KansaiTech Education Blog

How many of us use the free version of Dropbox? I have used it for a couple of years and have run into it’s limitations. I wanted something better. I had searched and used others such as SugarSync, SpiderOak, Box.net, etc. Most max out at 5GB and have limitations on file sizes. I needed a better solution. I bought a NAS (Network Attached Storage) Drive from Buffalo, which has a web interface. It was slow, hard to use and limited. I had a 2TB drive that I wanted to use as a cloud drive but couldn’t.

I had discovered HomePipe, which is now Tappin. It wasn’t very stable and I had some problems getting it to work on my Mac Mini. After a few back and forth with support from the forums, I had finally gotten it to work. I know this is not what most people want to do, spend time getting it to work, we all just want it to “Just Work”. It wasn’t as robust as I had wanted and I gave up.

Then about 2 months ago I decided to give it another chance. It installed easily and I was up and running in minutes. I guess the most time consuming task was deciding what folders I wanted to share and which I wanted to keep private. So, I set up 2 folders on my NAS drive, 1 for my students to use for uploading and downloading material for classes and another with all of my lesson plans, grades, attendance and tests. I had students upload videos, audio and text files. Most had no problems, but did run into some errors when using a slow or congested network. I had students view videos right from the folder and had no errors until I had 25 students trying to watch a 1GB video. No errors with 35 students and a 50MB video.

Now the biggest drawback of using Tappin is that you must leave a computer on to using the service. I am a geek and rarely shut down my computers but most people I know shut down there computers whenever they aren’t using them or at least every night. So if you don’t mind leaving your computer on all the time, you can always turn the monitor off or enable the screen saver (I use an all black picture for mine) then this is a possible solution.

Again, here is the link

As I am very keen on Blended Learning as a teacher as well as a student. These articles give some good examples of how it all started and where they think it will be in the near future. I think those who think it is just a fad will need to rethink that.

http://www.innosightinstitute.org/media-room/publications/education-publications/the-rise-of-k-12-blended-learning/

http://www.eschoolnews.com/2011/02/10/report-blended-learning-could-hit-or-miss/

http://www.eschoolnews.com/2011/05/03/report-cites-40-diverse-examples-of-blended-learning/?ast=76&astc=6561

I was recently queried through the email grapevine as to the following by Company X; “If we make Moodle content for our textbooks would you be interested?”

One of my bosses answered in a Reply All. “Not if we have to pay for it.”

I burst out laughing.

Moodle as open source carries with it a certain philosophy. I do hope that companies looking to develop on that platform will understand that and work with it. It is not an easy mind shift. Let me put it another way. Cost / Benefit. The cost to a publisher of making new materials for Moodle will be high. If the publisher expects to recoup the cost of hiring a materials creator, a tech supervisor, a manager, etc. etc. The project will become too expensive and will lose money. As you can see from the above comment, no one wants to pay for content on a open source system. Remember that Moodle itself is a core group of only about a dozen people. The rest is done basically on a volunteer basis by open source contributors. So then how is a publisher to make money here? If the company tries to use it for their own purposes …

Can a corporate publisher change its approach? is the real question. It requires quite a mind shift. Letting go control of the production of content and the process of production and learning to be the mediator, platform provider and let the teachers be the open source contributors that make the content for free. The publisher can and should of course product a small amount of core content to set the standard of provide an example. Just like Moodle itself. How this could be done would take me hours to lay down all my ideas – not suitable for email. (or blog)

But here is a simple version. A. The book (dead tree) is sold for profit. B.There may or may not also be a workbook (dead tree) and CD (audio or apps). C. There is then a 2nd “workbook” (the Moodle content) that the teachers are already creating themselves. D. There are mobile computing elements (coming soon, more later).

Now “D” is the important one here, the money maker. So Company X would be so very wise to get started on this now. When tablets and mobile devices take over (some of) the classroom content, if they have got this under their belt by that time, they could be a mile and a half ahead. (not miles – others WILL catch up fast).

Publishers have already spent millions hiring coders and developers to make unique computer CDROMS and websites – none of them are recouping the costs. It is WEB 1.0 all over again; 99% of websites failed by ’99. The “build it and they will come” error I call it. These are costly propositions not just in the initial faze, but to keep up to date as users (teachers and students) soon tire of the first iteration.

