Ok so Virtual Learning platforms are definitely being talked about at the moment. So here are my thoughts.

The main contenders have always been Blackboard and Moodle. As s student and educator over the past 7 years I have used and hated both.

In recent weeks things have changed. iTunes U has existed since 2007 but on the 19th of January the introduction of iTunes U courses made a difference as Steve Jobs would say ‘this changes everything’. I have been creating courses for over a week and find the experience so incredibly user friendly and can see the benefits. However the gigantic drawback is that unless a college makes their courses public there is limited access.

As you can imagine with FETAC guideless etc there are a lot of issues to be discussed before putting any of our own further education courses forward to be downloaded publicly so this is a big brick in the way. For private courses students need access to iOS devices. Sure about half our students do but it is still not ideal.

So in between all of that I have been busy researching and creating keynote after keynote and tweaking courses when I get a twitter notification to say that an education company called Lectrio were following me on twitter. I don’t usually take notice but I was in need of a break so decided to check them out (and you should too)

Lectrio is everything that Moodle isn’t (user friendly) and is both mobile and computer friendly unlike iTunes U courses.

The platform is currently in beta testing but allows teachers to create a course and upload documents to it. There is also a calendar option which is not available in iTunes U. iTunes U may look a little flashier but other than that Letricio has got it all.

Here is my analysis

iTunes U Courses

Pros

• Unlimited file size.

• Links items already in the iTunes U store.

• User friendly
• Can upload videos / images/ documents.
• Free.
• No storage limit

Cons

• A college needs to be signed up to iTunes U

• The use of private courses is limited to iOS devices.

Pros

• Widely used so it’s got to be good….right?

Cons

• Horrible interface from both a teachers and students point of view

• Not user friendly
• Not mobile friendly
• Files are not organised
• Files need compressing.
• Expensive

Pros

• User friendly

• No storage limit

• Integration with google docs
• Works perfectly on iPad (although an app would be a bonus)
• Has a calendar

Cons

• Have only been trying it a couple of hours but so far none. Advantages over iTunes U Courses in access and tons easier than Moodle so I think it is a serious contender it will be interesting to see where they go in the future.

So it had been going through my mind for years, the thoughts of do I have laser eye surgery or not. Several failed attempts at wearing contact lenses made the decision. One that could be seen as a last resort if I ever was going to get rid of those glasses that had been so big a part of my life for many years.

The final decision came a couple of months ago. My brother had opted for the surgery and having seen him before and after I figured it would be easy and why not. So a few weeks later I made my first appointment to see Mr. Hurley at Ardfallen eye clinic in the city.
After sitting there and having my eyes poked at and prodded for over an hour the good news came at last. My eyes were healthy enough and I was the perfect candidate for the surgery.

Fast forward three weeks and there I am getting ready on a Thursday morning and putting on my glasses for what I hoped to be the last time. Thoughts were rushing through my head over whether I really wanted it or not. What if I looked stupid without glasses? What if it all went wrong and I would never see again.
Before I knew it I was sitting there in the waiting room trying to fit some silly blue plastic socks over my shoes and attempting the impossible task of fitting all my hair under a stupid surgical hat.
Then it was the long walk down the hall of doom. Well not really but the hall did seem pretty long and grey.
Sitting outside the room I was handed a paper. Like I could have read it but right then I was hoping I would be able to soon. Listening to sounds of the machines creaking and moving inside I began to regret my earlier decision of not taking the valium I was offered.
And then the door opened. It was time to go inside.
“Lie down chin up”. Wonderful that is all I could think. Of course ‘chin up’ was something I was going to hear over and over and over in a tone of voice that appeared to be getting more and more angry every time it was said. Hey, what could I do. I tried!
So then the realization that my eyes were going to be sliced came. This is where you might want to stop reading if you are in anyway queasy!

Well, first of all he took this tiny scalpel shaped object and I could see it coming towards my eye. Half blinded by the light above I didn’t know what to do. I just wanted to up and run but it was too late. It was happening and it was happening soon. As he made the incision there was the weirdest sensation as well as a blurred vision of white and red swirls. Believe me not as pretty as it sounds. Once the flap was cut open (as I was told and could have done without knowing) he moved the laser over my eye. It sounded a bit like a drill from the dentists. I never liked the dentist and I was pretty sure I wasn’t going to like this. “Chin up”, he said. Alright already!! I was trying my best. 30 seconds……….5, 4, 3, 2, 1 done finally. Now for the second eye.

