Henshaws College, part of Henshaws Society for blind people, has launched an accessible version of YouTube. Funded by Jisc, the UK’s powerhouse for digital technology for education and research, it allows people with learning difficulties and disabilities to use YouTube independently.

18 months in development, ACCESS: YouTube simplifies the standard YouTube site making it easier to search and play videos, and allows the use of assistive technologies. It is now publicly available so everyone can benefit from this accessible method.

ACCESS: YouTube uses large fonts, visual cues and a logical layout to improve access using assistive technologies. By simplifying the site and removing content such as adverts and comments, the website is more accessible to screen readers.

For more information go to the JISC site.

Adam Smith writes:  Academics like a good gossip as much as the next person. Many of them enjoy a grumble about their vice-chancellor over a cup of tea and exchanging rumours about colleagues’ professional and personal antics. One of the things that many academics talk about most is funding. I speak to researchers all the time about the competition they face, the politics they must play and the pain they endure when writing a grant application. Most recently, I had a conversation on this topic with researcher Elisabeth Hill, and we spoke about not just public funders but also corporate funders. Hill has hit upon a new way to help people with a certain neurodevelopmental disorder by making them play computer games, so she suddenly has a new potential stream of funding: the companies that make the computer consoles.

I’ve produced a full podcast on Elisabeth’s recent work  but here’s a little background. Elisabeth, who’s based at Goldsmiths University of London, studies developmental coordination disorder, also known as  DCD or dyspraxia.  DCD is a difficulty that some people have with movement: they find it harder to coordinate their limbs to, for example, kick a ball or draw inside the lines. Elisabeth’s most recent study, in partnership with Sussex Medical School, found marked improvements in DCD children who were asked to play on a Nintendo Wii compared to DCD children who took part in a more established therapy programme known as Jump Ahead, in which the children are asked to perform fine skills such as threading beads onto a string.

When the opportunity to do the study with the medical school and other researchers came up, Elisabeth had to get it running very soon. She had no time to apply for a large grant or even to plan a watertight methodology with a large number of participants. But the data that she did collect in what has become a pilot study will help her to apply for money to fund a bigger study—and thinking about who might fund it. “There are so many different things to weigh up,” she told me.

Of course, one of the most obvious problems of corporate funding, should Elisabeth go down that route, is ethics. Companies spend billions on funding research and development, from pharmaceutical products to green energy to human behaviour. Indeed, over recent years, public research funding has been directed increasingly to projects and universities that grow the public money by using it to attract corporate money too. Many predict that as the public research budget continues to fall in real terms over the next few years, more and more researchers will be seeking alternative funding.

If Elisabeth and colleagues accept funding from a games console maker like Nintendo, and it turns out that playing the games helps people with DCD, will anyone believe her? If she turns down corporate funding and the study never gets off the ground, will DCD sufferers be denied a potential therapy because of the researchers’ ethics? Have a listen to Elisabeth and me discussing these issues and let us know what you think: Dyspraxia 2 – research issues

Transcript: Are researchers who take corporate funding selling out?

Adam Smith talks to Elisabeth Hill

 AS: So this is still just a small study, a small number of children, but it does show a statistically significant improvement.

EH: Yes.

 AS: Did Nintendo fund the study?

 EH: No, Nintendo did not fund the study. The medical school funded the study in as much as they pay up to a certain amount for costs related to their students going to do work. So to some extent it was funded through goodwill, everybody thinking it was important, wanting to get the information and doing it for that reason.

AS: So if you are looking to this bigger scale study, presumably you are in a better position to apply for funding when you have some preliminary data like the kind of preliminary data you have now, so is that part of the plan? Is there a master plan, Elisabeth?

EH: The master plan was always to get some preliminary data that would first of all hopefully support our hunch, if you like, which was based on clinical intuition and observing and having worked around these children for quite a long time between us. But yes, the plan was to get some initial data that assuming it supported our hunch at least to some extent we could use to then actually show the benefit and the importance of this approach in a big grant application or to attract a corporate sponsor.

AS: Nintendo?

EH: Nintendo would be great, although I haven’t managed to find anyone who’s ever successfully sought funding from them. Another way to do it would be to broaden out. Since we started this study, X-Box Kinect has become more physically related.

 AS: And that’s made by Microsoft.

EH: That’s Microsoft, who are very involved with research, particularly in Cambridge, in this country. So that might be another way of moving more into the corporate market.

