IN JULY 2011, organisers of Europe's largest e-learning event accepted my workshop on the OEB11 agenda. I had to stand to deliver my presentation because I could not sit to travel to Berlin in person.
The photo at left shows my Dell M2400 laptop, stacked on top of file boxes and art books. The stack makes the laptop's Logitech 910 HD webcam appear at the height of my eyes. I talked to a small group of interested OEB11 conference participants 880 miles away in Berlin. My campus infrastructure prevented me from using Online Meeting Rooms and that meant I could not queue up and serve nine video clips that were part of the workshop. Instead, we used Google Hangouts to connect thoughts. I talked for just under an hour, then answered questions from the Online Educa Berlin participants. We also had questions and comments from Mark Lynch (an LIT student in the Hangout), Gabriel T (joining from his laptop a continent away) and an Irishman walking on the streets of Blanchardstown with his Android phone serving up the audio-video hangout via 3G. As much as I like Hangouts, they bring distractions like audio bleed-through and offer more video latency than the robust Flash Communications Services of Online Meeting Rooms.
I made a video for YouTube where I showed myself making an Audioboo to complement my presentation. It's embedded and hyperlinked below.
Ten main points arose in questions and answers following my live online web link with Online Educa Berlin as I discussed making and using my personal learning network. I am going to make a follow-on blog post to cover these questins.
1. How can you easily get data people want?
2. How do you convert data into better structure?
3. How do you test that your information converts to knowledge?
4. How do you spread wisdom?
5. What kind of student attempts the creative multimedia programme at the Limerick Institute of Technology?
6. When will Hangouts run on iOS?
7. What strategy do you use to select tools?
8. Why not structure your distilled information in a Flipboard-like interface?
9. What first steps should a maths teacher take to bring personal learning networks into a classroom?
10. Who pays for this OEB11 session?
That's easy--I will probably pay for the session because I committed to travel to Berlin. The event organisers rented a room, tech support, and all the fittings (water, coffee, and table set-ups). I need to get some form of business insurance to cover events such as my inability to travel based on personal health.
I'm time-pressed at the moment so I'll answer each of these questions in a series of posts either on Inside View or Educasting. I expect to create an Audioboo response for each of them as well.
See my thoughts on ambient availability at http://youtu.be/taqJX6ujN0A
I am topgold on most social networks.
Previously -- "Leveraging Pocket Media in Personal Learning Networks" on my blog, July 15, 2011.
Bonus Link: Scoop.it and e-learning innovation
