G’day everyone
on this side of the globe Universities will be bracing themselves for the onslaught of the newbies; bright, keen and eager to start that next qualification. The learning environment is continually changing with technology playing a bigger part each year in supporting learning. Hopefully some of the links in this posting will stimulate your creative and innovative talents so your students can learn through your expert use of elearning technologies
In this posting there are links to an update from JISC on things digital, a new set of resources on research information management and digital repositories from JISCInfonet, elearning planning, worksheets generation, search engines, a free guide to the Mac, iPods in learning and teaching , Tony Bates in writing mode and an elearning blog plus Conferences and the odd one out
April will not fool anyone. Until then , that’s it.
1. JISC Effective practice in the digital age. This is an update on the original publication: JISC guide to the pedagogy of e-learning. As usual it is a well constructed booklet and well worth reading.
http://www.jisc.ac.uk/practice
2. Plan e-learning, is a Web site managed by the Australian Flexible learning Framework. It has a number of links to resources to guide and assist with planning of elearning experiences. It’s really up with the play providing some useful information on the use of Web 2.0 technologies in a variety of settings.
http://www.flexiblelearning.net.au/content/plan-e-learning
3. Learning in Hand, iPods in Education. This is an interesting group of resources relating to the use of iPods in education. It’s produced by Tony Vincent and many of the resources can be downloaded form iTunes as podcasts. If you are interested in adopting or improving the mobile learning dimension of your activities, have a good look.
http://learninginhand.com/ipod/
4. A classroom response system using iPod touch. YouTube has so many interesting and useful videos and this one in no exception. It demonstrates how to create a student response system using Google Docs and an iPod touch; innovative practical and useful.
Extract from You Tube site:
‘iPod Touch #1: Classroom Response System
From: RadfordEducation
This video will show you step-by-step how to use Google Docs and the iPod Touch to create a student response system in your classroom.’
http://www.youtube.com/user/RadfordEducation
5. A couple of different search engines. One from the Open University in the UK : How do I?
http://ouseful.open.ac.uk/howdoi/
and one that examines several social learning applications and aggregates comments on a particular discussion/ topics. Google’s new Buzz is the main focus. Make sure you put the three ‘z’s’ in buzzzy.
6.A very useful Manual for the Macintosh.
Being a confirmed Macademic, I feel oblige to ensure that all those enlightened educators that have long since realised that the Mac is a learning machine, get the best there is to help them use their flexible educator effectively.
‘Makeuseof’ released this free Macmanual by Jackson Chung a few months ago. If you haven’t go it, you will have very shortly. There’s a couple of other free manuals on the site so its worth looking. The iPhone manual is pretty good.
http://manuals.makeuseof.com.s3.amazonaws.com/the-mac-manual.pdf
7. Create an high quality worksheet in a myriad of subjects
WorkssheetWorks enables you to create all sorts of interesting worksheets in a wide range of disciplines and levels. It’s in ‘Beta’ so some things are still under. construction, but there is plenty to use.
It’s extremely fast, produces high quality worksheets in pdf format for instant download. Well worth exploring and creating.
8. JISC infoNet announce the release of new resources relating to Research Information Management [ Information courtesy of Steve Bailey Senior Adviser (Records Management) JISC infoNet] . This is an excellent resource for those interested/involved in research information management. There are several ‘infokits’ on the page including a link to the new Digital repositories infokit.
These all provide very comprehensive and useful guides and tools. The more you look, the more you will stay, explore and reap the benefits of the stirling efforts of the people from JISCinfonet.
http://www.jiscinfonet.ac.uk/research
9. Tony Bates is writing a new book: It’s all about integration of technology within post-secondary institutions. Have a look at the questions posed by Tony and see if you can come up with some useful input/comment. One comment I have is on the role of senior management. Not only do they have to support and have a commitment to integration, they also need a fair degree of real understanding as to what the technology can and will do and the need for reliability of the systems and e-services supporting its use. Pen something provocative and challenging for Tony to ruminate upon! It’s bound to be a good book.
http://www.tonybates.ca/2010/02/11/how-well-has-your-institution-integrated-technology/
10. E-learning Blog Don’t waste your time. The blog of David Hopkins , (get his profile from the QR code on the home page) has a lot of interesting and fascinating snippets about elearning in general. He covers a lot of ground and does it well.
http://www.dontwasteyourtime.co.uk/
11. Conferences
11.1 Moodle Moot NZ 2010
13th-15th April, hosted at Christchurch Polytechnic Institute of Technology (CPIT) in Christchurch.
International guests including:
Martin Dougiamas (founder and lead developer of Moodle)
Julian “Moodleman” Ridden
Shane Elliott (Pukenui Technology)
Martin Knott (Moodlerooms, USA)
Full day workshops for Developers, Administrators, School Teachers, and New Moodle Users.
Details and registration at the official NZ Moodle Moot website:
11.2 ALT-C 2010: ‘Into something rich and strange’ making sense of the sea-change. The 17th ALT annual conference will be held at the University of Nottingham, UK, 7-9 September 2010.
11.3 ascilite 2010 ‘Innovating the Diverse Curriculum’ is the 27th annual ascilite Conference. The conference will be held in Sydney, New South Wales Australia.: Watch this space
11.4 mLearn2010
Dates
Submission of Abstracts : 14th May 2010
Submission of Papers: 11th June 2010
Posters/Demos: 15th September 2010
Notification to Authors: 30th July 2010
Early Bird Registration: 30th July 2010
Pre-Conference Workshops: 19th October 2010
Conference: 20th-22nd October 2010
11.5 The Irish Learning Technology Association (ILTA)has announced details of the 10th Annual Irish Learning Technology Association Conference, EdTech 2010.
It looks as if its got some really good keynotes, Elliott Masie, Jane Hart and James Clay (who was a keynote at ascilite 2009). Good choices!
For more information:
http://www.ilta.net/index.php?option=com_content&view=category&layout=blog&id=64&Itemid=197
12. The odd one out: The Naked Scientist. Another excellent and ever expanding resource from the BBC. So much to explore and learn. Try some Kitchen science experiments, like a root vegetable cannon or dancing raisins. A nice diversion and see if you are allowed in the kitchen afterwards.
http://www.thenakedscientists.com/
Richard Elliott
The Eternal Macademic