Today I read and learnt about Conditional Activities. Now this a very motivating tool for students. Unlocking is something young people often experience in their gaming worlds. Complete XYZ and get a bonus level, the mystery room, new character, new move/power or end level boss. Exciting.

Other Learning Platform issues being discussed;

Integration with College MIS.

Visual appearance and skinning, this links with rebranding and renaming Moodle. Probably through student voice.

Accessing Moodle Moot.

Staff Training and wholeschool deployment and how this integrates with a Netbook progect and development on Sims.

RSS feeds deliver self selected news to you, where-ever you choose it to be, the theme behind recent BBC campaining. In my case I have grown accustomed to having MY news accessible to me where ever I am, using Googles ‘Reader.’ I simple log into my Google account and read MY news. Its 24/7 CPD.

Now here’s the fix, I am reading TED’s (you should spend some time there too) list of speakers for 2009 (from their BLOG RSS) and mouse-over Ed Ulbrich, digital story teller and that’s me intrigue. From Ted to Digital Domain and I am inspired. Check out their film reels, dig a little deeper and they show how some of the CGI effects are created in ‘behind the scenes.’ Breath-taking visual effects with simple explanation, enjoy.

What a fantastic example to inspire the students, to stretching the boundaries of their perception of the advertising world in which they exist. A pool of production quality examples for Units 4 and 21 in the OCR Nationals. I haven’t even exhausted all link. Digital Domains, get stuck in.

‘Finding the right way to view your data is as much an art as a science.’

Topic or Tool: Many Eyes. A project and website set up to enable anyone to share data and data analysis. More importantly it allows anyone to create, edit, share data visualizations.

What does it cost? FREE.

How it could be used for teaching?

Anywhere you use data, Many Eyes can help. Sharing data, presenting data, investigating and evaluating data. This resource includes over 16 different visualisation tools so if its data you need to check out Many Eyes.

If you can not find a novel use for Many Eyes then I would be very surprised. We will be using Many Eyes to target and explore the large data sets now mandatory for the new curriculum. Combine this with the statistics available at the OECD (organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development) and you have a powerful lesson in the making. Or perhaps you may decide to use a Google Form to collect data not solely from one group of students but a whole year, school, county, country? Is that large enough? As an example, we researched and sourced over 291  unique movie titles (any imperfect entries or duplicates were deleted, 611 total entries were recorded) from 4  groups working collaboratively and simultaneously in preparation for Unit 7, ‘Use and Design Databases.’ The data set was certainly more comprehensive and current than the measly 30 the board provided. If you want to add to the list, please do. We add some fun challenges, like the oldest film, long Directors name. If you want a copy of the list, you only have to ask.

We now also have Live Sync which allows you to sync any kind of file to the 25GB of space that Microsoft’s SkyDrive online storage service now offers. Now this has potential. I had read somewhere that the LIVE OFFICE would include OneNote? I have not seen evidence of this yet? Anyone?

Regardless we move forward. I am considering to use a folder and group to develop a group of Moodle ICT teachers. A place to share information and documents. I let you know how we get on – my only reservation with this option is that the Moodle group will set up a Moodle LP for this purpose.

Out with the old and in with the new?

What makes this site interesting to me, is the community behind it. Sumo has a fully fledged community and gallery. Will our students be able to share their art with more people than walk the corridors at Hamble College? Really, if you have time go and look at the art on show.

LogMeIn (Windows/Mac)

LogMeIn offering a quick, no-hassle set up to remotely control your computer from the comfort of any web browser. LogMein has Free and Pro accounts, with the pro account adding more features to the service, including drag-and-drop file transfer, file sync, and meeting tools.

There are a number of other remote access solutions, there Remote Desktop Connection in WIndows and uNVC for example.

OR upload your Powerpoint to a hosting services, available for download by delegates, students or not, its your choice, but always there as a backup. Slideshare and Authorstream (which I blogged about previously). Or use an online Office solution.

There are other options, but thats more than enough.

This was supreme;y well supported by the final Keynote that had the audience agreeing, smiling wryly and nodding in agreement. This is one presenter to keep a track off! Richard Reeves was the highlight, the surprise package, of the SSAT 16th conference for me. Every bit a modern presenter. Great delivery, very enjoyable but also informative and a sophisticated presentation zen slide approach.

