Association for Learning Technology
Fortnightly news digest 193, issued 8 January 2010
Submitting digest items. To send items for the fortnightly digest, email
[log in to unmask] with the subject line "For the digest" and your brief
text in the body of the message (no attachments, please, and no pdf
files; hyperlinks welcome). For jobs please note the formatting
instructions at the bottom of this issue of the Digest.
Join ALT at http://www.alt.ac.uk/membership_join.html
Sponsoring and organisational members' list:
http://www.alt.ac.uk/corporate_members.php
Table of Contents
1. Association news
2. Association events
3. News
4. Funding calls
5. Other events – some with close deadlines
6. Vacancies
7. Most recent issue of the ALT Journal – links to individual articles
1. Association news
1.1 We are very pleased to welcome Google as a Sponsoring Member of ALT.
1.2 ALT Sponsoring member Epigeum Ltd currently has a vacancy for a
Senior Editor, please see our vacancies section below (6.4) for details.
1.3 Getting Started with OpenSolaris 2009.06 - An Introduction for
Technical Evaluators. ALT Sponsoring member SUN has places available on
a three day course starting 25/1/2010 at Guillemot Park in Surrey. This
may be of interest to colleagues in your organisation. To book contact
Sarah Clayton – [log in to unmask] There is a copy of the course
description at
http://www.alt.ac.uk/docs/OpenSolaris_Course_Description_20100125.pdf
[60 kB PDF].
1.4 Call for papers for a Special Issue of the ALT Journal - The
Transformational Impact of Learning Technology - guest edited by John
Bourne (Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering at the Franklin
W. Olin College of Engineering, Professor of Technology Entrepreneurship
at Babson College, and Executive Director of the Sloan Consortium, USA),
Martin Hall (Vice Chancellor of the University of Salford, UK); Mike
Keppell (Professor of Higher Education and Director of the Flexible
Learning Institute, at Charles Sturt University, Australia). The call is
at http://www.alt.ac.uk/callforpapers_altj_tilt.html. The closing date
for submissions is 31/1/2010. Please draw the call to the attention of
colleagues whom you think may be interested in writing for the Journal.
1.5 Subscribing to ALT-ANNOUNCE - Staff of organisational and sponsoring
members, alongside individual members of ALT, are entitled to subscribe
to ALT-ANNOUNCE, the Jiscmail list we use to distribute this fortnightly
Digest, the quarterly ALT News, and infrequent brief announcements about
ALT. Please encourage relevant colleagues to subscribe. Please encourage
relevant colleagues to subscribe from the simple form at
http://www.alt.ac.uk/lists.html. In the case of staff of organisational
and sponsoring members, provided the staff member joining has an email
address consistent with the domain name of an organisational or
sponsoring member of ALT, we will approve the subscription.
2. Association events
2.1 Rewiring Inclusion: Strategies, Tools and Techniques to promote
barrier-free learning. A national one day conference in Nottingham at
the National College on Tuesday 9 February 2010 - with an evening
session on 8 February - organised jointly by ALT and JISC TechDis for
any staff whose work and role affects learners and learning. Plenary
speakers include Julian Harty from Google, Artur Ortega from Yahoo!,
Dónal Fitzpatrick from Dublin City University, Peter Hartley from
Bradford University, Jane Seale from Southampton University, and Alison
Mills from The Manchester College. There will also be a full and varied
workshop programme. A full provisional programme for the event is
available at http://tinyurl.com/yf2utg9
http://alt.ac.uk/docs/Rewiring_Inclusion_v9_20091223.pdf [1 MB PDF].
Book at http://tinyurl.com/ykhcp72, deadline 2 February 2010.
2.2 ALT-C 2010: “Into something rich and strange” – making sense of the
sea-change. The 17th ALT annual conference will be held at the
University of Nottingham, UK, 7-9 September 2010. The Calls and
Guidelines for proposals for inclusion in the conference programmes are
at http://www.alt.ac.uk/altc2010/papers.html. The closing date for
submissions is 15/2/2010.
2.3 Mobile Enabling Technologies: one day workshop, 25 March 2010,
University of Bradford. Dr Christine Dearnley, Stuart Walker, John
Fairhall, Jak Radice. This one day workshop will present the outcomes of
two studies undertaken at the University of Bradford. The first study
focused on establishing what advantages mobile devices can offer
disabled students, as well as identifying the challenges that they face
when using mobile technologies. The second study then built on these
findings to explore the relationship between the desirability of mobile
devices and the student’s engagement with mobile learning and
assessment. The research methods in both studies proved to be innovative
and the team involved will share their experiences at the workshop. £100
ALT members, £155 non ALT members
http://www.alt.ac.uk/workshop_detail.php?e=348
2.4 Podcasting in Learning and Teaching: a one day workshop at Sheffield
Hallam University led by Graham McElearney of Sheffield University and
Andrew Middleton of Sheffield Hallam University. The recent explosion in
the popularity of podcasting provides exciting new possibilities for the
development and delivery of learning resources. As well as placing a
renewed focus on the use of audio as a medium for learning and teaching,
it offers great flexibility in how learning resources can be created and
used by staff and students alike, offering new opportunities for
independent study and creativity within the curriculum. This timely
workshop will provide an overview of podcasting and related
technologies, will examine how the technologies can be used in a range
of learning and teaching contexts, and provide hands on training in the
production of podcasts, using the freely available Audacity software.
