eLearning stuff

Ed Bremner asked how the EEE joins up with Google Docs, and the answer is…….simply excellent. In “easy mode” the EEE offers the user a series of tabbed pages (Favorites, Internet, Work, Learn, Play and Settings) instead of the usual Desktop type interface.

The Internet tab has a Google Docs icon

So……click on the icon and Firefox opens up taking you straight to Google Docs. I know it’s only a preloaded link in a Browser but it’s a simple but effective way of accessing Google Docs.

We are using Google Docs as part of the JISC funded UsPaCe project so mobile access is worth us looking into. The EEE is great when in a Wireless zone (especially after I got it working with Eduroam) so tried to get it linked by Bluetooth to my SPV700 as I’m in plenty of locations without wireless coverage and want to use my phone as a modem.

So far no luck, but it looks like getting the EEE to link to the SPV700 is the next thing on the list.

Tags:   ASUS 1000 EEE · Google Docs · GPRS · Modem · SPV700No Comments.

So……..the first thing to do with the ASUS was to get online with it - and at this point I found an issue connecting to Eduroam. The ASUS connected straight away to my network at home but getting it to work with Eduroam took a couple of days of trial and error. The reason why my ASUS EEE wouldn’t connect to Eduroam is that in the default setup Xandros does not support protocols such as WPA-EAP (Enterprise). 

If you’ve got an ASUS EEE the first port of call has to be www.eeeuser.com and its forum - forum.eeeuser.com. A search of the forum resulted in a link to the site’s wiki and an article about  Advanced WPA configuration on the default Xandros

Although the wiki article reports on changes needed for the ASUS EEE 701 it was a good starting point for getting my ASUS sorted out. The 701 comes with an Atheros 802.11b/802.11g wireless LAN mini PCI-E card , whereas my 1000 has a Ralink card, this is worth noting as the Advanced WPA configuration wiki page refers to the Atheros card. The advantage of the Ralink is that there was no need to install any additional drivers (whereas 701 users have had to install madwifi drivers).

 The steps undertaken to get the Eduroam working with the 1000 were:

1. Download and install the wpa_supplicant files (the easy part)
2. Create a wpa_supplicant.conf_xxxx file (required a fair bit of trial and error)
3. Create a New Network Configuration
4. Modify the interfaces file (needed changing to be compatible with the Ralink card)

  [Read more →]

Tags:   Asus EEE 1000 · Atheros · Eduroam · Ralink · Wireless · WPA supplicant · Xandros7 Comments

It’s surprising where stuff turns up. Yesterday I blogged for the first time in ages as I’m trying to record my experiences moving into an ASUS EEE PC, using LINUX and reducing the bloated digital lifestyle I currently have.

What started off as a simple blog post came back to haunt me as I’d forgotten what feeds and syndication I had running.

As a member of the JISC EMERGE community I have a blog on the EMERGE site, I don’t use it but did set it up to pull a feed from this blog to allow me to publish any EMERGE related stuff to the EMERGE site. The idea was that I had the feed disabled most of the time and would only have the feed running if/when I was posting something that applied to the EMERGE community, but I forgot about this and the feed was switched on, thus the last blog post ended up on the EMERGE site.

The EMERGE team then Twitter about the blog posts from the EMERGE site so my blog post on the EMERGE site ended up in the Twitterverse…….

I had also Twittered about the blog post forgetting that my Twitter feed updated my Facebook status and was also a feed to this Blog. The process can be seen here:

So what’s the problem with the syndication?

I’ve realised that the original post is now on two sites, both of which have the ability to add comments. Twittering also means I could get feedback, and as I have the Twitter feed updating my Facebook status there’s another route for others to comment.

Is this a bad thing? It could be if I ever post something that might attract more than a couple of comments as I’m going to have the comments and feedback in multiple places.

It would be nice to have all these together in one place as having a few comments in 3 separate places is probably not that useful, but all the comments together could add something more.

So the feed to my EMERGE blog is now disabled as I’d rather that site just had posts relevant to EMERGE projects. I’ll leave the Twitter feed updating my Facebook status as was interesting to get the comment from a non-techie Facebook friend.

