This JISC Scholarly Communications Action Handbook provides guidance and suggested actions, in an effort to address researchers' scholarly communication concerns and improve current practices. The series of actions were created in consultation with the co
"FASTECH is designed to use readily available technologies to support the systemic enhancement of assessment and feedback strategies and practices at programme, faculty and institutional levels. A key aim is to provide evidence of, and guidelines for, technological improvements and change processes that can be used to enhance the effectiveness and efficiency of assessment and feedback at these levels throughout the sector. By welcoming engagements, developing our work with, and inviting contributions from members of the HE community throughout the project, we aim to build a strong community of practice, focussed upon developing understanding of how to improve assessment and feedback practices and environments."
"The purpose of this team-led course is to help you build and improve your skill in online teaching. Basic strategies for sharing your expertise, facilitating deep discussion, and designing experiential assessments will be covered. Both small and large-scale teaching models will be presented - including MOOCs, Massive Open Online Courses. This course will be of particular benefit to adult educators with some classroom teaching experience. Whether you are a corporate training and development facilitator, community educator, or a higher education faculty member, this introduction to teaching online will be an opportunity to explore the possibilities of open education, and network with a diverse, global community of practitioners."
In the spending cuts unveiled by the coalition government this morning, one victim will have stood out for the IT community. British Educational Communications and Technology Agency (Becta), the quango which promotes the use of technology in schools, is t
Community Maps. It provides access to maps generated from data sourced from a range of social and technical data providers. Data providers include: Experian, Point Topic, the University of Essex, Connection Services Ltd, UK online centres, University Coll
A new investor-backed company, Quad Learning, is teaming up with community colleges to build a national network of honors programs with a collaborative curriculum that they envision giving students an affordable, high-quality associate degree and helping them transfer to topnotch colleges and universities.
The purpose of this study was to explore group forming strategies by examining participation behaviours during whole class discussions associated with active participation in a following small group activity. Written communication data, posted in class discussion forums (843 messages/70,432 words) and small group forums (732 messages/59,394 words), were analyzed quantitatively. The result indicated that individuals' participation quantity in small groups was significantly correlated with their own participation behaviour in whole class discussions. Also, a significant portion of small group participation was explained by their group members' participation (i.e., group member effect). Based on the results, we suggest instructors use the information of participation behaviours during the initial period of whole class activities for allocating students into small groups heterogeneously.
"If you can't convince them, confuse them." Simply put, this is the advice that J. Scott Armstrong, a marketing professor at the Wharton School, coolly gives his fellow academics these days. It is based on his studies confirming what he calls the Dr. Fox ypothesis: "An unintelligible communication from a legitimate source in the recipient's area of expertise will increase the recipient's rating of the author's competence."
"The Design Studio is a developing toolkit which draws together a range of existing and emergent resources around curriculum design and delivery and the role technology plays in supporting these processes and practices. The Studio will provide access to project outcomes and outputs from the JISC Curriculum Design and Delivery programmes as they are developed and will continue to be sustained as a community resource after the programmes finish."
"In partnership with the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, EDUCAUSE explored the gaps between current learning management tools and a digital learning environment that could meet the changing needs of higher education . Consultations with more than 70 community thought leaders brought into relief the contours of a next generation digital learning environment (NGDLE). Its principal functional domains are interoperability;
personalization; analytics ,advising, and learning assessment; collaboration; and accessibility and universal design. Since no single application can deliver in all those domains, we recommend a "
Lego" approach to realizing the NGDLE, where NGDLE-
conforming components are built that allow individuals and
institutions the opportunity to construct learning environments tailored to their requirements and goals"
"In 2012, Duke University began using MOOCs to promote innovation in teaching and learning within the campus community, with the goal of importing successful new pedagogical ideas into Duke classrooms.
Since that time, 30 instructors from 28 departments have developed 31 MOOCs on Coursera, attracting 2.8 million enrollments and issuing more than 72,000 certificates.
Various examples show how these instructors changed their teaching approach in both MOOCs and traditional courses, including by improving classroom materials and activities, crafting better measures of student learning, and experimenting with new pedagogies to increase engagement and learning."
"Google+ Hangouts are proving to be a proficient platform for teaching and communicating in real time with others. If you're someone who creates instructional content online, you may want to consider using the platform for your next project".
"For the vast majority of us the smartphone is a benign device; a wireless tool not primarily used for voice communications any more but better suited as a multimedia device designed both as an entertainment device and for mobile productivity. Most would
This paper describes and analyses the motivations for OER projects, the design decisions they took in implementing their repositories, the approaches they took to change agency and practice within their communities, and the changes in practice that have s
As a part of SuperPower Nation Day, the BBC are running an experiment using Google Translate, an automatic machine translation service, to see how the internet can break down language barriers. Communicate with speakers of Arabic, Chinese, English, Persia
This paper presents a summary of literature and main issues relating to the impact of social networks in Higher Education in the UK, with particular emphasis upon students' communication and engagement with faculty via social network sites. The review wil
JISC Digital Media, formerly TASI, exists to help the UK's FE and HE communities embrace and maximise the use of digital media - and to achieve solutions that are innovative, practical and cost effective.
This contribution presents and evaluates a new learning environment model based on Web 2.0 applications. We assume that the technological change introduced by Web 2.0 tools has also caused a cultural change in terms of dealing with types of communication,