eLearningWatchMay2014

G’day
another month flies by and we had some rain at last. Enough now. Easter came and went. Nothing uneggspected there. I had the pleasure of attending the launch of the new NZ elearning guidelines[eLg] a couple of weeks ago. Most of the notables and quotables of the NZ elearning fraternity were there in force; good for some intellectual gymnastics. There’s a link to the site in this posting. Really useful stuff. Apart from the launch, the rest of the month has been on planning the 7th NZ ShareFest,creating an action plan for elearning development and of course in between, tilling the sod for the next crop of veges! I did by chance notice a herd of Moocs quietly ruminating on the next grassroots innovation; I got a whiff of something brewing for sure….
In this month’s posting there are links to elearning guidelines, learning outcomes, rubrics, interactives, elearning course design, professional development,learning design tool,performance assessment,using video, Purdue resources, VET training standards, conferences and the odd one out.
June may not be busting out all over as I will be elsewhere. I will attempt to send an eLWatch depending on my location 🙂
In the meantime, May.. the force be with you!
1.eLearning Guidelines: Prompts for good practice.This is an excellent development launched mid April in New Zealand
It is an

Ako Aotearoa, New Zealand’s National Centre for Tertiary Teaching Excellence

funded project, led by New Zealand Tertiary College and developed as a guide to designing, implementing and enhancing eLearning for the tertiary sector.
Well worth bookmarking and employing the guidelines in your institution.

http://elg.ac.nz

When you have digested the eLg’s have a look at a very useful complementary approach:
The Ultimate eLearning Course Design Checklist:

http://elearningindustry.com/the-ultimate-elearning-course-design-checklist

2.Writing and using good learning outcomes. This has been around for a few years but considering the growing interest in competency based learning and writing useful learning outcomes, it’s worth a revisit. Well written and presented.

http://tinyurl.com/q7hznje

3.Quality Rubrics Wiki. It’s always useful to get different opinions, thoughts and advice on a subject such as Rubrics. I like them a lot and if they are constructed with a clear goal of assessing what the student has learnt, not what that have been taught, they can be very powerful tools for empowering the learner to achieve. This site provides some useful overviews and insights.

http://qualityrubrics.pbworks.com/w/page/992395/Home

4.Interactives
This site has a huge range and wide variety of subjects aligned with ‘interactives’ , You can react to something to get a result or answer or follow some advice and tips and even contribute your own thoughts.. I quite liked the Physics of the roller coaster. There’s lots of useful staff on assessment peppered throughout the list as well as lots of very useful teaching material.You can filter by age or discipline as there are 417 possibilities to trawl through.

hhttp://www.learner.org/interactives/

5.How Teachers Are Learning: Professional Development Remix: A collection of articles and websites on professional development and change to personalised learning. The ‘PD Learning Cycle Framework: 28 Tools’ makes for interesting reading.

https://www.edsurge.com/guide/how-teachers-are-learning-professional-development-remix

6. Performance Assessment. I came across this paper a few days ago. Considering it was written 8 years ago I think it would contribute much to the current rise and discussion of competency based learning and its assessment regimes.

http://www.learner.org/workshops/socialstudies/pdf/session7/7.PerformanceAssessment.pdf

7.The Learning Design Tool from the Australian Flexible Learning Framework.
Extract from the site:
‘The purpose of the Learning Design Tool (LDT) is to assist you in the process of choosing and developing a learning design for a learning resource which covers a unit of competence, or elements of a unit, in a Training Package. The LDT has been designed for both experienced and non-experienced users.’
Some useful resources and good ideas for creating learning design for VET. It’s been around for a while but still very relevant.

http://ldt.eworks.edu.au

8. Purdue Studio resources. From Purdue University. Some of these resources are university specific but others such as Passport (Badges to the Max) Hotseat and Passnote can be accessed to use (some require you to register). The Apps appear to be a very useful addition to the student learning environment. Worth exploring. There might be one for you and your students. I quite like the Passport concept.

http://www.itap.purdue.edu/studiohq

9. VET E-standards for Training:Recommendations for 2014 [National VET elearning strategy, Australia) . For those of you who are hot on applying standards for training purposes. A very useful reference.
Download the document from:

http://e-standards.flexiblelearning.net.au/technical_standards/index.php

10.East Midlands learning technologists: Video killed the Radio star. This is an interesting and useful blog about the details and outcomes of a meeting of the aforementioned group focused on the use of digital video. Some excellent presentations and ideas. Worth having a look and listen:

http://eastmidslt.wordpress.com

11. Conferences
11.1 Fifth International M-Libraries Conference,May 27 to 30, 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:

http://www.m-libraries.org

11.2 altc2014: Riding Giants: How to innovate and educate ahead of the wave
The 21st annual conference of the Association for Learning Technology 1 to 3 September 2014, Warwick, UK
Put the date in your diary.
For more information about the conference go to:

https://www.alt.ac.uk/alt-conference/altc2014

11.3 The Australasian Society for Computers in Learning in Tertiary Education
(ascilite) warmly invites everyone with an interest in educational
technologies in tertiary education to join us at the 31st ascilite
conference (23-26 Nov 2014, Dunedin, New Zealand).
The Call for Papers is now open:

http://ascilite2014.otago.ac.nz/call-for-papers/

and we are inviting contributions describing critical perspectives on the use of educational technology, under the following sub-themes:
*Emerging technology practices (e.g., MOOCs, OERs, virtual reality,
mobile learning, games or gamification)
*Institution-wide technology integration (e.g., implementation of
digital strategies)
*Focus on research evidence (e.g., impact-focused methods such as
educational design research, inquiry and action research, and
experimental studies)
*Technology-enhanced learning design
*Learning analytics
*Educational technology and society
*Role of learning theories
DUNEDIN is the place to be!
12. NZ happenings: 7th annual NZ Shar-E-Fest will take place in Hamilton at the end of September.Theme for this year is ‘ E-learning in practice: How are learning technologies and social media being used effectively to enhance student learning and achievement?
We are delighted that

Ako Aotearoa, New Zealand’s National Centre for Tertiary Teaching Excellence

is a GOLD sponsor of the 7th Annual NZ Shar-E-Fest
Full details on:

http://wordpress.isle.ac.nz/shar-e-fest-2014/

13. The Odd one Out: A bit of history to keep the kids (and adults) interested and engaged in some important milestones around 1066. A rumbustious battle will ensue:-) Educational.Lots more on the site as well.

http://www.channel4.com/history/microsites/0-9/1066/game/index.html

Richard
Richard Elliott
The Eternal Macademic
Auckland
New Zealand