Well, iOS5 is here and there are stories galore doing the rounds on the Internet at the moment about the various successes and failures of the upgrade.

I waited for about a week to upgrade simply as I figured everyone else would try the first day or two after it was made available, for all the various phone and iPad devices it works on.

So, first big hurdle is having to update iTunes (again) to the recent version (10.5), which required a PC re-start – the first of how many tonight I wonder … ?

• 15 minutes so far!

 Exciting weekend entertainment … iOS5 update! #sadlife

Connecting the iPhone is always a scary proposition (an update in the past went spectacularly wrong a year or so back), especially with such a big upgrade about to happen (or not). The usual ‘accept the new T&Cs or doom yourself to always being behind the upgrade cycle’ form pops up after the re-start, then ‘it’ begins. Oh wait, I need to update some apps first, so I have to wait before I can connect the phone to start the process we’re here for …

• going on for 30+ minutes so far …

And then the message to make you quake in your boots …

iOS5 here we go (after restart) … #stillsad

iOS5 progress … #ComeOn #HurryUp

• 62 minutes after starting I’ve at least finished downloading the 774mb upgrade file(s) from Apple, now the long wait while the phone is backed up and new software installed.
• 85 minutes in and the restore begins …

So, what is the iOS5 going to give me, what are these 200+ new features (obviously not Siri, that’s the 4S phone only):

• iOS 5 for iPhone and iPad walkthrough

#restore … please!

Finally, after about 100+ minutes the phone is listed in iTunes again, and then the re-install of all the apps, photos, music, videos, etc begins … I feel a sense of achievement in getting this far without any trouble.

However, all was not well during the restore phase – the phone was not recognised after the update and I had to disconnect and reconnect it several times before it was recognised and the restore of photos, music, etc went ahead. Yes, I did a little dance when it started working again (2 hours now … and counting)!

But wait, what’s this …

Now I have no idea if the upgrade is syncing with PC or the cloud ... to stop or continue, that is the question? #stillgoing

October 22, 2011 9:10 pm via webReplyRetweetFavorite

@hopkinsdavid

David Hopkins

OK, I adjusted the settings on the phone to sync to the PC and it finished about 3 minutes later.

So, all in all, it took 2 hours 15 minutes from start to finish .. and I’ve got to re-order my apps as there are some new ones that have forced my carefully planned apps/pages all over the place … and I’ve some new features to learn too.

Right … now for the iPod Touch and then the iPad … maybe not tonight!

 Just to keep me entertained during the upgrade, I read these posts/stories about the horrors that others had encountered when upgrading … silly me!

• iOS 5-ageddon! Warning: Do Not Upgrade Your Phone
• How to Fix the iOS 5 Update Error 3200 (Updated)
• Apple’s iOS 5 upgrade causes user problems

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I’m not a big fan of ‘Top …’ lists, but I do like to organise my thoughts and have something to look back over to help me think and reflect on what I’ve done,  why I did it, and sometimes what I can do better next time.

Here are my top 12 posts from the past 12 months.

• January, 2010: Be a better online educator by thinking like an online student
• February, 2010: Netiquette: a handy guide for online students
• March, 2010: iTunesU: Another success story (UCL)
• April, 2010: The Art of Blogging (in Education)
• May,2010: QR Codes: In the Classroom
• June, 2010: Policies for Staff use of Social Media and Social Networks
• July, 2010: Augmented Reality on campus
• August, 2010: Who takes responsibility for online or digital communications?
• September, 2010: Presentation: “Twitter in Education, what next?”
• October, 2010: What is a Learning Technologist (part 2)?
• November, 2010: Presentation: Social Media & how (students) can survive online
• December, 2010: [ongoing ... !]

Here’s to a safe and warm New Year for everyone. Happy Christmas.

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The list of colleges and Universities signing up to iTunesU continues to grow. Since I last wrote about it – “Another Success Story (UCL)” – the likes of the OU (for those reading outside of the UK, this is The Open University) have a reported World Record as the first to reach 20 million downloads (source: Bee-It) since starting to use iTunesU in the Summer of 2008!

As reported in the Bee-It post, the OU says that;

“mobile phones are increasingly being used to download their tracks. Martin Bean, Vice-Chancellor of the Open University, says that the growth of the iTunesU concept reflects the changing ways that people are learning.”

Martin Bean continues by saying;

“The way people want to learn is changing. Many now actively seek out content they are interested in and which they can watch, read or listen to when it suits them. New channels are helping people to fit learning in with their lifestyles, and the OU has always kept pace with the changing world of technology.”

ReadWriteWeb report that iTunesU is “better than going to class“, but Jim Groom doesn’t think it’s going to make any difference. Jim has some good points (especially the one about “everyone is doing it”) but surely a bigger picture is that it raises the profile of the Institution and (hopefully) the quality and perception of the materials provided to enrolled students?

Personally, I would love to be involved in generating and managing an iTunesU account for the Business School; we have lectures recorded using Echo360, which are automatically created with associated MP3 and M4B iTunes Audiobook format, as well as other material recorded straight to camera tape or memory.

This is the kind of material that reflects the quality of the teaching staff in the Business School. Regarding the question of whether students like it or not, how about student work being (with appropriate permission sought and obtained) loaded that reflects the quality of student in the Business School? I haven’t seen any of that in iTunesU yet (or did I miss it?).

So do students like it? It’s difficult for me to tell as we at Bournemouth are not using it. From reading around the Internet it seems that, on the whole, yes they are, just look at the numbers above. I would like to hear about whether your students (or you, if you’re a student) like or dislike iTunesU, but please say why?

So, it’s worked for the OU … have you had any similar interest or success with your use of iTunesU, or has your Institution opted to not invest the time and effort? Please leave your comments below, or anyone of the ‘related posts’ links also shown below.

