Google is producing some innovative tools for use in higher education

In this edition of the ADFI blog, I am interviewing David Webb, the USQ representative for Google’s Student Ambassador Program. David is currently studying Engineering (with a computer systems major) at USQ. He also works part time for a telecommunications company in Toowoomba.  

1. What is the most useful Google product for external and/or on campus students?

Google Docs for both external and on-campus students. Google Docs allows the user to move between different computers and places and still have their assignments (as long as an internet connection is available) on hand. Google Docs is invaluable for group assignments, as it allows everyone to work on the live version and edit a piece of work at the same time.

Google Books is a great tool for searching a particular book. It is very useful for undergraduate students who are required to use only credible and relevant books (not articles from Wikipedia) when working on assignments. Google Scholar, by contrast, is useful for finding articles. The two yield the best results when used interchangeably.

2. How might a lecturer use any Google product to increase interaction between students?

To facilitate virtual office hours, particularly for external students. Google+ hangouts can be used to chat with up to ten students at one time, thus facilitating student interaction. One fancy feature of the tool is its ability to shift the video to the person who is talking with minimal delay. Hangouts on air allow 1-10 people to video chat and an unlimited number of people to watch. This could be used for a forum or online conference, for example.

3. Why were you interested in becoming a Google Student Ambassador?

In the early 2000s, I changed from MSN to Google search. I started using Google products (Gmail was one of the first and is, incidentally, the email platform used by USQ’s students), instantly liked the company and, in particular, their vision for giving away products with minimal and unobtrusive advertising. When the opportunity to be a Google Student Ambassador arose, I jumped at the opportunity to work with the company.

4. What does this role entail?

There are four key points:

• Learn about innovative Google products and programs;
• Plan and host fun events on campus;
• Act as a campus contact for Google teams;
• Help Google better understand each University’s culture.

5. Are there any upcoming events that you would like to mention?

I hope to run an introductory session for both USQ students and staff on what Google’s Student Ambassador Program is all about.

In order to showcase the application of Google tools for learning and teaching, we have asked David to contribute a monthly blog to the Digital Futures Website. Once a month, David will select a Google product and provide a detailed analysis of its functions and possible uses in higher education.

Dr Amy Antonio 

Image: Robert Scoble,  Google Logo in Building 43 used under a Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic Licence.

Enter MapAList, a piece of free software which interacts with GoogleDocs to generate maps based on spreadsheet data.  I started with a spreadsheet with the full data of each registered attendee.  I then deleted the columns with names, street addresses and email addresses, leaving just the institution and country.  It is possible to generate exact maps which include street addresses, but in this case the country was sufficient.

Where did the attendees come from?

Once editing on the spreadsheet was completed, it was uploaded to GoogleDocs.  From there, log into MapAList, and follow the link to generate a new map.  During this process, the program will ask for access to the GoogleDoc, and you’ll need to assign (via a drop-down menu) which columns from which MapAList needs to draw data.  The entire process will take about five minutes and provide you with a map, and the various tools to either email links, or embed the map in your webpage.

One of the most useful features is the ability to update the map.  Whenever new data is added to the GoogleDoc, you’ll need to log into your MapAList account and update the map.  It will automatically include any new entries on the spreadsheet, update the map, and retain the same URL.

It does come with a caveat that the data plotting on the map can be overwhelmed if your spreadsheet contains more than 600 entries.  I didn’t see any problems with our map (and there were almost 1,000 registered for the conference), but it is worth watching for if you’re intending on mapping large data sets.

Our map was updated and posted numerous times during the conference, and I hope you’ll agree that being able to substitute sunflowers for the usual pin icon on the map is a nice feature.

By: Adrian Stagg, Learning Technologist, Australian Digital Futures Institute.

Image:  Smithco, Globe, used under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 2.0 Generic Licence.

One of the few free tools used for 'Follow the Sun 2012'.

Last month, the Australian Digital Futures Institute hosted the highly successful learning futures festival, Follow the Sun 2012. This fully online conference was conducted across three locations, in three time zones, for 48-hours non-stop.

As part of the evaluation of the delegates’ experience with online conferencing verses face-to-face events, I was assigned to the task of monitoring the use of social media throughout the conference.

In addition to monitoring the Twitter feeds and attempting to spark lively discussion among the delegates, I put my multi-tasking abilities to the test as I listened to the key note speakers in an attempt to identify themes and issues worth tweeting about.

In the lead up to the conference the Digital Futures Institute signed up to a fabulous, free tool called Hootsuite. Hootsuite is used, first and foremost, to submit messages to the Twitter microblogging service. It also enables the user to manage multiple social media networks and accounts including Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and Google+, among others.

During Follow the Sun, I employed this tool for the purpose of posting messages on both Twitter and Facebook from my multiple accounts. Moreover, Hootsuite contains a scheduling service that allows the user to select the time they would like their tweets to appear.

Given that the learning futures festival was a 48-hour, ongoing event, Hootsuite enabled me to schedule tweets to appear when the conference was operating in another location and time zone. Although my ability to multi-task is above par, I cannot possibly tweet in my sleep and this tool gave me the opportunity to raise questions and make statements for the delegates to respond to, without actually attending each of the sessions.

While the basic Hootsuite platform is free, a pro subscription to Hootsuite can be purchased for a minimal monthly fee. In addition to the basic platform, Hootsuite Pro enables the account holder to manage unlimited social profiles (instead of the standard five), to archive tweets, and the service includes Google Analytics and Facebook Insights integration.

For research purposes, the need to archive tweets is an absolute must. Given the ephemeral nature of the web, the ability to permanently capture and store content is invaluable. Throughout the learning futures festival, the delegates were advised to use the conference hash tag (#fts12) and all tweets pertaining to that tag were archived for future research.

I would highly recommend the use of a tool such as Hootsuite for anyone thinking of running a similar event or, on a daily basis, for anyone who would like to manage multiple social media accounts in an effortless and more time efficient manner.

By: Dr Amy Antonio, Research Associate, Australian Digital Futures Institute.

Image: Barney Craggs, Hootsuite Twitter client for Android, used under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 2.0 Generic Licence.

Day Two marks the mid-way point for Follow The Sun.

Day Two of the Australian leg of Follow the Sun was characterised by some extremely deep conversations around language education and educational technologies indigenous communities. Audience engagement was high, which ensured a constant flow of ideas around these topics.

The morning session was presented by colleagues from the University of the South Pacific, and within the first few minutes of Professor Susan Kelly’s keynote, we were amazed at the challenges they face to undertake many of the functions of a university we’d take for granted, for example

• USP has a large number of partner countries, all of whom need to have negotiated input as to how the university works.
• Access to stable electricity is intermittent, as is access to to a reliable internet connection.
• There are over 200 languages spoken by students attending USP, whilst the university teaches English and prints all of their material in English.

Professor Kelly spoke of the use ‘Moodle on a stick‘ (USB) to deliver course materials, and the initiatives focussing on the use of mobile telephones to engage learners. What was very clear from the keynote and the subsequent speakers in this session was that all involved looked to accessible technology which fit with the lifestyle of the learner. There appeared to be no attempt to seek solutions which were mismatched, or to use technology which was not already familiar to the learner – and there is a lesson here for everyone involved in educational technology.

As the discussion moved to Dr Theresa Koroivulaono (Acting Director, Centre for Flexible & Distance Learning), Rokosiga Morrison (Acting Senior Instructional Designer), Ashwin Raj (University of the South Pacific) and Javed Yusuf (Multimedia Developer) the focus was squarely on the transformative power of education.

It was great to hear the passion with which each speaker addressed the topic, but Ashwin captured our imaginations. He spoke about his experiences as a child, feeling dis-empowered by a lack of English proficiency. Whilst English may often be seen as the ‘language of the oppressor’, he teaches that a proficiency with this language opens up opportunities for learners to articulate their dreams and beliefs to a larger audience. Woven through the entire discussion were the threads of equity, empowerment and social justice – reinforcing to all in attendance that education can be a powerful force in the world. My recollections don’t do adequate justice to this session, and as soon as the recordings are available, I’d highly recommend listening to them; I’ll definitely be revisiting it.

‘The Indigital Revolution‘ keynote from Dr Aaron Corn highlighted his work with Australian Indigenous communities and the role of technology in not only enhancing educational opportunities, but in digital preserving cultural heritage. The discussion panel then comprised of Sandy O’Sullivan (ARC Fellow), Lyndon Ormond-Parker (University of Melbourne), Nelson Conboy (Australian National University) and Steven Patrick (ARC Award Fellow).

This session illuminated the need for strategic digital preservation policies, and their role in preserving Indigenous song especially but distributed and repatriated collections seemed to be of interest to the audience. Again, the depth of insight left us all pondering the new information and like the session before it, I’ll be revisiting this once the audio becomes available.

The day was rounded off by two virtual worlds presentations; one from Ilan Tochner (CEO Kitely) and John Lester (Jibe) both of whom work on alternatives to Second Life. Virtual worlds have a definite traction in education, and it is hard to believe that they’ll be disappearing anytime soon; but rather evolving. John’s raised a particularly salient point about the tendency to use new technologies in old ways and the need for ‘new thinking’.

On Friday, we’ll be joining our colleagues in the United Kingdom and Canada to wrap up the conference, but all would agree it has been a rewarding experience.

Next week, we’ll make a few posts on some of the technology used (to continue ‘The best things in life are free‘ irregular series) and some reflections on running an online-only conference.

Adrian Stagg, Learning Technologist, Australian Digital Futures Institute.

Image: devittj, Uluru, used under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non-Commercial-ShareAlike 2.0 Licence.

