G’day
seems as if volcanoes are getting a bit restless around the globe, I hope none of ours tries to join in.
On the elearning front, mobile learning is getting more press these days as the potential for some of the newer mobile devices for creating interactive personal learning environments begins to be realised. I noticed that John Traxler is Professor of Mobile Learning in the UK. A sure sign of shifting focus and support for emerging technologies which can make a real difference to student learning.
I saw some exciting development in the use of 3D simulations for training modules for heavy vehicle drivers last week. Not unlike an interactive game but with a very strong educational/ training/safety/ compliance focus. Lot of potential for online learning.Well done to Urbanvoyage in New Zealand run by Richard Elliott would you believe (he’s a bit younger than me, but with a name like that he must be good).
In this months posting there’s an article on e-learning and one on portfolios, flexible tools for managing digital resources,a link to the latest edition of JISC inform, teachers TV exercise,an online free application produced in NZ (aren’t we doing well ?) for construction and peer review of multiple choice questions,a learning design tool from the Aussies, web site investigator, Research and Evaluation Skills Training (PREST) series, conferences and the odd one out.
July will bring something different, I hope.
1. Enjoyable e-learning – is it an oxymoron? by Clive Shepherd. An interesting overview of elearning in an unusual format. worth watching and listening to.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jjNwSvqnjUs&feature=player_embedded#!/
2. Unleashing the Future: Educators ‘Speak Up’ about the use of Emerging Technologies for learning
http://www.tomorrow.org/speakup/pdfs/SU09UnleashingTheFuture.pdf
3. The Visual Understanding Environment (VUE)
Extract from the site
‘The Visual Understanding Environment (VUE) is an Open Source project based at Tufts University. The VUE project is focused on creating flexible tools for managing and integrating digital resources in support of teaching, learning and research. VUE provides a flexible visual environment for structuring, presenting, and sharing digital information’.
http://vue.tufts.edu/index.cfm
4 JISCInform
JISC Inform is a publication produced by JISC to raise awareness of the use of Information and Communications Technology (ICT) to support further and higher education (FE and HE) in the UK.
There are some excellent articles in this edition. They are short and an easy read. I thought the article by John Traxler on mobile learning very informative and the one about the iPhone and bringing history to life quite fascinating.
This is a pdf download
http://www.jisc.ac.uk/media/documents/publications/inform/2010/inform27.pdf
5. Teachers TV and the behaviour challenge. This is an interesting ‘exercise’ on managing behaviour problems within the classroom [thanks to Peter Looms for the link] Not sure I would contemplate some of the solutions or even be brave enough to take the class! I followed the antics of Michael. Could be useful for ideas and ways of handling potential and real problem students.
http://www.teachers.tv/behaviourchallenge
6.PeerWise. is a freely available online tool to support the construction, display and organisation of student-contributed assessment questions .developed by Paul Denny, Department of Computer Science, The University of Auckland)
Extract from the site:
‘How it works
Students of a participating course develop multiple-choice questions with associated explanations and contribute them to PeerWise. These questions are then available to other students in the course and can be answered for revision purposes, critiqued and discussed, and rated for difficulty and quality’.
An excellent tool already in use by schools and universities around the world
http://peerwise.cs.auckland.ac.nz/
7. Learning Design tool. From the Australian Flexible learning framework. TheLearning Design Tool is a FREE online resource which guides you step-by-step through the four essential stages to write high quality, learner-focused course content, and to create your own learning design template.
Check you have the requisite technology, download the software and experiment with your learning design.
http://toolboxes.flexiblelearning.net.au/ldt/index.htm
you might want to have another look at the free repository of learning objects as well
http://toolboxes.flexiblelearning.net.au/repository/index.htm
8. Campus Technology: Is Portfolio Evidence Useful?
An interesting article which provides some useful comment on the value of portfolios. Comments by readers provide some extra dimensions to the debate. See what you think
http://campustechnology.com/articles/2010/05/19/is-portfolio-evidence-useful.aspx
9. Information Forensics. This site has been developed to help investigate the accuracy, currency and nature of information found on the Web. It calls itself the Web Site Investigator.
