A Podcasting Mini-Guide (Jeff Cobb)

Via Jeff Cobb

A Podcasting Mini-Guide (824 KB, PDF)

Topics covered include:

• Setting up the Web site for the podcast
• Creating the RSS Feed
• Recording the podcast
• Mixing and editing
• Hosting the audio files
• Budgeting for a podcast

This guide is meant to provide details about how Jeff Cobb and Jim Thompson produce and distribute the Radio Free Association podcasts, a bi-weekly series they do for professionals in the association world. This brief and easy-to-digest guide provides you basically a set of tools and brief explanations (case study) on how you can get your podcasting world going! There are many ways to go about podcasting, but surely we can learn from Jeff Cobb's podcasting approach and adventures.

While your at it, you might want to also swoosh Jeff Cobb's 10 Killer Content Sources for Your iPod Learning Mix.

2010 will hopefully be the year that podcasting becomes part of my learning sharing portfolio, so thanks Jeff for sharing your swoosh-delicious podcasting juice :)

New Tools for Personal Learning (Stephen Downes)

Delivered to MEFANET 2009 Conference, Brno, Czech Republic, via MVU Videoconference.

New Tools for Personal Learning

View more presentations from Stephen Downes.

In this presentation Stephen describes how new technologies are being designed in order to adapt to a rapidly changing and complex world. In this picture, learning is not a matter of knowledge acquisition and memorization, but rather, personal development in such a way that we become able to navigate and work with this knowledge and content in the same manner, with the same capacities, as the expert. This is a type of learning that is based on the creation of tools that support a mesh network; this network, in turn, supports the conversation and interactions that foster the development of an expert character.

The presentation even includes one of ZaidLearn's most popular (and useful) posts:

CLICK HERE...!

Thanks for a stunning presentation, and thanks for the mention :)

SciPlore Combines Mind Maps with Reference and PDF Management

SciPlore MindMapping

"SciPlore MindMapping is based on FreeMind (0.9 RC4 Max), which is a widely used free mind mapping software. Accordingly, SciPlore Mind Mapping offers all the features of FreeMind plus some additional features for researchers:

• Adding Reference Keys Manually
  This feature allows assigning a reference key to a mind map’s node. This way, researchers can organize their ideas and reference to the origins.
  
  
• Adding Reference Keys (BibTeX) Automatically
  Most reference managers (e.g. JabRef, BibDesk, Referencer, ...) allow assigning a file (usually PDF) to entries in the bibliographic database. If a file that is linked in the reference database is linked by a node in the mind map, SciPlore MindMapping automatically extracts the corresponding reference key from reference database and adds it to the mind map node. Currently, this feature only works with reference databases in BibTeX format.
  
  
• PDF Bookmark Import
  When researchers read an article in PDF format, some create bookmarks for the most important statements in the article. The same information is likely to be needed in a mind map when structuring ideas or a new paper. SciPlore MindMapping offers the option to import bookmarks from a PDF. Each bookmark is imported as a node and each node is linked to the PDF. If the PDF is included in the user’s bibliographic database, the corresponding BibTeX key is also added.

It runs under Windows (95, 98, ME, 2000, XP, Vista, 7, etc.) and maybe under Linux and Mac OS (Java 1.5 or later is required which is available for free). SciPlore MindMapping is 100% free and published under the GNU/GPL licence."

Jöran Beel, Bela Gipp, and Christoph Müller (Masterminds behind the project, PDF) this looks super interesting! I am going to explore it further right now :)

Imagine a World of Holographic Learning!

Via This Article

Musion TelePresence Launch - Berlin from Musion Systems on Vimeo.

"It isn't a hologram, it's a virtual image...But it looks like people's expectations of a hologram."
- Ian O'Connell

Whatever it is, it reminds me that the Spock or R2-D2 holographic who-ha, might become a daily reality much sooner than most of us realize. Imagine having a keynote speaker presenting holographically to 100 locations at the same time.

No, imagine a MIT or Harvard Professor facilitating a learning session to a group of people living in a tiny village in 'Kuku' land (and to another 1000+ locations at the same time!), and actually doing it in his bedroom from his holographic launch-pad. A nice enhancement to today's web or video conferencing.

Just imagine a new holographic learning world, where we can teleport to anywhere within a blink-of-the-eye.

It costs a bomb today, but within a few years, I am pretty sure we will be having it on our mobile device ... Let's just imagine (no harm in that!) :)

John Larkin's Learning World!

John Larkin's Learning World!

"I will be conducting a series of “Web 2.0″ workshops for academics from 23 universities from across the region on behalf of the Ministry of Higher Education, Malaysia (MoHE). I will be in KL for 8 days. I am working with Nanyang Technological University (NTU), Singapore, on this project. " - John Larkin

I will be attending a web 2.0 workshop conducted by John Larkin (and Dr. Daniel Tan) next week, so obviously I had to check out his stuff, and I like the fact that he has already shared his workshop notes (guides and tips) on his informative website. Here are some of the workshops he conducts:

• Web 2.0 (You can find the notes there, just scroll down!)
  
• Digital Videography
• Comic Life
• Podcasting
• Blended Learning
• Web Presence
• Trivantis Lectora
• Managing your computer

Yep, he is a 'Learning Gladiator' and I can't wait to battle it out! It will be fun learning from another learning gladiator. Actually, I would have preferred going for the Comic Life workshop instead (if ever conducted here), because that would be more useful, as I am pretty familiar with the web 2.0 workshop curriculum. But, since I am invited, I am not going step down against another learning gladiator. It will be a true battle of learning, which only causes harm to the ignorant and ego-boasting male :)

P.S. Lance Larkin, just some fun! Hopefully, you take it that way, too :)

Educational Technology and Related Education Conferences - 2010

Via Stephen Downes

Educational Technology and Related Education Conferences
for January – June 2010

"Clayton R. Wright has again compiled one of his fantastic list of education and edu tech conferences, this one spanning the period from December, 2009 through to June, 2010." - Stephen Downes

Couldn't agree more! If you can't find an Edu Tech conference that meets your desire in this list, where can you? Clayton, thank you for our thrilling live e-mail learning sessions, and thank you again for this fantastic list :)

Top 100 Tools for Learning 2009! Jane Hart is No. 1 :)

Via Jane Hart

Here is the final list of the Top 100 Tools for Learning 2009, compiled (by Jane Hart!) from the contributions of 278 learning professionals - from education and workplace learning - worldwide.

Top 100 Tools for Learning 2009.

View more documents from Jane Hart.

More interesting, you might want to check out Jane Hart's Top 100 Tools by category, and even more interesting would be the Winners & Losers in 2009.

No. 1 is Twitter! What about the rest? Explore it yourself!

Yes, Jane Hart is no doubt the Queen and King of learning tools (simply No. 1!). If you want to find the right learning tool(s) among literary thousands, the resources (links) above will do wonders.

Though, it would have been nice getting to the No. 1 learning tool climax last, rather than slide 3 (out of 102) in the presentation. But then again, not everyone has the patience to swoosh through 100 slides to get to the climax. Whatever it is, kudos to Jane Hart for her great work, and kudos again to making our learning tools selection a lot easier.

Oops, I forgot to submit my top 10 list this year (1. Notepad, 2. Paint, 3. PowerPoint...)! Next year, I will be back :)