people usually rate events by the food, this was fine dining, for me anyway.

After lunch I attended a really entertaining and very popular debate titled : “Staying Safe Online: The Dark Side of Apps and Social Networks” with Mathias Klang, Researcher and Senior Lecturer, University of Goteborg, Sweden and Cory Doctorow again. Both argued the pros and cons of social media, the issue of how we protect our children and how to ensure their privacy. They discussed how do we manage the problem of giving away our data for free products and that we are giving away much more than we are aware of. Again the session was captured live on Chris Sexton’s blog and can be read here.

Finally after more snacks and a fly by of the trade stands to get a multi-colour highlighter from Emerald (thank you Emerald) for my little girl.

I finished the day with the session that featured 3 talks on the use of tablets in libraries. First up was Jan Magnusson, Librarian, Chalmers Technical University, Sweden and his presentation Surf Tablets in University Libraries. This was followed by an excellent talk by Guus van den Brekel, Medical Information Specialist, Coordinator Electronic Services, Central Medical Library, University Medical Center Groningen, The Netherlands. I first met Guus at EAHIL 2009 when he moderated a presentation I gave in Dublin with Andrew Booth. Guus’ presentation was excellent and showcased their project to lend iPads to medical staff. There were many benefits from this project, one being a better personal relationship between librarians and users, and more importantly gave users a new and improved insight into the library and its services. In Guus’ own words: “It proved to be the best PR & marketing activity for libraries since the invention of "sliced bread"!

Finally, the solar powered library from Denmark, this was an inspiring talk and from a man wearing shorts, in London in November. Rasmus Fange Vestergaard, Librarian, Tingbjerg bibliotek, Denmark gave a new slant to the mobile library, by actually taking one to the beach and running with power from the sun. His talk focused on their initiative to lend users tablet devices as well as books. A nice way to end the conference. I would certainly recommend this conference to anyone from the library and information world, and with an interest in technology. I'm sorry I could not attend both days, but certainly felt I got the better day for my own area of work.

Andy

How do learning technologists use their smartphones for work?

I’m fascinated by mobile phones, I worked for a short-time at a well known mobile review site, even ran a blog on their application in ESL. My current phone is the monstrous Galaxy Note 2 (with it’s 5.5 inch screen and stylus, it’s probably closer to a table than a phone) and as these devices become increasingly powerful and versatile, I love the way that they can assist me in my daily working life here at the University of Sheffield.

I also wanted to find out how tutors and learning technologists actually use their mobile phones in their working lives, so I sent out a short survey and got an encouraging number of responses. So I’d like to tell you first how I use my mobile phone to help me in my work as a teacher at the English Language Teaching Centre and also suggest some apps that people might find useful. Then I’ll summarise the results of the survey and hopefully from this you may get some ideas about how you can use your device to enrich your working life.

Here are a few typical ways I’ve been using my mobile phone this term. The apps are on the Android platform, but I’m sure many of them would be available on iphones or other devices (Blackberry, Windows 8) as well.  

Taking Attendance: for a few of my classes, I use a cool little app called Safety Attendance to take the register in class, it doesn’t take long to set it up and it has a really user-friendly interface that makes it easy to just go down the names and register them as either present/absent or late. You can also export your data as a spreadsheet later.  

     

Recording Students: In one of my classes students have to conduct a small group discussion/debate and their English level is assessed. This is difficult to do on the fly so I make sure it’s recorded so I can listen back later and assess them properly. The quality of voice recording on mobile phones is really high now and I was comfortable just putting it on the table while the students were talking and it picked up everything. One issue with mobile phones is that they often record in slightly odd audio formats (.3ga and .amr for example) which can make playing them back later on the computer a bit of a problem. I use an app called Hi-Q MP3 Recorder so that it can be exported as an MP3.

Running a VLE: with one of my classes, I use an online service called Edmodo as our VLE. Visually it’s very similar to Facebook and other social networks but it has specific features for education such as quizzes, polls, assignments and a document library. It also has a fantastic mobile app for both ios and Android. It’s very easy for me to respond to students posts directly from my phone as well as upload documents and photos for students to access. 

     

Running Quizzes: a fun way to check students progress on a topic (often at the ELTC it might be grammar or vocabulary) is to set quizzes for them which they can answer on their mobile. Socrative is a wonderful - and free - app on which you can create multiple choice or short answer quizzes for the students to do under timed conditions or at their own pace. You can then export the results as a spreadsheet and see how well each of them has done. There is a teacher app for creating and administering the quizzes and also a student app on which they can actually do the quiz. Very easy to set up and the students love it. You can also use the web interface to view their progress through the quiz. 

     

Shared vocabulary notebooks: a key aspect of learning English is building vocabulary and one great way to do this is by creating a shared class dictionary of all new words they come across. For this we use an app called Springpad. This can be accessed via the web or on a smartphone or tablet. For my class we’ve created a shared notebook and anyone can contribute new words as they come across them and this is automatically synced across the web and devices. Springpad is similar to Evernote, a very popular note-taking service, but the advantage of Springpad is that everything is free whereas on Evernote shared, editable folders are only available on the paid premium version. 

