Over the next few weeks, I shall be getting to see quite a bit of the country...
Mon 31st March - Southampton (SOURCE workshop)
Tues 1st Apr - RVC, Potters Bar
Wed 2nd - Coventry (Heads of e-Learning Forum)
Thurs 3rd - LSHTM (BLE Steering Group and Pedagogy Group meetings)
Fri 4th - Oxford (Beyond Digital Natives conference)
Mon 7th - Leeds (Web2Righrs workshop)
Sunday, 30 March 2008
Monday, 17 March 2008
Putting me to shame
That would be my grandmother who turns 89 in May. She popped up on Skype yesterday - no idea how she found me - or how she found Skype. Old people today...! E-Learning runs strong through the veins of my family...
Monday, 10 March 2008
APT STAIRS Project Plan
I have just breathed a HUGE sigh of relief as the APT STAIRS project plan has finally been submitted to JISC. This really was a mammoth task, but made a lot easier with the supportive team I'm working with (which includes people who readily work at weekends - naming no names, Nick...) and of course using GoogleDocs.
This week, I'll be catching up with myself, working to this timetable:
Tues - Camden
Wed - Potters Bar
Thurs - not yet decided (maybe LIDC)
Fri - Birkbeck
This week, I'll be catching up with myself, working to this timetable:
Tues - Camden
Wed - Potters Bar
Thurs - not yet decided (maybe LIDC)
Fri - Birkbeck
Tuesday, 4 March 2008
Poor blogging
I apologise for my pathetic lack of blog posts in February - this month will be better (feel free to badger me if it isn't).
Friday, 18 January 2008
This week, I set up a Twitter account - a tool that simply displays what you are currently up to (cf to the status report on Facebook). Set up your own account here http://twitter.com/ and search for me under "ble1". A useful , mobile tool - especially if you haven't got time to read my blog - or if I haven't updated in a week... ooops.
Yesterday, I spent a few hours with Leman @ LSHTM. It was useful for me to see how she manages their Blackboard site. Leman uses UltraEdit (http://www.ultraedit.com) as an alternative to Notepad - it's simple like Notepad, but offers a lot more functionality that comes in useful when dealing with long filepaths for Snapshot updates. Download a free 30-45 day trial. I plan to visit one of the BLE administrators regularly to keep up-to-date.
Movements for next week:
Monday - Camden (3pm call with Kyung Ro, Bb)
Tuesday - SOAS
Wednesday - Potters Bar/Camden
Thursday & Friday - York, JISC Project Start-Up
Yesterday, I spent a few hours with Leman @ LSHTM. It was useful for me to see how she manages their Blackboard site. Leman uses UltraEdit (http://www.ultraedit.com) as an alternative to Notepad - it's simple like Notepad, but offers a lot more functionality that comes in useful when dealing with long filepaths for Snapshot updates. Download a free 30-45 day trial. I plan to visit one of the BLE administrators regularly to keep up-to-date.
Movements for next week:
Monday - Camden (3pm call with Kyung Ro, Bb)
Tuesday - SOAS
Wednesday - Potters Bar/Camden
Thursday & Friday - York, JISC Project Start-Up
Monday, 7 January 2008
BLE-Bulletin January 2008
Rounding up e-learning news for the Bloomsbury Colleges
Contents
1. News
2. Events
3. Funding Opportunities
4. Resources
1. News
i) Bloomsbury Colleges funded by JISC
JISC has awarded the BLE community £200k for a 15 month project to commence this month. Managed by Sarah Sherman, the project will fund six individual mini-projects across the Bloomsbury Colleges, which will be examining how the application GoogleDocs can be used to support and enhance learning, teaching, research and administration.
ii) WoCRIG
David Flanders has also secured JISC funding, on behalf of the Bloomsbury Colleges, to mange a project supporting the JISC CRIG. The JISC Common Repository Interfaces Working Group was established to identify and address the priorities for enhancing inter-working between the emerging base of UK repositories. In brief, this new project is seeking to get consensus throughout UK HE on using common interfaces of Repository/Content Systems. The project is 18 months long and funded at £150K. Ideally, this project will enable Bloomsbury to have the most advanced architecture in the UK for dealing with content.