The afternoon session focused on the digital future of nursing and midwifery.

(Part Two)

The afternoon session proved to be just as illuminating and showcased the issues surrounding technology and the nursing and midwifery curriculum.

• The keynote, delivered by Professor Cath Rogers-Clark (USQ) spoke to the diversity of the Australian nursing experience, the need to embrace change, to educate not only students but provide opportunities for life-long learning and the challenges of delivering online nursing courses to remote and rural communities.  The Australian National Broadband Network scheme featured heavily, though the mood was cautiously optimistic regarding the possibilities once the roll-out has been completed.
• Whereas apps and smartphones seemed to be the flavour of the morning session; what excited this group were simulations and virtual worlds.   The panel session comprised of Dr Clint Moloney (Lecturer, Nursing, USQ); Mrs Marie Cleary (Senior Lecturer, Nursing & Midwifery, USQ) and Mrs Ruth Terwijm (Lecturer, Nursing, USQ) had adequate time to discuss these at length.

From a participants viewpoint, it was interesting to look at the interaction of the panels in both sessions.  In the morning, the panel was geographically dispersed, yet formed a cohesive narrative through the use of BlackBoard.  This afternoon session were all situated in the same room, able to bounce ideas, easily read body language and draw out new conversation from each other.  It was great to see that despite differences in location, the technology enabled an equivalently rich discussion on both occasions – which is the heart of the conference.

As mentioned, virtual worlds such as Second Life, and Remote Labs formed the core of the discussion – with great enthusiasm for appropriately building these technologies into the curriculum to facilitate more realistic, contextualised learning.

• Dr Moloney spoke at length during an interview about the Remote Access Laboratory project undertaken jointly with USQ’s Faculty of Engineering, which allows a student to log in to a lab and remotely control medical equipment.  This reinforces the practical aspects of the learning, and offers the opportunity for the necessary repetition required to acquire these skills.  The interaction with the equipment is taken to a deeper level via the inclusion of scenarios which ground the activity in actual practice.  One of the other benefits is realised given USQ’s diverse international cohort – overseas students can be using the equipment whilst the local students are sleeping; which maximises the return on investment and use of the technology.

On this last point, I do ponder whether Universities are perhaps under-utilising their resources?  Perhaps these types of initiatives need to leverage other cohorts for a richer user experience and a greater pool of feedback for development?

We arapped up the Australian leg of Day One with a presentation by Dr Helen Farley (Senior Lecturer, Australian Digital Futures Institute) and Professor Allan Ellis (Southern Cross University) regarding the use of Second Life for the online conference Encke.

I attended the Conference late last year and as a relative Second Life novice I was amazed at how practical the focus was.  The discussions were highly-accessible, and gave participants (or at least this participant) the feeling that using virtual worlds is not an esoteric, mystical experience, but an achievable one.

As we passed over to Leicester University and the sun set here in Australia, I reflected on the high quality of the speakers and the willingness of the conference participants to become involved.

All of the presentations have been recorded and will be made openly available soon, so there will be plenty of opportunities to catch up.  In the meantime, enjoy the UK and Canadian portions of the conference before Day Two.

Adrian Stagg, Learning Technologist, Australian Digital Futures Institute.

Image: Winterofdiscontent,  House of the Rising Sun, used under an AttributionNon-Commercial-Share-Alike 2.0 Generic Licence.

Rise and shine! Follow the Sun 2012 has begun.

(Part One)

Yesterday, the University of Southern Queensland launched the ‘Follow the Sun 2012’ fully online conference; beginning a forty-eight hour cycle of presentations, keynotes, interviews and panel discussions.  Partnering with Leicester and Athabasca Universities, the conference has taken a new direction and each four-hour session focusses on the digital future of a single discipline.

It’s not too late to become involved, with Day Two only two hours away as I write this.  However, here are the highlights from Australia Day One:

• Professor Peter Terry’s keynote presentation ‘Chasing Olympic Dreams and Promoting Healthy Living in a Digital World’ provided us with an in-depth appreciation for the role of the sports psychologist and the power of remote monitoring devices to dynamically gather athlete data.  Of particular interest was the discussion sparked around workplaces embracing defined times during the day for employees to exercise, the power (and possible distraction) of social media for the professional athlete, and the role of Open Educational Resources in sports psychology courses.
• Dr Gene Moyle (National Chair, APS College of Sport & Exercise Psychologists); Professor Gregory Kolt (University of Western Sydney) and Professor Tony Morris (Victoria University) continued to weave the themes of the keynote into a broader panel discussion.  Mobile technologies came to the fore, and the discussants brought their perspective to the themes of social media in promoting physical activity and the potential dangers of over-monitoring athletes.  The discussion concluded with a very practical exploration of the need to ‘educate the educators’ so that the next generation of sports psychologists are able to take advantage of new technology in education.
• The last two presenters were Professor Joseph Mula (USQ) and Mr Steve Atherton (National Executive Higher Education, Apple), who both spoke about apps in health.  Professor Mula has been supervising Adam Lin (a PhD candidate) who has designed a mobile ECG app, which will see live trial this year.  The potential for this idea is incredible and Adam has put together a short video, which is a must-see.  Steve Atherton had us then embark on a guided exploration of apps and mobile learning in health and medicine, giving updates on the state of eBooks, the use of apps in teaching and the explosion of information-gathering possibilities for health professionals.

Overall, there was a wealth of knowledge shared in the first four hours, with plenty of questions and interaction from the audience either via the chat function or via Twitter (hashtag #fts12).  There is still time to become involved.  Hope to see you there.

Adrian Stagg, Learning Technologist, Australian Digital Futures Institute.

Image: Kentaro Ohno, Rising Sun Rock Festival 2010 in Ezo, used under a Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic Licence.

Follow the Sun 2012. A 48 hour non-stop conference

The Digital Futures Institute at the University of Southern Queensland is proud to host this year’s Follow the Sun Online Conference — a non-stop 48-hour online global conference.

Follow the Sun 2012 is a partnership between the Digital Futures Institute, Beyond Distance Research Alliance at the University of Leicester and Athabasca University in Canada.

The festival is entirely online, delivered through Blackboard Collaborate non-stop for 48 hours, held over six shifts of eight hours each, with consecutive handovers between Australia (Toowoomba), United Kingdom (Leicester) and Canada (Athabasca).

In 2011 there were a total of 266 delegates but in 2012 there are already more than 380 delegates. The theme for this year’s conference has also changed. It has moved from a focus on educational technology to an examination of knowledge development and exchange in specific disciplines.

The festival will feature keynote speakers from across the world who will cover a diverse mix of disciplines including Engineering, Computer Science, Sports Psychology, European Politics, Nursing and Midwifery and Ethnomusicology.

USQ staff are also welcome to participate in Follow the Sun from a centralised point in S108 — the Technology Enhanced Learning Laboratory — or from the convenience of their own office chair.

With little more than two weeks until the commencement of Follow the Sun, now is the time to register and, importantly, this year it is free to all delegates so if you would like to be a part of this revolutionary event, register at…

http://tinyurl.com/followthesun

Dr Amy Antonio

Some great social media tips

A couple of weeks ago I attended the Social Media Marketing conference for business in Brisbane. Although the conference was targeted predominantly at business owners, the experience was nevertheless invaluable to me as I begin my social media journey at the Digital Futures institute.

For anyone who was unable to attend the event, I thought I would share with you some of the tricks-of-the-trade that will enable you to intensify the impact of your own social media presence.

• Tips for designing your Facebook page: www.pagemodo.com
  This tool allows you to look different in this space. You can choose your own page layout, upload images, change colours and font and customise your fan pages
• Tips for using Twitter: Twtpoll: www.twtpoll.com
  Although there is a small fee attached to this tool, it allows you to ask your followers questions and get feedback. It encourages interaction, engagement and talk-back, which is invaluable for determining what your customers want.
• Tips for using Wikipedia:
  If you have a presence on Wikipedia, you enhance your likelihood of being seen in Google. The only downside is that you have to get someone who is not affiliated with your business or institution to create your page.
• Tips for using YouTube:
  Conduct an interview with an expert, introduce your staff to add authenticity and include YouTube videos on your website for a more personal touch.
• Tips for using Google+: www.google.com/+/business
  Google+ does the same thing as Facebook but if you have a Google+ account, this is the account that will appear in the search engine ahead of Facebook.
• Tips for writing for a social media audience:
  Go to sites with great bloggers and look at how they write. This site lists the top bloggers and top stories www.alltop.com. If you want to find the top bloggers in a particular field, go to www.technoratic.com
• Tips for writing compelling posts, tweets and blogs:
  Make your point quickly, break up content with interesting mini-headings, use bullet points, remember there is power in numbers (10 commandments) and draw interest from image captions

Dr Amy Antonio

Sir Isaac Newton by Sir Godfrey Kneller (1646-1723). The current model of dissemination of academic content has its roots in the 17th century

In the last few months the protest against academic publisher Elsevier has not only been gaining traction, but fuelling discussion about disseminating research and even the impact of research.

The basis for the protest lies in the perception that Elsevier’s pricing has seen rapid inflation, and that the aggregation of journal titles creates a monopoly of access.  Add to that the publishers’ involvement in supporting SOPA and there is a serious amount of argument about academic publishing and the freedom to access research.

As a former Faculty Librarian, I was constantly amazed at the prices attached to a single year’s subscription to most databases, the annual inflation and the monopoly held by certain publishers to ‘key’ titles.

