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November, 2010

  1. #jiscel10 – Have a Go- MyShowcase – Countdown 8 days to go

    November 8, 2010 by Robin Englebright

    I first came across My Knowledgemap when working on a Becta e-portfolio project. I’ve always been impressed with how very cooperative all of the e-portfolio providers are with each other. They model behaviour sadly not shared in some other areas of the commercial ILT world. MyKnowledgeMap were part of the team that built MyShowcase.

    In the Have a Go session “Take control of your working life” David Sowden of Hull University will provide access to the MyShowcase toolset. MyShowcase is an open source Java VLE plugin which offers personalised evidence gathering for e-portfolios. Initially developed as part of a JISC project for the University of Hull, it allows users to aggregate, map and showcase content from a range of online sources, including social network spaces.

    Image001

    I couldn’t work out from the site when the code will be ready for release, so am looking forward to discussing that in the Have a Go forum.

    The Conference runs from the 23rd – 26th November 2010, and the pre-conference activity and reading week opens on 16th November 2010 and offers a chance to become familiar with the conference environment and try out innovative JISC projects in the ‘have-a-go’ area. 
    See you there!

    Book online – early registration advisable for full participation in the pre-conference week

    www.jisc.ac.uk/whatwedo/programmes/elearningpedagogy/elpconference10/booking 
    Delegate fee:£50


  2. #jiscel10 JISC -Have a Go- Nintendo tutoring – Countdown 11 days-

    November 5, 2010 by Robin Englebright

    One of my favourite powerpoint slides ever was part of a presentation Tim Dumbleton did to a select crowd in the Orange studio in Birmingham.

    It said: “NINTENDOGS…. WHY?”

    It summed up my feeling toward the mad path that Nintendo seemed to be steering, they just don’t do what you expect, like changing the name of a console from: “revolution” to “wii”. However, the potential to use their inexpensive kit for quite startling learning support shouldn’t be overlooked.

    Image001

    The HANABI project with it’s somewhat tortured acronym (HAndheld-device enhanced learning with Nintendo’s Applications Beyond Institution and country) uses Nintendo DSi hand-held games consoles and its free application ‘Ugoku Memocho’ (Flipnote Studio), and Hatena (Hatena Co. Ltd.)’s ‘Ugomemo Theatre’, to link students on a year abroad in Japan to co-students elsewhere in Japan and their tutors in the UK.

    The DSi provides a means of communication, and critically a touch-screen that supports handwriting practice, which is an essential part of mastering non-European languages.

    The Have a Go session shows how the handwritten Flipnotes, some of them including recorded speech, can be uploaded and downloaded from the consoles using a WiFi connection, to create interactive distance learning sessions. This includes a pre-recorded interaction demonstrating the tutor / student interaction, including the tutor providing a language task, the student carrying it out and uploading to the Ugomemo website, and the tutor providing feedback on the task.

    A DSi console and wifi connection is not essential for this session: participants can view the tasks and uploaded activities and feedback via the Ugomemo website. However, if participants do have access to a DSi they may be able to download and upload their own flipnotes.

    The Conference runs from the 23rd – 26th November 2010, and the pre-conference activity and reading week opens on 16th November 2010 and offers a chance to become familiar with the conference environment and try out innovative JISC projects in the ‘have-a-go’ area. 
    See you there!

    Book online – early registration advisable for full participation in the pre-conference week

    www.jisc.ac.uk/whatwedo/programmes/elearningpedagogy/elpconference10/booking 
    Delegate fee:£50


  3. #jiscel10 JISC -Have a Go- videoconferencing in the workplace – Countdown 12 days-

    November 4, 2010 by Robin Englebright

    My background is Agriculture, which lends itself very well to work based learning, in fact in my sandwich year I worked for ICI doing fertiliser research in the flatlands of Grantham, if you look on Googlemaps you can still see the patchwork pattern even though the site hasn’t been used in around 20 years?

    http://maps.google.co.uk/maps/ms?ie=UTF8&hl=en&t=h&msa=0&msid=113330115542932353481.00049436de53ecd45f90e&ll=52.912512,-0.550346&spn=0.003054,0.010568&output=embed
    View ICI Ropsley Research station in a larger map

    Whilst I remember a lot of things from that time, the isolation I felt would probably be pretty high up the list. I was 178 miles from home, and it felt like I’d lost touch with all my friends and fellow students.

    This isn’t an uncommon experience, and whilst these days the wide array of communications technology helps the student who is out in the workplace feel connected to their friends, they may feel less connected to their studies.

