Remora Blog

Today the Remora Team for a second time met the pilot users of the of the devices and tools. The team come under some interesting problems concertaining practice assessors with information confidentiality, time issues to train theirself with the system and general understanding with the system.  At current the team are considering having two groups. One with students and assessors and onoe group with only students too help gain understanding if the tools and devices aid a student if an assessor is not involved either.

Some other discusion was given that a better clarification of engagement for the users to help have the project more well planned.

Some basic first feedback was given for the tools and the devices that the users were using. Some of users mentioned that because of the what the laptop gives they thought that the ipod didn’t bring any real benefit. This could be becaus of a lack of training with the search tool. Other feedback about the ipod included that the touchscreen made typing website URLs and other information particularly difficult.

Feedback given about the laptops were particularly useful aswell. There was feedback including that they thought the track mouse was quite difficult to use and maybe the inclusion of an external mouse would be useful. There was other feedback including that time was needed to get used to using the small screen and keyboard.

The was also a clearup that the team need to learn how to deal with users with not same level of technological knowledge. This is because of issues with users not being aware that the share tool was accessable from any internet computer, and that the laptops thereself were in some way different to their own laptops. There was though positive feedback to the size of the laptop and how mobile it is and easy to carry about.

To add to the meeting with had a redrawel from the project but also a new pilot user joined the project. And some suggestion was made to allow users to use the sharetool without having the devices.

On Monday 13th October the Remora Team carried out a workshop with 5 students, 5 assessors and 2 tutors that are participating to the pilot study. Of the Remora Team Balbir, Samia, Pei and Dean attended. The workshop started with the team meeting the participants and getting basic information to do with what student/assessor they were working with.

With this information the share tool was then fully setup for them. The devices were then distributed to the participants with a confirmation form. A presentation was then given about the project and then a walkthrough to using the tools.

Some minor aid was needed to set the devices up for the participants and help the people become familiar with the devices. There were also problems with how the forms had been organised which have been taken note of for improvement. A plan was then made to let th epilot users go away with the devices for 2 weeks to help give early feedback about an issues they made have before a more detailed

The participants were then asked to go away for 2 weeks and just try different features of the devices and tools (search/share) and fill in a questionnaire of first impressions. A date of 27th October was made for a second meeting to go through any issues and gain some of our first feedback. On the following feedback the team plan to give more detail instructions on how to use the tools by the use of scenarios.

The trouble that i have found researching and writing about a particular subject/product is after you finish and publish/print your findings you find more information that can sometimes contradict something you may have said. Much like this, in my previous post i made the claim that none of the 3 Netbooks had 3G/HSDPA connectivity. Following the day i published this post Acer updated their website as the Aspire One had finally been released and its said on the site that the Aspire One does support 3G/HSPDA connectivity and also surprisingly supports GSM (2G) connectivity which would be very usual for areas of limited 3G connectivity.

Though after finding this i looked at several E-Commerce sites to which i could find a model that had 3g connectivity which leaves me asking if it available currently or will be availible in the coming weeks/months?

Also to update the battery life figures i gave, these can be misleading as all these figures (as far as i know) are based on using a 6-cell battery and not the standard 3-cell battery shipped with all three netbooks. Also due to no real information given specifying the load on the netbook during the test, because of this those figures may have to be taken with a pinch of salt.

Finally i also read that there is speculation that there may be a eeepc model with 3G connectivity being in the coming months so i will have to keep checking for new information and update this accordingly.

With further discussions into suitable hardware for interacting with the social networking application Elgg, there has been interest in perhaps the use of Netbooks.Netbook is a category of very low cost and scaled down notebooks with the primary function of being able to use the internet, word processing etc. This therefore could be potentially provide the user with a better experience of the application with near to no price difference to the IPhone.There are a couple of Netbooks currently on the market today, being produced from different vendors. 
Asus eeepc

  

This was one of the first brands of netbook out to buy when it debuted Q3 2007. Though currently there is no version with 3G/HSDPA technology which would allow the user to access the internet using the UK mobile network. Though this could be considered as a big reason not to use one in our scenario, because the newer models now ship with MS Windows XP you can easily plug in a USB 3G/HSDPA dongle modem supplied by a mobile operator.

