Running on free software
Well i tried Windows 7, and it was a horrible experience. (more accurately.. it was a mixed experience).
windos7 ..? ick !
This old work laptop was due to have windos re-installed, so Fraser suggested i try the new “windos7” instead of xp. Things i do like about windos7 Windos “Explorer” (file manager) has a new keyboard shortcut for navigating up the file structure (about time); overall the “my computer” experience is greatly improved with breadcrumbs in the title bar (you can search deep inside folders you’ve just visited); the whole thing is more aesthetic.. some of the themes are almost attractive (i don’t believe it!); windos volume control finally gets some Read More …
Book reviewed!! (Digital Literacies by Lankshear & Knobel)
Finally! i’ve ploughed my way through Lankshear & Knobel’s “Digital Literacies: concepts, policies and practices.” (2008) Yes i’ve been reading it all year, but the final onslaught took me 4 days of sitting inside, during my holiday from work.. when the springtime sun was shining outside. How do i always manage to forget that academic reading can be horribly difficult!! If you’re out of practice, you need to diligently take notes on every page.. or you may as well not have read it. Anyway, it’s done now, handed over to Read More …
New bloggers on the 23 things project
As well as Ancy and Soheir from PRACE, and Megan from Thornbury.. we now have Trish from Thornbury and Deb from Employment Focus joining us on this adventure. What about going to visit their site.. and offer them support with a comment? Oh go on, do! thanks and kind regards, michael Remember all the course learning materials are online at the 23 Things site. image and photo credits: licensed under creative commons at flickr: Thanks very much: pyjama.
New bloggers on the 23 things project
As well as Ancy and Soheir from PRACE, and Megan from Thornbury.. we now have Trish from Thornbury and Deb from Employment Focus joining us on this adventure. What about going to visit their site.. and offer them support with a comment? Oh go on, do! thanks and kind regards, michael Remember all the course learning materials are online at the 23 Things site. image and photo credits: licensed under creative commons at flickr: Thanks very much: pyjama.
Engage your learners with a free voiceboard at voxopop (e-learning dreams)
What’s your dream for e-learning? Have you heard these dreams yet? On a few occasions, beginning with the ACE e-learning showcase this year, people have shared their dreams for e-learning.
Coming to grips with “Latest Headlines” (aka RSS)
There’s so much to read on the web.. you might want to keep in touch with several sites at once. for example i like to follow the news headlines from The Age, and my favourite radio shows on the ABC. You could visit each site individually.. or you could use an “RSS reader” to keep in touch with the latest updates. Rss readers are becoming increasingly popular. google has a good reader.. which you have access to if you’ve signed up for blogger dot com or any other google service. Read More …
Coming to grips with "Latest Headlines" (aka RSS)
There’s so much to read on the web.. you might want to keep in touch with several sites at once. for example i like to follow the news headlines from The Age, and my favourite radio shows on the ABC. You could visit each site individually.. or you could use an “RSS reader” to keep in touch with the latest updates. Rss readers are becoming increasingly popular. google has a good reader.. which you have access to if you’ve signed up for blogger dot com or any other google service. Read More …
Photos and slideshows on the web
flickr is a terrific site for images. You can search other people’s work, comment on their photos, make contacts.. and share your own photography as well. Suggestion for your own learning: As you browse flickr, think about what makes it a successful site.. and post a reflection in your blog. Add a photo to illustrate. Read more about working with photos on the flexivet 23 Things wiki. Images add an extra dimension to the web, engaging your readers. A good blog post has: some kind of multimedia (eg image, video, Read More …
Photos and slideshows on the web
flickr is a terrific site for images. You can search other people’s work, comment on their photos, make contacts.. and share your own photography as well. Suggestion for your own learning: As you browse flickr, think about what makes it a successful site.. and post a reflection in your blog. Add a photo to illustrate. Read more about working with photos on the flexivet 23 Things wiki. Images add an extra dimension to the web, engaging your readers. A good blog post has: some kind of multimedia (eg image, video, Read More …
Updates and work changes
