Periodic Fable

Monday, 29 October 2007

Links for week commencing 29th October - Copyright

Principles for user-generated content services
http://www.ugcprinciples.com
To protect copyright in services providing user-uploaded and user-generated audio and video content. It's good to see copyright being taken account of. But a shame that it's about commercial content and not that of the users themselves...

One thing that sometimes surprised me when I was working in HE was how little knowledge there was of copyright as it applies when people create their courses within institutional VLEs. Universities who employ permanent copyright specialists, usually within the library, are ahead of the game, and such specialists have a big job to do.

The JISC-SURF programme on 'Partnering on Copyright' covers mostly open access issues (we're back to institutional repositories!) rather than those of using copyrighted material within courses. But there is lots of useful information here. "This web site, created as part of the JISC-SURF 'Partnering On Copyright' programme, aims to contribute to a better understanding and awareness of copyright issues regarding OA through the provision of information resources for academic authors, HEI managers and librarians/institutional repository (IR) managers."

Here is an informative site from Leeds University on copyright
Links to information on copyright and IPR

Creative Commons UK
OK, everyone should have heard of this by now, but it's the appropriate copyright for the digital era. Excellent idea, and I must get around to putting it on all my sites! It allows you to share content with some rights reserved. I hadn't considered before the advantages of using a UK CC licence. Take a look.
Labels: academia, copyright, HE, institutional repositories, internet policy, IPE, IPR, repository, research repository

posted by Helen Whitehead 8:53 AM

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Monday, 22 October 2007

Links for week commencing 22nd October

Some interesting social software for learning:

Ecto
http://www.ectolearning.com/
Their blurb: "Ecto is a hosted, open networked Personal Learning Environment. Use Ecto to transform learning into an interactive, collaborative, and student centered activity. Ecto is the only learning management system built from the ground up on the principles and architecture of social software."

It's an online service and at the moment you can join for free although it's a commercial offering. At the moment it looks pretty vanilla - it seems to be social networking aimed at learning and teaching, nothing really new about it.

ELGG
http://elgg.org/
Elgg is an open source social platform based around choice, flexibility and openness: a system that firmly places individuals at the centre of their activities. ELGG is being used by a LOT of universities and educational organisations, but you do need a server to run it on so it's not a solution for individuals.
Labels: e-learning, education sector, elearning, FE, HE, online learning, social networking, universities, VLE, web applications

posted by Helen Whitehead 9:20 AM

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Friday, 19 October 2007

Research Repositories

When the Web was new, individual researchers posted their articles, research papers, reports and other research outputs online in their own spaces: there was no systematic way to find such articles, papers and drafts. The copyright restrictions of publication often mean that researchers no longer have the right to put up the final version of the work, but, nonetheless, many still put up early drafts. On the other hand, open access publishing can also be a requirement of many grants now.

Now many institutions are creating research repositories so that the work of their staff can be easily found and accessed if it is available. A dedicated members of staff deals with the appropriate copyright permissions, and links are made through the electronic publications system to articles published online. Such repositories can never cover all work, but can clearly assist in dissemination among the academic community. By working together, best practice is developed so that searches become more uniform.

Some examples:

Dspace at MIT
MIT's online institutional repository - built to save, share, and search MIT's digital research materials
http://dspace.mit.edu/

Leicester Research Archive
A digital collection of research output from members of the University of Leicester, England, UK. It currently includes articles, book chapters, theses, reports and conference papers, and can include any form of research output including data sets. Most material is freely available in full text. If an item is not available in full, LRA will indicate this in a "stub" document.
https://lra.le.ac.uk/

Loughborough University's Institutional Repository
http://dspace.lboro.ac.uk/dspace/

Strathprints: The University of Strathclyde Institutional Repository
http://eprints.cdlr.strath.ac.uk/

SHERPA
SHERPA is an initiative investigating issues in the future of scholarly communication. It is developing open-access institutional repositories in a number of research universities to facilitate the rapid and efficient worldwide dissemination of research.
http://www.sherpa.ac.uk/

University of Birmingham - EPrints Service
University of Bristol - Bristol Repository of Scholarly Eprints (ROSE)
British Library - EPrints
University of Cambridge - http://www.dspace.cam.ac.uk/
University of Durham - Durham E-Print Repository
University of Edinburgh - Edinburgh Research Archive (ERA)
University of Glasgow - Glasgow ePrints Service
London LEAP Consortium
Birkbeck College - Birkbeck ePrints
Goldsmiths, University of London - Goldsmiths Eprints
Imperial College - Imperial Eprints
Kings College - King's ePrints
LSE - LSE Research Online
Royal Holloway - Royal Holloway Research Online
School of Advanced Study - SAS-SPACE
SOAS - SOAS Eprints
School of Pharmacy - Pharmacy Eprints Pilot
UCL - UCL Eprints
University of Newcastle upon Tyne - Newcastle University Library E-Print Pilot
University of Nottingham - Nottingham ePrints
University of Oxford - Oxford Eprints
White Rose Partnership - White Rose Research Online (Universities of Leeds, Sheffield, York)
Cranfield University - Cranfield QUEprints
Sheffield Hallam University - Sheffield Hallam University Research Archive
University of St Andrews - St Andrews Eprints
CCLRC - (Council for the Central Laboratory of the Research Councils ) - CCLRC ePublication Archive

