Hi everyone
The ALT-C 2009 has come and gone. Once again it was well managed and executed by the ALT team. A special mention for Hayley Willis, Victoria Watson and John Slater. They all managed to smile and keep everything on even keel and were always willing to help, especialy at the help desk The buzz at break times is always an indicator that delegates are liking what they are being exposed to, and there was always a buzz, The use of Crowdvine as an interactive communication tool was inspirational and got better the more one used it; It had the expert hand of Seb Schmoller all over it!
The presentations I went to and those I chaired were of high quality and focused on highlighting the technologies and proceses that are influencing the ever changing student learning environments Copies and papers and presentations are available through the link below. There is much to recommend. The presentation by Diana Laurillard on learning design in particular, provides plenty of material for contemplation.
The other conference i have to mention at this stage is ascilite 2009 in Auckland, New Zealand
Online REGISTRATION is available from the Website
http://www.ascilite.org.au/conferences/auckland09/
Don’t delay , take advantage of the Early Bird rates.
Also included in the posting is a dictionary site, cardiac physiology tutorial, some sites on instructional as well as learning design (some will say there isn’t a difference. Does one promote tell and do and the other do and understand?), new JISC publications which are a must have, and the launch of JISC Advance Google wave, half an hour from Stephen Downes, rare books online and the time it takes to create and hour of elearning plus conferences and the odd one out
1. New JISC publications and JISC Advance
The first publication, ‘Responding to Learners’, is a resource pack which
offers recommendations on how institutions can better respond to learners’
expectations and uses of technology, as well as practical guidance on how to
embed learners’ voices more effectively into institutional processes and
practice.
The pack brings together the research findings from the ‘learners’
experiences of e-learning’ theme of JISC’s e-learning programme, which
funded a total of ten projects from 2005 to 2009, and involved over 200
learners in qualitative research with more than 3000 survey respondents.
Download the pack at:
http://www.jisc.ac.uk/publications/documents/respondingtolearners
e-Learning is explored from a strategic viewpoint in a second publication,
‘Managing Curriculum Change’, which investigates how technology can help
make curriculum design processes more responsive and the experience of
learning more engaging, inclusive and rewarding. The publication visualises
a curriculum lifecycle, with a focus on who needs to be involved to help
theory become reality.
The written report is supported by the web based Design Studio , is a
dynamic online toolkit hosted by JISC InfoNet, which draws together a range
of JISC resources around technology-enhanced curriculum design and delivery.
Download the resources at:
http://www.jisc.ac.uk/publications/documents/managingcurriculumchange
The third publication, a briefing paper on learning literacies for a digital
age, summarises findings from a recent JISC-funded report of the same name.
While I am extolling the virtues of JISC and its partners , you should be aware of the creation of JISC Advance. This new innovative initiative brings together eight JISC services including JISC infoNet . A wealth of resources and expertise under one roof. what more do you want?
2. Google Wave is another innovative development from the folks at Google. Could have some very useful educational potential.
Extract from the site:
‘Google Wave is an online tool for real-time communication and collaboration. A wave can be both a conversation and a document where people can discuss and work together using richly formatted text, photos, videos, maps, and more’.
Have a look at
http://wave.google.com/help/wave/about.html
and if you want a quick overview go to
http://minutebio.com/blog/2009/10/02/quick-explanation-of-google-wave-video/
3. An Operating System for the Mind. This is a very interesting ‘article’ from Stephen Downes on 21st century skills and well worth spending probably a little more than half an hour to absorb its contents. [Stephen implies that it took him half an hour to write]. Read the comments on the post, quite fascinating.
http://halfanhour.blogspot.com/2009/09/operating-system-for-mind.html
4. Creating and hour of elearning: Karl Kapp updates his analysis of time taken in 2004. Some of the figures seem very high. Some of the reasons are plausible. What do you think? You can contribute to future updates.
http://www.astd.org/LC/2009/0809_kapp.htm
5.Instructional design Models: Martin Ryder’s compilation of resources. This has so many resources I think you ned some instructional design to get to grips with it all. There must be something to interest you here.
http://carbon.ucdenver.edu/~mryder/itc_data/idmodels.html
6. OneLook Dictionary. Dictionaries online are always very useful sources of information about words, phrases and literature. One Look dictionary is an excellent and versatile example. Search returns are extremely comprehensive. Could be the only one you need to use.
http://www.onelook.com/index.html
7.The rare Book Room. Where you can view and read some of the world’s most famous and not so well known rare books
and if you like to read books online, here is a resource that list 25 sites with access to free online books:
http://aceonlineschools.com/25-free-sites-for-reading-books-online/
8. Vital signs: Understanding Cardiovascular disease. A useful resource for physiology, anatomy and biology courses. Provides clear explanations with excellent diagrams and text.
http://www.hhmi.org/biointeractive/museum/exhibit98/index.html
9. Learning designs [1]: Information and Communication Technologies and Their Role in Flexible Learning
Extract from the site:
‘This web site has been designed for teachers and instructors in higher education to access a rich set of resources that support the development of flexibly delivered high quality learning experiences for students’.
Judge for yourself. I think it is an excellent resource and well worth perusing.
http://www.learningdesigns.uow.edu.au/index.html
10. Learning design [2] Evaluating learning designs through the formal representation of learning patterns.This was a very interesting presentation by Diana Laurillard at ALT-C 2009. A video of the he presentation can be accessed by scrolling down to invited speakers at the following site.
http://www.alt.ac.uk/altc2009/keynotes.html
and clicking on the ‘Slides and video of the talk, captured as an Elluminate Live! session’ link.
If you find time , there are links to Videos of 3 keynotes and 8 invited speaker sessions, plus links to other resources at ALT-C 2009 which may be of interest to you from the same url above.
11. Conferences.
11.1 ASCILITE 2009: “Same Places, Different Spaces” AUCKLAND, NEW ZEALAND: DECEMBER 6- 9th.
http://www.ascilite.org.au/conferences/auckland09/
Jointly hosted by The University of Auckland and AUT University in Auckland.
This has to be the preeminent conference on computers and technology in learning in tertiary education in the asia pacific region, and one that’s not to be missed!
ONLINE REGISTRATION is now OPEN
https://www.conferenceregistrations.auckland.ac.nz/ei/getdemo.ei?id=144&s=_2SW0O5BWA
Early Bird Registration deadline: 31st October 2009
Bookings close: November 16th 2009
Registration Information and cost : see
http://www.ascilite.org.au/conferences/auckland09/?m=Programme&s=Registration-Information#cost
11.2 The fourth JISC international online conference: Thriving, not just surviving!
24-27 November 2009
Themes for Innovating e-Learning 2009 reflect the challenges facing further and higher education in the 21st century and explore the increased options offered by technology for meeting those challenges.
Theme 1: Finding the way focuses on exploring guiding principles for technology-enhanced learning and teaching.
Theme 2: Meeting the challenge looks at the integration of technology-mediated practice under specific agendas: meeting the needs of employers, delivering learning on a global scale, developing sustainable and external-facing strategies for curriculum development.
Online registration is now available
http://www.jisc.ac.uk/elpconference09
12 The odd one out
BeFunky: Turn your photos into digital artwork. A fun and free site to amuse just you or the offspring or both.
That’s it until November.
Richard Elliott
The Eternal Macademic
Auckland
New Zealand