Learn 4 Life

Looking at the Scottish Learning Festival audio and video centre in Second Life

As you know Learn 4 Life is hosting Connected Live at the Scottish Learning Festival for the whole of this year.

If you want to beam into Second Life and look around the two spaces - one for looking at audio and video podacasts and one for discussion then download Second Life and head on down to the Connected Live space.

Once you get there - here is a quick primer in how to set up your Second Life Client to see the audio and video.

When your avatar arrives at the Connected Live space in Second Life you will want to be able to see the videos and hear the audio podcasts. Bear in mind you will need to have QuickTime software already installed on your comuter for watching video and a MP3 player to listen to the audio. You will also have to set up your Second Life software to be able to read these formats - don’t worry it is a one off process.

So here is how to do it:

On the top menu click on the word Edit and you will get a drop down of several options.

Go to the very last option and highlight and click on the word Preferences - a window like this will then pop up.

Click on the Audio and Video tab to highlight it and then you will see options similar to the ones above.

Make sure you have all the boxes with streaming and audio preferences clicked so that your computer can now read these. Then click the blue Apply button and then the OK button.

Now you are ready to enter the Connected Live area of the Learn 4 Life Island and begin to play the media in there.

On the floor you will see several white ellipses with the Connected Live Logo. When your avatar steps onto one of these either a video or audio button will pop up at the bottom of your screen. At the moment the centre is wired up mainly for MP3 s and links through to video web pages but over time there will be video direct in this space.

On entering the Conected Live space you can pick up your free Connected Live T Shirt for your avatar - just click on the vending machine.

Click on the pictures of the blog either side of the entrance and you will be taken to web pages on the Connected Live site.

Walk onto any of the ellipses and you will see an Audio control popup in your bottom menu (circled in red below). If you have already turned on your audio control and pressed the play button, as you walk from ellipse to ellipse you will hear the different archived podcasts. Just click on the Click for Info sign to be taken to a web page with details of the broadcast.

In one corner of the space is this picture:

Click on this and you will be offered the option of going to the Blip TV archive of Video Podcasts for the show.

Lastly if you click on any of the photos you will be offered an otion to be taken to a webpage with archived video. There is also information about the vids on the Click for Info signs below each picture.

On your way out there is an automatically updated podcast listener that you need to click onto to be offered a choice of the latest podcasts from Connected Live.

But one of the coolest things in the space is the discussion table - every time a new person sits down another chair appears as if by magic there are up to 40 seating positions.

SO pop along and make yourself at home - look at the videos, listen to the podcasts and sit down to chat - you never know who you’ll meet !

Interview with Doug Belshaw

In my last interview of the summer with key individuals in the Educational Web 2.0 world I talked with the amazing Doug Belshaw.

Not only does he write an amazingly detailed practitioner blog
http://teaching.mrbelshaw.co.uk/, he is one of the leading lights behind the revolutionary NextGen Teachers Web 2.0 Ning social networking group and he also manages to do all this and cope with newly acquired fatherhood.

I have a lot of respect for his determination and vision. This country needs more teachers like Doug and they should be set up as examples of how to do it for the new generation of ultra professional teachers who are totally dedicated to their craft.

Doug Belshaw is currently a ‘Teacher of Humanities’ at Ridgewood School in Doncaster, an engineering specialist school, and very successful academically with 80% A*-C at GCSE last year. His one-year maternity-cover contract for this academic year has been extended to next and after that, he is hoping to be appointed Head of Department somewhere…

Doug has a very deep insight into how ICT, Web 2.0 and Social Networking technologies can be used in school from a practitioner perspective. If you are a teacher who has started out down this road listen to Doug speaking about his experiences here.

http://blip.tv/file/get/Learn4life-InterviewWithDougBelshaw249.mp3

Interview with David Wilcox

In the second of 3 key interviews this summer with individuals who have a very deep insight into the new social networking technologies - I interviewed David Wilcox. He has a wonderful blog called Designing for Civil Society.
He has been looking at the same kind of groundswell of activities in various different sectors involving Web 2.0 and social networking technologies. I was particularly drawn to his blog entry E-learning, Web 2.0…and games as mud maps which, for me, had several very relevant insights into the the whole process of social media and personalisation.

David has the benefit of working in several not for profit arenas and has a much wider scope than education but as you will hear in the interview there are lots of parallels.

Listen to the podacast below.

http://blip.tv/file/get/Learn4life-InterviewWithDavidWilcox505.mp3

Interview with Mark Berthelemy

Last August I sat down to talk with key practitioners and thinkers on use of Web 2.0 and professional development in schools. One of the most interesting people with the greatest scope of experience and insight is Mark Berthelemy, Learning Solutions Architect, Capita Learning and Development. He had some fascinating things to say about the whole process of CPD in schools. The discussion ranged over many topics and his expertise and research in this field is second to none.

Have a listen to the podcast here or play the file at the end of the entry. http://blip.tv/file/get/Learn4life-InterviewWithMarkBerthelemy612.mp3