I wasn’t aware of all the different labels that have been assigned in the past, but here is a brief overview (for those who are equally in the dark):

• The Lost Generation: Those who fought in World War I (born pre-1900)
• The Greatest Generation: Veterans of World War II (born 1901-1924)
• The Silent Generation: Also known as ‘War Babies’ (born 1925-1945)
• The Baby-Boomers: Those born in post-war boom and are generally attributed with(born 1946-1964)
• Generation X: (born 1960′s to early 1980′s)
• Generation Y: Also known as ‘Millennials’ or the ‘Net Generation’. This label is more about their attitude  (born between late 1970′s to early 2000′s)
• Generation Z: Also known as the ‘Internet Generation’ (born early-mid 2000′s)

From what I can see the movement from one categorisation of generation to another has been about the enlightenment of the individuals to their surrounding based on different elements of cultural and economic influences. However, I think this only applies to the earlier classifications. Once we see the eruption of technical capabilities, and our reliance on it in our every-day lives, we can see the classifications above become entwined with technical advancement. This is why I opt to use the term ‘Generation T’ for children born post 2008/9 … the ‘Tablet Generation’. As with the classifications above I would also advocate the use of  the ‘App Generation’ in reference to the way in which we are now using and talking about technology – everything is about the App, whether it is smart phones, tablet PCs, or cloud computing (Chromebook).

Here’s a good example:

YouTube: Baby Works iPad Perfectly. Amazing Must Watch!

In this video a father gives his child a tablet for the first time, just look at how quickly she learns to use the home button to exit the app and find another …

You Tube: A 2.5 Year-Old Has A First Encounter with An iPad

There are loads of examples if you look for them, but the fact is that tablet computers are so intuitive that children of all ages can use them. Robert Thompson explains that a tablet, “with its touch interface … can help children extend their creativity using intuitive applications that allow them to color, trace letters and do simple counting exercise — the possibilities are endless.”

Please note that I am trying to stay away from identifying one tablet over any other (or even operating system) as it is the technology and how we utilise it that interests me, not brand or price (although we cannot ignore the importance that is placed on form over function and preference on iPad or Blackberry PlayBook or HP TouchPad, etc).

While the jury is out on whether tablets will replace traditional computers that use a keyboard and mouse, the children/student of the future “will still need laptops, because they’re great for doing school work and just try passing a degree without one, the same goes for many jobs” (Tablets: A backseat for creativity). This is, of course, based on the assumption that the education system will not change and we will still instruct and assess in the way we do now, which we have been doing for many decades before. But this too is changing, just look at the way in which recent Web 2.0 systems (blog, wiki, podcast, etc) have been introduced to the learning environment, and the way the students have engaged with it. If this continues then the historical framework of teach/assess will also change.

Are we ready to embrace the changes? I think we are; there are already schools around the world providing tablets for each child, game consoles are used for game-based learning, etc. While these could be viewed in isolation, don’t forget that 25/30 years ago there were only a very few schools that had a room full of computers for students to use, this is now viewed as the norm, in fact it is essential equipment.

So, how long will Generation T last? I don’t know, but I’m sure the developers at the big tech firms have already started planning for the next big ‘thing’ – but will it be a game-changer like the advert of smartphones and tablets? I welcome your input and ask you to leave a comment or thought below.

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Slightly different version of the children’s joke “What’s Black & White and … ” but this is a good YouTube video on one School’s experiment with QR Codes;

I like the PC-based “QR Code Station” (using Quickmark I see) they created so students can scan the codes in the books/library and watch or listen to a podcast or vodcast of a book review, but this could easily be scanned by a students smart phone and watched/listened to anywhere (and saved for later).

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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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There are some choice quotes I want to raise to you this morning from the article on the Times Higher Education website  ”Podcasts can lead us into the world of Supervision 2.0“.

Under the banner heading of ” exciting technological developments that can transform our learning environment and bring multiple benefits to all university students” the article continues to demonstrate and discuss the use of audio technology in aspects of education.

“For underconfident and inexperienced students, podcasts are an opportunity to connect theory and practice, thinking and doing. The advantages are clear: podcasts are inexpensive to produce. They build community and add emotion to education.”

