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There’s a new Google service on the block called Google Plus. It has appeared with much less fanfare than Google Wave (thankfully); but will it take off and will it be useful in education? (and will the latter need the former?) – like wave it may be useful but unless it gets uptake then Google won’t support it. One of the reasons that Wave didn’t succeed was a public perception that Google was not about social networking, it was about information. Google Plus seems to be an attempt to combine both social connectedness information, and what you are interested in, in meaningful ways. So imagine doing a search on your phone for a service, and the response referencing your social connections with interests and location all at once. Well that’s the potential. And it has the cool factor.

Google Plus involves organising people you know into circles – these can be friends, work colleages, family, whatever you like and as many as you like. The point of this is that you can choose who you share what with privately. You can even create your own circle with just yourself in it to use as personal bookmarking and content repository.

Then you have a feed into which you can share the info and see what others are sharing. There’s also a video conferencing feature called Hangouts.

Early adopters seem equally divided as to whether Google plus is beneficial and sustainable.

As far as education is involved:

• Privacy is often an issue and google plus creates safe environments for sharing with specific people with out fear of overdivulging or feeling overly exposed in a public space. It will make it easier to show benefits of using social media in education; and hopefully will stay open across the firewalls.
• Hangouts enable simple open video chat with up to 10 members of a circle. This could be used in a regularly open way, say during school times, or be made available at specific times when the teacher wants to be available. It is also entirely web based giving it some advantages over Skype. And you can drag and drop people into hangouts as you need. It would be great to see a whiteboard added or intergration with screen sharing and Google docs. I’m looking forward to checking it’s reliability.
• The huddles feature could enable keeping track of students on field trips, with updates to and from phones.
• Sparks is for sharing information about topics of interest. It might also work as a PLN for teachers to share information and engage in discussions. Interested onlookers can lurk if they want to.

One challenge I have is that it feels a bit weird to me with the circles, though in other ways it makes common sense – we think more organically in terms of social circles. I don’t especially like having my work colleagues on facebook; and it would feel just as weird having friends on Linkedin. Google plus doesn’t have the initial social simplicity of Facebook (or the early facebook) - of here’s my friends, here’s my profile, here’s what’s going on and here’s where I search for more friends. So as a social network Google Plus feels more detached – as if too much thinking has gone into the design. (Compared with twitter which is undesigned enough for informal crossing points of sharing and connection). On the other hand it is exactly what I want to manage my various interests or fields of life in which I have a stake.

I hope someone makes something of Google+ - even if it innovated into something other than it’s original intention. And if only eportfolios were designed like this!

And feel free to add me to one of your circles.

Social networking is something that takes practice to be good at, tweeting and posting your status, it is often something that is impulsive and not a planned process. Yet we don’t sit in front of our computers 24 hours a day either, so here are a few mobile apps that can support that natural flow when social networking and keep you connected to the world from your pocket.

1. Yammer
Yammer is an enterprise social network designed to help you communicate with your work colleagues. The app comes with the ability to monitor your own comments while also monitoring and responding to the comments of others. It also allows for subgroups to be created, keeping things relevant.

2. Flickr
Flickr for the iPhone enables photo-sharing right from your phone, to the world. Take your images and post them directly online.

3. Talking Facebook
Do not confuse this app with your other mundane and boring Facebook apps that just sell you the Facebook mobile site with different colours. This is a real app that reads your posts to you and responds to your voice commands.

4. TweetDeck
TweetDeck is a browser that can support your multiple twitter accounts. It also allows for sorting those you follow into groups and search for new tweets. This app also allows for syncing you TweetDeck between your phone and desktop.

5. LinkedIn
LinkedIn for iPhone puts your professional network just a touch away. Walk into any interview or client meeting with the ability to look up the details and connect with over 90 million professionals worldwide. Get the latest updates and messages from your network and keep them up-to-date with your status in real-time.

6. Ustream
Video social networking is what this app is about. With Ustream, you can video stream your own content from your ipad or iphone, broadcasting at a moment's notice. You can also discover and watch live events, catch up on recent broadcasts, get alerts for upcoming events, and sharing all of this with your friends and colleagues.

7. Skype
Call, video call and instant message anyone else on Skype for free with Skype for your iPhone, iPod touch or iPad. Works better when connected to Wifi.

8. Bump
Bump makes sharing with people as simple as bumping two phones together. Just pick what you want to send, then hold your phones and gently bump hands with another Bump user. This includes images, vcards and documents, you name it.

9. iPadio
This app is the perfect partner to your iPadio phone blogging site. Broadcast, record, play back and share high quality audio up to an hour in length. Pause and resume recordings, add up to 4 high resolution photos and automatically geolocate your call.

10. Google Latitude
Latitude is a mapping program that makes it easy to share where you are and see each other on a map. This is a great tool for teachers on excursions and or in conferences.

New technology is revolutionising the way construction workers are learning about occupational health and safety.

In a project made possible through funding from the National VET E-learning Strategy, a simulator is being developed to enable experiential learning of workplace safety on a construction site.

“This simulation ‘game’ allows learners and assessors to undertake mandatory occupational health and safety training without the potential for injury,” says project leader Michael Young, of Transformed Pty Ltd.

The safety simulation generates a number of risks at commencement, so that risks are different each ‘play through’. As learners navigate the 3D world with a keyboard and mouse, they identify risks, undertake a risk assessment and report their results to their manager.

“As site safety is traditionally taught in a classroom, learners may get to apply safety principles through work placements, but they are often not sufficiently experienced in translating the theory learned into practice,” says Young.

Delivered via high speed broadband provided by AARNet and the National Broadband Network (NBN), the simulator provides a photo-realistic look, built-in voice and/or video communications and a multi-user environment that allows learners to interact with each other. It also allows instructors to guide learners and provide instant feedback online.

“This project helps to address the national skills shortage in building and construction, and demonstrates that the NBN can deliver engaging and interactive e-learning that otherwise would not be possible,” says Young.

The project has the potential to address national skills shortages in other industries by catering for a wide range of learning styles and providing opportunities for regional and remote learners to bridge geographical distances.

Transformed is a specialist provider of tailored training solutions for project management, building and construction management, contracts and procurement. It also offers coaching and recruitment services for individuals and organisations to build project management skills and capability.

Through its NBN E-learning Programs, the National VET E-learning Strategy provides opportunities to create innovative approaches to demonstrate the power of broadband to enhance outcomes for learners, and promote growth in broadband-based training as the NBN rollout proceeds.

The National VET E-learning Strategy is the responsibility of the Flexible Learning Advisory Group (FLAG), a key policy advisory group on national directions and priorities for information and communication technologies in the VET sector.

“Used strategically, the new technological environment will provide unprecedented access to more accessible training and learning opportunities,” says FLAG Chair Raymond Garrand, Chief Executive of the South Australian Department of Further Education, Employment, Science and Technology.