Today I learnt that e2bn are a consortium who provide the broadband network for education providers and learners in the East of England. Netmedia have an agreement with e2bn to provide a Virtual Learning Environment to all teachers in the e2bn region.
I can access MyDesktop on Netmedia at:
http://n99.md.e2bn.net/mydesktop
MyDesktop has several properties displayed. I can search for and add existing properties to MyDesktop and even create my own different kinds of properties. I can minimise and maximise properties and move them about on MyDesktop. I am also able to change the style of the desktop.
Today I created a property called ‘e-learning team files’ which is displayed on the e-learning team (core) desktop page under MyClasses. I had to set sharing and access rights to ensure all members of the e-learning team could access the property and contribute to it.
I also created a text and image property on MyDesktop which is a brief introduction to me and what I do. It links to the advisory services directory on esinet. I have since edited this property to include some text.
I have now been introduced to RSS feeds. RSS is a format for syndicating web-based information. Many weblogs make content available in RSS. Once information is in RSS format, an RSS aggregator can help you keep up with all your favourite weblogs by checking their RSS feeds for changes and displaying new items from each of them. The RSS aggregator we looked at was bloglines. I can access my bloglines account at:
Podcasting works the same way, with one exception. Instead of reading the new content on a computer screen, you listen to the new content on an iPod or iPod-like device.
Finally, I was introduced to social bookmarking. Social bookmarking sites generally organise their content using tags (user-defined keywords). You can then locate, classify, rank, and share Internet resources through tag lists. These lists are publicly accessible, and other people with similar interests can view them to share ‘favourite’ websites. The bookmarking site I was introduced to is:
I have since imported my ‘favourites’ list stored on Microsoft Internet Explorer into my delicious account.
During the training session I also discovered some extra keyboard shortcuts.
Keywords: bloglines, bookmarking, e-learning, e2bn, feeds, Learning, MyDesktop, Netmedia, podcasting, properties, RSS, RSS aggregator, social bookmarking, tag lists, tags, Training, Virtual Learning Environment, VLE, weblongs