Showing posts with label learning. Show all posts
Showing posts with label learning. Show all posts
Perpetual motion

Perpetual motion



An improv demonstration of the kitchen recording system

E-Learning for me, does not just mean developing applications and websites, no it also means creating a system or dare I use that cliched word solutions to allow teachers to get more out of a session than what they put in.

Over the last year or so I together with Impact have been developing a system that will enable our catering staff to record teaching & training sessions.

First a little information, we've got two kitchens on site Ora & Skills; Ora is a kitchen where students cook lunch and dinner for staff and members of the public, Skills is a demonstration kitchen where students learn new techniques. Each kitchen has two PTZ (pan tilt zoom) cameras, three ip56 rated televisions, a touch panel and a control lanyard each. The system is quick to boot up, easy to log in and simple to use to ensure that there is minimum disruption to any session. Once the Chef has logged on he can use the lanyard to command the entire system from anywhere in the kitchens, without having to interact with the touch panel. As soon as the videos are recorded they are transferred to our servers and (pending approval) are viewable by all staff and students. So we've created a system that records chefs, this in itself is nothing new, we've had the ability to use video cameras in class for years; where's the benefit to the learners and most of all the teachers?

Lets say we have 20 students in the kitchens watching the chef joint a chicken. The chef proceeds to joint the chicken, students watch and then try it themselves, prior to this system that's where the lesson stops. What happens if a student has a question, or wants to see it again? The chef has to grab another chicken. Not so with our new system, the chef can instantly play back the recording on any number of screens around the kitchen, enabling them to both demonstrate and instruct which better serves the students needs.

More importantly, what happens if the student has a question outside of the kitchen, or outside of College hours? In combination with our VLE our students can access all the videos from home, bookmark relevant sections and review training sessions whenever or whereever they like.

So we've seen how it can benefit students, but how can it help teachers get more out of sessions then they put in?

Over time, Teachers can record training videos of sessions & techniques to create a bank of personalised learning resources that they can access in and out of the kitchens to enhance course content and delivery. We've given them the ownership over their own content, no longer do they have to search through youtube videos from tv shows for the 10 second clip required. The chefs can simply navigate to the content they themselves have created and students can see their peers using the same techniques instead of random people from the internet, students are more likely to be engaged with content if its relevant to them and teaching staff work better with students who are engaged with the content.

By creating and using these personalised resources in class, the lecturer can literally be in two places at once, as they can be onscreen demonstrating techniques whilst being able to walk round the kitchens and supervise students replication of the demonstrated technique and support/guide students where necessary instead of just being stuck at the front of the class.

With this system staff can get more in than they get out (and its a lot faster than human cloning).





Eee PC hands-on

Eee PC hands-on


Jonathan Nalder
www.mlearnxyz.net

I�m on secondment from my Learning Support teacher job this week to a Master Class in using ICTs for Inclusive Education. Always on the lookout to try out new mobile technology, I did of course grab the opportunity for a hands-on with not one but two Asus Eee PC�s (the slightly older 7 inch model).

They are of course very small and very desirable! Back to being professional however, it is obvious right from the start that they would be very useful in an education setting, especially given their around A$500 price tag. You�re not getting top of the line specs for that kind of money, but 512mb RAM and 4GB storage would be more than enough for the primary age students I work with.

Their size is around that of an exercise book and blends in very well with the items you�d normally find on any kids table. Even the small-ish keyboard is not a problem for younger kids. What else? Its very light, but has a sturdy build-quality, and being able to record audio, pictures and video as well just multiplies the possible educational uses. Plus they are available from just about all chain electronic stores, so support and availability should be good.

As you can see from the images at right, one was running Windows XP, with the other one running the Eee PC�s Linux OS, and it was interesting to compare the two. The XP model is the one that my school system would adopt as it will work with our networks, and of course the familiarity for students of this OS is a plus.

On the downside though, 7 inches of screen real estate is just a bit too small for prolonged use of XP. The Linix OS on the other hand has been designed for the smaller screen and with its icon and tab-based GUI is very intuituve - students would have no problems navigating its various programs, which include all the productivity and communication software students could need. It even includes some educational games by default.

There is a 9-inch screen model coming soon (a few days), as well as similar-sized machines from just about every major PC manufacturer, so this is definitely one class of mobile devices to watch.







Death of the PDA

Death of the PDA


By Jonathan Nalder, www.mlearnxyz.net :

A now finished Palm special deal giving away a z22 handheld with every TX handheld sold (see HERE) has been called the beginning of the end for PDA�s. Conducted in February, just shortly after Palm had closed its retail stores, it seems obvious that this special was nothing more than a chance for Palm to clear out unsold stock of the PDA�s it still (obviously) has.

Seeing as only one company has even released new model PDA�s at any time IN THE LAST THREE YEARS!, (HP) it seems pretty obvious that the PDA as a standalone device has long been on its way out.

This is made even more obvious as company that made its name making PDA�s (remember when �a Palm� was as synonomous with handheld computers as �a Hoover� is with vacuum cleaners still ...) starts clearing out stock in this way. Speculation is that they have already stopped production of their TX, z22 and E2.

Perhaps this has been inevitable since the time when smartphone sales picked up. Indeed, my recent pick as my school�s next handheld was a Palm smartphone. What�s sad for Palm is that they are potentially killing off the TX, a large-screened, wi-fi mini-tablet, just as the iPod Touch is showing that there is life for non-smartphone devices that focus on being MID�s (mobile internet devices) rather than just PDA�s.

Oh well. The PDA is dead. Long live the PDA (in other guises).

Let me add however, that for schools, this may all be good news as cheap units start appearing!