    The  session in the Have a Go area on delivery to remote learners offers access to an edited recording of work carried out using Adobe Connect Pro videoconferencing software. The recordings demonstrate how they used the technology to deliver material to geographically remote learners. 
    An edited recording of a meeting is available from the 16th for conference delegates to view. From 08:00 on Tuesday, 23rd November, delegates will be able to connect to a meeting room to manipulate the tools and interact with each other.
     

    The Conference runs from the 23rd – 26th November 2010, BUT the pre-conference activity and reading week opens on 16th November 2010 and offers a chance to become familiar with the conference environment and try out innovative JISC projects in the ‘have-a-go’ area. 
    See you there!

    Book online – early registration advisable for full participation in the pre-conference week

    www.jisc.ac.uk/whatwedo/programmes/elearningpedagogy/elpconference10/booking 
    Delegate fee:£50

     


  4. #jiscel10 -Have a Go- Live sessions in pre reading week

    November 3, 2010 by Robin Englebright

    I Thought it was worth flagging up the list of Live sessions in the Online Conference pre-reading

     

    On Wednesday the 17th from 9.30am to 10.30am in the JISC presentation room there is a drop in Elluminate session offering informal help and advice for delegates on using Elluminate. Well worth stopping in and making sure you have the required plugins.

    Similarly in the afternoon from 2.30-3.30  there is a Second Life orientation session, and you need to pre-book this.


     

    On Thursday 18th   James Clay is running a “making the most of the conference” session in the JISC presentation Room from 9 to 10 am.

    The second life orientation repeats itself from 10.30 to 11.30, and again booking in advance is required.

    From 1-2pm  The Xpert Media Search and Attribution Service will be running their Elluminate session.

    Following on at 2- Lisa Vincent will be doing the first of her “Elluminate to communicate” whistle-stop tours of the moderation , please book in advance.

    From 3-4pm there’s a Second life session on integrating virtual worlds with virtual learning environments.

    From 4-5pm there’s a repeat of the drop in Elluminate orientation session.


     

    Friday 19th starts at 9.30 to 10.30 am with an Elluminate session on Instructional design for e-learning.

    10.30 to 11.30 there’s a second life event talking about the experiences of learning and teaching Art and Design in Second Life.

    From 2-3pm Lisa is running the second of her “Elluminate to communicate” whistle-stop tours of the moderation , please book in advance.


     

    The last pre-conference day, Monday the 22nd November (my birthday!)  sees a Second Life session on Molecules and microbes running from 10-11am, for which you’ll need to pre-register.

    1.30 to 2.30 sees another Second life event on “Immersion in Literature”, teaching poetry in Second life.

    Finally 3-4pm a Second Life session on Assessing safety protocols on a virtual oil rig.

     

    As well as all this the “social area coffee shop”  and “resource sharing area” are open from the 16th.

    Image001

     

    The Conference itself runs from the 23rd – 26th November 2010. 
    See you there!

    Book online – early registration advisable for full participation in the pre-conference week

    www.jisc.ac.uk/whatwedo/programmes/elearningpedagogy/elpconference10/booking 
    Delegate fee:£50

     


  5. #jiscel10 -Have a Go- recording lectures, legal considerations – Countdown 13 days –

    November 3, 2010 by Robin Englebright

    Years ago when I tried to record some of my lectures to help support learners on my CAD course the biggest problems were technical. Audio was the only real possibility, and even then the quality was poor to keep the resulting file size as small as possible. I used a radio mic to solve the issues with my animated pacing delivery style, and audacity proved a boon. I learnt how to hand code the feed to make them into a podcast, and the results were uploaded using Cute FTP.

    These days things are slightly easier, I can record a brief outburst using audioboo, (though not with my android phone!) or phone in to ipadio

    http://boos.audioboo.fm/swf/fullsize_player.swf

    But what about the legal issues?

    JISC Legal recently published a well-received guidance which examines the legal implications of recording lectures, focusing mainly on the issues of copyright and consent.   This session will build upon JISC Legal’s guidance document by focusing on specific scenarios.  The scenarios will be based on enquiries we have received and will be focused on providing practical solutions to real problems. 

    The Conference runs from the 23rd – 26th November 2010, BUT the pre-conference activity and reading week opens on 16th November 2010 and offers a chance to become familiar with the conference environment and try out innovative JISC projects in the ‘have-a-go’ area. 
    See you there!

