The National Learning Network is moving on to its fourth round of development, and this issue of NewsFeed opens with opportunities to contribute to this process. We have news of new initiatives from the Education Image Gallery and the European Parliament, two free downloads to help with accessibility and readability, and help for those who are confused with Wikis, JANET or I-Podded Pedagogy - and who hasn’t, at some point! As always, we welcome feedback on NewsFeed (or any RSC service you may have used) through the RSC website.
The National Learning Network Materials Development Team are working on the fourth round of NLN materials, due to be released in winter 2005. As part of this work, they wish to test nine prototype objects to see how well they load, run and track progress within a Virtual Learning Environment (VLE). They need colleges to test-run these prototypes, and to report back on a pre-prepared web form. The whole exercise should take less than 30 minutes, and - in return - the NLN team are offering respondents the chance to be one of six representatives who will offer college feedback at a national event on 1st March, each of whom will receive a digital camera. If you’d like to take part, go to the Plugfest section of the NLN website.
To access the option to view feedback, you will need to login with the following details:
Username: plugfest_user Password: password.
The first round of the National Learning Network materials was launched in 1999. Six years is a long time in any area which involves information technology, and the NLN team now wants to reconsider the way in which the NLN material can best be delivered to learners. To help with this, they have prepared a consultation document, and are asking NLN users for their response to a range of possible delivery options. They would welcome your feedback on the document at the FERL website.
EDINA have developed a new 'Picture Trails' feature highlighting images in the Education Image Gallery (EIG) resource. These have been created to show, at a glance, the diversity and depth of the EIG. Over twenty curriculum-related trails have been created across five main areas (History, Sociology, Travel & Tourism, Construction and Performing Arts), and the intention is to add further trails throughout the life of the service. They can be found within the service via the picture trails link on the standard search page, where the trails show the full-size images. They are also available (with thumbnail images) outwith the service at the Image Gallery sample page . EDINA are asking for suggestions for further trails from support staff and end-users and also invite feedback on this, and any other feature of the service. Contact the EDINA helpdesk directly at edina@ed.ac.uk
Entries for the RSC North & East's Online Advent Calendar competition closed on 21 st January, and the prize draw has at last been made. Congratulations go to the lucky winner, Ann Murray from Lews Castle College , who wins a 256Mb MP3 player/recorder, which will be on its way to her shortly. The correct answers to the competition are on the RSC North & East website competition section. Thanks and commiserations to all the runners-up!
'If it's not as easy as Google, the students won't use it'. How often have you heard this, or said it yourself, about an online resource which offers wonderful material, but requires some persistence to actually get into? EDINA have the answer! Institutions can now request that Education Media OnLine (EMOL) and Education Image Gallery (EIG) services be enabled through IP checking, rather than the Athens authentication process which has been standard until now. (Although the 'restricted' material within EMOL will still be subject to Athens verification, reflecting its sensitive nature). EDINA will also be examining the feasibility of extending IP enabled access to further services where appropriate and where licensing conditions allow. To request IP enabled access, or to find out more, contact the EDINA Helpdesk direct at edina@ed.ac.uk or 'phone 0131-650-3302.
A previous edition of NewsFeed (01.12.04) looked at Wikipedia, the ‘open-access’ encyclopedia which can be edited by anyone. The concept of Wikis is a hard one to grasp, but an excellent introduction to this area can found in Making the Case for a Wiki in the current edition of ARIADNE magazine.
The same issue also looks at Assessing the Impact of the Freedom of Information Act on FE and HE by Steve Bailey, Information & records Manager with JISC, which is well worth reading on the impact-to-date of this new piece of legislation.
The European Parliament has voted in favour of a new initiative, badged as the eContentplus programme, which will support the development of multi-lingual content for innovative, on-line services, including e-Learning, across the EU. The budget has been set at 149 million euros for the period 2005-2008.
eContentplus is designed to tackle the perceived fragmentation of the European digital content market and to improve the accessibility and usability of geographical information, cultural content and educational material. The new programme will concentrate on those parts of the digital content market where there is clear fragmentation in Europe, and where market forces alone so far have been insufficient to drive growth.
For further information, go to the Digital Lifestyles site.
BrowseAloud is a free-to-download piece of software which audibly ‘reads' websites simply by moving the cursor over text. Participating sites (such as the BBC) pay a subscription to the company to have their sites made readable with ‘speech-enabled' electronic text, but the reader download is completely free to users. The tool is potentially useful for students with mild visual impairments or those with reading difficulties which might otherwise prevent them from getting the best from complex, text-dense websites. Visit the BrowseAloud site to download the BrowseAloud reader.
Communication lecturers will already be familiar with the concept of the 'fog index' which measures text readability by comparing the ratio of multisyllable words to total word count. The Juicy Studio website offers an online tool for assessing the readability of a given piece of text or a website. Running the last issue of NewsFeed through it, for example, reveals a Fog Index of 12.08. Is this good or bad? Use the site to compare it with those generated by The Bible or The Wall Street Journal (amongst others) to find out.
