In a related development Martin Hawksey, e-Learning Advisor for RSC Scotland North & East, released his latest experiment using twitter for video subtitles with a prototype tool which allows timeline commenting of YouTube videos^[2].

Links
[1] http://www.youtube.com/editor
[2] http://tinyurl.com/2cvdzua

JorumOpen^[1] is part of the JISC funded Jorum service this service and is designed to let staff freely deposit/reuse educational content under a Creative Commons licence (in essence Creative Commons licences, allow you to keep your copyright but allow others to copy and distribute your work provided they attribute your work with conditions specified). JorumOpen uses the England & Wales version of Creative Commons. People in Scotland can use the England and Wales licences but the licences will be governed by the contract law of England and Wales.

Extracting resources from JorumOpen requires no login or account creation and can be done by anybody, worldwide. Depositing materials is only available to members of UK further and higher education institutions and requires login using  UK Access Management Federation username/password. All Scottish further and higher educational institutions appear to have federated access apart from (please use the comments below if there are any corrections to this list):

(A further consideration might be that staff don’t realise that their institution is part of the UK Access Management Federation and may login using their existing staff username/password)

Resources submitted/extracted to JorumOpen can be in a variety of formats  ranging from simple one-file assets and links to external resources, to more complex learning objects including content packages and open courseware. The upload limit is 20MB but larger files can be included through consultation with the Jorum team. Once uploaded resources can be edited, removed or updates.

Currently there are 298 resources listed under FE and 6196 for HE. Some example resources include:

Jorum Learning & Teaching Competition

In conjunction with the ALT-C conference the Jorum Learning & Teaching Competition is open for entries until the 2nd July. Judges are looking for appropriate, engaging/innovative, effective and reusable learning resources. There are three cash prizes (1st £300, 2nd £200, 3rd £100) and £20 Amazon vouchers for commended entries. Click here for more information about the competition^[4] [Hint: You can see current entries to the competition by visiting the JorumOpen Advanced Search^[5] and searching on the keyword  ‘jorumcomp10’].

Links
[1] http://www.jorum.ac.uk/
[2] http://open.jorum.ac.uk:80/xmlui/handle/123456789/5822
[3] http://open.jorum.ac.uk:80/xmlui/handle/123456789/5819
[4] http://www.jorum.ac.uk/altcCompetition.html
[5] http://open.jorum.ac.uk/xmlui/advanced-search

^[1] Date:

This is a free one day DevCSI workshop organised in conjunction with IT Services: Academic Services Directorate at the University of Reading is aimed at developers, web developers, systems administrators, who are interested in developing applications relevant for education on mobile devices and / or how to develop mobile friendly web content.

The day will include introductions / advice on developing:

• for Iphone/IPad Platforms
• for Symbian enabled devices
• for Android devices
• mobile device friendly web content

Click here for more information and booking^[2]

Links
[1] http://devcsi.ukoln.ac.uk/
[2] http://www.ukoln.ac.uk/events/devcsi/mobile_applications/

Date: 2 Jul 2010
Start Time: 10:00 am
Location/venue: Fielder Centre, University of Hertfordshire, England

This one-day conference will explore challenges facing the sector in relation to assuring quality whilst also enabling quality enhancement and innovation through technology enhanced learning (TEL).

Technologies impact on all aspects of the learning process, including teaching, assessment and communication. In light of changes in technologies and the changing role of e-learning within higher education, guidance and policies associated with quality assurance and quality enhancement of technology enhanced learning (TEL) need to be considered and reviewed.

Presentations will include a keynote from Professor Colin Raban, Director of Quality Enhancement at the University of Derby and dissemination of consultation findings from the HEA funded QAQE project.

The day will also include networking opportunities and participatory sessions to explore practitioner needs.

Click here for more information and booking^[1]

Links
[1] http://tinyurl.com/37w8f8f

One institution which has been doing a lot of work with QR codes is the University of Bath. They have been using QR codes for over a year now in a range of areas including:

• recording student assignment submission
• integrated with their university library system
• included as part of the VLE (Moodle)

A recent post by the Andy Ramsden (Head of e-Learning, University of Bath) gives some more details of the activities they have been engaged with, giving a frank synopsis of what has and hasn’t worked.

Click here for A year in the life of QR Codes at Bath^[3]

Links
[1] http://www.rsc-ne-scotland.org.uk/learntech/?p=213
[2] http://www.instantpresenter.com/rscuk/EE51D98481
[3] http://tinyurl.com/24as8tj

The aims of the study are:

• To identify, research and document a range of examples of large-scale e-portfolio implementations;
• To analyse these examples and produce models and guidance materials on effective practice in this area aimed at different stakeholder groups.

Total funding of £30,000 (including VAT, travel and subsistence) is available for this project.

The deadline for proposals is 12 noon UK time on Monday, 14 June 2010.

It is envisaged that bidders will be notified of the outcome of the evaluation process in early July. The successful bidder will be expected to start work on or around 1 August 2010. The review is to be completed no later than the end of May 2011.

