iPod v Walkman

State of the art technology in it's day, Sony celebrated the 30th Anniversary of the launch of the Sony Walkman this week. In this article BBC news invited 13 year-old Scott Campbell from Aberdeenshire to swap his iPod for a Walkman for a week. It's an amusing stroll down memory lane.

"It took me three days to figure out that there was another side to the tape. "

"I managed to create an impromptu shuffle feature simply by holding down "rewind" and releasing it randomly - effective, if a little laboured."

It does remind me that I used to listen to OU tapes on my own Sony Walkman when I was out with the dog without considering it as innovative at the time. It was just the way it was. So, although range of information and the nature of it (latest and up to the minute) may have changed, I guess the notion of considering mobile technologies as something out of the ordinary might be a mistake. It's just the way it is.

Read Scott's article

Charged up for 2009

How dull everything's looking now that all the fairy-lights are back up in the attic. It always seem to take a bit of time just to get back up to speed after the festivities even though my batteries should be fully charged. I was glad to have pre-arranged an interview for our Podcasting service to help focus my attention this week.

The interview for this episode is with Steve Bishop, IT Helpdesk Manager at Cardonald College. They've been using a very clever remote mouse/media control (the MX Air from Logitech) which can be charged for up to a week at a time and has a range which should work in large classrooms. Do note though that this is just one in a wide range of similar products.

As well as providing the tutor with the capacity to wander about the classroom, using this type of device does mean that the irritating shadow encountered when using an interactive board is eliminated. In addition the risks associated with looking into the bright projector bulb are minimised. Here at the RSC we have invested in remote kit that includes a keyboard and gyro-mouse (from Gyration) that has a similar long range capacity. These types of wireless input devices work especially well with interactive whiteboards and I always take them out with me on training to illustrate this. As well as the advantages that Steve outlines in the Podcast, there are significant accessibility gains to be made. Learners with a variety of support needs e.g. those with mobility problems or with special educational needs can benefit greatly and are able to participate more fully in classroom activities when devices can be passed around the group.

Incidentally, if you haven't experienced our Podcasting service yet, you can find out more about this and other examples of effective practice around the Region by going to the podcasts page on our website and subscribe through iTunes or your preferred RSS feed reader.

http://www.rsc-sw-scotland.ac.uk/podcast/Podcasts.htm
http://www.logitech.com/index.cfm/mice_pointers/mice/devices/3443&cl=US,EN
http://www.gyration.co.uk/proddata.php?partno=E3900

Can my brain be trained - Dr Kawashima seems to think so !

I think I mentioned in a previous posting that we have invested recently in a few mobile technologies here at the RSC, with a view to developing our work in using mobile technologies. So, on my recommendation (having taking advice from The Gadget Show) we now have and Nintendo DS to get to grips with. These seem to be the mobile gaming gadget of choice and indeed both my daughters - who are not teenagers anymore, seem to me to spend hours using them. So, I thought, let's have a go.

I decided to go for some brain training - following in the footsteps of Nicole Kidman and Captain Jean-Luc Picard - and discovered my Brain was 68 years old. Time to retire perhaps - but remarkably after religiously doing a couple of activities each day for 10 days my brain age is now 47 - that'll do thanks very much. Perhaps there is something to Dr Kawashima theories after all. Activities are designed around numbers, words and memory and because of the high profile advertising, I guess it's quite easy to see some educational value. It would be interesting to see if learners might benefit from some exposure to the bold Dr's brain exercises and if indeed they would find them at all engaging.

I also invested in a game which can best be described as a simulated world in which you are the central character. This is popular with my two who, when connected to the same WIFI network can play together.  I though I could join them! It's actually more fun that I thought it might be and I can see how it might be used in an educational sense. I have to budget, earn money and decide how to spend it, interact with others, remember friends details, turn up to events that I've been invited to. I understand that it's also possible to use it for web browsing although I haven't got that far yet. Sounds crazy I know - I'm a grown woman - but nevertheless having a go really opens your mind a bit and I'm certainly less dismissive of this type of gadget than I was before.

I'll keep you posted and you can be sure I'll be posting more when Dr Kawashima says I'm 35.