Archive for the ‘Learning technology’ Category
Migration of a decade of eLearning R & D
March 5th, 2010
Please visit my current eLearning R & D page at:
www.elearning.mdx.ac.uk/research/
Over the next few weeks I will be migrating the many eLearning projects, research papers, presentations, book chapters, etc. to this new site.
Keep your eyes open and pass on the good word.
Dr. Anthony ‘Skip’ Basiel
Virtual Book Launch Event
February 11th, 2010
I gave a talk in Second Life, along with my collegue Dr. Simon Ball, on our chapter in the recent real-life book :
Virtual Book Launch Event in progress
“” ( available at Amazon 
)
We had little in terms of real research evidence to present in the chapter and at the session – the use of virtual worlds in education is so new. It was a good chapter and a good talk but I wanted to give more useful information, but, like everybody else, I will have to wait until the experts in the field of the mind begin their studies.
The conclusion we came to is: be aware that one persons immersive experience can be anothers stifling uncomfortable nightmare, so proceed with caution, but do it anyway!
Google becomes Goddle
February 3rd, 2010
When was the last time i wondered about something without Google being 
involved? The answer is about 11 years ago. No longer adept with reference books, I’m a horse trader shrewdly weighing up the URL and looking for the tell-tale signs of subjective tampering and hackery amongst the staggering hugeness of encyclopedia GooGlatica.
Like TV channels, more doesn’t mean better, just better is better hidden. But amongst the noise of blogs, Twitter and paradigm shifts such as Open Educational Resources, are we in fact uncovering a new openness, a willingless to share what before was kept private? So is it more and better or will we eventually become as we were before, an mis-informed mass of easily manipulated peasants going back to waving pitchforks and dunking suspected witches in the local pond? Or, as our brains are freed from the drugery of decades spent aquiring information, as we delegate that task to the wires that criss-cross the planet, we can use this new found free time to practice Thinking Very Well?
I think the answer is yes. The ignorant will still crave ignorance and scuttle towards that comfortable darkness. Those educated in enquiry will enquire and search endlessly for ultimate truths reconciled it is the journey not the destination which is important. Both options will just become easier to aquire that is all.
If future generations become feckless ignoramuses then I apologise.
Multimedia Information & Technology vol 36 no 1 is now available
February 1st, 2010
MMIT Group members should be able to download the journal from the Cilip website, if there are any difficulties, please contact the editor.
This issue of Multimedia Information & Technology has a new look and we’d much appreciate any feedback via the reader survey which is printed in the journal and which will also be posted to lis-mmit as well as appearing on this blog.
The February issue features an overview of MMIT Group’s conference on mobile learning, insights into the myriad of electronic means at our disposal to connect with customers or users, Lyndon Pugh on management practices on information services, Kate Lomax on Middlemash 2009, and two different perspectives on the Association for Learning Technology’s annual conference.
Olwen Terris reviews two books: Classification Made Simple and Reference Information Services in the 21st Century.
In the news section are the University of Leicester’s new Media Zoo for graduates, Edge 2010 conference on innovation in learning, a new media centre for the disabled, update on legislation in equality and disability rights, Google search for public statistical data, measuring illicit file sharing in ISP networks, TechXtra – a new research database for technology, epaper, an update on Bletchley Park’s internet exhibition, a round-up of RFID technology news and new films from the BFI.
Kevin Curran’s technology round-up includes a free software site, a way to protect your online data, Google’s new cloud eBooks, free unlimited music downloads and Bookarmy: a new social networking site, while Ken Cheetham carried out a thorough product test on IRISnotes, a pen and mobile notetaker.
Please contact the Managing Editor, Catherine Dhanjal with any comments or contributions.
Posted by Catherine Dhanjal, Managing Editor, Multimedia Information & Technology journal
Association for Learning Technology conference: call for proposals
January 21st, 2010
I’m an ex officio member of the Programme Committee for the Association for Learning Technology’s annual conference, ALT-C (September 2010), and thought some of you might be interested in submitting a proposal for the conference. This year’s theme is “Into something rich and strange” – making sense of the sea-change.
