Happy New year to one and all
The past two months have flashed by and it hardly seems possible that we are now into February. Still, on this side of the international fence the weather is very pleasant and holidays are not yet over(for some).
So to get the old neurons oscillating again,the first posting for the year is a longer edition than normal (catchup time, two months wallowing around without checking what’s happening in the world of e-learning is a long time) it includes some very useful resources: e-learning examples from Cathy Moore, a free booklet from the e-learning Guild, an excellent integrated infokit from those hard workers at jiscInfonet (thanks to Katherine Eade, who does an excellent job of keeping everyone informed of what’s happening), a couple of blogs, a development pack for Intellectual Property Rights,open source elearning papers, conference notification,participatory media in the social networking generation and more plus of course the odd one out.
Until March comes around, that’s enough for now.
1. e-learning examples from Cathy Moore
This site has a lot of useful stuff and is well worth spending some time exploring the links as well as finding out what else Cathy gets up to.
http://blog.cathy-moore.com/?page_id=109
2. The eLearning Guild’s Tips and Tricks for Working with e-Learning Tools
This is an excellent ‘freebie’ with lots of very useful stuff embedded in its pages. Well worth the download.
Extract from the site:
“The eLearning Guild asked members for their favorite tips for using software for the creation of e-Learning. Members could submit tips in any or all of the following five categories:
Courseware authoring and e-Learning development tools
Rapid e-Learning tools
Simulation tools
Media tools
Combining and deploying authoring tools
A total of 122 members responded to the survey, contributing 162 usable tips. As with our previous Tips eBook efforts, the tips range in length from one-sentence ideas all the way up to page-long discourses. Some are very basic in nature, and others are quite advanced.”
This is a FREE Digital eBook.No one is authorized to charge a fee for it,or to use it to collect data.
Attribution notice for information from this publication must be given, must credit the individual contributor in any citation,and should take the following form:The eLearning Guild’s Tips and Tricks for Working with e-Learning Tools
http://www.elearningguild.com/content.cfm?selection=doc.896
3.ASCILITE 2007: Singapore
I was fortunate to be able to attend the conference in Singapore and found in general it lived up to its reputation as being a good place to network and get some ideas on the use of e-learning technologies in tertiary education. It was well organised and had a good range of presentations. One Keynote was more of an ‘offKeynote’ but that was minor.
You can access the papers from
http://www.ascilite.org.au/conferences/singapore07/procs/
4. eLearning Papers: is a digital publication on e-Learning by
elearningeuropa.info, a portal created by the European Commission to promote the use of ICT in education and training.
Entitled: eInclusion and eLearning, Version number 6 was released in November last year and provides abstracts of a number of interesting papers on aspects of elearning, plus links to the complete articles. It’s worth exploring the rest of the site while you are there.
http://www.elearningpapers.eu/index.php?page=home
5. Managing Intellectual Property Rights (IPR) in Digital Learning Materials: A Development Pack for Institutional Repositories.
Authors are, John Casey, Jackie Proven & David Dripps
Distributed under a Creative Commons License, Attribution 2.5 UK: Scotland
It can be downloaded from
http://trustdr.ulster.ac.uk/outputs.php
The pack is aimed at those who are setting up or running digital collections of learning materials that are managed at an institutional level. It is written in a clear and straightforward style that sets out to persuade the reader of the benefits of engaging with the issues associated with IPR in e-learning.
The approach taken is based on the idea that the organisation of an IPR policy in e-learning should reflect and support the educational activity instead of hinder it, and that means understanding ‘ the business of elearning’. To do this it paints a compelling picture of an educational sector in the process of changing from traditional ad-hoc models of teaching to a more sustainable, team-based model, driven by increased student numbers, a greater focus on learners needs, and increased requirements for flexible delivery with the increasing use of digital media and technologies.
