Are you contributing to @pelecon (April 2012)?

One of my favourite e-learning conferences, which interestingly has renamed itself ‘Excellence in Learning’ (rather than electronic learning) has produced it’s website, and you can see blog entries from previous events here: #pelc10, #pelc11.

Submit a Paper

As in previous years, the conference welcomes proposals for papers, workshops, symposia, panels and demonstrations from across all sectors of education and training, focusing on areas such as:

  • Emerging learning technologies
  • Classroom learning technology
  • New pedagogies and practices
  • Mobile learning, ambient and pervasive technologies
  • Games for learning
  • Multimedia applications
  • 3D Multi-User Virtual Environments
  • Social Media and social networking
  • Digital literacies
  • Digital identity

We are interested in hearing about innovative uses, best practice and case studies on the successful application of learning technologies, tools and media in authentic contexts.

Deadline for the receipt of 300 word abstract proposals and titles: January 9th, 2012

Ewan McIntosh #jiscel11

Live notes from the session (italics my thoughts, rest my notes): 

The danger of so much jargon in the world. I end up in 2 minds about this – sometimes it’s a shorthand that works for the community, but sometimes it excludes people.

Simon Cowell – how do we define his success – the amount of money he makes or the number of people he helps? In terms of education – how do we describe ‘success’ or learning.

University design – design for the person who will find it most difficult to use – in doing so – make it better for all.

Come up with an agreed definition of learning, so that we can all work towards making the experience great for all.

If struggling, it’s much nicer to struggle with someone else … the challenge of collaboration. But in HE still v much ineffective, and not real collaboration.

The danger of long-term plans. Incredibly hard for professionals to do, how can educationalists necessarily do this.

Look at what we want to say, to whom, and what do we want back from that person/what will that look like?

Team, do things together, networked gaming… people like to do things together. Facebook constructing knowledge with each other. People like them so engage, so they work…

Terry McAndrew: Academic collaboration with digital solutions in ‘spaces’ and networks can be recognised as good examples of scholarship with up-to-date educational practice under the new UKPSF http://www.heacademy.ac.uk/ukpsf. This is open to being informed by the informal networks and ‘grey literature’ as well as published resources. IMHO It just needs to be made explicit to help institutions develop Open Educational Practice recognition.

Twitter a mix between a collaborative space, but also a publishing space – bridges  the gap…

With 4000 creative ideas put forward – 1% succeed, and the ones that succeed have to fail a lot oftimes to reach that point…

Rather than being problem solvers, look at being the problem finders.

Less than 1% of the population take a PhD. Most people have 17 years of formal education before being asked to solve problems – those who have greatest ‘success’ tend to be those who can do this.

Parents, teacher and students have all been taught that way – so not exposed to problems.

When go into the ‘real world’ – spend a lot of time ‘un-educating’ youth from prestigious schools so as to become more creative.

Feedback – tends to vary by educators. Many times the educator is doing all the learning – and that has to stop. How do we remove barriers and hand over the process of learning to the students.

We imagined something different and we made it happen.

Combination of techniques allows people to be able to express what wanted to say.

Trust the children to go in the right direction, and give them a little guidance.  Far less structure than we get now. Definitely think we over-structure – leads to spoonfeeding & lack of responsibility.

Can HE institutions ever give up control of learning and will they survive if so…

When, as educators, do we know when it’s time to lead, and when it’s timet o get out of the way …

Educators – be prepared to ‘meddle’ in education. Does that sound too idealist? Should not say ‘pah, idealist’ – we need to try…

Take evidence from their situation and shape it… and that’s hard work.

The feedback from events – say that when you let go of learning – the proof is in the pudding … Let the students take control.

Terry McAndrew: I’m begining to feel that the elephant in the room is management expectations of ‘good teaching’. If those in charge of our metrics can be given means to quickly  capture these innovative successes then we may have better allies.

Sally Graham #2: @Mark R ‘The difficulty lies not in the new ideas, but in escaping from the old ones’ John Maynard Keynes

What personally are you going to do after this week full of information.  We want to be dreamers…

Notosh.com

Checking in with #JISCEL11

It’s nearly that time of year again, for the JISC ‘Innovating E-Learning’ conference, a conference which you could attend in your pyjamas if you like.. last year’s event was excellent!

For only £50, there’s the opportunity to listen to a number of experts present about the latest projects in technology enhanced learning, to connect and converse with a number of people.. and this can all fit around other things that you’re doing over the four days of the event.

As a super-delegate, I will be particularly active in the asynchronous forums, particularly important for me, as many of the sessions are ‘live’ at times that I can’t be, but I can listen to the recordings, see what people have already discussed, and then join in the discussions. To get a taster, JISC has an asynchronous radio show, with lots of recordings already in place.

There’s a great range of material. In the ‘Activity Week’ (next week), I’m particularly interested to see what Peerwise is/can do, to see Gradspace (which could complement what we’ve been developing with SkillsNet), practical guidelines for running virtual classrooms and a number of talks on digital literacy and mobile learning.

For the conference itself, I know I can make the opening keynote live ‘Towards a digital pedagogy’, and then it gets a little more difficult, as I’m running a couple of church events (so I KNOW I can’t attend anything live on Thursday), speaking at #digimanc (although I’m seeking space to join in with the closing keynote), running a Survey Monkey workshop and student tutorials. It’s a particularly packed week, and an interesting way of being able to stay engaged!!

Bex speaking at #vsn11: ‘Being Salt and Light in the Online World’

Here’s the talk I gave to the Visual Story Network in Edinburgh (14th April), the Prezi is here, and Andrew Flynn’s talk is here.