AS: Now would you want a corporation to fund the research because the minute you publish the research, everyone’s going to say, obviously they’re going to find what they found, if it’s a positive intervention this is, because they were funded by the person who seeks to benefit from it?

EH: Absolutely, it’s another issue for researchers. Actually when Goldsmiths put out a press release about this Wii work, and it was sort of all over newspaper websites. I was having a look at some of them and the comments on, for example, the Daily Mail page, were very much, ‘well this is funded by Nintendo’, and of course what you want to say it, no it wasn’t. Funding for intervention studies needs a significant amount of money, you’d be talking of hundreds of thousands of pounds to do it properly because really to do it properly you need research assistants who can recruit a lot f individuals, going into schools, several times a week often, supporting parents, working very much with what you often heard termed as the user group, so children with DCD, their parents, their teachers, giving them the appropriate support and information. You need testers who do these assessments both before and after, who are what we call blind to the children’s intervention group so whether it’s the Wii or the Jump Ahead or the waiting list or whatever. And also to any diagnosis the child might have, so if you’re comparing a child with poor motor skills to children who have age-appropriate motor skill – which would be another thing you’d ideally build in – you want the testers not to know which children they’re working with. So you can reduce any bias that they unconsciously put into those assessments, even though those assessments are very objective, it’s how fast it was, how many times you fell over, it can still unintentionally be biased, subtly.

AS: If you designed the study in the way you’d like to see it done and if Nintendo or Microsoft said, yes, we’ll give you the amount of money you need, would you accept it?

EH: I would think quite carefully about it. The press office here, and media recruitment and PR department are really really good and really well connected and very good at working out or knowing which organisations will or won’t do what they’ve said. Some companies are much better at giving the money and saying, OK, you’ll find what you find and we will go with that. And I think Microsoft from what I’ve heard is probably one of those organisations. As an academic you’ve always got this balance between wanting to get work achieved is really important to users, is going to make a real impact in their lives, and funding difficulties and there is, I think, and for me, a moral line at which you chose or not to step over. And you have to be particularly wary of corporate funding because of course they will have an expectation and I can understand why that is. But as a scientist and an academic researcher, you try to be completely objective. We drive funders, corporate and charity funders and journalists and all sorts of people mad, because there’s not black and white to research academics. Everything’s always grey. Or there’s always a ‘what if’.

AS: “It’s a bit more complicated than that.”

EH: Yes, absolutely, and obviously corporate sponsors need to be able to talk to their shareholders or their boards or whoever about black and white. Their funding needs to be able to make an impact now, and they need to be able to say what that financial gain will have been.

AS: Do you have a gut feeling?

EH: My gut feeling is that if it was a reasonably ethical company I would go with it. Because intervention work is really hard to fund.

AS: So what is next on this particular work, the Wii Fit or X-Box Kinect work, are you working on a grant application?

EH: We’re at the moment in the process of trying to work out what would be strategically the best way to go with it. And working between Mid-Sussex PCT, or whatever they’re called today, sort of Oxford Brookes and here [Goldsmiths], is quite a puzzle. It’s quite difficult to get everybody together.

AS: And when you say the strategic direction, do you mean in the regard to the funding or the research itself and the methodology?

EH: I think both. So for example the other collaborators are very involved in cerebral palsy work. So the direction of do you make it a big study of DCD, do you make it a big study of children with a variety of movement difficulties, do you apply to research councils or to NHS or to funding schemes, or do you put out a campaign, if you like, to get corporate sponsorship or charity sponsorship or individuals sponsoring? That’s all quite tricky to decide because there are so many things to weigh up.

Tess Woodcraft writes:  Women were actively involved in the Arab Spring in Egypt in 2011, standing alongside men in Tahrir Square, central participants in their country’s revolution. [See interview with Nawal el Sadawi].

Two years later, there is a concerted effort from some quarters, to frighten them off the streets and back into the home.  A growing number of women in Tahrir Square have been sexually harassed and even raped. Surrounded by groups of men, they have been insulted, touched and attacked.