“Academics are developing podcasts to deliver audio feedback on assignments and I conduct course reviews through sound. Instead of ticking boxes, I ask students to comment on what they have learnt. I create a mix from their words and upload it to a centralised portal so they can monitor the thoughts of their colleagues as they write the final assignments. It is a sonic snapshot of their semester and helps me to improve future learning opportunities.”

“Podcasting offered an evocative method for talking through intellectual options.”

“The literature on auditory cultures and sonic media is revealing complex, intricate and dynamic oscillations between hearing, listening and learning.”

Thanks to Steve Wheeler for point this out this morning.

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“Since most of today’s students can appropriately be labeled as “Digital Learners”, why do so many teachers refuse to enter the digital age with their teaching practices? This presentation was created in an effort to motivate teachers to more effectively use technology in their teaching.”

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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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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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Giving audio feedback is something I have heard talked about by a few people recently.

One of the advantages I can see in using audio feedback for assessment is that it can take significantly less time to process each individual student than the typical and traditional hand- (or PC-) written feedback. If you think it might take 10 minutes per student to give written feedback and include or upload it to the VLE, it could take something like 4 minutes to produce the short audio clip and load this instead.

Not bad, a 60% reduction in time needed per student. So, let’s look at an example of a cohort of 200 students:

• Written feedback for 200 students @ 10 minutes each = 2000 minutes, or 33.3 hours
• Audio feedback for 200 students @ 4 minutes each = 800 minutes, or 13.3 hours

Wow, that’s just saved you 20 hours! And when you consider there is often a time limit from submission deadline to feedback to be adhered to (at Bournemouth this is set as a three week turn around) that is a substantial saving of time.

There is of course an initial investment of time needed to become familiar with using the software, but even counting a couple of hours to do this, you are still saving in the region of 17-18 hours.

There are several tools you could use, but I prefer Audacity. It is free, well supported, available for both PC and Mac, and you can cut/copy clips together very easily. The full list of features is here for you to read if you want to full scope of the software.

One limitation of Audacity is that it does not output to MP3 format unless you download the LAME encoder (also free). This is as easy as Audacity to install and is strongly recommended.

So, now you’ve got Audacity and LAME working, what next? Easy, get on with your assessment as you normally do. When it comes to feedback, get the students work in front of you (paper or electronic, your choice), open Audacity, get the microphone connected and start recording.

I like to think logically, so I would work on one student submission at a time; record the feedback, export the recording (get a file naming convention and structure in place before you start; I use the PC hard-drive and the student number, not their name, for the ‘file name’), and upload to myBU (our VLE) before starting the next one.

Here are some comments I received on twitter from my quick question “Who uses Audacity for audio recordings? Any good?”;

• floramcdora I have used Audacity for a number of years, including for making podcasts. V.good and easy to use.
• teachlearn Audacity is useful and fairly easy to learn. Great notes from @macloo here http://tr.im/AJMC
• scubagirl02 my colleagues prefer Audition over Audacity (quicker to edit) but not free
• ianmcnaught Good considering it’s free, but not so good when compared to commercial apps such as Adobe Audition
• ajwms I use Audacity a good bit. Not bad for the price! A good microphone makes a lot of difference
• dsugdenI use iPadio because i can do it whenever there’s a phone connection (which with landline, there usually is) www.ipadio.com

Thanks to CarolineCooke for introducing me to the above YouTube video on how to create a Podcast using Audacity.

How do you handle audio feedback? Please comment below and share.

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I enjoy looking through the JISC website, and each time I visit it I always find something I missed before.

This time I found this “Effective Practice in a Digital Age” and the associated video files.

The Effective Practice Resource Exchange supports users of Effective Practice in a Digital Age by providing a supplementary suite of online resources that can be updated and added to over time. These resources explore through different themes and viewpoints the elements that underpin effective designing for learning.

I would usually embed the video if I can, but the video player that JISC is using does not give this option. I strongly recommend you take the phone off the hook, close the office/study door, close Outlook and make sure all other distractions are kept at bay for the next 20-30 minutes so you can really give this the attention it deserves.

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Presentation: Using iTunesU in Education

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