Ouch! Well let’s just say I have pretty small eyes and anyone that knows me will vouch for that. What I have so far failed to mention is the fact that they pry your eyes open with this big metal object before placing this plastic thing inside to keep them even wider open. I am sure these things have names but when they are heading right for your eye they just look like big pyscho killer contraptions.
For this eye the big metal object failed terribly. And the attempts to put it in my eye hurt more than you could ever imagine so the plastic thing had to fly solo and do the job alone.
Yes it was a relief to have it done this way but the result is what the doctor has described as a not so pretty “hickey” around my eyeball. Thankfully it should disappeared within the next 6 weeks.
5,4,3,2,1 done!!!!! At last. Result; a massive sigh of relief. The torture was over and now I could hopefully see the results. Of course they gave me a massive dose of artificial tears so it looked like I was crying for the next half hour. Wonderful!

The journey home was less than pleasant. Of course it had to be the brightest day of the year and my eyes really hated that. When I got home I went into the darkest room I could find. By this stage I was scared of the fact that I couldn’t open my eyes for more than a second at a time without it hurting.

A couple of hours later and after a bit of sleep I could begin to open my eyes slowly and for longer periods of time. This became better as the day went on but I stuck to a dull room and sunglasses for the rest of the day. O
Of course the best part is the fact that I have three sets of eye drops, one to be put in every half hour. This is not so much fun but they really do make a difference and make my eyes feel better.

I had heard that the best part is waking up the next morning and being able to see clearly.
Talking to a friend later that evening he said that the next day I would be “like a puppy who had opened their eyes for the first time”. Yes I really was compared to a puppy but I will leave that one go for now.

So then it was the task of putting on the eye shields for the night. Well this was quite a task. Hand me a roll of tape and two shields and I can do a pretty good job at making myself look like a killer from a horror film and a scary one at that.

So how was the feeling the next morning. One word and one word only can capture the feeling. ‘Amazing’. It was like a whole new world for the first time in years it felt great. I hadn’t had the best nights sleep but my eyes felt good, my vision was good and apart from the gigantic red mark on my left eye there were no signs that I had had anything done at all.

So the next task was to go for a post-op check-up. I was easily amused on the way to the doctors. Challenging myself and seeing if I

Thankfully all the results were good and my eyes have already improved enough for me to drive without glasses and I can read the smallest text that can be seen by human eyes (apparently) so all in all good results after less than 24 hours. Next checkup in 6 weeks and between now and then it can only get better.

So the verdict then. Well if you are looking at getting it done it is not easy and really scary but think of the results are worth it. I would recommend Optilase to anyone. The staff there and at Ardfallen were great. The jury is still out on whether I would recommend Dr. Hurley but overall I am glad I did it.

Check out the photos below. Please don’t look if you are scared of eyes
My wonderful eye.

My wonderful work of art created when attaching the eye shields for the first time.
A lot of fun can be had with two pieces of plastic and some tape.

In August 2007, Sophie Lancaster was kicked to death, simply for dressing differently. Two years on, and in tribute to the outgoing, bubbly girl who was denied the chance to live life her way, cult new British make-up brand Illamasqua has commissioned a short film by award-winning French director, Fursy Teyssier.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qW2ve6_BkRA&hl=en_GB&fs=1&]

http://www.sophielancasterfoundation.com/

A new apple iPhone application released just last week sets out to compromise security on eircom networks nationwide.

Providing a secure network unlike some other network operators eircom customers have up until now been able to rest assured that even if someone is outside their house in a car they cannot log in and use their network.

This new application called Denshi Blue threatens all this. For just €1.59 any iPhone/iPod touch user can get an app which will not only list eircom networks in the locality but also the network code to login.

A sceptic myself I refused to believe this was possible even after various user comments and a quote from The Irish Times themselves who stated “The Irish Times yesterday downloaded dessid and was able to get the password for an Eircom network used for testing in our offices”.

The only way to end my disbelief was to download the app myself and for €1.59 it was worth a go (a small price to pay for many hackers or even amateur hackers out there)

So what does this mean? It means that a stranger can use your network. Not only this but they can even change your network settings and access any files on your system. In the wrong hands this could be very dangerous. I wonder how many banks or even government offices out there use eircom? This is something I am not willing to find out but others may be more daring.

The disclaimer for this states that in eircom’s own words “a wireless network can never be 100% secure”. So does this make it right?

Personally the only thing I am going to do with this app is delete it right off my phone but others may not. Should it be legal? I think not, so as some comments say “grab it while you can”!

Eircom reminded customers to upgrade their settings and visit http://wirelesssecurity.eircom.net for details of how to do so.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=979u-xbPHrQ&hl=en&fs=1&rel=0&color1=0x3a3a3a&color2=0x999999]

Next to Normal Twitter performance. Wednesday 28th October 2009, Tribeca NY.