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While this may not be relevant to many academics in higher education (unless you’re involved in literature or language courses) this is still an excellent resource that many more people should know about … it’s called Lit2Go.

Lit2Go is;

“a collaboration between the Florida Department of Education and the USF College of Education [and] is dedicated to supporting literacy teaching and learning by providing access to historically and culturally significant literature in schools.”

So, what can you do with it? You can;

• Download the MP3 files and listen on the move or at your PC,
• View the text on a webpage and read along as you listen, or print them out and read wherever you want.

There are two easy ways to search and download the work you want, from a selection of over 5000 works from the likes of Samuel Taylor Coleridge, William Shakespeare, Beatrix Potter, and many more;

• Lit2Go website, or
• University of South Florida iTunesU site (link will open iTunes on your PC or Mac)

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I was thinking about my posts that cover iTunesU the other day and then found this presentation (only uploaded to SlideShare recently) from Jeremy Speller on “UCL and iTunesU“:

View more presentations from Jeremy Speller.

Can you answer me the following please … who, out of everyone out there, has had the discussion with their management on whether your Institution should (or will) be on iTunesU, or indeed you’ve had the meeting and the decision was made not to make materials available in this way?

If the answer was in the negative, are you in a position to let us know the reasons why (if so, can you leave a comment please)?

It also seems that Jeremy has been a clever boy and used this special little script called KeyNoteTweet – code.google.com/p/keynotetweet/ – but is only available in an Apple Keynote presentation.

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Many thanks to Steve Wheeler for this presentation.

Steve has a few choice quotes dotted throughout the presentation that apply to more than just podcasting, of which I especially like the following:

• David Warlick: “For the first time we are preparing students for a future we cannot clearly describe.”
• Steve Wheeler: “Where digital communication has fractured the tyranny of distance, and computers have become pervasive and ubiquitous, identification through digital mediation has become the new cultural capital.”
• James Clay: “Podcasting is all about planning and content and very little about technology and equipment, though we focus on the latter.”
• Cath Ellis: “While most students love the flexibility, some feel they are being ‘short changed’ if teachers aren’t performing ‘live’.”
• John Gardner: “All too often today we are giving young people cut flowers when we should be teaching them to grow their own plants.“

I’ve used the emphasis on John’s quote as this is important (to me). The school I went to believed (back in the 80′s) that repetition is how you learn … I didn’t and I still don’t! I learn by seeing and doing, often getting it wrong but then being able to learn from my mistakes. I learn by being involved, by (using John’s analogy) growing my own plants and not being handed a bouquet of plastic ones.

Anyway, please take some time to fully look through Steve’s presentation, it’s worth the time!

Podcasting and the Listening Culture

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I came across the article by Richard Woods this morning on “‘Self-learners’ creating university of online” and enjoyed it.

The basis of the open access podcast material that has been added to iTunesU over the past year or so has grown. Not only is it the volume of information that has grown, but also the participating Institutions and the quality of work being added.

In less than 1 year since they opened their iTunesU ‘doors’, Oxford University has achieved over 1 million downloads of lectures or other academic works: see the presentation by Peter Robinson “A Pocket University: Open Content and Mobile Technology – Oxford on iTunesU” for more details on this exceptional achievement.

Richard reports that;

“Podcasts that were scattered on the university’s departmental sites are now on iTunes,” said Carolyne Culver, head of strategic communications at the university. “We are getting many more downloads.”

Richard goes on to interview an Oxford academic (Marianne Talbot) who had been asked if she minded her lecture being recorded and published, only to then find herself the most downloaded clip;

“Talbot admits she was fortunate to choose an engaging title in a subject of wide appeal. Nevertheless, she describes the potential of such open access as ‘awesome’.”

Please read the full article on the link above.

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If you have any question about whether you and your Institution should think a little more seriously about getting involved in iTunesU, then take a look through this amazing presentation below from Peter Robinson and Oxford University. It was presented at the 2009 Future of Technology in Education (FOTE) conference.

FOTE09 – Peter Robinson: A Pocket University: Open
Content and Mobile Technology – Oxford on iTunesU

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List of UK Universities and their Departments on YouTube – thanks to Liz Azyan for putting this list together (Liz is updating it as she finds more to list. The number is currently at 80, let’s hope we see more added):

List of UK Universities and their Departments on YouTube

At least Bournemouth Uni appears on the list, even though it is only the Media School and Design, Engineering, and Computing School. I know the Business School has content it ‘could’ make available but (personally) I’m holding out for iTunes U. Mind you, nothing to stop us doing both, apart from iTunes being able to offer audio-only (limit of using YouTube).

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“The potential of mobile handheld devices to enhance learning in a global context has been investigated in this learner‐centred research project. The views and ideas of students about how the visual interface of mobile technologies can increase engagement and enhance learning have been investigated and tested in a practical classroom environment.”

iPod Touch and Studywiz Mobile Learning Research Report 2009 Final

The findings from this research are fairly predictable;

• Students loved it, finding mobile learning “exciting and motivating”.
• Teachers were required to make substantial investment in time, curriculum innovation and pedagogy.
• Investment in time from both student and teacher in learning how to use the devices (iPod Touch) was considerable.
• The iPod device has “real learning value in teaching and learning” when coupled to the imagination of the teachers to integrate the technology in everyday situations.
• Issues surrounding charging the device was resolved with extra cables being gien to students so they can charge at home or at school.
• Network issues needed to be resolved to enable iTunes to be installed on school PCs so movies and podcasts could be downloaded and synch’d with the iPods at school.
• iPod Touch criticised for lack of capability for taking photo and video.

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