So how to keep that mile and a half ahead and not let it bankrupt you as a company? ”You” can’t – not as a “you” that has 100% control of the content because then “you” must continue to pay 100% of the cost. Simple realistic rule. 100% control = 100% cost.

Think of it this way. Not even Apple keeps 100% control. Most of the apps in the appstore are NOT apple apps. (Say that 10 times really fast) But THAT is why the iPad is 97% of tablets on the Internet and Samsung etc./ Google Android is 3%. They have apps created by “others” not them (read “you”).

Amazon just got in this game. They too know that the money is to be made in being the platform not the publisher.

So how does Company X make money and become a platform? Simple (well l am speaking in relative terms) … avoid the 100% cost. You do not have to be Apple or Amazon, it can be done on scale. Instructors are already making their own content. Let them make it, let them have it, let them … no, ask them to share their content back and join the 100s of others who use the same “workbook” (C) content. Set up a company sponsored Moodle as a place to tweak and share. Load it with simple content, quizzes and etc. to keep users coming in. Allow them to comment on it, add to it, critique it make it better. Then take it away with them.

Okay, at this point you think I am crazy. ”My boss will never go for this.” You are saying.

You may be right. Most publishers have rejected this model. Yours may too. Even if the boss say yes but tries to add a little “control” to it… remember the 100% rule. Collaboration is not something anyone can control.

The up side here is that the publishing company can start small. This can be done with say, one text, one workbook. Minimal cost and minimal repercussions if it fails to find an audience (with that book). But I hope even if that failed, a company would try a different book. So how to choose? Again, give up control and let the audience choose.

They are already making content. Start with that. Let them choose. Just open a platform for the book that people are already converting to Moodle use and support it. You can try to guess, but using the wisdom of the crowd or “crowd sourcing” will give you the answer much faster.

It will be a scary ride at first to see your cherished product torn apart in a forum. But what rises from the ashes … (will stop here).

The cost of doing a BETA run of this kind is minimal. The risk to reputation is minimal and even if it fails the reputation to your company for being the first to try will be “currency” that will carry it forward on the next try. The users themselves will make it (the 2nd “workbook”), it will cost you only to maintain a Moodle forum to support it and gain from it. The profit will come in the many hundreds more books and workbooks sold (dead trees).

And this does not even yet mention the future possibility of adding a charge/licence a student to “buy” or “join” in the use of the online content.

More on that later. It is not yet time for that. Do not want to give away all my secrets yet.

For more about public sharing. See Jeff Jarvis talking about his new book.

Bit.ly link for this posting http://bit.ly/mY46v5

Amazon’s Kindle Fire along with their self publishing system that I mentioned in my last post has one more feature that will be a savior in the classroom, the browser. Just like the instant on of an iPad saves time and helps get the device out of the way, optimizing the content of web pages the way that Amazon is doing with their “Silk” browser will make searches faster.

Bandwidth is the last barrier to true classroom connectivity and Amazon are the pioneers of the game. How does it work? Just one example of what it does is enough to get the gist. When you view a web page on your home PC, the screen is large and requires rather large images to look good. But a tablet screen is small and so why not shrink down those image files and save on your bandwidth?  In this and other ways, Amazon shrinks down webpages to make them faster loading over wireless (or 3G).  It sounds simple, but the computing power it takes is mind boggling. Even CNN thinks this is big.

How this should work for the classroom is that you have lots of students loading same /similar content so the “Silk” browser system will quickly learn your Moodle and optimize it for delivery on a Kindle Fire making your class move just that little bit faster.

So imagine the scenario. Your self published textbook sold on Amazon, links to your Moodle content open in Silk and all for the price of $199.

We are so close to the real digital classroom I can taste it.

At the beginning of the summer Korea announced that they will be making the transition to tablet based textbooks by 2015. I have taken the summer to watch related news, consider the ramifications and am finally ready to comment.

What does this mean for Japan?  Well, I for one am elated. The rivalry between Japan and Korea might just spur  Luddites here into action. Remember when Korea had better broadband coverage than Japan, how embarrassing that was for them?

Now, no thinking educator should fail to recognize that Samsung, the maker of the Galaxy tablet, has to be behind this push to adopt tablets in all their schools.  Those who know me, know that I am usually not on the side of profit motive when it comes to education. However in this case I am rooting for Samsung to help bring this off.  Why?  That will take a little explaining.