Click here for more information^[1]

Links
[1] http://tinyurl.com/y4u2jqt

• External examination … or audit … can change practice for the better merely by asking the right questions.
• Without a written preservation policy, the long-term usability, authenticity, discoverability and accessibility of the digital collection is at risk.
• Without defined collection and content management procedures, particularly where metadata is dissociated from content or is held in multiple locations, the long-term usability, authenticity and discoverability of the digital collection is at risk.
• Without maintaining digital collections on a suitable digital preservation infrastructure, the long-term usability and accessibility of the digital collection is at risk.
• Without a plan for sustainability, the long-term usability and accessibility of the digital collection is at risk.

The full report includes recommended approaches to analyse preservation including links to existing resources to assist institutions in this area.

Click here to read the full JISC press release^[2]

Click here to get the full report^[3]

Links
[1] http://www.jisc.ac.uk
[2] http://www.jisc.ac.uk/news/stories/2010/06/preserve.aspx
[3] http://tinyurl.com/2e5s7ft

If you were unable to attend this event resources including workshop presentations are now available from the Academy website (towards the bottom of the page)^[1]. More information and guidance is also available from the Academic Integrity Service wiki^[2].

Links
[1] http://tinyurl.com/36fk3ot
[2] http://evidencenet.pbworks.com/Academic-Integrity-Service-wiki

Two more examples we would like to highlight are the watch manufacture Tissot’s Reality which was used by Geektown at their London store to let customers virtually try on watches (if you would like to try this yourself you can at Tissot Reality^[4]):

If you are wondering what this has to do with education, colleagues at Carnegie College recently highlighted Second Sight a mobile application which has the potential to bring text alive:

More information on Second Sight (including versions of the software for other platforms) visit Black Ridge Technologies^[5]

Links
[1] http://scottish-rscs.org.uk/newsfeed/?p=8900
[2] http://www.walkingthroughtime.co.uk/
[3] http://tinyurl.com/24unpe6
[4] http://www.tissot.ch/reality
[5] http://www.blackridgetechnologies.co.uk/

The ALT (Association for Learning Technology^[2]) ALT-MEMBERS and CHAMP-CURRICULUM JISCMail lists have had a flurry of emails recently discussing alternatives for the social networking platform Ning. If you are a Ning user working out where they go or you are considering using social networks in education for your next academic year here are some solutions mentioned by ALT and Champ members (to make this post a quick turnaround where indicated by [G&B] I’ve used descriptions produced by Robin Good and Daniele Bazzano’s ‘Ning Alternatives: Guide To The Best Social Networking Platforms And Online Group Services’^[3] (made available under Creative Commons)):

GroupSite

GroupSite is an online social collaboration tool that you can use to create your own social network. Free to use (but ad-supported) or starting from $29 per month, GroupSite tries to take the best out of social network applications and collaboration services while merging the best of the two worlds: customizable member profiles, group blog, discussion forum, photo galleries, videos and shared calendar are all standard features. Other core characteristics that make GroupSite stand out are: file sharing, members endorsement, analytics, permission controls, readily-available templates, email digest and more. [G&B]

http://www.groupsite.com/^[4]

Spruz

Spruz allows you to create free websites enhanced with social networking features. Blogs, video sharing, photo galleries, forum discussion, shared calendars and member profiles are all standard features of Spruz. Advanced features include: file sharing, permission controls, readily-available templates, chat, analytics, and much more. Your website will also be completely customizable with a drag-and-drop interface and greater control over the appearance of your social site. To ease the transition for former Ning users, Spruz offers a migration script that allows you to transfer your Ning community to a brand new Spruz website. [G&B]

There is a long list of Spruz features here^[5] (it is worth checking the free features at the end of this page to make sure it has everything you need). For examples Spruz in education/classroom they have a directory of school/college sites^[6]

http://www.spruz.com/^[7]

WordPress (with BuddyPress)

BuddyPress is a plugin for the WordPress blogging platform that allows you to create an online social network. Free to use, BuddyPress enhances your standard WordPress blog to support common standard features of an online community service like Ning: customizable member profiles, blogs, a discussion forum, photo galleries and videos. By using one of the many WordPress plugins available you can also add a shared calendar to BuddyPress and track group activities and events. Other core features of BuddyPress include: activity streams, file sharing and private messaging. To style your BuddyPress-powered social network you can choose among several readily-available templates and assign your social network a unique domain name for a small fee. [G&B]

BuddyPress is a self-hosted solution i.e. it runs off your institutional servers although it wouldn’t be surprised if someone has a hosted solution (at a price). Examples of BuddyPress can be found in their showcase^[8], you also might want to see the Digital Learning Network^[9].

http://buddypress.org/^[10]

Elgg

Elgg is an open-source social platform whereby you can create your own online social network. Elgg comes in two flavours: a hosted solution priced between $29.95 and $49.95 per month and a free alternative that you can download and install on your own web server. Whatever option you go for, here some of the basic characteristics of Elgg: member profiles, blogs, discussion forum, photo gallery and video gallery. A shared calendar can also be added by using one of the many user-contributed plugins available. Other standard features of Elgg include: private messaging, file sharing, the ability to create and run a wiki, permission controls social bookmarking, activity streams and more. [G&B]