Getting in on the Twitter Action? Using Social Media to Build Your Professional Network #altc2011

http://www.sxc.hu/photo/1208884Themes: Broad Tents & Strange Bedfellows; Making Things Happen (ALTC11)

This paper has been accepted.

This paper reports on attempts by a digital steward (Wenger, White and Smith 2009) within a university to increase her expertise in the deployment of social media for education (Conole and Alevizo 2010), through collaboration by means of social media with digital stewards in other institutions. The development of collaborative communities can be described with the framework of ideas associated with the notion of a Community of Practice (CoP). It was envisaged that a CoP of utility to a digital steward might be established through intensive activity with a social media tool and for this Twitter was chosen.

This activity has continued for some two years and has latterly been cast as an action research project with the aim of learning lessons of help to others similarly placed having a need to promote digital technology with limited resources. Data has been collected about the extent of various types of interaction through Twitter. Observations have also been made of the cross-linking between social media tools that arises organically as one tries to make effective use of a single tool.

Several categories of data relating to Twitter use have been analysed in order to find indications of community formation. For example the similarity to the stated interests of the observed Twitter account of the interests of the account’s followers characterises the commonality (or lack of) purpose of the group. Further insight has been gained through examination of the extent of: interaction, both electronic and non-electronic, with followers; the retweeting of tweets by the account holder and the followers; and the accessing of linked material on other social media sites.

One implication of this work is that in an era of readily accessible social media there will be less utility for people to come together in a defined social space, but that they will rather start by using these facilities to create what might be called a personal CoP. Secondly it has been found that one social media tool by itself is unlikely to be adequate to create an effective social network; rather, several interlinked media must be used.

————————-

Conole, G. and Alevizo, P. (2010) A literature review of the use of Web 2.0 tools in Higher Education, Available from http://www.heacademy.ac.uk/assets/EvidenceNet/Conole_Alevizou_2010.pdf [Accessed 30/9/2010]

Wenger, E., White, N. and Smith, J. (2009) Digital Habitats: stewarding technology for communities Portland, Oregon, CPsquare.

D-ICE for Change: Applying Organisational Development Guidance to IT Projects #ALTC2011

http://www.sxc.hu/photo/1256359SHORT PAPER ABSTRACT ALTC-11 (Revised Submission)

Theme: Making It Happen

Submitted with Andy Wilson, University of Loughborough

This paper reports from the recent cross-institutional JISC-funded project ‘BODGIT’ (Bringing Organisational Development Guidance into IT), which was part of the larger EMBED IT project hosted by SEDA.[1] The implementation of new IT platforms or software is rarely regarded as a change project, but this workshop will encourage delegates to consider the application of Organisational Development strategies when undertaking such implementations.

All change projects involve people, and commonly heard phrases when attempting to implement new systems are: ‘… but this is the way we’ve always done it’, ‘but it was a good deal…’, ‘why do I have to change?’, ‘why is the change not faster?’, and ‘what are the benefits?’.  Often new schemes are tainted by previous failed ‘initiatives’ because a strategic and overarching policy approach has not been taken. With IT initiatives particularly, software systems are often implemented without strategy, policy or detailed project planning. Using the case study of a software implementation which was proving difficult, three universities were involved in discussions and workshops investigating opportunities to apply Organisational Development principles.

This paper will draw out the general findings from across the institutions. Different change models were discussed, including the PESTLE and MORTAR and DICE models.  Of key importance when undertaking any change project is the need to undertake a stakeholder analysis, whether those stakeholders be institutional, personal, or corporate. We will demonstrate the ‘Stakeholder Straplines’ exercise, drawing upon discussions from the workshops, and consider the differing approaches/tactics that need to be undertaken with different kinds of users: enthusiasts, pragmatists, traditionalists and New Luddites, especially with the current pressures upon staffing time.


Transforming Audiences Conference (via @davidgauntlett) [Abstract Deadline 3rd May]

DEADLINE FOR ABSTRACTS EXTENDED TO TUESDAY 3 MAY 2011

The conference organisers invite the submission of abstracts for papers. We will assemble these into themed panels, which will normally consist of three presentations of 15 minutes (maximum), each followed by at least five minutes of discussion.

Abstracts should highlight the original theoretical or empirical contribution.

Proposals for panels or alternative formats should include a 300 word overview as well as individual abstracts following the guidelines above.

All proposals should be sent by 3 May 2011 toTA3@westminster.ac.uk. Electronic submissions only.
(Any time before midnight at the end of 3 May, in whichever country you are in, is fine!)

Please attach to your email a document which contains everything we need to know, including the presenter’s name, institutional affiliation, title of paper, email and work address, as well as a 300 word abstract and brief biographical note (up to 70 words). Please send as a Word document, or RTF file. No other materials will be considered in the selection process.

Registration fee for the two days will be £270, for one day will be £175, including lunches and a wine reception. ICA, IAMCR and ECREA members will be given a preferential rate of £230 for the two day event. The special rate for postgraduate students will be £120 for the two day conference, or £70 per day.

Registration will open in June atwww.transformingaudiences.org.uk.”

Social Media and the University of Winchester

A talk given earlier today at Winchester’s L&T Day.

Be Salt & Light in the Online World #vsn11

The talk we’re just about to give:

Pre-Conference Fun for @thinkingdigital

Who else is going to Thinking Digital Conference this year? Looking forward to it, and there’s a chance to start the conversations beforehand with a conference profile (only viewable to conference delegates)… wonder who else I can find who at the less-geek/techie end of things…  See a video summarising last year’s conference!