Now the highlight for me, was following the presentation I met with Jenny Lycett the web editor. The thought that a simple request may get the students performance uploaded to website was a positive end to my personal conference. There will be a fantastic resource to staff and inspiration to students at the possibilities available to them.

The conversation then progressed and we discussed how blogging the conference may help share the aims of the SSAT (I didn’t originally blog the conference for that aim, but for my own professional development). There was a potential opportunity for Hamble Digital Leaders to visit the Conference next year and cover the conference using some of the more current aspects of digital media, blogging as I have done, but also mobloging (blogging live) and Ustreaming some of the break out sessions. IMHO I was surprised that SSAT were not already considering Ustreaming this? All it would take would be low spec camcorders, operators (students) and the organisation of those students and the whole conference would be recorded and streamed live to a global audience. Did I mention it was free. Sir Ken could watch from California.

Just to challenge the SSAT here is a Ustreamed Keynote, where the presenter, Chris Lehmann talked about some of the fantastic ICT innovations and projects currently being used at The Science Leadership Academy.  Granted, the quality is not fantastic, but the message is and that message was – ‘that tools don’t teach. Teachers do.’ Enjoy.

Now a reminder to self – in GIMP we are trying to create the posters for ICT at Hamble College. What if we created the artwork for the next SSAT conference and sent it in??

We then looked around the exhibition, I liked one or two products, in particular nComputing who were offer low-cost virtualization software /hardware to tap into the unused capacity of the classroom PCs and share it with other users. 1 PC acting as a host to 6 PCs.

Benefits are; creating desktop space, dramatically reducing your e-waste and recycling costs and a reduction in power, well your are only running 1 PC for 6 access points. All PCs are recognised by any classroom management software you have running.

Another interesting product was Vivo Miles. Vivo Miles is a very comprehensive rewards and sanction system and very current in its design and application. Plugins allow it to integrate with websites and they have plans to marry up with the VLE providers. A powerful way to raise standards but also for students understand and achieve economic well-being. Its a schools club card – complete with its own hole in the wall. What I will note, is that its visual presentation is excellent, a very web vogue, social networked, internet market place user interface will, IMHO engage.

Next Sir Michael Barber, again a very impressive public speaker offering an aliens aural feedback from a recent Earth inspection – the written feedback to be posted later. Outlining where perhaps organisational failing are impacting on education. Concluding with E(K+T+L) an the equation / solution left by the aliens to prompt thinking. That Knowledge plus Thinking plus Leadership underpinned by ethics is required for effective leadership, and from his tone, not only in education.

Charles Leadbeater - web thinker / innovator highlighted the shareability of the web, and that term again, web 2.0. For the SSAT conference, I felt that the pitch was excellent, as web innovators / enthusiasts often engulf their audience with techno speak / babble. I wise decision considering the next keynote information….

‘The web allows them (Charles Leadbeater referred mainly to learners, which this context inferred students, but I am confident his view is broader than that) not just to publish but to share and connect, to collaborate and when the conditions are right, to create, together, at scale.’

His analogy of big organisations as boulders, including schools, being hard to move was coupled with the new technologies as pebbles more fluid and flexible, slowly swamping the cumbersome boulders. I enjoyed the analogy of User Generate Content (UGC) as pebbles, but I think the boulders are a little further up the beach than he perhaps presented, but that would have been a far less impressive communique. And yes, perhaps Google and little brother Youtube are the best pebble examples in the mainstream. In fairness he touched on others, World of Warcarft, Sims, Flickr.

(What would a seminar follow up with? Twitter? Social BookMarking)

Should any educator stumble upon the post FREE animation tools and some great examples! Now stickman may look simple, but our Year 7s and 8s spend hours creating and share it and there is a huge back channel / community sharing ideas.

Finally, the impact of generations and eras on leaders and leadership and Dr Graeme Codrington keynote. Although not obvious to me as an aspiring young teacher, this is very important. Ironically, it was as important to the seasoned professionals in the audience. It would appear, few of the professionals in the audience, either young or seasoned, had fully considered the imapct of their default settings on colleagues they worked with. Something to reflect upon. Dr Graeme Codrington has promised that these slides will be available but a short cut to the download section of his site.

So, another very good day. Now for the informal learning.