SHERPA also provides information about the copyright policies of a range of academic publishers.
http://www.sherpa.ac.uk/projects/sherparomeo.html

For a full list of repositories, see:

the OPENDOAR site
OpenDOAR (at the University of Nottingham) is an authoritative directory of academic open access repositories. Each OpenDOAR repository has been visited by project staff to check the information: they provide a list and a search mechanism.
http://www.opendoar.org/

Possibly one of the most useful interfaces of all is this one: OPENDOAR's search interface for all the repositories in their directory:
http://www.opendoar.org/search.php
This is a trial search service for the full-text of material held in open access repositories listed in the Directory. This has been made possible through the recent launch by Google of its Custom Search Engine
Labels: institutional repositories, institutional repository, publications, repository, research, research archive, research repository

posted by Helen Whitehead 6:00 AM

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Wednesday, 17 October 2007

Drivers to e-learning

The reasons why University staff are considering e-learning in their courses tend to be as varied as the disciplines they come from and almost as varied as the individuals concerned.
Some of the drivers are:
from above, e.g., Department or Faculty head: "our modules should use the VLE more";
from students - our students are arriving more e-literate and they will want to use the kind of digital environments and resources that they are used to at school;
assessment - can e-assessment be more effective or time-saving?
new course - time to use some of this e-learning stuff;
have been using the Web so far and want to find out if the VLE can be used instead;
have heard about wikis and blogs: how can I use them?
distance learning courses - for which there are obvious advantages in using e-learning - but what does it mean?
competition - similar courses have more e-learning - are we falling behind?
there is a particular topic in the course that students have trouble with - can we solve this with e-learning (answer - it might or might NOT be appropriate!)
Labels: e-learning, e-learning drivers, elearning, learning, learning and teaching

posted by Helen Whitehead 12:40 PM

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Tuesday, 16 October 2007

What does 'embedding' mean?

One of the "hot topics" at the HEA Pathfinder workshop in York that I attended with the University of Leicester's Adelie project was the definition of "embedding" - which was important to the description of what the Pathfinder pilots were asked to do.

How can an institution measure embedding? What does it mean - is it the provision of technology or something much more radical relating to attitudes and blends of learning opportunities?

For me: it is about embedding skills relating to learning technologies into lecturers' (and other staff's) everyday practice of designing, delivering and facilitating learning opportunities.
Labels: Adelie, e-learning, elearning, embedding e-learning, HE, online learning, Pathfinder

posted by Helen Whitehead 12:19 PM

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Monday, 15 October 2007

Links for week 15th October

The Technical Advisory Service for Images (TASI) is a JISC funded service that supports FE and HE, museums, galleries, libraries and archives with everything and anything to do with digital images. Their website (http://www.tasi.ac.uk/) has links to hundreds of advice papers regarding aspects of digital imaging such as advice on file formats, building a departmental image collection, metadata, choosing a digital camera or scanner and so on. They also have an email helpdesk facility for those in HE, FE and museums, free to those sectors, for questions pertaining to digital imaging.

Survey about Web 2.0 usage
from Terry Freedman and ICT in Education
Labels: images, survey

posted by Helen Whitehead 9:18 AM

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Thursday, 11 October 2007

Setting up an e-learning consultancy

It's been an exciting week, as I am changing jobs. Instead of mostly being at University of Leicester with a little bit of consultancy, I will now be mostly working as a consultant with Reach Further Ltd., headquartered in Leeds, and spend less time working for Leicester, as the Adelie project comes to an end. Reach Further has some exciting projects planned, and of course there are opportunities to pitch for new projects and look out for new partnerships.

I'm really pleased that my association with University of Leicester and the Beyond Distance Research Alliance will continue. There are so many exciting projects going on here too and I can continue some of the work I've started.

Watch this space!
Labels: career, consultancy, e-learning consultant, elearning consultancy, Reach Further

posted by Helen Whitehead 9:17 PM

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Monday, 8 October 2007

Links, week commencing 8th October: Games to waste your time?

Circlo: A tetris shooting game
http://www.andkon.com/arcade/tetris/circlo/

Flow in games - strangely addictive creature game
http://intihuatani.usc.edu/cloud/flowing/

And some interesting blogs/articles about using games in learning (as if that makes it OK...)

Getting It Wrong: Slaying Myths About Video Games (Part 1)

Learning in Video Games (a group blog)

Futurelab handbook on Games and learning (2005)

Futurelab's year-long project on Teaching with Games (Now complete)

Using games for corporate training (article) All play and more work by Sally Flood in Computing
Labels: games, learning games

posted by Helen Whitehead 10:48 AM

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Thursday, 4 October 2007

E-learning is greener than conventional learning!

