Creating and reading QR codes on the iPhone is quick and easy with the Optiscan app from Airsource. This app will automatically scan and read a code when you point your camera’s phone at it. It reads equally well from a computer or iPhone screen as it does from paper. Once it has read the code it presents you with the information, e.g. a website, someone’s contact details or some text information.

The software also allows you to generate a QR code for a url, contact or a piece of text. This is very simple to do. For example, to generate a QR code for a website simply select the  URL icon on the share tab, and then type in the URL. After you have finished press the “Done” key on the keyboard and the QR code will be shown. There is no need to type in “http://” in front of the URL.

Here is the QR code for a picture of my beautiful partner on the beach in Mingulay.

Here is the url to one of my favourite TED talks.

I can see many educational uses for these QR codes, e.g.

1. Course information such as exam timetables, assessment schedules, lecture notes, powerpoint slides, videos …..etc could be made available via the course website so students could download the information directly to their phones.

2. QR codes could be used in combination with some Web 2.0 tools such as Netvibes or Facebook to give student access to course materials.

3. In museums and art galleries, information about an exhibit could be made available through a QR code.

I’m sure there are loads more examples.

The other four technologies covered in this report are:

• geolocation technology
• the personal web
• semantic aware applications
• smart objects (see recent post on QR codes)

The report describes the relevance of each of these technologies to teaching and learning, as well as providing some useful links to examples of educational applications.

There is also a good review of MobileMe, Apple’s successor to .Mac, for those considering Apple’s cloud offering.

Developed by Denso Wave in 1994, they are used in industry to store customer and shipping details on products and are now starting to appear around us on various consumer products as more devices have QR code scanners. Some Nokia phones have had barcode readers for a while now and it can’t be long before they also include QR code readers.

Andy had us discuss the educational potential of QR codes. Examples from the audience included:

• attaching a QR code to electronic feedback, e.g. Word doc,  so a student can scan their phone over the code and have it sent direct to their phone
• marketing of courses
• multiple choice tests allowing student to do it on their phone and then send their answers via text.

Further information on this can be found on Andy’s blog.

Transformative innovation is radical and challenging. It is the kind of innovation that challenges our assumptions about how we do things and causes us to question our accepted notions about education. Although radical and challenging, transformative innovation is informed by knowledge and awareness of the issues facing education, and aims to bring about improvements to the education system.

One of the main drivers for transformative innovation is the need for our education system to respond to the social and technological changes that are happening around us. Creating a culture of transformative innovation within the institution is essential, where the innovations are aligned with cultural values and beliefs of the organisation, and are not seen as being externally imposed.

This model differs from the commonly used “best practice” model which generally promotes a set of ideas originating from outside the organisation itself, rather than ideas that are central to the core goals and values of the organisation and the people within it. The culture of innovation that leads to transformation is built on a cyclical, iterative and reflective process involving:

Insight - identifying a problem, exploring solutions and finding tools to deliver

Invention - thinking out the box, thinking creatively, challenging existing practices

Application - developing strategies and organisational structures to implement new approaches and practices.

Reflection and communication - regularly reviewing and refining strategies to ensure that they are effective. Ensuring that communication networks are in place to ensure that innovation is embedded throughout the system and can be sustained.

Much of what is written in this paper is applicable to HE and could provide a useful model for managing transformative innovation within our institutions.

Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.

AccessApps is a collection of over 50 open source and freeware assistive technology applications for Windows PCs, that can be used directly from a USB memory stick without the need to install anything onto your computer.
The applications have been collated by the two Scottish JISC Regional Support Centres (Scotland North & East and Scotland South & West) in partnership with JISC TechDis.

They consist of 12 categories of applications with options to download all (the Works), a pre-defined selection (Lite) or your own chosen selection (Pick n Mix). The applications include the Open Office tools, a range of multimedia tools (Audacity, GIMP, Artweaver) as well as some presentation tools and utilities. There are also an impressive collection of assistive applications, such text to speech readers, accessible browsers and keyboard alternatives.
The AccessApps team have also put together a number of excellent tutorials and video screencasts to help get started with some of the main applications.

All-in-all, a useful selection of applications for all learners, including those with additional support needs.

“Education, education, education” - 11 years of Labour and 11 years of Tory policy to show for it!

What a con!

This report was published on the BBC News website tonight.

The results for tests for 14 year olds showed a mixed picture

This year’s school “league tables” in England are likely to be postponed because of the test marking problems.

Schools Minister Jim Knight said he expected the delays in marking and and appeals to push back publication.

Provisional figures for national tests suggest 14-year-olds did better in writing and maths this year but less well in reading and science.

A breakdown by local authorities has not been released as up to half the results were missing in some areas.

The schools minister said he expected the problems with the delivery of the tests to mean that the timetable for publication of school results would have to be pushed back.

