Thursday, September 30, 2010

A Faculty Response to 'A Vision of Students Today'

The original video...



and the response by staff at the University of South Carolina.

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Wednesday, September 22, 2010

Call for teachers to share resources

At the start of a new academic year, JISC is encouraging lecturers and trainers to share their teaching materials - as a competition highlights useful resources from across the UK.

David Kernohan, programme manager at JISC, said: “We are fortunate in this country to be developing a community of people willing to share their teaching resources, but what we lack is a coherent way of highlighting the best examples of such collaboration.

“Competitions like this one show what we all know instinctively – that sharing can benefit not just your colleagues but also your own teaching reputation and that of your university or college.”

The competition was run by JorumOpen, the UK’s national repository for educational materials created under a creative commons licence.

Louise Egan, Jorum communications officer, said: "This competition aims to champion learning and teaching resources from all backgrounds and subject areas. We were delighted to have received a great number of entries, and see the high standard of resources being shared amongst our community of users."

The resulting winners of the competition are all excellent examples of how to make learning more interactive and are available alongside the other entries at Jorum for anyone to re-use.

First place went to a resource that explains photosynthesis using 3D models of the key molecules involved. Its author Katy Jordan has used the kit to teach undergraduates at the University of Cambridge.
http://open.jorum.ac.uk/xmlui/handle/123456789/7023

An interactive module from the Open Dementia E-learning programme, funded by the Department of Health, came in at second place.
http://open.jorum.ac.uk/xmlui/handle/123456789/7022

The University of Wales Institute in Cardiff claimed third prize for a resource called ‘Making the creative process visible’, a series of films documenting how ceramics students develop their ideas.
http://open.jorum.ac.uk/xmlui/handle/123456789/2027

Contributing to open repositories helps resources to be discovered more widely. Currently over 80 UK universities are involved in the pilot open educational resources programme run by JISC and the Higher Education Academy with all outputs made available via JorumOpen.

Explore what we’ve learned and how sharing resources can benefit your organisation through our dedicated briefing paper at

To contribute to Jorum or find resources, visit http://www.jorum.ac.uk

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Wednesday, September 08, 2010

JISC Online Conference

Innovating e-Learning 2010
Bringing Innovation to Life: from adversity comes opportunity
23rd - 26th November 2010

The theme of the 2010 Innovating e-Learning conference reflects the challenges presented by the current climate of economic constraint and will explore how technology-enhanced learning can help universities and colleges to develop forward-looking educational futures and continue to complete globally.

The experience
Each theme will run over 2 days and you will be able to see presenters on webcam and try out new technologies and different ideas in the Have-a-go area which showcases JISC projects and services. The informative and entertaining conference blog will once again be provided by James Clay, from Gloucestershire College. Representatives of the JISC Regional Support Centres will offer guided tours of virtual worlds and the Virtual Coffee Shop will be open all hours, providing a sense of support and community. You can follow delegates at the conference on Twitter using the tag #jiscel10.

The conference takes place in an asynchronous virtual environment which can be accessed wherever and whenever is convenient to you. The 2010 conference includes real-time sessions in Elluminate® a tool that facilitates participation and interactive online collaboration. Participating in this online conference is excellent value for money providing additional features not offered by face-to-face conferences, saving time and travel and helping you to reduce your carbon footprint. Further information from www.jisc.ac.uk/elpconference10
Booking now open
www.jisc.ac.uk/whatwedo/programmes/elearningpedagogy/elpconference10/booking

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