Activity 5.1 - Trying out multimedia tools

Unit 5 begins the process of producing a multimedia poster about our conference presentation. It asks us to try out three new tools from this list:

Alternatively, we can use other tools if they meet the criteria.

I have already used several of these tools before, with varying degrees of success. I've used SlideShare, YouTube and Popplet fairly recently and Prezi and various video editing tools less recently. I wanted to learn something completely new so I looked at the 50 ways to tell a story and then followed a chain of links and ended up with:

• Microsoft Sway
• PowToon
• Padlet

I'm currently playing with Microsoft Sway. It's like PowerPoint but much better and entirely online. It brings together all kinds of multimedia and you can create a presentation that takes the audience through a series of thoughts. There are lots of different layouts and themes. The only thing I don't like about it is that you can't export it or save it offline. I had a look at their online forum and it seems that I'm not alone in wishing they had thought about that. 

Anyway, when I've finished playing with it, I'll post something to show how it works.

Activity 4.4 - The Art of Asking

This task starts with a TED talk. TED talks are a great way of listening to speakers on a whole range of subjects. Some are really gripping, others less so. If you have 13 minutes to spare, this one is worth a listen, though I'm not entirely sure what I think about it.




The task asks for a short, informal review on either her TED talk or her blog but her blog is peppered with the F-word and I only got halfway through before getting a bit irritated by it and I stopped reading.

It's all about asking for money to fund your work but then your work itself being available for free. In some ways, we accept this all the time, all around us. When buskers play well, I'm more than happy to stand and listen and chuck 'em some cash. The trouble is, a lot are not that great and rather than it being a conscious work-choice, they busk because they can't get anything else.

In relating her message to online work, I think there is a definite place for it. There are some amazing resources out there, openly available and free to use, adapt and enjoy. If people are using their skills to provide this for free, I have no objection to them asking for money. Personally, it wouldn't work for me at the moment. I haven't got the time to create at that level alongside work and I am not in a position to give up a secure income for one that is unpredictable and doesn't have benefits attached to it. Anything I make available online is totally free, with no expectation of being asked for money. That's not to say I won't change my mind in the future but this is now.

Activity 4.3 - Backchannels

My thoughts on BETT

This activity introduces the concept of backchannels for conferences. It’s one of those things that I know about, have participated in and followed to various degrees, but never knew its proper name. In the activity, we were asked to research various aspects of 4 conferences. I was delighted to see that the 4^th one was BETT.

BETT is the highlight of my educational year! I started attending in 2005 and went every year, even after we moved to Finland, until 2011. My final visit there was special for several reasons. Firstly, I took my eldest son, Josh, with me. He was 15 and in his final year of Finnish basic education. It was a big treat for him, not only to go there but to be allowed time out of school to attend with me. The reason was that his final IB project was to build from scratch a VLE. He clearly had aspirations in programming and BETT was a fantastic place to inspire that.

#Bett2011 was also special because Josh entered the Promethean competition and won me a set of 32 ActivExpressions (interactive voting system), which indirectly led to me persuading my principal to buy several ActivBoards for the school.

I would have loved to attend BETT in 2012 but by January of that year, I was having some health issues and they had changed the venue from Olympia to Excel, which meant that staying with my friend in Wimbledon was out of the question. By 2013/14/15, I was adjusting to life with a disability and the prospect of a trip to London, alone, as a wheelchair user was frankly terrifying!

#Bett2016 is going to be a very exciting one for me. I’ve booked a week off work and an adapted room in a hotel near the venue. I’m going to attend for the full four days by myself, not for work (though it will obviously have an impact) but for myself… for my own professional development and inspiration. I’m going to attend a number of seminars, participating through the Twitter backchannel, as well as visiting as many stands as possible. My absolute dream is to hear Professor Sugata Mitra, one of the keynote speakers, presenting live. It was once possible to pay to book tickets but now it’s first come, first served, so I need to be there early and get my place. I’m hoping that bringing my own chair will help! ;)

Snipped from bettshow.com

I haven’t answered the question about whether the online resources give a feel for what the conference is like, whether there is controversy or debate in the backchannels, or whether the extra information would be useful to attendees. My own experience of BETT is that being there can’t be replaced with any amount of online interaction. The backchannel, though, will be invaluable in following themes, networking, creating social opportunities, etc. If I remember, I’ll post again during or after the event.

Social factors affecting innovation

In researching the S of PEST - social factors - I noticed a shift in thinking. Whereas political and economic factors largely affected what drives innovation, social factors seem to be more about adoption of innovation. This makes social factors quite interesting to me because I want to know how to ensure maximum adoption of my 'innovation' or project, when it is ready for use.

There are plenty of resources out there, which go into detail about this. I have looked at three:

Innovation Excellence

This article cites the work of Professor Robert Cialdini, who talks about human behaviour in terms of

• reciprocity - this is basically the 'you scratch my back; I'll scratch yours' theory. People are more likely to do something for you if you've done something for them.
• consistency - once we make a choice, we feel pressure to be consistent and to commit to that choice.
• social proof - the believe that the more people agree with something, the more likely it is to be right or have value.
• liking - we prefer to say yes to people that we like.
• authority - people have a deep need to obey authority.
• scarcity - if something is rare, it is more valuable.

Once I have got an eILP up and running, I want my tutors to adopt and use it. So what can I be doing to enable this? Some of the things, I hope I already do, like doing favours for them, being the kind of line manager that they want to say yes to, and being an authority that they want to obey. These last two could run contrary to each other but I have always tried to get a balance between being 'the boss' and therefore having some clout when it comes to giving out things that need doing, and being reasonable, helpful and kind so that tutors buy-in to what I want them to do.

Social proof could be a big factor in adopting my eILP but I can start now getting the early adopters to connect with the concept and then they will help me sell it to the others. Also, the fact that we will be doing something that seems to be quite rare, might help too.

Instructional Technology Research Online

I won't go into this one in detail, but it is well worth a read. I like this diagram...

Managing Innovation Adoption

I haven't read this yet but a quick glance through got my interest and I've bookmarked it for later.

Innovation and Economics

I have to begin by saying that whilst innovation is very much 'my thing', economics really isn't. However, the E of this PEST activity has had me looking at how innovation is linked to economic factors and obviously it absolutely is! After all my searching through websites and reading articles, the conclusion I came to is that innovation and the economy are intrinsically linked.

Much of my reading centred around research councils and how innovation is funded. Innovate UK popped up again, as a key source of funding. Of course this is a .gov.uk so there is serious overlap with politics too.

The universities also featured heavily, especially the Russell group ones, which are into research in a big way. Manchester University, on their website, rightly stated that "long term growth comes from investment in innovation."

So I don't need much convincing that innovation and economic factors are connected... but then I tried to think about where that fits with my project. I'm certainly not going to get any funding for it and I doubt that it will directly bring in any funding. Having said that, there is a longer term economic goal. Our learners are just regular members of the public - people who live around the county. Some get their courses fully funded but many pay for their courses. Long term, people are more likely to continue paying to learn with us, if we have a reputation for being relevant and up-to-date. If we are still using old systems in 5 or 10 years time, it's entirely possible that we will fade out.