Connected Learning

Today the BBC released it’s much lauded iPlayer to the world, well only the UK BBC lisence paying audience

The rest of us outside the UK will have to wait for the myriad of deals, which are sure to be done, to be completed.

In brief the iPlayer service allows people to download BBC programs that they have missed and once they have downloaded the program, you will have 30 days to watch before it self-destructs.

A great service and one which I hope the ABC licences into Australia.  Our commercial networks are way behind the pace here compared to our US cousins, let alone a service like this!

Let the time-shifting begin

Slideshare has been around for a while but it has just added a great new feature of being able to ad and sync an Mp3 file to the presentation!

Now this makes is a great tool to capture a presentation for participants who couldn’t make the live verison. you can even embed it into your own website or blog!

If you don’t have time to read a book, read classics by email or RSS!

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The cinematic release of the trailer for the as yet un-named (working-title: Cloverfield) JJ Abrams film (see the trailer below), I have been pondering the construction of expectation.

When patrons went to see Transformers recently the last trailer before the feature didn’t have the usual title screens etc, but created a massive amount of expectation, it left the viewers wanting more but not knowing where to go to get more. They didn’t even have a title to search on or ask about. (watch the trailer below to see what I am talking about)

It is a true teaser trailer, just enough to leave you wanting more. It has created a huge following, with lots of questions being asked, if you search on the tag cloverfield in YouTube there is currently over 344 video’s of speculation, analysis and related stuff, let alone blogs etc which are overflowing with suspenseful expectation. Already it is being touted as the big release of 2008, and people don’t even know what it is called or what it is about!
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YzfNQkwwT3c]
JJ Abrams is a master of this, we have seen his work skilfully developed in the TV series Lost which leaves us wanting more each week.

Our culture is thriving on the unknown, the mystery, the suspense. In an age where we can obtain virtually every bit of information we want whenever we want, wherever we are, the excitement of expectation and the use of masterful suspense is satiating a human desire to seek the unknown.

Companies like Apple know this all too well. The recent release of the iPhone was heralded by much rumour and speculation. Once it was officially announced people were scouring for information and anyone who had one prior to it’s official release was mobbed wherever they went.

How can we as professional educators construct this expectation and excitement into our teaching and the resources we develop? Can we become the masters of suspense that makes the students want to come back for more and to seek more information? Can we? What do you think?

We’re entering “truth wars” – fights over who gets to define “facts” in the 21st century. When you put Wikipedia, Britannica, Citizendium, Conservapedia and Uncyclopedia side-by-side, this becomes very clear.

From a talk Mark Pesce gave in Adelaide, Perth and Sydney while on tour with Jimmy Wales, founder of Wikipedia, with Education.AU, in late April 2007.

Part One
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yosf621RbT8]

Part Two
[youtube=http://youtube.com/watch?v=zhDoBPURkW8]