There are a number of examples of institutional rollouts of Elgg. In 2007Community@Brighton^[11] won the JISC Outstanding ICT Initiative. (In our region I also know about UHI Communities^[12] – there are probably more)

http://elgg.org/^[13]

Moodle

Moodle is better known as a virtual learning environment used for managing and delivering courses rather than a social networking platform, but its ‘focus on interaction and collaborative construction of content’ makes it possible to use it in this way. If your institution already uses Moodle then the immediate advantage is it should be an environment users are familiar with (and potentially one less login). There are some limitations in what students can do, for example there may be restrictions on file uploads, but the basic set of social networking features (profile, forums, wiki) exist. There is also the possibility of integrating with other platforms like the Mahara e-portfolio system (Mahoodle) or even Second Life (SLoodle).

http://^[14]moodle.org^[15]

LearnCentral from Elluminate

LearnCentral is perhaps not as main of the social networking features as other hosted platforms but being ‘sponsored’ by Elluminate it is not surprising that there is integration with Elluminate’s other collaboration services (online meeting etc). LearnCentral describe itself as “more than a social network or a learning community, this free, open environment represents the next logical step of combining asynchronous social networking and the ability to store, organize, and find educational resources with the live, online meeting and collaboration provided by Elluminate technology”. From what I can see LearnCentral is being used more to support educators rather than student networks but there maybe activity going on in the paid for ‘private communities’.

http://www.learncentral.org^[16]

Edmodo

Edmodo is regularly described as a micro-blogging service for educational use, but there is a lot more to it than that. Edmodo say their “free network offers a safe and easy way to post classroom materials, share helpful links and videos, and access homework, grades and school-wide notices”. The interface is a cross between Facebook and Twitter and is ad-free. Features which might be of interest to educators include managing closed groups, assignments, files and links and running polls. Designed perhaps more for schools and college students it might also be of interest to HE. If you claim your community^[17], Edmodo allows you to monitor student usage and measure classroom participation as well as customising your community web address.

http://www.edmodo.com/^[18]

SocialGO

SocialGO is a web-based service that allows you to create your own social network. If you are familiar with Facebook, you will find a similar interface and many Facebook-like features. SocialGO comes in two versions: a free, ad-supported solution with standard features and an ad-free alternative priced at $29 per month. The premium solution of SocialGO allows you to run your own ads and other advanced features like adding widgets to your website and using live audio / video chat. Personal and group blogs, each member has a wall where people can comment and post media, photo and video sharing capabilities, customizable member profiles, discussion forums and shared calendars to keep track of group events. Other features include: activity streams, file sharing, permission controls, readily-available templates, API, Facebook and Twitter integration, email notifications, and more. [G&B]

SocialGo appears to be focused more on the business market than education, particularly with the option to monetize your network with member billing, advertising and reselling (SocialGo is also a UK start-up).

http://www.socialgo.com/^[19]

CrowdVine

CrowdVine comes in two flavours one for conferences (used at ALT-C) and the other for groups. The main difference is with the conference version there are specific features for programme management, feedback and a ‘want-to-meet’ feature. CrowdVine for Groups can be created for free and are ad supported, or ad-free by paying $24/month per thousand users. A nice feature of CrowdVine are the customised profile questions, which could be used to nurture early network cohesion. An example of this can be seen in the Stanford Stats 252 CrowdVine^[20].

http://www.crowdvine.com/^[21]

The final suggestion wasn’t mentioned on the ALT Member list, but I would like to throw it into the mix is Facebook.

Facebook have come under fire recently over their over complicated privacy settings but I still think it is an option worth considering. A number of institutions already use Facebook to market/support  their institutions, services and courses. A common concern I hear when considering Facebook is the social/work divide. That is the perceptions that students prefer to keep their social life and studies separate. Facebook is one of the few platforms where I see research on its use in education (most recently AJCann highlighted recent work from Leicester on student retention and Facebook^[22]). Importantly it should also be remembered Facebook was originally created by students for students!

Not surprisingly there is a Facebook in Education page on … Facebook^[23]

http://www.facebook.com/^[24]

Links
[1] http://tinyurl.com/34ya9tw
[2] http://alt.ac.uk/
[3] http://tinyurl.com/28spskh
[4] http://www.groupsite.com/
[5] http://www.spruz.com/?page=info
[6] http://www.spruz.com/?page=spruz&cmd=search&cat=35
[7] http://www.spruz.com/
[8] http://buddypress.org/showcase/
[9] http://digitallearningnetwork.net/
[10] http://buddypress.org/
[11] http://community.brighton.ac.uk/
[12] https://communities.uhi.ac.uk/
[13] http://elgg.org/
[14] http://moodle.org
[15] http://moodle.org/
[16] http://www.learncentral.org
[17] http://www.edmodo.com/community-claim?language=en
[18] http://www.edmodo.com/
[19] http://www.socialgo.com/
[20] http://stanford2008.crowdvine.com/
[21] http://www.crowdvine.com/
[22] http://tinyurl.com/366yz9d
[23] http://www.facebook.com/education
[24] http://www.facebook.com/

Today Wave is still in active development, but Google are confident that enough of the rough edges have been knocked off and are making it available to all:

Starting today, we are making Google Wave openly available to everyone as part of Google Labs. You no longer need an invitation to wave — simply visit wave.google.com^[2] and sign right in. Likewise, if you are a Google Apps administrator at a business, school or organization, you can now easily enable Google Wave^[3] for all your users at no extra cost (more on ourEnterprise blog^[4]).

