This Week in Lotus

Recorded on Monday 23rd April 2012.  Jon Scott joins us to discuss the role of social and collaboration tools in 21st century university teaching, and Darren and I ponder the lessons to be learnt from LotusLearns.com.



Download links - MP3 | OGG

Hosts:  Stuart McIntyre (blog | twitter | company) & Darren Duke (blog | twitter | company)

Guests: Jon Scott (twitter) is a freelance educational and ed tech thinker and speaker. Currently he is working within Cardiff University helping to support the roll-out of IBM Connections 3.0.1 and is involved in pedagogic research to engage students, researchers and lecturers in more collaborative ways of working.

Topics:
Jon presented at Social Connections II discussing the needs of students/GenY-ers that are entering college and then the workforce, thought it worth a follow up on TWiL

• What has Jon been working on? Lecture experience unfulfilled, how to use technology to enrich?
• What would you like to see being provided for students?
• With students taking control themselves, is the faculty causing a barrier the students must overcome?
• Do students get credit for ‘collaborating’? (passing exams is a solitary pursuit after all, isn’t collaborating cheating?)
• 20 years ago, graduates might have needed a knowledge of ‘IT’ (programming, computer internals, basic networking etc)
  • What do those entering the workforce need today?
  • What can students do to make themselves employable?
• What kind of tooling is missing? Could Connections fill the void?
  • Is it intuitive enough?
  • Should there be ‘Connections for Academia’ etc?
• Are the days of the lecture theatre gone for ever?
• With the rise of mobile devices, is are desktop productivity apps still the primary interface?

LotusLearns.com debacle

• What does that teach us?

Tips:
Darren
When using Android devices I really miss the iOS Reader functionality. Dolphin Reader is a plug in for Dolphin HD Browser that will do just that.
Jon:
Crocodoc. Easy to set up, easy to use, easy to quickly see the benefits of social annotation technologies.
Do your kids (or significant other) keep asking you every month for a new and expensive game to play? Here’s a new and origin al, fun, rewarding and exciting free-to-play PC game Tribes Ascend. Can’t see why this is a tip? Try incentivising hard work by offering to buy gold on the game as a reward for completing coursework or getting the grade-3 for that super-awesome gun or upgrade they want is tuppence for that all important positive learning experience!
Stuart:
As a ‘cord-cutter’ always looking for better ways to watch online. TED is fantastic (if outside strictly legal bounds).  On the legal side of things, Sky Sports offer a mobile access option for just 5GBP per month. Download the app from the App Store and subscribe from there.  Lastly, Reflection App to mirror your iOS device onto your Mac - awesome for demos!