There’s a shiny new app for the iPhone, iPod and iPad that looks really promising: Dragon Dictation from Nuance Communications. In a nutshell, it’s a tool for dictating text which can be added to a document or linked to social networking accounts like Twitter or Facebook. It’s spookily reliable (unless you happen to be a five year old girl – it had difficulty picking up my daughter’s voice generating gobble-de-gook sentences which she found heeeeeelarious!).

Dragon Dictation in action

James Clay has done a really good post on it which you should read.

2 things really appeal to me about this app;

1. It’s reliable enough for people with motor function problems to be able to quickly create large amounts of text giving all sorts of benefits for accessibility, inclusion and social participation in education (and beyond).
2. It’s another tool that moves the smartphone away from being primarily a content delivery system. On devices like the iPhone, text entry on anything other than short snippets of information is tricky thanks to small buttons small buttons so Tweeting is fine but blogging or document writing can be quite tricky. With Dragon Dictation you can get round more of those shortcomings and contribute more.

I’m looking forward to using this in the future and it’s sister application Dragon Search.

CC Image - My Melting Brain - Att-NC-ND

I’ll say from the outset that I’m not going to answer the question in the title satisfactorily in this post. It’s just a something I’m asking myself at the moment.

I’m no web developer but it’s impossible to not notice the ding-dong between Apple and Adobe and how lots of people are pointing to HTML5 and saying that Flash video is doomed on mobile (and everywhere else).

I do wish they would sort it out. So undignified; like Colin Firth and Hugh Grant fighting in that film my wife made me watch.

A friend recently asked for my thoughts on what impact I thought HTML5 would have on Adobe and the quick answer is I haven’t the foggiest. I have, though been favouriting some blog posts and web stuff about it as I try to catch up with the rest of the world and I though I’d share some. It’s not comprehensive, but it’s a start.

• I liked this infographic from Focus.com (courtesy of the Guardian) as an easy route in to understanding the basics.
• This Minute Bio blog post is a bit more technical (it has a 45min video from Google which is heavy-going) but is a useful jumping off point to some other blog posts specifically…
• …this post on HTML5 competition with Flash and Silverlight from Infoworld.

On my basic, inexpert reading it looks like it would be too rash to say that HTML5 is going to kill Flash. Flash isn’t perfect but it is for the moment an integral part of the web and a key tool for many developers. It would be unrealistic to expect all those developers to down tools and switch to HTML5 when it comes out of beta. It also looks like a lot of the particularly rich web content will have to still be handled by Flash, Silverlight etc.

Implications for Education

I’d be interested to see how this pans out for our community. Further freeing up video on mobile devices can only be a good thing (although, how it all relates to H.264 I don’t yet know) and there are intriguing possibilities for how data can be presented and integrated with location information that may have implications for learning applications.

It will also be interesting to see how this affects web-numpties like me. Will we be presented with a whole new range of tools for sharing and collaborating and will it give non-experts new ways of presenting rich content for web applications? I do like that, from a learner’s perspective, having to rely less on plug ins for a lot of common content could make accessing information a lot easier, especially on mobile devices (although, as my colleague Carl pointed out just now this isn’t going to be some magic bullet that instantly makes all sites mobile friendly).

The consensus over a chat at coffee seemed to be that it’s unlikely to be a revolutionary step for us non-technical educators  but there will be benefits for the general web user-experience.

We’ll see.

What are your thoughts on HTML5′s implications for education technology? Have you come across any interesting articles that I should include?

CC Image - Brendan Wilkinson - A-NC-ND

I’m going all gooey about AudioBoo at the moment. It’s sat around in the perpiphery of my vision for a while now but in the last month or so I’ve started to see it as a really useful addition to my network of tools, especially now I’m a JesusPhone user.

If you’re not familiar with AudioBoo have a look at their site and check out the video intro.

Here’s why I’m gushing:

It’s simple – Using the iPhone you can go from recording to publishing in a matter of clicks. The audio record function allows you to pause during recording and append. It won’t allow you to chop your audio around in an Audacity stylee but adding too much functionality would get in the way of the simplicity. I can live with that.

It’s social – There aren’t as many people using AudioBoo as Twitter, for example, but it still has the same mechanisms for following and you can also comment on Boos bringing your network in on the act.

It’s fun – Sound is overlooked, I think, but still plays a massive part in our lives. I love the idea of taking sound snapshots and sharing them. Listening forces you to take things more slowly and experience the world differently.

It’s mobile – I’m surprised by the quality of the audio you get from recording on an iPhone (none of that compressed MP3 gurgle you get with many online audio recorders). The fact that it’s mobile means that you can record your thoughts regardless of location and allows you to easily bring in other sounds and voices where hulking round large amounts of equipment or dragging someone near a laptop aren’t feasible. I find it really useful for reflecting on conferences or other events where I’m likely to be on the move or in a hotel room immediately after. The iPhoen’s great but trying to type an extended blog post on it would make me want to cry. It also helps you to capture serendipitous bits of discovery or random thought in awkward places bringing informal and formal learning together.

It’s personal – Hearing someone’s voice, especially when they’re speaking conversationally and not off a script is a great way of feeling your getting closer to someone. It gives you more clues about emotion and personality than you would get from written text.

It’s spatial – As a failed geographer I still love the idea of landscape and space and I’ve done work with schools before where students have captured sounds in a location and then mashed them together in Audacity to create soundscapes. AudioBoo geotags your recordings but it will also let you export your recordings as mp3 for use elsewhere (see handy tip)

It’s connected – Boos are public, sharable, embeddable and you can link to other apps like Twitter, Facebook to get your recordings out to your network quickly and easily. Adding a hashtag into an AudioBoo title when you’re linked to Twitter automatically hastags the Tweet which saves retweeting later.

