Newsbytes 28

newsbytes Issue 28– Spring 2009

Stimulating and supporting innovation in learning

E-Fair 2009 - a new year, new venue, new campus...

College entrance to new campus at EFC

Contents 1

e-Fair 2009 - a new year, new venue, new campus...

2

Excellence Gateway update JISC Digital Media

3

e-skills: One year on... e-Books

4

Sustainable ICT: Green is good Green ICT resources

5

City College Norwich scoops AoC accolade RSC Eastern media

Friday 3rd July will be the date of the year as the 9th annual e-Fair will be held at the brand new campus of Epping Forest College. As with previous years this unmissable free event will be the scene for a wide range of activities and free resources.

Examples include Information Advice and Guidance (IAG), accreditation of the e-Skills package provided by RSC Eastern and many more. There will also be a range of workshops.

Examples include Internet TV, Virtual Worlds and e-skills.

Our key note speaker who will be opening the e-Fair is Lawrie Phipps, Programme Manager of the JISC Users and Innovation Team. Lawrie is a scintillating presenter and we are sure that everyone will enjoy his talk “Accidental Staff Development through Technology”.

The popular exhibition area will include a wide range of JISC and associated services. Delegates can explore in depth the features and applications of these valuable sources of information, advice and resources.

Throughout the day there will be a wide range of ‘Show and Tell’ which are drop in sessions to see in-house developments created by providers from across the region. Every year the range and quality of which has been consistently impressive.

(Continued next page...)

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Xerte Online Toolkits Publications

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JISC RSC e-Safety and ITT blogs e-Safety and ITT resources

8

Mobile Learning - a way of life Mobile Learning Resources

JISC Digital Media JISC Digital Media (formerly known as TASI) is a JISC Advisory Service, which provides advice, guidance and training to the UK’s Further and Higher Education community on: •

Creating digital media resources specifically still images, moving images and sound resources

•

Delivering digital media resources to users

•

Using digital media resources to support teaching, learning and research

•

Managing both small and large scale digitisation projects

On the site you will also find an online help desk. Here, you can post any questions regarding the use of digital media from design right through to post-production.

To ak as question you can contact the helpdesk via: info@jiscdigitalmedia.ac.uk Alternatively visit the website for info via: http://www.jiscdigitalmedia.ac.uk/ You can also keep up to date with their latest work via: Blog (Use of VLEs with digital media http://tinyurl.com/96vbpw Twitter: http://tinyurl.com/dyqwyo

Out of the over 100 attendees at last year’s e-Fair, there was a range of feedback which included: “I am always inspired when I attend the e-Fair. There is so much innovative practice happening out there.”

“One of the most useful events relating to work that I have been on for a long time.”

“Excellent –my first visit, I will be back.”

Another attraction of attending is the opportunity to enter into the prize draw where useful equipment such as digital cameras and others of use to support teaching and learning will be included.

Bookings are open at: http://tinyurl.com/e-Fair2009

Gerard Hayes RSC Eastern Manager g.hayes@rsc-eastern.ac.uk

Bookings close 5th June 2009

Excellence Gateway update The Learning Skills and Improvement Service (a QIA and CEL partnership) has seen the Excellence Gateway enjoy a refreshing new facelift. Aside the pleasing aesthetics and usability, there is also a wealth of new resources online for members to access.

They include: • • • • •

Teaching and Learning Materials e-Learning Best Practice Case Studies Skills for Life resources Train 2 Gain resources and much more....

Another major addition to the Excellence Gateway is EGTV. This is an online video resource, research and created by LSIS. There is a selection of good practice video case studies covering a variety of topics such as learning difficulties, subject relevant materials and using technology to support effective learning.

JISC TechDis - specialists in accessibility in learning have also launched an extensive range of resources to help you understand the importance of accessibilty and catering for the needs of all learners.

To find out more please visit: http://tinyurl.com/4ecjeq For more information on the EG please visit: www.excellencegateway.org.uk Similarly if you have any questions please feel free to contact us via: b.hutchens@rsc-eastern.ac.uk

e-skills: One year on......

Continuous Personal Development (CPD) portfolio.

