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BLE-Bulletin
Rounding up e-learning news for the Bloomsbury Colleges

Contents
1.    Bloomsbury News
2.    Other News
3.    Training & Events
3.1 Bloomsbury
3.2 Regional & National
4.    Resources
5.    Funding Opportunities

Spring Term 2012

Please forward to any colleagues who might find this useful

Your comments and contributions are invited.
Please contact the BLE Officer, Yanna Nedelcheva [log in to unmask]<mailto:[log in to unmask]>



1.          Bloomsbury News



i) BLE migration to Moodle


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This term, the BLE Technical Team has been very Moodle-focused, establishing the technical settings for their sites, setting up the interface layouts, designing 2012-13 courses and raising awareness to their staff (academic, administrators and support staff). In March, the Month of Moodle commenced – daily taster sessions introducing Moodle to teaching and administrative staff across the Colleges. A series of video case studies describing Bloomsbury’s move to Moodle have been recorded and will be available early in the Summer term. For information about the migration from Blackboard to Moodle, please visit the project website http://www.bloomsbury.ac.uk/moodle and blog http://blemoodlemigration.blogspot.com



For further information, contact the Sarah Sherman [log in to unmask]<mailto:[log in to unmask]>


ii) Creating Interactive Learning Materials in Bloomsbury: A showcase event



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A well-attended showcase event demonstrating how the Colleges are creating interactive teaching materials using a variety of multimedia took place. Attendees learned how - with very little effort - one can create learning materials to entertain, inspire and most of all impress students using Wimba Create, Xerte or GLO Maker. To listen to all recordings from the event from the day please visit the link: http://bit.ly/eventBLE


As a result of this successful event, the BLE Officer has organised a number of additionaltraining sessions for Xerte and Wimba Create. If you are interested in finding out more, please contact the BLE Officer, Yanna Nedelcheva [log in to unmask]<mailto:[log in to unmask]>

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2.      Other News


i)  JISC announces new structure to reshape for the future

JISC has announced how, by bringing the leadership from across JISC into a more cohesive structure supported and enabled by the creation of a legal entity, it will reshape itself for the future. “This is the start of an exciting future for JISC,” said Professor Martyn Harrow, Head of JISC. “We are determined to continue and develop our crucial role in supporting UK colleges and universities and skills providers, keep at the forefront of best practice. This has never been more important than now at a time of tighter funding and unprecedented challenges to the sectors.”
http://www.jisc.ac.uk/news/stories/2012/02/jiscreshapes.aspx



ii) Turning a Resource into an Open Educational Resource (OER)

JISC’s OER IPR Support project has created an animated film illustrating the stepsinvolved in embedding open licences in educational resources and some of the associated IPR issues.  This resource will be of interest to staff in colleges and universities involved in creating open educational resources.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CUVW5fhQP2k



iii) JISC Elevator – crowdsourcing ideas

The JISC Elevator is a pilot platform for crowdsourcing ideas that will use technology to improve education and research in UK higher and further education institutions.  The purpose of the Elevator is to allow JISC to fund innovative projects that will be valuable to HE and FE. Once an idea has been submitted to the site, people working and studying in UK HE and FE (with an .ac.uk email) will be able to vote if they like the idea. A decision whether or not to fund an idea is taken when it receives the target number of votes. The site will be open for ideas and voting until the end of March. To submit an idea or to vote on ideas already submitted, go to http://elevator.jisc.ac.uk/

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3.      Training & Events


3.1         Bloomsbury


19/3/12 – 13/4/12: The Month of Moodle at Daily at Birkbeck, Malet St. Room 320/321

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3.2         Regional & National

Xerte Friday:
The Xerte Friday sessions are designed to support teaching practitioners who want to embed the use of Xerte online toolkits in their teaching to find the schedule for 2012 please click the link: bit.ly/Xerte-Friday<http://bit.ly/Xerte-Friday>