Starting Just before 12am gmt or 7pm US time Next to Normal on Twitter released their new song “Something I can’t see” to a unique audience. The audience being the twitter users who helped write this latest addition to the musical.

In an intro video by creators Composer Tom Kitt and Lyricist Brian Yorkey welcomes tweeters to the event which was hosted live in Tribeca NY.

Next came a panel discussion

The panel consisted of Tom Kitt (composer), Michael Greif (director), David Stone (producer) and Brian Yorkey (Lyricist).

The panel talked about how the show was created and how it went from just being an idea in a BMI workshop to a tony award winning musical.

This discussion included playing a song called “Electricity” that was cut from the show. Other songs that were cut included ‘feeling electric’ whilst others were edited to suit the current show. All these original songs can be found here.(back then the show was called Feeling Electric)

There was also an explanation on how the new song “Something I can’t see” came to be written. During the process the twitter community voted on who should sing the song, where it would go in the show, what the motivations were and also the lyrics.

Moments later questions from twitter users were answered by the cast.

First Alice Ripley who plays the main part of Diana.

Question? “Jesse from twitter wants to know how my interpretation of Diana has changed since the beginning”?

Answer “Mmmm I would say that Diana and I have grown together in equal proportion. I think we have both become more aware of the big picture and also we have become maybe a bit crazier and maybe we both have a better sense of humour than we did a year ago”

Next up was Bobby Spencer who plays husband Dan.

Question? “I have a question here from Eric he wants to know how I cope with the incredibly overwhelming emotions throughout the show”?

Answer “Mmmm its a great question and I guess I never really think about it when I am doing the show. Dan just like comes organically it just comes with the job but when the show is done I get a little hot sockey for my throat because its pretty much an opera and its like when your in the gym working out with your muscles you like to take a hot bath, same when you sing a little hot sockey is good for the throat and other than that it’s just having fun throughout my day and laughing and being light hearted because an emotional show like this could tend to bring some people down but everyone in the cast is very very goofy, we are incredible goofballs. We all get along great and we are constantly laughing till they say places so thats how we cope with it by just being goofballs”.

Finally Jenn Damiano who plays 16 year old Natalie answered questions.

Question? “Brian Larson asked a question on twitter and he wants to know what the single hardest scene or song to perform is and why?”

Answer “Mmmm I would say the single hardest scene or song to perform is definitely “Super boy and the invisible girl”. Mmm only because there’s a lot of emotion and anger going on during the song its still you know really hard to sing so it just takes  a lot of balance and focus too because the worlds have so much weight on them and you don’t just want to through those phrases away because they seem so much and you still have to sign them pretty loud and really thoughtfully at the same time and its a challenge every night. But then the audience clap really loud after”.

Finally the show is closed by a thank you video message from Tom and Brian followed by a link to a short preview of the song.

The new song will be released soon as part of a podcast that is being created from last nights event. There are also plans for a future EP of songs that were cut from the show.

For now Next to Normal is still running in the Booth Theatre in New York.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j-ng5fgrzvU

“This Halloween, his disease is still spreading. The game goes full circle”

In the latest of the Saw series we see some old characters return and also some fresh new faces as they all battle it out against the game to see who can survive. Unlike the previous saw this time we get more story and less gore which is definitely a benefit as we really see the story and the background develop more.

After the death of Jig saw his wife is left a box in his will. The box reveals his final 6 victims and it her job to follow his wishes. As the targeted ones are rounded up we see that this time the main victim of this cruel game is a health insurance broker. In the past he has destroyed peoples lives by refusing payouts. This has resulted in deaths of many including jig saw himself.

He has 60 minutes to live. In this time he has decisions to make all of which see him having other peoples lives in his hands. Who will live and who will die? The highlight of this is definitely the death carosel where he has to choose to kill 4 out of the 6 on his work team. The decision seems too but it is amazing to see how people crack under pressure and do anything to stay alive.

After the 60 minutes is up he escapes and there is a twist to the story. Has his won his game or was it even his own game to win?

With mediocre prerformances by the cast it doesn’t matter. In the end this is a saw movie and good or bad it will still reel in viewers who have seen the five previous ones. The storyline is perhaps the strongest yet and the twist is also well worth it.

It goes without saying that you should never see a saw movie without seeing the previous ones and the same applies here. With flashbacks throughout it could be easy for a newcomer to get lost so I would suggest catching up with previous ones beforehand.

Overall verdict: Definitely one of the better horrors this halloween.

