Comments on: what teachers want from technology (epic fail)

By: Julie Carle

Julie Carle — Mon, 26 Jul 2010 08:54:37 +0000

Here is an example of Xtranormal videos posted on the UK Open University Educational Network site Cloudworks http://cloudworks.ac.uk/cloud/view/4103 Bob and Sue are returning to Higher Education studying Technology Enhanced Learning. Here they discuss many of the frustration that are experiencing.

By: julie carle

julie carle — Sun, 25 Jul 2010 12:03:54 +0000

I am a great supporter of Xtranormal and the ability through this website to illustrate how teachers and learners can engage with Web 2.0 tools for effective teaching. If you follow the following link you will see 11 xtranornal videos of returning adult learners engaging in debate of technology in an UK open uni cloudworks educational networking site http://cloudworks.ac.uk/cloud/view/4103. Janet Hart of the Centre of Learning and Performance Technologies gave the Xtranormal Bob and Sue videos the wthumps up http://janeknight.typepad.com/

By: darren

darren — Thu, 15 Jul 2010 11:03:05 +0000

Thanks for stopping by! I sympathise, and I did feel bad complaining about the site when my students and I have got so much out of it for free over the last year or so. It isn’t the charges that bother me, it is the fact that users can’t find out where, how, or how much they need to pay, and what they will get for it. A small chart explaining the charges, in an easily accessible place, would dispel a lot of frustration (and you must have seen the forums!).

But I’ll be checking back, and when everything is fixed I may well pay out of my own pocket to let the students enjoy this. Good luck, and I urge everyone else to keep an eye on this great idea!

By: xtranormalgra

xtranormalgra — Thu, 15 Jul 2010 06:07:19 +0000

Hi,

can I just say that I agree with pretty much everything you say.

Our problem has been that we were in the middle of a major change to our site -and yes were were going to start charging a small amount – when a Tsunami hit us – we are extremely grateful to the iPhone video guy, but at the same time it caught us in the middle of a major upgrade, so we were swamped on all fronts.

We have been busy trying to make amends to educators, but at the same time, we will end up having to charge a little – just doing the rendering costs money.

please stick with us……we will get there!

Thanks,

xtranormalgra

By: darren

darren — Sun, 11 Jul 2010 22:00:35 +0000

You are quite right. I have a checklist to go through when researching new tools for classroom application, and the issues you raise are all covered. My personal epic fail on this occasion was to assume that the site hadn’t changed for the worse in the last few months. Although it didn’t have a specific education site, it was a lot easier to find more appropriate content previously. To be honest, the sweary stuff isn’t my major problem – my students are old enough to deal with it, and on the internet you need to learn to confront and discard things like that. I just wish they hadn’t hidden the pricing information….

By: Danny Maas

Danny Maas — Sun, 11 Jul 2010 15:45:51 +0000

As I see more and more of these types of tools hitting the market I become excited about the educational potential for student learning. At the same time, however, I become more and more cautious. Do they have an education version? What is their privacy policy and terms of use policies? These are questions I find myself asking regularly with these web-based applications – and for good reason.

Facebook’s terms of use with respect to who owns the personal content uploaded by users should have all educational leaders asking questions about what information a site needs to gather about its users and what they will do with that info.

Xtranormal is a good example of why we should be asking for an EDU-specific site. Do you want to see an epic fail? The galley is filled with user content rife with obscenities and inappropriate content most teachers wouldn’t feel comfortable allowing students to watch. Sites like Glogster and GoAnimate understand this and have created EDU-specific sites where the content is easier to control by teachers and the tool is geared toward schools.

Teachers need to model the types of citizenship skills we want our students to develop in using web-based publishing and media creation tools. Jumping into using a site without doing so, IMO, would be the epic fail.

By: darren

darren — Fri, 09 Jul 2010 10:56:05 +0000

I’m not sure we can complain about that… I’m not a customer until I pay, and if they want to ask people to pay out of the blue, then make it very difficult to do so, it is stupid rather than unethical. That’s my point – they have just received a huge boost in visibility and interest for free, and they capitalise by making their site really rubbish.

By: Karenne Sylvester

Karenne Sylvester — Fri, 09 Jul 2010 08:47:31 +0000

Totally, totally agree…with all your points,

Focusing on one in particular, tho’, after reading David Deubel’s recent post – I think we’re beginning to see questions on ethics arising. Basically, it’s fine to charge but make sure its transparent, in fact, rant warming up, make anything that’s related to money-making transparent – because at least when people were putting up GoogleAds, everyone knew what was going on… this whole, let’s screw the customer and pretend to be something “we’re” not is just plain wrong.

Karenne

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