In 2008, JISC RSC Eastern launched the ‘e-skills for e-learning’ project (originally created by JISC RSC Scotland SW). Its purpose – to disseminate the basic skills and principles of e-learning for participants to cascade within their own institutions.

The initial take-up of the project was excellent with four colleges on board.

They include: • • • •

West Suffolk College University Campus Suffolk (UCS) City College Norwich Great Yarmouth College

One year on and e-Skills has proven to be very successful. There are 8 modules to the course in total which include: • • • • • • • •

Introduction to e-learning e-Resources and Copyright Interactivity (MS Word) Interactivity (MS PowerPoint) Making Materials Accessible e-Tutoring e-Assessment Virtual Learning Environments (VLE)

Each participant is provided with a course guide which comes in a folder with information and exercises relevant to each module. There is also a CD with a number of resources to practise and perfect basic techniques such as drag and drop, making materials accessible, creating course material for VLEs etc.

The onus is then with the participant to attend the regular 3 hour sessions to complete the course. On completion of all the modules, the participant is presented with a certificate which can then be included within their

One of the main benefits of the e-Skills course is that it is modular.

Teaching staff can find it difficult to find time for extra-curricular or CPD activities. Therefore, the structure of the programme naturally offers the opportunity for staff to pick’n’mix modules which they have an interest in and feel would add value to their teaching. The course structure also allows flexibility for institutions to tweak and adjust the course material, schedule and overall delivery to their individual needs. For this reason the e-Skills course is growing in popularity within the region.

The ‘e-skills for e-learning’ programme, although still in its infancy, has already helped raise awareness of the benefits of e-learning across the region.

Furthermore, it has helped around 50 practitioners build their confidence to effectively use technology for teaching and learning.

Eddie Naylor, Lecturer and Staff Development Manager commented on the positive impact it has had with the participants at UCS, “It has changed their method of delivery. I’ve used the content for my personal delivery and it’s been highly useful.”

The popularity of the e-Skills programme has attracted interest from West Suffolk College who are now running it themselves. They have tailored it to their needs and have recently had it accredited by the National Open College Network (NOCN).

To view the complete case study and accompanying video please visit:

http://tinyurl.com/eskills For more info about e-Skills and how to get involved please contact Malcolm Bodley or Catherine Bone, e-Learning Advisors for JISC RSC Eastern via:

e-Books JISC Collections arranged a consultation to shortlist a selection of titles for the e-books for FE project.

Following an extensive marking and consultation process, the e-books will be hosted via the Ebrary platform www.ebrary.com and available free of charge to FE institutions for 5 years from May 2009.

How to subscribe

In May, institutions will be asked to complete and sign the e-books for FE sub-licence and an acceptance of sub-licence form. In the acceptance of sub-licence form you will be required to complete your contact details and provide your access requirements e.g.

Open Athens, Shibboleth.

Access Management

One of the main attractions of e-books and other online resources is that they can be accessed remotely, which has clear benefits for distance learners, part time students or people who simply prefer not to go to the campus to read material. So that users are able to access the e-books remotely, and to enable student and library personalisation it is strongly recommend that colleges join the UK Access Management Federation and implement compliant technologies.

Using the e-books

The e-books will be made available under the JISC e-books Model Licence so that they can be used effectively in teaching and learning, e.g. parts of the e-book can be used in learning objects and VLEs etc. JISC Collections will produce a series of videos demonstrating how the e-books can be used in teaching and learning, and there will be a range of support materials on the e-books, and the functionality of the e-books platform available from May.

For more info please visit: http://fe.jiscebooksproject.org/

m.bodley@rsc-eastern.ac.uk or c.bone@rsc-eastern.ac.uk.