It’s a very comprehensive site with lots of exercises and training modules to help hone your skills in determining whether information you are looking at is real and reliable.
Extract from the site
” There are many ways unreliable information comes to appear on the Internet. This training helps you identify clues about the source of information and its content’.
Well worth spending some time going through the various investigator training modules. They are not complicated and provide very useful guides, help and ways of analysing the information on websites.
10. The Practitioner Research and Evaluation Skills Training (PREST) series is published by the Commonwealth of Learning (COL) in collaboration with the International Research Foundation for Open Learning.
Extract from the site:
‘The PREST training resources provide practitioners working in open and distance learning (ODL) with convenient access to basic knowledge on how to conduct research and evaluation in their everyday work. Written for ODL practitioners by ODL practitioners, the interactive materials aim to develop practical skills through engagement in research tasks that draw on research and evaluation methods from education and social science, but use illustrative examples from international open and distance learning contexts’.
Some really excellent resource material for your students or yourself. You can also import them into Moodle along with a tutor tutorial on how to use the files in their courses.
Keep scrolling down the Webpage to see all that is on offer.
http://www.col.org/resources/publications/trainingresources/Pages/PREST.aspx
Conferences
11.1 ALT-C 2010: “Into something rich and strange” – making sense of the sea-change 7-9 September 2010, Nottingham, UK.
ALT’s online booking system is now open for this event:
http://www.alt.ac.uk/altc2010/registering.html
Presenters Registration deadline: 28 June
Early Bird registration deadline: 5 July
Registrations close: 13 August
Conference fees:
http://www.alt.ac.uk/altc2010/delegate_information.html
Accommodation details:
http://www.alt.ac.uk/altc2010/accommodation.html
Social programme:
http://www.alt.ac.uk/altc2010/social.html
Keynote speakers
* Vanessa Pittard, Director of e-Strategy, Becta, UK;
* Professor Richard Noss, Co-director of the London Knowledge Lab and Director of the Technology Enhanced Learning research programme.
Keynote speakers
* Barbara Wasson, Professor of Pedagogical Information Science at the Department of Information Science and Media Studies, University of Bergen, Norway;
* Sugata Mitra, Professor of Educational Technology at Newcastle University;
* Donald Clark, Board Member of Ufi, and former CEO of Epic Group plc.
[taken from the] ALT Digest, a fortnightly publication from the Association for Learning Technology (ALT)
11.2 ascilite 2010 ‘Curriculum, technology & transformation for an unknown future.’ is the 27th annual ascilite Conference. The conference will be held in Sydney, New South Wales Australia. It is being jointly hosted by The University of Technology Sydney, The University of Queensland and Charles Sturt University
You are invited to develop proposals for full papers, concise papers, posters and workshops, due date Monday 21 June, 2010
Full Details from
http://www.ascilite.org.au/conferences/sydney10/index.htm
11.3 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
11.4 The 4th International Malaysian Educational Technology Convention 2010
ELECTRONIC EDUCATION: Towards an Immersive Learning Environment
26 – 29 September 2010,KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia
Extract from the site for potential presenters:
‘This year we are not requesting for abstracts and contributors will submit full papers for evaluation. Selected papers submitted within the deadline will be published in a book by Pearson. The papers not selected for the book will be included in the Convention Proceedings, together with papers submitted after the 15th May 2010’.
http://imetc2010.yolasite.com/
11.5 Book the dates 23rd – 26th November for the JISC Innovating e-Learning 2010 Online Conference
11.6 For the local KIWI’s (and anyone passing through). Wintec in Hamilton will be hosting an elearning SharEfest
http://sharefest.crowdvine.com/
(you can create an accountand join in) on September 27 and 28th with Peter Looms as a Keynote. Details will be published on the Ako Aotearoa site
http://akoaotearoa.ac.nz/communities/e-learning-education-and-training
So go there and register in the ‘e-learning in education and training’ community to keep up to date.
12. The odd one out: Brain games and Brain Training: Lumosity
You can have hours of concentration under your belt in no time at all. Some you can attempt straight away others you will need to create a free account. Have fun and keep those neurones communicating!
That’s it until July.
Richard Elliott
The Eternal Macademic
Auckland
New Zealand