BlogDale

Some time ago I was conned into signing up for the school “Stars in their eyes” concert.  Thinking that a number of staff would be taking part, I wasn’t dreading it oh no, not at all.  The Elvises, Meatloaves and Britneys of previous years had paved the way for me so I relaxed.  I could just be the comedy act, the one who didn’t take it seriously, so I rested in the wings safe in the knowledge that I could deliver a half-baked and hammed up performance and get away with it.

But not any more.  The competition has evaporated.   Seems there is only one “mystery staff act” this year and as I look hopefully over my shoulder I find that all others have taken a step back.  Then another, and the gathering cloud isn’t the dry ice of the music teacher’s concert - oh no, it’s created by the swift running feet of my colleagues as they exeunt, chuckling, into the distance.  But I’m not afraid.

How bad can it be?  Small village school, and I have a good reputation in this village.  After all, pillar of the community and all that.  How bad can it be?  I just need to choose a song.  An easy number, something that isn’t going to tax my extensive range of my vocal cords.  Sinatra?  Crosby?  Nah the kids have never heard of them, I’d never get any votes.  How about Rick Astley, always fancied myself as the guy in a suit crooning to the mike.  Oops, giving away my 80s roots there.  And same again - “Rick Who?” they’d say.  Nope, what we need is someone with flair, panache, someone who’s a challenge to do.  But with a voice that’s easy to copy.

Time dragged on.  I left it and left it.  Needed inspiration.  Then one weekend I had a great time with my daughter and thought of….

Read the rest of this entry »

The Open University’s OpenLearn spaces are open for sharing educational and learning resources. There are loads of free resources online ready use, ready to dip in and out of. No prizes for recognising the VLE though.

Here’s a nice one, brought to my attention by Val Brooks.  Scrumdidilyumptio.us allows you to build relationships between websites .  It’s about building folksonomies , relationships and generally adding to the interconnectedness of all things.

Scrumdidilyumptious is a Firefox extension that lets you describe relations between websites. Want the world to know that you think Digg is better than Slashdot? that Google owns Writely? that Desperate Housewives is available on iTunes? Scrumdidilyumptious lets you do it.

That’s what their homepage says and who am I to argue?

Fellow Moodler Jens Gammelgaard (I think that’s enough letter As) brought Compendium to my attention this evening. It’s a knowledge management tool that allows individuals and groups to quickly compile existing, and grow new, knowledge. In the words of the developers:

Compendium is about sharing ideas, creating artifacts, making things together, and breaking down the boundaries between dialogue, artifact, knowledge, and data. It helps provide a faster, better way for groups and project teams to work.

Having tried it for a VERY short time, I can report that it is awesome. Rapid construction of information pathways is a snap, adding nodes with drag and drop from the web and from files in local folders onto the map to construct an information-rich source document.

I’m thinking this looks awfully like an eportfolio…