The next Learning Technology Network event will be held on Friday 29 October, between 11.00-12.00, in the Learning and Resources Centre on Floor 02 of the Library.

All staff interested in using technology in teaching and learning are warmly invited to come along to talk about their own activities, and to find out what colleagues are doing in other parts of the university. Simon Lancaster (CHE) will be talking about ResponseWare (http://tincy.cc/responseware), a next generation audience response system, at this meeting. This is a very informal get-together so there is no need to book – just turn up

UEA’s fourth Learning and Teaching Day will be held in the new Thomas Paine Study Centre on Friday 16 April 2010. The event is an opportunity for us to find out what is going on in other Schools and in our partner Colleges, to share good practice, and to explore innovation in learning and teaching at the university. Professor Phil Race and Dr Harriet Jones will be delivering keynotes on the key topics of assessment and feedback.

Several of the sessions have a learning technology angle to them. These include:

Without a Precedent: Using the BBC Online Archive Within Teaching – Keith Johnston (FTV) 10.00-10.45

We have to keep meeting like this… An Elluminate Session – Andy Mee and Jo Bruce (CSED) 10.00-10.45

Screencasting Chemistry Lectures – Simon Lancaster (CHE) 11.00-11.45

Avoiding Plagiarism: Developing Student Understanding Through Online Discipline Specific Activities – Anna Magyar (DOS) 11.45-12.30

The Use of Blended Learning – Nicki Young and Jayne Randall (NAM) 14.00-14.45

Friend or Foe – The Mobile Phone and Teaching and Learning in Higher Education – Helena Gillespie (EDU) 14.00-14.45

Please see the Learning and Teaching Day programme for additional details about these and other sessions. Please also note that UEA staff can join, and take part in, the “We have to keep meeting like this…” session live online.

This year’s JISC Conference will be held Monday 12 April - Tuesday 13 April at the Queen Elizabeth II Conference Centre (QEIICC) in London. Registration for the event is now closed but, as in previous years, talks on the second day will be streamed live online.

Further details of the programme and how to join online can be found on the JISC website at http://www.jisc.ac.uk/events/2010/04/jisc10.aspx. You can also use the jisc10 tag to follow online discussion around the conference.

The e-asy Assessment event, organised by the Higher Education Academy and the JISC Regional Support Centres, is an opportunity for practioners to engage with innovative ways of assessing learners.

The event will be held at the National Space Centre in Leicester on Monday 17th May 2010. The cost of the event is £75 and places are limited. The keynote speaker is Professor Phil Race.

To book, and for further details, please see the RSC East Midlands website at http://info.rsc-em.ac.uk/events/event_details.asp?eid=137

The Eduserv Symposium 2010 will be held at the Royal College of Physicians in London on Thursday 13th May. This year’s event will look at the increasingly important role of mobile learning technology in Higher Education. It will go on to explore the impact of mobile technology on the student experience, teaching and learning, research, and libraries amongst other areas.

Registration for this event is free and includes the day’s talks, lunch, refreshments, and a wine reception. Seats are limited so it is advisable to register as soon as you can at http://www.eduserv.org.uk/events/esym10.aspx.

The talks will also be broadcast online on the day. Online discussion around the event can also be followed using the esym10 tag.

Andy Mee, a Learning Technologist in the Centre for Staff and Educational Development, has been awarded Certified Membership of the Association for Learning Technology (CMALT). CMALT is a professional accreditation scheme developed by the Association for Learning Technology to enable people working with learning technology to have their professional experience and capabilities assessed by peers. Andy is looking forward to receiving his CMALT pin badge

The first Learning Technology Network event will be held on Friday 23rd April, between 11.00-12.00, in the Learning and Resources Centre on Floor 02 of the Library. All staff interested in using technology in teaching and learning are warmly invited to come along to talk about their own activities, and to find out what colleagues are doing in other parts of the university. This is an informal get-together so there is no need to book – just turn up ”

Scheduling meetings can be a time consuming and frustrating experience. Thankfully there are a number of freely available web tools which can help avoid the all too familiar email ping-pong experience. Three options are:

Doodle is a doddle. You just enter a title for your meeting, your name, and your availability. Doodle will then provide a web link to email to colleagues.

Congregar is similar to Doodle but is perhaps a little less intuitive. Meetings can also be scheduled for a particular day but not for specific time slots on that day.

Meet-O-Matic has an older style interface. Meetings can be scheduled for a particular day, and for the morning or afternoon, but finer control of times isn’t available without registration and subscription.

The recording of the ALT/ELN Instructional Design for Serious Games webinar which took place on the 8th December is now available via the ALT Open Access Repository at http://repository.alt.ac.uk/710/

Both presenters have also made their presentations available as well at http://repository.alt.ac.uk/view/divisions/Design/2009.html.

The UK is at risk of losing its world-leading reputation for education unless it continues to invest in digital technologies to meet the ever-changing needs of modern learners, researchers and the academic community says JISC in its three-year strategy which launched this week.

The strategy outlines a vision of the future whereby a robust technological infrastructure is required to meet the shifting needs of the 21st century education community. JISC believes it is crucial that the UK’s education system continues to compete on the international stage by investing in innovation, research and increasing the availability of online resources.

JISC Chair Professor Sir Tim O’Shea commented: “The UK’s learner base is changing at great speed. Students are increasingly demanding that universities and colleges provide flexible and personalised learning which makes full use of the internet and IT applications. Such demands and expectations are set to increase as we move through this decade and into the next.

“If we fail to sustain the required research and investment to assist universities and colleges in their drive to improve their efficiency, effectiveness and to manage their costs, the UK risks losing its reputation for world-class education.”

The strategy can be read online at http://www.jisc.ac.uk/aboutus/strategy/strategy1012.aspx