So where is HTML 5 going exactly? Over the course of my career, I have been messing about with any number of languages from Machine Code, through Pascal to C+, C++, ActionScript, JavaScript and the list goes on.... So I'm wondering how HTML 5 is going to help? Anyone coded anything that's going to be run on Internet Explorer 6 recently? UK Government and Military intranets seem to feature this browser exclusively and are unwilling to change as they have so many organically produced databases and applications sat behind the browser. And they have neither time / money / willingness to work out whether they can migrate to anything else.
So what price HTML 5 apps?
Like many things I encounter, there is no sword of Damocles for this particular knot. from a developer's perspective, I am keen to embrace 5 and to build new skills, keep up to date with latest technologies etc etc but from a practical approach, I will struggle to produce a killer argument for implementation of a new and viable browser.
If anyone can articulate that argument for me, I'd be delighted!
Friday 31 December 2010
Saturday 2 October 2010
Motivated Learning
Interesting that my career choice (Instructional Design and eLearning Developer) leads me to spend a lot of time learning.
I have spent the last couple of weeks building an interesting project but struggled with the integration of about 50 modules into a cohesive package that could be simply navigated.
Client wanted web and cd delivery, so my preferred tool (flash) which has very strict rules about accessing content on a local drive was not an option so had to think of another way of doing it.
So the net result is a complex, but interestingly clever combination of technologies (CSS, Javascript, Flash, HTML) controlling the delivery of 50 discrete flash objects - dynamically loading them onto a single html page.
Not terribly interesting I know, but the reality is that I didn't know how to do most of that a fortnight ago - and now I do. Learning has occurred.
Almost all of my learning materials came straight off the web. The sheer volume of tutorials / code resource and helpful forum is astonishing. And although there are nuggets of gold out there, there is also an awful lot of chaff to sort through. But I wanted it done, so irrespective of the quality of site, the method of presentation, my "learning style", my current placement on the hierarchy of needs or any of that other stuff, I created my own learning path and found the materials that met my needs.
This meant that the vast majority of material I reviewed was discarded - even when it looked great and offered to teach me a load of things - if it wasn't solving my immediate issue, then Ctl-W closed the window to look at something else.
There is a place for compelling materials that lead learners in, but there is absolutely NO substitute for motivation. Clear signposts about what's IN the package and the ability to jump directly TO a specific element is worth more to a busy learner than any amount of Objectives, Aims, built in reflection etc that trainers frequently articulate as the be-all and end-all of training design. Make them need to do it, and they will successfully complete the crappiest of courses.
I have spent the last couple of weeks building an interesting project but struggled with the integration of about 50 modules into a cohesive package that could be simply navigated.
Client wanted web and cd delivery, so my preferred tool (flash) which has very strict rules about accessing content on a local drive was not an option so had to think of another way of doing it.
So the net result is a complex, but interestingly clever combination of technologies (CSS, Javascript, Flash, HTML) controlling the delivery of 50 discrete flash objects - dynamically loading them onto a single html page.
Not terribly interesting I know, but the reality is that I didn't know how to do most of that a fortnight ago - and now I do. Learning has occurred.
Almost all of my learning materials came straight off the web. The sheer volume of tutorials / code resource and helpful forum is astonishing. And although there are nuggets of gold out there, there is also an awful lot of chaff to sort through. But I wanted it done, so irrespective of the quality of site, the method of presentation, my "learning style", my current placement on the hierarchy of needs or any of that other stuff, I created my own learning path and found the materials that met my needs.
This meant that the vast majority of material I reviewed was discarded - even when it looked great and offered to teach me a load of things - if it wasn't solving my immediate issue, then Ctl-W closed the window to look at something else.
There is a place for compelling materials that lead learners in, but there is absolutely NO substitute for motivation. Clear signposts about what's IN the package and the ability to jump directly TO a specific element is worth more to a busy learner than any amount of Objectives, Aims, built in reflection etc that trainers frequently articulate as the be-all and end-all of training design. Make them need to do it, and they will successfully complete the crappiest of courses.
Wednesday 15 September 2010
Back on the OPEN road
So after a decade of absence, I return to the Open University to start studying again. After graduating with a very sad and geeky BSc, I cheated on the OU and tried Huddersfield's offering of a Graduate Diploma in Law, but I was thinking of Milton Keynes the whole time.....
So I am back in the land of the self-paced, virtually supported, collaborative work space that OU has become (when I last left, Blackboard was a regularly Out of Service nightmare), I have to say I am quite impressed.
Similarly, the support from fellow students and tutor appears strong and while this will no doubt take something of a nose dive during the Christmas period, I am, as they say, feeling strong about the whole thing.
However, as seems essential for all of Academia, the opening salvoes from the Admin department were by rote
a. unhelpful
b. inaccurate
c. confusing
and yet they had managed to cash my cheque with some aplomb..... No less infuriating because it was partially expected! As a result I was late joining the course because I hadn't (and 2 weeks in, still haven't) received any mailshot, either virtual or physical, to provide login details or even so much as a URL starter for 10. Similarly, having studied with OU before, I submitted my previous identification number. Admin managed to get me a new one, so that I existed twice on the system and thus threw the world into chaos (or so it seemed from my telephone conversation with them).
And so, this is how I expect the pattern to continue. I fully expect to be successful in the course given the quite vast support infrastructure in place to assist me in so doing along with like-minded souls and a committed tutor, but no doubt on completion, the admin department will lose all record of me, fail to register me for my graduation ceremony and then, peremptorily remove my newly granted ID number and refuse to take my calls because the sky is falling on their heads.
Ahhh it's good to be back.
So I am back in the land of the self-paced, virtually supported, collaborative work space that OU has become (when I last left, Blackboard was a regularly Out of Service nightmare), I have to say I am quite impressed.
Similarly, the support from fellow students and tutor appears strong and while this will no doubt take something of a nose dive during the Christmas period, I am, as they say, feeling strong about the whole thing.
However, as seems essential for all of Academia, the opening salvoes from the Admin department were by rote
a. unhelpful
b. inaccurate
c. confusing
and yet they had managed to cash my cheque with some aplomb..... No less infuriating because it was partially expected! As a result I was late joining the course because I hadn't (and 2 weeks in, still haven't) received any mailshot, either virtual or physical, to provide login details or even so much as a URL starter for 10. Similarly, having studied with OU before, I submitted my previous identification number. Admin managed to get me a new one, so that I existed twice on the system and thus threw the world into chaos (or so it seemed from my telephone conversation with them).
And so, this is how I expect the pattern to continue. I fully expect to be successful in the course given the quite vast support infrastructure in place to assist me in so doing along with like-minded souls and a committed tutor, but no doubt on completion, the admin department will lose all record of me, fail to register me for my graduation ceremony and then, peremptorily remove my newly granted ID number and refuse to take my calls because the sky is falling on their heads.
Ahhh it's good to be back.
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