July 2011
1 post
Then I thought a bit more about it →
Until schoolgirl victims of nasty crimes were found to be in the list of phones ‘hacked’ by journalists the general feeling I detected amongst friends and colleagues was of little real concern. I’m…
April 2011
1 post
The World's Simplest On-line Safety Policy... →
This is an excellent article on the subject of child protection and how managers scared of their institution being sued ban access and stifle communication. Someone should now write in a similar…
January 2011
1 post
Two useful things to do at your next staff... →
This animation is from Michael Feldstein at a Sakai Conference in July 2010. I think the conference was about innovation in teaching. I have to admit to not having heard of it before but the ideas…
July 2010
6 posts
BLT! I like that. (The new webtools site). →
Once upon a time there was ILT. Then it became e-learning or elearning and now it’s … well … both and yet neither one nor the other. I’ve always liked information learning technology. It…
OneNote is probably the answer . . . if I can... →
I’ve got a presentation to make soon to a University about how students can use Microsoft’s OneNote to keep activity logs, notes, plan to meet learning outcomes, liaise with tutors and maintain a…
Forums for a change →
Something else I need to research is a forum. A colleague at an institution I work with has suggested that we should have one for distance learning students. Now forums, or fora I suppose, have been…
Short distance learning →
In a couple of months I shall walk into a classroom and there’ll be around 20 new faces looking at me and wondering just what they’ve let themselves in for. I tended to think the same thing some…
App Inventor for Android →
This is quite remarkable. The very idea that ‘normal’ people can make applications, sorry, they’re called apps now, for their mobile is just so hard to grasp. Yet it seems to be true and could be one…
Google just keeps on getting better and better →
And it’s still free, that’s like a bonus! The latest improvement that I’m itching to try is in options available when making Google Forms. Forms are already a brilliant way to add lots of interest to…
April 2010
1 post
Big picture solutions →
We love images. But lots of staff and students still seem to have trouble resizing them to share, whether by e-mail or in documents. Thanks to an E-learning colleague for reminding me about XP…
March 2010
3 posts
A vision of students today (old but relevant) →
Draft Blogger →
Well done, Blogger! I have so often been tempted to move to another blog application where much smarter designs and simpler editing of the look and feel have been available. The choice of initial…
When will they ever learn? →
You know you’re getting older when everyone in the audience appears younger than you are! Still, that helped my theme along a bit as I had an opportunity to get good minds a-thinking at Cambridge…
February 2010
1 post
Until Heads, Principals get it, use it, live it or... →
I have been invited to speak to some nice e-learning people at a JISC RSC forum in a few days and really would like to make an impact. I guess it’s not going to change the world but I would like to…
September 2009
1 post
Etherpad brings real-time collaboration to... →
While Google Wave developers are polishing their product for launch Etherpad have slipped in with one bit that will certainly cause quite a stir - the document screen where you and others can…
July 2009
6 posts
Polls are getting really interesting →
Polleverywhere have come up with a great new way to get people to participate in your presentation. Here’s an example. It will be pretty empty to start with but add your comments, suggestions or…
Here and there →
Nice example of the internet at work. I received a request from someone who wanted to add some comments and links to the webtools wiki the other day. Checking the credentials of the person making the…
Live Mesh and I'm lazy →
England. Summer. Working outside with a laptop isn’t too bad when the sky’s grey. At least I get some fresh air. It was one of those jobs that I’d been putting off for ages, well, actually hoping…
17 new additions to the web tools site! →
Quite a few changes to the webtools site today. The main one is a nice simple rating system for some of the tools in each category. Thanks to ZohoPolls for making that so easy. I’m particularly…
Google Chrome OS →
Well-written article on what I think will be big changes in the way we use applications and our computers. http://zenhabits.net/2009/07/what-google-chrome-os-means-for-computing/
Well…
E-fair 2009 →
June 2009
4 posts
Copyright - nice on-line guide →
Just found this via Twitter friends - looks excellent.
http://www.baruch.cuny.edu/tutorials/copyright/
Trying out Zoho Polls →
Just discovered Zoho Polls. I’ve been telling everyone about Zoho’s other particularly useful tools - Forms for web design use and Project for project management - but I hadn’t appreciated that…
The millionth word in the English language . . . →
… is Web 2.0!! Brilliant! http://bit.ly/ahu3Q
Wave Hello →
This is going to change everything. The video’s long but well worth watching.