Green ICT Resources

Sustainable ICT: Green is good

Sustainable ICT Publication www.jisc.ac.uk/publications/ publications/bpsustainableict

Sustainable ICT overview www.jisc.ac.uk/publications/ publications/sustainableictoverview

SusteIT Website http://www.susteit.org.uk/

Sustainable ICT in Further and Higher Education (pdf) http://tinyurl.com/susteicthefe

Benefiting from Green IT: Findings from the SusteIT Project http://tinyurl.com/greenIT09

Environmental IT Leadership Team (EILT) http://www.greenict.org.uk/index. aspx

Display Energy Certificates http://tinyurl.com/ displayenergycertificates

Environment Agency - Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment http://tinyurl.com/WEEE09

There are endless Government campaigns urging us to ‘switch off’ to help save energy and more importantly to help prevent climate change. The question is how many of us religiously turn off appliances after use? The same is applicable in education too. The University of Sheffield recently undertook an audit of the energy consumption of its ICT equipment and it found that desktop computers were accountable for 20% of the university’s energy bill.

It was estimated that turning of the machine whilst unused could save 75% of their running costs.

So what are the benefits of saving energy?

There are cost efficiency gains but having a green ICT policy will also enhance the reputation of your institution in terms of social responsibility. This may also lead to opportunities for teaching and research in this growing area of study and an increase in locationindependent working, which can also reduce fuel costs and office space requirements.

What are the best ways to save energy?

Simply turning off computers and lights at the end of the day can reduce your energy bills, and there are lots of new inventions that can help with this (Please read JISC Inform article for more info). One of the best ways of improving the sustainability of ICT is virtualisation. This is the process where you can transform a number of ICT servers into a single , virtual pool. Virtualisation makes it easy to utilise spare capacity and reduce server and data centre costs.

In February 2009, JISC RSC Eastern, London and South-East co-hosted a green ICT event at City Hall in London – ‘Smarter, Greener Learning.’ The purpose of the event was to raise awareness of energy efficiency and the simple steps that colleges and other educational institutions can take to cut energy bills.

John Politt, Head of IT Services at City College Norwich, offered a comprehensive approach to green ICT and emphasised the principle

that ‘green’ is not just for ‘treehuggers’. John explained the need to assess energy consumption through using energy calculating tools and thus finding ways to reduce energy costs.

Taking a college-wide approach to energy conservation is the Sixth Form College Colchester.

Tim Harrison explains how their new build was designed to be green with rain collectors to help flush toilets, solar panels and light sensors to help power the building and any excess energy is sold back to the National Grid.

Tim also raised the advantages of virtualisation and how it offers lower maintenance, repair costs and space requirement.

For more info on taking your first steps to becoming green, please download JISC Inform 24 from: http://tinyurl.com/inform24 To read the full event report from the ‘Smarter, Greener Learning’ event please visit: http://www.rsc-london.ac.uk/1310/

RSC Eastern media Podcasts Here’s a list of the latest JISC RSC Eastern podcasts: Podcast 11 - e-Guides 2009

Ben Hutchens Information Officer JISC RSC Eastern b.hutchens@rsc-eastern.ac.uk

Podcast 12 - Enhancing Teaching and Learning with Digitised Resources Podcast 13 - BETT09 Review Podcast 14 - Whistlestop tour of the Excellence Gateway To download please visit www. rsc-eastern.ac.uk, under NEWS, please click PODCASTS.

City College Norwich scoops AoC accolade On February 10th 2009 City College Norwich picked up the prestigious President Award at the Association of Colleges (AoC) Beacon Awards in Westminster.

The college was chosen from 23 other colleges by the President of the Association of Colleges Charitable Trust, paralympic gold medallist Giles Long MBE as a shining example of further education achievement.

It received this award for its involvement and provision for students with autistic spectrum disorders. The RUGroom facility provides over 120 students with a dedicated resource to help them develop their social and communication skills. There is access to computer games and IT services. They also have ICT and creative therapies to allow inclusion in more traditional college course and social activities such as drumming, beauty therapy, jewellery and dress making.

The design for the Rug Room came from the ideas of students at the college. In addition to this facility CCN also offers a foundation course for those with ASD called Phoenix Purple.

Its purpose – to integrate the development of personal and life skills with learning support which in turn will provide each student with the necessary communication and social skills that will help increase their employability.

Giles Long MBE commented: “I was especially impressed with City College Norwich’s RUGroom facilities, which widen access to a group that otherwise may not have the same access to education opportunities as others. City College is a worthy winner of this year’s President’s Award.”