So, it’s clearly been years since i’ve posted in this place. There’s been a whole lot going on in the meantime, including pandemic etc. Since 2017, my teaching has focussed mainly on technology aka “digital literacy” within adult community education (ACE), and i haven’t done much in the way of language and literacy teaching at all. I’ve been working as a “learning facilitator” aka Tour Guide at the Polly Woodside Museum, with the National Trust. For those who didn’t grow up in Melbourne, Polly Woodside is an old sailing ship, Read More …
Writings Reclaimed
I decided to bring posts to this blog from other projects, such as: Digital Learning at PRACE Digital Learning at Lalor Living and Learning ACFE Learn Local Communities of Practice the North-West e-mentor projects from ACFE Learn Local iPad for Seniors at PRACE the 23 Things project from ACFE, CAE and PRACE. Having written nearly all the text in those places, i wanted gather it all together. It was relatively easy to export from Blogger, and then import into WordPress here. Unfortunately, now i’ve discovered several roadblocks, namely: the Read More …
Mark Hopkins’ story translated into many languages
You remember Mark Hopkins, the adult learner from PRACE who told his story so well, not only in our publication, but also on the SBS Insight tv program last year? Well, some of the stories from this Resilience collection have been translated into other languages for the EPALE* site, and the first story to be translated was Mark’s. *EPALE: Electronic Platform for Adult Learning in Europe. https://goo.gl/XqROOX
Adult Learners in Conversation – “A Fuller Sense of Self”
Last night Tricia Bowen spoke about her experience of reconnecting with the adult learners who have shared their stories in this volume. I talked about how great it was to join with Tricia and Lynne in the whole creative and collaborative process of editing. Then Lynne Matheson invited us to launch the video into the world, so we all made rocket-launching sounds, and the champagne flowed. * It was such a good experience filming and editing these stories with Tricia. I would love to hear any feedback, especially related to Read More …
Reading between the Lines – SBS Insight focus on Adult Literacy
If you think Australia is a highly literate nation, watch this recent episode of Insight from SBS. This powerful and moving episode features Mark Hopkins one of the students from PRACE. I spoke with Mark as part of the “Stories of Resilience” project, and it’s really heartening to hear his voice in this national forum. All these adult learners show real courage and vulnerability, as they describe their experience for people who have no idea of the extent of this hidden problem. Over 40% of Australians experience some level of difficulty Read More …
Dark Side of the Comment Section
If you’re involved with any kind of online facilitation, you may appreciate this article from The Guardian. They’ve done some research into the comment section, finding that much more abuse is directed at female writers than male. (Also, for web designers, some really good layout effects, especially the way they’ve integrated the graphs and the “how would you moderate this comment” bits.) There’s a whole series around this research, articles interviewing people who have experienced the maelstrom of massive online shaming and bullying.. and articles on ideas for making things Read More …
Help Files for the iPad
Here’s a copy of the printed materials we handed out during the course. It’s a pdf file that should hopefully open on your iPad. Link here: This post was originally on the site “iPad for Seniors” at PRACE.
PageTurners has a new online shop
Just sent out the latest PageTurners newsletter, letting people know that the new shopping-cart style website is up and running!! It’s taken me much time this year to get the site all updated and e-commercey, so i’m very happy that we’ve finally launched. Woot. You can read the newsletter here. Take a look at the site, tell us what you think. Oh, we need a feedback form don’t we. If you’re not subscribed to the PageTurners email list, you can join via the website.
iPad apps especially for Seniors??
I wondered if there are any iPad apps that would be especially useful for people over 55, so i searched the web for “best apps for ipad for seniors“. Sure enough, there are many many lists: “16 helpful apps for seniors”, “27 bet iPad and iPhone apps for senior citizens”. But are any of them useful.. and how many of these apps are FREE..? Well, some of them are designed to help people by improving things like: Visual accessibility: Silver Surf is a web browser with “large navigation buttons, dynamic text Read More …
Some help files for blogger
Here’s a basic intro that Michael made – for low level students really (link: pdf stored in google drive). GCF LearnFree don’t have an intro to blogger, but they do have a great section talking about blogs in general, and an intro to Tumblr instead. Tumblr is much more visual than blogger, which can be text-heavy. Google themselves have a fairly decent help section. Grovo has a few videos showing the basics, including this overview. But they’re a commercial mob, and they’ll want you to pay for more. What good Read More …