We regret the delay in bringing you NewsFeed this week but normal service is now, we hope, resumed. There is a batch of new online internet tutorials from the Virtual Training Suite for you to look through, and a chance to find out more about m-learning technologies (AND take part in our mobile learning workshop). The BBC’s onward march into the brave new digital world continues with its new interactive Media Player pilot and there’s news of more interesting developments in the open-source / open access movement which we’ve been featuring recently. A small cuddly naturalist in distress provides a useful case study for students in how NOT to use the Internet in item 6, and you can check how usable your organisation’s Intranet is with Jakob Nielsen’s help in our final offering.
As always, we welcome feedback on NewsFeed (or any RSC service you may have used) through the RSC website.
As part of the Resource Discovery Network, the Virtual Training Suite (VTS) offers over 60 online Internet tutorials across a range of curriculum areas for higher and further education. These have proved a popular means of introducing students (and staff) to effective web searching using a combination of quizzes, interactive exercises and a helpful 'links basket' function to store interesting web pages for future reference. Five new tutorials have now been added to the VTS list, covering Arts & Crafts, Digital Photography, Gardening, Health & Well-being and Job Searching. These have been developed for the Adult & Community Learning (ACL) Sector within the English framework, but have clear relevance to Scottish FE (where ACL tends to be absorbed within college provision). See the new tutorials online.
"Wireless environments have significant positive implications for teaching and learning that cannot be easily ignored". This is the conclusion to an interesting article about the use of mobile learning and wireless technologies in education by Michael Thomas, Associate Professor in English at Nagoya University of Commerce and Business in Japan. Thomas identifies six specific advantages that a wireless-supported 'm-learning environment' offers both staff and students, including cost-savings, ubiquity of access and increased project sophistication.
RSC Scotland North & East will be running an eMerge-subsidised workshop on this very area in June.
The BBC's free Radio Player software, which enables listeners to stream archived radio programmes for up to a week after their first broadcast date, has been a runaway success for the Corporation. Digital-only stations have nearly doubled their listening figures over the last year and total online listening has increased by more than 25% in the last month alone . Now the BBC has announced plans to pilot an 'iTunes for TV' service which will allow viewers to download and watch TV programmes in the week after broadcast. The interactive MediaPlayer is about to enter a pilot phase and the Corporation are looking for 5,000 volunteers to act as guinea pigs for the new service.
For details see the Media Guardian article. Volunteers can email the BBC on imptrial@bbc.co.uk giving their name, contact details, age and postcode.
Over the past few years, Google has produced almost 50 new services to add to its core search engine, including Google Scholar (offering a search facility for academic journals) and Gmail (a free web-based email service). Their latest development is a prototype for a customizable Google homepage which will draw search, email, local news and weather and other services together in one front page, effectively creating a personalised portal to the Internet.
New research has indicated that the UK is leading the drive to make academic research more widely available through open-access initiatives. NewsFeed has featured open-access and open-source developments for quite a while now, and there are several new initiatives to report on in this issue :
JISC has joined forces with a group of major medical funding bodies, including the Wellcome Trust and the British Heart Foundation, to finance the creation of a new open-access repository of medical research, UK PubMed Central. This multi-million pound initiative will enable academic researchers to post papers published either online or in subscription-based scientific journals, on a single searchable database which anybody can access free. It will use the same software as the US-based open access medical repository, PubMed Central, and will enable researchers to access material from both sites.
British schools are spending twice as much on computer hardware and software than necessary according to a report from a government IT watchdog. In a report leaked to the Times Educational Supplement, the British Educational Communications and Technology Association (Becta) says that Britain's primary schools could cut their software costs by half if they migrated to open source software solutions. Similarly, the UK's secondary schools could slash their costs by a quarter if they went the open source route. Are there lessons for FE and HE here?
At an international conference in the Netherlands last week, the Chair of JISC's Integrated Information Environment Committee, Reg Carr, signed the Berlin Declaration on Open Access to Knowledge in the Sciences and Humanities on behalf of JISC. The declaration commits signatories to the"new possibilities of knowledge dissemination not only through the classical form but also and increasingly through the open access paradigm via the Internet". The conference, held in Amsterdam, also saw the launch of a new open access website "Cream of Science". This contains over 41,000 publications by some 200 leading Dutch scientists, with nearly two-thirds of the publications available full text, and within a day of its launch the site received half a million hits. The site is available in English and has a full search facility. Background to the Declaration, and a link to the Cream of Science site, is available on the JISC web site.
Education should spend less time teaching students how to use PowerPoint and more on how to be critical users of the Internet, according to Observer columnist John Naughton. This is the conclusion to a useful mini case-study of Internet reliability, prompted by David Bellamy’s recent controversial statement that 'most of the world's glaciers are not shrinking but expanding'. Guardian writer George Monbiot attempted to substantiate Bellamy’s statement and uncovered a fascinating trail of errors, mistyping and lack of attribution which exposes the perils of uncritically accepting web-based information – however famous you are! The original Monbiot article and Naughton’s Observer summary of the chain of events are available online.
Web Usability guru Jakob Nielsen has done some interesting research on Intranet design, which indicates that Intranets are becoming more and more similar as time goes on. However, in Neilsen's opinion, "... most Intranets have poor usability because the project is too big for the available personnel. Companies should empower Intranet teams to focus on important usability contributors, while relegating the rest [of the design] to standard software."
The full report on Intranet portal usability, and also contains 58 screen shots of Intranet portal designs with accompanying evaluations.
JISC regularly announces opportunities to put forward proposals for funding in designated project areas. Details of current opportunities are available on the JISC website.
Thursday 9th June 2005, RSC Scotland North & East, Edinburgh’s Telford College.Does Mobile Learning (m-Learning) really have the potential to change education? Many organisations are already implementing mobile technologies such as Personal Digital Assistants and ‘smart’ phones to support learning both inside and outside the classroom. However, what issues arise from the use of such technologies? How suitable are they pedagogically and practically? This workshop explores the principles and practice of m-Learning and is aimed at anyone interested in using mobile devices in education, or whose organisations already are, or those who simply wish to know more about the emerging technologies. Attendance is open to both FE and HE staff at subsidised rates of £50 and £125 respectively.
For further details and a booking form, see the RSC Scotland North & East Training page.
This workshop is designed to show anyone involved in teaching hairdressing how the JISC-subsidised resource 'Hairdressing Training' can be successfully used in their support of learners. Developed in conjunction with industry stylists Jordan Burr, the site provides photographic step-by-step guides to thirteen classic haircuts for men and women. A lessons section deals with the theory behind the cuts, while a products section covers equipment and hair care products. The workshop will take participants through the structure of the site and outline the most effective ways of using the material. Attendance at the workshop is FREE OF CHARGE, although the number of participants is limited to 20.
For further details and a booking form, see the RSC Scotland North & East Training page.
Wednesday 15th & Thursday 16th June 2005, RSC Scotland South & West, Todd Campus, Glasgow.This workshop is aimed at lecturing and support staff in both the FE and HE communities who are interested in working with digital video and audio technologies. Organised as a largely practical event, the workshop will result in participants producing a short piece of video work, after consideration of the educational value and use of video material and the planning and production processes involved in creating them.
Places for the workshop are limited, and cost £100 (which covers all workshop materials and lunch for both days). For further details, go to the RSC Scotland South & West Events page.
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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