Learning Pulse

Sunday, November 01, 2009

Here's a more elaborate diagram of One-to-One Technologies

Sunday, October 25, 2009

One to One Technologies Concept Map

I was looking into One to One Technologies and drafted this concept map to explore it.

Tuesday, November 07, 2006

Apples and oranges: iPods and other brand MP3 players

A year ago I bought an MP3 player for about $120. It seemed everyone was getting iPods, but I thought I wouldn't listen to that many songs between charging the battery and downloading a new set of sound files. Besides, with a USB connector instead of extra cables, my MP3 player doubles as a memory stick. I can transfer files between work and home as well as listen to recorded 3 hour lectures, books on tape, podcast news and entertainment for my learning on the go.

Apple and iPod seem to lead the way and then other companies come out with more affordable everyman versions.

Then iPod comes out with video, but it's a little steep for me when my PDA can also play video on the go - albeit not as easily. I could buy memory cards to watch longer video, but I don't know of any educational video that is really designed well for iPod or PDA viewing.

Universities are using streaming video, but I think video podcasts for mobile learning would be great. There are many steps to increase academic awareness and set up the framework for producing and distributing video podcasts at schools. I like what Dalhousie University is doing for promoting videos for mobile learning in Medicine.
I remember Dalhousie and Acadia University giving all new students a laptop. I didn't go there. Now I hear Duke University and others are giving students iPods.

Now iPod comes out with an encyclopedia-in-my-pocket.

Maybe I should consider going back and starting another degree. How much is tuition these days? Is the free iPod or laptop a good deal?

Meanwhile, I'll keep looking for a free iPod and manage with what I've got. I do, after all, have a red paperclip, some apples and oranges.

Any offers?

Leapfrogging technology - how to get ahead

Leapfrogging in technology has several interpretations, but my thoughts are about the individual consumer's dilemmas of whether and when to buy new technology when you haven’t yet got as much return as you wanted for the technology you already have.

How to get ahead could mean how to save on your budget for the right opportunity to buy, and still be able to rub virtual shoulders with the people who always seem to have the latest toys.

Has this ever happened to you?
You come across an announcement of some cool new technology - let's say a new model of a PDA.
You go out and buy it for $600. No sooner do you open it at home when a friend (the "I know where the deals are" kind) tells you it's available at a lower price.

Let's take this scenario further.

Awhile later, your thrifty friend comes back with the same model PDA. You ask: "Are you happy?" "No" is the reply. "Why?" "There's a new model with more and better features."

Do we go and buy the newer model?

We sometimes say: "No, we haven't even got enough use out of the one we already have."
But, at the same time, we think "Ahh, but I'm missing out on joining the 'in' group enjoying the cutting edge of multimedia, networking, and convergence."

Another scenario could be that you are entering university and you already have a cellphone and laptop, but your program requires you to have a PDA or iPOD. Do you buy right away or try to use the existing features on your cellphone and laptop until the prices go down? Will what you have last until you graduate or will it be obsolete by your 4th year, your postgraduate courses or your first job?

If we sell it after a year or so do we get anything near our money back?

Sometimes the decision to replace is easier because the product breaks down after warranty ends and repair costs are closer to that of the new and better model.
In the case of my laptop, when the LCD panel died, I found that panel replacement would be over $400. I decided to buy a separate LCD panel for $200, use my PDA as a laptop and wait for a few intermediate models to come out so that I can economize and leapfrog my friend's latest toy.

Oh, and then being a do-it-yourselfer I took apart my laptop LCD panel and found that I can probably replace the flourescent backlight for about $20.

Monday, October 30, 2006

Mobile learning - vocabulary wheel

Now and then on the bus I see university students using cue cards as flash cards. I can see this as a useful manual way of a prediction exercise for vocabulary definitions or translations. The digital counter part could be a hide and reveal in the form of a disjoint rollover, or click and check answer.

But why use digital if you can do it without batteries? And, why not distribute vocabulary lists and other declarative material to students in more compact forms than the 8.5" by 11" sheet?

Cue cards are good because they are hand-sized, lined, and big enough to put long words or long definitions or drawings on one side. One problem is that a pile of them can be rather large to carry around in your pocket, and you have to find or buy cue cards or thick lined paper. The problem with cue cards as flash cards you need to fasten them together or they could easily scatter like a deck of cards if you get bumped by someone's elbow, purse or backpack. Hole punching the corner and putting a ring through it all could help.

This is where the vocabulary wheel can become handy. So what if kid's are doing it in public school - using scissors is fun for everyone.
I thought of vocabulary wheels as cool after seing them used for slide rules, for circular slide rules, and such. You can make them by cutting round discs or circles out of cereal box cardboard. The size can be small enough to fit in your pocket or purse. For the pin I used those once ubiquitous canada maple leaf pins. In one circle you cut a notch or slot on each end of one bisecting line. The slot needs to be as long as wide as the biggest word you will view through it.

