Interesting presentation on social media

Why Social Media

 

View more presentations from Leslie Bradshaw.

This presentation interested me in terms of it’s style as well as content. There is also a utopian positivism about the benefits of access to social media in the workplace. This is yet to be realised in many educational settings. Also, Leslie’s presentation has inspired me to look at social media with a more critical eye.

Best OS for Netbooks?

Now that Windows 7 has been launched as a kind of cut down version of Vista rather than an upgrade to it, perhaps it will become the OS of choice for Netbooks? Netbooks require a light operating system that performs well without a lot of hardware power. Typical Netbooks include the two I have used in the past 2 years, namely the 10″ EeePC from ASUS and the 10″ NC10 from Samsung. As a small, light and underpowered computer, the Netbook is designed just for Internet use and not much more – like the functions on a standard cell phone but with a way bigger screen and ‘proper’ keyboard.

Xandros

 

 

 

Xandros on Eepc

My Eepc came pre-installed with a Linux distro based on Xandros. It was incredibly easy to get started – all my Google account information and Firefox extensions took minutes to update. The web cam was fine and the Skype app did more than my Mac OS version at the time. I wanted to be able to add more functionality though and for this I needed to plug in a USB CD drive and explore the disk that came in the box.

This was fine for adding a PDF reader but where were image editors like The Gimp 3.0 etc. that I knew were available and even designed for a linux PC? Well, following we searches I found a bit of Shell/terminal editing was necessary – and I’m no programmer! After lots of faffing – I couldn’t get a bare basics that I wanted. What I should have done was return it to the shop and swap for a Windows XP model but instead I installed my own copy. I used it for about three months but found typing a chore on the tiny keyboard and anything creative had to be done on a ‘big’ computer anyway. So I reinstalled Xandros and sold the unit.

XP

 

 

 

XP on NC10

My next foray into Netbooks was nearly a year later and came down to a large work order of NC10s for a school project. These came preinstalled with XP and also with a 120gb hard drive space. The keyboard on these is far superior to the Eepc of the same size but the big let down is the mousepad – it’s terrible.

XP is exactly the right OS for this size netbook – it behaves as you expect and using Google Chrome browser means you aren’t limited in web screen space either. I had no problems at all with the system and installed extras for the net or disk as needed. So why did I swap the OS again? Well, Windows is so frustrating sometimes; apps can be slow, crash altogether or not even boot up  in a convenient time… and I’m not referring to Vista boot up which takes nearly 5 minutes. Also, the temptation is to ‘tinker’ – its so easy to install stuff and XP can be well boring then I (like others) can’t help tinkering with it. yes, I edited the start menu script but that wasn’t enough I decided to go for Mac OSX.

OSX

 

 

 

OSX on NC10

I do have a copy of the full install disks and don’t recommend using on a non-Apple hardware but this was a little experiment! It took quite a bit of tweaking around to get the disk image to install (just Google it and there are instructions, videos and everything).

The mousepad goes into hyperdrive (totally uncontrollable) and lots of functionality cease to work. No webcam, no wifi (unless you install your own), sound disappears… and yet the beauty of OSX does actually work at this scale!

I know the iPhone is supposed to be OSX but all the apps, the dock and familiarity of the full system make OSX on the Netbook a simple pleasure. I used a USB pen modem to connect whilst out and about and had great “Wow” comments when people saw my mini-mac. C’mon Apple the Macbook Air isn’t that small and portable even if it is slim. But – a big but – it was no longer a Netbook – no longer convenient enough to be able to use anywhere and quickly. So I installed Jolicloud…

Jolicloud

 

Jolicloud on NC10

This OS is based on a Linux Ubuntu distro that is specifically for and only for use online via WiFi… it is brilliant in it’s simplicity and goes back to the original aim of the Xandros I had used earlier. You can’t even think about putting extra apps on – you really only need the things you can get online and this means free Web 2.0 apps.

It would lend itself brilliantly to a touch sensitive screen and really deserves to be a phone OS as much as ‘Droid… however, same problem – I’m not always connected to the web or wifi as I don’t live or work in a particularly urban area. So although it worked really well on the NC10 – you need full functionality of the netbook whilst connected to the net!

Ubuntu Netbook remix

Ubuntu on NC10

As a free download straight to a USB drive, Canonical couldn’t have made the Netbook Remix version of Ubuntu any easier. A similar simplified interface forms your desktop and full functionality either online or offline too.

There is little in the way of personalisation and yet there is the full array of Ubuntu styled apps. Every feature works just fine including the web came and lid-down ‘sleep’ mode. I did have a few problems making and keeping the screen brightness at a suitable daylight setting and this was despite changing power saving settings. The brown on black theme looks quite classy but isn’t suitable for summer outdoors (even in the UK). As an OS, its is just as good as XP and better than the others I tried.