May 2009
1 post
Why I'll take a year's break from moodle →
Moodle 2.0 is coming along well according to Martin Dougiamas’s presentation and I particularly like the proposed integration with Google Docs (see slide 27). Unfortunately, all the good work looks…
April 2009
1 post
Any colour you like as long as it's #002f7e →
If you need an image with a particular colour whether for a web page or just to hand on your colour-co-ordinated wall then this site is the place to go. It may sound a bit odd but you’ll be there…
February 2009
5 posts
Live Mesh: it works, and works well →
I am very enthusiastic about Microsoft’s LiveMesh. It has proved itself genuinely useful twice this week. Once was with photos. I had taken loads in the snow and downloaded them onto my…
How did I miss Live Mesh? →
I can’t believe I missed this. Microsoft’s Live Mesh will allow you to do all sorts of things like synchronise computer and laptop files, get remote access to a home computer when out and about or at…
More web tools updates →
There’s a host of new additions to the web tools site. Here’s a quick list - there’ll be more information on the updates page of the site or with the individual entries.
Office: drop.io and…
Another few for January 2009!
And they keep on coming … it’s been a good month for new discoveries.
Animoto and PhotoSynth will do wonderful things with your images and, in the former case, your music tracks too (or use one of theirs). If you’re think about presenting something with substantial image content, give them a whirl.
Zoto is somewhere to store photos. Ok, I know, Flickr does that but this...
January 2009
1 post
Webtools site update: Jan 09
Quite a few new additions - and some potential gems too!
Jing and Camtasia will help you present whatever you may have on-screen to others in a very smart way - see them in the Images section.
Shelfari, Timeline, Quizlet, Poll Everywhere and TeacherTube have been added to the Research section.
Glogster features in the Web design section and Twitter finally gets in, via the More section. I...
December 2008
4 posts
Webtools site update
A few changes. I’ve added stars to indicate roughly the feedback I’ve had on most tools. If they haven’t got any that probably means no-one’s used them yet or haven’t been impressed if they have. Surprisingly, almost all of the links still work and I’ve fixed a couple that didn’t. Some have bitten the dust. Thumbstacks I’m sad to see go. Well it...
Now anyone can start a forum or discussion group →
I know moodle has a forum but I’m not so sure it’s that easy to use and it certainly isn’t very pretty. What is easy to use and is pretty is a super free tool by Lefora . I managed to set up a…
Did they copy it from the internet? →
I’d like to think I can spot text that’s been copied from a web site and pasted into an assignment. Often all I have to do is ask the student what a particular word or phrase means and the slightly…
1s Upon A Time →
In the beginning, God created the bit. And the bit was a zero. On the first day, he toggled the 0 to 1, and the Universe was. On the second day, God’s boss wanted a demo, and tried to read the…
November 2008
3 posts
Open now for free software →
I’ve just updated the Open Education Disc in the More section of Webtools. There is a brand new selection of free, open source applications covering a whole host of things. This may have been…
At last . . . [2] →
Google have made some improvements to the look and feel of their brilliant GMail. It has worked wonderfully but looked awful. Now it can look a bit better with the addition of a Themes option under…
At last . . . [1] →
Those of us who have been teaching in FE for a while but really don’t want to go back to school and learn all the theory about someone’s pyramid of a long-winded way of explaining how some people are…
October 2008
1 post
What's a wiki? In Plain English . . . →
September 2008
1 post
Microsoft free web sites →
I have mentioned this before - they’re still available and certainly worth getting. Go to this link and even if you don’t want a web site it’s worth getting the free domain.
August 2008
1 post
Google sites →
Whilst Google Pages was a great idea, it never quite took off, being a bit awkward to use with not the most intuitive of user interfaces. Google Sites looks a whole load better and my first…
July 2008
5 posts
Scribd - easy document publishing
There are times when you find a tool that is just stunningly good, works first time, is intuitive and produces exactly what you want - Scribd has done just that and brought some sunshine to a cloudy day.
Absolutely brilliant. You’ve got some Office docs, presentations or pdfs that you’d like to link to. Turn them into iPaper and they’ll not only appear quicker to users but...
Another Review Survey Examines How Organisations... →
I’d just completed one survey from LSN asking what I thought of their web site (dreadful) when up comes another where I could really let rip. It was mostly on the subject of how government agencies…
Bubbleshare
Here’s a great little web application. With what appears to be no limits, you can upload copies of all your photos and put them in albums to share. Yes, there are other places but Flickr restricts you to three albums and others have annoying ads. Picasa web albums are excellent but I like Bubbleshare’s mini album viewer that can be placed on a web page. It’s a bit like...
On-line quiz tools →
Here is an excellent selection of new ebtools I’ll be adding to the site soon, hopefully in time for the E-fair on Friday! ClassMarker is an online quiz-making tool that’s geared to both…
On-line surveys and poll tools →
Another selection from the really useful people at Wild Apricot: A couple of these, their favourite, polldaddy and surveymonkey are already featured on my webtools site but the others are worth…
June 2008
1 post
Hello luton
test to see if it works
May 2008
2 posts
There's only one e in education →
Despite a post which I’ll be publishing shortly about E-learning strategy, or maybe as a result of thinking about that, I have come to the conclusion that there’s little point in the expression …