The University of Bradford and the University of Wales Newport have both created their own institutional social networking sites for new students. Both the Develop Me! (Bradford) and the Newspace (Newport) sites have been created using Ning.

Michael Webb, Head of IT and Media Services at Newport, says that early feedback from students has been positive:

“So how’s it going? So far, really, really well - in a lot of ways it’s turning out to be one of the most exciting projects I’ve been involved in. Feedback on the site is terrific, so far we’ve over 300 members (we’re only a small institution, and have only invited two schools so far), and the quality and quantity of the communication is amazing! It’s really working - students are using the site to make friends, share their excitement, create their own home pages, reassure one another and ask questions.”

An article from the British Computer Society (BCS) tells of a phenomenal rise in the use of podcasts over the past three years with significant increases in higher education.

The main uses of podcasting in higher education are recording course lectures, providing pre-class listening material, extending course material, and giving coursework feedback. The BCS article also provides tips for podcasters and discusses future trends.

At UEA, Teaching Fellowships in the School of Nursing and Midwifery and School of Social Work and Psychosocial Sciences have explored using podcasts to support and potentially enhance teaching and learning. Several lectures have also been made available to students as podcasts in the School of Chemical Sciences and Pharmacy.

The Conference of the Association for Learning Technology (ALT-C) will be held at the University of Leeds from 9-11 September 2008.

The theme for this years conference is “Rethinking the digital divide” and will include keynotes from 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; and Hans Rosling, Professor of International Health, Karolinska Institute, Sweden, and Director of the Gapminder Foundation.

Further information about keynote and invited speakers, a draft programme, and a list of submissions are now available online. Online booking is also available.

New research commissioned by JISC and carried out by Ipsos MORI suggests that students are starting to mix their social networking sites with their academic studies and inviting tutors and lecturers into their virtual space. Key findings and the report are available online.

JISC have also published a podcast in which Rebecca O’Brien speaks firstly to Charles Hutchings, market research manager at JISC, about the report and then later to one of the students who took part in the study.

JISC has announced it’s Innovating e-Learning Conference will take place on 4 - 7 November 2008. The online conference will look at the productive and energising tension between the tired and tested and the wholly innovative.

The conference will include a keynote from Gilly Salmon, Professor of E-learning and Learning Technologies at the University of Leicester, who will focus on curriculum redesign. The programme and booking details are now available online.

David Harrison’s presentation, “Universities and social networking: making sense out of nonsense“, explores the nature of technology initiated disruption exemplified in Web 2.0 and wraps-up our coverage of the Eduserv Foundation Symposium 2008.

David is Assistant Director of Information Services at Cardiff University and Chair of the Universities and Colleges Information Systems Association (UCISA), the body that represents higher education and further education in the provision and development of academic, management and administrative information systems.

David identifies some of the consequences of technology initiated disruption in his presentation and goes on to examine some of the effects and implications for service provision.

The third round of the TechDis HEAT Scheme closes at 12 noon on Tuesday 15 July. The aim of the scheme is to provide staff working in HE or HE in FE in England, Wales and Northern Ireland with technology (including hardware and software, mainstream and specialist) with which to develop or uncover an aspect of good inclusive practice. This may be specific to the teaching of a particular discipline, supporting a specific role area, or may have more generic applicability across the sector.

The maximum amount of funding for each bid is £2,150 which can only be used for the purchase of technology. Bids from previously under-represented subject disciplines or areas are given priority.

Further details and the bid form are available online.

The Open University has announced its Researching Learning in Virtual Environments (ReLive) conference on the 20th and 21st of November 2008 in Milton Keynes.

Themes for the two day conference are Crossing boundaries and making connections, Opportunities and challenges of virtual worlds for learning and teaching, Approaches to research, and Implementing and sustaining innovation. The keynote speakers are Edward Castranova and Roo Reynolds. Dr Castranova is Associate Professor in the Department of Telecommunications at Indiana University, Bloomington and an expert on the economies of large-scale online games. Andrew (Roo) Reynolds is a Metaverse Evangelist based at IBM’s Hursley Park laboratory in the UK, facilitating the use of Virtual Worlds within IBM.

Further information about ReLive08 is available on the conference website.

Roo Reynolds’ presentation from the Serious Virtual Worlds 2007 conference is also available online. The presentation was delivered in real life and in Second Life simultaneously.

Another interesting presentation at the Eduserv Foundation Symposium 2008 came from Chris Adie from the University of Edinburgh. Chris is the Academic Liaison Director for the College of Science and Engineering and the Information Services group and recently led the development of guidelines for the use of external Web 2.0 services. In his presentation, Chris looks at some of the risks which institutions need to take into account when considering Web 2.0 services.

The guidelines and the presentation are both available online.

Gráinne Conole’s presentation, “Disruptive Technologies or New Pedagogical Possibilities“, from the recent Eduserv Foundation Symposium is now available on Blip.tv. Gráinne is Professor of E-Learning in the Institute of Educational Technology at the Open University and presented on the tensions between Web 2.0 technologies and education.

Gráinne’s blog, “e4innovation“, about E-Learning innovation can also be found on WordPress.