While there have been criticisms against the business model used by academic publishers and journal aggregators, my concern lies with the issue of access. In many ways, the claim of open and ubiquitous access is challenged by the restrictive licencing agreements.  In fact, as Cameron Neylon, an open-access advocate points out, the current model has its roots in the 17^th century and that a reconceptualised process for research storage and dissemination for the current century would, in fact, look quite different.

What we take for granted is that traditionally an author signs away the copyright to their work and then it is made available back to their own institution at a cost (and the world at large – or at least those willing to pay).

If a library cancels a subscription to a database, they lose access to everything.  Given that university budgets are shrinking and every library I’ve ever worked for or with sees marked fluctuations in their budget (usually in a downwards trend), this inevitably leads to difficult decisions about which databases should be kept and long stakeholder discussions about culling content from the collection.

From an information literacy perspective, the downsizing of electronic collections gives students and researchers fewer points of view to consider.  We only grow intellectually when our beliefs are challenged, or we need to justify an opinion – and we need the breadth of resources to support this development.

So what would a future publication and impact model consider?  With Australian Universities focused on ERA Census data, Citation Reports, H Indexes and the like, one needs to consider if traditional metrics are actually the best tool for the job.  If my Blog informs public policy, or I am mentioned (in terms of research) in a Tweet, a Facebook Post or a G+ group, does this have a measurable impact?

Sites such as Klout give the average user a crude method of rating their ‘influence’ with social media; whilst SocialMention allows a user to ‘track and measure what people are saying about you, your company…or any topic’ and each has applications worthy of consideration.  Whilst they are both offering slightly different services, the core is the same – the ability to track where your message goes and how much ‘impact’ it has in terms of re-use.

The question is whether a university or research centre is able to develop a framework whereby these metrics are used with more traditional measures for a more holistic vision of research impact.  And if so, how are they reportable (and usable for promotion rounds, for example).

Obviously, these are conceptually challenging issues for most academic institutions (and even more so for the publishers) but given these sorts of protests and Apple’s foray into empowering self-publishing and distribution, they are issues which beg consideration now.

Adrian Stagg, Learning Technoilogist

Image Credit: Sir Isaac Newton by Sir Godfrey Kneller (1646-1723). Image taken from Wikimedia Commons. The work of art is in the public domain.

Tablets everywhere

The NMC Horizon Report Higher Education Edition released earlier this month, identified six technologies most likely to go mainstream in Higher Education. The report divided the technologies into three adoption horizons; near term (12 months), mid-term (2-3 years) and far-term (4-5 years):

• Near-term horizon – mobile apps and tablet computing;
• Mid-term horizon – game based learning and learning analytics;
• Far-term horizon – gesture based computing and “The Internet of Things”  (smart objects in the physical world  ubiquitously connected to local networks and the internet).

Today we are going to look at tablets.

Tablets

It’s hard to believe that the iPad has only been commercially available since March 2010.

The late Steve Jobs introduced it to the world as a new category of device – a tablet – that is neither a mobile phone nor a laptop computer.

Two years later the tablet, and particularly the iPad, has seeped into public consciousness and is making inroads into mainstream adoption in higher education. As the report puts it:

“”Led by the category-defining phenomenon that is the Apple iPad, tablets have earned their own listing in the NMC Horizon report this year, completely distinct from mobiles.”

NMC Horizon Horizon Report, page 9.

Combined with the app ecosystem described in other parts of the report, tablets have a number of qualities that lend themselves to education: Consider the following:

• Portability – the 10.1 inch Samsung Galaxy, for example, weighs just 590g
• Instant bootup, long battery life and ubiquitous connectivity
• The tablet as an ebook reader for interactive electronic textbooks
• Video and audio playback allowing lecture catch-up and student generated content
• In-built cameras and microphones for instant communication at a distance
• Web and literature searches through the tablet’s browser
• Affordable subject-specific and interactive apps e.g. anatomy apps for medical students
• Social media apps such as Twitter and Facebook for collaboration
• Creativity apps e.g. Garageband for music students
• Note-taking apps e.g. Evernote
• Touch control for tactile learning
• An optimised screen size for learning

As a multi-purpose and convenient device, its potential for learning is impossible to ignore. This, however, poses a number of challenges:

What device to support?

The iPad has a huge market share and an extensive educational app ecosystem. The rest of the tablet market is split between five or six vendors, which do not yet have the same access to educational apps. Should universities be encouraging or subsidising the purchase of iPads to the detriment of other tablets? Some institutions, such as the University of Adelaide, are doing just that.

The alternative is to follow the “bring your own device” model. However, there are hidden costs potentially associated with this model, including security costs and the additional IT support required to service a number of different types of tablets all trying to access the university network at one time.

How should the tablet be embedded into course design?

The Horizon report showcases some innovative approaches. The cadavar laboratories at the University of California, Irvine for example, is utilising a suite of apps loaded onto an iPad to supplement traditional approaches to the teaching of medicine.

Human anatomy apps and drug and disease reference materials are instantly available to the student in the laboratory, giving the potential to provide a rich and sustained learning experience that could reduce costs – a virtual dissection using an anatomy app perhaps?

As aforementioned, the tablet has many qualities that facilitate student enquiry, creativity, collaboration and digital literacy, which are highly regarded skills  by employers in the modern workplace.

On the other hand, universities have invested large sums of money in their learning management systems that can be delivered to (currently) cheaper devices such as notebooks through a browser; so where do tablets fit in?

Some vendors, such as Blackboard, are fully focussed on providing a mobile tablet experience, but the question remains, to what extent tutors should be embedding or encouraging tablet use beyond the LMS.

In conclusion

The 2012 Horizon Report is confident that this is the year of the tablet in Higher Education.

As tablets continue to gain traction through some great initiatives and research pilots, universities will need to make some serious policy decisions around tablets and other mobile devices in the near future.

Neil Martin, Learning Technologist

Image Credit: clasesdeperiodismo, Boom de Tablets used under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non-commercial-Sharealike 2.0 Licence.

Adrian Stagg

1. What is your background?

Adrian started his career in public libraries. He spent twelve years in the Toowoomba Library and came to USQ on a contract as a Library Officer. He then became a Faculty Librarian for the Business Faculty before moving to the Digital Futures Institute last year.

With a bit of prompting I was able to extract some further details about Adrian’s educational background. “In amongst that”, he says “I completed a Bachelor of Arts (Library Information and Science) and a Master of Applied Science (Library and Information Management) externally through Charles Sturt University.”

Adrian completed his studies whilst working and simultaneously raising a family, which, he says, has enabled him to “empathise with a large portion of the student cohort here at USQ”.

2. What is your role at ADFI?

Adrian is a Learning Technologist at the Digital Futures Institute and he can’t resist, after answering this question, a witty remark about the fact that his answer to this question only required “two words”.

3. What projects are you most excited about?

Adrian is most excited about e-book readers because he is “interested in digital publishing”. He explains that this is an exciting development because it is simultaneously “widening participation in the higher education sector and building digital technology skills with people who would not normally have this opportunity”.

As an aside, Adrian also insists that iTunes U, for want of a better word, is “very cool!”

4. If you could be any superhero, who would it be?

“This is the problem—when one reads comic books, it opens up far too many possibilities”.

I have to warn you that, despite being a self-proclaimed geek who grew up on the likes of Star Wars and Batman, even I had never heard of the comic book heroes that Adrian produced in response to this question.

After negotiating the breadth of scope available for this response (“Do I have to limit myself to one?”), Adrian settles on Cable, the former leader of X-Force. I know what many of you are thinking, and I guarantee that it is the same thing that I am also thinking, but fortunately Adrian does clarify his answer, although I am none the wiser as to whom this Cable actually is.

“Why would I want to be him?” Adrian asks (as if that’s the first question that came to mind). He would like to be Cable because “he’s a time traveller who knows what is going to hypothetically occur, but has to have the strength and intellect not to always intervene.  He needs to see the big picture at all times and realises that, sometimes, good things come out of bad experiences.  In the most recent issues, he’s also been struggling with being a father for the first time – he knows that he might not be the best person for the job, but does everything with his child in mind.  I can relate to, and respect that.”

5. In what ways do you think Universities will be different in ten years’ time?

“The main thing will be how we actually regard knowledge and the impact of research. At the moment we have traditional methods such as electronic publishing, which doesn’t fit with the way information is currently generated.”

I should have known when I asked Adrian this question, as a member of the Digital Futures Institute, that he would have the capacity of foresight that seems to elude me. Perhaps he is more like Cable then he gives himself credit for.

Adrian also says that academic publishing, in particular, needs to take drastic steps to move business models forward and that most of this change “is going to be driven by student demand; and there’s a lesson for the entire higher education sector there, not just publishing.”  Finally, Adrian suggests that we will have to do more around building students’ digital information and literacy skills in a society that is suffering from information overload.

Dr Amy Antonio, Research Associate

An explosion of apps

The NMC Horizon Report Higher Education Edition released earlier this month, identified six technologies most likely to go mainstream in Higher Education. The report divided the technologies into three adoption horizons; near term (12 months), mid-term (2-3 years) and far-term (4-5 years):

• Near-term horizon – mobile apps and tablet computing;
• Mid-term horizon – game based learning and learning analytics;
• Far-term horizon – gesture based computing and “The Internet of Things”  (smart objects in the physical world  ubiquitously connected to local networks and the internet).

Today we are going to look at mobile apps.

Mobile apps

Mobile apps are a phenomenon. Here are some staggering figures:

• As of December 2011 over 10 billion apps have been downloaded from the Android Marketplace. Android Marketplace was opened in October 2008.
• As of February 2012 Apple are racing to their 25 billionth download. The app store was opened in July 2008.
• It is believed that there are around 6 billion mobile phone subscriptions in the world of which 1.1 billion have mobile broadband enabled – around 30% of these subscriptions are in China and India.

