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 Regional Support Centre service you may have used) through the RSC website.
The Learner Driver - not a refresher course in the Highway Code but a conference which reflects the fast pace of change within the educational landscape - will examine the transformational effect of new technologies and methods on the learner experience, and how learners themselves are central to the change.
The Learner Driver takes place at Edinburgh Conference Centre, Heriot-Watt University on 31st May 2006 . Confirmed keynote speakers include:
The conference will be of interest to practitioners, e-learning coordinators and managers in FE and HE, researchers, staff developers and learning technologists. Places at The Learner Driver are FREE to delegates (though the RSCs reserve the right to charge £50 in the event of a no-show). Put the date in your diary now and book online through: The Learner Driver website.
The JISC Legal Copyright & e-Learning webcast on March 22nd surpassed all expectations with around 290 connections for most of the two hours, and many of those involved several people watching on the same connection. Everything went fine technically, with relatively few people unable to connect to the webcast (primarily due to their firewalls). Responses to the webcast were very positive about the experience.
Feel like you missed out? Want to know more about Copyright and e-Learning? You can view the non-live streamed version at your leisure.
This very popular event is being jointly presented by the two Scottish RSCs, the BRITE Centre and TechDis. The Accessibility e-Olympics will look at the whole process of creating online learning sequences, with special attention being given to the design features which can be used to maximise accessibility for all learners.
Starting this Thursday, March 30th, in the Boyd Orr building of the University of Glasgow, this is an action packed e-Olympic style two-day event of hands-on workshops and presentations. Delegates are fully engaged from the minute they leave the starting blocks until they cross the finishing line.
The uplifting story of Shelley Rudman's transformation from bob skeleton beginner to Olympic silver medallist in only three years proves that late starters can still be medal winners! Speak to Caroline Porteous at RSC Scotland North & East on 0131 315 7674 or alternatively go straight to the Accessibility eOlympics site.
Designing Spaces for Effective Learning is a new publication launched at the JISC Conference earlier this month. This visually-rich publication is designed to promote better understanding of what constitutes an effective learning space in the 21st century and to summarise the key points college managers need to consider when approaching a refurbishment or new build project.
Designing Spaces for Effective Learning takes the reader on a 'walk through' an educational institution, exploring the relationship between learning technologies and innovative examples of physical space design at each stage of the journey. Discussion of the key points is illustrated by ten case studies from further and higher education, and floor plans from AMA Alexi Marmot Associates, architects and space planners, which provide up-to-date guidelines on the integration of technologies into teaching and learning accommodation.
Download the PDF copy of Designing Spaces for Effective Learning (1.45 MB) or request a print copy by emailing info@jisc.ac.uk.
Telecommuting, telework, or working from home (WFH) is a work arrangement in which employees enjoy flexibility in working location and hours (within limits). In other words, the daily commute to a central place of work is replaced by telecommunication links. The motto is that 'work is something you do, not something you travel to'. The number of telecommuters has increased sharply in recent years. For example, 43% of U.S. government employees telecommute at least part of the time - up from only 19% one year ago.
A survey by SonicWALL, a Sunnyvale, California, based company, reports that 10% of worldwide employees are nude while working (12% of men and 7% of women, respectively).
A gender gap also exists for showering on work-at-home days with 44% of women showering while only 30% of men did. The survey also found that 39% of both sexes wear sweatshirts while working from home. The survey also covered less racy topics: 76% felt that working at home increased productivity. Further details on WikiNews.
JISC's JORUM Repository allows users across the FE and HE communities in the UK to store and share resources. To help staff make the best use of the repository, a JORUM User facility has been set up to bring together operating hints and tips. Over 100 institutions have already signed up at the JISC Collections Site and several JORUM demonstration videos are now available on the User and Contributor help pages.
JORUM Contributor allows institutions and project teams to share learning and teaching materials with colleagues across the UK. Contributors can make their materials available to the community easily and freely and these are stored and catalogued in the system, making them accessible to a national audience of FE and HE staff. Materials can be downloaded and repurposed by users, who are also able to provide comments and feedback. Check out this latest JORUM development.
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You've made a great video. Your work deserves to be seen - but who will watch it?
Whether you produce hundreds of titles a year or just a few, you can give your videos the recognition and visibility they deserve by promoting them on Google - for free. Signing up for the Google Video Upload Program will connect your work with the users most likely to want to view them. To read more details of how to upload your videos and then effectively promote them to an audience visit Google Video.
One in six university students say they have copied from friends and one in ten admits to looking for essays online, according to a recent survey. A national poll of more than 1,000 students found that male students were more likely to copy work from friends than females (21% of men compared to 14 % of women). The study, for the Times Higher Education Supplement covered 119 HE institutions and its publication follows an admission by a senior Oxford University professor that plagiarism is "becoming a serious problem" even among the country's most able students. Professor Alan Grafen, an Oxford University disciplinary officer,writing in the University magazine, said ten students had been investigated over the last year and that most had been found guilty. "Hard though it may be to believe, students type word-for-word, and increasingly copy-and-paste from the internet, and submit essays containing whole pages of this verbatim material."But he denied cheating was rife. "Ten cases out of 17,660 students are not many," he said after his comments were widely reported. More information from Reuters.
Cheating students are increasingly turning to mobile phones to help them pass exams, according to figures published by the government's exam watchdog. The QCA's annual report found the most common type of malpractice, involving 1,887 students, was smuggling cheating aids into exams. The report states: "The most common type of malpractice, accounting for about two-fifths of the total, was the introduction of unauthorised material into the examination room, and around three-fifths of these cases related to mobile phones or other electronic communication devices". Full article on the Guardian Education web site.
Leiden University, the Netherlands on 6th & 7th April 2006.
Conference themes include Tools for Lifelong Learning, Emerging Technologies and the 'Net Generation', Digital games: play and simulation. A research seminar on day 2 aims to allow researchers from the UK, the Netherlands and Ireland to further develop current thinking on tools for lifelong learning, the net generation and digital games. Participants will evaluate progress in the use of technologies, share ideas for future developments, and produce a research paper for publication. For more information, visit the ALT site.
Is 'sustainability'' really just another word for 'survival'? Open source software has proved itself as a development and distribution model that can deliver functional, efficient, innovative, and cost-effective products but what is the long-term future? What's the best model for sustainability? Do different models succeed equally well? Open Source and Sustainability is a 3-day conference at Said Business School, Oxford, exploring the theme of open source sustainability: the perspective for HE and FE. The conference will look at open source sustainability from four key perspectives:
Register for the conference now and join an international cast of experts exploring the survival issues - (Booking deadline extended to 31 March).
The Open University has announced a £5.65 million project to make a selection of its learning materials available free of charge to educators and learners around the world. Supported by a grant of around £2.5 million from The William and Flora Hewlett Foundation, the University will launch a new website in October 2006. The provision on the Internet of 'Open Educational Resources', free at point of use and available to everyone, reflects The Open University's mission of promoting fair access for all.
During the initial phase of this initiative, the University will select and make available educational resources from all study levels from access to postgraduate and from a full range of subject themes: arts and history, business and management, health and lifestyle, languages, science and nature, society and technology. Learners will also be able to benefit from a range of study skills development materials.
The Open University's announcement
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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