G’day
well that’s one month gone for 2014 and the first of the tertiary termites will be back at work beavering away for their hard earned qualifications. What will be in store for them this year in the connected world of learning? Will Mooc’s be milked to death? will SPOC’s [small private online course] bend your ear? What new gadgets and social media innovations will paint the e-learning landscape? Never easy to predict. 2014 Higher Education Preview by the New Media Consortium [http://www.nmc.org] says ‘Flipped classrooms and learning analytics are likely to be important developments in educational technology for tertiary education in 2014,’these two issues are to be watched, with adoption likely in one year or less. Watch this space.
In this edition of the Watch there are links to animation resources, new Jisc publications on feedback and technology,educational videos, assessing online courses, Nobel prize information, puzzle maker, learning theory, videoconferencing guide,apps for everything, conferences and the odd one out
1.Nobel Prize:
Extract from the site:
‘Nobelprize.org is the official web site of the Nobel Prize. Here you will find information for every Nobel Prize since 1901, including the Nobel Laureates’ biographies, Nobel Lectures, interviews, photos, articles, video clips, press releases, educational games and more’.
The games are very good and educational and add an exciting dimension to understanding some of the projects and activities that have led to a Nobel prize.
http://www.nobelprize.org/educational/
2.JISC publications: Four short guides on technology-enhanced approaches to assessment and feedback are now available from Jisc.(Thanks to Lisa Gray from Jisc for the notification)
As,in most cases, the Jisc publications are good value, well crafted and cover some very useful ground; these are no exception.
Go to:
1. Electronic assessment Management:
http://www.jisc.ac.uk/guides/electronic-assessment-management
2. Enhancing student employability through technology-supported assessment and feedback:
3. Feedback and feed forward:
http://www.jisc.ac.uk/guides/feedback-and-feed-forward
3. 50 Resources to Use Animation as a Teaching Tool. This will take some time to trawl through the options . However there are some very useful resources here, collated by the informEd division of open colleges in Australia. It’s well worth while exploring the other resources on the website.Although the BBC history stuff is not kept up to date, it still has a wealth of useful animations.
http://www.opencolleges.edu.au/informed/features/50-ways-to-use-animation-as-a-teaching-tool/
4. Crossword puzzle maker. It’s not easy to find a good crossword puzzle maker and good examples. I think this site ticks both boxes. For some reason there are a lot of examples on animals and Vet stuff. All very useful I’m sure. Give it a try and note that puzzles only remain on the site for two months so make sure you get a copy. Kids of all ages like crossword puzzles and they are a useful learning tool. You can also create other sorts of puzzles and Maths worksheets, if you are so inclined.
http://www.armoredpenguin.com/crossword/
5.A map of learning Theory V6. This is a hyper textual concept map of established learning Theories. Useful information. with comments and links to other resources all in one place!
6. Evaluating online courses: I did some work recently on helping to create a template to evaluate the structure and quality of some online courses. I had a good search of the Web and I found the following information very useful:
1. OCAT Version 2.0 Western Carolina University:
http://www.wcu.edu/WebFiles/PDFs/facultycenter_OCAT_v2.0_25apr07.pdf‎
2. Wright, C.R (2004) Criteria for Evaluating the Quality of Online Courses.
http://elearning.typepad.com/thelearnedman/ID/evaluatingcourses.pdf
7. Effective Use of Two-Way Interactive Video Conferencing,from Penn State University. There’s lots of stuff on the Web about the best use of videoconferencing. This article, with its checklists, provides a useful guide to ensure you have a chance of getting things right.
http://pubs.cas.psu.edu/freepubs/pdfs/xt0093.pdf
8.Supporting assessment and feedback practice with technology: from tinkering to transformation:Final synthesis report for the Jisc Assessment and Feedback programme by Dr Gill Ferrell.
You might have missed this one when you were thinking ahead to Christmas. A very comprehensive and well written report. The key findings should resonate.
http://repository.jisc.ac.uk/5450/4/Jisc_AF_Final_Synthesis_Report_Oct_2013_v2.pdf
9.Kathy Schrock’s Guide to everything.. Always worth revisiting Kathy’s resources as she is always adding some and does keep a vast number up to date and provide some good advice and suggestions
http://www.schrockguide.net/app-for-that.html
10. Free educational videos. I can’t vouch for the quality of all the videos on this site, there are so many of them. Those I looked at were pretty good. A wide range of subjects and some useful material for the student resources. Most of the videos are on You tube. It’s good to have these organised into categories.
http://www.watchknowlearn.org/default.aspx
11 Conferences
11.1 Fifth International M-Libraries Conference 2014 – registration now open
Registration is now open for the Fifth International M-Libraries Conference, presented by The Open University (UK) in partnership with, and hosted by, The Chinese University of Hong Kong. The overall theme for the conference is ‘M-Libraries: from devices to people’ and the programme features international keynote speakers and around 40 papers from 20 countries around the world.
The conference venue, CUHK’s mountainside campus, overlooking one of Hong Kong’s iconic harbours, is stunning and delegates will have the opportunity to visit a variety of libraries in the vicinity.
You can get further details about the conference at:
11.2 Invitation to the first Online International Learning Design Challenge
led by Professor Diana Laurillard, London Knowledge Lab, Institute of Education
10 – 14 February 2014
Can we build a library of One Hundred Learning Designs that are effective, shareable, and editable, in just five days, using a dedicated online tool – the Learning Designer at:
http://tinyurl.com/LearningDesignerApp
and
http://tinyurl.com/learningdesigner
This is free event is organised in the form of a Massive Open Online Course (MOOC)
10 February 1pm GMT: Launch of the event with a live 3-minute video of Diana Laurillard (http://youtu.be/ZKKM5islcns) introducing the Learning Designer tool and the reasons for the Challenge. Includes live tutorial by Diana that will be available to all online.
Questions and comments from the audience worldwide via Twitter #LDChallenge.
11-14 February, 1 hour per day: You take up the Challenge in the online activities.
14 February, 2pm GMT: Wrap-up live to award badges for contributions and announce the highest rated designs.
11.3 Advanced notice: altc2014: Riding Giants: How to innovate and educate ahead of the wave
The 21st annual conference of the Association for Learning Technology 1-3 September 2014, Warwick, UK
Put the date in your diary. More details to follow soon.
Download a Flyer from:
http://www.alt.ac.uk/sites/alt.ac.uk/files/ALT-C%202014%20flyer%20FINAL%20web.pdf
11.4 ascilite 2014, 23- 26th November 2014 DUNEDIN New Zealand: RHETORIC AND REALITY: Critical Perspectives on Education Technology. Hosted by the University of Otago and Otago Polytechnic. This is THE conference to be at in 2014.
Such a great place and such great people!
http://ascilite2014.otago.ac.nz
12. NZ happenings: 7th annual NZ Shar-E-Fest will tie place in Hamilton in October. Watch tis space for information on Keynote speaker. Theme for this year is’ E-learning in practice: How are learning technologies being used effectively to enhance student learning and achievement?
13. The Odd one Out: 42 Idiom Examples And Explanations. An interesting and entertaining video on the origin and use of some idioms. How may do you use ?
http://teachthought.com/literacy-2/42-idiom-examples-explanations/
Until I get my March..ing orders
Richard
Richard Elliott
The Eternal Macademic
Auckland
New Zealand