Incomplete advice, incompetent assistance and unavailable service are three of the most frustrating experiences when needing tech support. It doesn’t have to be that way (and sometimes support actually surprises you)
Author archives: Derek
An edugroan about our eduroam
Eduroam (education roaming), the secure world-wide roaming access service developed for the international research and education community, made my life in Boston such a breeze. Normally navigating appointments and offices on an unfamiliar campus is challenge but when on MIT & Harvard’s grounds, blanket wireless coverage allowed me, a South African visitor, to find my …
Connected Course
Spent Friday afternoon listening to Jim Click Groom, Alan Link Levine and Howard Embed Rhinegold introduce Connected Courses in a session entitled Pre-course: Orientation: Registration & Setting up your Network. I only listened for the first half an hour but “Click”, “Link” and “Embed” did have some good points about online learning. These were the …
Putting the laptop / tablet debate before the horse
There is a heated debate between tablets (iPads and others) vs laptops. This is a discussion that gets to the heart of the intention to improve access to ICT. But before we re-launch the great laptop vs tablet debate, and cost out the budget required for equipping student with devices…. The department that wants portable computing …
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Are we ready for Blended Learning?
Technologies for teaching and learning are a part of the current and proposed Teaching and Learning plan at Wits. If Wits is indeed going to be tech savvy, going beyond EdTech “solutionism” and explore how a range of different modes for course provision can best be used, then it is appropriate that a range of …
Making sense of MOOCs at Wits
The word MOOC is an acronym for Massive Open Online Course. The term emerged in 2008 for a particular type of e-learning activity that was intended to integrate “the connectivity of social networking, the facilitation of an acknowledged expert in a field of study, and a collection of freely accessible online resources” (McAuley et al …
Making ICT a part of a school’s vision
The primary school where my children are enrolled have taken steps towards preparing the school for the introduction of information and communication technology (ICT). The governing body are thinking of equipping teachers with laptops and Gauteng Education department have equipped the school with a set of tablets. These are exciting moves for our school and …
Digital Divides & Participation Gaps
Wits has made it explicit in its vision 2022 that it would like to known as a “tech savvy” intuition. On our digitally equipped connected campus, academics and students do make regular and expert use of digital technologies to meet their communication, scholarship and teaching needs. Ability of staff to access and use the network …
Sharing Nicely
That big annoying purple beast was right. Sharing is caring (I never thought I’d start a post by quoting Barney). Sharing nicely, especially when educational materials are concerned, is a natural impulse. But many education related organisations seem intent on curbing this generosity. If you are part of a larger education related body (a publisher, …
My parents and ed-tech
Learning analytics treats students as numbers, invades privacy, and doesn’t elevate education. Originally published in IT Web 4 April 2003 When I was about 6 months old, my well-meaning and sleep-deprived parents bought me an indispensable and comprehensive education technology: the multivolume, all-inclusive reference source known as the Encyclopædia Britannica. The salesman convinced them that …