To see the model specifications Click here

 MSI Wind

Wind stands for “Wi-Fi Network Device”. The Wind was developed by Micro-Star Internationl (MSI) and was originally designed to ship on 27/06/08 but due to delay it wasn’t until 07/07/08 to which the product shipped.There are mild differences between this product and the Asus Eeepc, firstly this has a 10″ screen which is larger than all but the 1000 models. The CPU is the same as the 901 and 1000 models of the eeepc, but noticable there is a 80GB 2.5″ harddrive which is far larger than is found in all but the 1000H model.This product comes with a choice of OS, Windows Xp and Novell SUSE Linux. Simularly to the Eeepc there is no 3G/HSDPA technology so the laptop is limited to ethernet and wifi network connectivity.
To see the model specifications Click here
Acer Aspire One

This is perhaps the more stylish of the three netbooks, which has the same cpu as the MSI and some of the eeepc models. has similar memory confirguartions to the other two netbooks with also a Linux and Windows XP version though sadly like the other netbook this aswell sadly has no integrated 3g/HSDPA technology.
To See the model Specifications Click here
Overall, I think all these netbooks would generally function just as well as eachother because of the very similar hardware. It is a shame that none of the models covered come with built-in 3G/HSDPA technology but as said that this can still be achieved by using a usb modem that would normally be supplied from a network opperator when taking out a mobile broadband contract.

Following the User Centred Design, in the process of prototyping, Device Prototyping is the next step from Paper Prototyping which was done to experiment with designs on the target devices once we were happy with design on paper. Below are possible two different layouts of the main page. Please click the thumbnail to view the layout.

Hi-fidelity of device-based prototypes offer a number of benefits that paper prototypes don’t provide. The device-specific issues of screen size, input, controls, navigation, pixel-perfect visual design all need to be explored & considered.

It will be our aim to produce ‘static’ prototypes using HTML/CSS + Open Source Tools to create pixel perfect graphics and build prototypes using HTML. They creates a believable walkthrough of particular paths we want to test. It cold be slower to iterate than paper prototypes - but for many device/browser specific design issues/decisions we need to create device protos at various stages. It is also ideal for user testing - still minimal production and no engineering time required.

I came across a software system that supports group working and group learning (Open Source project written in Java) used in a number of JISC-funded projects. ‘Colloquia‘ allows any user to set up a working or learning group around a particular topic (a context), add people to it, add resources (web pages, documents etc) to it, set up group tasks, and then engage in group and personal “conversations” about the topic.

One of the JISC funded project in Wireless and Mobile Computing (”Wireless Laptop for student nurses - Bangor University) used this software with the aim is to provide students with a flexible method for building a body of evidence of their nursing skills.

The challenge was to provide student nurses with mobile technology to allow them to work in geographically dispersed nursing placements and home environments, as well as at the university. Student nurse training, and nursing in general, is an oral-based discourse usually conducted face-to-face in a ward or practice environment. This meant that students were used to conducting discussions, but not in an on-line environment. Discussion could be in English or Welsh.

What has worked well:

· Staff and students increased use and expertise in working with ICT in teaching and learning.

· Culture change in the use of C & IT within the department where use of IT is now more integrated.

· In the evaluation of the project, the flexibility of working at different locations and at convenient times was valued by the students. They particularly liked being able to organise their work and to have it located in the one place, the laptop.

What could have been done differently:

· Students sometimes complained about the equipment or connection not working correctly. It was felt that on occasions this led to students not attempting to continue using the laptop to connect to Colloquia.

· The activity used with the student nurses was not assessed, which it was felt may have affected the use of the discussion board. One suggestion would be to make it part of the assessment process.

· It would have been useful to have a mentoring group for the teaching staff, so that they could support each other.

· Staff development and student support in using C & IT. There was a need to train students and staff in using the packages

The Future:

· Teaching staff would like to check student learning styles prior to commencing the use of the mobile technologies, because they felt that the student learning style affected their take-up of the project. At the time of the project the staff did not have any knowledge of the students’ preferred learning styles and felt this was a requirement for any future use of C & IT and Colloquia.

· Spend time on planning how the technology would be used and how it can work to the teacher’s advantage.