Project site is
6. e-Books are now available from the JISC Online Conference, Innovating e-Learning 2007, Institutional Transformation and Supporting Lifelong Learning, at
http://www.jisc.ac.uk/elp_conference07
7. Project, Programme and Portfolio Management (or P3M for short)
A new approach to infokits which creates an integrated set of tools. P3M links the Portfolio Management infokit, Programme Management infokit and the Project Management infokit.
These are all excellent resources and can be adapted for different levels of activity.
http://www.jiscinfonet.ac.uk/p3m
8. Another from JiscInfonet: Guide to Social Software: An extremely comprehensive and well constructed guide to social software and its use.
http://www.jiscinfonet.ac.uk/infokits/social-software
9. ICVET: New ideas and practice. An eZine from Aussieland
Extract from the site:
“Enriching professional practice in VET (Vocational Education and training) teaching and learning to support the learning needs of the future workforce”.
Some of you will be involved in Vocational Education and training and this is a site which I have always found most informative. It has a nice feel about it and combines this with some excellent articles and informed comment. Have a read of ‘Embedding Innovation – we’re not alone!’
http://www.icvet.tafensw.edu.au/
10. The Global Information Technology Report 2006-2007 (Thanks to Peter Looms from Denmark for the link)
This interactive report site provides information on the use and distribution of ICT in a large number of countries. Look up New Zealand. Australia. UK, Canada, USA and get an insight into what is happening and where your country is on the ICT world ladder. Interesting to note that Denmark has taken over the top spot with a number of Nordic countries hot on its heels
The World Economic Forum has a site on Information Technology that you can access from here:
http://www.weforum.org/en/initiatives/gcp/Global%20Information%20Technology%20Report/index.htm
An executive summary of the report can be downloaded from
http://www.weforum.org/pdf/gitr/summary2007.pdf
11. CONFERENCES
11.1 ALT-C 2008: Rethinking the digital divide
9-11 September 2008, Leeds, UK
First call for papers and abstracts – deadline, 29 February 2008
Proposals should address up to three of the conference dimensions:
global or local; institutional or individual; pedagogy or technology;
access or exclusion; open or proprietary; private or public; for the
learner or by the learner.
For more detail on these, see:
http://www.alt.ac.uk/altc2008/papers.html
The online submission system system for ALT-C 2008 is now open. Please read the submission guidelines for
Research Papers and for Abstracts –
http://www.alt.ac.uk/guidelines_papers.html
and download the Research Paper Template if you intend to to submit a research paper.
Submit your proposal on the new submission system at:
https://alt.conference-services.net/
Key dates:
Submissions open 14 December 2007
Submissions close 29 February 2008
Presenters’ registration deadline: 6 June 2008
Early bird registration deadline: 30 June 2008
Registrations close: 15 August 2008
Keynote speakers:
David Cavallo, Chief Learning Architect for One Laptop per Child, and
Head of the Future of Learning Research Group at MIT Media Lab;
Dr Itiel Dror, Senior Lecturer in Cognitive Neuroscience at the
University of Southampton;
Hans Rosling, Professor of International Health, Karolinska Institute,
Sweden, and Director of the Gapminder Foundation.
For sponsorship and exhibition opportunities got to:
http://www.alt.ac.uk/altc2008/sponsor_information.html
or contact Hayley Willis, Events Administrator:
11.2 EUNIS 2008: 24th – 27th June 2008
is the 14th congress in a series of conferences within the framework of the European University Information Systems Organisation (EUNIS).
The 4-day congress (incl. tutorials) is an opportunity to share experiences with IT professionals from higher education in other countries, to attend several presentations on topics relevant to the current issues in IT, to visit EUNIS sponsors and learn more about the latest developments in the field. More than 370 people attended last year’s congress.
EUNIS 2008 focuses on visions for IT in higher education. The themes for EUNIS 2008 are:
IT strategy and governance
IT infrastructure and integrated systems
Identity management, federation, security and shared services
IT support for globalisation and mobility
Portals and student services
Virtual libraries and repositories for research and teaching
E-learning: Organisation and implementation
Educational tools and technologies
Vision IT for next generation universities
Paper and abstract submission
Abstract and workshop submission is open (Papers and abstracts menu).
