Jorum Learning and Teaching Competition 2010 – now accepting entries

Do you create open educational learning and teaching resources? If so, the Jorum Learning and Teaching Competition is for you.

Following on from last year’s successful competition, which resulted in six highly creative and valuable resources winning places, we are pleased to announce that the 2010 competition is now open and accepting entries.

The competition runs again in conjunction with the ALT-C conference in Nottingham, 7-9 September, and the six winning entrants will have the opportunity to present and showcase their resources at the conference.

The panel of judges will be looking for exciting and innovative resources created under a creative commons licence, and entries will be judged against a set of criteria - appropriateness, engagement, effectiveness and reusability.

We have engaged another great range of judges this year, including Russell Stannard and James Clay, who are both advocates of sharing resources openly.

Final judging will also take on a new twist this year, as the judges will be asked to rank their top ten resources, which will then be placed on the Jorum Community Bay to allow for a public vote - so never mind The X-Factor – vote for your choice of resource to win!

You will be able to vote from 19th August, and details on how to vote will be announced nearer the time.

There are three cash prizes up for grabs, along with three commended awards.

Closing date – Friday 25th June 2010

Full entry details on the Jorum Website.

The Association for Learning Technology’s Open Access Repository

The Association for Learning Technology’s Open Access Repository was formally launched at ALT’s annual conference ALT-C in September and is now available. The repository represents a long-awaited development in ALT’s work and services as it allows users to contribute assets and make them available via the repository. Since it went online the repository has had about 10,000 visitors, browsing, searching for and downloading journal articles, conference presentations, links to webinar recordings and similar content.

The repository currently contains post-prints from the ALT’s peer-reviewed journal ALT-J from its inception in 1993 to Vol. 16 (2007) and will be updated periodically with new volumes 18 months after publication by Routledge. The repository also contains items relating to:

• ALT-C conference
• ALT events and webinars
• Learning Technology topics, events or publications
• ALT Members
• ALT’s Certified Membership Scheme – CMALT
• ALT Special Interest Groups such as the recently established Learning Environment Review SIG (LERSIG)

It will be extended further to cover:

• exemplars of best practice
• guides for good practice in design & use of education technologies
• research papers
• sector reports related to e-learning
• wiki-based content that can be added to and extended by practitioners

For further information or if you would like to contribute assets visit
http://repository.alt.ac.uk
You can also create your own user account on the repository homepage.

The latest in learning technolgy - ALT Newsletter

The latest edition of the Association of Learning Technology Newsletter has just been published. You can view the online version here:
http://newsletter.alt.ac.uk/112pjdfj9xp15pbvrjm4bf?email=true

Articles include -

Curt Bonk shows how technology is facilitating self- and peer-facilitated learning "aboard ships or planes, high up in the mountains, at the bottom of the Grand Canyon, or when standing on thinning sea ice".

Alan Cann and colleagues from the University of Leicester consider Twitter's potential for gathering data relevant to student support and communication.

The College of Science and Engineering at the University of Edinburgh recently replaced their infrared student response systems with radio frequency technology. Daniela Gachago reports on reactions to the new system.

ALT-C 2009 : earlybird deadline approaching

ALT-C 2009: “In dreams begins responsibility” – choice, evidence, and change.
8-10 September 2009, Manchester, UK.

Earlybird rate available until Monday 6 July, midnight (BST):
http://www.alt.ac.uk/altc2009/registering.html

Presenters Registration deadline: 29 June *TODAY* Registrations close: 14 August

Conference fees: http://www.alt.ac.uk/altc2009/delegate_information.html
Accommodation details: http://www.alt.ac.uk/altc2009/accommodation.html
Social programme: http://www.alt.ac.uk/altc2009/social.html

Keynote speakers:
Martin Bean, Vice Chancellor Designate at the Open University, UK;
Michael Wesch, Assistant Professor of Cultural Anthropology at Kansas State University, USA;
Terry Anderson, Professor and Canada Research Chair in Distance Education at Athabasca University, Canada

Confirmed Invited Speakers include:
Jonathan Drori, Heather Fry, Diana Laurillard, Matthew McFall, David Kennedy, Richard Noss, Vanessa Pittard, Aaron Porter and David Price.

For more information, visit: http://www.alt.ac.uk/altc2009/ or call the ALT office: +44(0) 1865 484125.