tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31721902689303051592011-07-28T13:48:11.214+01:00Because blogs need snappy titlesJames Nichollsnoreply@blogger.comBlogger121100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3172190268930305159.post-24292970059426014902009-02-18T11:07:00.002Z2009-02-18T11:19:51.107Z

Not fair. Someone is trying to steal my title of 'most rubbish name for podcasting web resource'. No matter, they have failed. Podcasting for Pedagogic Purposes (it's bad, but not that bad) is a wiki based, I think, at the University of Chester. It contains various links and materials related to podcasting - including a contribution from our very own Nigel Holt. Thanks to Ian for sending me

James Nichollsnoreply@blogger.com47tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3172190268930305159.post-23319127758873345012009-02-12T09:59:00.002Z2009-02-12T10:07:38.264Z

I'm just posting this as an experiment to see whether this blog might be able to do the job of Minerva's Owl. It's just a quick follow up to Ian and Joe's comments on Blackboard 9. I've had a quick look at the promotional screencast and it looks to me like Blackboard have finally entered the 21st century. Up to now their new releases have felt like increasingly convoluted efforts to make an

James Nichollsnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3172190268930305159.post-75658968581893636372009-02-11T15:00:00.002Z2009-02-11T15:13:32.821Z

Anyone reading this was probably at the VLE meeeting today where Richard Stamp and Roger Heaton demonstrated their work so far on the Beacon projects. I was struck particularly by Roger's writing support screencasts: short films demonstrating correct referencing, compiling bibliographies etc. I think they could work really well across the board, and I wonder whether the University should think

James Nichollsnoreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3172190268930305159.post-25231437929931599892009-01-23T14:40:00.004Z2009-01-23T14:56:03.744Z

I'm just working on my report for the T+L Committee (and dreaming of quarts and pint pots as I try to squeeze hours of interview material into about 1,500 words). Anyway, the 'long' version allowed me to draw up a list of observations and recommendations. Feel free to a) have a quick look, b) send observations, or c) sensibly get on with marking / rewriting your entire programme / preparing for

James Nichollsnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3172190268930305159.post-78903731812413710112009-01-22T11:33:00.002Z2009-01-22T11:43:19.873Z

Just looking again at a study (in Salmon and Edirisingha) in which podcasts were used to provide feedback to students. The project (run by Derek France and Chris Ribchester at the University of Chester) was odd in that there appeared to be no set limits to the length of the feedback - and the files ranged from 2 to 14 minutes (!) long (cunningly, the grades were announced at the end of the

James Nichollsnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3172190268930305159.post-42936997118738820912009-01-16T09:55:00.003Z2009-01-16T10:39:29.185Z

I've just finished reading Gilly Salmon and Palitha Edirisingha, eds. (2008), Podcasting for Learning in Universities. It covers some introductory techniques, but is primarily a collection of research reports from a number of institutions. I won't give a detailed review, but here are a few themes that emerge from it:Again, podcasting doesn't seem to lead to m-learningAcross all the studies

James Nichollsnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3172190268930305159.post-73905437154526915482008-12-03T09:31:00.002Z2008-12-03T09:55:02.671Z

As a subscriber to the Learning Development and Innovation Moodle at Staffordshire, I've been receiving a bunch of postings to a discussion board on mobile learning. A lot of the work is being carried out at FE colleges, and there are discussions on a range of e-learning initiatives (including a rather heated debate on the merits, or otherwise, of using Second Life for teaching). One feature

James Nichollsnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3172190268930305159.post-57586888164393123802008-11-24T15:47:00.002Z2008-11-24T15:56:05.517Z

The BUFVC are holding their annual 'Learning on Screen' conference in April. The full details and CFP is here. Apparently, it is organised by the Society for Screen-Based Learning - who I must admit to not having heard of. Then again, the SSBL seem to have something of a 'dark matter' web presence: in that I assume it is there, but can't seem to find it ...

James Nichollsnoreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3172190268930305159.post-85817009784715773292008-11-20T15:27:00.004Z2008-11-20T15:42:06.958Z

Some brief results from a survey of 202 first years (carried out in Week 2).Almost all owned MP3 players (188), with most owning iPods (143)About a quarter (46) used their MP3 players to listen to podcastsOnly 17 had encountered podcasts in an educational context before arriving at BSUOf these, all but one found them useful. Most accessed them on a computer rather than via their MP3 players.63

James Nichollsnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3172190268930305159.post-77957110601898779742008-11-19T18:47:00.001Z2008-11-20T10:39:38.818Z

Evans (2008) has produced a detailed survey of student attitudes which finds that the majority of respondents felt podcasts made their revision quicker and more effective. For all its statistical rigour, however, it rests on the assumption that when students feel podcasts enhance their learning, that is what really happens. I'm not sure we can be so confident that the best measure of impact in

James Nichollsnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3172190268930305159.post-55430115966820483712008-11-19T18:38:00.002Z2008-11-20T10:42:59.693Z

Most of the published research on podcasting I have encountered so far (e.g. Copley, 2007) shows that the majority of students access podcasts on computers, rather than on MP3 players. The results of my survey also suggest the same: of those who have used podcasts either at BSU or at college , the vast majority have listened to them on a computer or laptop. As a number of articles have pointed

James Nichollsnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3172190268930305159.post-76978918020015639342008-11-19T17:24:00.000Z2008-11-19T18:53:55.864Z

Okay, after a couple of false starts - and with some well-timed nudging from Joe Bennett, I'm getting a blog up and running for my PedR project on podcasting and screencasting. If you are reading this entry, then you will have already noticed that I've kicked things off with a couple of entries. These are taken mostly from a private blog I set up at the start of the project to note down my own

James Nichollsnoreply@blogger.com0