Adobe at BETT version one

Quick notes as too much to do ahead of Learning Technologies. Update later on both, see final para below.

As expected there was a thorough demo of Spark. Graphics to post with tweets, headings for social media sites, any shape or size for design around type. Also a quick video presentation based on voice ( Voice was a previous name for this) . I don't think I yet understand this. You can talk for more than 30 sec with another slide but I am still rambling too much. Also a web page creation tool that also creates a graphic for your tweet. It is all free so far but with Adobe branding at the end. You can remove it if you subscribe to the Creative Cloud.

However I asked about other links to the Creative Cloud and they don't seem to be there, No skills pathway that is obvious. If you want to learn actual type control you would have to start again. And the levels are not available if you load a Spark graphic into Photoshop. My guess anyway, someone should check.

There is much more training potential in the apps announced for Chromebooks. ( Spark I think is still Apple only but there is a web version). Google at BETT showed how a new range of Chromebooks could work better with graphics. The Adobe apps are reduced power versions of most of the Creative Cloud. More work to learn them than with Spark but they are still free and the Chromebooks will be cheap compared to a Mac Pro or whatever you think Photoshop deserves.

Meanwhile I continue with Photoshop / Premiere Elements on windows 10. I probably understand about a quarter of what is possible. Bits and pieces from Spark as well, sometimes fitted in.

I expect Adobe at Learning Technologies to be showing another approach to video - Adobe Presenter. This creates video from Powerpoint slides. When to use this rather than Spark? Can you edit in bits from one to the other?

to be continued...

#not(BETT2017) some things not at BETT 2017

These are quick notes for future reports and to seek responses. Even a show as large as BETT is interesting for the companies that choose not to be there or other things going on in background.

Voice as interface

Amazon devices seem to have got most attention at CES. Google and Microsoft will be at BETT but no advance promo so they may not have info on their offers. Apple officially not there but fans may have something to say. On the @wenotno show we have so far found that Apple is way ahead for access but this may change. Start at SEN and see where it leads to. ( Pearson are working with IBM on AI / machine learning but no obvious voice aspect. Not much at BETT anyway. Pearson still interested in education transformation but not much info on current vision)

The aim of these notes is to find out more, so if very wrong please add comments

Not sure what is behind these voices. Call it Artificial Intelligence or Machine Learning but what is learning at BETT? User experience?

MOOCs

Only Futurelearn are there apparently. But Guardian today has a section on Postgrad Study that includes some news (page 13) Futurelearn will this year offer a full postgrad degree with Deakin. Liverpool has 10,000 postgrads online. Oxford will launch a MOOC with edX in Feb. No Guardian mentions for MOOCs outside UK but this is a start. ( see also ReadG, post soon on how they cover MOOC news)

BBC Learning

When Radio 1 came to Exeter for their Academy in 2016 it turned out that BBC Learning was much involved. Not sure how it fitted together. They were not interested in normal telly, how the main event ended up on BBC4. Only the Live Lounge, BBC iPlayer and YouTube channels. Just my take, could be wrong. BBC stopped going to BETT after pressure from other suppliers including the Guardian and Channel 4. Seems a shame as Guardain and Channel 4 have stopped going anyway as far as I know. BBC now may be there with the Micro:bit and other organisations involved. All will become clear as far as BETT event next week. But what is happening with educational use of old clips from telly? ITN was there last year but not sure what is happening this time.

Are radio and video skills part of education?

Thinking about how to map BETT with Exeter and the campus. So far it might work ok. The Phoenix has training courses in Adobe Creative Suite so we can report back on how Spark could fit with this. Also the university library has a Multimedia Suite with Adobe software. But I am not sure what the interest level is compared to the books and the journals. Based on a couple of visits it was not as busy or booked out as I would expect. Maybe the media studies is more part of the student guild. Not sure. Meanwhile Adobe put more energy into video and images. they still turnover Postscript and PDF for flat pages with text. Something not really fitting together though. This post will be expanded and/or altered if I have missed something. Continues as chat on @wenotno 12 -2 today on @phonicfm so this post to keep the blog more or less in sync. 

update on BETT and Futurelearn

Just a note based on browsing since recent post.

Found several articles based on interviews at an event between BETT proper.

Yoni Dayan
@yonidayan_    was on a course which now seems to have ended. Where is the research happening longterm?

Other reports show Futurelearn has the scale to be on the list from a global point of view. They were at BETT last year it appears but I missed them. Somebody please tweet a photo on day one.

https://www.class-central.com/report/

Draft story around UK universities and BETT 2017

Should start with some hard news but as far as I know not much is happening. My theory is that at some point in time universities will invest more in online resource and less in buildings, iconic or as normal. However only the Open University seems to have moved in the case of Futurelearn. Possibly this an "out of crisis" situation. Funding for part time courses has become an issue. So far there are no other obvious examples.

Futurelearn is up for awards though at BETT. Both for HE and schools. So there could be a news item or maybe just a hint if there are other winners.

Meanwhile there are some shifts in attitudes to online learning. The Guardian had a "special report" on Tuesday as part of the Education section. Headline is "Online Learning : Not Just For Jobs". I cannot fine the version on Guardian website but the same headline is on Pressreader. . There is no obvious sponsor but the style reminds me of some of the special reports that appear to be linked to some of the people quoted. I mention this because I think there should be another version looking at the implications.

