G’day
June didn’t take long to pass by, must have been busy. Weather wise , Auckland has become a bit wet and cold but at least we are past the shortest day and on our way to Spring:-)
Have you ever pondered the question ‘Who should guide the design and nature of the student learning environment and its technology?’ Do the students have some say in the matter? or is it the exclusive domain of the educational practitioners? or maybe even the omnipotent IT department? Should be all three in my opinion. each speaks a different language on its own, collectively the same language can make a real difference to learning and support for learning; after all isn’t that what we are all about? the learning not the technology? If technology comes first then by default learning comes second. The tendency still seems to be capitulation to the directives from the IT department. Many years ago I stated that IT people should be responsible for the technology to the wall and educators from the wall. Maybe these days it’s to the cloud and from the cloud. One has to ride the rough seas of education to effect change. Collaboration, cooperation and communication are the rough ‘C’s to navigate. If the IT people drive and control your educational direction, invoke some change management. If that doesn’t work,change management. Ramble over.
I have noticed that there is increasing interest in the concept of badges for competence. The UK initiative is an example of more commitment to the concept. There’s a few links below for you to peruse. Also included in this posting are links to iPads in education, virtual autopsy (dead right there is), gamification, creating learning outcomes, guidebook on effective teaching with technology, e-safety from JiscInfonet, workshop resources, badges,an assesment guide, conferences and the odd one out..
I have also included a request to particpate in a world-wide SURVEY on mobile learning. Please do if you can:-)
You will be in August company next edition.
1.Top 10 Education Gamification Examples that will Change our Future.
http://www.yukaichou.com/gamification-examples/top-10-education-gamification-examples/
2. Creating Learning Outcomes Wizard. This particular site is really well constructed with a wealth of help and information on constructing meaningful learning outcomes. Step by step wizard helps to create and evaluate your learning outcomes. Great resource at all levels. Explore the other related resources on the site.
http://www.rrc.ca/LearningOutcomeSupport/modules.asp?module=2
3. eSafety from JiscInfonet. Another very useful resource from the JISC stable.
http://www.jiscinfonet.ac.uk/infokits/e-safety/
4. Games+learning+Society Center. A fascinating site. Go to the projects Tab and try one of the games or explore the Citizen Science project and the research investigating how Citizen Science is used in localised contexts to support teaching and learning in the areas of freshwater ecology, civic engagement, and scientific thinking. You can learn a lot.
http://www.gameslearningsociety.org/
5. From the Center for the Integration of Research, Teaching and Learning[CIRTL]: Effective Teaching with Technology Course: a guidebook. Although the guidebook is specifically designed for the particular Effective Teaching with Technology course , it contains a wealth of very useful information, ideas and resources. Although published in 2006 it is still well worth perusing. Have a look at the rest of the site and find out about the wide range of CIRTL activities.
http://www.cirtl.net/files/Guidebook_EffectiveTeachingWithTechnology.pdf
6.Field Tested Learning Assessment Guide: Classroom Assessment Techniques (CATs) – Overview
A very useful set of resources for science, math, engineering and technology, tutors or instructors, Very comprehensive set of guides and resources for a range of assessment techniques.
http://www.flaguide.org/cat/cat.php
7. The Evolving use of Badges in Education. An interesting article on Badges in education with some useful links to resources on the subject.
http://www.emergingedtech.com/2013/06/the-evolving-use-of-badges-in-education/
AND
this UK initiative could be a sign of the future.
http://www.digitalme.co.uk/badgetheuk/
8. How To Be A Terrible iPad Teacher> An interesting article from iPads in education. Maybe you can relate to some of the points made?
9. Learning with Miguel. A blog by Miguel Guhlin with a wide range of resources on workshops and activities to stimulate your teaching mind. Lots and lots of good stuff here. Have a look at ‘Drinking from the Internet Firehose – Content Curation’ to get an idea of the amount of work that has gone into this site. Recommend.
http://mglearns.wikispaces.com/All+Workshops
10. The Virtual Autopsy. Not dead sure about this one. Should be of interest to the health professionals, but others might find the approach interesting despite the somewhat macabre subject. Test your skills for a new career!
http://www.le.ac.uk/pa/teach/va/titlpag1.html
11. World-wide SURVEY
Request to participate in a world wide survey from
Dr. Kevin Burden
Director of Post Graduate Teaching, The Centre for Educational Studies,
The Faculty of Education, The University of Hull, UK.
AND
A/Prof. Matthew Kearney
Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences, University of Technology, Sydney (UTS), Australia
How are you using mobile technologies in your teaching?
