ALT news digest 69, 11 August 2004

Great things to happen at ALT-C 2004 and lots of news in this issue.

1. Welcome to new members
2. ALT-C 2004 update
3. ALT news
4. Calls for papers
5. Other events
6. News
7. Invitations to tender
8. Vacancies
9. Courses

1. Welcome to new members
A warm welcome to the following colleges which have just joined ALT:
   The Sixth Form College Solihull  http://www.solihullsfc.ac.uk/
   Oxford and Cherwell College http://www.occ.ac.uk/
   City of Bristol College  http://www.cityofbristol.ac.uk/

- and to all the individuals who have joined in the last fortnight.

The digest should reach you once a fortnight. To send items for
inclusion, email [log in to unmask]
- with your _brief_ text in the BODY of the message (NO attachments,
please; especially NOT pdf files!).
Deadline for next issue: Tuesday 24 August 2004

2. ALT-C 2004 update

ALT-C 2004: Blue skies & pragmatism
ALT's eleventh international conference
Exeter, Devon, UK
Tuesday 14 to Thursday 16 September 2004

Only five weeks to go till ALT-C 2004! Registration deadline is 21
AUGUST.
View the online programme, now including thematic listings of
sessions:
http://www.alt.ac.uk/altc2004/timetable/timetable.php

All delegates will take home a 32MB memory stick (sponsored by RM)
containing a copy of the abstracts. JISC have sponsored the Internet
cafe, and WebCT are sponsoring the Wednesday reception. There are
still places for the reception at the award-winning Royal Albert
Memorial Museum
(http://www.exeter.gov.uk/visiting/attractions/museums/ramm/index.xml)
 on Tuesday evening - select this when you book online. NB:
Accommodation is filling fast.

Register now to ensure you don't miss out:
http://www.alt.ac.uk/altc2004/registering.html
For all booking enquiries email: [log in to unmask]

Join our low volume opt-in email list - from
http://www.alt.ac.uk/altc2004/ - through which ALT will notify you of
major changes to the site.

3. ALT news

3.1 AGM nominations
The call for nominations to the vacancies for Vice-Chair of ALT and
another Trustee (both to serve three years) is available on the web
site at
http://www.alt.ac.uk/docs/AGM_Notice_2004.pdf
The deadline for nominations is Wednesday 25 August. Individual
members of at least 12 months' standing are eligible for nomination.
Contact Rhonda for more information about these vacancies:
[log in to unmask]

The new trustees will join the Central Executive Committee, which
will meet after the AGM on Wednesday 15 September to appoint the
chairs of other executives and other posts as necessary.

3.2 ALT's tenth anniversary book reviewed
A good review of "Learning Technology in Transition: From Individual
Enthusiasm to Institutional Implementation" has appeared in the IFETS
journal. Go to http://ifets.massey.ac.nz/periodical/7_3/17.pdf

To order the book go to http://www.szp.swets.nl/szp/books/1963x.htm

4. Calls for papers

4.1 18th International Conference on Architecture of Computing
Systems (ARCS)-
System Aspects in Organic and Pervasive Computing
Innsbruck, Austria, March 14-17, 2005
http://www.teco.edu/arcs05
Paper Submission Deadline: September 20, 2004

4.2 New Learning Technologies Conference 2005
Orlando, Florida – February 16-18, 2005
Submit on-line at http://salt.org/index.htm?salt.asp?pn=call or send
an to email: [log in to unmask]

5. Other events

5.1 5th Annual Conference of the LTSN Subject Centre for Information
and Computer Sciences
31 August – 2 September 2004
… aims to bring together academics from the computing and library and
information science disciplines (including those teaching HE courses
in FE institutions).
http://www.ics.ltsn.ac.uk/events/conf2004/registration.htm

5.2 DIGITAL RESOURCES FOR THE HUMANITIES CONFERENCE 2004 (DRH 2004)
5-8 September 2004, University of Newcastle upon Tyne, UK (correction
of date from last digest)
http://www.drh2004.ncl.ac.uk/

5.3 First Irish MoodleMoot - in collaboration with the Tipperary
Institute and the Irish
Learning Technology Association (ILTA).
Dublin City University, Friday 10 September 2004
Registration for the event is free. Informal social events will be
held on the evenings of 9 and 10 September.
http://moodle.ie

5.4 Workshops at University of Greenwich, London
A series of eLearning blended workshops will be run next academic
year at both the Maritime Greenwich and the Medway campuses of the
University. They are designed to be of practical use to F/HE teachers
wanting to gain a better understanding of eLearning and how to apply
it in their teaching.
http://olc.gre.ac.uk/et/elwork.nsf

6. News

6.1 Scottish eLearning Award
The eLearning Alliance plans to inaugurate an annual Scottish
eLearning award and to open the competition to entries in September.
Entries should close in November, and the winner be announced at an
event in early December. Comments to [log in to unmask]

6.2 Report on personalisation in presentation services
This report, commissioned by the JISC, is now available in html and
pdf formats at http://www.therightplace.net/jp
The report focuses on the academic community in the UK, but should
have much relevance outside of that community.

