‘Teaching via Human Avatar’ find out how at SOLSTICE 2010

Posted on 28/04/2010 by boulta

The SOLSTICE 2010 eLearning Conference is fast approaching, free to all Edge Hill staff, the conference offers

34 sessions covering topics from ‘Teaching via Human Avatar’ to ‘Here’s Waving at you Kid – using Google Wave and Twitter’ with both UK and international speakers
two excellent keynote speakers; Professor Gilly Salmon & Professor Peter Hartley
an excellent opportunity for networking with UK and international colleagues
a new exhibitor area
a pre-conference workshop ‘Engaging with Open Content: a Framework for the Novice’
an evening seminar

Programme:

The complete conference programme including session abstracts is available at:

www.edgehill.ac.uk/solstice/Conference2010/programme.html

Registration:

To book your place please complete the online registration form available at: www.edgehill.ac.uk/solstice/Conference2010/Registration_Fees.htm

Conference Website:

www.edgehill.ac.uk/solstice/Conference2010

Twitter stream:

www.twitter.com/solsticecetl #solstice2010

We do hope you can come and join us on the 3rd June.

Amanda Boult

SOLSTICE Operations Co-ordinator

Student survey – last chance to respond

Posted on 28/01/2010 by Mary Dean

The student e-learning survey is closing Friday 29th January so this is your last chance tell us about your experiences of technology in your learning and enter the prize draw. Looking at the early results you have some interesting ideas for using technology that can be considered for future developments. We welcome responses from all students. To get representative views from all areas, more replies from Business School, Health, Sports, Drama, Science and Geography would be valuable.

The survey may be accessed via the GO portal, from Blackboard or from the SOLSTICE webpages or via the link

http://surveys.edgehill.ac.uk/student2009/

Fascinating additions to Open Educational Resources: WW1 poetry and virtual trenches, Shakespeare Quartos, Trailblazing

Posted on 16/12/2009 by Mary Dean

Three collections of high quality material of general interest and for researchers and students of history, poetry, literature, science, have recently been made freely available online and are worth exploring.

The First World War poetry digital archive and virtual trenches are the result of a JISC project. The resources include works by Wilfred Owen, Robert Graves and Vera Brittain and others, along with contextual primary source materials http://www.jisc.ac.uk/whatwedo/programmes/digitisation/enrichingdigi/ww1poetry

The virtual trenches are an exciting new venture in the 3D virtual world Second Life to simulate areas of the Western Front 1914-18. Explore the virtual Western Front in Second Life at http://slurl.com/secondlife/Frideswide/219/199/646/

Shakespeare Quartos archive http://www.quartos.org holds the complete digital collection of rare early editions of Hamlet. This JISC project will eventually reunite all seventy-five pre-1641 quarto editions of Shakespeare’s plays into a single online collection http://www.jisc.ac.uk/whatwedo/programmes/digitisation/jiscneh/shakespeare

Royal Society’s Trailblazing project is an interactive timeline for everybody with an interest in science http://trailblazing.royalsociety.org/ It showcases sixty fascinating and inspiring articles selected from their archives dating from 1665 to 2010. Scientific articles and commentary can be downloaded. Two examples are Edmund Halley’s article on the total eclipse of the sun in April 1715, and in 1788 Edward Jenner (of smallpox vaccination fame) wrote a paper on his observations of cuckoo chicks ejecting baby birds from the nest.

500 and counting – great response to the students e-Learning survey

Posted on 11/12/2009 by Mary Dean

Just one week since the launch of the student survey and we’ve received over 500 responses. What a great start. Thanks to all of you who have already completed a survey. Keep them coming.

The survey aims to find out about your experience, expectations and use of technology in your learning and gives you the opportunity to share your good ideas, as well as your grumbles, with us. This year the survey will also feed into the VLE review, so this is your chance to have your say.

To put yourself in line for a £50 Amazon voucher complete the survey http://surveys.edgehill.ac.uk/student2009/

Festive cheer, mulled wine and an electronic voting system

Posted on 04/12/2009 by Lindsey Martin

Last Christmas, SOLSTICE hosted a festively cheery, technology-enhanced learning networking event which brought together colleagues from across the University.

We’d like to do the same this year but focus a chunk of it onto the VLE Review as we’ve had some of your views, but would like to ensure we have obtained as many as humanly possible. I certainly know that staff and students have strong views about the current VLE, Blackboard, but getting a sense of what kind of VLE we could or should have is proving more challenging.

Many colleagues will be aware that we have been running a series of stakeholder engagement workshops with academics from each of our faculties. We want the views of a wide range of academic staff .. from those who have been VLE champions to staff who may not have had much interaction with the VLE.

We are proposing to run one further workshop with an open invitation to all academic staff. This workshop will take place on Friday 11th December 9.30 – 12.30. We’ve been using TurningPoint, (an electronic voting system with ‘clickers’ that work with PowerPoint) to capture staff views. If you like the look of the voting system, you can also talk to us about borrowing it for your own classroom use.

The workshop will conclude with a festive Christmas lunch..and mulled wine. If you’ve already attended a VLE Review workshop, please encourage colleagues to come along. You, of course, are welcome to come to the lunch!

There are a limited number so spaces for the workshop so its first come first served. Please contact Katherine Richardson, richark@edgehill.ac.uk ext 7754. Please also let her know if you are just coming to the luch so we can order enough food.

We look forward to seeing you.

Small grants for researchers

Posted on 23/11/2009 by Mary Dean

Looking for a small grant to help fund research into learners’ experiences and uses of technology? The ELESIG Small Grants scheme closes on 1 December 2009.

ELESIG is the Evaluation of Learners’ Experiences of e-learning Special Interest Group. It consists of an international community of researchers and practitioners from higher and further education who are involved in investigations of learners’ experiences and uses of technology in learning. The small grants scheme has been supported by the UK Higher Education Academy.

ELESIG is offering small grants to community members to engage in activities in line with its aim to:

develop a shared repertoire of resources which will be of benefit to the community and the sector and which build on shared knowledge and practice about learner experience research.

Proposals are invited from individuals or groups, which lead to the production of outputs which will help ELESIG meet its aims.

The link is through the ELESIG website http://elesig.ning.com

The SOLSTICE Digest

Enhancing learning through intelligent use of technology

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