Dani Salvadori , director of economic enterprise at University of Arts London , claims that online learning is now about more than training for computers. However Matt Walton , chief product officer for Futurelearn says their own research shows employers can use info about short courses to choose which graduate to recruit. The final couple of paragraphs make mention of MOOCs , described as a "relatively new development with huge social potential". This may just appear to be true for Guardian reporters as there has not been much about the MOOC since 2013 when Peter Scott decided not to write about them except once.

The impression I got was that the MOOC might be ok for adult education / vocational / tech stuff but the top end research unis would more or less ignore them.

However things may be changing. Claire Kelly, manager of online learning and weekly courses at the University of Oxford is convinced that online courses fulfill a social need and recently met a student who turned out to be in her 90s. Perhaps there will later be change in other parts of the university.

Earlier Coursera is described as a "global learning provider" . I just did a Google search on "Coursera , MOOC , business model" and top of the list was an advert. I don't make this stuff up. Online Learning insights claim that  "MOOCs found their niche and business model in 2016" , published in Feb.   CEO Rick Levin told the Guardian that updating skills is vital as tech changes. The certification option is now used by several MOOC suppliers.

After or during BETT there could be more in the Guardian and other publications about the MOOC and current implications. Peter Scott seems worried about technology as associated with commercial operations and research outside universities. I cannot find much recent work on knowledge as modes one and two. There may be other ways to describe this but I guess there are now various scenes that could overlap more later.

Plenty of scope for more than one story. I will visit BETT with others from Phonic FM in Exeter. we are interested inschools radio and all forms of social media. News may come from Adobe Spark and / or YouTube RED if announced. Not sure if this will get much interest as print and text are still a major part of education resources.

Link suggestions welcome. Continues as tweets but possibly an update ahead of the actual BETT.

YouTube RED UK as a looped story

Yesterday on @wenotno show on +Phonic FM we spoke of UK Red in the UK and a possible visit to King's Cross on way back from BETT. We can ask at Google stand ( booth ) when will Red be in UK? and they may reply as last year that as Google they don't know about YouTube. Also YouTube not at BETT.

Then later I did some online searching and found that there has already been a 2017 story in the Telegraph. This claims there will be a UK launch during 2017. But no source and ends with "Google did not comment." So may be based on conversation with record companies in discussion about contracts.

Mostly I read the Guardian and have noticed a couple of stories, Hannah Ellis Petersen on streaming music and a similar one from Charles Arthur though his was more about tech and included a reference to YouTube. I think the subscription option is a major aspect of the discussion. Getting rid of ads is important enough for many people to be prepared to subscribe. So the story can be a loop, without mention of RED UK, when it happens, and what then, else something different instead.

So we will stick with our plan. The show is called We Don't Know because we don't claim to know much, starting with what R&B is. It has extended to what radio is about or how to do it. Radio 1 Academy told us about visual radio but they have a licence fee to cover the Live Lounge. In theory any studio could record music video and hope for a share of subscription income through YouTube RED or similar. At BETT there may be other options or more rumour.

We suggest more stories include something about YouTube RED and whatever non comment seems most recent.

My interest is also in conference style content. I started with video around Management Theory at Work, then Management Theory at Work in Radio. #mtwr is quite casual and has low production values. How to move to a level with more subscribers? Academics and professionals are not going to put up with the advertising. So RED is a good option, worth waiting for most of 2017 for info on whether it will happen in UK.

Meanwhile the Telegraph story informs me that RED is available in South Korea, Mexica, Australia and New Zealand. Has this made it possible for better production on video from conferences? Links welcome.

By the way, YouTube should be at BETT and prepared to answer questions. Learning about sound is only the start.

Gadget Detective links for Voice at BETT

Still catching up so finding new links. This post will also include previous ones.

New Year talk from Gadget Detective


about half an hour in for talk about and with Alexa. He has got the hang of the robot as radio guest. This is much more reliable than previously on Up all night Radio 5


This is part of a playlist so should move on to others. Expect more during and after BETT.

Draft Story for BETT - Update on Voice as Interface

Catching up for 2017 finds a BBC report on CES. Consumer electronics is still on topic for BETT as an education show. BETT is not completely comprehensive but has the widest range of tech suppliers of any show in London. Also learning is possible outside of formal structures. It is relevant to look at what else is happening anyway.

 ( Take the first video, sounds a dreadful idea surely bedtime stories should be live voice? keep watching for a response, the aim seems to be to contrast with normal TV by offering choices. What will the toddlers make of school though? We need a five year plan soonish)

Quite high up is a section on "Voice control and other new interfaces" so it seems sense to continue with this as a main story. See previous post. No leads from BETT news as such but the Special Educational Needs area will cover existing voice recognition so is a good place to start.

The BBC also mentions gesture control and a form of Braille that sits on top of a tablet. Check BETT for something similar. CES is the end of this week so comment and opinion will travel during the month.

According to the BBC report "CES marks the beginning of a land grab by three of the leading virtual assistants: Amazon's Alexa, Microsoft's Cortana and the Google Assistant." No mention for Apple here, they have their own shows. No official presence at BETT either. But they are in the background.

This blog will link to radio shows on Phonic FM - @wenotno on Tuesday and Wild Show on Thursday. We may not make a complete report about anything but will get some quick links. There will be a sort out in February.

Meanwhile other media will do a better job on specific topics. we explore what can happen with social media and try things out. Continues as a post on Read G, mostly about the Guardian.