In the announcement made on the official Google Wave Blog they highlight how some educational institutions are already using Wave:

University students and professors worldwide have used waves within and beyond the classroom to collaborate on Latin poetry translations^[5], write academic research papers^[6]and even build new functionality with Wave’s APIs^[7]. An ICT teacher also enjoyed having her 5th-graders do their class research^[8] in Wave.

Click here to read the announcement on the Google Wave blog^[9]

Links
[1] http://www.rsc-ne-scotland.org.uk/mashe/category/google-wave/
[2] http://wave.google.com/
[3] http://www.google.com/apps/intl/en/business/wave.html
[4] http://tinyurl.com/36jeca8
[5] http://tinyurl.com/2cpnua2
[6] http://gwtips.com/pros-cons-for-google-wave-in-academia/
[7] http://tinyurl.com/2u7t8m6
[8] http://kerileebeasley.com/2010/05/04/google-wave/
[9] http://tinyurl.com/29mrpjx

HootCourse – A Classroom Application for Twitter^[2]
“At its most basic HootCourse^[5][4][3] is a platform on which you can create a conversation channel which HootCourse calls "courses". Your students can post comments and questions in the course you create. If your students have Twitter or Facebook accounts they can login using those accounts to post messages. Students can also post messages in Twitter, use the hashtag you assign to your course, and then HootCourse^[5][4][3] will pull all of their Tweets into your course. If students need to write more than 140 characters they have their posts on Blogger, WordPress, Posterous, or Xanga appear in your HootCourse^[5][4][3] course.” 

Interested in using more social media in the classroom? Our colleagues in RSC South East have a ‘Twitter – Making the most out of tweets^[6]’ module course. RSC Scotland North & East have also created a face-to-face workshop. If you would like more information please contact us^[7].

Five Ways Students Can Build Multimedia Timelines^[8]
“my classes will soon begin reviewing for final exams. One of the review activities that I’ve had students do in the past is create multimedia timelines containing key events and concepts from the year.”  

Five solutions are highlighted: XTimeline^[9]; TimeGlider^[10]; Time Toast^[11]; TimeRime^[12]; and Dipity^[13]

Goofram – Google and Wolfram Alpha Side by Side^[14]
“Goofram really shines when you’re searching for information about a topic that could potentially have a lot of numerical information as well as text-based information. For example, when I searched using the phrase, "first person to climb Mount Everest," the result was a column of links, generated by Google, to articles about Mount Everest and a column of statistical information, generated by Wolfram Alpha, about Mount Everest.”

Links
[1] http://tinyurl.com/3xm2292
[2] http://tinyurl.com/2vvflw4
[3] http://hootcourse.com/
[4] http://hootcourse.com/
[5] http://hootcourse.com/
[6] http://tinyurl.com/35qr95t
[7] http://www.rsc-ne-scotland.ac.uk/contact.php
[8] http://tinyurl.com/2cycg2r
[9] http://xtimeline.com/
[10] http://timeglider.com/
[11] http://www.timetoast.com/
[12] http://www.timerime.com/
[13] http://www.dipity.com/
[14] http://tinyurl.com/32clfjx

It’s not surprising that an Apple device has got a number of educationalists all misty-eyed on its use within education, but before you put in that proposal to buy a brace of iPads to try out in the classroom, please read this post and consider the alternatives.

Apple have a long history of releasing products that define the market, establishing a new baseline for user expectation. Two recent examples of this are the the iPod which has become the colloquialism for mp3 players and the iPhone which has sent ripples through the mobile marketplace in terms of shiny, touchy, app-driven devices.

One of the latest devices to emerge from the Apple lab is the iPad, a lightweight, 10” display, tablet device which borrows heavily from the iPhone in looks and uses the same operating system/app store combination. Whilst this device has divided commentators on whether it’s a ‘device too far’, early signs show there is a demand for it (for the early adopters anyway). But before you scrape together some money for that purchase order there are four things you should know about the iPad, which might mean you will want to consider the alternatives. The alternative I have in mind isn’t one particular device, but an emerging range of devices which use the rival mobile operating system, Android. This brings us to reason one, choice.

Choice

Choice^[3] by anyjazz65^[4]

There are two important choices you should be aware of. Choice over hardware and choice over the applications you can run. Apple have a very good reputation for producing devices that are very reliable. This is in part related to the fact that they control both the hardware and the software (mainly the operating system, but also quality control over 3rd party applications) used in their devices. Whereas there are a number of manufacturers using or planning to use the Android operating system only Apple produces devices with the iPhone OS. So if you want something other than a 10” display or a built-in camera you’ll have to wait for Apple to release it (and if the iPhone is anything to go by, Apple will start with a low baseline and gradually improve the specification to maximise sales). So while there is limited choice over which Android powered tablet you can buy right now, this looks set to change very rapidly, the number of variations meaning you are more likely to find a device which has a specification to meet your needs.