Tags:   blogging · EMERGE · RSS · syndication · TwitterNo Comments.

Having been involved in a number of projects using open source software (such as UsPaCe using Elgg, UPlace using DSpace and the BJHEinFE using Open Journal System) I got the thinking that it could be possible to move over to a totally OS lifestyle. Discussion with JISC’s Lawrie Phipps and my own experience working with partner colleges delivering HEinFE found that FE colleges are thinking about going down the OS route and the HE sector may follow.

So what are the advantages? The main one has to be the potential savings on software licences.

Is there an easy way into Open source? There is via devices such as the ASUS EEE PC. So I’m now the proud owner of an ASUS EEE 1000 and am on the verge of seeing if I can adopt an OS lifestyle after many years of PC usage that goes back to MS-DOS 3.2, Windows 2  through Windows 3 (with a brief excursion into OS/2 in the early 1990s), Windows 3.1 for Workgroups, Windows NT3, NT3.51, NT4.0, Windows 95, 98, 2000 and XP.

The ASUS EEE 1000 turned up today - the 40GB SSD version with LINUX and a range of OS application installed. The specification includes

• Intel® Atom N270 Processor
• Wireless Data Network WLAN: 802.11 n
• Bluetooth
• Memory 1GB (DDR2)
• Hybird Storage 40GB Solid State Drive
• 60GB Eee Storage
• Audio Hi-definition Audio
• Stereo speaker
• Digital Array Mic
• Battery Up to 6 hrs

And all this in a package weighing 1.33 kg. Obviously the battery live will be testing - I’ve yet to ever get the life promised by the manufacturer, but it should be more the the 2.5 hours I get from my Samsung Q45.

 First Impressions?

ASUS state No technical manual required with the specially designed, user-friendly and intuitive graphic interface. With this in mind no manual was opened when setting up the EEE (though this is usual when setting up any new kit). I wanted to see if the promise that Stay connected all the time with the Eee PC’s™ built-in WiFi 802.11b/g that automatically detects and connects to the Internet at any hotspotwas achievable. And working in a University this obviously was not going to work.

There are two choices available:

1. Roaming - an unsecured wireless network requiring a VPN to access anything once connected
2. Eduroam - the (secure) roaming infrastructure used by the international research and education community

As a regular Eduroam user this was the network of choice, but connection was not possible. A quick Google shows that this is problem experienced by other LINUX ASUS EEE users as default installed Xandros distribution does not support enterprise level encryption. There are a couple of options to investigate, but if the ASUS EEE is to be used in an education context then use of institutional wireless networks is a priority.

After failing to connect to Eduroam the next stage was to try the Roaming access. Being a unsecured newtork meant access was no problem, but the VPN access failed as the University’s Microsoft’s VPN service doesn’t respond in a manner that the VPN client can understand which protocol to use. So some investigations into resolving this are going to have to happen.

The first day’s experience was not positive, but that was be expected. If this type of portable computing is going to be adopted in FE and/or HE then the user needs to leverage the functionality than can be provided by the OS route and links to Cloud applications. No network = limited functionality (and some major frustrations)

Tags:   ASUS EEE · Eduroam · LINUX · Open Source · Wireless3 Comments

A major milestone reached - The Web2Rights IP Toolkit is launched 

The Web2Rights IP Toolkit for JISC funded projects engaging with next generation technologies, services and software is now available online at: www.web2rights.org.uk 

Users can:

1. Download or review the individual resources

2. Download the ZIP files containing the separate sections

3. Download or view the IPR Flowchart to select the correct resources for your project

4. Use the IPR Diagnostic Tool to select the correct resources for your project

The resources are divided into the following sections:

1. Basic information about the IP and Web2.0 landscape

2. Practical IP tools for projects engaging with Web2.0

3. Template licences and model releases

4. FAQs and Use Cases

5. Web2.0 and IP Presentation

Although this materal has been produced for the JISC User and Innovation projects I’m sure it will benefit many more users

Tags:   Copyright · IPR · JISC · Web2rightsNo Comments.