Nevertheless, women still go regularly to the Square to express their views.  Before, it was to protest at the Mubarak regime, now it is to challenge the direction of the government of Mohamed Morsi’s Muslim Brotherhood (or Freedom and Justice Party as it is called).  I have recently been in Cairo and talked to women activists there. [Tahrir women activists]

There is a general agreement that the attacks are endorsed, and might even be initiated by the government of Mohamed Morsi, many of whose supporters believe that women should not be involved in political activity, that their voices should not be heard:

The Human Rights Committee of Egypt’s Shuria Council has said it is the female protesters who are to blame because they put themselves in this situation.  This judgement has effectively closed the door on any sort of legal redress for the victims of sexual assault in Tahrir Square.

But if they think this will deter Egyptian women from participating, it looks as if they are wrong. There appears to have been no fall in the number of women taking part in the protests, and a women’s march in January saw many women take to the streets for the first time

Demonstrations calling for women to have the freedom of the streets have attracted thousands, in the square itself people take action to protect each other and stay safe.  And women still ask their sisters to be part of making the new Egypt.

Pod Academy will be keeping you posted on developments in Egypt and other parts of the Middle East (see, for example, Tanjil Rashid’s interview with Michael Binyon about Syria).

Beyonce has explained that she mimed her rendition of the US national anthem at the inauguration of President Obama last month. But what does it mean to sing ‘live’?

That is the question asked by Musician and DJ Chris Berrow in his podcast Staying Live, put up on Pod Academy a few months ago – before all the fuss about Beyonce’s performance.

We all think we know what is ‘live music’, but Chris says the definition of ‘live’ is not nearly as clear cut as it might seem. For example – what about tracks that are ‘recorded live’? You are listening to a live performance through your headphones or speakers, but you can pause and resume the track whenever you want.

And what about live performances broadcast on the radio? There is at least a 10 second delay on most transmissions.  Do performances on the radio, musical or otherwise, count as ‘live’ if you hear the sounds 10 seconds after the event?

And as Beyonce herself said, pre-recording for ‘live’ performance is ‘very common in the music industry, .

Take a listen to Chris’s podcast for a new angle on this news story.

This blog, by Julie DeNeen, first appeared on the informED website. 

Maybe you don’t have time to sit down and sift through the latest education blogs for ideas and inspiration. If the thought of trying to carve out more hours in your day leaves you feeling overwhelmed, this list is for you.

Podcasts are a great way to get information when you’re driving in your car, making dinner at home, or waiting at the DMV to renew your license. Podcasts don’t force you to find more time in your day; they give you the opportunity to capitalise on all the dead time that already exists in your day by simply downloading the .mp3 or syncing a podcast to your iTunes account on your smartphone.

Even though podcasts have been around awhile, a lot of people still don’t utilise the hundreds of free podcasts available on the Internet. Now is a great time to start.

Below are 50 educational podcasts you should look at.

1. National Public Radio has an entire section of education podcasts that highlight current education news and events that happen around the world.

2. TED Talks: I have yet to listen to a TED talk that didn’t inspire or ignite new energy for an idea or topic. Subscribe to TED’s education podcasts to hear from some of the brightest minds in academia today.

3. AA History of the World in 100 Objects http://www.bbc.co.uk/podcasts/series/ahows: The BBC has a great podcast for anyone teaching history or a related discipline.

4. ISTE:  The International Society for Technology Education  is a trusted source for podcasts on how technology is changing the classroom. Podcasts cover various topics from blogging to mobile learning.

5.  Steve Hargadon: A leader in education technology with an impressive resume of experience hosts an ed-tech podcast on the future of education.

6. The State of Tech: These podcasts focus on education technology in the state of Ohio, but the podcasts can benefit any educator. Topics include new software, platforms, and innovative ideas for tech in the classroom.

7. The Ed Tech Crew Podcast: A weekly podcast about technology and digital advances in education, hosted by Darrel Branston and Tony Richards. Topics are varied.

8. The Compendium Blog of the A.T. Tipscast: This podcast focuses on Tools in Public Schools; giving students and teachers ways to use technology to further educational goals. Each podcast has a practical take-away tip for the classroom.

9. Classroom 2.0 LIVE: This website hosts a weekly webinar specifically designed for beginners who have never used the webinar technology before. Each episode is then offered as an archived podcast that is available for download.

10. EdReach: The focus of EdReach’s podcasts are on innovative apps and different web tools for teachers. Episodes focus on technology as a tool for students of all ages and abilities.

11. ESL: The website, “English as Second Language” offers a weekly practical podcast that concentrates on everyday topics for those learning to speak English. The podcast comes with a learning guide as well.

