Association for Learning Technology
Fortnightly news Digest 279 issued on 26 July 2013
Please submit items for the ALT Fortnightly Digest, including job vacancies, via the form at http://goo.gl/LlJ3y. 

The deadline for the next issue of the Digest is 12.00 on Wednesday 07 August for the Digest to be issued on Friday 09 August 2013. 

Key links: http://www.alt.ac.uk/key-links

Table of Contents
1. ALT news
2. ALT events
3. News
4. Other events
5. Calls for proposals
6. Funding calls
7. Open Educational Resources
8. Job vacancies 
9. Courses
10. ALT Online Newsletter - links to articles from the latest Issue 
11. Current articles from the ALT Journal - Research in Learning Technology 

1. ALT News

1.1 New Organisational Members of ALT
We warmly welcome FRA (Fashion Retail Academy (www.fashionretailacademy.ac.uk) and Learning Unlimited (http://www.learningunlimited.co.uk) as new Organisational Members of ALT.

1.2 MOOC: Love it - Engage magazine (Summer 2013)
New article by Maren Deepwell, Chief Executive of ALT.
http://goo.gl/rO19sV

1.3 Call for expressions of interest to join the CMALT Development Group
ALT is looking to appoint up to three new members to the CMALT Development Group (CDG) for September 2013. We are particularly encouraging expressions of interest from individuals based outside the UK and those who have a background in Further Education and Adult Learning.
http://goo.gl/DFSXp

1.4 Call for Expressions of Interest to join ALT's Operational Committees
ALT wishes to fill several vacancies on its main operational committees. In all cases this is for an initial three year term.
http://goo.gl/xefkZ

1.5 Early call for expressions of interest in Chairing the 2015 ALT Conference
ALT's Trustees are seeking an experienced Chair (or up to 3 Co-Chairs) for the 2015 Conference Programme Committee and its executive, who will play a major role in planning and delivery of ALT's 22nd annual conference in 2015.
http://goo.gl/NY2OT

1.6 Robin Mason Fellowships
ALT has set up a fund to commemorate Robin Mason’s life. The purpose of the fellowship fund is to support researchers who cannot otherwise come to the annual conference. You can now contribute to the fund at
http://www.alt.ac.uk/robinmasonfellowships

1.7 Any employee of an ALT member organisation is entitled to join ALT individually at no cost as an Associate Member. You can do this in seconds from http://goo.gl/fOCYC


2. ALT events

2.1 altc2013: Building new cultures of learning, 10–12 September 2013, Nottingham
The 20th annual conference of the Association for Learning Technology (ALT) sets out to explore and contribute to building new cultures of learning. From learning tailored to the requirements of one individual to courses educating tens of thousands, the conference will examine evolving learning cultures.
For more information and to book: http://goo.gl/iXkxq

2.2 CMALT Webinar for Candidates, 29 August, 12:30-13:30 BST
The session is designed to provide information and support to candidates looking to complete their portfolios in the next few months.
http://goo.gl/5HvqR0

2.3 Developing Digital Literacies pre-conference webinar, 30 August, 12:30-13:30 BST
This webinar will look at some of the long-term trends behind the digital literacies agenda, with reference to outcomes from the JISC Developing Digital Literacies programme and beyond. 
http://goo.gl/Vbp6b


3. News

3.1 MERLOT Journal of Online Learning and Teaching, 9(1) published
Volume 9, Issue 1 of the MERLOT Journal of Online Learning and Teaching (JOLT) has been published and is available online at http://jolt.merlot.org/. In this issue you will find 12 peer-reviewed scholarly articles relating to various aspects of online learning and teaching.
http://bit.ly/1bcKJS9

3.2 Digital Literacies Toolkit
eLanguages at the University of Southampton have created a Digital Literacies Toolkit aimed at helping students explore the educational uses of Web 2.0 tools and develop good practice in the use of social software and the internet. http://goo.gl/8QMfL