There’s much around about Edupunk. Ok, I’m a late comer to the debate (though as this blog is very much in a backwater I’ll use debate as a very loose term) and http://edupunk.org/ has links to it all. And there’s the obligatory youtube vid.

It’s been interesting following the blog posts on Edupunk and as a backlash to Blackboard it’s unleashing a fair bit of frustration in the community.

But, it’s hardly new. Over the past 15 years we’ve been involved in project and developments - some funded, the most unfunded. These projects/interventions/ideas all have one thing in common - they are designed around user needs, and these needs are not those of the institution (though some times they coincide); they are not the needs of the developer/instructional designer/academic. They are the needs of the learner.

To paraphrase the opening line of a true punk classic from X-Ray Spex

Some people think little learners should be seen and not heard…..but I think Oh Blackboard, up yours

There’s a fair bit of evidence around  such as the recent JISC Great expectations of ICT: how HE institutions are measuring up report that users want to do their own thing.

 Evidence shows that using these [social networking] sites in education are more effective when the students set them up themselves; lecturer-led ones can feel overly formal

We can’t constrain them to using institutional systems, they don’t want to use them, they will look for their own ways of working - what we need to do is to support our users.

If they don’t use Blackboard or <—insert your own MLE/VLE here —> so what?

The Wired Campus article: Frustrated With Corporate Course-Management Systems, Some Professors Go ‘Edupunk’ states

A group of tech-savvy professors are claiming punk music as inspiration for their approach to teaching. They call their approach Edupunk.

Great, but it’s just as much about learners doing their own thing, making their own choices and we need to support them in this. Institutions love their Enterprise, out-of-the-box solutions, and yes as academics we can be anti-establishment, but there’s one part of the establishment we need to take with us…..the learners.

Tags:   Edupunk · JISC · web2.0 · X-Ray SpexNo Comments.

It’s about time I blogged, as it’s ironic that the day job (that involves Web 2.0 stuff) is getting hectic and sorting this (and the other blog) ends up at the bottom of the pile.

 Whilst waiting for the Curverider boys to release Elgg 1.0 I came across this article on Ft.com linked from the Dave Tosh’s blog. Now….according to the FT’s Peter Whitehead,  Web3.0 is where professionals take the lead in shaping content when compared to  Web 2.0 - a world in which anyone can have a go at generating content.

Whilst this definition may be attractive to providers selling their services as something new, it’s hardly the semantic web.

Tags:   Elgg · web2.0 · web3.0No Comments.

When it comes to micro blogging I have to admit it’s not really held my attention. I was too late for Jaiku and I never really spent the time to fully exploit Twitter. We have, though,  been spending a lot of time working with Elgg as part of the community area for the UsPaCe project.

The community working with Elgg is small (compared with most Open Source projects), but it’s pretty vibrant and the Elgg site and its forum is one of the first sites I check in the morning just to see what updates/patches/gossip there is. So, this morning I found that the guys behind Elgg had released Elggvoices. The UsPaCe project is aimed at supporting students on Placement or doing Work Based Learning and Elggvoices looks like it could slot in as one of the tools we could use.

If Elgg 1.0 (release date to be announced) allows the seamless embedding of Elggvoices it’s going to be easy to get it used by learners. From the Focus Group work we’ve been doing it looks like they like the skin we’ve put on our Elgg community and the Elggvoices will add a dynamic layer. If we can get up channels for groups (or even get the learners to set them up) we’ll have buy-in from our users.

OK, so I can’t get the RSS feed to work (yet) from Elggvoices but having watched the Shouts today I can see that Dave and Ben from Curverider are quickly getting things sorted, and it looks like some familar names from the Elgg Community are playing with Elggvoices. I liked the Google map mashup showing locations of shouts - it looks like there’s only 4 of us who have entered their location in their profile so it’s sparsely populated but readable. I’d imagine, if there’s a few hundred/thousands of users the map will be unreadable….but if you could just show Shouts from your own channels it would be great.

 So..lots of exciting changes with Elgg…..with ElggJam 08 now open for registration, Elgg 1.0 about to be released and Ellgvoices out as a tantalising glimpse of Elgg1.0

Tags:   Elgg · ElggVoices · microblogging · UsPaCe1 Comment