Document and folder management: I use Google Drive extensively with my classes, firstly for creating shared folders of material but also as a way for students to write essays and homework and share them easily with each other and with me. The Drive app for Android is excellent and I can easily share documents, video and audio files and folders with my students and they can do likewise. One particularly effective use I’ve found for the mobile app is to use it to record mistakes students make with English I hear as I’m walking around the room. These can then be displayed immediately on the projector screen during lessons. Students are particularly impressed when I have the document open on the screen and as I add their comments/mistakes on the phone, the words magically appear.

Presentation control: I’ve only done this once at a conference I attended and spoke at recently but I was very impressed and will definitely use it again. Using an app called Gmote, I was able to advance through my slides at a distance by touching the screen on my phone, freeing me up from being stuck behind the podium during the presentation.

How are other technologists using their smartphones in their daily work?

I asked the technologists at the university of Sheffield the following questions and I've recorded the responses below each question.There were 11 responses in total but I haven't recorded the names as I wasn't sure if they wanted them published here.

What smartphone/operating system do you have?

I don't have one, HTC One X (Android), Samsung Galaxy S2 (Android), Samsung Galaxy Note and S2 (Android), iphone x 5 (three didn't specify version, one iphone 4 and one iphone 5), HTC Wildfire (Android), Samsung Galaxy (Android)

In what ways do you use your smartphone to help you in your work?

• Not as much as I should! The only direct reason I do so for students is to demonstrate recording and uploading on sites such as Audioboo and Soundcloud. I also use it for calendars, checking work email on the move etc.
• email, calendar, Dropbox for files, rss feed reader to stay abreast of interesting topics, Twitter for following topics and people, conferences and to Tweet professionally, socialcam and Twitvideo to record videos for students and conference abstracts, Mendeley to save and store references, Zite to stay abreast of interesting topics, Pinterest to save interesting infographics
• email, brief web queries, task management
• Like a multi-tool really - impromptu/lo-fi photography and recording, calendar/email, usb drive (when necessary), my-pocket-internet. Fairly general stuff.
• Note taking, email, web access, taking and sharing images, calendar, maps etc
• I use it to access Google Drive and read any Google Docs whilst in meeting etc if I haven't got my iPad or laptop with me; I have non-sensitive files stored on Dropbox and so I have this app on my phone too so I can access other documents; I use the phone to make notes using the Apple Notes or Pages app so that this syncs with my other devices; I constantly use it to pick up emails and check my calendar whilst on the move. I have also started using the new Reminders app to remind myself of tasks that need doing so I can get alerts on these; The Safari application comes in handy when needing to check something online; I use the Twitter app to login to the Department Twitter account and tweet; there have been a few occasions when I've been off work, and travelling around where I have logged into MOLE etc and dealt with a query directly from the phone - for example enrolling students onto a module. I also have a VPN set up so I can access restricted content too.
• Two main categories:
  - research/CPD type things (podcasts, RSS) including social media (twitter, G+),
  - 'office' stuff - email, gdocs, chat, I record meetings in Evernote.
  Apart from that, most of what I do goes on f2f or in a VLE (MOLE or moodle), neither of which are particularly mobile friendly right now.
• Because it's a private phone, I only have my calendar on it.
• to manage my diary, to manage my emails, to keep track of my "to-do" list, to tether my tablet so I can get internet access when away from wifi (e.g. on the train), occasionally to take photographs, occasionally to access the VLE (e.g. to release content that's been hidden)
• general VLE admin (but not uploading material). Checking students have access / checking work has been submitted, checking selective release of material. Increasingly use it with google form for student surveys

Are there any apps you find particularly useful to help you in your work?

• Audioboo, Soundcloud, Calendar
• I'm finding Socialcam potentially very useful, whilst email and calendar are essential and very obvious. I would like to employ Audioboo much more as I only use it on a personal level just now.
• Chrome Browser, GoTasks (google tasks for iphone)
• None come to mind - I've never come across a work issue where I thought 'bet there's an app for that'.
• Evernote, Audioboo, Dropbox, iCloud, Zite, Twitter etc
• Google Drive, Dropbox, Twitter, Facebook, Notes / Pages / Mail / Calendar / Reminders / Safari
  (bundled with iOS 6.0.1)
• Evernote. Wonderfully searchable, taggable, syncs on all devices, easy saving of photos, audio and video (maybe?). Can email notes to colleagues.
• It's not specifically a work-related app, but I use K9 mail to manage my email. It's vastly superior to the Google Mail app, and it lets me manage all my mail accounts in one place.
• That old favorite dropbox. But over the last 12 month increasing use of Google plus / Google hangouts / Google Drive on the android. Google Drive has becoming increasingly useful, mainly realtime collaboration on Google docs

I'd like to thank my colleagues for their responses to the survey. Clearly some of them use their smartphones extensively to help them in their work, others really only use them for the basics (email, calendar) or not at all. It was interesting to read the range of apps they use as well, there were the obvious ones like Dropbox, Google Drive, Facebook and Twitter but also there seems to be an increasing use of note-taking apps (such as Evernote) and audio/video apps such as Audioboo, Soundcloud and SocialCam. The last one is new for me and I'm definitely going to look into how that could be used in class.

I would love to hear from any teachers, learning technologists or technicians working in education who could share their own experiences using smartphones in their working lives and get some more recommendations for apps that could be used.