iii) Podcasting at the RVC
At the November BLE Pedagogy Group, Ana Mialdea and Brian Cox demonstrated how the RVC is now providing audio podcasts of lectures. Students work with the E-Media Unit to record, edit and upload podcasts of their lectures to the streaming server, which are accessible in Blackboard. Students can subscribe to the podcasts, which means every time new material is uploaded it is automatically added to the aggregator tool being used (e.g. iTunes, Google Reader, etc).
iv) Staff News at SOAS
SOAS is delighted to welcome Mike Green as their new Learning and Teaching Services Co-ordinator (E-Learning). Mike has taken primary responsibility for BLE support, as well as for the support of the distance learning platform provided by the University's External Programme.
v) Records from the IOE's online catalogue have been added to Copac
The Copac library catalogue gives free access to the merged online catalogues of major University and National Libraries in the UK and Ireland, including the British Library. The IOE has the "largest collection in Europe of learned books and periodicals on educational studies". The library covers all aspects of education both in the UK and internationally. It also covers education-related topics such as psychology, philosophy, sociology and linguistics.
http://copac.ac.uk/
vi) Bloomsbury e-Learning Showcase: a date for your diary
This year, the Bloomsbury e-Learning Showcase will take place on 14th February at Birkbeck College. Details to follow soon. For more information contact Sarah Sherman s.sherman@bloomsbury.ac.uk
2. Events
16/01/08 Change Management
Islington City Learning Centre, £75+VAT
http://www.rsc-london.ac.uk/1210/
18/01/08 Power of Information review and unlocking UK Government Info
Brettenham House, London, free
http://www.jisc.ac.uk/events/2008/01/powerofinfo.aspx
22/01/08 Using learning resources: transforming the educational experience
Aston Business School Conference Centre, Birmingham
http://www.jisc.ac.uk/events/2008/01/resourcesconf.aspx
23/01/08 Being Strategic about Innovation: Web2.0 and Social Networking
Free webinar
http://www.rsc-london.ac.uk/1209
24/01/08 Assessment for Learning: Harnessing Technologies
Oxford University Computer Centre, free
http://www.netskills.ac.uk/content/products/workshops/range/heajisc.html
13/02/08 Mobile learning: Beyond the Gadgets
Webinar, free
http://www.rsc-london.ac.uk/1211/
13-14/02/08 Training the Trainer workshop
LSHTM, £220
Contact Doug Parkin doug.parkin@lshtm.ac.uk
28/02/08 Digital Creativity Event for Learning and Teaching
Brettenham House, London, £50
http://www.rsc-london.ac.uk/1221/
05/03/08 E-assessment: the next technology-based classroom revolution?
Brettenham House, London, £35.25
http://www.rsc-london.ac.uk/1220/
12-14/03/08 UCISA2008 Annual Management Conference
Scottish Exhibition and Conference Centre, Glasgow
http://www.ucisa.ac.uk/events/2008/conference/
18/03/08 RSC Midlands HE Conference
South Birmingham College, £75
http://info.rsc-wm.ac.uk/events/event_details.asp?eid=350
07/04/08 What to preserve? Significant Properties of Digital Objects
British Library Conference Centre
http://www.dpconline.org/graphics/events/080407workshop.html
15/04/08 JISC Conference 2008
ICC Birmingham, free
http://www.jisc.ac.uk/events/2008/04/jiscconference08.aspx
5/06/08 Learning and Learning Environments for the Future
Edge Hill University
www.edgehill.ac.uk/solstice/conference2008
18-19/06/08 Blended Learning Conference 2008
University of Hertfordshire
http://perseus.herts.ac.uk/uhinfo/info/blu/blu/events/blended-learning-conference-2008.cfm
01-03/07/08 2008 Higher Education Academy Annual Conference
Harrogate International Centre
http://www.heacademy.ac.uk/events/conference
14/07/08 Fifth Pan Commonwealth Forum (PCF5)
University of London
http://www.cde.london.ac.uk/support/events/event2987.htm
15-18/07/08 BbWorld’08
Las Vegas, USA
http://www.blackboard.com/company/events/bbworld08
8-10/10/08 mLearn08
University of Wolverhampton
www.mlearn2008.org
13-15/10/08 Handheld Learning 2008
The Barbican, London
http://www.handheldlearning2008.com/
TASI (JISC’s Technical Advisory Service for Images) has announced a number of workshops from Jan to April: http://www.tasi.ac.uk/training/
3. Funding Opportunities
Please find below a link to future JISC funding opportunities for the period January - summer 2008. This information has been put together to provide the community with information about future calls for funding, either through JISC Circulars issued to HE/FE institutions or more open invitations to tender published on JISC's website.