The report identifies a number of key features that a quality mobile app possesses.

Firstly, apps take advantage of the devices key features. The app is tightly integrated with the functionality of the device utilising location services, internet access, motion detection and gesture control.

Secondly, apps are more focused on user experience than traditional software and tend to do one or two things really well rather than having multiple features – for example the Facebook app allows users to “check in” anywhere and share their status with the click of a button

The higher education sector is adapting quickly and institutions can create their own apps or integrate others into the curriculum. The report showcases a number of universities that are pushing forward in this domain such as Penn State or Stanford. The US is leading the field in terms of adoption, but other countries are not far behind.

The report highlights an article in the Guardian Higher Education Network which points out that some universities are getting bogged down on higher level mobile strategy which is difficult to deliver on given how quickly the market is changing. It is important to find quick wins and the optimisation of websites for mobile devices is one such suggestion for achieving this.

The Horizon Report does not, however, highlight the  sustainability of the app model specifically:

• Apps are tethered to native operating systems. A developer already needs to develop for iOS and Android devices, while  Windows 8 for mobile is on the horizon. Developing for multiple systems is both expensive and difficult to sustain. It is possible, however, to create a mobile browser-based experience, particularly using HTML5, but this will not necessarily yield as rich a learning experience as using a native app.
• Apps are disposable. Customers download apps and unless they become a fundamental part of their life, e.g. Facebook and Flipboard, they will be deleted or disused (particularly if they are poorly designed).

The challenge for any university is to create apps that add value to the teaching and learning experience The app future is still up for grabs and the key thing is to ensure that universities do not put all their eggs in one basket.

The next blog article will take a look at the Horizon Report’s view of tablet computing.

Neil Martin (Learning Technologist)

Image Credit: Daniel Y. Go, iPhone Apps, used under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non-commercial 2.0 Licence.

Scanning the horizon

Earlier this month, the ninth annual NMC Horizon Report: Higher Education was released. The publication outlines six emerging technologies that are  likely to go mainstream in the Higher Education sector. It is compiled through the work of the NMC Horizon Project advisory board – a team of around 50 international experts made up of technologists and academics with a broad range of interests.

This year’s report focused on three areas:   Key trends in Higher Education, challenges and constraints in adopting new technologies, and technologies to watch.

Key Trends

These include:

• People want to work, learn and study whenever they want to;
• IT access is becoming decentralised with access to data increasingly being available through the cloud;
• Collaboration is a key skill required by employers and student projects are increasingly being structured and assessed around teamwork;
• The role of the educator as a single point of access for expert knowledge is challenged by the ubiquitous nature of the internet and multiple channels through which information can be acquired;
• Online, hybrid (blended) and collaborative learning models are becoming  increasingly prevalent  for many universities – mirroring both the university’s capacity to work within tighter budget frameworks and expectations of  social media active students;
• Challenge-based learning and action-research learning activities are gaining a new emphasis. The real-time nature of mobile internet technologies can facilitate this type of learning.

There is some really meaty stuff in there. A key theme is that the internet, and specifically mobile and ubiquitous connections, is changing the world… and frighteningly fast.

Employers require digitally literate problem solvers who have the skills to filter huge amounts of information and make connections between disparate pieces of information. Students are spending large amounts of time on the internet, particularly in the social media space, and not necessarily tethered to a desk or laptop computer. At the same time, universities have to react quickly to these paradigm shifts and given our knowledge of how academic institutions work, they/universities are not always in the best position to do so

Challenges and constraints in adopting new technologies

The report goes on to examine the constraints and challenges that are facing universities in adopting new technologies:

• New economic models in education such as increased market competition. Universities have to control costs and become more efficient while demonstrating quality in adverse economic conditions;
• No appropriate metrics for the impact of research that is cited through social media, peer review or online rating systems. These new forms of communication are not well understood when compared to traditional methods such as journal citations;
• Digital literacy is not an expected norm for academic members of staff despite it being defined as a key skill for students to acquire;
• Traditional institutional processes and practises actually inhibit the uptake and utilisation of emerging technologies;
• Libraries are struggling to keep up in being able to support students as new technologies to allow students to obtain information emerge.

The bottom line is that universities are (not surprisingly) finding it impossible to keep up with the pace of change. They are neither structured or have the appropriate culture to meet the demands of a fast changing technology landscape. This is completely understandable:

• Traditional methodologies for both teaching, learning and research have been in place for decades and are engrained – for example the lecture  as a teaching methodology goes back centuries yet no longer fits the mobile learning model that is quickly becoming a key driver for change;
• Given the pace of change, universities are naturally cautious in spending large amounts of money supporting a particular technology;
• The knowledge of what is on the horizon is not necessarily available in-house or does not have influence over policy change;
• Many game changing and disruptive technologies have been around for a relatively short period of time. The iPad  has been only been around for two years and the impact of social media is only now becoming clear;
• High speed internet access and mobile technology is not yet available to all students;

Technologies to watch

The report then goes on to identify six technologies that are most likely to go mainstream in Higher Education. Technology is placed along three adoption horizons; near term (12 months), mid-term (2-3 years) and far-term (4-5 years):

• Near-term horizon – mobile apps and tablet computing;
• Mid-term horizon – game based learning and learning analytics;
• Far-term horizon – gesture based computing and “The Internet of  Things”  (smart objects in the physical world e.g. a laboratory refrigerator ubiquitously connected to local networks and the internet).

Some of these technologies are mainstream in other markets (particularly entertainment)  but yet to go mainstream in HE. The next blog article will examine these technologies further.

Neil Martin (Learning Technologist).

Image credit: Neil Martin

Let your imagination soar with the opportunities of free software.

One of the hard realities is that budgets everywhere are shrinking and that mainstream licenced technology is expensive.  However, the Open Source market is alive and well, which means that most of us can stretch our capabilities just that little bit further.  There is also a very strong argument agaionst the need to constantly create new software solutions in-house or buy in expertise, given the ever-growing community who have an interest in open-access technology.  In my experience, these groups are composed of folk who have a passion for a particular interest and have build solutions to help them pursue those interests.  The fact that they’re willing to share makes it all the more admirable.  If you’re looking for some new programs to add to your growing inventory, here are a few I canvassed from the Futures Institute team.

Audacity. I’ve been podcasting for a couple of years now, and whilst my audio skills might not be up to a radio-presenter level of professionalism, Audacity is the best gateway for the beginner.  You can record, add additional audio or music, edit, fade and use a host of other features to build a quality recording.  To output the file as an .mp3, you’ll also need the LAME encoder, and there is an active YouTube community posting tutorials if you’re having trouble.  If you need (or want) to interview or collaborate with someone not in you location, then you can use Skype, with Skype MP3 Recorder (both are also free).  Skype MP3 Recorder produces an .mp3 of the conversation, which can then be imported to Audacity for editing.  I have colleagues who are using this to conduct international research interviews with great success.

When words aren’t enough, Jing allows you to narrate and capture your screen at the same time.  I’ve used this extensively for online reference calls in an academic library and it not only adds immensely to the answer you give, but also saves time.  Students asking complex database queries would have traditionally received a text response which took about forty-five minutes to write – but using Jing, I could graphically display all of the necessary steps and record the presentation in less than five minutes.  Jing is limited by the lack of editing tools, and a five minute recording maximum – but this is a plus.  If you’re creating quick, one-shot recordings they don’t need to be absolutely perfect, and the five minute limit keeps you focused.  Combine this with Screencast and you’ve now a place to store the recordings.  Rather than send the student a 5MB attachment via email, I could then simply link to the streaming video.    Screencast gives you 2GB of storage for free, and you just need to remember to clean out your account periodically.  I did have a colleague once argue that anything can be described in text alone so I asked them to describe a spiral staircase without using their hands.  The lesson here is that video, when appropriate, is a value-add and my students have been overwhelmingly positive about Jing.

However, if I did want to transfer the 5MB file I mentioned above, email isn’t my first choice.  Dropbox comes on PC, Mac and iDevice of your choice and offers 2GB of storage for free.  As it is cloud-based you can download Dropbox onto all of your devices and access your files from anywhere with an internet connection.  You can also share folders with other people, and get more storage space by persuading others to sign up too (an extra 250MB per person to a maximum of 8GB).  I’ve used this to write journal articles with colleagues at other universities, to keep my conference papers handy and simply to keep reading material at hand no matter where I am.

Obviously, this is only the tip of the iceberg, so I’ll be turning this into a semi-regular column.  If you have any questions about the software we’ve included, or have some suggestions of your own, I’d love to hear from you.  Also, if you’re using any of these tools in innovative ways – drop me a line.  I’m always interested in doing more for free.

elias_daniel, soaring gull, used under a Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Licence.

Adrian Stagg, Learning Technologist

Sue Smith

1.     What is your background?

The diversity of responses you get in answer to this question never ceases to amaze me. There are people who immediately respond with an expose of their professional achievements and there are those who are inclined to a reply of a more personal nature, which usually encompasses a discussion of the places they have lived and their family arrangements. Sue Smith, officially the newest member of the Digital Futures Institute (even newer than me), took account of both her professional and private achievements in response to this question.

“I spent sixteen years working for a bank, twelve months doing temp assignments in Canada, two years admin support in Bundaberg and nine years looking the kids.”

She has since spent two years as a cashier at the University of Southern Queensland and four months at the Digital Futures Institute.

