Appologies to those of you who will get this more than once ... Phil -------- Original Message -------- Subject: [VLES] VLE Online Conference Date: Thu, 27 Nov 2003 14:54:11 +0100 From: Geoff Minshull <[log in to unmask]> Reply-To: Virtual Learning Environments <[log in to unmask]> To: [log in to unmask] VLEs: Beyond The Fringe... And Into The Mainstream Ferl is organising this online conference, to be held 28th January to 4th February 2004. The conference is aimed at all those involved in working with VLEs, including schools, FE and HE. The conference will have two themes running through it: · Cultural change - from learners to managers, with a keynote paper by Grainne Conole, of the University of Southampton · Implementation and Staff Development, with a keynote by Peter Kilcoyne, of West Midlands Regional Support Centre. As well as these, there are various other papers and presentations, and a number of Ask the Expert sessions. Contributors include: · James Clay, Western Colleges Consortium, on the centralised management and support of a common VLE across five colleges · Chris Kelland, Becta, on using NLN materials in your VLE · Megan Robertson, Stoke SFC, on using a VLE to support and enhance learning · Mandy Hayward, Hertford Regional College, on using a VLE to increase achievement and manage student learning · Claire Gill and Simon Shaw from Becta, on specifying and purchasing VLEs from a schools' perspective · CETIS, "Demystifying learning standards" · TechDis and Sara Dunn, "VLEs and accessibility" · Richard Everett, Oaklands College, "MLEs: Changing the accommodation to reflect the new pedagogy - a strategy" · James Dalziel, Macquarie University, Australia, "The Next E-learning Revolution: Learning Activity Sequences" · and many others. There is a delegate fee of £50 (with discounts for bulk registrations). For many people, this will be cheaper than many "free" conferences - no travel to pay, no hotel rooms to book. What do you get for the money? · Access to a large number of papers about VLEs, written by some of the foremost practitioners in the UK. · Discussions with the authors, lasting a lot longer than the usual face to face workshop sessions. · Ask the expert sessions, a Q and A with recognised experts in their field. · The opportunity to share experiences, online, with all the other delegates, over an intensive eight day period. · The chance to visit the online suppliers exhibition area. · The ability to attend flexibly, fitting your participation around your work and leisure. However, do remember that an online conference is a real conference. You don't have to travel there, you aren't there physically, so you save a lot of time in that sense. It's not live, so you can't really miss a session. But it is likely to be very busy, and to keep up with the discussions you will need to set aside time to login and read them. You won't be able to fit it in during a 15 minute tea break between classes. On the other hand, you can work around your classes to login when convenient. But it will take time, and we would recommend that you spend at least 1 - 2 hours a day at the conference. This will allow you to keep up with debates and the volume of messages coming in. If you're interested, visit the conference web site which has more information on the presenters, a FAQ explaining how the conference will work, and, most important, the online booking form. The site is at: http://ferl.becta.org.uk/display.cfm?resID=6293 Geoff Minshull Direct Learn Training Online services to education, project management and evaluation, VLEs, deafness/disability consultancy, online conferencing Web: http://www.directlearn.co.uk/ - last updated 11.11.03 Tel: 00 34 972 294 202 -------- End Original Message -------- -- Phil Barker Learning Technology Adviser ICBL, School of Mathematical and Computer Sciences Mountbatten Building, Heriot-Watt University, Edinburgh, EH14 4AS Tel: 0131 451 3278 Fax: 0131 451 3327 Web: http://www.icbl.hw.ac.uk/~philb/