Andysblackhole

Well giving by SMS in the UK has become a big thing for example .

 £3.4 million raised for sport relief by text http://www.charitytext.org/news/text-donations-raise-3-4m-for-sport-relief   
All text donations made by the public have benefited from 100% out payments thanks to mobile network operators waiving their usual fees. (when dome mobile industry ! )

Charity text details of the framework can be found on the MDA Charity Text   site http://www.charitytext.org/ basically operators have waived fees and allowed you to donate in units of of £5.00, £10 etc from phone credit .
Basically a brilliant idea nad if the the tax people sort out ability to gift aid as well it could be even better. But for an industry some like to kick I would like to give them a huge thumbs up . Next time you see an appeal reach for the phone and use those thumbs wisely to send a charity text !!

Great guest spot from Mark Hawkins is the Director of Communications of the Mobile Data Association (MDA),

Text messaging is still the universal lowest common denominator in communication using a phone other than voice .

Great article worth a read and please before all you Apple fan boys and girls and Android types shout at me just look at some of the global stats for SMS .

http://www.msearchgroove.com/2010/07/28/guest-column-spreading-the-message-why-the-major-growth-opportunities-are-still-in-text-messaging/

The UK’s most comprehensive broadband speeds research reveals that the UK’s average actual fixed-line residential broadband speed has increased by over 25 per cent over the past year.

well about time to guys . compare your provider and your actual speeds with figure on page at http://consumers.ofcom.org.uk/2010/07/increase-in-uk%E2%80%99s-average-actual-broadband-speed/

 Read the full broadband speeds research report

also some useful links on consumer guide to broadband speeds   and choosing a broadband deal

well worth a look.

Basically Google apps for government they have won approval under  Federal Information Security Management Act (FISMA) certification. US based servers security etc. . Coming to the UK very soon I suspect very worth watching closely . Interestingly the cloud nature could support outsourced /franchised opperations more easily and maybe popular route with current UK administration  .

http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2010/07/introducing-google-apps-for-government.html

If you haven’t yet yet picked up on the work by Scott Newcomb and colleagues in Ohio you should.
Scott’s school district has taken the great step of allowing every 3rd to 6th grade learner a mobile learning device. In my earlier post I mentioned how the US is catching up fast in the mobile space .
Scott’s website http://www.smriders.net/Mobile_Learning is a great place to start if your looking for ideas , acceptable use policies helpful hints. It could save you hours of trawling the web and maybe costly time consuming mistakes. Now I am not saying cloning but look at it take ideas and give them your own twist/flavour . Now I am a fan of working with learner owned device but in primary (and secondary) that can be tricky so Scott’s and colleagues approach is one way to proceed. .

But great work by Scott colleagues and his learners needs shouting about .

The strap line to the project of

The 4 C’s with MLDs – Critical Thinking, Communication, Collaboration, Creativity

alone makes it worth visiting.

go on have a look I am planning on interviewing Scott later in the summer so anyone got any questions leave them as a comment.

I hate to say it but is the US catching up or overtaking the UK in the US of Smart Phones in education. Notable UK success such as Paul Haigh at Notre Damm school in Sheffield to name but one are begining to be matched by trialsd and sometimes big roll out in the US.

Interesting mix of state and commercial mobile phone company funding !!

http://m.jdnews.com/jdnews/db_/contentdetail.htm;jsessionid=30541F7591AB5CABDF672228E7CAF284?contentguid=w0S84Tqm&full=true#display

Tale of two articles first from the Guardian.

Slightly surreal headline but worth a read.

75% of all teenagers (and 58% of 12-year-olds) now have a mobile phone. Almost 90% of phone-owning teens send and receive texts, most of them daily. Half send 50 or more texts a day; one in three send 100. In fact, in barely four years, texting has established itself as comfortably “the preferred channel of basic communication between teens and their friends”.http://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/2010/jul/16/teenagers-mobiles-facebook-social-networking

Seconldy from Bill Thomson technology correspondent of the BBC Another great headline step away from the Ipod contrasting current statements as mobile phones being legitimate items for student searches .
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-10635333

both very funny but read and reflect a while !! Now where have I put my phone !

How to add Youtube Videos to SlideShare Presentations

Mike Wesch of Kansas  University  along with Dr. Terry Anderson. Professor & Canada Research Chair in Distance learning my top two academic keynotes has done it again using his and his students medium of choice video. this specific video  is nearly three years old . But still interesting

Great video

A Vision of Students Today

I also love his one on community  college (FE in the UK ). parody of the wesch video  interesting contrast to Kansas state.

A Vision of Community College Students Today

Tony Vincent learninginhand.com has done this excellent post with the aim of helping people manage classroom or school roll outs of IPod touches all common sense but frankly tremendous advice all in one place . I would add one make the home screen image either number or name of iPod student so if you get confused try to power it up and you recognise the image/device. But great list Tony Cheers.

http://learninginhand.com/blog/classroom-ipod-touches-dos-and-donts.html