Summary

If the pre-Windows 7 netbooks are on offer this Autumn/Fall, make sure you get XP pre-installed and a sizeable hard drive. As a second option, Ubuntu is great and is less processor hungry than XP and is better for smaller disk space. Most of all, don’t treat your netbook as a replacement for a PC or 13″ laptop – it makes a poor substitute. As a communicator rival to a Smartphone or PDA it is far superior, especially when connected via WiFi. Did anyone mention tethering an iPhone to a netbook? This is far the best option as offers the functionality and ease of use of both mini systems and still fits in a small bag.

Using Twitter for Maths/Science teacher support

Twitter for educational uses is frequently blogged about and there are some great examples on the net of using twitter as a tool in conferences, getting instant feedback froma class, using twittersheep to find out who is worth following etc. However, when you have a group of mainly maths and science teachers who you are trying to explain the value of web 2.0 technologies to, it can be very hard to convince especially if you do not follow many teachers of their subjects yourself.

As it happens, I have come across some great maths and science twittering teachers (eg. @Maths_is_it) who have pointed the way to wonderful resources like Plus+ online magazine and even suggested some great web resources.

To prove the point to my visitors, I used Tweepl.org to search for educators across the globe and followed as many as I could who were obviously both frequent twitterers and enthusiastic techno teachers. I think I added 300 in a day to be honest and of that lot at least 150 followed me back – which was the point. Then I asked the twitter-stream for examples of great web 2.0 sites for maths and science teaching…

looking for web 2.0 apps for maths and science – pls advise! Need next Monday to show power of Twitter community – pls RT
Mon Sep 21 06:36:16 +0000 2009

I also tried different ways of asking the same question:

Pls post links to web 2.0 resources for maths n science ks3 or 4. Pls RT
Mon Sep 21 12:02:59 +0000 2009

and:

are all web 2.0 apps designed for communication? Are any useful for science teaching? Pls RT
Mon Sep 21 16:59:47 +0000 2009

 

I got quite a few responses but also some puzzled questions asking whay I wanted them etc. as if I was doing a survey of some kind. The summary I made after a day or so was:

top web 2.0 for maths/science so far today: chartle, geogebra, puzzles.com, touchspin, etherpad and bubbl.us – pls RT, more?
Mon Sep 21 20:14:30 +0000 2009

As this was down to just a few people I suspected that the teachers in my stream were all historians, english teachers and the like – maybe all computer science or ICT specialists!!! How could I tell what subjects they had specific web 2.0 knowledge of? So, I produced a very quick poll at twtpoll.com to try and find out!

Tweet teachers – what’s your MAIN subject specialism? Pls complete poll at:http://twtpoll.com/damoward – pls RT
Mon Sep 21 20:09:06 +0000 2009

I kept the stream informed at intervals even if they felt unable to vote. Some DMs from particularly US teachers for clarification on certain anglo-centric terms (MFL = Modern Foreign Languages, aka Languae Arts in the US). Also, I knew the poll design wasn’t perfect it was supposed to be a snapshot of who on my stream felt they taught mainly maths/science or other.

Looking at the poll results so far – only 20% math/science teachers on twitter results:http://twtpoll.com/damoward
Sun Sep 27 21:15:02 +0000 2009

Some great results to my call for web 2.0 resources now that they felt ‘part of the community’:

web 2.0 maths/science: chartle, geogebra, puzzles.com, touchspin, etherpad, bubbl.us, Voicethread, Glogster, DoInk, Screenr, Animoto – more?
Sun Sep 27 21:23:55 +0000 2009

Thnx to recent pollsters! Maths/science teachers up to 28% vs. English/techno on 64%! Simple poll – curious
Sun Sep 27 22:03:43 +0000 2009

I closed the poll after a few weeks and then tweeted results:

I know it wasn’t precise enough for some of you – it was meant to be a quick snapshot — 66 teachers managed to vote
Tue Oct 06 20:22:55 +0000 2009

58% tweeting teachers were mainly from IT/Tech or English, 23% Math/Science. It was the latter group I aimed to encourage obviously…
Tue Oct 06 20:25:26 +0000 2009

Showing the use of the maths/science community (for resource collection), web 2.0 tech for data collection (twtpoll) and the result that there isn’t as many twittering maths/science staff but there are some out there worth following made this a great little experiment!!!

Top 10 Tools on the Web

Here’s my list: http://bit.ly/qSH4p. Check out the Top 10 rated globally on the same site….

A very useful web site it is too – in full:

http://www.c4lpt.co.uk/recommended/damoward.html

Jane Hart is also a useful person to follow on twitter for insights and links to international e-learning websites and discussions.