Category: Uncategorized

  • Webcasts: pace & rhythm

    Been thinking about this, since we're engaged in a project that incorporates them at Northumbria Law School.  Talking to staff today it was borne in on me yet again how much lectures are culturally more sophisticated events than we tend to think.  

  • Research Day, Student Law Office, Northumbria U.

    The Student Law Office (SLO), or law clinic, is one of the most fascinating elements of Northumbria's Law School.  I'll be writing about it more in the future, but yesterday we held a research day, where we discussed directions for research on clinical and experiential learning.  Carol Boothby and I led it — a mix…

  • HEA conference, roundup

    On the train, back to Newcastle.  Reflections on the last two days…

  • HEA conference, day two, nomadic devices

    The blurb for this session — 'we will discuss how nomadic technology will utterly transform learning' — is irresistible.  Stuart Smith (3 Sheep Ltd, in association with MIMAS), started by defining nomadic learners pretty broadly as anyone with mobile devices + travel + working & learning.   He started with the example of a hairdressing…

  • HEA conference, day two, Simshare session

    No surprise that I was at this session since I was part of the team delivering it, with Karen Barton and Patricia McKellar.  Lots of ideas re SIMPLE and other sims, Simshare and OER slides in 30 mins…   Questions were taken, eg about the sustainability of digital resources — good point, though it goes beyond…

  • HEA conference, day two, mobile learning

    Linked to HEA IMPALA.  Good to see IMPALA as the basis for this work — really good project.  Session on mobile learning by mobile devices and educational context, by Don Vinson, Simon Padley and Joanna Hardman, U. of Gloucestershire.  Physical sciences disciplinary context, but in many ways applicable to almost all disciplines.  Three examples were…

  • HEA conference, day two, Panel

    Quality was the agenda for the Panel session.  What sort?  Quality based on diversity, of students and institutions was Aaron Porter's answer.  But, he warned, if students are going to be paying more for that experience, there needs to be a better experience.  They can't be expected to be given the same at a higher…

  • HEA conference, day two

    Attended session by Sue Watling on 'Gutenberg to Google: access denied'.  Interesting points on disability and access to digital data — she compared access to physical access, lowered kerbs, etc.  One basic point was that the shift to a Windows GUI was a setback to access because of the visual cues it introduced to the…

  • HEA conference, day one

    Am at the Annual HEA conference, this year being held at the U. of Hertfordshire, de Havilland campus.  On budget day.  Folk are checking the plasmas in the breakout areas, not for the football/tennis results, but to see how bad it will be for education.  Subdued atmosphere, in spite of the blistering weather.  Keynote by…

  • Relax, focus, shoot: the Altman approach to legal education multimedia

    Hugely busy so this is the first post in ages… Recently I was reading a review of a book on Robert Altman, one of my top ten film directors of all time. As an Arts student  in the seventies I was affected by his films more than most others – to this day I’ve never…

  • OER10 Conference

    Spent 2.5 days at the OER10 conference, Clare College, Cambridge.  Fascinating collection of papers and demos.  I was there discussing the UKCLE Simshare, with Patricia McKellar of UKCLE — slides here.  Highlights for me included Tom Browne's session on The Challenge of OER to Academic Practice.  Tom outlined some of the problems that he encountered…

  • JISC Learning & Teaching Experts meeting, Birmingham

    Great meet-up, as always.  Dizzying number of fascinating projects.  The day's slides and resources available here.  Too fast & furious to live blog, too busy taking it all in and applying to my own practice.  Most were not cutting-edge applications, but they were imaginative, carefully-planned implementations of technology that can inspire you to adapt and…