Date to be confirmed.
2.5 Other one day workshops for 2010 include:
* Twitter in HE, workshop led by Matt Lingard of LSE and Tony McNeil of
Kingston University;
* Building a Game in a Day, workshop led by Scott Hewitt of Real
Projects and Steve Harris of Anglia University.
3. News
3.1 The latest HEFCE news headlines are at http://www.hefce.ac.uk/news/
3.2 The latest JISC news headlines are at http://www.jisc.ac.uk/news.aspx.
3.3 Inaugural issue of Impact: Journal of Applied Research in Workplace
E-learning; now published at http://journal.elnet.com.au/impact
3.3 New Publication, Technology Enhanced Learning series, Analysing
Networked Learning Practices in Higher Education and Continuing
Professional Development. To view, visit
https://www.sensepublishers.com/product_info.php?products_id=943 Preview
available at https://www.sensepublishers.com/files/9789460910074PR.pdf
4. Funding calls
The recent letter from Peter Mandelson to the Chair of HEFCE (see
http://www.hefce.ac.uk/news/hefce/2009/grant1011/letter.htm) presents
challenges for those in English HE. For Learning Technologists, while
there are specific mentions of using technology in teaching and
retaining the UK's position in this area, the overall cuts and
especially the substantial cut in capital funding has meant that JISC
has put a temporary hold on those of its own grant programme that are
funded from capital, in response to a request from HEFCE. JISC explains
the situation at
http://www.jisc.ac.uk/Home/news/stories/2010/01/funding.aspx.
The last part of a call to miss this hiatus may be of interest to some
ALT members. It is strand 1 of call 13/09 on rapid user innovation in
developing community content in the Business and Community Engagement,
e-Content & Digitisation programme area (see
http://www.jisc.ac.uk/fundingopportunities/funding_calls/2009/12/1309bce.aspx)
and is about enhancing existing digital resources with mechanisms and
features to engage new external audiences, and to secure their active
involvement online.
Some JISC grants and invitations to tender are affected but not all. One
recent ongoing invitation to tender is on behalf of the Strategic
Content Alliance to develop the moderated web resource named 'Digipedia'
from prototype to pilot service. (See
http://www.jisc.ac.uk/fundingopportunities/funding_calls/2010/01/digipedia.aspx.)
ALT’s experience of running an Open Access Repository, and of using
wikis for our “What Research has to say for Practice” guides has shown
the need for knowledgeable moderation and for the development and use of
good practice guidance. We are keen to see this work taken forward as it
will benefit the learning technology community generally. If an ALT
member organistion putting in a proposal wanted ALT support or
involvement in the tender then contact Seb Schmoller at ALT
([log in to unmask]). The closing date for responses to the ITT is
5/2/2009.
5. Other events
5.1 JISC CETIS meeting: The Future of Interoperability and Standards in
Education, 12 January 2010, University of Bolton
http://wiki.cetis.ac.uk/Future_of_Interoperability_Standards_Meeting_2010
5.2 The Future of Gaming
Novel Human-Computer Interfaces for Education and Health, 13 January
2010, Serious Games Institute, Coventry. To book your place, visit
https://store.coventry.ac.uk/catalogue/products.asp?compid=1&deptid=111&catID=51&hasClicked=0
To download the full agenda, go to
http://www.seriousgamesinstitute.co.uk/events.aspx?item=755
5.3 Media Enhanced Learning Special Interest Group - MEL SIG (formerly
PPP SIG) 18 January 2010, Queen's University Belfast. The programme is
on the wiki:
http://ppp.chester.ac.uk/index.php?title=PPP:Current_events. For
enquiries, contact: [log in to unmask] To book a place, contact:
[log in to unmask]
5.4 E-Learning Symposium
28-29 January 2010, University of Southampton
http://www.llas.ac.uk/e-bulletin.aspx
5.5 IADIS International Conference - Mobile Learning 2010; 19 - 21 March
2010, Porto, Portugal. http://www.mlearning-conf.org/
5.6 University of Oxford Computing Services -'Beyond' conference for
2010. Beyond Borders: The place of research institutions in open
education. 20 April 2010, Said Business School, University of Oxford
If you would like to register early interest in the conference as a
participant or potential speaker or would like to know more about the
OpenSpires project, please contact [log in to unmask]
6. Vacancies
6.1 University of Surrey
Centre for Educational and Academic Development
Learning and Technology Adviser
