Molecularist

Elizabeth Hartnell-Young is doing some great studies of ePortfolios. She hooked up with us and we are providing some support with phones and software.

Here is a PDF of the transcript of the keynote she gave at the ePortfolio conference in France last October. I wasn’t sure if I had mentioned it.

Here are some quotes:

Portfolios, as the
name suggests are mobile containers (porter = to carry; portable = movable) for
artefacts in a range of media, and while everything ‘m’ is in at present, it is
a good time to explore how eportfolios, and their relatives blogs and digital
stories, can support learning in a flexible and mobile way.

and on her first work with Lifeblog 1.0 and the Nokia 7610:

My recent research
considers how mobile devices can support eportfolio development and digital
storytelling. It is based on a handset containing a megapixel camera, up to ten
minutes video recording, phone, internet capability, 8MB memory and numerous
other features. Some would call it a mobile phone. But there is an added
feature that could support rich new ways or learning.

Recognising the
importance of collecting evidence on the move (the archive), revisiting the
artefacts, reflecting on them individually and holistically, and sharing the
important items with others, Nokia came up with the concept of Lifeblog. This
software can be used to transfer images, videoclips (up to 10 minutes long) and
messages from the handset to a personal computer. These are displayed in
chronological order, with the date, to give a story of the day’s activities and
messages. This element, the Timeline, is similar to the archive, or collection
of artefacts. A second feature of the software is called Favourites, allowing
us to drag and drop particular items into another layer, and to transfer them
back to the handset for sharing with others. With the software we can also add
text notes, send artefacts as email attachments, or delete them completely.

During the past
few months, the handset was sent out with ten explorers ranging in age from
five years to nearly fifty, and on their return they shared interesting and
useful data.

Some participants
used the device to collect happy memories for the future: for example, as one
woman reflected “I love the capturing… but only for good things. My aunt died
and I had no interest in taking pictures of anything around that.” And she
deleted the clip of her choir singing “because it sounded shocking but we
actually sounded very good”. An eight year old chose to save as a Favourite a
video clip of his first ride on a horse “because it was the first time” and
“you can keep it all your life”. As he composed his text notes, he explained
that he was writing for “people in the family”, indicating his sense of
audience.

The father of an
autistic child was excited that the mobile device could support social stories,
a method described by Gray and White (2002) and used extensively by this
family.

Say you’re going on a trip to Sydney and they’ve never been on a trip. They
can’t conceptualise it, can’t get over the fact that they’re not going to be in
their own bed. You can tell them a hundred times it’s for two days, but they
think it’s for ever. So you make them a little social story. It really relieves
the stress.

Normally the parents sketch elements of the story and, using
the child as the central character, outline the steps involved in going
shopping, to the dentist, or on a long trip. With the capacity for ten-minute
videoclips, this father saw the device as a ready-made story generator using
his child as the actor and the audience.

The handset also
went out with building apprentices as a tool for onsite assessment. In fact,
tradespeople are early adopters of mobile technologies, so the teacher of
building studies saw the potential for the collection of evidence of
competence, and digital storage to replace the copious paperwork. One employer
used the video feature to capture the house framing completed by his
apprentice, narrating as he panned around the site. He preferred the digital
device for several reasons. First, it was easy to find. As with most builders,
he normally keeps the assessment paperwork in his vehicle to keep it from
getting dirty, but his mobile device is always to hand. Secondly, it was easy
to use, and thirdly it increased his literacy options. As he was not confident
with written English, he felt that making a video clip took the pressure off
having to write on paper.

Amazing reporting of the Blogs in Action event I attended in London just before Easter.

Link: Blogs in Action and a nasty case of speed mingling: Corante > Strange Attractor >.

Just sitting on the train home after a great day up in London, which was capped off by the Six Apart-arranged Blogs in Action seminar featuring short presentations from Tom Coates from the BBC but talking about his own experiences of blogging, Neil McIntosh from Guardian Unlimited, Dominique Busso from VNUNet Europe, John Dale from Warwick University, and Charlie Schick from Nokia LifeBlogs, with a coda from lawyer David Carr about libel.