According to ReadWriteWeb in Why Gen[eration] Y is Going to Change the Web the current generation of young adults born between 1982-1997 is the most digitally active generation yet. They are digital natives who were born “plugged in.” The article looks at the implications for traditional media (TV, advertising, etc) but there must be wide implications for education too. Anyone who has taught an ICT class to the current generation of students will be aware of just how plugged in they are (even during supervised lab classes): the iPhone’s plugged into their ears, the IM client pops up every 30 seconds, and Facebook is on top of the desktop whenever they think you’re not looking. Visit the Library to see just how much “traditional” computer work is going on. How are we to exploit communications technology to connect to our students when we members of the teaching demographic are so not Gen Y? Sometimes I think that I’m not just square, I’m a point in their 3-D world.
Author: Chris Jobling
Screencasting tools?
This is a question for the community: what screen casting tools do you use and which would you recommend?
The context for this is that as a teacher of computer things, I watch a lot of how-to videos that are made available as screencasts, and I’ve even add a go at producing some myself (e.g. see this set from one of my lecture courses). I’d like to do more both in my teaching and also for my Blackboard Tips articles in my other blog.
The tool that I first used what was Wink, but though free, it’s a tool that’s a bit clunky. I’ve also tried Jing, but that’s a tool that limits screencasts to 5 minutes (presumably because its big brother is Camtasia). So is it worth shelling out $299 of my department’s money to buy Camtasia or is there a free or open source alternative that will do the job? I am stuck in Windows, so no Mac suggestions (or jibes) please!
Blackboard tips from the coal face
Colleagues and readers may be interested to know that I have published an article on using Blackboard’s External Links to quickly create a useful presence on Blackboard. I think that the tip will be particularly useful if the thing that’s preventing you migrating course materials to Blackboard is the effort needed to upload your documents and maintain them thereafter. I have a few other suggestions and short cuts that I’ve learned over the years and I hope to share these with you over the coming week and months. You’ll find the tip and the future tips in my new Swansea Blog blog @the.coalface. I look forward to your comments.
Shout out for OUseful Info!
As I mentioned it at this morning’s E-Learning and Cakes session, I regularly read OUseful Info. Tony Hirst’s regularly updated blog is a great source of ideas for new ways to use and mash-up Web 2.0 goodies into E-Learning resources. Tony is an E-Learning Technologist at the Open University (OU), and the OU is an institution that should really know how to do e-learning! I find I have 43 of Tony’s articles starred in Google Reader and among many other things, it helped me discover Grazr, Slideshare and Pageflakes! I thought it would therefore be worth recording the link for others to share.
Don't just sit there why don't you do some web 2.0?
Newly bookmarked is this presentation by Clay Shirky (author of Here Comes Everybody, The Power of Organizing Without Organizations) about how better to use your free time. (Edited transcript here).
The mesaage is “Don’t just sit there watching TV, do something with your cognitive surplus.” Recorded at the 2008 San Francisco Web 2.0 Expo and stumbled upon via Gina Trapani on Lifehacker. More recorded presentations from the SF Web 2.0 Expo are available.