G’day
well the festive season seems to start earlier every year. I’m sure there were christmas trees in the store loaded with Easter Eggs. However, this should be a time to have bit of R&R and prepare for the next onslaught of eager learners. November didn’t hang around and the highlight for me was the ascilite conference.
in Dunedin (NZ of course).Almost like family. I had the pleasure of attending and chairing some very interesting presentations, showcasing innovations in the use of technology in education and training; presenting a few challenges for the ever changing student learning environments. Mooc’s, badges, learning analytics, OER’s and games punctuated the presentations. A new stream involving sharing practice was a real hit. The dinner dance was great. The theme of ‘Steam Punk’ was very popular, with a large number of oscililties dressing up for the occasion. It was also great to meet up with lots of old friends and colleagues. Bronwyn Hegarty, Jenny Mc Donald and their team are to be congratulated on an excellent job of organising the conference. Roll on ascilite 2015 in Perth Western Australia.
In this edition of the Watch, there are links to creative commons search, elearning for SME’s, social media and networking, interactive research methods, meducation, App decision tool, guide to hashtags,leadership fundementals, OU and innovating pedagogy conferences and the odd one out.
The Watch will return in February 2015. In the meantime may I wish you temporary relief from restructuring and a pleasant festive season and of course a Happy New Year!
Until February blows in the winds of change.
1. Research Methods for Business Students, Managers and Entrepreneurs. According to the author, ‘this is the first media-rich, Multi-Touch iBooks Textbook on this subject in the world’ A very useful resource for all involved in research. A must have on you iPad or Mac!
Download your free copy from:
2.Strategies, Models and Guidelines to use eLearning in SMEs. This is for those of you who have an interest in education and training for small business enterprises. A useful guide.
http://www.ier-nl.net/IER-SIMPEL-GuidelinesHTMLpage.htm
3.Leadership fundamentals: A guide to the Effective Use of your Interpersonal Skills for Leadership. This is something different. An interesting and well structured overview and guide to leadership. Thought provoking and handy if you are climbing the ladder to success:
http://www.simulearn.net/guide_new.swf
4. Teacher Guide to Student Social Media Guidelines: This is a common sense guide on the use of social media with some useful ideas and suggestions. Much applies to all levels of students.
5. Social Networking in Education plus some: I found this site when I was searching for a definitive guide for the use of social media in education. Called
‘Spartan Guides’, what a treasure trove it is! Someone has put a lot of work into this. I spent quite a few hours exploring and retrieving some useful gems. Give it a go.
http://sdst.libguides.com/newtools
6. Google Foam: This is a search facility that enables those involved in things medical and surgical to get focused results. Type your favourite disease or disorder and get more than you bargained for:
FOAM stands for Free Open Access Meducation: Medical education for anyone, anywhere, anytime. Peruse the main Webnest for even more useful information. The ECG library is particularly comprehensive and useful.
http://lifeinthefastlane.com/foam/
7. CC Search. Creative Commons search.
Extract from the site:
‘Please note that search.creativecommons.org is not a search engine, but rather offers convenient access to search services provided by other independent organizations’.
Take note of the above paragraph and other information regarding the use of materials and resource you access via the site. Then try it out. I did get some useful resources and images which were very much focused on the subject area. Useful tool to complement search engines.
http://search.creativecommons.org
8. App Decision tool. Another useful resource from the flexible learning people in Australia. The interactive App Decision Tool was developed to help practitioners decide how to go about sourcing an App to meet a mobile learning goal. You’ll be stepped through the questions you need to ask, and offered recommendations and resolutions for the various issues you may need to address.
http://e-standards.flexiblelearning.net.au/implementation/app_decision_tool/
9. The OU’s 3rd annual innovating pedagogy report is out: This is the third in a series of annual reports on innovations in teaching, learning and assessment. The Innovating Pedagogy reports are intended for teachers, policy makers, academics and anyone interested in how education may change over the next ten years. Well worth reading and contemplating:
http://www.open.ac.uk/iet/main/files/iet-web/file/ecms/web-content/Innovating_Pedagogy_2014.pdf
10 A scientific guide to hashtags which ones work when and how many? Useful article which explains the effective use of hashtags.
https://blog.bufferapp.com/a-scientific-guide-to-hashtags-which-ones-work-when-and-how-many
11. Conferences
11.1 Educational Technology & Education Conferences Number 32 December 2014 to June 2015 by Clayton R Wright. A very useful list of upcoming conferences.
11.2 ALT Annual Conference 2015: Shaping the future of learning together
The 22nd annual conference of the Association for Learning Technology, 8 to10 September 2015, University of Manchester, UK
Download the Flyer:
11.3 Plan for 2015. Ascilite 32nd conference. Perth, Western Australia.
Globally Connected, Digitally Enabled: November 30th to Dec 3rd 2015.
Website coming soon
12. The odd one out: Chicken or Egg? Which came first?
This is one of a fascinating number of YouTube ‘lessons’ created by ‘asap Science’ Quite uneggspected and worth watching.
Connect to asap Science and womble through some of the other interesting creations.
https://www.youtube.com/user/AsapSCIENCE
That’s it
Best wishes
Richard
Richard Elliott
The Eternal Macademic
Auckland
New Zealand