The University of Leicester is having a Big Green Week from October 15-19 and various events are taking place. In another environmentally friendly initiative, soon all our litter bins will be removed from our offices and we will have to walk to the nearest recycling bin. (May I say that I am very keen on recycling - and re-using for that matter.) However, I'm not sure what we are supposed to do with non-recyclable waste like my lunchtime banana skin and boiled-egg shell (let's not go any further into detail!). Tempted to throw them out of the window... I'm on the 18th floor...

Anyway, here in the Beyond Distance Research Alliance we were wondering what we could do to contribute to the week and we decided that as e-learning champions we are probably already promoting green education. But is e-learning really more energy efficient?

The Open University have proved e-learning is green (bit of an old study, but I would think computers are even more energy efficient now...)

"a study by the Open University found that on average 'distance/open learning courses used 90% less energy consumption and produced 90% fewer CO2 emissions than the conventional campus-based university courses.' The major factors in this fairly huge saving were travel and the energy consumption associated with housing students on campus."
http://www3.open.ac.uk/events/3/2005331_47403_o1.pdf

Hurrah!
Labels: Big Green Week, e-learning, elearning, environment, recycling

posted by Helen Whitehead 8:20 AM

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Wednesday, 3 October 2007

Mobile learning - issues and opportunities

Having just been interviewed about mobile learning for the new WolF project, I thought I'd jot down some of my thoughts!

Good examples of mobile learning:

There are several good examples of podcasting in the IMPALA project

Students doing work-based learning and work placements benefit from mobile learning in a variety of ways:
contact with tutors
contact with other students
maintaining contact with the learning community even while out on placement
making notes for reflection, e.g., moblogging (could include an assessment element)
taking videos for own use or to feed back to the class
small formative assessment tasks
There are some examples of research projects in this area at the Assessment and Learning in Practice Settings CETL

Adding a Mobile Dimension to Teaching and Learning is a network of researchers diedicated to the use of mobile learning.

The Kaleidoscope network also has an mlearning Special Interest Group.

Issues with mobile learning
Cost of technology and of connections - who buys the PDA and pays for sending the student's video back to the course wiki at �1 per megabyte?
Security of technology - "what if I lost the PDA?"
Lack of familiarity with technology - especially for mature students
Preferred learning styles - I would myself prefer a written or web version of a lecture rather than an entirely audio podcast for example (unless it's of Radio 4 quality!)
Students preferring to use iPods and phones for leisure and not for learning, however informal.
Issues of identity - who is handling the phone?
How I would like to use mobile learning in my teaching

I teach writing to lifelong learners in an entirely online course. One of the tasks that I like my students to do is to get out into the outdoors, the countryside if possible, and go on a "haiku walk" using nature as inspiration. At the moment they take notebooks and pens, and write up their haiku in the forum in the VLE when they get back to their desks. Maybe they use laptops or PDAs, I don't know! It would be interesting to have them create their haiku and share it via PDA while still out "in the field".

And it's not my course - but I'd love to see the "pondcasting" that a colleague suggested as a way of assessing the field work his students do on water ecology.

Mobile learning and assessment
definite possibilities for formative assessment
sending multiple choice questionnaires via PDA
moblogging to create a reflective journal
The future of mobile learning

I guess I'm a bit controversial here. I'm expecting that mobile devices and the PC will converge and a small wearable computer - that is also a phone - will become the norm. The affordances for learning will be related to but different from current mobile devices. Perhaps I've seen too much Sci-Fi...

I am about to purchase a PDA for personal and professional use - does anyone have any recommendations? I'd like one with a slide-out keyboard, Bluetooth, camera, radio, etc. that does WiFi where it's available as well as 3G.
Labels: mlearning, mobile learning, PDAs

posted by Helen Whitehead 9:00 AM

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Tuesday, 2 October 2007

Integrating Web 2.0 - some doubts

Here are some issues that have been mentioned to me (by academic staff) about integrating Web 2.0 technologies into institutional VLEs, and how they might be overcome.

Institutional IT policy can be a barrier - you don't know what's available.
Fear of "what people will say"

How to cope with the student who goes "off the rails"

Managers fear adverse comments about their services and don't see it as constructive.

Can cause horrendous" problems in mature learners who aren't familiar with the technology.

Students (esp. mature students) worry about "breaking" the technology.
Labels: challenges, e-learning, elearning, issues, learning design, learning futures, learning technologies, student expectations, Web 2.0

posted by Helen Whitehead 1:52 PM

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Monday, 1 October 2007

Links for week beginning 1st October

http://voicethread.com/
This is a great Web 2.0 application - you can put up a photo or picture and others can comment using voice or text... I can see a lot of applications for this one, in learning, art & creativity, leisure, family...

Lucy Gray's blog A Teacher's Life. Lucy is an Apple Distinguished Educator, teacher and teacher educator.

Stephen Downes is an influential online learning theorist. A Canadian, he is well known for blogging and for his Elearning 2.0 theories. His websiteincludes a blog OL Daily

Elearning Europa community an active community of practitioners and a portal for e-learning in Europe from school to HE level. "The elearningeuropa.info portal is an initiative of the European Commission�s Directorate-General for Education and Culture, aiming to promote the use of ICT for lifelong learning."
Labels: Stephen Downes, teacher blogs, voicethread

posted by Helen Whitehead 2:00 AM

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