The potential educational uses of new communications devices such as mobile phones and MP3 player/recorders are attracting increasing attention. Duke University in Carolina , working in conjunction with Apple Computers, distributed an iPod to each of their first year students, and the Duke website has details of various interesting ways that their faculty propose to use the coveted device in teaching and learning. Is anything similar happening in Scotland ? If so, let NewsFeed know and we'll blow a trumpet for you!
Using videoconferencing to enable collaborative working between participants in differing locations is commonplace nowadays, but it remains a difficult medium to use effectively. This short extract demonstrates humorously how one attempt to use the technology goes wrong. Those of a nervous disposition should look away now …
UKERNA (the company which manages the operation and development of the Joint Academic Network) is holding 2 pre-conference workshops at its Networkshop event (to be held in Manchester on 22-25 March 2005) entitled 'An Introduction to JANET' and 'JANET Services'. Anyone from a FE or HE institution may attend, not simply delegates staying on for the Networkshop event, and there is no charge for attendance. Interest in attending these workshops should be registered by 7 February. Full details of the workshops can be accessed at the JANET website .
The second meeting of the Celtic WebCT User Group will be held at Reid Kerr College on Friday 25 th February. Staff supporting WebCT in Scotland , Northern Ireland and Ireland are invited to attend, to hear Michael Aherne from Reid Kerr, who will be providing an overview of WebCT 6 with additional feedback from David Dyet and Susi Peacock, of QMUC. During the refreshment break members of staff using WebCT at Reid Kerr and other institutions will be talking informally about their use of WebCT. Joan Archibald from Reid Kerr will also be giving a presentation about their new implementation of WebCT and a model for developing online materials . See the Celtic WebCT site for further details.
The second meeting of the Celtic WebCT User Group will be held at Reid Kerr College on Friday 25 th February. Staff supporting WebCT in Scotland , Northern Ireland and Ireland are invited to attend, to hear Michael Aherne from Reid Kerr, who will be providing an overview of WebCT 6 with additional feedback from David Dyet and Susi Peacock, of QMUC. During the refreshment break members of staff using WebCT at Reid Kerr and other institutions will be talking informally about their use of WebCT. Joan Archibald from Reid Kerr will also be giving a presentation about their new implementation of WebCT and a model for developing online materials . See the Celtic WebCT site for further details.
JISC invites tenders from individuals and teams with suitable expertise to carry out an evaluation study under the e-Learning and Pedagogy strand of the JISC e-Learning Development Programme. This study will investigate tools in use by practitioners in UK further, higher and continuing/adult and community education to support the process of ‘designing for learning'. Up to £60,000 (including VAT and expenses) is available, and may be awarded to a single project covering a range of relevant tools, or to a number of smaller projects looking at specific tools. The deadline for tenders is 1300 hours on 10 February 2005 . Further details are available at Designing for Learning .
For further information on these and all the RSC’s courses, or to book a place, please go to the RSC websites at http://www.rsc-ne-scotland.ac.uk/training/index.php and http://www.rsc-sw-scotland.ac.uk/events.htm .
Are you involved in reviewing your processes? If you are designing or implementing an MLE, reviewing your Records Management in the light of the Freedom of Information Act or selecting and implementing new information systems, the answer is ‘Yes'. You may be simply interested in how you can provide a better service to students. These and many other activities can be handled more easily and effectively when a thorough analysis of the related processes is undertaken. This is a one-day workshop offered by the RSC and delivered by JISC infoNet, the Centre of Expertise in the Planning and Implementation of Information Systems. The cost for this event, which is subsidised under the eMerge programme for FE Colleges, is just £50. Staff from Higher Education are also welcome to enroll for this course, though the SFEFC subsidy may not apply. See the RSC North & East website for further details or contact the RSC directly.
OASIS (Organisation, Access, Storage, Integration and Sharing of electronic resources) is a new set of e-learning activities funded through the eMerge programme, and run by the two Scottish RSCs and the SFEU. There are two OASIS courses being offered to colleges in February 2005 at special subsidised eMerge rates of £50 per day:
Using MARC21 in Further Education: Thursday 10th February 2005This course is designed for staff involved in cataloguing library materials using MARC21. It is particularly useful for libraries just beginning to use MARC21 or about to change to it. The course has the following objectives:
The Learning Object Metadata Application Profile has been developed by the Higher Education Academy for the cataloguing of Learning Objects used in the Higher and Further Education sectors. This two-day training programme, devised by Allegro Training Hampshire, provides an explanation of the profile and its associated cataloguing interface. It provides detailed instruction on the use of the various elements within the profile, and, on the second day, practical sessions using the interface to catalogue selected examples.
These courses and others are listed on the Scotfeict website which also lists other staff development opportunities for FE staff within Scotland.
Nationwide training opportunities are available on the NLN events database.
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