Ref no: 7394 Salary: £28,839 - £31,513 Full-Time
Informal enquiries to Emma Bolden, Human Resources: 01483 682021 or
[log in to unmask]
http://www.surrey.ac.uk/jobs/
Closing date: 22 January 2010
6.2 University of Surrey
Centre for Educational and Academic Development
Learning Technology Systems Officer
Ref no: 7395 Salary: £28,839 - £31,513 Full-Time
Informal enquiries to Emma Bolden, Human Resources: 01483 682021 or
[log in to unmask]
http://www.surrey.ac.uk/jobs/
Closing date: 22 January 2010
6.3 Social Care Institute for Excellence
e-Learning Department
Project Manager - e-learning and web products
Ref: 84 Salary: c.£36,000 Full time
Informal enquiries to HR: 020 7089 6840
http://www.scie.org.uk/opportunities/index.asp
Closing date: 9.00am, 27 January 2010
6.4 Epigeum
Senior Editor
Salary: £40,000 - £55,000 + attractive bonus + benefits
London-based
Epigeum is the UK's leading publisher of online course training courses
for Higher Education. The Senior Editor will hold ultimate
responsibility for the editorial quality of online courses. Reporting
directly to the Managing Director, the task will be both to edit courses
and lead the team of two associate editors.
For full details see http://www.epigeum.co.uk/jobs-at-epigeum
Closing date: 6 February 2010
7. Current Issue of the ALT Journal – links to individual articles The
latest issue of the ALT Journal, Volume 17 Issue 2, can be accessed
online from the links below. (If your organisation is a member of ALT,
or if it has an online subscription to the Journal, *and* if its network
is appropriately configured, then you should be able to click straight
through to the individual articles. Note that all organisational and
sponsoring members of ALT are entitled to online access to ALT-J for all
their employees when logged into the network. If you cannot access the
Journal online, this is something we may be able to help you fix).
Table of contents http://preview.tinyurl.com/n6b75z Editorial – “The
agency of students, teachers and learning technologists” by Frances
Bell. DOI: 10.1080/09687760903037109 http://preview.tinyurl.com/np3b8w
Article – “Students make a plan: understanding student agency in
constraining conditions” by Laura Czerniewicz, Kevin Williams and Cheryl
Brown. DOI: 10.1080/09687760903033058 http://preview.tinyurl.com/nu4kur
Article – “Using community development theory to improve student
engagement in online discussion: a case study” by Elisabeth Skinner.
DOI: 10.1080/09687760902951599
http://preview.tinyurl.com/m7yl8b
Article – “Discontent with content analysis of online transcripts” by
Judith Guevarra Enriquez. DOI: 10.1080/09687760903033066
http://preview.tinyurl.com/lp48ln
Article – “The role of learning technologists in supporting e-research”
by Susi Peacock, Ann Robertson, Sarah Williams and Maria Giatsi Clausen.
DOI: 10.1080/09687760903033041 http://preview.tinyurl.com/lduw6w
Article – “Guidelines for supporting re-use of existing digital learning
materials and methods in higher education” by Judith Schoonenboom, Henk
Sligte and Eja Kliphuis.
DOI: 10.1080/09687760903033074
http://preview.tinyurl.com/nvarqh
Article – “Beyond podcasting: creative approaches to designing
educational audio” by Andrew Middleton. DOI:10.1080/09687760903033082
http://preview.tinyurl.com/noqlzm
Miscellany - Reviewers for volumes 15, 16 and 17.1, by Frances Bell and
Rhona Sharpe.
DOI: 10.1080/09687760903069433
http://preview.tinyurl.com/n6997g
----
The digest returns on 22 January 2010. All news, jobs, events, etc, to
[log in to unmask] by Tuesday 19 January. Please see below for important
submission formatting details. This issue was compiled by Melanie Fox
and lightly edited by Seb Schmoller.
Seb Schmoller
Chief Executive
----
Disclaimer: Whilst every care is taken to provide accurate information
in compiling this digest, ALT cannot vouch for the accuracy of
information provided on other web sites to which the digest links, and
opinions expressed on those sites should not be construed to be those of
ALT.
----
If you are submitting a vacancy for inclusion in the digest, please use
this format:
Organisation name
Department
Job title
Ref no.
Salary
Full or part time
Closing date
Informal enquiries to
URL
----
*Redistribution*
If you forward this digest, in whole or part, within your organisation
or to another distribution list, please include the text: "[taken from
the] ALT Digest, a fortnightly publication from the Association for
Learning Technology (ALT) http://www.alt.ac.uk/
|