· Set ground rules about when to start and end the discussions; warning that non-contribution would have consequences; set up a learning contract with the student.
Staff and students now have access to an ECDL (European Computer Driving Licence) course for personal C & IT skill development.

More about Colloquia:

Unlike most other groupware systems, you can do almost all of your work offline, making it ideally suited for those working at a distance and who have difficulty maintaining a permanent internet connection (either because of cost or for technical reasons). No server software is needed - all that is required is an email account for each user, plus our software. Perfect for the laptop user!

· It can be used to support distributed learning, allowing teachers to set up learning activities, provide learning resources, assignments and manage learning conversations, both within groups and individually with learners.

· It can support peer based learning, permitting people to set up learning or study circles, sharing resources they have found, and engaging in group and one-to-one learning conversations.

· It can be used as a project management tool in organisations, allowing projects to be set up, teams put together, supporting resources to be made available, and tasks shared; group and one-to-one conversations can then take place as the project unfolds.

In future, Colloquia will be ported to palm top computers and personal digital assistants (PDAs), incorporate real time communication (chat, video conferencing), enable interoperation with other systems, use Jini and Java Spaces communications for automatic updating of information, incorporate Jabber chat and so on..

Going through JISC project, I came across UsPaCe, which aims to support the needs of (work based learning) WBL learners and mentors via the creation and sharing of resources and by providing online student support for learners in the work-place to be accessed via desktop or mobile devices. Additionally UsPaCe will support and allow tutors, mentors, learners, employers and the South West Lifelong Learning Network (SWLLN) to interact, communicate and share ideas experiences and knowledge.

They are using iGoogle interface for personalising learning experience, which will allow the selection of channelled material that they feel is relevant. Material might come from tutors or from social tagging using Del.icio.us. Mediawiki provides a space for asynchronous collaborative working with peers. ELGG is used to enable support from peers and from learners who have already progressed to Honours degrees.

Use Cases for UsPaCe

About Elgg:

Elgg is an open source social networking platform developed for LAMP (Linux, Apache, MySQL, PHP) which encompasses weblogging, file storage, RSS aggregation, personal profiles, FOAF functionality and more. You may find Elgg being used with Moodle. While Moodle fulfils the actual elearning component, elgg is meant to be a student centered space.

To date, Elgg has been a great tool for creating a web-based social network. If you want MySpace in a box, you can do it with Elgg; if you want a customised network with functionality specific to your niche requirements, you can do that too. From a full social networking site to an iPhone widget; it’s a way to power any socially-aware application, whether it’s on the web or not. It will be interesting to see how well it supports viewing on iPhone.

Elgg now has a full external API, and because it’s Elgg, it’s fully extensible. Out of the box, it provides results in XML, JSON or serialised PHP. Plugins can add new output formats and new API calls, exposing any functionality you require. This means that you can have a mobile Java application and applications running on Windows, Mac OS, Linux, the Web, or any other platform, using the same single application infrastructure under the hood. You don’t even need to have a web interface if you don’t want to - or you can have any number you want, for different browsers or audiences.

Link to UsPaCe Blog

I’ve created a Remora Search page using “Google Coop“. User can search for keywords ‘keyrole1‘, ‘keyrole2‘, ‘keyrole3‘, ‘keyrole4‘, ‘keyrole5‘ and ‘keyrole6‘. Please click the image below to goto the search page. I have uploaded this page on my web server for testing purpose only.

It will display keyword related page (from my Remora Del.icio.us account) right on the top of the search result page. Rest of the links displayed on the results from Google itself. You can try searching for keywords as mentioned above. The result page:

Following are some screen shots of a basic search:

• The input box
• The result 

The user would enter a search term into the input box and is then presented with a summary of the results. The output from the search engine can be tailored for a more suitable “look and feel”.

With delicious - a very useful social bookmarks manager, it is very simple and easy to manage bookmarks and it also helps users find related links easily. Users can have their own account and including adding their own links and tags, they can add others in their network and also subscribe to other users’ specific tag. Here I have uploaded my PowerPoint Slides that explains how I used it.

FYI: Link to the video that explains del.icio.us in plain English.  By the way, as iPhone is something everyone seems to like nowadays, if you are interested see this (Video on cnet.com) which explains how easy it is to use del.icio.us on iPhone.