Pass the SoLT

I thought is was about time that I posted my first blog entry for 2012. I took an extended break from work over January and it's now time to get back on the horse, especially since I now have a new job... well actually two.

On Friday it was formally announced that I have accepted the positions of Director, National Centre for Teaching and Learning along with the Director of the Distance Education and Learning Futures Alliance (DELFA). The new roles come with a promotion to full professor after an externally contestable selection process. Suffice to say I'm now looking forward to the challenges and opportunities that these directorships offer over the next few years.

In the meantime, a few days ago I came across this video by Corning Incorporated entitled "A Day Made By Glass". It provides a futuristic insight into how lives will be different and potentially transformed through the ways we decide to design, develop and ultimately use new technologies. The video has some stunning examples of new technology applications enabled through glass and it makes you realise that the iPad is just the tip of a new wave of mobile and ubiquitous technologies. The 'class community activity table' looks really valuable as a means of harnessing the social, interactive and collaborative nature of learning. And the large information wall in the Redwood State Park shown during a class field trip is fairly cool.

This is the second version of the original 'A Day Made By Glass' which was a major hit on Youtube with over 17 million hits. I predict it won't be long before this even longer second version of the video surpasses this figure. I'm just a little worried about all the finger marks on the inside of the windscreen as I drive to work reading an electronic newspaper and answering my email... all at the touch of a finger. Sales of Mr Muscle glass cleaner might skyrocket in the future.