http://www.jisc.ac.uk/fundingopportunities/futurecalls
4. Resources
i) Accessibility Law
The Accessibility Law webcast which is available on the JISC Legal website has also been made available with subtitles, on DVD.
http://www.jisclegal.ac.uk/Webcast/accesswebcast.html
ii) Information Management Toolkit
JISC InfoKits are a set of freely available online “how-to” resources. The Information Management infokit which is based upon the principle of an information life cycle and provides a consistent framework for managing all types of internal information.
iii) Draft Guidance on Institutional Use of Web 2.0
The University of Edinburgh has made an early attempt at drafting institutional guidelines which may help others as they navigate the risks and benefits of Web 2.0 use by their learners and staff. http://www.vp.is.ed.ac.uk/Web_2.0_Initiative/Guidelines
iv) JISC e-books project
The JISC national e-books observatory project is making freely available to HE institutions 36 core and recommended reading e-books, to support HE taught course students. Full details at JISC national e-books project.
v) Considering Open Source Software
Ross Gardler, Manager of OSS Watch, says that procuring and developing IT systems which can meet the needs of colleges and universities requires a full consideration of open source software. In this podcast interview, he explains why open source is so important and how most of us use it even without knowing it….download or subscribe to the podcast here
vi) Guardian/Observer archive
This archive will eventually contain the digital reproduction of every page, article and advert published in the Guardian (since 1821) and the Observer (since 1791 - the oldest Sunday paper in the world). For this launch the archive covers the period of 1821-1975 for the Guardian and 1900-1975 for the Observer as we are still working on digitising the remaining material. From early 2008 onwards the entire archive up to 2003 will be available - more than 1.2m pages covering all major historic events over 212 years as reported at the time. http://archive.guardian.co.uk
vii) The 19th Century British Library Newspapers Website
The 19th Century British Library Newspapers Website, managed by Gale, offers 1,000,000 pages of digital content. It is freely available to Further and Higher Education UK institutions. This digital resource provides access to national, regional, and local 19th century British newspapers. It includes 48 titles, totalling approximately 2.2 million pages, which reflect the social and political developments of the time.
http://www.jisc-collections.ac.uk/19thblib
Please send comments and contributions for next month’s BLE-bulletin to Sarah Sherman, BLE Service Manager, s.sherman@bloomsbury.ac.uk, 07515 580 385.
Contents
1. News
2. Events
3. Funding Opportunities
4. Resources
1. News
i) Bloomsbury Colleges funded by JISC
JISC has awarded the BLE community £200k for a 15 month project to commence this month. Managed by Sarah Sherman, the project will fund six individual mini-projects across the Bloomsbury Colleges, which will be examining how the application GoogleDocs can be used to support and enhance learning, teaching, research and administration.
ii) WoCRIG
David Flanders has also secured JISC funding, on behalf of the Bloomsbury Colleges, to mange a project supporting the JISC CRIG. The JISC Common Repository Interfaces Working Group was established to identify and address the priorities for enhancing inter-working between the emerging base of UK repositories. In brief, this new project is seeking to get consensus throughout UK HE on using common interfaces of Repository/Content Systems. The project is 18 months long and funded at £150K. Ideally, this project will enable Bloomsbury to have the most advanced architecture in the UK for dealing with content.
iii) Podcasting at the RVC
At the November BLE Pedagogy Group, Ana Mialdea and Brian Cox demonstrated how the RVC is now providing audio podcasts of lectures. Students work with the E-Media Unit to record, edit and upload podcasts of their lectures to the streaming server, which are accessible in Blackboard. Students can subscribe to the podcasts, which means every time new material is uploaded it is automatically added to the aggregator tool being used (e.g. iTunes, Google Reader, etc).
iv) Staff News at SOAS
SOAS is delighted to welcome Mike Green as their new Learning and Teaching Services Co-ordinator (E-Learning). Mike has taken primary responsibility for BLE support, as well as for the support of the distance learning platform provided by the University's External Programme.
v) Records from the IOE's online catalogue have been added to Copac
The Copac library catalogue gives free access to the merged online catalogues of major University and National Libraries in the UK and Ireland, including the British Library. The IOE has the "largest collection in Europe of learned books and periodicals on educational studies". The library covers all aspects of education both in the UK and internationally. It also covers education-related topics such as psychology, philosophy, sociology and linguistics.
