Easter eggs cracked !

The thing that really gets my goat about Easter is the overwhelming gluttony caused by lavishing the kids with chocolate eggs – replacing any replica of true meaning with a nauseous chorus of “can I have …” and voluminous packaging all over the place for weeks.

Well, grumpy old man that I am, this year, I though I’d at least try to curtail things as much as I could.  You can’t ask relatives not to give eggs – well, you can but it would lead to all sorts of complications.  So, I decided to break out the Tupperware.  Each one of my children got a plastic container into which they were “asked” to place all of their (unwrapped) eggs.  The rubbish then went instantly into the bin and it was simple to tell whose chocolate was what and where it was.  Then these plastic boxes come down at certain times and the kids can eat in something nearing a controlled manner.

A small victory – but it made things just s little more (or should that be less?) sweet on Easter Sunday.

Is it a bird, is it a game? No, its Glamstart !

I had the privilege this week of popping over to Glamorgan Uni in order to attend one of their CELT talks.  This one was about GlamStart, a fresher game coded by Martin Lynch.  Martin is one of that rare breed of highly competent technologists who can also communicate very effectively in a public forum.  I enjoyed my play with the software and took the liberty of grabbing a few piccies for you in order to explain it further.

You can read more about Glamstart at http://glamlife.glam.ac.uk/gettingstarted/1367/glamstart 

After logging in, you are greeted by your Dean (or in my case a random Dean speaking to you via a video:

 

 You then get to create your online persona including character, job and accommodation:

 

 

This then puts you into your room – where you can interact with all of your facilities including tv, computer, pda (for lecture times etc) and of course, bed!  The video links on the side are unlocked as you progress and find things in the game:

 

You can move your mouse around whichever room you are in and click – at which the character will walk over to that position / item. The “map” button takes you to the map of the campus that you can use to enter different areas:

Of course, I went straight to the LRC or Learning Resource Centre for a nose around …

Once inside, you can go venture into different rooms and interact with different characters via embedded videos and faq’s:

But don’t forget to keep an eye on the time and check out your PDA for the next lecture that you may need to rush off to !

At the end of each hard day, you may choose to watch some TV

… before receiving notification of your outcome for that day :-

I think that there are 10 days in all with rewards that translate in to free printing vouchers.  All in all VERY NEAT – well done all!

I discussed next steps with Martin and how making it a living environment (possibly akin to secondlife) might be an idea – and combining it with the MLE to bring people into it and so on and so on.  And the whole “community” element of that for distance learners, part-timers, pre-enrollers … oh the mind boggles!

But for what it is now, I think its another great way of finding out about the University for people who don’t like to look at linear text intensive web pages – and at the end of the day, that’s exactly what it is – information and communication in an alternative format with embedded incentives.

(Hey Mike, just imagine what WE could do with a bunch of coders available to get on with this sort of stuff … !)

Top effort Glam!

Left brain and right brain stuff at TED

You’ve probably heard people speking about the activity of different parts of the brain and why using a slide show in the background to a speaker helps engage the whole brain etc etc etc.  And you maybe though “whatever…”  But the concept took on a slightly new dimension at the recent TED conference a couple of weeks ago.

Take 18 minutes to watch this astonishing talk from Harvard-trained brain scientist Jill Bolte Taylor. 

By the way, as I think I’ve said a few times before, take some time to look around the www.ted.com website – there are some things to listen to there that could seriously change your perspective!

Influences from down under

My turn in tonight – and, little ladies put to bed, this means I can actually write a semi-timely, blog entry!  Brief tho’ cos I have to go and make a bacon butty!

Look at this:

Its the University of Melbourn’e Learning Lab.  Mike went to a conference this week where its creator was speaking.  Very relevant to us as we are discussing how we might bring together library, IT and student services in one location on the Caerleon Campus and how that might look …

My comment was that, while it is truly gorgeous for what it is – and I’d love to teach/learn in it.  However, calling it a “model. for new approaches” is a bit like saying that Porsche is a model for new motor cars. Very costly to buy/run, and you can’t fit many people in it – you really have to know what you are doing to use its potential fully and forget it if you have a wheelchair.  Fair play though, that’s only a comment on the University’s news site – and it looks the business!

Met with the Head of RISE, an EU funded learning network hosted by the University.  The ORA of the meeting was as follows:  Outcome- to come up with ways that we could help each-other be more effective; Reason- to because RISE success is in the interests of the University and external learners; Actions- to talk through each-others activities in order to spot areas of possible further interaction….

Incremental Change discussions – or rather, how we deal with this many tentacled octopus and ensure that systems are in place that allow appropriate agility within the curriculum, yet maintain standards and quality control throughout all of our systems.

Wrote an article on request by the VC for a new electronic journal and signed the order for a new Timetabling system (now the work REALLY starts).

Got briefly involved with an FOI issue and another self-declaration CRB case.

Somebody I admire is going to Read “Good to Great” by Jim Collins.  If you’re in a position of being able to – and want to – make your organisation better, please please read it too (or listen to Jim read it on the unabridged audio CDs). 

Finally, can you decipher this?

11 was 1 race horse, 22 was 12.  1111 race, 22112

and

YYUR, YYUB, ICUR YY4ME

In club, we had a Strine translation quiz (translate Aussie slang into English) – fun, check out: http://www.strine.org.uk/Dict.html .  Such classics as:

Airpsly Fair-billis: Exceptionally good or pleasing (“Aw heddan Airpsly Fair-billis toime lar snoite”)
An archer mean: Strine expression of agreement and solidarity (“Thet blokes a dairm lunatic!” “Air! An archer mean”)
Baked Necks: Popular Strine breakfast dish, as are Emma Necks, Scremblex, and Fright Chops
Egg Nishner: Electro-mechanical device used for cooling & purifying air
To Gorf: To leave suddenly (“He to gorf like a rocket!”)
X (plural of eggs)
and, of course: Split nair dyke (bad pain in the head)

Childish yes, but I liked ‘em.  Now, where’s that bacon butty … might even throw in some X!