For more info visit: http://tinyurl.com/del2f5

e-bytes The JISC RSC Eastern regular e-newsletter, ‘e-bytes’ is available online and via RSS feed. To find out more please visit: http://info.rsc-eastern.ac.uk/news/ ebytes.asp

Ask Ben In March 2009, RSC Eastern created a new forum on the Excellence Gateway called ‘Ask Ben’. This is an opportunity for you to share ideas, experiencees and problems with other likeminded colleagues from the region.

You can also ask Ben, Information Officer for RSC Eastern, any question related to innovation in learning.

To join in the discussion please visit: http://tinyurl.com/askben

Events http://info.rsc-eastern.ac.uk/events/

Publications

Xerte Online Toolkits

JISC Digitisation Programme: An Overview of Projects http://tinyurl.com/cybwjm

Modelling the Library Domain http://tinyurl.com/ct8fj7

Creative Commons Licences http://tinyurl.com/ckkhaz

JISC Inform 24 http://www.jisc.ac.uk/publications/ publications/inform24.aspx

Study on the Effective Use of Social Software by UK FE & HE to Support Student Learning & Engagement http://tinyurl.com/cllqp9

Latest OSS Watch report: http://tinyurl.com/cwlkgs

Becta TechNews http://tinyurl.com/cnk7zh

JISC: Preservation of Web Resources http://tinyurl.com/crnbh7

For all other JISC publications please visit: http://jisc.ac.uk/publications. aspx

Xerte is a rapid development environment for learning objects which can be exported to a variety of VLEs including Blackboard, Moodle, SharePoint, and WebCT. The easiest way to use this is through the Xerte OnLine Toolkits which can be installed on an institutional web server running Apache.

The learning objects are produced using Adobe Flash and can therefore be played back on any platform which supports this as a web-browser add-in, which includes MACs, Windows and Linux. The designers of Xerte at the University of Nottingham have worked very closely with TechDis to ensure that the objects include a full range of accessibility features, allowing font sizes, colours and contrast to be adjustable by the user as well as audio support for those with impaired vision.

Learning objects can contain a wide variety of templates for navigation and assessment as well as standard pages for text and images. It is also possible to embed links to Google Earth, Delicious, Flickr, Wikipedia and YouTube.

The full production version of Xerte OnLine Toolkits is close to launch but not quite ready. However there is a pre-production version that can be downloaded from the RSC Eastern Website at: http://www.rsc-eastern.ac.uk/RSC_ files/technical/maxos/index.html There are some simple instructions for installing it to a Windows USB stick. It is hoped that shortly the full production version will become available as well as a version for the Apple Macintosh platform.

You will also find a form on the page which allows you to register an Interest in receiving training.

This will take place in the early summer and/or early autumn once the production version is readily available and venues and dates have been sorted out.

For more information, please contact Thomas Rochford via t.rochford@rsc-eastern.ac.uk.:

Thomas Rochford, Technical Advisor, JISC RSC Eastern

JISC RSC Eastern ITT and e-Safety blog JISC Regional Support Centres across the UK work collaboratively to pool a wide range of expertise so that we can offer the most comprehensive advice and support. One of the ways in which we do this is through our online communications including websites, email, wikis and blogs.

The RSC ITT blog a new service maintained by members of JISC Regional Support Centres (RSCs) and is intended to help support the e-learning needs of teacher educators, new teachers, mentors and all interested in education throughout the UK. Though the focus is on the lifelong learning sector, it is hoped that the site will be useful to all educational sectors.

educators and practitioners from around the UK as they use the site and report new links and resources. The blog has links to other useful and relevant blogs as well as links to websites that will help with research, online and off line tools. It is expected that the site will become a one stop shop for education resources.