The call closes on Feb 15th at midnight GMT. We are keen to attract a good spread of submissions addressing the “Into something rich and strange” theme. Recent events in the funding area such as the Mandelson letter to HEFCE and the JISC announcements on capital funding make it even clearer that there is a sea change underway. While the tide may be out on which one is rich and which one is strange, there is no doubt that the theme is topical.
We are highlighting the following themes:
1. the changing paradigms and structures for learning;
2. increasing productivity and effectiveness, whilst mitigating risks;
3. responding to and shaping the organisational landscape;
4. meeting the changing expectations and needs of learners, employers, and society;
5. the changing design skills and knowledge needed to support learning and teaching with technology
Visit to find out more about the conference and to to make a submission.
Posted by Catherine Dhanjal, Managing Editor, Multimedia Information and Technology journal
Polk County Public Schools: A K-12 e-Learning Success Story
January 6th, 2010
Polk County Public Schools, located in Florida, is the winner of the “2008 Blackboard K-12 Video Contest.”
In Polk County’s video, district administrators, staff members, teachers, and students explain why they use Blackboard technology for professional development and to increase the sense of engagement both students and teachers feel in the learning process.
For more information about Polk County Public Schools, please visit
For more information about the uses of Blackboard technology in K-12 schools, please visit
Second Life ate my Hampster!
January 4th, 2010
The Subject Centre where I work gets some linkage from the 17th’s post , a round up of Second Life/virtual world things:
There have been recent reports of the of Second Life to live up to the hype, but the potential of virtual worlds – multi-user virtual environments (MUVEs) – is still being explored in education. It is perhaps Second Life’s potential as a First Life marketplace that has failed to live up to the hype.
Worth a read.
Good that the hype has died down. The idea and the potential still remain long after the “Second Life ate my Hampster” copywriters have moved on. Its good we got a mention and a citation – all good for business – if people are now asking “so what is it all about?” we are in a slightly better than the average position to say, which is our job!
My long standing gripe with the whole SL thing is that the very people who have never even tried SL are the ones slagging it off – incredible! It was easier to persuade those same people about the commercial Internet 15 years ago than it was with SL. I’m generalising wildly, but I think the reason for that is its a generational thing. The Internet was new for everybody of all ages. But the virtual world, or indeed, virtuality generally, is harder to grasp for older people.
Second Life Book: My blatant act of self-publicity
December 18th, 2009
You might consider this book if you’d like to better understand the use of 3D worlds in education:
“Higher Education in Virtual Worlds Teaching and Learning in Second Life”
It’s a bit pricy but it has a small solid gold ingot inlaid in the inside front cover* and jewels (of insight that is) on every page from about 16 different authors active in SL, the most notable amongst them being Rob Pearce**
Notes:
* this is not true.
** Rob who?
Teaching With Twitter: Not for the Faint of Heart
November 27th, 2009
|Jeffrey R. Young | The Chronicle of Higher Education | 27 November, 2009
Students are emboldened, but they can also hijack discussions. Maybe Sugato Chakravarty should wear a helmet to class. The professor of consumer sciences and retailing at Purdue University repeatedly attempts the instructional equivalent of jumping a motorcycle over a row of flaming barrels.
OK, asking 250 students to post questions on Twitter during a class doesn’t risk life or limb. But it can cause ego damage if the mob of students in his course on personal finance gets disorderly online.
All write now
November 20th, 2009
Words in red, blue, green and orange. Long words, short words. A rapidly thickening jungle of words. All in eager response to a simple question: “What do you think?” People were obviously having fun even though some had only just got to the office, some were in their pyjamas and one brave soul had stayed up all night just to be able to attend. This is the reality of modern learning. As led the session from his Norwegian hotelroom, 160 people from round the globe explored the dichotomies of learning in relation to economic/business requirements. The focus was completely on the questions, not the technology. (the platform being used) functioned as smoothly as any physical classroom – and had more ‘equipment’ (tools) than most. There are even public GoogleWave records of proceedings with ongoing debates – just search on #learntrends. At long last, we can just get on with learning when and where we want.
Thank you to all at !