Test problems

“I think it’s likely that they won’t be published at the same time as last year - because we’ve got a review process that’s open for people to submit for reviews until September,” said Mr Knight.

USUAL ANNUAL SCHEDULE May - Key Stage 2 and 3 tests taken by children aged 10/11 and 13/14 July - results returned to schools August - provisional national and local authority results published December - Key Stage 2 tables published showing results for each primary school January - Key Stage 3 tables published showing results of each secondary school January (not affected by the problems this year) - main secondary school and college tables based on results of public exams including GCSEs and A/AS-levels

“That inevitably has consequences for the timetable and being able to publish school results.”

The league tables for primary schools, based on the Key Stage 2 results, are usually published each December with the Key Stage 3 tables in January.

The deadline for returning all the marked papers has been missed by more than a month already - there will be appeals over marking to be resolved in the autumn term before the results process will be complete.

Mr Knight said that this year’s results for the tests taken by 14 year olds were “mixed” - with marginal rises and falls across subjects - but he rejected the suggestion that the figures had reached a plateau.

However he highlighted how much more difficult it became to push this figure higher - when more than two-thirds of those who had missed the Level 5 target either had special needs or spoke English as a second language.

“Each extra gain becomes harder to achieve for schools,” said Mr Knight.

There had been a slight fall in English - from 74% to 73% - but within this there had been a fall to 69% in reading.

‘Boys and books’

Mr Knight said that he wanted families to help encourage a love of reading, particularly among boys.

“It’s the classic problem of boys and books,” said Mr Knight. A more personalised approach to learning in school, more books aimed at keeping boys’ attention and more support from families would help to improve boys’ reading skills, he said.

2008 KEY STAGE 3 RESULTS LEVEL 5 English: 73% (74% last year) Maths: 77% (76%) Science: 71% (73%) LEVEL 6 English: 33% (32%) Maths: 57% (56%) Science: 41% (41%) Source: DCSF

Head teachers’ leader John Dunford said that it was a “shame that this year’s marking controversy has overshadowed all the hard work that pupils and teachers have put in”.

He also cautioned that “far too much is made each year of a percentage point or two up or down in the Key Stage 3 results in English, mathematics and science. What is important is that the trend is upwards, reflecting the rising standards in schools across the country”.

The National Union of Teachers said the decision not to release the local figures was understandable - but none of the results should have been published in view of the delays and questions over the marking organised this year by private contractor ETS.

But Chris Keates, leader of the NASUWT teachers’ union said the results were evidence of hard work and progress - and attacked those who queried the results.

“Sadly, but predictably, the critics have stepped forward to once again cast a shadow over the achievements of the pupils and their teachers

The general secretary of the Association of Teachers and Lecturers (ATL), Dr Mary Bousted, said: the tests were an irrelevance.

“In a year when Sats have collapsed under their own weight, cutting the Key Stage 3 tests would be an excellent way to reduce the excessive amount of testing our students face.”

Liberal Democrat children spokeswoman Annette Brooke agreed and said the money saved could be used to improve learning.

She said: “Ministers have once again failed to meet their own targets. After three years of secondary education, thousands of pupils are not reaching the expected level in key subjects.

“It’s a disgrace that on the day the results have been published, many schools will still not yet have received their marked papers.”

Shadow schools minister Nick Gibb said: “The government continues to miss its modest targets and we are left with the unacceptable position that two out of five 14-year-olds are failing to achieve the necessary grades in reading, writing and maths that they will need to be able to achieve at GCSE.”

Statistical change

Statisticians at the Department for Children, Schools and Families, which issued the results, say comparisons with previous years are skewed by a change in the marking process.

This involved removing the practice known as “borderlining”, which involved double checking all the test scripts with marks just below the benchmark level (but not above it), to see if they warranted any extra marks.

The effect is particularly significant in English, in which the marking is more subjective.

The statisticians say removing borderlining is estimated to reduce the percentage achieving Level 5 (the expected minimum level) by 0.9 percentage points in English, 0.2 points in maths and 0.6 points in science.

At Level 6 the effect is even more pronounced: about 1.6 percentage points in English, 0.3 in maths and 0.9 in science.

The figures show that the proportion of children attaining Level 5 in reading, writing, maths and science was 56% - down two percentage points on last year or roughly the amount predicted by the removal of borderlining.

The DCSF says the results were based on the data available at 25 July.

These included 84% of English results and 94% of the maths and science results, deemed to be a robust enough sample to produce reliable national figures.

Updated figures from the Qualifications and Curriuclum Authority show that the proportion of pupils’ test results for 14 year olds now available to schools is 92.8% in English, 96.6% Maths and 96.0% science.

The tests - popularly known by the misnomer “Sats” - are a measure of children’s achievement against targets in Key Stage 3 of the national curriculum, the first three years of secondary schooling in England.

There is no equivalent publication of test results for other parts of the UK.