The second choice to be aware of is the applications you can download. Apple have complete control over which ‘Apps’ it deems appropriate for download via iTunes. Whilst the majority of us are probably grateful that applications like Slasher and iBoobs were rejected, questions were raised over the rejection of ‘Freedom Time’, which counted down the minutes until the end of the Bush administration, and ‘Podcaster’, which allowed you to download podcasts to the iPhone. This is not to say that the official Android Marketplace of applications hasn’t come under similar fire, particularly when applications which allowed you to use the data connection from your mobile to download content/surf the web with your PC. The big difference is that with Android you are free to download and install 3rd party applications without having to ‘jailbreak’ your device.

Openness

Openness and Collaboration^[5] by psd^[6]

Related to choice is openness. Openness is not just about whether or not the operating system is open or closed source, it is a deeper aspiration towards a wider philosophy of community. Whilst it is impossible to fully escape the corporate nature of the world we live in, the Android operating system has been built and contributed to by a worldwide community of programmers and users. I fully recognise that there are economic motivations behind both Apple and Android devices, but I feel the balance behind the iPad is more about making money than contributing to society. This brings us to the final reason cost.

Cost

Piles of Money^[7] by Eric__I_E^[8]

An entry level iPad (16GB + Wi-Fi) currently retails for £429. This is not including the extras you might need because of the proprietary data connection. So if you would like the option to connect to an external display you’ll need the VGA adapter and even if you just want to view you photos straight from your camera on a bigger screen you’ll need the iPad Camera Connection Kit.

A selection of Android alternatives include (a longer list of Android devices is here^[9]):

	Name	Features	Price
	Dell Mini 5	4.8″ 800×480 225g 152/78/10 mm Wi-Fi/BT	TBC
	Eken M001	7” 800×480 345g 207/119/12 mm Wi-Fi	£75
	Archos 7	7″ 800×480 350g 203/107/12 mm Wi-Fi	£130
	WeTab	11.6” 1366×768 800g 288/190/13 mm Wi-Fi/BT	€449

If I haven’t swayed you with my ramblings on ‘choice’ and ‘openness’ hopefully when you realise that you can buy 3 Archos 7’s or over 5 Eken M001’s for the same price as an Apple iPad maybe you’ll think again.

Links
[1] http://www.flickr.com/photos/jesusbelzunce/4366759251/
[2] http://www.flickr.com/photos/jesusbelzunce/
[3] http://www.flickr.com/photos/49024304@N00/47244105/
[4] http://www.flickr.com/photos/49024304@N00/
[5] http://www.flickr.com/photos/psd/1805374441/
[6] http://www.flickr.com/photos/psd/
[7] http://www.flickr.com/photos/deadling/2229537166/
[8] http://www.flickr.com/photos/deadling/
[9] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Android_devices

I’ve been using Microsoft Office 2007 for over two years now and I still struggle to find things in the new menu bar also known as the ‘ribbon’. A recent minor breakthrough was the realisation that not all of the commands are actually displayed (if you click on the round home button, top-left, select ‘Word Options’, then ‘Customize’, you can list all the hidden commands by changing the ‘Choose commands from’ option to ‘Commands Not in the Ribbon’. I’m sure there are many commands in this list that you don’t recognise, equally the features of Microsoft Office are so vast that I’m sure you are not aware of some of the simple things you can do to improve your productivity. If you don’t have the time to attend your institutions MS Office training (if they still provide such a thing), you might want to try Microsoft Office Labs Ribbon Hero.

Ribbon Hero is a free Office add-on which allows you to learn about Word PowerPoint and Excel into more bite-sized chunks. By taking ‘challenges’ you can learn about increasing your Office productivity, and to motivate you towards Office mastery you are awarded points (with the option of comparing how you are getting on by uploading to a leaderboard on Facebook.  The video below shows you how to ‘play the game’:

Click here to download Ribbon Hero^[1]

Links
[1] http://www.officelabs.com/ribbonhero#

Technology has become a necessary and everyday part of studying. This book starts with effective practice in learning, and shows how technology can support that good practice. The authors show you the many ways in which online and mobile technologies can be used for study and give you guidance on how best to use them for learning in higher education, whether that is at college or university, or within your workplace.

This wide-ranging survival guide combines advice on effective learning, with practical tips on using technology successfully to give you a smart approach to accessing, recording, sharing and revising information and knowledge. An efficient learning strategy with technologies will help you develop independence and self direction, so that when faced with a bewildering choice of web-based resources you are confident about how much to read, and when to stop. The approaches, skills and techniques discussed in this book will be of value to you not only in your formal course of study, but also in any other learning you might wish to undertake in future. In an increasingly competitive job market this will also be attractive to prospective employers.