3.3 OER14 Organising Committee – Call for Members
Following a highly successful OER13 conference we are delighted to have the continued support of ALT to deliver OER14. We would greatly appreciate it if you would consider joining the OER14 organising committee. Most meetings are virtual (using Adobe Connect) approximately once a month. 
To sign up to the organising committee of OER14 please join [log in to unmask] at http://bit.ly/ZllGUJ
Or email Megan at [log in to unmask] 


4. Events

4.1 New technologies for schools, 09 September 2013
This seminar will bring out latest thinking on the use of technology in education - including examples of current best practice, and the potential for expanding and improving the use of technology in teaching, learning and assessment.
http://goo.gl/aKr2W

4.2 One Day event - Academic Communities in Scotland: awareness, participation, recognition, 19 September 2013
This event aims to build our academic and educational development communities in Scotland by bringing together interested individuals and relevant organisations to discuss closer collaboration and potential joint activity.
http://goo.gl/6dM3Q

4.3 Associate of Colleges Learning Technology Conference 2013, London, 01 October 2013
Learning technologies are firmly on the political agenda and the use of technology to improve learning and, potentially, to reduce costs is becoming of increasing and importance to Colleges. This one day conference, delivered in association with the Association for Learning Technology, is timely and important for all Colleges.
http://goo.gl/TFZ8Iw

4.4 European Immersive Education Summit in London, 28-29 November 2013
The invited keynote presenters for the forthcoming European Immersive Education Summit have been announced. The summit will take place at King's College London on 28th-29th November 2013. For further information see the summit website at: http://goo.gl/un35c


5. Calls for proposals

5.1 Call for papers: Key Competencies in Informatics and ICT, Germany, July 2014
Deadline for submissions: Jan 2014
The conference will be organized into strands focusing on secondary education, university education and teacher education and is accompanied by parallel conference streams of WG3.4 on Educating ICT Professionals and WG3.7 on Implications and Issues for Educational Management.
http://goo.gl/6JIsCn

5.2 Deadline extended for London Immersive Education (iED) Summit
To allow enough time for authors to submit their papers to the iED London summit, the deadline for papers has now been extended to 23rd August 2013 (originally 26th July). 
http://goo.gl/nPhTN
http://goo.gl/cgDvf


6. Funding calls

6.1 MOOC Research - Call for Proposals
MOOC Research Initiative (MRI) is to award grants in the range of $10,000 – $25,000 to explore the potential of MOOCs to extend access to postsecondary credentials through more personalized, more affordable pathways. The grant is lead and administered by Athabasca University. 
http://goo.gl/dNNWN


7. Open Educational Resources

7.1 Jisc RSC East Midlands summer conference resources
Resources have been made available from our Insight series via our Moodle platform (no login required). This year we flipped our summer conference and ran a series of 10 live online webinars followed by the opportunity to attend a face-to-face workshop. Recordings and resources cover topics such as Flipped Learning, using tablet devices, NFC tags, Augmented Reality, Inspection, BYOD, apps and lots more.
http://bit.ly/insight-resources


8. Jobs

8.1 Association for Learning Technology, Oxford
Administration Officer
456/13628/AW
£19,056 rising annually to £20,764
Closing date: 26 July 2013
Informal enquiries to: 01865 484125
http://goo.gl/j8xTm

8.2 Institute of Educational Technology, The Open University
Research Associate
9158
£30,424 – £36,298
Full time
Closing date: 08 August 2013
Informal enquiries to: [log in to unmask]
http://goo.gl/0xDuJg

8.3 Computer Centre, University of London
Software Services Project Manager
047/13
£39,516 - £46,741
Permanent
Closing date: 08 August 2013
Informal enquiries to: [log in to unmask] 
http://goo.gl/3lTvRM

8.4 Unit for the Enhancement of Learning and Teaching (UELT), University of Kent
Faculty Learning Technologist
OTR0729
£31,331 - £36,298
Full time and Open-ended
Closing date: 11 August 2013
Informal enquiries to: [log in to unmask] 
http://www.kent.ac.uk/jobs/