2.     What is your role at ADFI?

Sue is the administration officer for the Digital Future Institute. Although Sue has been at USQ for a couple of years, she is thrilled to have joined the team. Sue jokes that her current role “entails a lot of stuff!”

Sue is responsible for a myriad of duties including making domestic travel arrangements for staff, supporting the development of project proposals and grants (of which we are all very grateful as the NBN deadline looms in the air), stationary and furnishings, to name a few. Sue wasn’t exaggerating when she said that she was in charge of “a lot of things!”

3.     What projects are you most excited about?

After considerable deliberation Sue declares that she is most excited about MONOCEROS (and not just because of the groovy name). This project, which involves the implementation of Virtual Worlds into schools, has, Sue notes, “great potential for children to develop their understanding and knowledge to a higher degree,” which is very close to her heart with two children of her own.

4.     If you could be any superhero, who would it be?

“Wonder Woman, just because she’s sensational!”

After giving it a bit more thought, Sue declares that “I don’t even know what she does” but insists that she needs to be Wonder Woman in order to coordinate her time between work, children and social commitments. As far as I can tell, Sue is doing just fine, even without the barely-there outfit and bright red boots that are synonymous with the comic book hero.

5.     In what ways do you think Universities will be different in ten years’ time?

Sue believes that in the future universities will be “more accessible and affordable because they will lead into the digital age. People will access knowledge from afar and universities will not have to spend money on facilities.”

I wonder if this response is any reflection on Sue’s finance background.

Dr Amy Antonio (Research Associate)

View of the Derwent, Hobart

Last week five members of the Digital Futures team flew to Hobart to participate in ascilite 2011: Changing Demands, Changing Directions. The conference, which lasted for three days, covered a wide range of topics including virtual worlds, social media in education, e-readers, mobile technologies and many more. Between the five of us, we were able to attend a number of the high quality presentations on offer.

On day one of the conference the presentation by Dr Simon So from the Hong Kong Institute of Technology caught my particular attention. He discussed the use of QR codes in education and highlighted some of the ways in which this technology is being used at various institutions. At the University of Bath, for example, the students designed a QR-code of the periodic table of chemical elements. The chemical table can further be changed into an interactive memory game for the students to use.

Penny de Byl’s (of Bond University) presentation “Preserving our past with toys of the future” addressed the issue of how we can use technology to preserve intangible cultural history. She discussed the use of augmented reality as a means of interacting with intangible cultural heritage as it allows people to partake in activities rather than simply receiving flat information. At Bond University, Quartz composer and kinect are being used to teach children Indigenous dances. The children copy the movements of the puppets and the software reports back on their progress.

Day two commenced with a keynote by Simon Buckingham of the Open University, followed by a full-day of presentations, workshops and symposiums. Of note was Vickel Narayan (Institute of Technology) session on “Learner generated content as a pedagogical change agent.” He discussed a number of innovative ideas for education. These included the use of ‘hip hop’ for helping low socio-economic and racially disadvantaged students learn and engage as well as an example of students taking control of their own learning spaces, which involved arranging the furniture in a U-shaped formation rather than rows and columns and engineering students making videos about the processes involved in building a boat.

There was of course, in between all the hard work, a great deal of socialising and networking going on. The social event of the week was the James Bond-themed party which saw everyone dressed in their finest attire and decked out in their feathers and tuxedos. Nevertheless, and a little worse for wear, we reconvened for the final day of the conference if ever so slightly less alert than we had been on the previous two days.

The highlight of day three for me was undoubtedly Kwok-Wing Lai’s (of the University of Otago) presentation on “Using collaborative peer feedback and supervision to support doctoral research at a distance.” After an overview of the attrition rates of higher degree by research students in New Zealand and Canada, he discussed the University of Otago’s strategy for counteracting this high drop-out rate. In a program not dissimilar from our own Shirley Reushle’s Collaborative Community Mentoring Program, the University of Otago have developed a collaborative peer-support and supervision model to support distance doctoral students in New Zealand. The program, which has been operating for four years, has proven successful and contributed to a decrease in the number of doctoral students opting out of their studies.

After a fabulous three days, it was time to board the plane and return to the real world. The ascilite conference was invaluable and has prompted me to produce a paper that I can present at ascilite 2012, which will be held in Wellington, New Zealand.

Dr Amy Antonio

The difference between this and a book is starting to blur



Last time, I spoke about the emotional foundations for the reader experience and also the dilemma faced by the book industry in Australia.  Amazon’s announcement of an 8% decrease in profit against this time last year concerned investors, but the story as to why there is a decrease is far more telling of the book giants’ strategy. With the arrival of the Fire in November, Amazon has dedicated USD $1.6 billion to ensuring that their hardware and software is up to the challenge of delivering content.  They have, quite rightly, made the decision to minimise the profit on each Fire and instead focus on the potential profit of content delivery.

If we revisit my previous point about which is more important for the reader – content or container – it seems Amazon is investing in both, but seeing the future of bookstores in content delivery.

e-Publishing offers a range of opportunities which make texts more accessible, and there are a number of definitions for accessible.  There are the obvious ePub-enabled benefits such as the ability to resize text or access an embedded dictionary, but there are certainly others.  The relative weight comparisons of an eBook reader versus the print counterparts have applications across a broad societal spectrum (from students keeping all of their course materials on one device or replacing heavier Large Print books).

To simply take text and reformat it for online delivery may be appropriate for some texts, but really this is a superficial approach that ignores the additional components available to anyone who wants to create an eBook.

Take a look at only three examples of the possibilities:

• Al Gore’s ‘Our Choice’:  This is a magnificent book and exists at what I consider to be the ‘top end’ of content creation.  Admittedly, very few of us would have the resources to create something quite like this.  However, it gives us examples of location-aware learning, non-linear reading (or reader-initiated discovery) and the clever use of the iPads’ functionality to increase reader engagement (like the wind power exercise).
• H.P. Lovecraft’s Kadath:  Whilst this is a work of fiction, I want you to consider the gamified elements built into this work.  The interactive map links two types of content together logically and coherently, but the quizzes add an extra element of immersion.  As you take clues from the book, the text becomes fuzzier.  By answering questions, you gain points and this unlocks Chapters and gives back clear text.  In essence, the line between playing a game and reading the book is almost completely blurred.
• Inkling is a concept which bears watching very closely.  This company is tackling the e-textbook market, but also creating user communities based around the book, not just the course.  In this way, users can interact with each other and create peer learning networks.  The potential for learner empowerment and self-directed learning is perhaps one of the most powerful outcomes of a project like this.

What these books prove is that the medium can be redefined once untethered from the print.  This isn’t to say that print is dead – just that there are possibilities.

Student engagement has been a focus for the Australian HE sector for quite a number of years and has been the focus of a number of ALTC grants.  Many academic staff at our institution talk about engagement with course materials and maximising the content delivery mechanisms of a course.  It’s very easy to simply create a PDF and put it on your Learning Management System and claim an e-format.  Doing so, however, ignores the possibilities offered by formats like ePub.  Taking the concept one step forward is to enable students to generate their own material for assessment.

The adoption of these types of books in a higher education setting levels clear challenges against how we create content, what we include as part of content, how we distribute it, and then what we can learn by how students interact with it.  I’m very interested to see how eBooks are being adopted across the sector internationally, so I’d welcome any case studies (I might even try to get a ‘guest blog’ out of some of you if you want to spread the word).

What do these examples mean for you?

Creative Tools, CreativeTools.se – PackshotCreator – Game controller, used under a Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Licence.

Adrian Stagg, Learning Technologist

After a tasty conference dinner the night before, day three began with a performance of a piece called Pentaphonics by two studnents of the Queensland Conservatorium. Unfortunately I did not catch their name, but it was a wonderful performance despite a hard drive failure at one point. The music, which blends precomposed music, improvisation, and feedback (with custom software that detects feedback from handheld lights in the audience), was beautiful. It was ambient with a few analogue bleeps thrown in and reminded me somewhat of the work of Brian Eno and the electronic group Orbital.

Next up was a keynote by Ernest Edmonds a leader in the area of interactive art and computer interaction, and Director of Creativity and Cognition Studios, UTS. The title of Ernest’s talk was “Art and Interaction” and he showed some of the work that has been created by the studio. As a constructivist thinker, his work and ideas will always challenge and I will go away and take a closer look.

On to the sessions:

Dr Tim Marsh of James Cook University gave a talk about serious gaming. Serious gaming is a branch of gaming that distinguishes itself by being less about entertainment and more about training, learning, and education. Tim pointed out a few serious games that he has worked on:

Waker from the Singapore-MIT game lab is puzzle/platform game designed for 11-14 year old students to better conceptualise classical physics concepts, e.g. displacement, velocity, etc. As Tim highlighted, this would be an example of a game that uses traditional video game mechanics where as other work that he has done could be seen as experimental environments with fewer gaming characteristics. For this type, Tim showed off an experimental environment being created for the SEMAT project – a project aimed at the remote  monitoring of aquatic and coastal environments. The work being created by Tim’s team is an experimental space that will allow the analysis and modelling of data sent back – it sounds  fantastic and I will follow progress with interest.

The concurrent stream featured a focus on the role of iPads in media production from the visually and aurally stunning Ishq to the immensely entertaining animation ‘Playtime’ by New Zealand Masters student Thomas Verbeeck.  Thomas was both very frank and inspiring in his assessment of the amount of work animation requires and I was astounded that someone would be able to teach themselves to this level of quality.  Discussions about wire-frames and body movement were couched in laymans’ terms and I was saddened that the time constraints didn’t allow for an encore performance of his work.  As he revealed that contacts at Pixar and WETA had critiqued his work, I was led to reflect on how much the New Zealanders had dominated the conference (and recent sporting events).