http://copac.ac.uk/
vi) Bloomsbury e-Learning Showcase: a date for your diary
This year, the Bloomsbury e-Learning Showcase will take place on 14th February at Birkbeck College. Details to follow soon. For more information contact Sarah Sherman s.sherman@bloomsbury.ac.uk
2. Events
16/01/08 Change Management
Islington City Learning Centre, £75+VAT
http://www.rsc-london.ac.uk/1210/
18/01/08 Power of Information review and unlocking UK Government Info
Brettenham House, London, free
http://www.jisc.ac.uk/events/2008/01/powerofinfo.aspx
22/01/08 Using learning resources: transforming the educational experience
Aston Business School Conference Centre, Birmingham
http://www.jisc.ac.uk/events/2008/01/resourcesconf.aspx
23/01/08 Being Strategic about Innovation: Web2.0 and Social Networking
Free webinar
http://www.rsc-london.ac.uk/1209
24/01/08 Assessment for Learning: Harnessing Technologies
Oxford University Computer Centre, free
http://www.netskills.ac.uk/content/products/workshops/range/heajisc.html
13/02/08 Mobile learning: Beyond the Gadgets
Webinar, free
http://www.rsc-london.ac.uk/1211/
13-14/02/08 Training the Trainer workshop
LSHTM, £220
Contact Doug Parkin doug.parkin@lshtm.ac.uk
28/02/08 Digital Creativity Event for Learning and Teaching
Brettenham House, London, £50
http://www.rsc-london.ac.uk/1221/
05/03/08 E-assessment: the next technology-based classroom revolution?
Brettenham House, London, £35.25
http://www.rsc-london.ac.uk/1220/
12-14/03/08 UCISA2008 Annual Management Conference
Scottish Exhibition and Conference Centre, Glasgow
http://www.ucisa.ac.uk/events/2008/conference/
18/03/08 RSC Midlands HE Conference
South Birmingham College, £75
http://info.rsc-wm.ac.uk/events/event_details.asp?eid=350
07/04/08 What to preserve? Significant Properties of Digital Objects
British Library Conference Centre
http://www.dpconline.org/graphics/events/080407workshop.html
15/04/08 JISC Conference 2008
ICC Birmingham, free
http://www.jisc.ac.uk/events/2008/04/jiscconference08.aspx
5/06/08 Learning and Learning Environments for the Future
Edge Hill University
www.edgehill.ac.uk/solstice/conference2008
18-19/06/08 Blended Learning Conference 2008
University of Hertfordshire
http://perseus.herts.ac.uk/uhinfo/info/blu/blu/events/blended-learning-conference-2008.cfm
01-03/07/08 2008 Higher Education Academy Annual Conference
Harrogate International Centre
http://www.heacademy.ac.uk/events/conference
14/07/08 Fifth Pan Commonwealth Forum (PCF5)
University of London
http://www.cde.london.ac.uk/support/events/event2987.htm
15-18/07/08 BbWorld’08
Las Vegas, USA
http://www.blackboard.com/company/events/bbworld08
8-10/10/08 mLearn08
University of Wolverhampton
www.mlearn2008.org
13-15/10/08 Handheld Learning 2008
The Barbican, London
http://www.handheldlearning2008.com/
TASI (JISC’s Technical Advisory Service for Images) has announced a number of workshops from Jan to April: http://www.tasi.ac.uk/training/
3. Funding Opportunities
Please find below a link to future JISC funding opportunities for the period January - summer 2008. This information has been put together to provide the community with information about future calls for funding, either through JISC Circulars issued to HE/FE institutions or more open invitations to tender published on JISC's website.
http://www.jisc.ac.uk/fundingopportunities/futurecalls
4. Resources
i) Accessibility Law
The Accessibility Law webcast which is available on the JISC Legal website has also been made available with subtitles, on DVD.
http://www.jisclegal.ac.uk/Webcast/accesswebcast.html
ii) Information Management Toolkit
JISC InfoKits are a set of freely available online “how-to” resources. The Information Management infokit which is based upon the principle of an information life cycle and provides a consistent framework for managing all types of internal information.