Click here to read the rest of the publishers description^[1]

Links
[1] http://www.gowerpublishing.com/isbn/9780566089305

Developing an awareness of new and emerging technologies is essential for most graduates. If lecturers make use of new and emerging technology in their modules, and provide students with the opportunity to do the same, then students will be better prepared for careers where they need to always be on the cutting edge of technology. Not only that, but courses that make use of new and emerging technology can add variety and depth to the way students are taught and assessed.

This was the view of a Charles who is a Learning and Teaching Institute placement student at Sheffield Hallam University (SHU). In his post, made in SHU’s academic innovation blog: crucible, Charles also believes that:

Courses that support and use e-learning are often more engaging than those that don’t. Students can learn when they want, where they want, and fairly recent developments in technology have opened up whole new ways to be assessed and learn

Whilst we all know it is easy to turn e-learning bad, using technology for technology-sake, it is interesting to read the views of someone who can directly relate their experiences as a student as and supporting staffing.

Click here to read the full post on crucible^[1]

Links
[1] http://tinyurl.com/3ahq44g

The Alternative Guide (TAG) to the University of Central Lancashire (UCLan) site ensures students starting university for the first time develop realistic expectations of higher education as well as making sure they understand what the institution will expect from them.

The website includes practical advice for new students on everything from timetables to personal finances and homesickness in the form of case studies, articles and films, as well as a video tour of the university campus and interactive map to help them get around and diagnostic testing to help with course selection.

The platform is not just limited to UCLan – current student responses to the website show the initiative is set to be a huge success, so JISC has also funded two further bids to pilot the introduction of TAG in other universities.

Click here to visit The Alternate Guide (TAG) website^[1]

Click here to read the full JISC press release^[2]

Links
[1] http://www.taguclan.org.uk/
[2] http://www.jisc.ac.uk/Home/news/stories/2010/04/tag.aspx

A recent post which caught my eye was 10 Sources of Educational Science Games^[2]. One of the resources which caught my eye was CSI: The Experience web adventure.

Rice University has partnered with CBS, the American Academy of Forensic Sciences, and the National Science Foundation to produce educational web adventures based on the CSI television series^[3]. The web adventures are designed to teach students the process of forensic investigation and problem solving.

Click here to access CSI: The Experience web adventure^[4]

Links
[1] http://www.freetech4teachers.com/
[2] http://tinyurl.com/y5p5hse
[3] http://www.cbs.com/primetime/csi/
[4] http://forensics.rice.edu/index.html

If this collection of resources has inspired you to learn more about photography the Open University is running a competition where the prize is a free place on a short course (T189 Digital photography^[2]). To enter all you have to do is answer a very simple question. Entry is open until the 10th May 2010. Click here for more information about the OU competition^[3].

Links
[1] http://www.bbcwildlifemagazine.com/masterclasses.asp
[2] http://www3.open.ac.uk/study/undergraduate/course/T189.htm
[3] http://tinyurl.com/ygxx4d5

over it’s 186 pages it talks you through some of the most significant enhancements in the Office suite. I’m impressed with the collaboration that Office 2010 encourages, and have got very used to doing things like broadcasting PowerPoint over the internet, and the options to save my files to my SkyDrive^[2] on the web, rather than on my local hard disk.

Click here for your copy of ‘First Look Microsoft Office 2010′^[3]

Links
[1] http://tinyurl.com/yzmraqm
[2] http://skydrive.live.com
[3] http://tinyurl.com/yzmraqm

When it was first published in September 2005, Learning for All proposed that our progress in widening participation would be monitored through a basket of measures. Combined with measures requested by the Scottish Government, to monitor access to and retention in HE, Learning for All enables us to monitor, learn from and adjust our widening participation effort.

The updates provide an overview of participation up to 2007/08 on a range of measures including participation in further and higher education based on demographics like gender, ethnicity and age.

Click here for the full Learning for All: Forth update^[1]

Links
[1] http://tinyurl.com/yf4ne86

Google, not wanting to miss out on this bounty and to also consolidate their position in providing enterprise solutions in the cloud, have recently announced the Google Apps Marketplace. This site allows third parties to sell/distribute products and services for Google Apps (Google’s collection of cloud based office applications – Gmail, Calendar, Docs etc). What this means is that institutions who have already signed up for Google Apps Education now have the ability to make available additional functionality to the existing Apps suite with just a few clicks.

For example, the online mind mapping tool MindMeister is already available on the Google Apps Marketplace^[2]. Administrators using Google Apps can now add Mindmeister to the list of applications available to their users enabling features like sign-on, export to Google Docs and sharing using Google contacts data. Another example is Dimdim web conferencing^[3] which if installed would allow Google Apps users to setup online meeting rooms with one click, integrating with the Google Calendar and Contacts.

Will Google Apps administrators be loading up lots of additional functionality for staff and students? Probably not as many of the additional products come at a cost, and just like the micro-payment model used in Apple’s App store the figures are reasonably small but could quickly add up. For example, whilst MindMeister has a 30 day free trial after this it is $9/user/month. 