6.3 News items from the JISC, JISC Services, JISC Programmes and
Projects

Historic Chemistry Resource Made Available to All Universities [29th
July, 2004]
JISC and the Royal Society of Chemistry announced an agreement which
will allow all UK universities to access the entire digital backfile
of the Royal Society of Chemistry for a fee of £50. JISC has licensed
the content of the archive in perpetuity on behalf of the HE
community.
http://www.rsc.org/archive  and  http://www.jisc.ac.uk/collections

Download technical software fast with new JISC service [23rd July,
2004]
http://www.jisc.ac.uk/index.cfm?name=national_mirror_service_feature

Open Access Publishing: broadsheet roundup and JISC's role [21st
July, 2004]
http://www.jisc.ac.uk/index.cfm?name=open_access_a_world_issue_news_21
0704

News from JISC Regional Support Centres now available from one web
page [19 July 2004]
http://www.jisc.ac.uk/index.cfm?name=rsc_newsletters_190704

To subscribe to the JISC Headlines service, contact Paul Davey to
join the list: [log in to unmask]

6.4  eLearning News from Academic ADL Co-lab via the Learning Lab

To view this week's newsletter go to
http://www.academiccolab.org/ - there is a link in the bottom left
corner. Some headlines:

ACADEMIC ADL CO-LAB NEWS
Advanced Distributed Learning Co-Lab Moves to New High-Tech Home

EDUCATION
- Protestant Majority Slips: A Sign of Things to Come in the LMS Wars
- Contextualized Learning: Empowering Education
- Electronic Books to Teach Afghans Basics of Public Health
- Educators, Parents Weigh Value of Laptop Computers for Young
Students
- Employees on e-Learning Curve
- Japanese Government Studying e-Teaching as Way to Reach School
Truants

TECHNOLOGY
- Microsoft to Begin Shipping Major Update to Windows
- A Billion PC Users on the Way
- In Competitive Move, I.B.M. Puts Code in Public Domain

INTERNET/WIRELESS RELATED
- Microsoft Starts Official Web Messenger Trial
- Has Cell Phone Blogging Found its Place?
- Malicious Program Aims for Pocket PCs
- RSS Could Transform Online Communication
- The Screen-age: Our Brains in our Laptops

(Thanks to Liz Fleetham, Learning Lab, for this info.)

7. Invitations to tender

7.1 Case Studies of IPRs in International e-Learning Programme
Deadline for Proposals: 26 August 2004, 12:00PM.
Study should be undertaken in the period from October to December
2004. The call for case studies and a more detailed description of
the scope are available from http://www.intrallect.com/HEFCE-IPR/
Any queries regarding this call should be sent to: Edward Barker,
Project Manager, Intrallect tel: 0870 234 3933 Email:
[log in to unmask]

8. Vacancies

8.1 eLearningAlliance Portal Website Co-ordinator
The Alliance manages http://www.elearningscotland.org We are
currently seeking to recruit a part-time Website Co-ordinator. If you
know of anyone who could fill this role, please contact
[log in to unmask]

8.2 Appeal for eLearning scriptwriters
http://www.elearningalliance.org/noticeboard/notice_viewer.cfm?id=582

9. Courses

9.1 SYFEC/Sheffield College
On 24 September SYFEC/Sheffield College will be starting two courses.
These are:
LeTTOL:  http://www.lettol.ac.uk
- an award winning course which, if you are a lecturer, trainer,
materials developer, or an academic or technical manager, will teach
you to:
- Teach learners on-line
- Support them using email and conferencing
- Manage on-line learning provision
- Use the Internet as a powerful resource
- Understand the pedagogy of on-line course design
The entire LeTTOL course takes place on-line so you learn at times
and in places that suit you.

We will also be offering LeTTOL for Schools.  This is a version of
LeTTOL specifically designed to meet the needs of the schools sector.

For either course visit the LeTTOL website, or contact:
Amanda Barker on [log in to unmask]

9.2 On-line e-moderating course
Monday 18 October - Friday 19 November 2004
The course will cost £315.00 (including VAT). Each course requires a
minimum number of 12 people - up to a maximum of 16.
Places will be allocated on a first come first served basis.
http://www.ics.ltsn.ac.uk/events/e-moderating04/reg.html

9.3 Postgraduate Certificate in Teaching and Learning in Higher
Education
Institute of Educational Technology, the Open University, UK

The course aims to support the development of competent HE
practitioners through organized, reflective and documented experience
and learning and to accredit that experience, learning and
competence. The course is accredited by the Institute of Learning and
Teaching in Higher Education (ILTHE) and the Staff Educational
Development Association (SEDA) so it also offers professional
recognition. The next presentation begins November 2004.
See http://iet.open.ac.uk/coursesonline for full details and to
enrol.

--ends--

The digest returns on 25 August. All news, jobs, events, etc, to
[log in to unmask] by Tuesday 24 August, please.

Regards
Rhonda

  Rhonda Riachi, Director
  Association for Learning Technology
  Oxford Brookes University, Headington, Oxford OX3 0BP, UK.
  Tel: +44 (0)1865 484125   Fax: +44 (0)1865 484165
  Email: [log in to unmask]   URL: http://www.alt.ac.uk/
  Registered Charity Number: 1063519

  ALT-C 2004, 14-16 September, Exeter, UK
  http://www.alt.ac.uk/altc2004