Deadline for abstract submission: January 31st 2008.
Deadline for poster, podcast and full and short paper: May 15th 2008.
Workshop proposals
EUNIS 2008 welcomes proposals for workshops about use of IT in higher education. The workshops take place from 14.00 – 17.00 on the 24th of june 2008. Please e-mail your proposal to info@eunis.dk (maximum one page).
11.3 ASCILITE 2008: The ascilite 2008 conference theme is: Hello! Where are you in the landscape of educational technology?
When:
Nov 30 – Dec 3
Where:
Deakin University
Burwood Campus
221 Burwood Highway
Burwood Victoria 3125
Details on paper submissions are yet to appear, however mark your diary to be there.
http://www.ascilite.org.au/conferences/melbourne08/theme.htm
12. Gender differences in the use of computers and the Internet is a recently released report from the Eurostat Website of the European Commission(EC). If you are interested in gender stats and ICT use, this makes for a good read.
The report can be downloaded from
http://epp.eurostat.ec.europa.eu/cache/ITY_OFFPUB/KS-SF-07-119/EN/KS-SF-07-119-EN.PDF
and if you want to drown in statistics go the main Website and wallow to your heart’s content
http://epp.eurostat.ec.europa.eu/
13.Training Effectiveness Tips: Great Training Robbery
If you are involved in training in any way this site provides some useful tips to improve your outcomes. The site grows as others submit their tips on how to train effectively and maybe even efficiently. There a re some good articles on the ChangeFactory site so have a look around while you are there
http://www.changefactory.com.au/training/treff_email_101tips_list.shtml
14. Embedding Learning Technologies
Extract from the site:
“This is a web site for learning and teaching professionals, and for developers working to promote innovation and best practice in education.
It is not a list of links. Instead you will find a wealth of practical materials for download, designed to help you..”.
and it is.
15. Ten predictions for eLearning in 2008 from the blog of Tony Karrer.
Do you agree with him? It will be interesting to see which of his predictions come true. In my experience, predictions tend to be ‘toe in the water’ and seldom provide full immersion.
http://elearningtech.blogspot.com/2008/01/ten-predictions-for-elearning-2008.html
16. Open Journal System: Public Knowledge Project
It may surprise you to know how many journals are published on the Web using the Open Journal System(OJS). It may be that you have a new journal in mind and want to join the ever increasing number of people who want their work displayed for all to see. Have a look at what the Public Knowledge Project is all about, fascinating stuff.
17. Keeping Up with I.T.
This is aimed at librarians, however there is a wealth of useful information, accessed through the various Weblinks, for anyone interested in the use of Information Technology
To get to ‘Keeping up with IT’ go to
https://wiki.nla.gov.au/homepage.action
and click on ‘ keeping up’ in the Right hand column
Follow the link (Direct search) from the ‘Invisible Web Tools’ and hence on to the ‘Resource shelf’, where “.. dedicated librarians and researchers share the results of their directed (and occasionally quirky) web searches for resources and information”.
18. Participatory Media Literacy. In an ever expanding world of social constructivist pedagogical paradigms, this is a useful an interesting site if you are interested in social networking and the tools that power and drive it. Has lots of good resources which explain the tools and how they function
Extract from the site:
“In 2006, more than one billion people are connected to the Internet and close to three billion people carry mobile telephones. These technological changes in accessibility of production tools and distribution media have led to social, cultural, economic, political changes in the ways people communicate, a set of technologies, practices, and skills some call participatory media. Participatory media enable broad participation in the production of culture, power, community, and wealth”.
http://www.socialtext.net/medialiteracy/index.cgi
19. Odd one out: Games for the Brain
Should really have had this when you were full of food and beverage over the xmas break. Never mind you can check to see if all that imbibing has affected your undoubted ability to solve problems.
http://www.gamesforthebrain.com/
All sites were active and accessed on and between January 20th and 30th 2008
Richard Elliott
eLearnWatch
Auckland
New Zealand