Periodic Fable

Thursday, 26 October 2006

An interesting site about Word

Some useful trivia facts and helpful information here from Shauna Kelly
http://www.shaunakelly.com/word/index.html

posted by Helen Whitehead 10:34 AM

(0) comments

Friday, 20 October 2006

History Matters

This is an entry really for Tuesday 17th October...

...the day that History Matters wanted everyone to make the biggest blog in history to record a snapshot in time. In this account of my day I have tried to include details that may be of interest in the future, particularly about the technologies currently seen as essential, as well as some currently seen as innovative, that we use for teaching, learning and work.

I left for work at 6.55 am. I commute 30 miles to work in a University, and I am nearing the end of my first month in the new job which (like my previous job) is a one-year contract.
My car is 5 weeks old and is a SEAT Ibiza special edition – featuring a digital radio (plus alloy wheels and a bit of extra speed). The criterion of having a “greener” car fell down my priorities list because of the commuting - the ability to accelerate out of trouble on the A46 moved higher up: electric cars are still not affordable or readily available. I was hoping they would be by now – I only buy a car once every ten years, so it’ll be a while before I do it again! Hope I don’t regret the (comparative) gas-guzzling in a few years’ time. But I do like my new car!

I spent ten minutes after I got to work fishing my car parking permit from where it had fallen under the windscreen. I pay a small amount for the privilege of parking in a University car park about 7 minutes’ walk from my office. I work on the 18th floor of the highest building on campus. I must find some way of attaching my permit to the windscreen! Parking (and traffic generally) is a big issue for me. I now take about 60-80 minutes to drive 30 miles. I used to spend 15-50 minutes driving just 5.5 miles (along a very busy ring road!). If I’d stayed there I should have had to consider a bike!

Today is a busy day in a busy week with a lot of training events as I am in a new team on a new project. We work with “exciting new technologies for learning” such as e-learning, m-learning, podcasting, wikis, blogs, and advanced online discussion techniques. I am proud to be working with one of the foremost authorities in this area. However as University staff are credited for their research more than their teaching it can be difficult for them to find time to prioritise changes in teaching and learning.

Today was a masterclass in uses of online educational technologies with a Professor from the Netherlands and one of the few times at such a seminar when every word she said was worth listening to. We were provided lunch, which is always good, but has the downside that you are networking/talking throughout lunch and do not actually get a break.

I was shattered by the end of the working day. Yesterday I got home after 10 pm after dinner with an important committee, went to bed, got up and came straight back to work, so by the end of today I had a really bad headache, and driving home was harder than usual. My husband had had a bad day too – he is a computer manager and one of his systems was playing up. He spent all evening on the computer connected to work (and to another colleague at his home) trying to sort it out. Success in the end, but he missed his weekly badminton session. Meanwhile despite the headache I managed to throw together a dinner (baked tuna with cauliflower, green beans and tomato and olive salad - no carbohydrates because both of us adults are a little overweight and trying to eat healthily) and our son needed driving to and picking up from Explorer Scouts.

I guess this is a bit of an extreme day workwise for both of us, it isn’t always like this, but it’s also not unusual. (I only commute three days a week and work from home the other two days.) But today no time at all to do housework and it badly needs doing!

posted by Helen Whitehead 10:05 AM

(0) comments

Monday, 16 October 2006

Alan Cann's Microbiology Podcasts from University of Leicester

Mostly a press release from the University of Leicester. I've talked to Alan about this - he is a real learning technologies innovator, and also used a wiki in a virology course - students had to add a page to Wikipedia and if it survived intact for a week then it was deemed a pass!

Alan Cann, a microbiologist at the University of Leicester has recently received prestigious sponsorship for his online MicrobiologyBytes podcasts, which can be found online at http://microbiologybytes.wordpress.com

Featured recently in Science magazine’s NetWatch column, the Apple iTunes Store New and Notable Podcasts and Wordpress.com’s Blog of the Day, the podcast has been downloaded by more than 3000 people a month from more than 50 countries and the numbers of downloads are growing rapidly.

After MicrobiologyBytes received a Public Understanding of Science grant from the Society for General Microbiology, Deputy Executive Secretary of SGM, Janet Hurst, said:

“The Award Panel was very enthusiastic about this activity…this is a great opportunity for SGM to be associated with the latest educational technology”.
Unlike other university podcasts, MicrobiologyBytes is not simply recycled lecture content in audio format. Its content is tailor-made to engage the largest possible audience by presenting current topics in microbiology in a form that everyone can understand. Over a period of time, the content of the podcasts covers the whole field of microbiology.

Recent topics include:

Is there a role for SV40 in human cancer?
Quorum sensing in bacteria
E.coli in spinach
How HIV causes AIDS
Plague: From the 14th to the 21st century and still going strong
Extreme drug resistant tuberculosis (XDR-TB)
Creator of MicrobiologyBytes, Dr Alan Cann, of the University’s Department of Biology, commented:

“There’s a tremendous storehouse of knowledge locked up in universities. New technology, such as web 2.0 – the read-write internet – allows us to share this by blogging and podcasting.

“The aim of MicrogiologyBytes is to bring people the latest news from the forefront of biomedical research in a form that everyone can understand. Obviously, I hope that this will also attract more students to the University of Leicester, but I don’t expect that someone who listens to my podcasts in, say, Mexico, will turn up on the doorstop wanting to study for a degree. It’s all about the conversation we should have with the public.”

Podcasting is predominantly used by the 18-24 age group and many students already turn to the Internet as their first source of information. Student responses to MicrobiologyBytes included: “Useful and a good supplement to the lectures;” “I think they are a great idea… I still find my note-taking to be a bit dodgy at times;” “What a great learning tool;” “Useful for students suffering disabilities, such as dyslexia.”

Podcasting

Podcasting is the distribution of multimedia files over the Internet, which can be downloaded and viewed or listened to on a computer or a mobile device, such as an mp3 player or mobile phone. It is not necessary to have an iPod to listen to podcasts, any computer or mp3 player will do.

Unlike other file downloads, a key feature of podcasting is the ability to subscribe through RSS (Really Simple Syndication) feeds. There is a wide range of software available to manage and listen to podcasts, most of which is free. Once software is installed, listeners subscribe to the podcast feed, which tells them when new podcasts are available and automatically downloads. Alternatively, it is possible to manually download the files to a computer by clicking on the episode links on the podcast homepage.

Podcasting has grown enormously in the last few years. During the next year it is expected to become a major source of information, with the current investment by the BBC and other broadcasters, and the features included in Microsoft Windows Vista, due to be released in January 2007 (eg, RSS support in Internet Explorer).

posted by Helen Whitehead 9:18 AM

(0) comments

Friday, 6 October 2006

Penguin Songs

As the Adelie Project is named after a penguin, I thought I'd look yup the penguin songs out there.

I can't find the one I'm looking for, which goes:

"We're marching along
with a smile and a song
With a cheer, loud and clear,
for the penguins!
We're loyal and true
In whatever we do
Oh it's fun to be one
of the penguins!"

But there are others (warning, some silly and some at pre-school level!)

A sweet little song written for a kindergarten class to sing

Piano Man, Like A Penguin from Tim Williams The beginning of a song from a CD for young children

Wacky Flash animation not intended for preschoolers!

posted by Helen Whitehead 10:30 AM

(0) comments

Babylon 5

OK there must be somebody else out there who likes Babylon 5 - I've just found out you can watch the first season episodes for free on the Internet (Windows XP only)

http://television.aol.com/in2tv/heroes_horror_tv?defaultLevel=0&defaultItem=1

posted by Helen Whitehead 10:28 AM

(0) comments