Oh, yes. It’s free!

As a learning tool it’s something powerful to include in the arsenal for capturing formal and informal experiences and introducing a sense of play into things.n I’m going to be investigating more about the possible applications of digital storytelling in FE and HE soon and AudioBoo is likely to figure quite prominently.

You can listen to my Boos here. Also check out Doug Belshaw’s Thinking Digital conference chats here.

Right, I’m off to run through a sunny cornfield hand in hand with AudioBoo while recording the pretty birdsong.

CC Image - /Joe on Flickr

I have to be careful not to get too excited when a gizmo lands on the desk for us to evaluate at Sheffield East CLC. Having said that I was really looking forward to getting my hands on the iPod touch after hearing so much from other schools and CLC’s about using them.

I’ve had a few weeks to play with one now, although we haven’t used them with students yet, so I thought I’d capture my initial thoughts as an aide memoire for later. As with most things my opinion is likely to change but at least having this as something to refer back to might be useful.

What the iPod does is documented much better elsewhere so I’m not going to discuss that.My main point is a question, really, based on a conversation I’ve had with my boss. It’s this…

To what extent does the iPod Touch actually contribute to pedagogical change?

I start from the assumption that mobile learning is about transforming how learning happens as well as when and where.

The iPod is a great device for delivering content which is what it was designed for. It’s fun and a breeze to use for listening to podcasts, watching videos, looking at websites etc. It gets a lot harder when you try to actually create stuff and contribute.

Text input is fine for short spells but that gives quite a narrow field of ways of getting students to contribute to their own learning. If you want students to capture audio you’ll need to invest in earphones with built-in mic (which can cost up to £20). There are some nice audio apps (AudioBoo being one) but transferring sound out for use elsewhere can be a pain.

The lack of camera for stills and video is a big miss and would open up the door to myriad possibilities for developing visual literacy.

Also, a browse through the apps store for education titles is pretty uninspiring (although there are exceptions – I hope to do another blog post about some of my faves in the near future). Most are about drill-and-practice skill honing or showing information (sometimes in quite engaging and attractive ways, mind).

I don’t buy the idea that by giving a student a mobile device so they can access delivered content anytime and anywhere makes it a learner-centred experience. You need to maximise opportunities for  the learner to record and reflect on their own experiences and the iPod isn’t quite there yet although it’s a step in the right direction.

They key thing, though is that the device on it’s own isn’t going to be transformative other than perhaps adding novelty or increasing engagement. The learning culture around the device needs to find ways of using its capabilities to allow the learner to create and reflect more easily.

I’m not down on the iPod. I love it as a device. I just think that anyone investigating it as a learning tool should think as much about the environment the iPod will be used in as much as what the machine can do.

What are your thoughts on the iPod? Put me straight if you disagree…

Travis Allen is an 18-year old student from Georgia, USA who has started something called the iSchool Initiative. In brief, he is an advocate for getting technology into the classroom in the shape of iPod Touches.

He makes the argument that if all students had the Apple devices running a collection of apps there would be considerable learning, cost-saving and environmental benefits for schools. Check out his manifesto on YouTube.

A few reflections:

• Firstly, I wish more students took such an interest in their learning. I vigorously applaud Travis’s efforts and I hope his school/college is taking him seriously.
• The benefits of using mobile tech on a one device per student basis are well documented and certainly Apple owns the market at the moment. No one else comes close yet.
• I do feel slightly uneasy about the exclusive Apple nature of the proposal, though. I admit there is a lack of credible alternatives right now but when you are beholden to one supplier for hardware and content there may be problems further down the line. What happens if Android really takes off in 24months time and has a killer education app?
• For me the ideal situation would be when these core apps are available cross platform (I don’t know enough about the market to know if developers are making apps available for Apple and Android etc). That would then free up the students/staff to choose a device tailored to their needs.
• Travis mentions a cost of $150 per student. Is this just his cost per device? Is it one off or per year? What about wireless infrastructure? Content creation and management? I’m sure he’s right about cost savings, but his headline figure looks too good to be true.
• Travis argues that there can be communication between staff and students “anytime, anywhere”. If you have the iPod device you need wireless internet access. Go out into the field and you lose connectivity. The iPhone brings all sorts of technical complications but is actually a more exciting device. Some of the augmented reality apps that are starting to surface could transform field trips and opportunities for informal learning.
• Lastly, the restriction on websites available to those “dedicated to eductaion” seems a little draconian. Where do you draw the line? Is Twitter educationally useful? YouTube? Facebook? It feels more like a proposal to calm the fears of worried parents and staff and is therefore a political rather than pedagogical move. If you lock down access to the internet you risk losing the benefits of collaboration and creativity using web2.0 apps.

Don’t get me wrong. I don’t have adowner on this. Travis’s idea is exciting and is a great vision for the future. Follow him on Twitter and give him feedback and encouragement.

Travis, if you’re reading this please comment back and keep us updated about your progress.

Basically, you can no longer download the 2006 version of iMovie from Apple. New Apple users have to use their 09 version of the software.

In itself the 09 version is fine but speaking as someone who teaches digital video, it isn’t a great teaching tool.

It’s a radically different way of thinking about video to the traditional timeline-based editors (as iMovie 06 was) so it makes teaching visual literacy through editing less straightforward and much less transferrable to other types of software or operating systems.

Now, if you want to run a left-to-right non-linear editor on a Mac you have to purchase one like Final Cut Express. Not cheap. It’s a shame that Apple have gone down a route that diverges from the needs of education when schools, colleges and universities is where a lot of people get their first exposure to the Apple brand.

I’m not sure if iMovie HD 06 is available elsewhere. If you know post a comment and I can share it round.