17/4/12 Navigating the Challenges of Blended Learning: Best Practices to Chart Your Course for Adoption<https://highereducationwebinars.adobeconnect.com/_a1002564123/e528gwoo84m/event/event_info.html?elq=8503d2961e7242f1864f7c8878b86faf&elqCampaignId=38>. Webinar

18/4/12 Using Social Media for Training<http://www.ucisa.ac.uk/groups/ssg/Events/2012/SocialMediaTraining.aspx>, University of Salford.
20/5/12  Media Enhanced Learning Special Interest Group<http://ppp.chester.ac.uk/index.php?title=MELSIG:Current_events>, University of Derby
23/4/12 "Exams make our hands sore”: How to respond<http://www.ed.ac.uk/schools-departments/institute-academic-development/learning-teaching/staff/courses-events/iad/open>, University of Edinburgh
26/4/12 Learner-Centered Process Review<http://www.jiscrsc.ac.uk/london/events/2012/april/learner-centred-process-review.aspx> Senate House, London
30/4/12-7/5/12 Universities Week<http://www.universitiesweek.org.uk/>
2/5/12  Echo360 Community Conference Europe<http://echo360.com/global-user-conferences/europe/>, University College London.
9/5/12 e-Safety: Developing Effective Practice 2<http://www.jiscrsc.ac.uk/london/events/2012/may/e-safety-developing-effective-practice-2.aspx>, JISC London Offices
10/5/12 E-books and E-contents 2012<http://www.ucl.ac.uk/infostudies/e-books/>, University College London
23/5/12 Digital Creativity 2012<http://www.jiscrsc.ac.uk/london/events/2012/may/digital-creativity-2012.aspx>, Islington City Learning Centre
13-14/6/12 7th International Blended Learning Conference<http://www.herts.ac.uk/about-us/learning-and-teaching/learning-teaching-institute/conferences/conference-2012/home.cfm>, University of Hertfordshire
4/7/12 Employer Engagement in a Digital Age<https://showtime.gre.ac.uk/index.php/ecentre/apt2012>, University ofGreenwich
5-7/09/12 Cloud and Crowd: Towards a collaborative future<http://www.designsonelearning.net/conferences/face_to_face/sept2012/del_sept2012.htm>, University of the Arts
11-13/09/12 ALT-C 2012 - A confrontation withreality<http://www.alt.ac.uk/altc2012/>, University of Manchester
24-26/09/12 "From margin to mainstream: mobile technologies transforming lives and libraries"<http://www.m-libraries.org/node/26>, OU

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4.    Resources


i) Publishers Hit Back at Copyright Reform

Currently the Government is considering changes to copyright through consultation, following the recommendations made in the Hargreaves report.  The chief executive of the Publishers Association,Richard Mollet, claims that the ‘digital copyright exchange’, as recommended by Hargreaves, facilitates licensing, respects IP and drives economic growth.  Rights holders feel that widening copyright, including the exceptions, will only weaken copyright protection.  The Government is in favour of such a new licensing database and the proposed DCE is being assessed presently.  The Out-Law article illustrates the differing views on copyright reform and will be of interest to HE staffworking in this area.


ii) New tool provides insights into e-resource usage

A new tool launched by Cardiff University’s information services directorate and JISC allows people to assess the popularity and use of e-resources so they continue to deliver value for money. Download Raptor for free: http://iam.cf.ac.uk/trac/RAPTOR/wiki/Software/Overview



iii) Where we used to live – new website of maps from the past launched

The broadest single collection of historical maps from around the world is now available online. The JISC-funded site, described by its creators as like Google for old maps, will act as a central repository to a vast collection of maps held by institutions across the globe.  It is the first time that access to such an extensive collection hasbeen made available online. http://bit.ly/znVeyD

iv) JISC Identity Management Toolkit
In 2010, JISCpublished the Identity Management Toolkit, designed to help UK FHE institutions improve their Identity Management. The Toolkit built on the earlier work of the JISC-funded Identity Project (www.identity-project.info<http://www.identity-project.info/>) and was endorsed by UCISA, RUGIT, ISAF, and JISC infoNet.

