JISC RSC Northwest e-Learning Focus Recognising Your Innovation Become one of a select few to receive a prestigious JISC RSC Northwest Recognition of Innovation (ROI) Award 2012. For the second year running these awards will celebrate the work of learning providers that have used technology in an innovative way.
Winning entries will be awarded at the RSC Northwest’s Annual event this summer and will be publicised in all communications. Nominations are sought within teaching and learning or on the business systems side of a provider’s activity. Projects must be submitted by April 27 2012 by those leading on it, someone who has
benefited from the innovation or a witness of the ventures success. JISC RSC Northwest Manager, Rachel Fligelstone says; “The RSC is committed to recognising and promoting the innovative use of technology to support and improve learning and management throughout the North West. Whether your developments are relatively modest, or have a wider impact, across your organisation, we would like to hear about as many engaging projects as possible. These awards are all about recognising the hard work of those involved”. Last year’s award winners included; a ‘green’ project by Warrington College that saved 221 tons of CO2 by reducing electricity consumption, the dynamic use of Moodle for Blackburn College’s catering course and Myerscough College’s creation of USB sticks with apps to support all students, including those with learning difficulties. To submit an award please click here.
eLF-4LPs
February/ March 2012 RSCs - stimulating and supporting innovation in learning
In this issue…
A Vision of the Future at Kendal College P3
Accessibility Forum Show + Tell P4 +5
£1.4m Funding for FE + Skills Sector P5
Winstanley College’s iPad experiment P6
Free upcoming Events P6
More eLearning resources P7
Our Resource Recommend Each issue we will be suggesting helpful weblinks or apps for teaching and learning. eLearning advisor Anthony Beal explains what he likes about itunes u. Do you want reliable, free information that engages your learners?
Itunes U is: Free Media rich A guaranteed academic source that can be referenced Curriculum and level relevant – vocational and academic material that’s not “all from universities” Inspirational – many top entrepreneurs tell their story Already in many learners pockets. You just need to unlock the potential http://www.apple.com/ education/itunes-u/ For more information you can email Anthony on ab@rsc-northwest.ac.uk. For a host of other online resources/ eLearning tools click here
Learning providers enthused about new technology The Outstanding Technologies for Teaching and Learning event proved popular with delegates 93% of feedback given rated it as excellent or good (69% said it was excellent).
A group session on Xtranormal
The event held last month at Lancaster University was jointly planned by The Cumbria PRD Group with JISC RSC Northwest and LSIS. It brought together over 60 delegates from across the region to demonstrate outstanding technologies, improve teachers/trainers knowledge with innovative ideas; and improve teaching and learning experiences. JISC RSC Northwest eLearning Advisor Colin Gallacher, who led the RSC NW team running the event said; “Our aim was to demonstrate the simplicity for ‘non techie’ staff to transform existing learning materials into dynamic
resources and how everyday technology might enhance their teaching practice. We are very pleased that the feedback and uptake for the follow up on-line event clearly shows that aim has been achieved.” The programme revolved around short sessions on ‘How Can I’; make animated movies with XtraNormal, use Prezi instead of PowerPoint, learn to love i-Apps, use Google Docs and ProProfs quizzes and reach distance learners with Skype. A large show of hands at the end of the workshops indicated that most people were going to try out the new technology. Blackburn College’s eLearning coordinator, Xiaoxia Wang said; “I found the tools really useful and I plan to use them. Proprofs is a better one than Moodle quiz and I want to build it into our staff development.” Staffordshire University Academic Skills Tutor Librarian, Shaun Coates added; "What we liked was that it was easy to learn, free and you don't have to be technical.“
A Vision Of the Future with Kendal College - by Judy Bloxham Students looking at Kendal College’s 2012 prospectus are in for a groundbreaking treat as photos literally come to life and start talking about what it’s like to study there when scanned with a smart phone.
reality project. With his guidance the learners built an interactive tourist guide to Kendal in just three days.
While researching this project, Dan was shown the work of a company called Aurasma. It was These Augmented Reality exactly what he wanted, a images are the brainchild way to bring images to life. of Dan Hodge, a lecturer in Dan contacted the graphic design at the company and by the Point you camera at this image college. weekend he had virtual and watch it come to life by statues standing in his downloading the Aurasma app He began by exploring QR Kendal garden. codes after visiting the to an iPhone, iPad or android London degree showcases He took his demo to phone. You also need to search but soon found that Kendal College’s and subscribe to augmented reality could Director of Curriculum, ‘RSCNorthwest’ in channels. capture much more. Maggie Cawthorn, who Inspired by how it was said to marketing “we’ve It was something they being used to bring movie got to have this.” This had never seen before, posters to life at the began six frantic weeks of and when an image Cannes Film Festival, Dan development that resulted suddenly started to tell was hooked. in the production of the them what it was like to world’s first augmented study at Kendal ColAt the time he was running reality prospectus for a lege, it resulted in the a one week summer college. most incredulous looks. school and his enthusiasm News of it spread spread to his learners, Dan delighted in telling resulting in an augmented worldwide and the them “this is the real development was future, next year it will reported in blogs and be everywhere, and tweets from Australia to you’ll be able to say Japan. you saw it here first!” At the ‘Big Bang in a Box’ event highlighting The Kendal College app work by Cumbrian is available to download colleges, apprentices free from both iTunes and STEM businesses and the android marketlast year, the reaction place. To watch a video on the Kendal from the visiting pupils College prospectus click here was wonderful to watch.
