Meeting with Becky Baldaro-Booth

So I met with the lovely Becky today and we ran through what has been going on in terms of both of our projects. I think we are going to have some rich data to analyse! Becky has kindly informed me that students can share assets before they publish them - so I am going to get some instructions and post them on the PUPPS facebook wall. This is great as it means that I do not have to wait until the end to see what students are populating in PebblePad. It also means another message for some students to ignore!!!!

It will be very interesting to see what is being created and whether the PDA is adding value to when and where students are reflecting and the evidence that is being populated using the PDA.

Thinking longer term - it is apparent to me just how engaged I need to be with employers moving forward and we have some really good employer networks that i should tap into! Becky has suggested someone in social media who might be a judge for the webfolio competition which would be great.

I am reminded that I need to chase up some dates with the ALPS team to get some support and access to the PDAs for the focus group sessions.

I have come across another brilliant presentation on mobile technologies


ALT-C 2009 web site at http://altc2009.alt.ac.uk/posts/6563972.

Am currently writing my PGCHE portfolio so to suffice to say - uber busy as usual!!!!!

Still waiting for stuff, no time like the present and just no time!

Well, I have started ringing round the participants this week as there are a few students who I have not heard from for a while and whilst I dont want to prescribe how ofen people should be populating content via PebblePad PDA, I want to ensure that everyone is clued up to what they should be doing and has access to everythin that they need...

I am really pleased that some students have started populating assets in PebblePad and seem really switched on in terms of the social networking and creation of their e-portfolio...

I have a meeting with BBB who is overseeing a project with graduate trainees who are creating portfolios using PebblePad but not using PebblePad PDA to do so. I am going to see if we can do some comparative analysis between what is being populated by students involved in PUPPS and those on her project.

I have been in discussions with marketing about getting a respected member of the business community or a local employer to be the judge on the webfolio competition - I know that these things will take a while to get sorted, so I am getting the ball rolling on that now..

Questionnaires are being checked by Junjie tomorrow before they are sent around to employers - still waiting on MP3 or WAV files from participants - have received content from Scott and Lisa but that it is!!! I am chasing the other participants so I should get some files from them soon!

MP3 file issues

Well, I have asked the students to answer the research questions by sending me an audio file recorded on their loaned PDAs...

One dutiful participant noticed that the audio notes program that had been installed was a trial and the free trial has now expired!

Students have been asked to install"Kepp Recordin" which recordes WAP files rather than MP3 fiels but the important thing is that they can still create audio reflections and upload them to PebblePad http://www.axyzmobile.com/products/keep-recordin

I have been hugely busy and havent written the employer questionnaire yet - I will do these over the weekend!

Soo much to doooooo......

PUPPS Training....not enough time!

Well - I feel like I am badgering some of the students but I am a bit concerned about a few students - I have sent emails are TWO students have not responded at all and had no training......All other students are engaged and cracking on with things and I believe that we are going to see some good webfolios.

I am starting to think about data that I need for the book chapter and am expecting some MP3 files from students which will be sent via email and I will be circulating a questionnaire to all employers next week! (eek - better start writing it soon!)

There has been less activity from me as I have been unwell and uber busy - but am trying to pick things up again....I am going to finish some assets this week and reflect on them.. I also have to think about updating my CV and thinking about my profile for work!

I am currently thinking about the focus day (s) - I am thinking of hosting one before christmas as I think that students should meet again before next year.

Lots and lots to do - where will I find the time to do everything?

Well - just because I dont have enought to do already!

I am hoping to get invited to a workshop in Nottingham on mobile technologies

http://www.alt.ac.uk/workshop_detail.php?e=339. - would be really good to learn from others and try and disseminate intital findings from the PUPPS project

There's some really interesting stuff here on mobile technologies - I really want to try and get involved in these networks but it is finding the time to do everything that is the real challenge

http://hheckl.ning.com/

I am meeting with a Kirsten Thompson at Leeds University to discuss student-centred virtual learning environment design which I believe will help with the on-going development of the project and the PhD that I am starting in January 2010!

Frustration!!!

Despite my numerous requests - I find myself in the situation where some participants have still not joined this blog or indeed commented/posted to it and I find no existence of their own personal blog - access to my blog to be fair is optional but only a few students have followed this blog and have seemingley set up a blog of their own.

However, participants are using FACEBOOK regularly as a means of communication, information sharing and support which is great - the online network is definitely working in this sense.

Some students have being creating assets in PebblePad using PebblePad PDA and some students have accessed their PebblePad accounts using their PC to test whether their accounts worked - I will be interested to see where assets have been created. I am concered that one student has not attended the training and has not seemingly logged into PebblePad and the pilot has been running for a few weeks now, so though engagement is not a problem across the board - their has been little engagement from this student.

We have been experiencing problems with campus pack which is the private journal application - this can be accessed easily on a PC but the interface does not work well on a PDA - this is a continued area of review.

Finally - we have lost a student due to a change in employment circumstances which is a real shame.

This week I am going onto the PUPPS Gateway to review assets that have been created so far - better post the asset I created after the training to my account tonight!

PUPPS training - PebblePad PDA

Just finished a training session with Scott - who was the only person with the exception of apologies from Lisa Walker and Michael - who is attending tomorrow. This is a real shame as I am not convinced that everyone has connected to PebblePad PDA.

Didnt record the session today as I will do tomorrow and can embed the link here tomorrow

Training was successful - we got Scott onto PebblePad PDA which is great, he has seen the blog here online, Facebook mobile is installed and on - he has tested Skype - which worked but echoed - I have suggested using some headphones to combat this problem.

Scott has even created some assets which is great! I am sure he is going to create a great webfolio.

I am hoping all other participants are going to get involved to the same degree and join the session tomorrow!

I am hopefully going to have some photos and footage to post here tomorrow!

Thanks for attending Scott!