Death carosel

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FdRsM6MZOcQ&hl=en&fs=1&]

“1987 exciting career opportunities, on the job training, inspiring leadership,the worst job ever, the best time of his life. Adventureland“

From the creators of Superbad comes Adventureland but Superbad it is not!

It’s the summer of 1987 and James (Jesse Eisneberg) is a college freshman whose plans of traveling Europe for the summer are destroyed when his father gets demoted. Staying at home he doesn’t like the fact he is going to have to work for his college accommodation in the fall instead of travel with his friends.

With little job experience he finds himself in adventureland a theme park in his home town.

Here he meets Em (Kirsten Stewart) who is struggling to come to terms with her father having a new partner along with other issues.

In this boy meets girl drama James and Em are quite obviously drawn together. Will the boy get the girl?  Will the girl want the guy? Lets just say the ending is somewhat predictable.

While the movie lacks jokes and has little comedy the acting makes up for that. Kirsten Stewart is without a doubt the star of the movie drawing the viewer into her emotions she is far from being Bella (her other current role in Twilight). She too has to face personal struggles. Will she sit back and be used and stay in the theme park forever or will she stand up for herself and move on with her life.

Other cast members include Math Bush (Halloween II) as Frigo and Michael Zegen (The girl next door) as Eric.

One of the highlights of this movie is the soundtrack which is compiled of hits from the 80’s. Songs by Bowie, Lou Reed and The Cure bring you back and make this movie more realistic to the time.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N0fCB4eDq08&hl=en&fs=1&]

“A prank, no one would ever forget. A secret, no one would ever tell. Sisters for life and death”

A prank gone wrong could change peoples life forever or it could just disappear as if it never happened. Things are not always able to disappear. What may appear as just another teen horror flick Sorority Row is actually a whole lot better.

What happens if someone betrays your sister. You get revenge. What happens when the guy things your lies are real and he makes the fantasy nightmare real. What do you do. You fight.

Although named Sorority Row this movie could just have easily have been called I know what you did last summer. Our I know what you did last house party or something like that because the basic plot is exactly the same as the movies from the 90′s.

This aside it does have some great acting. There are bits when you are sitting there thinking how stupid are these girls. But hey they are sorority sisters they don’t have to be intelligent. The group is made up of a mix of girls the blonde, the geak, the pretty one.. and like other groups this is the deciding factor in how they are killed.

No gore is spared and although being killed with a tire iron may appear to be a boring way to watch someone die it really is not.

The plot may be cliche but that doesn’t mean you know the killer. Seconds before you find out you find yourself thinking could it be him/her. And trying to convince yourself that no way could that be possible it does land as a shock when you find out.

The cast included Rumer Willis in one of her first big screen lead roles. She is not the smartest or prettiest and takes a bit of a back seat compared to the other sorority girls. Other cast members included Brianna Evigan (Step up 2) as Cassidy and Leah Pipes (Life is Wild) as Jessica.

Overall verdict : A movie that started with a pillow fight and ended with a pile of dead bodies could have been a disaster but somehow they pulled it off.

“In New York city there is a school, where any dream is possible. This Autumn welcome to love, friendship, heartbreak, passion. FAME

This movie brought about less publicity than expected and in the end just seemed to die away. Back in the day of Save the Last Dance and Centre Stage movies like this well sold out with young teenage girls queuing up for all the extras soundtracks, t-shirts etc etc etc

There were good bits but the main failure of Fame was that it was too short to develop any of the characters.

We see the pianist whose parents insisted on her playing classical yet she ended up singing rap.

We see the boy whose mother does not believe in his talent and he lies telling her he is studying in public school

We see the girl whose affraid to let go of her inhibitions and live life.

Thats all these characters are in the end boys and girls. Do we know them well enough to remember their names? I think not.

This is the school that everyone wants to go to, it is full of talented actors and singers, musicians and dancers. The movie should have given a face to these names but it failed to do so. This was the first time some of these young actors got to play a main role. Do we recognise them from before no? And will be recognise them in the future from their performance in this movie. Hardly not.

The movie was extremely watered down. There is nothing wrong with detail but this just seemed to skim through the three years of their school lives without giving them a chance to develop.

Negativity aside there were some excellent performances by Naturi Naughton (Denise) and Kherington Payne. However with older cast members such as Megan Mullally (Ms Rowan), Kelsey Grammer (Mr Cranston) and Charles S Dutton (Mr Dowd) there could have been a proper show.

The soundtrack is ok and the final track ‘Hold you dream” definitely steals the show but old favourites such as “Fame” are barely given recognition.

Overall verdict: If you want a good musical watch the original. If you want High school musical watch this.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ua0iO-JQwAg&hl=en&fs=1&]