As I’ve mentioned here before, the ILT Champions list was set up at the turn of the century (what a strange thought) by Becta as part of an embedded peer support initiative. Champs went on a short training course, received a huge folder of resources, and were added to the champ-curriculum JISCMAIL list.
The list remains as a vibrant community of very savvy individuals, and is often the first port of call for advice and guidance on a whole range of technology topics.
As list admin, I promised a while back to try and summarise the activity every month, to act as a reminder for those on the list, and a resource for those not on the list.
If you support the use of technology in FE in the UK and think you might benefit from joining the list drop me an email.
Summary of posts to the list in January 2011
We currently have 593 subscribers, this number has been stable at around 580-650 for the past 6 years or so.
This month we’ve had around 300 posts from 90 individual posters, which compares to the usual 200 posts from around 120 posters.
Last time I looked we had folk from about 75% of UK colleges, and reps from all partners. Over the years that has changed as some have moved role, college or in extreme cases continent.
I’ve done a very basic summary of the posts, I think next month I’ll try and be a little more informative, but if there’s anything that tickles your fancy you can always go and look at the archives: http://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/champ-curriculum (if you are a member of champs list)
I think “poster” of the month has to be the lovely Dave Foord who provided lots of links to resources, going that little bit further.
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>A request for examples of monitoring software to track A level student progress, provided the following solutions:
http://www.endsolutions.net/vital/sample/sample.htm
Promonitor,
Using ALPS data,
Inhouse system : http://demo.tribalctad.co.uk/stem/science_longley_park/pages/tracking_and_monitoring_performance_using_the_markbook_system.html
>BETT highlights:
Trolleys, IWB’s and voting systems from unfamiliar providers, 3D TV’s projectors, throngs of Euro visitors, STEM centres https://www.sciencelearningcentres.org.uk/centres/national/awards-and-bursaries/enthuse-award, RM Slate
>A request for blogging tools for use by staff, to host in house resulted in a discussion on the merits of internal vs external hosting. Possible internal solutions included wordpress, which has a wealth of various themes and plugins making it very configurable. A new version of the flexible Joomla platform released on Jan 13th provided similar breadth of function. There are blogging functions already in Blackboard, Moodle and Mahara, and tools in IFLs Reflect.
>A discussion took place about inspection and the level of access provided to Ofsted inspectors. Tracking of accounts provided show very little use. This isn’t surprising, as inspectors want to see the impact on learning, rather than resources, but there is a wealth of engagement they miss.
>Moodle 2 roll outs are being reviewed, but as Moodle 2 has a substantially different approach in many ways, it’s not a simple incremental update, and will require a deal of end user support.
>A request for ESOL game templates prompted suggestions of using NLN materials and:
http://vle.barkingcollege.ac.uk/cw_testbed/template.htm
http://www.discoveryeducation.com/free-puzzlemaker
http://www.teachers-direct.co.uk/resources/quiz-busters/quiz-maker.aspx
http://www.oup.com/elt/global/products/englishfile
>Excellence gateway case studies now on Delicious: http://www.delicious.com/elearningcasestudies
>There was a discussion about using MS and Google office solutions, MS is transforming into http://office365.microsoft.com with a range of price points.
>A suggestion to run an informal champs conference in the North of England was well received with 2 colleges offering to host it, and over 30 people willing to attend in principle. The JISCmail survey tool used to gather the data wasn’t quite so well received, being blocked by several institutions, and requiring a login to access.
>There was a request for a link to an IMS Content package player, and http://www.reload.ac.uk/scormplayer.html was suggested.
>Suggestions were requested for Interactive resources for accounting. Xerte was suggested as a roll your own solution: http://www.techdisplayxerte.info/,as was Excel, Accountancy Plus have a demo of their materials http://accountancyplus.co.uk/learning/ on a moodle instance.
>There was a request for useful ipod/touch apps, suggestions included a list created as part of a molenet project including Literacy, numeracy, and accessibility https://docs.google.com/Doc?docid=0AapQnvqnAzU2ZGN4cHBkd3FfMWN3M2dzNWNz&hl=en_GB, and the Connsense bulletin http://www.connsensebulletin.com/2010/05/apps-for-education/
>Promethean IWB pens were discussed, replacement tips are apparently available free of charge from promethean: http://www1.prometheanplanet.com/forum/showthread.php?t=5163 Solutions for lost pens included wiring them on retractable dog leads, or issuing to teachers.
>There was concern over news that JISC services funding may be withdrawn from 6th form colleges, due to Government departmental cost saving exercises. The lack of strategy and communication was making it hard to plan. The issues were taken up by various list members.
>Concerns were raised about the commercialisation of the molenet services. Letters received by list members were discussed and there seemed little appetite for a paid service model.
>Maxos – moodle and Xerte on a stick was highlighted as a useful tool for trying out technology, http://rscmoodle.jisc.ac.uk/file.php/1/maxos/maxos_152.zip Thomas Rochford of RSC Eastern, was lauded for creating this.
>A request for motor vehicle resources resulted in a brief discussion about LJ Create, and offers from users to demonstrate them. Links to IMI http://www.motor.org.uk/training-provider/technical-teaching-resources-.html and HSE were also provided http://www.hse.gov.uk/mvr/information.htm
>Suggestions for a tool suitable for use with staff bulletins centred on WordPress, with subscription widget http://en.support.wordpress.com/blog-subscriptions/ , or the glogster tool http://edu.glogster.com
>Suggestions for a wiki tool to use with students included Free wikidot http://www.wikidot.com/learnmore:education , PBwiki free for instructional use http://pbworks.com/content/edu-basic-edition, wikispaces http://www.wikispaces.com/content/for/teachers which is ad free for educational use,
and a guide on use http://www.a6training.co.uk/resources/STOLENticksheet.doc
>presentations and resources,from the Online conference 2010 available on the JISC website for general viewing: http://www.jisc.ac.uk/whatwedo/programmes/elearningpedagogy/elpconference10/programme.aspx
>There was a request to identify alternatives to camtasia as screen capture software. Screenr was suggested http://screenr.com/ with examples on how to use to create learning objects
>There was a long discussion around the best solutions for streaming and managing video, which devolved into a discussion on what licences actually allow. The outcome was that the whole area is confusing, and there are no simple solutions. JISC Legal provide a good sounding board.
>Suggestions for Sports and Public services resources suggested using the https://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/cgi-bin/webadmin?A0=PUBLIC-SERVICES-FORUM list. The round 4 life science NLN materials are good, the earlier Round 2 sports one less good. shows how to take images out of the NLN materials to put into your own resources.
>There was a demand for information detailing students views and expectations of technology in their education, a link was provided to https://mw.brookes.ac.uk/display/JISCle2m/Methods
> There was a polarised discussion regarding PC booking, with some advocating a free system, which liberated staff, and others advocating bookings which focussed the use of equipment. Favourable mentions for iCAM, MyPC and Netloan.