iii) Draft Guidance on Institutional Use of Web 2.0
The University of Edinburgh has made an early attempt at drafting institutional guidelines which may help others as they navigate the risks and benefits of Web 2.0 use by their learners and staff. http://www.vp.is.ed.ac.uk/Web_2.0_Initiative/Guidelines
iv) JISC e-books project
The JISC national e-books observatory project is making freely available to HE institutions 36 core and recommended reading e-books, to support HE taught course students. Full details at JISC national e-books project.
v) Considering Open Source Software
Ross Gardler, Manager of OSS Watch, says that procuring and developing IT systems which can meet the needs of colleges and universities requires a full consideration of open source software. In this podcast interview, he explains why open source is so important and how most of us use it even without knowing it….download or subscribe to the podcast here
vi) Guardian/Observer archive
This archive will eventually contain the digital reproduction of every page, article and advert published in the Guardian (since 1821) and the Observer (since 1791 - the oldest Sunday paper in the world). For this launch the archive covers the period of 1821-1975 for the Guardian and 1900-1975 for the Observer as we are still working on digitising the remaining material. From early 2008 onwards the entire archive up to 2003 will be available - more than 1.2m pages covering all major historic events over 212 years as reported at the time. http://archive.guardian.co.uk
vii) The 19th Century British Library Newspapers Website
The 19th Century British Library Newspapers Website, managed by Gale, offers 1,000,000 pages of digital content. It is freely available to Further and Higher Education UK institutions. This digital resource provides access to national, regional, and local 19th century British newspapers. It includes 48 titles, totalling approximately 2.2 million pages, which reflect the social and political developments of the time.
http://www.jisc-collections.ac.uk/19thblib
Please send comments and contributions for next month’s BLE-bulletin to Sarah Sherman, BLE Service Manager, s.sherman@bloomsbury.ac.uk, 07515 580 385.
Friday, 4 January 2008
Happy New Year!
It's back to the grind, but an exciting year ahead. These past 3 days I have been based at the Potters Bar (Hawkshead) campus at the RVC, but will be back in Bloomsbury next week:
Monday: RVC @ Camden
Tuesday: SOAS
Wed: IOE
Thurs: LIDC (London International Development Centre)
Fri: RVC @ Camden
I now have a phone number on which I can be reached:
07515 580 385
Current dates for the BLE calendar:
Wed 9th Jan - BLE Pedagogy
Thurs 10th Jan - BLE Steering Group
31st Jan - BLE Technical Group
14th Feb - Bloomsbury Showcase
See you soon
Monday: RVC @ Camden
Tuesday: SOAS
Wed: IOE
Thurs: LIDC (London International Development Centre)
Fri: RVC @ Camden
I now have a phone number on which I can be reached:
07515 580 385
Current dates for the BLE calendar:
Wed 9th Jan - BLE Pedagogy
Thurs 10th Jan - BLE Steering Group
31st Jan - BLE Technical Group
14th Feb - Bloomsbury Showcase
See you soon
Monday, 3 December 2007
Last working week of 2007
This week is my last week here before I go on leave; I will be taking my laptop with me and will have intermittent internet access. For this period only, I will ask institutional Blackboard administrators to raise Behind Blackboard queries if they can't be left till 2nd Jan, when I'm back.
Today, I shall be going over to the London International Development Centre to see how it's going there. Tomorrow, I will be at SOAS all day as usual. Wednesday, I'm meeting Leman at LSHTM to get a better idea of how Blackboard is used there. Thursday will be a busy day - a meeting at SOAS in the morning, the BLE Steering Group at lunchtime and then the CRIG Unconference, hosted by Birkbeck. Friday will be my last day before I fly out to the States, so I will be up in Potters Bar at the RVC's Hawkshead campus tying up loose ends.
Today, I shall be going over to the London International Development Centre to see how it's going there. Tomorrow, I will be at SOAS all day as usual. Wednesday, I'm meeting Leman at LSHTM to get a better idea of how Blackboard is used there. Thursday will be a busy day - a meeting at SOAS in the morning, the BLE Steering Group at lunchtime and then the CRIG Unconference, hosted by Birkbeck. Friday will be my last day before I fly out to the States, so I will be up in Potters Bar at the RVC's Hawkshead campus tying up loose ends.
Tuesday, 27 November 2007
Deja Vu
I am currently sat in the library of the Institute of Education (having been set up on their wireless network), about to do some prep for my class before I head off to Birkbeck. Really weird sense of Deja Vu... I used to work here when studying for my degree at UCL and when I was a student at the IOE. Bloomsbury really is my "stomping ground"!
