Really enjoyed the Ollie Bray speech...  Amazing to see that young pupil do those sums in such speedy times. 

I am new to this teaching game - I've just come from Channel 4 News - so I don't know what level of technical ICT experience to expect from my students.  I'll find out in a week.

Hi Guys!

Just been to a double session on using videos to communicate various things to students (Frank Greig (SoC) - Supporting Students through Video Tutorials & Karen Campbell (SNMNSC) - Experience of Using Screen Capture JING for teaching and learning).

Both speakers talked about their experiences of using videos to communicate various types of messages to students adn demonstrated how they learned about and used the various technologies in the teaching. A lot more user friendly than I thought before this sessin - and a lot more innovative and positive than I first imagined.

Both talked about the potential of this type of technology to enhance their practise and student learning, however, a big issue that Edinburgh Napier seems to need to address is where, how and by whom the outcomes of these activities can be safely stored and streamed at a low cost. This is a potential barrier to the use of this technology and may put people off from using or trying to develop it - a bit of irony when people are being increasingly encourage to this type of technology.

Any thoughts? 

Couple of resources

http://www.nchsoftware.com/capture/ (free)

http://www.jingproject.com/download/ (free)

http://www.etrusoft.com/ (free)

http://www.snapfiles.com/Freeware/gmm/fwscreen.html (free)

http://www.jingproject.com/download/ (expensive)

Alas - I've had very little time to blog today.  Too busy having in depth discussions with Richard Hall over lunch...  on whether you can put too much information online for students and do they stop coming to lectures as a result.

A great session on podcasting this morning...  which has inspired me to attempt to record 10 minute chunks of tutorials which students can look at later.

And I love the idea of Elluminate...  I wonder how difficult would it be to organise virtual tutorials with journalism students in America (for example)... 

Interesting talk from Ollie Bray earlier today on the use of technology across Scotland's schools.  Sites he mentioned include...

• Platform 4 (from Channel 4)
• Glow (online resource and community across Scottish schools)
• And Ollie's site (http://olliebray.typepad.com/)

He made it very clear just how clued-up and connected children can be these days.  All pretty accessible too - if you can get your hands on the kit Ollie's solutions were all fairly mainstream uses of technology (the Nintendo DS is now the UK's most popular console ever).

I went to a very interesting session on using wikis (and other online elements of teaching, learning assessment) this morning, followed by another on Second Life.

In both cases there seemed to be real enthusiasm from the staff members about the software they're using, which certainly helps when getting students involved in something new.  I also heard comments from said staff along the lines of 'not being tech savvy'... but then I've long felt that you become comfortable with what you use regularly, one person's savvy doesn't stretch too far if they're asked to try something new and I certainly learnt a lot.

The use of wikis is commonplace as a source of information, if by 'use' we mean looking for information and where 'wikis' = Wikipedia.  Actually using them in the constructive manner outlined today, mixing media and seeing some very attractive results from online collaboration must be very rewarding for the students.  They're combining academic work, with all the usual rigour, with the development of new skills.  Good to see and no wonder the module gets good feedback.

The use of Second Life seems to be declining in mainstream applications, but I can see that it is a very relevant environment when utilised in an academic cause.  The subject matter at the heart of today's presentation is sensitive, yet by transporting the students into Second Life they are encouraged to think about it in different ways, hopefully engaging with it more.  Questions relating to the security of data in this externally-hosted site are important to bear in mind, but this is another area where there is already considerable expertise within the university.

Both presentations were exercises in applying relevant technology to a specific module.  There may well have been a steep learning curve for students in both cases, but the rewards are impressive.

Hi Bloggers

Just come from a session on interpreting Turnitin reports by Dr Claire Garden (SLS). Very interesting presentation and discussion on the issues of how to introduce Turnitin and the issues related to how people make sense of theTurnitin outputs. Main issues seem to be around:

• students and staff intrerpret reports simplistically
• ensuring that staff see it as an active process where they need to use their own common sense when they are interpreting reports and not to be passive recipients of Turnitin as this is only a tool but the decision on plagiarism is a judgement that lecturers make
• students who don't pick up their assignments won't look at thei Turnitin reports
• in the early stages, students need help and support to practise paraphrasing, referencing and with the conventions surrounding sources and the use of quotations
• be clear abouit the aim of using this tool and don't try to do too much too soon
• in order to help staff and students to understand Turnitin reports she has developed a checklist which can be used to help them get an understanding of what the report means

Just out of the first plenary session of the day and have come up to the main computer area on campus - how I wish we all had such fast computers.

Very interesting talk from Richard Hall from De Montfort University.  He mentioned a number of reports and I've tracked down links for some of them:

• DEMOS Edgeless University
• Digital Britain
• JISC: Thriving in the 21st Century
• Independent committee report (JISC): 'Higher Education in a Web 2.0 World'
• Revised HEFCE strategy (March 2009)
• Higher Ambitions
• JCAL (for free issue)

Richard had a lot of interesting topics and it's good to be able to follow some of them up through the report above.  The idea of a disconnect between the technology expectations of students and staff is not new - but clearly as technology moves on so that relationship continues to change.  Is it important for all staff/educators to constantly attempt to keep up with the latest in Web 2.0 and social media...?  I think not, and I don't imagine students would expect this - they're all going to be using a different mix of social media anyway.

A topic of conversation following Richard's talk was that students often appreciate the divide between what the university is offering and what they experience between friends.  There is a strong case for maintaining the divide, it is not the university's place to encroach into every aspect of their lives, so Facebook for friends and WebCT for uni is just fine for many.

This point also came to mind when hearing from Stephen Bruce on Edinburgh Napier's MLE evaluation.  The word clouds that illustrated how staff and students feel about WebCT were instructive - while the staff found WebCT could be frustrating, students liked it.  Perhaps we overestimate what students want to get out of WebCT - they don't need bells and whistles most of the time, just a regularly updated and efficient service.

David.

This iwas one of the questions about teachers and their conceptions and experiences about the technology we use that jumped into my head when listening to Richard Hall's keynote speech this morning. Being overly concerned and focussed on the technology may be a barrier to effective teaching, learning and engagement.

Another question related to the appropriateness of Edinburgh Napier's MLE following Richard's mention of the JISC report entitled: 'Thriving in the 21st Century: Learning Literacies for the Digital Age.' Does ENU have the right MLE or should it be VLE?

A decent turnout for the first session... I'm sure numbers will increase as folk make it through the snow. Good idea to move to the Riady though - we'd all feel colder looking out of the windows in the Egg.

So far most of the discussion has been about Christmas, new year and the weather - intro kicking off now though...

Hello all...

The conference must go ahead despite the weather!  And if many people can't make it - then it'll become a more exclusive event.  What did Henry V say?  "The fewer men the greater share of honour". (I just hope my car starts in the morning..)