At the time of writing (15th July 2009, 13:07) we have 99 twitter followers, ok we’re no Stephen Fry! I actually find it quite flattering that 99 people want to listen to what we have to say, we think that some of it quite interesting. There is a lot of debate about twitter and its merits, how to use it, business model etc. I’ve been interested to watch how the online community has used Twitter in so many different ways and shaped it to fit their needs. Already we are seeing Twitter spam, Twitter SEO and Twitter lead finding services all of which have followed the trends of previous online services.

Personally I’ve got a twitter fon on my iphone and have found it be really useful for quickly catching up on news whilst on the move and I’ve been able to communicate with people who normally I would never get the chance to. Bradly Wiggins is an english cyclist currently doing extremely well in the Tour De France who has replied to his following that his messages keep him going. Mark Beaumont is an adventure cyclist who is using twitter to keep in touch with his followers and I’m sure from his perspective its a lot easier than starting up the laptop and typing in a long form email.

From a learning perspective there has been quite a debate about how it can be used and whether it is of any use at all. In the past few days this has been highlighted further by the publication of sections of a report by an Intern at Morgan Stanley about how teenagers use Twitter. The FT and the Guardian both ran the piece as lead articles and its generated quite a buzz on the internet news boards. I’m not sure what it tells us about the use of twitter in learning!

Interestingly there are people using Twitter with young people and with schools how it can be used in education and training. I was preparing for a speaking event on game based learning last week when I came across a research video from UTC Dallas on Twitter in the classroom. I’ve also found that the University of Minnesota are also using social media and twitter in the classroom. Both videos show how they are using twitter and social networks to increase the contributions made within the classroom. As one teacher says in the video “If you are not engaging with the call you might as well hit a brick wall.” They’ll be lots more debate on the merits of twitter, if you are interested then these 2 videos might just provide a starting point.

At the E2BN conference Twitter and Twitterfall was used to great effect to capture questions from the floor during the seminars, ok you needed a mobile device with twitter but it allowed for a much more open question and answer flow. This was an event largely attended by teachers and I was amazed by the sheer numbers who were contributing. I’ll certainly be using twitter fall in future presentations alongside the traditional question and answer sessions.

Over the past 2 years I have managed to go through 4 different mobile phones from a variety of manufacturers. They have all stopped working at one point for a variety of reasons ranging from been dropped one too many times to another getting absolutely soaked during a thunderstorm!

For the past couple of months I’ve been using an old Nokia (old in terms of features) that has managed to cope with being dropped a few times, chucked into a bag and actually being used as a phone at some point. Having had various pda, xda etc I did want something that synched with email, calendars etc and also could be used for a bit of research.

So….I got an iphone.

The phone was quite easy to set up and did sync with my software really well, we had to add software to the server to get the email to work but its been a success.

Its a good device with neat functionality to email, calendars etc….but the battery life is not that great! We’ve had a look at the apps that are available and there some great tools available from tube maps, flight checkers, travel guides to games. The ipod works well but as the phone needs to sync with itunes if you use profiles you might end up with a massive profile if you keep you music on your office pc!

The GPS/google maps is very useful and opens up the device to a range of uses even if it can be a bit scary to see you blue dot moving as you walk. I know you can get a gps in a car this just seems a bit different.

As a learning device we’ve spoken to a number of people who are interested in seeing how they could be used to deliver content. The barrier is the cost of the devices and the fact that you need a long term contract to actually have one…perhaps there is a need for a next gen ipod that is more of a travel/office device without the phone?

…the browser is good as well!

Jonathan Newcombe from the Customer Feedback Company was our guest speaker at the norfolk e-learning forum. He delivered a great session on the mobile phone feedbadck system demonstrating how companies such as Tesco are using the feedback system and the many possible uses for it.

When I first met Jonathan we talked about what they did but it wasn’t until I saw the technology being used that I actually began to understand how it could be used and how many potential uses there were. Since that first meeting we’ve had loads of ideas abotu how it can be used and we are going to have an open day at our offices so more people can come and see some of our ideas.

The session today must be one of the only ones I have been to where you were asked to leave your mobile phone on! I didn’t hear any comedy ringtones so a lot of people must have been on silent!

After the session there was an excellent debate on the possible uses of the feedback system for a range of education and commerical uses. A number of attendees stated that organisations that the worked for were already using or were looking at ways in which the technology could be used.

We were also able to give out a 3 free whitepapers which were provided by Rob Hubbard, Real Projects and The Customer Feedback Company. For more information on the forum including how you can attend please visit http://www.realprojects.co.uk/about.php.

I’ve recently read a number of articles about the iphone, google phone and other pda’s which are apparently going to change the way that we think about out internet usage. These super fast devices are going to let us browse on the move, check email, get GPS positions and a whole host of other applications. Whilst reading the articles I thought back to my first mobile phone purchase: the size, the cost and the weight of the thing! Just when did mobile phones become so widely adopted in our society?

In 1993 I had access to a shared mobile (more of a breeze block than a mobile device) which was used mainly for incoming calls. It was pretty impractical and the thought of carrying it around let alone using it to check emails seemed a tad ridiculous. 5 years later I had my own mobile phone along with most of my friends. Along came flashing aerials, text messages, address books, using it overseas; it all became common place without anyone realising it.

When will I look back and think about how obvious it is to use my mobile phone to provide a gps of my position, which then pings me traffic news, food options, relevant shops and loads of other information via some kind of information burner. I can imagine a scenario where I am overseas trying to book some train tickets but need somehelp. My position is sent to my personal web profile, I’m then sent a series of learning packs to help me, a short podcast, time information, cultural information, perhaps a translation to show the assistant….or my profile generates a personal bar code which I pass over the ticket machine. My online ticket account is debited and the train ticket uploaded to my pda.

Last week I went to a great event hosted by the Norfolk Network. At the event James Duez from the feedback company spoke about his experiences of running a succesful e-learning business and also his current project: The Customer Feedback Company.

James and his team demonstrated a great piece of technology that captures instant feedback sent via a mobile and displayed via a dashboard. The possibilities for this technology are vast, from feedback to workplace assessment. I enjoyed the session so much that James has agreed to come and speak at the next e-learning forum.

Mobile technologies and handheld learning are developing radidly with Africa being the fastest growth area for Mobile Phone ownership. The Guardian also ran an article about parents wanting to receive more information about their children’s performance via mobile phone. (http://www.guardian.co.uk/education/2007/sep/18/link.link17)

We are currently finalising the details of the event which will be on the 23rd October. The norfolk elearning website will be updated with details of the event in the next couple of days so look out for the booking details.

For more information:

http://www.thefeedbackcompany.com/

http://www.realprojects.co.uk/about.php

http://www.norfolkelearningforum.co.uk/