Conference web site: http://www.alt.ac.uk/altc2009/
All keynote and invited speakers can be viewed here: http://alt-c.blip.tv/
I attended this conference with colleagues of mine and was involved with a wide range of workshops, presentations and seminars. The highlights for me were: Read More…
Posted in Conference, Higher Education, e-Learning, web2.0
The Association of Public and Land-grant Universities-Sloan National Commission on Online Learning have produced a report detailing the views of administartors and faculties regarding online learning.
The report comprises two volumes, Online Learning as a Strategic Asset, contains the results of 231 interviews conducted with administrators, faculty, and students at 45 public institutions across the United States and more than 10,700 responses from faculty across the spectrum of teaching positions.
The two volumes can be accessed here:
Posted in Higher Education, VLE, e-Learning
TACCLE, not the snappiest of acronyms but a site worth looking at for information and guides relating to the use, source and creation of learning materials. The TACCLE handbook can be accessed by registering on this site . To give you an idea of the content, here is a list of all of the sections:
Section 1: Getting started Chapter 1: What is e-learning? Chapter 2: Tools that are useful for communicating and creating e-learning content Chapter 3: Weblogs Chapter 4: Wikis Chapter 5: Podcasting Chapter 6: Video sharing Chapter 7: Presentation sharing Chapter 8: Social bookmarking Chapter 9: Voice threads Chapter 10: RSS feed readers Chapter 11: Image sharing Chapter 12: Taxonomies, folksonomies and metadata Section 2: The pedagogy of e-learning Chapter 13: Different sorts of e-learning Chapter 14: The role of the teacher in e-learning Chapter 15: The target group Chapter 16: Assessment Chapter 17: Trends & directions in e-learning pedagogy: social software and web 2.0 Section 3: Learning environments Chapter 18: Learning Management Systems Chapter 19: Personal Learning Environments Section 4: Creating Digital Learning Objects Chapter 20: Learning objects Chapter 21: Designing Learning Objects Chapter 22: Creating text-based content Chapter 23: Creating cartoons and comics Chapter 24: Publishing digital learning objects Chapter 25: Authoring software Chapter 26: Copyright and Open Educational Resources Section 5: Networks and communities Chapter 27: Networked Space Chapter 28: Communities of sharingAlthough the content is aimed at classroom teachers the information is useful for anyone working in the education sector and using a VLE in some form or another.
Posted in Technology, VLE, e-Learning, web2.0 | Tags: TACCLE, teacher
Assessment Standards Knowledge exchange (ASKe) – is the Centre for Excellence in Teaching and Learning based at Oxford Brookes University Business School. It was set up in summer 2005 with a £4.5 million award (spread over five years) from HEFCE in recognition of good practice based on pedagogic research into aspects of assessment carried out by staff in the Business School and the Oxford Centre for Staff and Learning Development.
ASKe runs a series of seminars and workshops that staff can attend. They are delivered and organised in a variety of ways – all information can be browsed on their website: http://www.brookes.ac.uk/aske/
Posted in Assessment, CETL, Higher Education, e-Learning
A colleague of mine recently delivered a presentation using http://prezi.com/. Probably. like you I’ve sat through and delivered many presentations using Powerpoint and I’m probably suffering from ‘PPT fatigue’. It was interesting to see this tool used, It uses Flash, so there are accessibility issues with using it, however it gives you a novel way of presenting and also thinking about how you are going to present. Some examples of presentations from the Prezi website can be seen here:
Posted in Technology, e-Learning
Not the most catchy title around but an interesting development in the world of information gathering and search.
Can be accessed here: http://www.wolframalpha.com/
The tool allows you to ask questions in a usual spoken manner rather than search terms and receive answers in a similar way. For example who was the UK Prime Minister in 1968 would return Harold Wilson. BBC news article here
Posted in Technology
As forecast by Forrester Research Inc……..
The executive summary can be accessed here.
The five eras of the social web from Forrester Research Inc.
Posted in Uncategorized | Tags: Forrester Research Inc.
Looks good. Especially the drag and drop feature for Tabs.