We are aware of the growing interest in how educators can use mobile technologies in pedagogically sound and innovative ways. In particular, we appreciate the urgent need to better understand how to design learning experiences that most effectively utilise mobile devices.
Our project is a collaboration between the University of Hull (UK) and the University of Technology, Sydney (Australia). We have prepared a world-wide survey to help us understand how teachers at primary, secondary and tertiary levels of Education are currently using mobile technologies. We will be happy to share the survey results with colleagues.
Our findings will guide the production of resources and materials that will become part of an educator e-toolkit. Teachers will be able to use this e-toolkit to develop learning activities specifically related to the use of mobile devices like the iPad and then evaluate the impact of these activities on student learning.
We would like to invite you, as an active practitioner in this area, to assist us by completing the survey via:
http://www.survey.hull.ac.uk/mobilelearningscenario
You may remain anonymous. We estimate the survey should take no more than 20 minutes to complete.
Thanks, in anticipation of your input
12.0 Conferences
12.1 IADIS INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE E-LEARNING 2013
Prague, Czech Republic, 23 – 26 July 2013.
http://www.elearning-conf.org/
Part of the IADIS Multi Conference on Computer Science and Information Systems (MCCSIS 2013)
Prague, Czech Republic, 22 – 26 July 2013.
Keynote Speakers (confirmed):
Thomas C. Reeves, Professor Emeritus of Learning, Design, and Technology, College of Education, The University of Georgia, USA
Doc. Ing Jan Lojda, President of the Czech Association of Distance Teaching Universities, Czech Republic
Conference background and goals:
The IADIS e-Learning 2013 conference aims to address the main issues of concern within e-Learning. This conference covers both technical as well as the non-technical aspects of e-Learning.
12.2 63rd ICEM Conference 1 – 4 October 2013, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore.
Prof Daniel Tan is behind the organisation of this one, so it’s bound to go well and be a worthwhile experience. Details can be found at
12.3 altc2013 Building new cultures of learning
Registration for altc2013, the 20th annual conference of the Association for Learning Technology, is now open via:
http://www.alt.ac.uk/alt-conference/altc2013/register
Early bird registration for altc2013 has been extended until 15 July so book now to receive a 20% discount on all conference fees, with further discounts for ALT members.
The conference takes place at the East Midlands Conference Centre, University of Nottingham, 10-12 September 2013. For more information about the conference please visit.
12.4 ascilite 2013
The 30th ascilite conference . This year it will be held at Macquarie University on the 1st – 4th December
For more details and to keep in touch go to
http://www.ascilite.org.au/conferences/sydney13/
12.5 mLearn Doha, Qatar, Hosted by the College of the North Atlantic-Qatar. We are delighted to extend the reach of mLearn into a new region of the world.
The conference dates will be 22-24 October, preceded by workshops on 21 October.
The conference website is available here:
http://webit.cna-qatar.edu.qa/mlearn2013/
12.6 NZ Happenings
PLEASE NOTE THE DATE CHANGE
6th Annual NZ Shar-e-fest: Thursday 10th and Friday 11th October 2013, Wintec, Hamilton
The 6th Annual NZ Shar-E-fest will take place on Thursday 10th and Friday 11th October in Hamilton and follow a similar format to last year.
Regional symposia will take place before and after the Shar-E-fest, in Palmerston North, Lower Hutt, Dunedin, Waiariki, Auckland and Northland.
We are delighted to announce that the International keynote speaker and presenter for 2013 will be
Profesor Grainne Conole
For more information have a look at Grainne’s website:
We are also very pleased to announce that
is a GOLD sponsor of NZ Shar-E-Fest 2013 and now
is also a GOLD sponsor of NZ Shar-E-Fest 2013.
The Shar-E-Fest is open for submissions from 10.00am today JULY 1st
go to
http://sharefest.crowdvine.com/pages/presentation_guides
and follow the instructions.
The theme for 2013:
‘Learning design and technology and social media integrated learning environments: what works?, why? and how well?
A flyer is now available from the website.
http://sharefest.crowdvine.com/
13. The odd one out: The History of the English Language in Ten Animated Minutes. This was released a while ago. If you haven’t seen it, it’s worth watching. Very clever and somewhat tongue in cheek. 10 short videos to watch. No 6 is my favourite.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r9Tfbeqyu2U&list=ECA03075BAD88B909E
http://www.openculture.com/2011/06/history_of_english.html
That’s it
Richard
Richard Elliott
The Eternal Macademic
Auckland, New Zealand