Click her to visit the Google Apps Marketplace^[4]

Links
[1] http://tinyurl.com/yccw9wc
[2] http://tinyurl.com/yahrd7x
[3] http://www.dimdim.com/google/
[4] http://www.google.com/enterprise/marketplace/home

Microsoft Outlook 2010

First we have Microsoft’s Social Connector add-on for Outlook 2010. This allows users to view and use information from other Microsoft products and third party sites (so far Linkedin, Facebook and MySpace), as part of you inbox. The video below demonstrates the features of the product:

Click here for more information on Outlook Social Connector^[1]

Google Buzz

A couple of weeks ago we also highlighted Google Buzz = New Way to Organise Social Information on the Web^[2], which again allows you to integrate a whole host of social networking sites. It is probably a stretch to say Buzz ‘integrates into your inbox’, sitting as it does in a separate tab within Google Mail. There is however some integration by using @reply to post directly to someone’s inbox. Click here for more of Google’s top Buzz tips^[3].

Google Buzz @reply screenshot

Mozilla Thunderbird/Raindrop

Mozilla is the home of the Internet browser Firefox and other open source projects including their e-mail client Thunderbird and the more experimental communication tool, Raindrop. Just like Firefox Mozilla’s philosophy is to make it as easy as possible for third party developers to create additional functionality to their applications via add-ons. Social networking integration in Thunderbird is a little thin on the ground two example I’ve come across are WiseStamp – Email Signature^[4] and RapLeaf 4 Thunderbird add-on by DanielT^[5]. WiseStamp enables you to pull your existing social network information dynamically into your email signature, while the other integrates with the RapLeaf web service allowing you to see the senders registered social networks within the preview pane. Before you go rushing to sign up for Rapleaf their business is selling user behavioural patterns, which you can read more about in Mashable’s How Companies Are Using Your Social Media Data^[6]

RapLeaf 4 Thunderbird screenshot

Raindrop is perhaps more promising, but still in early development:

Raindrop is an experiment in designing for today’s messaging habits by collecting conversations from important messaging sources (email, twitter, …), understanding them, and organizing them for the user based on this understanding.

Final thoughts

Your inbox is undoubtedly evolving, and reflects wider developments in the semantic web^[7]. As the world strives towards greater “data, information and knowledge exchange” communication tools like email will become enriched with information both purposely and surreptitiously pulled from the web. It should however be remembered that whilst many of us our inbox as the centre of our daily activities, can the same be said for students?

Links
[1] http://tinyurl.com/ybzn2we
[2] http://scottish-rscs.org.uk/newsfeed/?p=7626
[3] http://gmailblog.blogspot.com/2010/02/5-buzz-tips.html
[4] https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/thunderbird/addon/8206
[5] https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/thunderbird/addon/6453
[6] http://mashable.com/2010/03/02/data-mining-social-media/
[7] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Semantic_Web

Read-only
Prior to this new feature all participants on a wave had read/write access. This meant that anyone viewing a wave could also edit it. Users had developed a workaround by adding an automated participant (a robot) to the wave which would freeze the wave from further editing but it was clear that this solution was a compromise.

Restore
This allows the user to restore the wave to a previous version via playback.

Email notification
Shortly after the official first outing of Google Wave there were a number of headlines describing it as an ‘email killer’. Email is so deeply embedded into our communication strategies it is very unlikely that Wave will replace email, instead it is more likely to be a symbiotic relationship. This is apparent in Wave’s latest feature, email notifications. This allows users to receive an email notification about new and updated waves. Some may see this as a retreat by Google away from their original intension to ‘reinvent email’ but I see it as a realistic response to the wider environment.

New application – ConceptDraw MindWave

Google Wave continues to be developed by third parties, a sign perhaps that users can see beyond the hyperbole. One of the most recent extensions is a gadget called ConceptDraw MindWave. This application allows users to collaboratively build mind maps within waves  which can then be downloaded to the desktop ConceptDraw MINDMAP software. View this link for a demonstration video and more information^[3].

Links
[1] http://tinyurl.com/yd2e36n
[2] http://tinyurl.com/yheg8gl
[3] http://www.conceptdraw.com/en/mindwave/conceptdraw_mindwave.php

Links
[1] http://scottish-rscs.org.uk/newsfeed/?p=1516
[2] http://www.bing.com/maps/

The next meeting of the e-Portfolio Forum will be a joint meeting with the Scottish PDP Forum (co-ordinated by the Higher Education Academy, Centre for Recording Achievement and QAA Scotland). The meeting is titled “Supporting Transitions” and will look at how e-portfolios and PDP can help students making the transition into and from schools, colleges and HEIs. There will be a session updating participants on the developments with regard to the Curriculum for Excellence and breakout sessions to discuss the issues raised in the plenary sessions. The meeting will run from 11.00 – 15.15 at the Teacher Building, 14 St Enoch Square Glasgow.

