Welcome to the latest edition of Newsfeed, designed to bring you up-to-date information on the current issues relating to the use of ICT for teaching and learning. As always, we welcome feedback on NewsFeed (or any RSC service you may have used) through the RSC website.
The JISC-funded Exchange for Learning (X4L) Programme has been developing online teaching materials and exploring the many issues involved in promoting the sharing of such resources. Ensuring staff have the skills to repurpose learning materials was a main aim of the X4L Programme. The projects have developed some excellent resources to support the staff involved. Topics covered include: resource discovery, including 3rd party resources, 'how to..' guides and much more. Exchange for Learning (X4L) Programme
This Staff Developers' Pack is designed for use in either a half-day or full-day staff development workshop with a workshop leader and up to 15 participants drawn from the management hierarchy of a university or college. A workshop based around the pack should enable an organisation to identify a number of issues raised by the Freedom of Information Act 2000 and the Freedom of Information Act (Scotland) 2002 which need to be addressed by all Public Sector bodies if they are to fully comply with the relevant Act. The CD contains a JISC infoNet video, 'The Importance of Being Compliant', around which a presentation and number of exercises and activities have been devised. Supporting materials including templates, workshop leader's notes and sample answers to exercises. To order a copy go to http://www.jiscinfonet.ac.uk/news/foi-dev-pack
The Archaeology Data Service (ADS/AHDS Archaeology) has announced a new trial service within its online search catalogue ArchSearch. Using links to the recently launched 'Google Maps' service, it presents location maps and limited aerial photography within ArchSearch records. This means archaeological sites and other places of historical or architectural importance can be seen in their immediate landscape context and can be displayed at local, regional and global scales. For more information go to - http://www.jisc.ac.uk/index.cfm?name=ads_new
The UCISA Information Security Toolkit is intended to support UK Higher and Further Education Institutions in producing information security policies to address (and to demonstrate that they are addressing) threats to the confidentiality, integrity and availability of information systems for which they are responsible, and to help meet audit requirements. For more information go to - http://www.ucisa.ac.uk/ist
The NLN Materials Team are pleased to announce the release of the first set of Round 4 NLN Materials. The new learning objects are in the following subject area: Family Learning Pre-school.
Those who subscribe to ProQuest Literature and Learning (formerly Literature Online) may be interested to know ProQuest have been developing classkits to support English teachers. Each classkit has been written by an English or Scottish teacher and there will be 100 kits available on the website by the end of the year. Each kit also comes with a lesson plan detailing how it can be integrated into existing teaching. They are completely free and can be found on the ProQuest site and are ideal for use with interactive whiteboards or data projectors.
One of the extraordinary stories of the internet age is that of Wikipedia, a free online encyclopaedia that anyone can edit. This radical and rapidly growing publication, which includes close to 4 million entries, is now a much-used resource. An investigation by Nature.com finds that Wikipedia (started by Jimmy Wales) comes close to Britannica in terms of the accuracy of its science entries. For further details see the Special Reprot by Nature, visit the Wikipedia website.
Want to know what was the most popular download, the most searched for clip art, the most popular template categories, or the most in-demand help articles on Office Online this year? Check out our list of top content as rated or downloaded by customers.
Delivering 'Anytime, Anywhere Computing' was identified as the top concern in the UCISA Top Concerns survey of 2005. A Managers' Forum on the topic was held in November 2005 to give insight into how some have addressed the issues and problems involved in delivery as well as taking a further look at what the future might bring. As part of this event a 90 minute 'Think Tank' session was held in conjunction with JISC infoNet and the outcomes of these group discussions are represented in a short 8-page report available online.
It's all happening in Aberdeen. On Monday, December 12 2005, Jack
McConnell unveiled a pioneering project that heralds a transformation
in teacher education for children with dyslexia and other learning
difficulties. This initiative coincides with the official opening of
Aberdeen University's newly-refurbished MacRobert Building, which has
undergone a massive £13m refurbishment to benefit the 1,400 full and part-time students and 150 members of staff within the School of Education.
And still in Aberdeen, a state-of-the-art new sport and fitness centre has been unveiled at the College. The £2 million, 12,000 m squared purpose built facility will provide sports and games facilities for the College's thousands of students. Further details on the Scottish Executive website.
RNIB and AbilityNet have teamed up to offer a new web accessibility assessment. "See it Right: UseAbility" combines RNIB's See it Right accessibility assessment with accessibility and usability testing carried out by AbilityNet's panel of web users with disabilities. For more information on the AbilityNet website.
Do you need to shoot a video but are not sure where to start? Have you made a film and been disappointed? Here are tools, tutorials and guides to help you get it right. Get top tips from BBC programme makers who share the tricks of their trade.
This year's JISC Conference programme will be built on the theme of Supporting Education and Research. The conference will reflect the breadth of JISC activities in providing guidance, advice and opportunities for the use of Information and Communications Technology (ICT) in education and research. For more information go to the JISC website.
Advance notice of online conference of interest to practitioners, e-learning coordinators and managers in further and higher education, researchers, and staff developers. Innovating e-Learning 2006: Transforming Learning Experiences, an online conference based around the work of the e-Learning and Pedagogy and Innovation strands of the JISC e-Learning Programme will be held on 27 - 31 March 2006.
RSC Scotland North & East is currently running an Advent Calendar Competition and has a much-desired MP3 player to give away to some lucky winner. Could it be you? Only three days to go!
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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