Overall, the conference was well-organised, the papers of a high quality and the keynotes thought-provoking.  It has given me plenty of new contacts (and a few fruitful meetings already) as well as a ton of new things to consider in my day-to-day job.  It is very hard indeed to think that all of that was fit into only three days.

Neil Martin and Adrian Stagg

Ian is a former New Zealand singer and TV presenter that now runs a world-leading multimedia company called Animation Research Limited. Ian began his talk by reflecting on his upbringing as a Maori living on the East Coast of the North Island where there was no electricity. He is amazed at the high tech world that he now inhabits.

Animation Research Limited was established in 1988 in Dunedin and has provided animation for major sporting events such as The Americas Cup, Formula One, and Ashes Cricket. His animators have also animated news events such as modelling Brisbane in the 2011 floods. Ian showed that a combination of creativity and technology can achieve great feats. I was particularly amazed at a demonstration of an air traffic control simulation environment that his team had put together – for example conditions in rainy situations.

Ian is particularly excited about the potential of augmented reality and at the end of his talk demonstrated a couple of iPad apps that shows how one can view Louis Vuitton shoes in three dimensional animation when placed over a magazine advert. It is certainly something we will be following closely as the application and impact of augmented reality become clearer.

Other highlights of the day included:

• A panel discussion on place and creativity emphasised that purpose designed spaces, both in physical and virtual places, are vital in terms of constructing creative environments.
• An exploration of the iPad as a musical instrument. Jamie Gabriel of MacQuarie Univeristy highlighted the advantages of using the iPad as a musical instrument and demonstrated how it can do things in terms of composition that traditional instruments such as piano and guitar cannot do, which is due basically to physics. Jamie has written an app that he believes shows that the iPad can be viewed as an instrument in its own right.
• Using an iPad in assessment of student live performance. Julia Wren of Edith Cowan University showed how the mobility and functionality of the iPad has made it possible to assess Performing Arts students in real time and through peer assessment. The iPad is used to film performance and using ipsative assessment – the students performance can be compared over two different time periods – e.g. from one semester to the other. A really cool thing about the app that has been created for the purposes of assessment, is that students can get feedback that tells them what they need to do to improve their performance to achieve a higher score in the next assessment. Additionally, the criteria of assessment have been agreed with their peer group through the use of clicker technology that allowed fellow students to understand what standards are expected based on videos of the previous year’s cohort.
• Using gamification to show relatedness of museum objects. This was a demonstration by Catherine Styles of the National Museum of Australia of an iPad game called Sembl that allows school students to compare the relatedness of objects in museums. For example handcuffs and a Welsh Organ were offered as a challenge with (one child making the insighful connection that they both have keys, but have very different functions. As a board game the challenge is for the students to find unique attributes shared between disparate objects in the museums and by making new links move forward to the next round of the game.) The feedback from both students, teachers and curators has been overwhelmingly positive.
• iOS app development in a New Zealand national park. Grant Baxter of the University of Otago showed how design students responded to the question “How can iPhone/iPad technology be used by visitors to New Zealand national parks?” Grant highlighted some of the traps that students fell into in terms of design such as losing sight of functionality over aesthetics. However, a couple of apps are being moved into production one of which a bird conservation app looks very interesting. Grant showed how mobile technology can enhance the discover experience in a national park through location awareness and information sharing – so watch this space.

All in all, another (truly) enlightening day. What will tomorrow bring?

Neil Martin and Adrian Stagg

Opening Remarks

What better way to start but to talk about change and challenge? The AUC Chair, Tony Grey (University of Tasmania) succinctly summed up the external environment for higher education as indicated by:

• a steady or declining amount of funding for Higher Education
• a decrease in the number of traditional computer labs (and an increased reliance on ‘bring your own device’)
• an increase in the use and acceptance of the ePub format and a similar increase in the use of platform-agnostic open source software
• and an increase in expectations of ubiquitous wifi on campus, which will impact on the way services are delivered and students are supported.

All of these challenges require a degree of re-conceptualising, flexibility, creativity and community in order to create a viable future for higher education, not only in Australia, but worldwide. A fitting start to the conference, indeed.

Musical Performance

Next up was a performance of electronic music by New South Wales collective, Tralala Blip. The performers have a range of disabilities and use iPads, Apple technology and digital and analogue music technology to create a unique musical expression. They received a great reception from the audience for their original compositions.

Creatively designed degrees?

The afternoon session ‘Evolving tools, teaching and methods in technology enabled learning’ from Judit Klein (AUT) continued this theme. Technology, like education, she argues, is in a constant state of change and interaction with both is a personal experience. The point was raised that students starting a degree now will have to be prepared to use technologies and apply for jobs that don’t yet exist. 

For universities, expectations regarding resources are changing. Traditionally, students have been directed to primarily print-based learning resources, but this is increasingly changing to multimedia resources. Additionally, higher education is becoming more inter-disciplinary, which means that resources need to be viewed from a university rather than Faculty level.

The interesting point about the on-campus experience for the AUT Bachelor of Creative Technology Degree was that physical space was shared by first to third year students who are able to collaborate, mentor and create together, an opportunity which does not occur in most universities.

In many ways, this is a work environment similar to the Australian Digital Futures Institute – we have an open-plan creative space where academic and professional staff work together around project needs rather than management reporting lines. There should be more focus on transferable skills such as problem-solving and teamwork within an industry context, rather than a pure content focus.

Digital Photography

The day was rounded up by Tom Ang. Tom shows that the notion of sharing is alive and well in the photography world with Flickr reporting 3000 photos uploaded per minute, while Facebook users upload a total of 200 million photos per day.

The social history of the image stretches back to 1854, when the Emperor Napolean III and Queen Victoria popularized the photographic image. (This goes to show that mainstreaming of technology that requires a ‘celebrity’ backer is certainly nothing new).

Kodak, we are shown, built their business empire on making the equipment for photography cheap and accessible, and making profit from the processing and supply of the content (perhaps the same business model as the Kindle Fire?).

The accessibility of the technology, coupled with ease of use, made photography viable for amateur hobby enthusiasts – and in our lifetime we have seen a similar change in a number of technologies. The digitisation of a traditionally print-based medium (the photograph) was a one-to-one social interaction.

By digitising photos their social impact increases. It is possible therefore, for a wide audience to enjoy, use or discuss the image more widely. This dissemination does not diminish the quality of the content, but rather this sharing makes the image more accessible.

In the same way, one can reasonably track these changes to information resources. The continual move to commodify information is problematic as once information is shared, it can be further shared without diminishing the content – but I would argue that the information is only worth something once it has been shared, used, and subsequently re-used.

This notion defies traditional business models, so approaches like Kodak’s and Amazon’s are the only viable solutions to commercialising content. My question, therefore, given the ubiquity of information, is what should universities truly be focused upon?

Tom states, ‘the only good image is the used image’ and this captures the sentiment perfectly. The aim of the photo is to act as visual DNA, moving through the web, looking for the perfect mate so that something new and unique can be created. The same applies to information.

For me then, the message is clear. From today, I’ll be taking away a broader view of the education environment and the surety that the future will involve some risk-taking, collaboration and a lot of creativity.

You can follow the conference via Twitter (#cw11), or via the conference website.

Adrian Stagg and Neil Martin

Group photo

On the 27^th and 28^th of October I participated in the Virtual University Collaboration known as ENCKE. This collaboration was conducted in Second Life which is, for those of you who are unfamiliar with Second Life, an online virtual world in which the users, called residents, interact with each other as avatars. I know many of you are probably thinking of James Cameron’s successful 2009 film of the same name but basically, in Second Life, the user is represented as an avatar who can take any form you choose, which need not be a ten-foot-tall, blue-skinned creature from the planet Pandora.

Organised by Dr Helen Farley, this successful online collaboration brought together people from sixteen different institutions from around the world. This collaboration, which was held on USQ Island, comprised of five plenary speakers who discussed, in some form or other, the application and benefits of Second Life for higher education.

The first plenary speaker of the two-day collaboration was Anna Peachey from Open University who discussed the ‘Challenges and Opportunities for University Teaching and Learning in Second Life’. While the USQ contingent sipped lattes in the computer lab at a civilised 9am, we sympathised with Anna who was presenting from the US at one in the morning.

Helen relaxing

In preparation for the day’s second presentation I manoeuvred my avatar to an available bean bag. Let me just say that Katerina Sylvester (my avatar) was a lot more comfortable lounging in front of the virtual slide show than our little group was in a sweltering S107 which, I am pleased to announce, has since had its air conditioning system attended to.

The second plenary, ‘Learning: a social, group based process’, was presented by Stephen Bronack from Clemson University. Steve commenced his presentation with a discussion of ‘traditional’ teaching methods as singular learning experiences and text books as dead-tree technology. With reference to Marc Prensky’s digital natives, Steve explained that ‘Gen V’ expect everything to be as intuitive as the iPad and that singular teaching and learning experiences  are therefore insufficient for this budding demographic. Second Life is thus a great platform to broaden the way that this generation learns things and interacts with each other.

Amanda Hassett from Top Dingo discussed ‘Building in Second Life’, which rounded out day one of the online collaboration. After a successful day of workshops, tours, teleporting and report back, we returned to our first, real lives for the night before reconvening on USQ Island the following morning.

Amanda on building in Second Life

Michael Callaghan and Kerri McCusker from the University of Ulster kicked off day two of the in-world meeting with a discussion on ‘Practical experiences in designing and building educational sims’. With a particular focus on engineering, Michael and Kerri discussed the application of gaming to engineering education.