Friday, 23 November 2007
Virtual Insanity?
This week, I attended the Steering Group meeting for the University of London's distance education e-Learning Benchmarking project. This activity, left over from my last job, provides an interesting insight into an institution auditing their e-learning.
On Tuesday, the BLE Pedagogy Group met for the first time since the summer - Ana and Brian from the RVC demonstrated how audio podcasts are being made available. The Group were so keen and full of questions, that unfortunately the pair did not complete their presentation. A Bloomsbury workshop on podcasting would obviously be of great interest and something I can arrange next term.
On Wednesday, I attended the HeLF (Heads of eLearning Forum) at City University - a group set up independent of JISC and the Higher Education Academy, which means the content of the meeting is purely strategic for the institutions. Made a refreshing change! The theme of the event was Second Life usage in education - I'm not convinced, though I can see the benefits in distance learning. Anyone had a play with it?
Next week, the BLE Technical Group meets and I have arranged a conference call with Blackboard engineers to discuss the reporting database. Monday I will be at the RVC (Camden), Tuesday at SOAS, Wednesday at RVC (Hawkshead) and Thursday at IOE. Friday is yet to be decided...
On Tuesday, the BLE Pedagogy Group met for the first time since the summer - Ana and Brian from the RVC demonstrated how audio podcasts are being made available. The Group were so keen and full of questions, that unfortunately the pair did not complete their presentation. A Bloomsbury workshop on podcasting would obviously be of great interest and something I can arrange next term.
On Wednesday, I attended the HeLF (Heads of eLearning Forum) at City University - a group set up independent of JISC and the Higher Education Academy, which means the content of the meeting is purely strategic for the institutions. Made a refreshing change! The theme of the event was Second Life usage in education - I'm not convinced, though I can see the benefits in distance learning. Anyone had a play with it?
Next week, the BLE Technical Group meets and I have arranged a conference call with Blackboard engineers to discuss the reporting database. Monday I will be at the RVC (Camden), Tuesday at SOAS, Wednesday at RVC (Hawkshead) and Thursday at IOE. Friday is yet to be decided...
Thursday, 15 November 2007
Bloomsbury.ac.uk
I'm turning more generic... you can now reach me at s.sherman@bloomsbury.ac.uk, which is great.
Yesterday, I met with Nancy Turner at the University of the Arts; Nancy is currently Director of Professional Development, but will be covering for the Dean of Learning & Teaching Development who will shortly be on maternity leave. UAL are also customers of Blackboard ASP, and Nancy and I shared some very interesting stories about ASP and some of their consultancy services - the inaugural meeting of our"Blackboard Support Group" (I knew my counselling course would come in useful). We look forward to meeting regularly to update each other with progress and see how we might be able collaborate.
After a short spell squatting in the London Knowledge Lab, I visited Michelle Wake - Head of Library & Information Services at the School of Pharmacy. Michelle has been invited to join the BLE Steering Group, which she has accepted. A good move forward in encouraging more collaboration with SoP.
I'll be at the RVC in Potters Bar today and Camden tomorrow.
Yesterday, I met with Nancy Turner at the University of the Arts; Nancy is currently Director of Professional Development, but will be covering for the Dean of Learning & Teaching Development who will shortly be on maternity leave. UAL are also customers of Blackboard ASP, and Nancy and I shared some very interesting stories about ASP and some of their consultancy services - the inaugural meeting of our"Blackboard Support Group" (I knew my counselling course would come in useful). We look forward to meeting regularly to update each other with progress and see how we might be able collaborate.
After a short spell squatting in the London Knowledge Lab, I visited Michelle Wake - Head of Library & Information Services at the School of Pharmacy. Michelle has been invited to join the BLE Steering Group, which she has accepted. A good move forward in encouraging more collaboration with SoP.
I'll be at the RVC in Potters Bar today and Camden tomorrow.
Monday, 12 November 2007
Blackboard, Birkbeck and Beer
These 3 Bs were on the agenda on Thursday and Friday last week.
On Thursday I met with Richard Horton (Regional Manager), Lenny Khan (Client Manager UK) and Dave Hayward (Marketing Manager in Europe) from Blackboard plus Philip Butler (e-Learning Adviser) @ JISC RSC London. The meeting was set up to discuss the London Blackboard Regional User Group, which I have recently taken over moderating and how we will be re-launching it by organising a meeting in late Feb/early March next year. Blackboard will subsidise the cost of the event (accommodation, catering) and will pretty much stay behind the scenes, but will drop into meetings to give presentations (e.g. demo of Bb8). I intend to use Bloomsbury Colleges as the venues for these meetings - to raise our profile and for convenience as they are centrally located.