To find out more please visit: http://initialteachertraining. jiscinvolve.org/ Another new addition to RSC web-based communications is the e-Safety blog which, has been developed to help students, parents and practitioners to stay

Useful ITT and e-Safety resources e-Safety Advice for teachers and trainers Thinkuknow http://www.thinkuknow.co.uk/ teachers/

Becta-Safeguarding Learners Online http://www.becta.org.uk/ safeguardinglearners

Get Safe Online http://www.getsafeonline.org/

ITT DTLLS (Diploma in Teaching in the Lifelong Learning Sector) reading list: http://initialteachertraining. jiscinvolve.org/research/dtllsreading-list/ ITT funding opportunities

The site deals with (i.e.information and learning technology, or ‘e-learning’ or ‘technologyenhanced learning’ - it does not provide ICT skills (ie. basic computer skills such as using e-mail or Microsoft Office) - for these, you’ll need to contact the appropriate trainer in your institution and/or undertake ICT training such as ECDL. It is hoped that the site will develop and grow with input from teacher

safe online and to give advice on how to protect their computers from viruses and phishing. The site is designed to inform students and tutors on the pitfalls that can be encountered using the Internet and mobile phones and more importantly how to protect students, yourself and computers.

Subscribers can add their comments and tips to help others and help the site develop. http://esafetyrsceastern.jiscinvolve. org/

http://www.becta.org.uk/ safeguardinglearners For more information please contact Malcolm Bodley, e-Learning Advisor for FE, RSC Eastern

m.bodley@rsc-eastern.ac.uk

Mobile Learning resources videojug www.videojug.com Veotag www.veotag.com Flickr www.flickr.com

twitter www.twitter.com MoLeNET - Mobile Learning Network http://www.molenet.org.uk James Clay- ‘e-learning stuff’ http://elearningstuff.wordpress.com/ Dave Foord - A6 training and consultancy http://www.a6training.co.uk/index/php Mobile Learning event resources http://tinyurl.com/mobilersc

Contact Details JISC Regional Support Centre Eastern Anglia Ruskin University CU House Southernhay Basildon Essex SS14 1EZ Tel: 01268 273277 Fax: 01268 293145 Email: support@rsc-eastern.ac.uk www.rsc-eastern.ac.uk

Mobile Learning - a way of life Reality television, congestion charging and slapdash operating systems - just some of the questionable outputs of the 21st century.

taking pictures as evidence of coursework, video for demonstrating techniques and sound recording for making notes for revision and reflection.

However, one of the promising harvests of the ‘noughties’ is mobile technology. What is there not to like? It’s relatively cheap, much of it has more functionality than a GR4 Tornado fighter plane, but most importantly it opens up a gateway to an Aladdin’s cave of information and resources.

The web is also well geared for mobile learning. There is an almost infinite selection of web 2.0 tools that allows users to upload and share mobile content with others, many of which are open source.

Of course mobile technology is not a new concept. Pre-millenium mobile phones once occupied an unsaturated market in the communications industry and GameBoys enabled unsociable computer gaming outside of the house. However, this technology is now incredibly sophisticated.

Manufacturers are now cramming as many gadgets and features into the smallest of devices in every attempt to gain a competitive advantage. However this strategy doesn’t work and instead they have to compete on price which has made leading edge technology affordable for the masses.

According to government statistics, 84% of the UK population now own a mobile phone So how is this relevant for teaching learning?

Mobile devices such as phones, handheld games consoles, PDAs, flip cameras, i-pods and mp3 players are all capable of capturing content-rich material.

Most mobile phones have an mp3 player and digital camera built in as standard. They can be used for

One example is videojug, an online video repository. All videos uploaded are checked and verified.

It currently holds an extensive catalogue of instructional videos from horse grooming through to bricklaying.

Veotag is another tool that allows you to upload your own video content and then add tags/ bookmarks to certain parts of the video. This is particularly useful for demonstrating techniques.

Modern mobile devices are well geared for for this style of learning. Most are plug and play which makes creating content and uploading to the internet a quick and easy process. Similarly, others have 3G or wireless internet capabilities thus eliminating the need for a PC. This means that access to infomation and resources from the web can happen anywhere, at any time, in any place.

Most importantly this is the technology that students are using on a daily basis and for many has become a way of life.

To find out more please see hyperlinks provided (left) Ben Hutchens Information Officer JISC RSC Eastern b.hutchens@rsc-eastern.ac.uk