12. EDU-Talk: The mission of EDU-Talk podcasts is to get educators and students to talk about academia using technology. The site also encourages users to upload podcasts too!

13. G.A.M.E: Gamers Advance Meaningful Education is a site developed for people who want to use gaming to help in the educational process. For anyone who is interested in the creative potential of gaming in education, their webinar series is available to download in podcast episodes produced monthly.

14. Google Educast: Google certified teachers are featured on this weekly podcast that gives a roundup of new tech tools and Google products- many of which can be used in the classroom.

15. Infinite Thinking Machine: This is a high-energy TV show specifically targeted to educators, parents, and students who are interested in technology in education. They were nominated as one of 2012’s best Edublog podcasts.

16. Nerdy Cast: Hosted by Nicholas Provenzano, this podcast emphasizes pop culture, technology, and how it relates to and affects education. Expect funny!

17. EdTechTalk: This podcast is called Teachers Teaching Teachers and is a collaborative effort. Teachers discuss new software and tools they are successfully using in the classroom.

18. Blog Talk Radio: Their Therapy and Learning Resources podcast is great for educators of young children or those with learning disabilities and other handicaps. Examples of topics include stuttering, organization, picky eating, and vocal health.

19. The Back Channel: This podcast is offered every other week and gives the listener a round up all the talked about education technology news.

20. The ARTS Roundtable: This podcast is a fantastic resource for teachers in the fine arts. The focus is on music, drama, and the visual arts.

21. The Flipped Learning Network: This weekly podcast is hosted by Troy Cockrum and focuses on the latest practices and tips from teachers who are using the flipped classroom model.

22. Lit Tech: This is a podcast for librarians. It is held weekly and showcases all the cool tech gadgets and ideas for literary educators.

23. Grammar Girl: This site offers regular podcasts for anyone interested in teaching grammar or learning it for themselves!

24. British History: For history buffs, this website hosts regular podcasts that focus solely on the history of England from the Ice age forward.

25. China History: Another history podcast that focuses on Chinese history starting 5000 years ago and proceeding to today.

26. Smart People Podcast: Picking smart people’s “oversized brains” is what this podcast is all about. They interview people from various industries to bring their listeners episodes that satisfy those of us with insatiable curiosity.

27. EdukWest: A podcast started by a woman who wanted to follow all the startups and trends in education. Various contributors now host the EdukWest podcasts.

28. Radio Lab: Podcasts for the curious mind. Broadcast on over 300 radio stations across the United States, Radio Lab explores science, philosophy, and the human experience.

29. How Stuff Works: You never know what you’re going to get with this podcast. Expect topics that range from cars to food to pop-psychology.

30. StarTalk Radio: A podcast series that focuses on all things extra-terrestrial. Topics include stars, the big bang, space travel, black holes, and more.

31. Ropecast: Mini-podcasts designed for those who love English culture and language. The five-minute episodes are available once every two weeks.

32. eCorner: This podcast, titled Entrepreneurial Thought Leaders, explores the principles that create successful business owners and leaders.

33. Chemical Heritage Foundation: A science podcast that focuses specifically on chemistry. Each episode looks at past breakthroughs and the effect it has on present and future scientific research.

34. Educate: This website offers a large database of podcasts for all subject areas and disciplines. They are specifically designed for classroom and student use. The database makes it easy to search by topic or theme.

35. Audiria: A podcast for those interested in learning the Spanish language. Each podcast is rated with a difficulty level or listeners can choose podcasts that concentrate on specific areas.

36. Teacher Created Materials: Podcasts for educators looking for new strategies to use in the classroom. Podcasts are arranged by topic and cover all subject areas.

37. Power to Learn: Cablevision’s Education Initiative offers a podcast that highlights user-friendly strategies and tips for teachers. Some examples of topics include plagiarism, common core standards, and mobile teaching ideas.

38. The History Chicks: A fresh look at history through factual and fictional characters. Podcasts go into detail about the time period, culture, and typical lifestyle of the person highlighted in each episode.

39. Math Mutation: Short podcasts that explore mathematics. Topics cover strange and quirky concepts that aren’t normally taught in school.

40. Astronomy Cast: This website offers a weekly podcast centered on astronomy concepts like planets and cosmology.

41. The Naked Scientist: Cambridge University researchers and physicians are behind this podcast filled with humor and levity as they explore a diverse set of science topics. Their goal is to strip science down to its bare essentials.