Richard took the opportunity to talk to me about Blackboard consultancy offers for Snapshot, Startegy and Content System, but I told him now was not really the best time...
On Friday, I spent an enjoyable day at Birkbeck, meeting a staff development manager in the morning; attending the e-Learning Advisory Group and then a focus group looking at the interface of their future Blackboard site. It's great to be a part of this; seeing the implementation from the very beginning and being able to support it.
And the beer? Well I'd best leave it at that...
On Thursday I met with Richard Horton (Regional Manager), Lenny Khan (Client Manager UK) and Dave Hayward (Marketing Manager in Europe) from Blackboard plus Philip Butler (e-Learning Adviser) @ JISC RSC London. The meeting was set up to discuss the London Blackboard Regional User Group, which I have recently taken over moderating and how we will be re-launching it by organising a meeting in late Feb/early March next year. Blackboard will subsidise the cost of the event (accommodation, catering) and will pretty much stay behind the scenes, but will drop into meetings to give presentations (e.g. demo of Bb8). I intend to use Bloomsbury Colleges as the venues for these meetings - to raise our profile and for convenience as they are centrally located.
Richard took the opportunity to talk to me about Blackboard consultancy offers for Snapshot, Startegy and Content System, but I told him now was not really the best time...
On Friday, I spent an enjoyable day at Birkbeck, meeting a staff development manager in the morning; attending the e-Learning Advisory Group and then a focus group looking at the interface of their future Blackboard site. It's great to be a part of this; seeing the implementation from the very beginning and being able to support it.
And the beer? Well I'd best leave it at that...
Tuesday, 6 November 2007
Bb Admin training
Yesterday evening, I attended a reception for the Bloomsbury Colleges Groups, where I waved the flag for the BLE - which was mentioned as an example of good collaborative practice in the consortium by David Latchman, Master of Birkbeck College.
This morning, I set up access to the JANET Roaming Service which will allow me to use the wireless networks in some of the colleges. Well, hopefully - it seems to work when I sit on the edge of the desk at SOAS. Will try Birkbeck later this week...
I am currently sat next to Fitri at the IOE, watching over her shoulder as she answers queries from staff and course administrators using Blackboard. I've also been doing this with Martin at SOAS and Fiona and Ana at the RVC. It's a great way of learning how the systems are used, looking at the sorts of queries that are common between colleges and will enable me to pinch any good ideas and spread them around the consortium. Will be setting up a date at LSHTM with Leman.
This morning, I set up access to the JANET Roaming Service which will allow me to use the wireless networks in some of the colleges. Well, hopefully - it seems to work when I sit on the edge of the desk at SOAS. Will try Birkbeck later this week...
I am currently sat next to Fitri at the IOE, watching over her shoulder as she answers queries from staff and course administrators using Blackboard. I've also been doing this with Martin at SOAS and Fiona and Ana at the RVC. It's a great way of learning how the systems are used, looking at the sorts of queries that are common between colleges and will enable me to pinch any good ideas and spread them around the consortium. Will be setting up a date at LSHTM with Leman.
Friday, 2 November 2007
Today and the week ahead
I had every intention be in Camden today but upon leaving my house, I realised that my travelcard had expired and my car keys were in my pocket - so I have headed back to Hawkshead.
On Monday, the BLE Steering Group will meet and will be attending a Bloomsbury Colleges meeting straight after; Tuesday, I will be at SOAS all day; Thursday, I will be meeting Richard Horton (Regional Manager), Lenny Khan (Account Manager) and Dave Hayward (Marketing Manager) from Blackboard to discuss the London Bb Regional User Group; Friday I will be attending BBK's E-Learning Group meeting.
On Monday, the BLE Steering Group will meet and will be attending a Bloomsbury Colleges meeting straight after; Tuesday, I will be at SOAS all day; Thursday, I will be meeting Richard Horton (Regional Manager), Lenny Khan (Account Manager) and Dave Hayward (Marketing Manager) from Blackboard to discuss the London Bb Regional User Group; Friday I will be attending BBK's E-Learning Group meeting.