After the day’s first plenary our large group of avatars divided into 3 groups and teleported to different places on the island for small group discussions that dealt with three specific topics—bots, mentoring and games. After an hour of brainstorming we reconvened on USQ Island to share our ideas. After an exchange of information and a plan to expand on the ideas in the coming months, the avatars settled in for the final plenary of the virtual collaboration.

Although this collaboration was held in Second Life, this is not the only virtual world available to educators. Thus Kyle Gomboy of Reaction Grid discussed possible alternatives to Second Life which included Unity 3D and Jibe.

The great thing about ENCKE, and what differentiates it from other conferences, is the collaborative nature of the event. Although the two day event has been and gone, the collaboration will continue for an extended three month period during which time a number of workshops will be held to put the ideas discussed into practice. The virtual world will be an ongoing collaborative space to allow for construction and testing of applications of virtual world technologies to teaching and learning.

Dr Amy Antonio

Gilly Salmon at ALT-C

Simon recently visited  the eLearn Center at the Universitat Oberta de Catalunya in Barcelona and shares some reflections from the trip. The Australian Digital Futures Institute would like to thank Simon for taking the time to post his throughts on the Starlog.

eLC is located on the sixth floor of one of Barcelona’s most high-tech buildings

I was recently awarded a Santander Travel Grant to visit the eLearn Centre (eLC)  at the Universitat Oberta de Catalunya (UOC ), Barcelona.

The stipulations of the grant meant I had to visit an institution in a Spanish-speaking country, and eLC in Spain was at the top of my list. That Barcelona is my favourite European city wasn’t a factor, and certainly it was purely coincidental that my wife’s sister lives there. Neither did the breath-taking architecture of Gaudi have anything to do with my choice!

In many ways, eLC is similar to Beyond Distance Research Alliance, where I work. It has a mix of researchers and technologists, and runs (or has run) a number of learning innovation projects. The activity-based pedagogy that underpins the UOC educational model is very similar to the e-tivities used in our own Carpe Diem workshop.

UOC is an open, wholly online university. It has around 54,000 registered students, traditionally in the 35-50 age group but with increasing numbers in the 18-25 bracket (a trend mirrored at the UK’s Open University).

Screen grab taken from the Virtual Campus video

At the heart of UOC is the Virtual Campus  and specifically My UOC, a customisable learning environment where learners engage with each other and their tutors, as well as access course material and learning resources.

UOC also has a strong culture of openness, and is part of the OpenCourseware Consortium.

With 11 meetings in three days, I came away exhausted and impressed, and returned with many ideas that we could apply in our transition to a new department and role within the university.

As a learning technologist, I was deeply envious of the centrality of the digital world in teaching and learning. For example, all course materials are initially formatted in XML through a well-structured institutional workflow, which of course offers a wealth of opportunity for searching and archiving material, as well as generating new resources in audio and video. I compare that to the over-reliance on uploading MS Word and PDF files to a virtual learning environment found in most campus universities.

UOC has also successfully developed My UOC for smart phones as a fully functional learning platform rather than a simple ‘you have a new message’ alert system. In effect, the learner can engage with his or her course without having to use a tethered computer. The audio and video resources generated from the XML work seamlessly on the smart phone without the use of proprietary software.   

But overall, I was reassured by the similarities between us, especially the commitment to engage with technology to enhance the learning experience for an increasingly heterogeneous learner demographic.  And I see the same with the work of  the Australian Digital Futures Institute, whose Starship Phoenix is exploring the ways that new technologies can enhance learning and teaching.

As a postscript, we currently have Professor Terry Anderson  of Athabasca University  in Canada staying with us for a few days as part of a new OER university project (read more about the OERu concept on my colleague’s project website ). Terry has come to us directly from his visit to UOC.  Athabasca University  is another leader in distance education similar to University of Leicester, UOC and USQ.

I learned much from my visit to Barcelona, and I hope our two institutions have further cemented our means for further collaboration, for example as potential project partners. These linkages are important for exploiting natural synergies, and part of a broader association that includes all four of our institutions.

The gates of Park Güell with a view over Barcelona to the Mediterranean Sea

And the weather in Park Güell  was fantastic!

Simon Kear, Senior Learning Technologist, Beyond Distance Research Alliance, University of Leicester

The evolution of the eBook reader

We’ve blogged quite a lot about eBooks and ePubs this week following the Paperless Pedagogy workshop on Monday. It therefore makes sense to share some of the resources passed onto to us at the event:

First up, O’Reilly  Media have released a free downloadable eBook called “What is EPub 3? – An Introduction to the EPUB Specification for Multimedia Publishing”. It offers a great overview of the spec and what is now possible – including embedded audio and video, and increased interactivity.

ePubs can be integrated with  Learning Management Systems – here is a video explaining how to make an eBook chapter available through Blackboard.

Curtin University Library have been collecting increasing number of eBooks in the last five years. They have written an interesting paper reflecting on patterns of usage and strategies for the future.

Inkling create interactive eBooks for the iPad. They confidently believe that they are redefining what a text book is. It will be interesting to see how successful their business model will be – which will be dependent on pricing and publishing deals.

Neil Martin (Learning Technologist, Co-Pilot)

Image Credit: jblyberg, Evolution of Readers, used under a Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic Licence.

Is there a future for the paper books and bookstores?

As mentioned in a previous blog entry, I had the pleasure of attending the ‘Paperless Pedagogy’ Workshop run by the AUC.  As a former librarian, I’ve been quite keen to be involved in ADFI’s eBook projects.  What I have noticed in the several years of different projects at both public and academic libraries is that the eBook conversation is capable of morphing into many different beasts.  My aim in a short series of posts will be to look at some of these.

Around the same time as the Workshop, I caught the 1991 movie ‘Toy Soldiers’.  The premise is very simple – an exclusive Boy’s School is taken over by a heavily armed group of drug dealers who try to ransom one of their number from the US Government.  As the siege continues, the boys continue classes out on the green and it is during one of these classes the Headmaster holds up a book.  ‘The men here will go away and cease to matter’ he says. ‘But this will outlast them – this will endure’ (or words to that effect).

I’m certainly not going to espouse the belief that paper books are going to disappear completely – I’d be highly sceptical of it happening within my lifetime – but a twenty-year-old quote is certainly being challenged. 

Australia has had a tumultuous year in terms of the book industry.  Within weeks of each other, Borders, and Angus & Robertson announced closure of all stores.  In total, over 2500 employees and 250 stores were closed across the nation.  Of course, the media gave us soundbites of concerned shoppers who all spoke about the future of the book – but online was a completely different story as bloggers posted about Amazon and BookDepository which shifted the debate to pricing, rather than a love of books.

Whenever I have spoken to people (especially during a previous life in a public library) there is always a strong emotional undertone to the discussion of eBooks.  About eight years ago when our Library trialled an early eBook reader, borrowers spoke about glare, portability, that a ‘real’ book didn’t need recharging or simply that they ‘felt wrong’ (one patron insisted he wouldn’t use eBooks as they didn’t smell right).

At the heart of the issue is what the O’Reilly Media book What is ePub3? eloquently describes as the “ephemeral ‘reading experience’”.   How people interact with books, and what they expect from a reading experience is individual.  Many of us can recall a favourite childhood book, or a particularly striking piece of literature.  I mostly read fiction outside of work – because my interest lies in how playfully, insightfully or intelligently an author can evoke language.  Neil Gamian’s American Gods, Cormac McCarthy’s The Road or Neal Stephenson’s Snow Crash are all fine examples where the evocation of language is just as important as the story.

For me, then, is it the content, or the container which is more important?  After using the Kindle for a month now, I’m inclined to weigh in on the side of content.  Whilst I love the feel of a hardcover book, the Kindle delivers a comparable experience.  I’m not going to suddenly replace the five hundred or so books I own with e-copies, but I’ll be considering buying some items in e-format in the future.  The argument shouldn’t be an either/or for print or eBook, but rather a conversation around print and eBook.  This rings true for the inclusion of technology, especially in a broader, societal context – provide the end user with a range of options and let them interact comfortably. 

The ePub format impacts on this concept of the ‘reader experience’ and in many ways offers the end user more opportunities.  Next week, I’ll explore some book apps and titles which are redefining what a book is, and how people can use them – and also discuss how easy it is for user-generated eBooks to see publication.

In my next post, I will discuss  how eBooks can go beyond the traditional reader experience and engage people in new ways.

Adrian Stagg (Learning Technologist (Co-Pilot)

Image: Mal Booth, Bookstore in Denver, used under a Creative Commons Attribution NonCommercial NoDerivs 2.0 Licence.

Dr Shirley Reushle

The day before conducting my weekly interview on a member of the ADFI team, I forewarned Shirley Reushle (mission leader for digital communities) that she was the subject of this week’s blog post. “Schedule some time for the interview tomorrow morning”, she said. Despite my best intentions, I forgot and at 10:00am this morning I was steering Shirley into her office. “It will only take seven minutes tops”, I assured her…

1.     What is your background?

Shirley commenced her career as a primary school teacher after completing a Diploma in Teaching at USQ. After nine years she took a year off to travel overseas, during which time she met John, who is now her husband. Shirley took a six year career break but fortunately, she returned to USQ in 1992 as an instructional designer. She then assumed a lecturing position in flexible learning in the faculty of education, followed by a senior lecturing position in the online pedagogies division. Shirley was a principle advisor of learning and teaching in the division of ICT services before she was poached by ADFI as the manager of enhanced learning projects.