42. The History of WWII: Ray Harris, graduate of James Madison University and history buff, brings listeners a bi-weekly podcast of WWII facts, trivia, and information.

43. Day in Tech History: This podcast is hosted by Jeffrey Powers, a tech expert who loves to build desktops. He explores the history of technology along with what he calls “geek” science.

44. Classic Poetry Aloud Index: Podcasts of famous poetry. You can browse through themes or poets to find one that interests you.

45. BBC: Browse through podcasts about psychology, science, technology, or politics. The episodes are available for 30 days and updated weekly.

46. NOVA: Offered by PBS, the popular TV program also offers podcasts on a variety of science, human interest, and engineering topics.

47. NASA Science Casts: These video podcasts are short, fun, and bring unusual science topics to light. Podcasts are based on historical space missions completed by NASA.

48. Geek SLP: Podcasts that focus on technology and its place in education.

49. Music Education Advocacy: A podcast that interviews educators who are trying to restore music education in schools. Their mission is to mobilize musicians to donate to music education charities and breathe new life into the subject area.

50. Practical Money Skills: Podcasts that focus on financial literacy. Topics include how to afford college, tax preparation, and budgeting. Great for life skills teachers!

Read more: http://newsroom.opencolleges.edu.au/features/50-educational-podcasts-you-should-check-out/#ixzz2ItOMkTGO

Image by Yapgraph

On Wednesday the Prime Minister David Cameron set out his vision for the European Union and its future relationship with the United Kingdom.  This was never going to be an easy speech.  The Euro-sceptic group within the Conservative party would have been satisfied by nothing less than the promise of an in/out referendum.  Alternatively a line up of important partners including our EU partners, the USA, China and big business have publically stated their desire for the UK to remain a key player inside Europe.

Leaving aside any speculation as to the Prime Minister’s motivations (party unity, seeing off the threat from UKIP, securing a boost in the polls etc), the speech did raise a valid and welcome point.  The PM acknowledged that, “If we left the European Union it would be a one-way ticket, not a return.  So we will have time for a proper reasoned debate” (my emphasis).

Issues for consideration listed by the PM include Security, Criminal Laws, The Single Market, Business Regulations, investment in the UK based on our current membership of the EU and our influence in international affairs.

Here at Pod Academy evidence led policy development is a key aim in our mission to provide a platform for academics to communicate their current research to as wide an audience as possible.  We believe that research enlivens and deepens public debate while providing empirical evidence to judge the claims of politicians and other public figures.  This has never been more important when the sound bite, emotive stories and ‘sincerely held beliefs’ is quickly becoming the common language of politics.

As a start for exploring this issue for your self why not check out What does it mean to be British? and The East India Company and its Legacy to better understand the historical issues surrounding what the PM refers to as our ‘island mentality’.  Then click through to The Spirit Level, Poverty, and What makes us healthy? to see what challenges we face as a nation.  Finally you may want to consider the evidence for the devaluation of political debate in Sound Bites, U-Turns and Populism – The rise of the professional politician.

Only time will tell if the PM can deliver a thoughtful and research based approach to both the negotiation with our European partners and the following referendum on our membership of the EU.  Whether the eventual outcome is Bonjour or Auf Wiedersehen, Pod Academy will be bringing you cutting edge research to help you make a decision on this important national issue.

Matthew Davison writes:  Len McCluskey wants the unions to return to an agenda of ‘Educate, Agitate, and Organise’.  Nick Cohen believes that “The price of press freedom is perpetual hyperbole [when arguing against state control]”.  And one billionaire plutocrat believes that “It’s the top 1% that probably contributes more to making the world a better place than the 99%”.  These three disparate facts are linked by a common factor – attendance at free lectures in London during the last week found on The Lecture List.

Developed and managed by the educator and writer Billy Clark and the designer and internet consultant Dug Falby The Lecture List provides a moderated listing service for lectures around the UK, and enables registered users to keep up to date with talks by their favourite speakers, on their favourite subjects, in their favourite venues, and in their geographical area.

As well as providing access to world class academic thought for the price of a travel card, the lecture scene is also highly sociable with many people retiring to the bar afterwards to continue the discussion.  So the next time you find yourself wondering what to do in the evening, check out The Lecture List.  Who knows what you might learn?