Here is a 10 features video clip from YouTube:
Posted in IT Services, Technology, web1.0, web2.0 | Tags: Chrome, Google, web browser
Wordle.net is a tool for generating word clouds from text that you submit to it. You can do this via a RSS feed or select text and paste it into a text box on their site. It then generates a word cloud, with the highest repeated words displayed in larger text. You can alter the images that are produced by altering the font, layout and colours.
I’ve seen this used at conferences and during presentations. It gives a useful snapshot for activities like gathering feedback, responses and online discussions.
In true Blue Peter style here is one I created today from the WP blog feed.
WordPress Blog Feed Image from Wordle.net
Posted in Technology, web2.0 | Tags: Blue Peter, generating, word cloud, Wordle, words
Received confirmation a couple of weeks ago that I now have CMALT status!
It was a useful exercise for me and brought a few work related issues into focus. Although I submitted on an individual basis all of the aspects of the application were projects and tasks that I’ve under taken as part of a group of people. I basically wrote it up and thought about it a little. I can also use it as post mominal letters, if I wish to do so.
Ashley Wright CMALT 
Posted in Quality Enhancement, e-Learning | Tags: ALT, Application, CMALT, CMALTer, Reflective
I attended the ninth annual Durham Blackboard Users’ Conference on January 8th and 9th. This was my second attendance at the conference, however, this time I presented at one of the sessions along with my colleague.
We presented on a project I am involved with at work which is about lecture and event capture implementation and use (ReCap). From the feedback we’ve received it was a successful presentation, with several questions fielded afterwards. I think in the near future we will be welcoming several visits from other HEIs and FEs about our service.
Full details about the conference can be found here.
Here is the PowerPoint presentation of our talk.
The facilities offered by Durham University for the event were first class. The Calman Learning Centre was a great venue, well equiped, spacious and a great vista of Durham City with the Cathedral being the focal point. I look forward to the next one in January 2010.
Posted in Blackboard, Conference, Further Education, Higher Education, Quality Enhancement, Technology, VLE, e-Learning | Tags: Bb, Blackboard, DUR09, Durham University, ReCap, users
I stumbled across this site today and thought it might be of interest to some of you?
A comprehensicve PDF guide and tutorial can be viewed at this url:
http://www.labnol.org/software/adobe-pdf-guide-tutorial/6296/
Lots of Q and As on how to use PDF without actually having Adobe Acrobat as well as tips and hints on how to use and manage files. Worth a look in my opinion.
BTW – Happy new Year!
Posted in IT Services, Sharing, Technology | Tags: PDF Adobe Acrobat
The issue of DRM is a complex one. An alliance has been created (The Digital Watermarking Alliance) to promote the value of digital watermarking to content owners, industry, policy makers and consumers.
From their website:
“With movies, music and photos increasingly being distributed and shared digitally across numerous mediums, and printed value documents such as IDs and financial
instruments at risk to counterfeiting, fraud and theft, protecting therights and integrity of these assets and enabling legitimate uses has become critical.
At the same time, consumers are demanding instant access to entertainment content – any time, any place and in any format.”
For more information visit: http://www.digitalwatermarkingalliance.org/default.asp
Posted in Sharing, Technology | Tags: digital rights alliance
http://extras.timesonline.co.uk/tol_gug/gooduniversityguide.php
As is usual with this list Oxbridge are at the top. Newcastle are placed in joint 20th spot alongside glasgow. Our nearby North East neighbours of the 1994 Group, Durham and York are 8th and 9th respectively.
Here is a link to a web page explaining how the tables are calculated:
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/life_and_style/education/good_university_guide/article2235223.ece
League tables are not ideal in my opinion at measuring how Universities perform. However, prospective students and their parents need some form of measure in order to make a comparison. Although if you look at some of the indices used the “older/traditional” universities are heavily favoured. For example look at the Services and Facilities spend, and Research Quality columns.
Posted in Higher Education | Tags: 1994 Group, Good University guide 2009, Newcastle, Oxbridge, TheTimes