v) JISC Digital Media: EdMediaShare
With unprecedented amounts of video being uploaded to’ user-generated content’ sites it is getting much harder to find useful content for teaching, learning andresearch. JISC Digital Media believe that providing a method of sharing online video that is actually being used to support teaching, learning and research combined with information on how educators and learners are using these resources will be recognised as valuable by the sector. Anyone can use EdMediaShare to share the online videos they use to support their teaching,learning and research by completing an online form.
http://www.edmediashare.org/

vi) The e-Portfolio Implementation Toolkit has been developed from the JISC- funded e-Portfolio Implementation (ePI) study<https://sites.google.com/site/epistudy/home> of successful institution-wide practice in the UK, Australia and New Zealand. The toolkit contains over one hundred exemplars of e-portfolio use in a wide range of further and higher education contexts and eighteen case studies of approaches to wide-scale implementation. These form the basis of the Toolkit guidance that addresses the challenges, issues andstages in wide-scale e-portfolio implementation and presents an implementation model to assist your institution or programme in embedding and sustaining e-portfolio use.

Also available are five new video case studies, Stories of e-portfolio implementation, illustrating implementation strategies taken by five of the case study institutions. These rich-media resources provide additional personal insights into the challenges and benefits each institution has encountered. The videos are embedded into the Toolkit but can also be downloaded or played at www.jisc.ac.uk/eportimplement<www.jisc.ac.uk:eportimplement>. Transcripts are available for users of screen readers.
Two new resources from JISC offering guidance on large-scale e-portfolio implementation are now available at http://www.jisc.ac.uk/eportimplement

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5.    Funding Opportunities

5.1 JISC is funding scholarship places at the SEDA (Staff and Educational Development Association) Summer School 2012

SEDA is the professional association for staff and educational developers in the UK, promoting innovation and good practice inhigher education.
“Academic Development for the Digital University<http://www.seda.ac.uk/?p=14_2&e=430>” is the title of the 11th SEDA Summer School for academic developers. The Summer School runs from July 9th – 11th 2012 at Cumberland Lodge<http://www.cumberlandlodge.ac.uk/> in Windsor Great Park. The JISC Developing Digital Literacies Programme<http://www.jisc.ac.uk/whatwedo/programmes/elearning/developingdigitalliteracies.aspx> has identified the SEDA Summer School an opportunity to bring together staff within funded projects and staff from other institutions to discuss, share, and further extend their approaches to the development of digital literacies within their institutions.
Further we are offering 10 scholarship places. Each will pay £400 towards the cost of attending the event (full price £795). These scholarships are open to members of any institution normally eligible to receive JISC funding. To apply for a scholarship place, please:

·       Confirm that, if your scholarship application is successful, you will attend the Summer School;

·       Send  a note of some 500 words which explains the particular issue on which you will work with other participants at the Summer School (email to [log in to unmask]<mailto:[log in to unmask]>);

·       Participate with the intention to focus on developing digital literacies in your institution;

·       Agree to produce a short blog post on your reflections/actions from attending the event, to be posted on your project/personal blog or the JISC e-Learning blog site<http://elearningprogs.jiscinvolve.org/wp/>.

The deadline for scholarshipapplications is Monday the 30th April. Decisions will be notified early in May. For further information please contact [log in to unmask]  <mailto:[log in to unmask]> and Paul Bailey ([log in to unmask]<mailto:[log in to unmask]>)


5.2 The JISC Elevator is a new beta platform for people to pitch ideas for projects up to £10,000 using video and short descriptions. Once an idea hasbeen submitted to the site, people working and studying in UK higher and further education will be able to vote if they like the idea. When an idea receives the target number of votes then JISC will decide whether or not tofund the idea. Visit the JISC Elevator http://elevator.jisc.ac.uk/



JISC
http://www.jisc.ac.uk/fundingopportunities/futurecalls

5.3 The Higher Education Academy
http://www.heacademy.ac.uk/ourwork/learning/elearning/elro

5.4 Higher Education Academy Subject Centres
http://www.bioscience.heacademy.ac.uk/funding/tdf/

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