Thursday, 1 November 2007
Welcome
Do I welcome myself to my own blog or is this a welcome for the reader? Please forgive my lack of blog-etiquette (blotiquette?) - this is the first time I intend to maintain a blog (though I have set up others to demo!).
Yesterday (Wednesday), I was out and about in Bloomsbury. I met Magdalena Jara at the IOE and had a good chat about how the Learning & Teaching Unit (LTU) is supporting staff with Blackboard. Need to meet up with Juliette (MIS) and the Helpdesk to see how the whole thing fits together. After that, I hung out in the Knowledge Lab, connected to the wireless (new laptop arrived last week - a lovely HP tablet) and did some work there.
In the afternoon, I attended the Bloomsbury Staff Development Group meeting, where I introduced myself , raised the issue of e-learning training provisions across the colleges and brought up possible joint Bb training across the Bloomsbury Colleges. Currently, the RVC, SOAS and LSHTM SD depts each coordinate e-learning training, which is managed by their respective learning technology teams. The IOE SD Manager leaves training completely to the LTU. BBK and SoP were not in attendance.
In terms of sharing training, the model of opening up institutional training to other Bloomsbury Colleges (as offered by the RVC at no cost if led by the eMedia Unit) was thought to be problematic. Firstly, staff based in Bloomsbury may not want to travel to Camden. Secondly, the training be need to be generic enough to be applied to other colleges. Thirdly, the fact that the RVC's offer to external participants would only be confirmed 24 hours before the training was not thought to be useful and may discourage staff from attending.
The issues of joint Bb and e-learning training was viewed as positive by the group but, again, problematic. If, for example, the RVC eMedia Unit provided training, there would be the costs associated with their time that would need to be accounted for. The notion of "free training" is great, but may reduce commitment of attendees; SD depts may be more willing to pay £50, for example, to send staff to sessions.
I came away from the meeting feeling a little disappointed that the task of setting up shared training would not be as straight-forward as I thought. The SD group recommended I now approach the respective e-learning teams in the colleges; if they are willing to share training, then the SD group will be happy to support it by promotion.
I finished off the day purchasing a laptop case on Tottenham Court Road, which cheered me up! Today (Thursday), I am at the RVC's Hawkshead campus in Potters Bar doing some admin work and waiting for Ana and Fiona to alert me to any Bb emails - I am currently learning to be a Bb administrator!
Yesterday (Wednesday), I was out and about in Bloomsbury. I met Magdalena Jara at the IOE and had a good chat about how the Learning & Teaching Unit (LTU) is supporting staff with Blackboard. Need to meet up with Juliette (MIS) and the Helpdesk to see how the whole thing fits together. After that, I hung out in the Knowledge Lab, connected to the wireless (new laptop arrived last week - a lovely HP tablet) and did some work there.
In the afternoon, I attended the Bloomsbury Staff Development Group meeting, where I introduced myself , raised the issue of e-learning training provisions across the colleges and brought up possible joint Bb training across the Bloomsbury Colleges. Currently, the RVC, SOAS and LSHTM SD depts each coordinate e-learning training, which is managed by their respective learning technology teams. The IOE SD Manager leaves training completely to the LTU. BBK and SoP were not in attendance.
In terms of sharing training, the model of opening up institutional training to other Bloomsbury Colleges (as offered by the RVC at no cost if led by the eMedia Unit) was thought to be problematic. Firstly, staff based in Bloomsbury may not want to travel to Camden. Secondly, the training be need to be generic enough to be applied to other colleges. Thirdly, the fact that the RVC's offer to external participants would only be confirmed 24 hours before the training was not thought to be useful and may discourage staff from attending.
The issues of joint Bb and e-learning training was viewed as positive by the group but, again, problematic. If, for example, the RVC eMedia Unit provided training, there would be the costs associated with their time that would need to be accounted for. The notion of "free training" is great, but may reduce commitment of attendees; SD depts may be more willing to pay £50, for example, to send staff to sessions.
I came away from the meeting feeling a little disappointed that the task of setting up shared training would not be as straight-forward as I thought. The SD group recommended I now approach the respective e-learning teams in the colleges; if they are willing to share training, then the SD group will be happy to support it by promotion.
I finished off the day purchasing a laptop case on Tottenham Court Road, which cheered me up! Today (Thursday), I am at the RVC's Hawkshead campus in Potters Bar doing some admin work and waiting for Ana and Fiona to alert me to any Bb emails - I am currently learning to be a Bb administrator!
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