Firstly, I have long wanted some kind tablet system to bring the Internet into the classroom without the machine getting in the way like a PC does. See Post from January 2010. The main features being small and quick to start up allowing me to bring the net in when needed and set it aside when not. Well, low and behold, only a year and a half later I am the addict of the iPad2 with its instant on flip open cover.

I am also immensely pleased with my little Kindle purchased this summer. Another reason I have not yet commented on the tablet issue. Self publishing supported by Amazon. But I am getting ahead of myself, let’s come back to that in a moment.

Textbooks are the one publishing area that should most benefit from Sony eReaders, iPads, Kindles, Nooks, Galaxy Tabs, Windows 8 … whatever. The benefit is largely on the consumer side. Which is why in this case I am all for the move. Yes the initial purchase price of an iPad is high, as much as $1000 dollars for a fully decked out model, but certainly the entry level price of around $500 for a wifi model is reasonable, especially when you consider how much students have to spend nowadays on university text books. Limited runs of paper texts means high cost. Publishing and selling of an ebook means that production/distribution cost is down and purchase price down from hundreds of dollars to tens of dollars.  Over 4 years of higher education, no comparison.

Adittionally, on the price point, with so much competition now, models of tablets and eReaders will likely start at around $100 to $150 dollars. The recent run on HP TouchPads at just that price shows how many people are ready to buy. It looks like I am not the only one to drool at that price point.

Enough about the consumer side for now. How about the teacher and publisher? I will venture to say the tablet form that will eventually dominate will be the one that makes access to content the easiest, just as iTunes has done for the iPod. However, textbooks are not produced in the same manner as music. This is what fascinates me about the Kindle/Amazon combination.  Amazon already dominates the book publishing market. A simple and protected purchasing system makes buying a text easy. Secondly, the Amazon self publishing system will allow instructors to create and sell their own texts and workbooks for sale with courses.  I do not see how one could do this as easily with iTunes. Ease  of use for instructor may be paramount since they will produce and tell the student where and how to buy.

The first question I always get is (quoting a participant in Bucharest): “Don’t you think self publishing will mean lower quality textbooks?” My answer is  no, and the reason is that self published texts that are successful in the open Internet market will become popular by word of mouth and ranking, the poor texts will quickly be reviewed as poor. A free market peer review.

Another approach is if teachers adopt the open source model and share their content to create a “best of” kind of texts made up of selections of their best work. More information on open source here. It is within the open source model that publishing can move forward less hindered by corporate wars on “rights”.

Ultimately though, it is the ebook text with online links that can provide a richer, more memorable, or to use trending Internet terminology “sticky” experience.  Neurology research on memory also supports this. This is why I am convinced that some form of tablet or pad will replace the textbook in many places. Links in your ebook would of course go to your own Moodle or site, maintaining the usability of the text and allowing for updating content.

Now it only remains to be seen if Japan will be able to see past the publishing rights issues and open up to a more flexible model. Sony was unable to in the past, which allowed Apple to move in on the Walkman and take over online music distribution.  Sony BMG refused to allow MP3 in the Sony music player until 2005, far too late. Apple had already taken over.  Let’s hope the big players have learned that lesson.  You need to accept the yin with the yang, both protected and open types are required for such technology to be widely adopted and grow.

I think the same applies here. The tablet that recognizes that they must support both the corporate texts and the self publishers will be the one that will be most widely adopted. Though a late comer to the game, this may be where Windows 8 remains a real threat to Apple.  With MS Office behind it, it is likely to be easier for any prof or instructor to create and publish directly.  Add a quick and easy way to publish it via Amazon. The student will be able to buy it on any device and read it with a Kindle, Kindle App or Kindle Cloud Reader.

The future looks bright for self publishing supported by tablets of all kinds.

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I will be giving a workshop on the use of www.englishcentral.com in and out of the classroom. Please come on by.

The themes of Tech Day are simplicity and practicality — ideas that language teachers and learners can use either in or out of the classroom. In addition to our “Tech” presentations that will take place in fully equipped computer labs, we’ll have a wide range of other presentations on non-technical topics in the “Plus” room.

Steve McCarty, Osaka Jogakuin College professor, will give the opening plenary session “Online education and virtual organizations”. more….