How do you Communicate? We are interested in finding out how our learning providers communicate so we can ensure our various communication channels are organised in a way that meets your requirements. We value your feedback so please take a few minutes (510) to fill in this survey. To thank you for spending the time doing it, all completed entries will be put into a prize draw to win one of three £50 Amazon vouchers. Entries will close on Friday 9th March at 5pm. Winners will be informed shortly afterwards and details will be made available on the RSC website.
Access NW Show and Tell From braille converters to a video site for dyslexic students, ten colleges had a chance to share the technology they use to make teaching more accessible and inclusive when they met last month. The AccessNW Accessibility Forum ‘show and tell’ session at Lancaster and Morecombe College was the third time the new group had got together to discuss ideas and best practice. The forum was set up by JISC RSC Northwest for any representatives from specialist colleges and anyone with an interest in Accessibility, Inclusion and Additional Learner Support in post 16 Education, based in the North West. Lisa Featherstone from JISC Tech DISC started off the meeting by giving the
25 attendees an overview of the latest developments from TechDis. She spoke about available resources including; SimDis which simulates conditions such as dyslexia, autism and visual impairments, the OASES resources for benchmarking accessibility practices within an organisation and a high quality Synthetic Voice – soon to be available for staff and students of post 16 education to use with any text to speech application such as Dspeech, Balabolka and Orato. During the show and tell session Claire Jacob from Preston College showed the group a tactile image enhancer which converts text and images on a document into raised areas. This makes it ideal for producing documents in a braile format along with tactile diagrams and maps. She said, “We’ve been using this since September and it really works for students. They like it and we have a lot of use for it.”
Preston College’s Claire Jacob shows documents made by the tactile image enhancer (above and top)
Other equipment included a live scribe pen which records audio alongside handwritten notes, an epen used to
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convert written notes on paper into digital text on a computer, a portable scanner which is used to quickly and conveniently save printed documents and books as digital text, and accessibility and communication apps for iPad and android tablets. RSC Northwest e-Learning adviser, Kevin Hickey who hosts the forum said; “With a lot of these things people often buy the technology first and then figure out how to use it afterwards. My advice is to try it out first and get students to play with it and find new ways of using these devices.” “Today has been great as it’s given the opportunity for everyone to test out each other’s ‘toys’ and get a good understanding of what works and why it’s helpful for students.” Helen Redmad from Tameside college, one of many who contacted the RSC with ideas for taking things further, said; “I really enjoyed the event and came away enthused and with lots of ideas of how we can improve the use of technology at our college.”
£1.4 million funding for FE+ Skills sector Proposals are being sought by JISC Advance for a £1.4million project to enhance or repurpose existing resources to be used in the FE and skills sector across the UK. The opportunity is split into two strands:
Apply existing resources (from JISC or elsewhere) to work and adapt for needs
Identify gaps in resources or current uses for technology leading to the development of additional resources for the sector
To learn more about the funding (incl. FAQ’s and applications) visit: http://bit.ly/fes-drp
Events (all free!)
Promoting your Library service with Technology Our third event in a four part series aimed at library staff Online event, Monday March 5th 10-11:30am
The iPad experiment Twenty one Winstanley College staff are test driving iPads to explore their potential use as a teaching aid and for the organisation.
app for gifted and talented students and software to help students who were dyslexic.
The Wigan college’s Network Manager Mike Woods, who instigated the project, said it was an opportune time to try out the tablets as the College is building a new Learning Resource Centre in September and iPads were a consideration.
IT teacher, Pat Smith added during the review; “I can see a lot of benefits for revision but I didn’t see enough A-level apps, it was much more the GCSE level.”
