Got there !!

A fun day in London with the family.

Shaking Hands with Martin Bean OU VC, this guy has so much enthusiasm!!

An Update on Some links

Just a selection of useful links I have viewed lately

Transitioning to Gmail
Learn Gmail

Google Forms
Using Forms to Automate Your Workflow
Using Forms in Google Docs

Google Calendar
Learn Google Calendar

Google Drive
Drive Paperless Board Meetings
Learn Google Drive

Google Sites
Google Sites Webinar - By Andy Crozier
Get Started w/ Google Sites

Diigo - www.diigo.com
Diigo - Collect, Highlight, and Remember
Diigo Chrome Extension

PLN
Growing Your Personal Learning Network - By David Warlick

Feedly - www.feedly.com
How to Subscribe to New Blogs in Feedly
Feedly Chrome Extension (Beta)
Feedly Chrome App

Google Voice - www.google.com/voice
What is Google Voice

IFTTT - www.ifttt.com
How IFTTT is Changing How We Do Things on the Web

Google Chrome - chrome.google.com
Google Chrome: Now Everywhere
Google Chrome App Store

BBC News - Essa Academy: Bookless school where everyone has iPad

BBC News - Essa Academy: Bookless school where everyone has iPad:

An interesting article that offers a number of questions. I have a concern though whilst I am used to students contacting me at any time this is a culture change and needs managing. As teachers we are being expected to work longer hours and take work home - now the work may not stop. Whilst sat at home marking into the evening can I expect interruptions from students asking questions about their latest homework. Surely a better system would be to encourage the students to help each other, set up forums to enable students to help each other. But that's just 'cheating', I here you say, oh no my experience is that students just need a pointer and they do actually want to learn, anyway who's to say they are not learning by collaborating.

I am all for it, bring on the technology but please make sure our students can use a pen as well, we don't want handwriting skills to disappear in the same way as numerical skills have since the advent of the calculator.

I eat humble pie

Original links to elearning tools page.

iGoogle is dying - I have spouted on about certain tools for a few years now and iGoogle has long been a favorite of mine. One web page that enables links to be stored and post-its to be formed. I posted my use of this to fellow students a while back and shared my homepage the advantages were clear to me as demonstrated to the right. Sadly though overnight the links app stopped working and although Google will not be shutting down the tool till next year it is already rendered useless because

iGoogle page rendered useless

developers have withdrawn and taken there apps with them this active page linking to a range of useful tools has been rendered to nothing more than a useless untidy web page. This is a draw back with working in the cloud you will always be reliant of the tools being available. and when this is not the case you are left in the dark. Good old Google - never mind I guess I will have to fall back to Symbaloo but it does make you think - whats next?

E856 - Ends

Another Module comes to an end, its been a hard slog this year, too much happening at work to really get my teeth into the project as i wanted too. I still consider it a success but I had more ambitious ideas - still time will tell.

It's been a strange year one way or another a lot has happened this year many family successes and as I write A'level results bring good news to one young man who now starts off on his Higher Ed journey. Whilst mine is coming an end, this completes my Masters and will probably be the last formal qualification I push myself towards (Well that's what I said last time).

Time for a treat I think and welcome a new gadget, enter the Nexus 7 with a priority to start reading non technical stuff for a while.