    Book online – early registration advisable for full participation in the pre-conference week

    www.jisc.ac.uk/whatwedo/programmes/elearningpedagogy/elpconference10/booking 
    Delegate fee:£50

     


  6. #jiscel10 JISC – Have a Go- Xpert media search – Countdown 14 days –

    November 2, 2010 by Robin Englebright

    I’m all for openness, I’m delighted by the very idea of creative commons licences, but truth be told the actual process of finding what you need, and then working out how to do the right thing with the licence is a bit of a faff. I figure if it’s a pain for me then a teacher or lecturer with a “real job” is going to be even more hard pressed.

    That’s why I was absolutely delighted to find that the Xpert media search and attribution service are one of the exciting exhibits in the #jiscel10 Have a Go area.

    Yesterday I wrote a load of dense text and wanted a picture of a bored student to break up page, I thought I’d have a quick look using the Xpert tool, it found me a picture, and more important created the embed code for the image AND the CC licence. All I had to do was copy and paste just like with a You tube video embed code.

    Image001

    This is a seriously useful tool.

    There will be an elluminate session giving a live tour of the tool on  Thursday, 18th, 13:00 – 14:00 in the Have a Go area, the session will be recorded.

    I can’t recommend this highly enough.

    The Conference runs from the 23rd – 26th November 2010, BUT the pre-conference activity and reading week opens on 16th November 2010 and offers a chance to become familiar with the conference environment and try out innovative JISC projects in the ‘have-a-go’ area. 
    See you there!

    Book online – early registration advisable for full participation in the pre-conference week

    www.jisc.ac.uk/whatwedo/programmes/elearningpedagogy/elpconference10/booking 
    Delegate fee:£50


  7. #jiscel10 countdown 15 days till -Have a Go- Supporting learners

    November 1, 2010 by Robin Englebright

    Countdown to #jiscel10 15 days till the pre-conference activity and reading week opens.

    Sometimes it’s easy to forget what it’s like to be a learner. We can get wrapped up in processes and systems, and solving our problems so much that the learner experience becomes secondary.

    I had a demonstration of how poor the learner experience can be over the weekend, whilst applying for a course. The word document application form kept skipping to the wrong field, refused to let me capitalise letters, and after half an hour I decided to give up. I noticed there was also an apply online facility, and thought this had to be better.

    Unfortunately it was bound to vast pick lists, couldn’t identify the course I was trying to find, and when it did I was still unsure as the details didn’t match the website description.

    I had a very poor experience which left me feeling completely antagonistic to the institution.

     

    Taken from http://farm5.static.flickr.com/3259/2447256778_9db91015f7_b.jpg on 2010-11-01
    Original URL – http://www.flickr.com/30182398@N00/2447256778/ created on 2008-04-24 11:48:14
    Eric E CastroCC BY 2.0


    As we enter a time of reduced funding, and higher fees the user experience has to become more important.


    The JISC SLiDA project has been examining how UK further and higher education institutions are supporting learners for a digital age. Working with a range of institutions, the project has created a set of web based case studies of institutional practice. These institutions have been selected for the work they are doing in translating learner experience research findings into teaching and learning practices. The case studies demonstrate how institutions are using what is known about their learners’ needs, expectations and experiences, collecting their own evidence and making use of existing research.


    The case studies demonstrate a range of ways of creating and enabling opportunities that promote the development of effective learning in a digital age. This includes:

    • focussing on induction support (Abingdon and Witney College)
    • meeting students expectations for using personal technology (Birkenhead Sixth Form College)
    • listening to student voices (University of Glamorgan)
    • developing learning spaces to meet learners’ needs (Edinburgh University)
    • supporting student enterprise (University of Surrey)
    • embedding learners into the curriculum (University of Salford)
    • developing graduate attributes through blended learning (University of Wolverhampton).

    The ultimate aim is to promote strategies which support learners to develop the access, skills, strategies and attributes they need to learn effectively with technology.

    Participants of this “Have a Go” area will have the opportunity to first, explore the case studies, which have been specifically produced for web viewing and are illustrated by audio and video extracts; and then go to the Digital Literacies Pilot Materials Cloudscape on CloudWorks where they will find materials that can be used in their own institution to support staff, curriculum and institutional development in response to the digital literacies agenda.

    The Conference runs from the 23rd – 26th November 2010, BUT the pre-conference activity and reading week opens on 16th November 2010 and offers a chance to become familiar with the conference environment and try out innovative JISC projects in the ‘have-a-go’ area. 
    See you there!

    Book online – early registration advisable for full participation in the pre-conference week

    www.jisc.ac.uk/whatwedo/programmes/elearningpedagogy/elpconference10/booking 
    Delegate fee:£50

     

     

     


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