Of course there are limitations. Printing in the vocabulary can be time consuming, but you can use it as part of your memorization practice. Here we can use computers as a tool to help. How can we automate the making of the discs and printing the vocabulary? How about a vocabulary input page and an applet that lays the vocablary out to fit on the vocabulary wheel?

Tuesday, October 17, 2006

What kind of learning for my daughter?

Shortly after making the innaugural pulse, I became the father of a beautiful girl. I witnessed the whole event and cut the cord.

Will I subject my child to all the latest analysis, theory, methods and techniques of education?

Let's see if I can be provocative. I will say that this birth was not part of a course I took in class, or at a distance or by simulation software. This could be called experiential learning, but I'd rather not view this learning I'm experiencing as subject to any of the competing learning theories in academia. This is part of Brian's lifelong learning.

One of the limitations of theories of learning is that they work with generalities, with finding common threads in the learning of large groups of people. I remember the way the classroom worked when I was young(er). Well, I'm referring back to the 60s to 80s, but I think it still applies. If there was good classroom discipline, the students whose learning preferences, styles or aptitudes agreed with the teaching content, ideology, method or philosophy were the ones who benefitted the most from the classroom time. If there was less control in the classroom, the squeeky wheel or more aggressive students took time away from task for the others. I think the average application of the popular theories optimized learning for only a fraction of the targeted learners.

I own my learning approach, methods and techniques. It is a learning practice of one, and so will by my daughter's learning. It has to work: nurture her desire to learn and learn productively. That might be hard to measure. I do, however, like the idea of providing a productive learning environment. Maybe she will learn at schome, or in a personal learning environment, but I'm hoping she can learn anywhere anytime and without batteries.

Tuesday, October 10, 2006

Mobile Learning - a PDA laptop

The backlight on my laptop died (that's another story), but I found it too big anyways to open on my lap on a crowded bus. It also took forever to shut down or hibernate and bag it before missing my stop. I do however, have a Palm Pilot or personal digital assistant (PDA). I'm not very prolific at pecking away one letter at a time with the stylus, so I bought a wireless keyboard, but I found it next to impossible to hold in place on my lap on a bus.

Rather than pay more money for another peripheral, I improvised my own laptop. I'm trying out my setup for writing my thoughts and emails on my Palm Pilot while on the bus — when I can get a seat. I bought the self-adhesive velcro at a dollar store and put it on my Palm Pilot, keyboard and the top of my clipboard. Now I can maintain the wireless connection and type without having to worry about anything falling off my lap. I can also get off at my stop without having to put anything away.
The PDA and keyboard stay in place even with the clipboard upside down. The soft velcro seems best on the PDA and keyboard so they won't grab at everything, and the rough velcro seems best for the clipboard. I tested out the adhesion of the velcro to the clipboard and PDA over a mattress first).

Friday, September 15, 2006

First pulse - learn why

This is it.
My first sign of blog life.

After reading blogs regularly for over a year, lurking and not adding one comment, why now and how?

My hope is that this will be a constructive (ist?) learning experience.

What prompted this was Stewart Mader's forward posting of Jason Kotke's post "How I blog" where he comments on Seth Godin's "What makes an idea viral?" . It made me think of business plans or the business case approach to taking on a project.

For an idea to spread, it needs to be sent and received. No one “sends” an idea unless:
a. they understand it -
b. they want it to spread
c. they believe that spreading it will enhance their power (reputation, income, friendships) or their peace of mind
d. the effort necessary to send the idea is less than the benefits No one “gets” an idea unless:
a. the first impression demands further investigation
b. they already understand the foundation ideas necessary to get the new idea
c. they trust or respect the sender enough to invest the timeI will aspire to,
send ideas:
a. contribute to the limit of my understanding
b. share what will be useful to others as
c. their interests and academic disciplines overlap mine so that we can colaboratively gain understanding and new ideas
d. try to make this an offshoot of my current work

be useful
a. illustrate Gagn'es 9 events of instruction and other instructional design theory in plain English - occasionally French and Spanish, too .
b. qualify what I think I understand
c. list my academic references

This blog can be viable if it is something new, improved, convenient, and high quality(Complete Idiot's Guide to Business Plans?).

Here is are some word associations with learning: activities, cases, cultures, domains, anytime-anywhere, institutional, language lifelong, mobile, models, opportunities, techniques, technology, waves

Here are some sources for content: work (health sciences, distributed learning, faculty training, technology), passtimes (commuting, culture, language, visuals, wit)