Click here for the Programme and Booking Form^[1]

Links
[1] http://www.rsc-eden.co.uk/file_security/get_file.aspx?id=44

Occasionally at the RSC we like to take you to the extreme, to the very edge of what technology currently offers in the enhancement of teaching and learning. An example of this comes from the RSC Scotland North & East Higher Education blog (MASHe), which recently presented a method for replaying twitter discussions within the BBC iPlayer^[4]. The video below shows a sample of the result in action:

This example builds on work by Tony Hirst at the Open University who has developed a number of solutions for adding captions to YouTube videos from tweets^[5] and complements work by the BBC on Subtitles + Internet = Advanced TV^[6] and is a demonstration of how back-channel communication, like twitter, could be re-used for content enhancement. 

The post has generated a flurry of interest in both education and media including a comment from ‘Auntie’^[7]. 

Click here for Twitter powered subtitles for BBC iPlayer^[8]

Links
[1] http://www.eduapps.org
[2] http://www.rsc-ne-scotland.org.uk/e-inclusion/?p=1262
[3] http://www.rsc-eden.co.uk/events/event_details.asp?eid=62
[4] http://tinyurl.com/ylyxpg5
[5] http://tinyurl.com/yc28mks
[6] http://tinyurl.com/yabm9au
[7] http://tinyurl.com/ya4js9m
[8] http://tinyurl.com/ylyxpg5

The British Library and Microsoft Research have worked in partnership to design and develop a ‘virtual research environment’ that will provide a single easy-to-use interface enabling research teams to work collaboratively. The Research Information Centre (RIC) Framework will provide an environment in which users can create, share, discuss, manage, find and track articles, references, bookmarks, funding proposals, presentations and all the other digital information related to their research.

Built on top of Microsoft Office SharePoint Server (MOSS) 2007, the RIC extends the core MOSS functionality to meet the needs to academic researchers engaged in collaborative research projects.

To see what this looks like the video below gives an overview of the project.

^[1]

The project has been released under the Microsoft Public License (except SharePoint Forums) making it freely available for institutions to use. The first release of RIC is available for download here^[2].

Links
[1] http://tinyurl.com/ygk9fkk
[2] http://ric.codeplex.com/

STAR educational tools are FREELY available. To complement our educational software, the STAR website contains curriculum components/modules which can facilitate the use of STAR educational tools in a variety of educational settings. Students, teachers, and professors should feel welcome to download software and curriculum modules for their own use.

Here is a list of the current tools on offer:

StarBiochem^[2] is a 3D protein viewer that allows students to learn key concepts in structural biology in an interactive manner. This software allows for the visualization and manipulation of many of the Protein Data Bank (http://www.rcsb.org/) molecules in a 3D environment.

StarGenetics^[3] provides a set of tools for analyzing genetic traits. This software simulates mating experiments between organisms that are genetically different across a range of traits and allows students to analyze the nature of the traits in question.

StarORF^[4] facilitates the identification of the protein(s) encoded within a DNA sequence. Using StarORF, the DNA sequence is first transcribed into RNA and then translated into all the potential ORFs (Open Reading Frame) encoded within each of the six translation frames (3 in the forward direction and 3 in the reverse direction). This allows students to indentify the translation frame that results in the longest protein coding sequence.

StarBiogene^[5] is a set of visual and analytic software tools for the analysis of genomic gene expression data generated through microarray analysis. This software allows students to compare the expression of multiple genes across a range of biological samples (cell lines, tumors, etc). For example, students can use StarBiogene to compare different patient tumor samples and identify characteristics that are common to one set of tumors based on global patterns of gene expression.

StarHydro^[6] is an application for distributed hydrological analysis. It allows the user to delineate watersheds and explore various watershed statistics.

StarHPC^[7] provides an on-demand computing cluster configured for parallel programming in both OpenMP and OpenMPI technologies. StarHPC uses Amazon’s EC2 web service to completely virtualize the entire parallel programming experience allowing anyone to quickly get started learning MPI and OpenMP programming.

StarMolsim^[8] is a collection of molecular dynamics and atomistic materials modeling research software available via the web. It enables the user to run molecular dynamics simulations on a distributed compute cluster and retrieve the results, all from a web browser.

Click here to visit the MIT STAR Website^[9]

Links
[1] http://ocw.mit.edu/
[2] http://web.mit.edu/biochem
[3] http://web.mit.edu/genetics
[4] http://web.mit.edu/orf
[5] http://web.mit.edu/biogene
[6] http://web.mit.edu/star/hydro
[7] http://web.mit.edu/hpc
[8] http://web.mit.edu/molsim
[9] http://web.mit.edu/star/

BBC News Scotland reported on recent UCAS figures showing that there has been rises in applications to Scottish universities. The biggest rise was reported in the over 25s with a 108% increase in applications. There were also rises in the 21-24 age group which was up by 58% and the under 20s which were up by almost 20%. Overall applications have increased by almost 32% since last year. Reasons for the rise include changes to the admission processes, the effects of the current economic situation and students reapplying having missed out on places last year.

Click here to read the full BBC report^[4]

Links
[1] http://www.flickr.com/photos/m00by/2539347606/
[2] http://www.flickr.com/photos/m00by/2539347606/
[3] http://www.flickr.com/photos/m00by/
[4] http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/scotland/8504428.stm