Inside View

The Value of Third Level Field Trips

Snapped over the shoulder of tricaster camera at Robocode.

I SAW THE benefit of taking my third level creative multimedia students on field trips during the live streaming and photo documentation of Ireland's Robocode 2015 competition. And I remain firmly convinced that without such immersive experiences the real world skills of third level graduates never extend beyond the theory phase.

Our third year creative multimedia students have supported Robocode competitions ever since our Tipperary campus began hosting the national competition in 2004. We bring an HD camera crew and roaming digital still photography into the venue to support live streaming and photographic documentation. We need to extend the method of our social media coverage because during the past two years our students' use of Twitter has declined with a rise in the use of closed groups on Facebook.

While the memories are still fresh, I am asking specific cohorts of PR and social media students to document media collateral associated with the running of Robocode and Games Fleadh on the Thurles campus. The cross-talk that emerges will form the basis of a planning document for Games Fleadh 2016. It will set the foundation for a fresh channel of internal communications. And it will for the basis of a Briefing Note regarding In-Service Teaching.

Both the aforementioned planning document and the internal communications channel appear as testable items in final examinations set for social media and public relations students at the Limerick School of Art and Design. On that basis alone, the Games Fleadh Field Trip becomes very appropriate in the context of quality third level education.

[Bernie Goldbach's Flickr photostream shows evidence of 10 years of Robocode in County Tipperary.]

Flying into #GamesFleadh

THIS MORNING marks my annual pilgrimage to the Mecca of Irish Games Development on the Thurles campus of the Limerick Institute of Technology where I rejoin lecturers and students from across Ireland to compete in several categories related to online games design and development.

This year, I am accompanied by Thomas Lonergan, the grand prize winner of Robocode 2005. Tom and I can reflect on the gradual evolution of games development in Ireland throughout the 10 years that have passed since his win in the Thurles Thunderdome.

A specialized third level degree for Games Development now runs on the campus of LIT-Thurles. A complementary Games Art and Design degree, running on the LIT-Clonmel campus is also available as an Honours Degree through the CAO.

Past participants on the Thurles campus have graduated to set up or work in games development companies. A new incubation centre on the Thurles campus offers support structures for that career path. Many other Robocode and Games Fleadh participants now work as software developers in Ireland, Australia, England and the States.

So when I look out at the audience of the 2015 Irish Games Fleadh, I know I'm viewing the next generation of coders and developers for a large swath of the online life we all have a part in creating and enjoying.

[Bernie Goldbach is the senior pilot creative multimedia lecturer in the Limerick School of Art & Design who offers colour commentary during National Robocode Competitions.]

One Dongle Five Devices Thirty Gigs

OUR HOME CONTINUES to pull its internet connectivity from a small O2 Hotshot dongle in a window (in the photo) facing masts two to six miles away. And the little dongle shares the data with a Kindle, a Chromebook, an iPhone, a Surface and a Lumia phone.

Lumia photo of O2 Hotshot at night.

Several other devices occasionally try to connect but the Huawei Hotshot limits itself to five devices. It works well, even after Three Ireland took over the provision of services.

Spotted Fitness Route on #OurCouncilDay

WHILE OUT ON a social media field trip, I walked along a route that deserves to have more of my mileage run on it. Even though I drive alongside the circuit every weekday, actually walking the route gives it a greater imperative.

Clonmel's Ring Road Cycle Lane attracts a large amount of walkers, cyclists and wheels. While on the route, I spotted mums with children, men walking dogs, students on bicycles, joggers and power walkers. As a fitness facility, it is a prime example of how a right of way can be transformed into a dual use facility. I wish tracks like the N24 ring road's could be extended into routes leading to many of the schools in the town. Unfortunately, the locals would probably object to the removal of on-street parking and the laneways would not be used by a high enough volume to justify their establishment.

I watch with fascinated interest as local area planners subordinate pedestrians and cyclists to cars and trucks when everyone knows pedestrianized zones attract footfall, business and sustainable levels of tax revenue. I hope the town of Clonmel can expand its narrow spaces into pleasant walking routes in the decades ahead and that quiet cycling becomes more of a part of the town's character.

[Bernie Goldbach has lived in County Tipperary for the past 10 years.]

The Day I Lost My @O2irl Icon

Screenshot by @topgold on Lumia.

I LOST THE LAST TRACE of O2-Ireland on my phones late in the morning of 7 March 2015 and it feels like a friend has left the stage. I got a lot of technical help and customer support from O2-Ireland ever since they took the Esat Digifone customer base over more than eight years ago.

The new partnership with Three Ireland has already boosted my data speeds on my handsets to 4G in the rural parts of County Tipperary where I'm based. That's nice to see. But having a post-paid account is more about after-sales service to me.

Over the Horizon with @ILTAtweets

Photo from EdTech2006 by @topgold.

THE CALL FOR PAPERS for EdTech2015 [1] arrived at the top of my inbox and I immediately remembered my first session with those third level educators. It happened in Sligo and it was the first time I met passionate lecturers (like the ones in the photo) from across the Republic of Ireland who shared their enthusiasm and best practise.

The sixteenth annual conference of the Irish Learning Technology Association, called Beyond the Horizon: Policy, Practice and Possibilities, happens on Thursday and Friday, the 28th and 29th of May, on the campus of the University of Limerick. The deadline for abstract submissions is Saturday, March 28, 2015. [2] Successful authors will be notified in mid-April. After the conference, abstract submissions will be considered for publications as full papers in TEL Ireland Journal.

Reducing My Self to a Word Cloud. Is Good.

Wordle's view of @topgold, February 2015.

BECAUSE I BELIEVE in the value of marked down text, I run Wordle drills on myself and my social media students in the Limerick School of Art & Design. The screenshot on this post shows the results of a personal trawl of recent content I have shared on Twitter, Facebook, Google Plus, Flickr, LinkedIn and Audioboom. [1]

Went to #cesicon and Took Notes

THE HANDY THING about the 2015 #cesicon event [1] is many of the presentations offered lists, presentations and annotated notes for downloading during or immediately after sessions. I think I learn more during presentations when I am confident that I can watch, write and listen intently because the presenters give me the safety net of their top class preparation through an online archive.

So I took a variety of simple notes on my own and had some transcribed by a Mechanical Turk in the photo.

Photo of Mechanical Turk at work.

Occasionally Losing WiFi Bluetooth #surface

Screenshot from #surface by @topgold.

NEARLY EVERY TIME my Microsoft Surface Pro 2 takes a Windows Update, the Surface loses its Marvell Wireless Adapter. I have a simple work-around.