Friday, 12 September 2008
ALT-C report: Audio feedback & podcasting
This is the first of a series of posts reporting on papers and happenings at the ALT-C conference held this week in Leeds.
Bob Rotheram (Leeds Met) reported on the Sounds Good pilot about giving audio feedback to students, both formative and summative feedback on coursework.The technology involved direct-to-mp3 recorders (with direct USB connectors), free Audacity audio editing software and WIMBA voice-tools. The resulting files could be delivered via email, through the VLE or via mobile devices.
Very practical tips for technical setup & for advice on how to structure audio feedback, plus other useful information is available at the Sounds Good website
The headline is -students like audio feedback!
It can save staff time but only if:
Staff type slowly but speak quickly
Staff are comfortable with the technology
Staff give lots of feedback - it's not worth it for just a few words or marks.
The Closer! educational podcasting pilot and continuing research was reported by Andrew of Sheffield Hallam. The technology involved adding the the Podcast LX module to Blackboard VLE.
Headline news:
- Students prefer to access podcasts thru VLE (rather than mobile devices)
- Staff want variety in the VLE
There was no real enthusiasm around RSS podcasts in this context, which seems to be typical of educational podcasting within institutions. Where students have access to a VLE they aren't really interested in subscription ability.
I feel this means that what is being produced aren't really podcasts but digital audio files. However, many of the same issues apply to podcasts as to this type of educational audio.
Digital audio is seen as an everywhere technology: acessible, reliable, flexible, easy to use, appropriate, an 'everywhere' technology.
Advantages of digital audio include:
- voice and presence (eg empathy, significance, emphasis)
- timeliness, currency, immediacy, authenticity
- constructionism (student design and generation)
- formative intervention
- media seeding further learning activity – ie challenging, provoking, motivating, and orientating
- variety & teaching “punctuation”
New and emerging technologies provide innovative opportunities for new and emerging pedagogies.
Some of the possible uses of digital audio include:
- Audio Glossary
- Professional Briefings
- Newscasting
- Field assignments
- clinical skills vodcasts
- learning stories
- audio announcements
- found audio
- peer assessed AF
- Conversatonal AF
- Broadcast AF
- Audio Scaffolding
- Tutor centred PC AF
- Audo Conversations
- Audio Summaries
- Vox pops
- Audio features
- Audio FAQs
- Global Experts Voices
- Audio Introductions.
Labels: ALTC2008, elearning, learning technologies
posted by Helen Whitehead 10:47 AM
Sunday, 7 September 2008
ALT-C conference Edubloggers meet-up
I really should be blogging about the ALT-C conference...
I'll be attending the fourth (but my first) ALT-C Edublogger meetup next week, taking place at Leeds Student Union Mine Bar, Tuesday 9th September, 19.30 onwards.
Apparently: " We may be moving on somewhere else but we'll stay at the Mine Bar until at least 20.30. We've been lucky enough to have had some great special guests at previous meetups - including James Farmer, Stephen Downes, Barbara Dieu, Christopher D. Sessums and Barbara Ganley. This year's meeting promises to be as jam packed with world-class edubloggers as ever, including Scott Wilson and Graham Attwell. George Siemens will also be in town - he's speaking at ALT-C early Wednesday - and I'm looking forward to meeting up with him for the first time in 3D. As every - this is an informal, fun get together. You don't have to dress up and you don't have to be an old school edublogger to come along. Everyone who has an interest in edublogging is welcome. To co-inside with F-ALT, the first ever grass roots fringe event at ALT, which will be tackling a range of cutting edge topics in a fast, dynamic debate framework, we'll be holding the microblogging session on the night. Su White will be facilitating speakers Helen Whitehead, James Clay, Jay Cousins, Andy Powell & maybe Josie Fraser in a kung-fu style roundtable. Good quality heckling and any imaginative audience participation will be entirely welcome."
I have no idea what a kung-fu style round table is. But I'll find out on Tuesday!Labels: ALTC2008, blogging, conference, edubloggers
posted by Helen Whitehead 7:12 PM
Thursday, 7 February 2008
Call for papers: ALT-C 2008: Rethinking the digital divide
ALT-c 2008 conference: 9-11 September 2008, Leeds, UK
First call for papers and abstracts
The online submission system for ALT-C 2008 is now open:
http://www.alt.ac.uk/altc2008/papers.html
Please read the submission guidelines for Research Papers and for Abstracts - http://www.alt.ac.uk/guidelines_papers.html
- and download the Research Paper Template if you wish to submit a research paper.
Submit your proposal on the new submission system at https://alt.conference-services.net/
Key dates:
Submissions open 14 December 2007
Submissions close 28 February 2008
Presenters’ registration deadline: 6 June 2008 Early bird registration deadline: 30 June 2008 Registrations close: 15 August 2008
Keynote speakers:
David Cavallo, Chief Learning Architect for One Laptop per Child, and Head of the Future of Learning Research Group at MIT Media Lab; Dr Itiel Dror, Senior Lecturer in Cognitive Neuroscience at the University of Southampton; Hans Rosling, Professor of International Health, Karolinska Institute, Sweden, and Director of the Gapminder Foundation.
http://www.alt.ac.uk/altc2008/Labels: ALT, ALTC2008, conferences
posted by Helen Whitehead 3:06 PM