Encouraging Learner Independence This is part of a webinar series which will introduce four key areas where technology can help embed inclusive practice. Online event, Tuesday March 20th 2-3pm
E-portfolio “One More Time” Aimed at enabling Work Based Learning providers to choose and use e-portfolio. Thursday April 19th, full day, UCLAN Westleigh Conference Centre, Preston
Initial Teacher Training For teacher graduates or teacher trainers to establish support groups and get guidance on technology in the classroom. Wednesday, April 25th, Westleigh Conference Centre, full day, Preston, email ma@rscnorthwest.ac.uk To book or find out more information on all up-coming events visit: www.jiscrsc.ac.uk/ northwest/events
She said; “I would prefer an iPad to a PC as you could be more mobile and if there was an individual student who had problems you could go over to them with the iPad to show them what to do rather than have to include the whole class.”
“There were lots of online magazines though which were cheaper than buying
The first group of seven staff volunteers took the iPads home over the Christmas break and another two groups are trialling the tablets during the February and Easter holidays. Psychology teacher, Katie Allan, who was in the first feedback group this month reviewed a number of iPad apps that she felt would be handy in lessons. These included; the interactive blackboard Screen Chomp, the TED
Mike Woods will review teacher feedback on iPads.
Safer Internet
hard copy and a lot of text books which are going on-line. I downloaded a whole Shakespeare collection in minutes.” In tandem with the group feedback, an Art teacher and Biology teacher who could see particular benefits for using iPads for teaching will be using them in a 3 week pilot this month. Mr Woods says; “We will be reviewing all the feedback but we wouldn’t consider giving all staff an iPad, we would want departments to bid for the technology so they use it.”
JISC RSC Northwest celebrated Safer Internet Day (SID), held on February 7 2012 by discussing and providing material on four hot topics . Under the banner of connecting generations the themes promoted safer and more responsible use of online and other technologies for all ages. E-learning adviser, John Dalziel says; “The online world is an exciting place to be but it’s not without its dangers. We wanted to provide helpful information so that all generations can enjoy today’s technology safely - and we’ve had really good feedback.”
Day The resources available are:
e-Reputation Dating and GPS sites Communication using Social Media Social Media in the news
Resources include pdf, audio files or video clips for your own teaching or learning purposes. To view or download these files visit: There were a lot of www.jiscrsc.ac.uk/ northwest/publications/ safeguarding.aspx
More e-Learning
Resources
For more on using new and emerging technologies visit:
www.scoop.it/t/ technologies
www.searcheeze.c om/p/acljohn/ elearning-toolsresources-etc
To read our blogs visit:
For an eMagazine or eBook library on eLearning initiatives and good practice click here:
www.jiscrsc.ac.uk/ northwest/ news.aspx
www.jiscrsc.ac.uk/ northwest/ publications
To view a curated site of eLearning tools and resources go to:
RSC Northwest team... Administrator Christine Hulme admin@rscnorthwest.ac.uk eLearning Advisers John Dalziel (Adult & Community Learning; PCDL & OLASS) jd@rsc-northwest.ac.uk Colin Gallacher (Work Based Learning) cg@rsc-northwest.ac.uk Kevin Hickey (Inclusion) kh@rsc-northwest.ac.uk Anita Holt (Further Education) ah@rsc-northwest.ac.uk Judy Bloxham (Further Education) jb@rsc-northwest.ac.uk Hilary Thomas (Higher Education) ht@rsc-northwest.ac.uk Anthony Beal ab@rsc-northwest.ac.uk Mark Ayton ma@rsc-northwest.ac.uk Keith Wilson (Technology & MIS) kwil@rscnorthwest.ac.uk Events Co-ordinator Sandra Harris sh@rsc-northwest.ac.uk Information Officer Michelle Hyland mh@rsc-northwest.ac.uk
Eduroam for internet ease Carmel College has joined a growing list of providers who are using eduroam to access the internet because it allows students, staff and visitors to connect without requesting usernames or passwords.
Eduroam stands for education roaming and is a secure world-wide roaming service. There are now 91 colleges and Universities
using it across England. It allows connectivity across a campus or when visiting other participating institutions. Carmel College decided to implement eduroam because the campus was already under redevelopment and there was the opportunity to significantly upscale the cross– college IT infrastructure. Click here for more info on the technical requirements of eduroam or visit Carmel College’s website: www.carmel.ac.uk/roaming
Case Studies We work with Excellence Gateway to produce case studies of using technology effectively to improve curriculum design, management and delivery.
Take a look at these case studies on good epractice. If you think you could be a case study email Michelle at mh@rsc-northwest.ac.uk
Twitter: @jiscrscnw
www.jiscrsc.ac.uk/northwest
2nd Floor Bailrigg House, Lancaster University, Lancaster. LA1 4YE Phone: 01524 510067 Fax: 01524 593798
admin@rsc-northwest.ac.uk
All JISC RSC Northwest staff contribute to the online newsletter. If you have a story you want to share or have any feedback, email the Editor Michelle Hyland at: mh@rsc-northwest.ac.uk ‘Please don’t print unless you need to’