HelloSpiders

Homebase blog for a group of sites updated by Will Pollard. The hope is to work out how they link together so people can find the bits of interest.

Sunday, December 18, 2016

Draft Stories for BETT

These stories will be worked on during Jan as YouTube clips, more blog posts, chat on Phonic FM. There may not be much clarity even during or soon after BETT. Links welcome with related content, this is a cumulative process...

Video links below, starts with just text.

Voice as computer interface. Google will be there, also Microsoft. Not Amazon or official Apple. The Apple fans may contribute. Topic can start in the area for Special Educational Needs where a voice interface has been supported for a while.

Return of Adobe. There is an Adobe stand and Ben Forta @benforta has tweeted that he will be there. Products likely to include Spark, cloud based software for quick clips. I have tried out the video one, used to be called Voice. Could link to topic one.

HE and FE may be changing policy based on MOOC technology / developments such as badges and income. The conferences are not open but Futurelearn has been part of BETT Futures so some info may appear.  Is it just the OU making a move? Look out for gossip if there is no formal news. My take is that the MOOC has been going on for a while now, surely some of the students know about this sort of thing while working out where to study?

The STEAM area was hard to follow last year. Art as well as Science Tech Engineering and Medicine but it was not easy to identify in the STEAM area. Clues please so we can plan ahead.

I will be working with Jon Mahy from @wenotno and Chris Norton from the Wild Show. Both on Phonic FM. With JD I am exploring the local area including Albert Space West , around the Royal Albert Memorial Museum. This could relate to the art in STEAM, as in the College and University.

We are also looking at radio / media offers. btw has Toshiba Radio found a new home yet? Used to be BETT Radio. Last year only place for vinyl. This sort of thing must continue.












Friday, December 16, 2016

Education assuming limited Guardian reporting

Recent post on Read G blog has guess that Guardian will stop print version Monday to Friday sometime soon, possibly 2017.

Already the extra pages for media and education are getting fewer. Education still better, media can be just one interview.

But I find there is little education reporting on the MOOC or related technology. Maybe this is related to the issues around print journalism and how to adjust online.

Peter Scott has written that he decided not to write about the MOOC and he sticks to this strictly. Even the recent problems around Brexit and isolation of UK research have not been enough for him to consider some online presence to get round the visa problems.

What was Mode One and Mode Two about? Some sort of knowledge but also some sort of learning. My guess is that there is a lot going on outside of the formal education system. I am trying to keep an open mind ahead of the BETT and Learning Technology shows end of Jan / early Feb. So maybe more theory links in 2017.

News items could include commercial decisions by universities. The OU continues to invest in FutureLearn though other UK investment is in the bricks / campus. As far as I can tell. Learning Technologies last year no Adult Education from Cambridge. seems not this year either. Has this all folded? Something continues online, adults do not stop learning. It may be written up in social media forms with various degrees of credibility.

At BETT, HE and FE conferences are hard to get access to so hard to tell what they cover. FutureLearn may turn up as part of BETT Futures, very open space.

Any links welcome, this is a cumulative story. Includes @guardian of course.

Sunday, December 04, 2016

Video tests through BETT and Learning Technologies

Examples follow of previous video. I am trying out new possibilities ahead of BETT and LT at the end of Jan / early Feb. I still cannot work out how to launch the new channels - RGB2 and management theory in radio - on YouTube so continue with my own one. The aim is to get to a higher level of production values and some paid subscriptions to avoid advertising but so far Red has not been launched in the UK.

As background I am trying to keep an open mind about learning ; there will be enough about theory around BETT. I still think design science is interesting as a route towards quality and systems but this is a bit stuck in my conversations with JD. We remain the top YouTube search result for "design science" and DJ. But still limited response so JD usually moves the conversation back to the beginning. This could change if the same ideas crop up somewhere else. In theory any DJ could and should be a design science DJ.

So main thing is to work on video as a form of communication and come back to others later. Radio 1 Academy was in Exeter earlier this year and they talk about visual radio. Maybe this is a low level of production so I am not sure where the levels are. What sort of kit could get similar results from the Phoenix building ? ( not sure what was in the large van parked outside)

Another thing I notice is that on social media there is a lot of video on Facebook or Google hangouts or similar that is apparently cheap to produce but is making some impression on the assumed YouTube video claim to be a starting point. Not sure how this will work out, maybe the whole scene expands and there is still a subscription model as part of this.

So various directions to test. I have got a new desktop with Windows 10 and the latest Premiere Elements ( previously Windows 7 and about four releases back) so there is a short gap while I learn the differences and then it should be a bit better. Seems to cope with multiple tracks so edit is more possible.

The examples below are to show how different styles can work. I think social media is suited to quite a casual approach but there seems to be a trend towards more formal styles as well. Not sure how to navigate around this. Could be discussion about how conversation works, or some reliable resource on another production level.

This one as had a lot of views ( for me anyway compared to others ) mostly because of the content. No external mic so sound is not ideal. Handheld camera so wobbly, but it works overall on some level



This one part of a day out from Phonic Studio to the library next door. Chat in cafe over a coffee is still rare, could happen at conferences but they tend to be formal.




One from BETT last year, this worked ok. Why not just record as part of a trade show visit or anywhere else?