8.5 Centre for Academic Practice, Queen Margaret University
Learning technologist
CVCP004B
£26,264 - £29,541 (progression possible to £32,267)
Full time
Closing date: 16 August 2013
Informal enquiries to: [log in to unmask] 
http://goo.gl/jy7a5Q

8.6 Information Services Directorate, University of East Anglia
Head of Learning Technology
ALC381
£38,522 - £44,607 per annum
Full time, Permanent
Closing date: 23 August 2013
Informal enquiries to Steve Jackman: 01603 597615 | [log in to unmask]
http://goo.gl/D0zPT4

8.7 There is a regular supply of mainly US jobs in the learning
technology field at http://www.salt.org/salt.asp?ss=l&pn=joblistall,
with a helpful RSS feed at http://www.salt.org/Weblink/SaltJobs.rss.


9. Courses

9.1 MSc in Technology Enhanced Learning
It's not too late to apply for the MSc TEL at University of Huddersfield. This well established course delivered using online and 6 Saturday Day Schools enables you to gain recognition for your elearning expertise with support and guidance on studying at masters level.
http://bit.ly/XI3JlE

9.2 MSc Learning Innovation, University of Leicester
The University of Leicester's Institute of Learning Innovation and School of Education is excited to announce the new MSc Learning Innovation, beginning October 2013, which will be delivered by distance learning. The first 12 full-fee-paying students to register will receive an iPad mini for use in their studies.
http://goo.gl/2mxcR


10. ALT Online Newsletter

The newsletter website is at: http://newsletter.alt.ac.uk/

Latest Articles

Article – “What’s not to like? A review of ‘The e-Learning Reader’”
Dr Liz Bennett
http://goo.gl/nxpZ9J

Article – “Let students judge: assessing nebulous knowledge”
Ian Jones
http://goo.gl/SVmMR

Article – “Chief Executive’s Report”
Maren Deepwell
http://goo.gl/0mzCo

Article – “Developing digital literacies in the Curriculum”
Helen Beetham
http://goo.gl/WqQOA


11. Current articles from our peer-reviewed Open Access journal Research in Learning Technology

The journal website is at: http://www.researchinlearningtechnology.net/

Latest Articles

Article – “Redesigning professional development: reconceptualising teaching using social learning technologies”
Thomas Cochrane, Vickel Narayan
http://goo.gl/eEQLZ
DOI: 10.3402/rlt.v21i0.19226

Article – “Teaching with student response systems (SRS): teacher-centric aspects that can negatively affect students’ experience of using SRS”
Kjetil L. Nielsen, Gabrielle Hansen, John B. Stav
http://goo.gl/UWGDw
DOI: 10.3402/rlt.v21i0.18989

Article – “Experience of developing Twitter-based communities of practice in higher education”
Bex Lewis, David Rush
http://goo.gl/NPCGQ
DOI: 10.3402/rlt.v21i0.18598

Article – “Introducing blended learning: An experience of uncertainty for students in the United Arab Emirates”
Linzi J. Kemp
http://goo.gl/QU9KO
DOI: 10.3402/rlt.v21i0.18461

Article – “Combining the formative with the summative: the development of a twostage online test to encourage engagement and provide personal feedback in large classes”
Susanne Voelkel
http://goo.gl/47gwu
DOI: 10.3402/rlt.v21i0.19153

Article – “Is it cheating – or learning the craft of writing? Using Turnitin to help students avoid plagiarism”
Lynne Graham-Matheson, Simon Starr
http://goo.gl/MGaZz
DOI: 10.3402/rlt.v21i0.17218


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The digest returns on 09 August 2013. All items for inclusion in the next issue should be submitted using the form at http://goo.gl/LlJ3y by 12.00 noon on Wednesday 07 August 2013. This issue was compiled by those who submitted content for it, and very lightly edited by Heather Stallard.
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Disclaimer. Reasonable care is taken to ensure that the ALT Digest is accurate. But ALT does not vouch for the accuracy of information provided on web sites to which the digest links, and opinions expressed on those sites should not be construed to be those of ALT.