Perhaps it is Shirley’s modesty or else her urgency to get the interview over and done with and me out of her office, but Shirley neglected to mention both her Masters and Doctorate in Education, which she completed at USQ between 1992 and 2005. Lucky for Shirley, I have done my homework and am more than happy to brag about her academic achievements.

2.     What is your role at ADFI?

Shirley is currently the mission leader for digital communities.

3.     What projects are you most excited about?

“Retirement!” she laughs. “Well, john’s retirement at least.”

On the home-front, Shirley is busy planning her husband’s retirement but on the work-front, Shirley is excited about collaboration in digital communities. She is also looking forward to using frameworks and technologies to enable global collaboration.

Perhaps I should have been more specific when I asked Shirley what projects she was excited about. I was really looking for an answer that highlighted the specific projects she is working on at ADFI. Shirley is involved in The Follow the Sun conference that will be held in March 2012 and the Pegasus project.

4.     If you could be any superhero, who would it be?

Without a moment’s hesitation Shirley declares that she would be Superwoman. “She is someone that women aspire to be as they juggle family, work, and personal life. We are all trying to be Superwoman. I think I try to be Super-mum, which is sometimes a difficult job, especially when you welcome new members into the family…like girlfriends”, Shirley jokes. “My friends tell me, you’re not Superwoman, Shirl.”  “No, but I wish I was!”

5.     In what ways do you think Universities will be different in ten years’ time?

“Let’s just say that my hope is that flexibility will have been truly embraced. But, having worked in universities for twenty years, seeing ideas cycling and recycling through, knowing how slowly things move in universities, I’m not sure that’s what we will have achieved in ten years’ time.”

Shirley then refers me to the following quote by Carl Raschke, which she believes epitomises the rate of change in the higher education sector.  Despite significant cultural, social, economic, and political revolutions, higher education…

“does not look or function  much differently from the way it did in the 1920s.”

(Carl Raschke)

Shirley concludes by saying that “I’d like to see more action—the mantra of Nike… Just do it!”

Dr Amy Antonio, Mission Achiever

ePUB is an open eBook format

Adrian and I attended the “Paperless Pedagogy” workshop yesterday at Queensland University of Technology, Kelvin Grove campus. The event was organised by the Apple University Consortium and centred around the creation and distribution of eBooks using the ePUB standard.

ePUB is a free and open standard for eBooks. It allows eBooks to be displayed and manipulated on a number of devices including Android and iOS devices (although unfortunately not Kindle – let’s hope that changes in the future). The latest version of ePUB (ePUB3) has real potential as it allows creators to add multimedia and interactive features.

The workshop began with an overview of the electronic book and how it is slowly being leveraged for educational purposes, both in the creation of open content and in the academic publishing market. We then learned how to create ePUB content using a number of different tools. A particular highlight for me was a presentation by Paul Cowan of Waikato University who explained how it is possible to workflow the creation of ePUB content with standardised styling, interactive content and output to RSS feeds.

Here’s five other things that were really helpful to know:

1. ePubs can be created quite easily using Pages for the Mac.
2. Calibre is a feature rich piece Open Source software that allows the easy production of eBooks and is well worth experimenting with.
3. ePUBs can be created on an iPad using Creative Book Builder.
4. It is quite possible for ePUB content to be downloadable from Learning Management Systems such as Moodle and Blackboard – great for mobile learning.
5. ePUB can be distributed through RSS. This offers great opportunities in terms of creating subscribable content such as newsletters. RSS also enables ePUB content to be available on iTunes U.

All in all an extremely rewarding event. Adrian and I would like to express our thanks to all the speakers for such an illuminating day.

Neil Martin, Learning Technologist (Co-Pilot)

Image Credit: nestor galina, book, used under a Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic Licence.

3D and Google Earth could have some significant possibilities for digital preservation.

As usual, we’ve cast the net widely this week and explored a range of topics from Innovation Sustainability, 3D on the Web, Connectivism and Student Voice.  I will take the opportunity to remind you, though, that not all the content in our Diigo account ends up in a SETI post.  If you’d like to follow our trends in content, just visit:   http://www.diigo.com/user/adfiusq

Until next week!

• Connectivism and Personal Learning ~ Stephen’s Web

“Keynote presentation delivered to Charles University Prague, Online, vie DimDim, to Prague. Connectivism as a pedagogical theory is typically thought of in terms of networks – the making and traversing of connections. But the major practical implication of connectivism occurs in the organization of learning events and resources. Unlike traditional educational modalities, in which people work collaboratively, in a connectivist model, people work cooperatively”

• JISC Sustaining and Embedding Innovations / Welcome

Covering cultural and organisational change and (re)designing startegies, processes and services, this JISC toolkit dynamically collects good practice in the area of sustaining and embedding innovation.  As a Cloudworks project, this resource allows users to contribute their own ideas and practice, which makes this resource especially valuable.

• Study’s the name of the game

Rewards for explosions at school?  That’s one scheme underlying the gamification of science classes at Northern Beaches Christian School.  The article also discusses the basics fo gamification theory and the possibilities of transforming education in schools.

• Facilitating Learner Voice and Presence in the Classroom Using Mobile Devices « User Generated Education

A short blog case study of using mobile devices in the classroom to build student engagement with a course.

• 3D Web hits the big time: Google Maps on WebGL | Deep Tech – CNET News

This blog post discusses the impact of 3D buildings rendered into Google Maps.  I question whether there are links between a project like this and the role of the internet in digital preservation of historic sites?  Combine Google Earth with a virtual tour and we could have a project of historical significance.

Adrian Stagg, Learning Technologist (Co-Pilot)

Image Credit: nyaa_birdies_perch, Stonehenge, used under a Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic Licence.

The concept of 'mobile first' has very much taken off. Where can it take your course?

A couple of years ago in a previous life I blogged about the “Mobile Future” and how as a Web Services team we were reacting to these changes. Since then the mobile web has mainstreamed at a pace that few imagined,  no doubt catalysed by the huge success of of the iPad. Between 2009 and 2010 global mobile data use tripled and Cisco predicts it will grow further by a factor of 26 by 2015.

In 2009 the general thinking was focussed on adapting the web to mobile devices – restyling websites and creating apps, but now there is a growing movement of web developers who believe that the ” mobile first” approach is the way forward given the changing way people are accessing the web.

Web strategist Luke Wroblewski in his new book “Mobile First” suggests that with the explosion of mobile devices, a “Mobile First” strategy offers new opportunites to engage target audiences by providing a better overall experience than they would otherwise have had tethered to a desktop browser. Facebook and Google have embraced this approach with the user experience firmly based around smartphones and tablets rather than the desktop.

In the Learning Management System arena,  mobile delivery is taken very seriously. Blackboard have a number of mobile products and the open source Moodle community have created apps to work with Moodle 2.1.

The opportunities this offers to both educators and students will take time to fully realise.  By combining both good learning design and a great mobile user experience, universities are given a chance to reconceptualise the way in which they teach.  The big question though is how to best harness mobile learning, which embraces and recognises the possible inclusion of location-based learning and collaborative, user-generated content.  Whilst these are only two examples of how content and assessment can be redesigned with this ethos, they show that the principles of good technology and educational design are actually quite similar – it’s a good start to put the user (or learner) in the centre of the design.

Neil Martin, Learning Technologist (Co-Pilot)

Image Credit: Flightlog, Hot air balloon, used under a Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic Licence.

Neil Martin, Learning Technologist (Co-Pilot)

When the task of profiling the members of the ADFI team was assigned to me, I initially intended to interview each of the mission leaders sequentially. Unfortunately, I am down to the wire and the mission leaders for digital communities and openness are MIA. Serves me right for leaving things to the last minute!

In my frantic search for a replacement subject for this week’s interview (no one seems to be available today), I approached Neil Martin with trepidation. “Isn’t there anyone else?” he asked me. I assured him that no one had time to spare, to which he promptly informed me that he had precisely twelve minutes to offer. I was going to have to get through my routine questionnaire in a hurry!

1. What is your background?

“Well, I’m English.” Not exactly the answer I had in mind, but probably as good a place as any to start given Neil’s previous working experience in the UK. Neil worked for the teaching and learning department at the University of Bedfordshire, where he contributed to research in computer-assisted assessment and Web accessibility standards. He then worked for University College London (UCL), first as a web officer and then as web manager. In 2010, Neil migrated with his family to Australia. His wife joined the USQ team as part of the psychology department and Neil joined ADFI shortly thereafter.

2. What is your role at ADFI?

Neil is a learning technologist co-pilot. The blank look on my face obviously betrays what I am secretly thinking—what on earth is a learning technologist? Fortunately, Neil expands: “I seek out new information technologies and look at how we can repurpose existing technologies to assist teaching and learning at USQ.”

3. What projects are you most excited about?

“iTunes U”, is Neil’s enthusiastic response. “I worked on the iTunes U project at UCL (who were, incidentally, one of the first European universities to implement iTunes U) and you can see its impact in terms of how the university sees itself in the digital age, with learners extending well beyond the campus itself.”

4. If you could be any superhero, who would it be?

After agreeing to the parameters of this question (Neil and I reached a mutual agreement that it had to be a comic book superhero) Neil replies, “Batman! He gets things done through stealth”, is Neil’s justification for his choice of superhero. Neil observes that Batman is a “man of principle, who gets his own way. I’d like to get my own way”, Neil laments, “But I never do though!” Sounds familiar?

5. In what ways do you think universities will be different in ten years’ time?

“Formal learning in lecture theatres will no longer be central to the learning experience.” Neil also predicts an increase in mobile learning and personalised learning, which depends on whether emerging technologies, such as the semantic web, take off.

Dr Amy Antonio, Mission Achiever