25 most recent entries:
Exploring tangible benefits of e-learning: does investment yield interest? (Apr 29 2008 16:12 GMT)
A publication has been launched by JISC infoNet which attempts to answer important questions about the benefits of e-learning. Exploring these questions through a wide range of case studies on subjects as diverse as e-portfolios, assessment, podcasting, student retention, use of resources, gaming and much more, the publication attempts to make sense of the diversity of current e-learning practice across the HE sector and to seek out evidence that technology-enhanced learning is delivering tangible benefits for learners, teachers and institutions. How has the appropriate application of technology transformed aspects of learning and teaching? The result is, say the publication?s authors, ?
Circular 6/08: JISC Shared Infrastructure Programme (Apr 29 2008 12:28 GMT)
JISC invites institutions to submit funding proposals in the following areas. Theme/Context Description Funds Shared Infrastructure Service Embedding projects Projects to: Embed shared infrastructure services (SIS) into institutional systems in order to demonstrate the benefits for end users of the service Synthesise the work of the embedding projects into the Information Environment Demonstrator[1] and, where appropriate, extract service usage models[2] Total funds: c. £200,000 c.
Circular 05/08: Institutional Approaches to Curriculum Design (Apr 29 2008 08:41 GMT)
JISC invites proposals for projects to review course design and validation processes, and the ways these are supported and informed by technology, in order to transform learning opportunities to address an identified issue or challenge of strategic importance to the institution involved. Funding of up to £400,000 per project is available with projects expected to last for just under four years. JISC has committed £5 million to this work and expects to funds up to 12 projects. Because of the need for institutions to identity issues or challenges relevant to their own context only one project per institution will be funded. Institutions are encouraged to ensure that the most appropriate bid from their institution is submitted.
Building the 21st century library: new report published (Apr 28 2008 16:51 GMT)
SCONUL and JISC look to establish ?strategic engagement? with LMS vendors Libraries should look for increased value from their principal library-wide computer systems, ensure that those ?library management systems? are integrated with other institutional systems and look to break down barriers between library users and resources.
Podcast: Timeline to the future (Apr 28 2008 12:21 GMT)
Newly published case studies are giving real-life examples of how ICT can help widen participation and support learner progression. In this podcast for Inform Plus, JISC programme manager Sarah Davies talks with Philip Pothen about e-portfolios and how they're supporting students in making vital decisions about their learning, their work and their careers. Listen to the podcastJISC EMBEDDED OBJECT Subscribe to the JISC Podcast via RSS Subscribe to the JISC Podcast via iTunes Download the podcast
JANET wins shared services award (Apr 25 2008 16:42 GMT)
The JISC-funded JANET network won the Shared Services category at last night's Government Computing Awards for Innovation. The awards were launched in 1996 and provide accolades for public sector organisations that have harnessed technology to provide better services and a better deal for the taxpayer. The award was presented by Michael White of the Guardian. Tim Marshall Chief Executive of JANET(UK) commented:
Ever increasing circles (Apr 25 2008 16:00 GMT)
A thought-provoking article by David Nicol in yesterday’s Times Higher explores some of the issues around the provision and reception of feedback in UK HE. Writing in response to the National Union of Students’ Feedback Amnesty which was itself inspired by the poor rating for assessment and feedback in the 2007 National Student Survey, Nicol discusses [...]
Review of the Enterprise SIG Meeting (04.04.2008) (Apr 25 2008 10:36 GMT)
Finally managed to organise the 17th Enterprise sig meeting. The notes and the presentations are available on the wiki page. A very good opportunity to meet and interact with the Enterprise SIG people . The COVA project by Balbir Barn from Thames valley University. It mainly focussed on BPMN (Business Process [...
ROAR, DOAR and Route 66 (kind of) (Apr 25 2008 10:12 GMT)
Note: Slides available from here. I attended the RSP Repository Services Day in Nottingham this week. Held at the city’s university, the event was to “
Podcast: Managing identity in education (Apr 23 2008 10:31 GMT)
Thanks to identity cards and certain high-profile cases of data loss, the issue of identity management is never far from the headlines. In this podcast with Philip Pothen for Inform Plus, JISC programme manager James Farnhill unravels some of the complexities involved in managing identity in further and higher education and explains how JISC's work is supporting colleges and universities. Listen to the podcastJISC EMBEDDED OBJECT Subscribe to the JISC Podcast via RSS Subscribe to the JISC Podcast via iTunes Download the podcast
JISC ITT Feasibility study into approaches to improve the consistency with which repositories share material (Apr 17 2008 09:13 GMT)
The Joint Information Systems Committee (JISC) invites tenders for a project to investigate the feasibility of approaches to improve the consistency with which repositories share material. Total funding of £50,000 is available for this project, inclusive of VAT and all expenses. The work will be for five months beginning in May 2008 and ending by 31st October 2008. Tenders should be submitted no later than 12:00 noon on Friday 16th May 2008.
W3C releases working drafts for Widgets 1.0 specification (Apr 16 2008 14:15 GMT)
This week sees another milestone in W3C's effort to standardize the use of Widgets across platforms with the release of the Widgets v1.0 working draft documents. The specification aims to offer a single way of creating and distributing widgets on a range of platforms.
JISC ITT: Formative Assessment Process Modelling (Apr 15 2008 17:05 GMT)
JISC invites tenders to survey and model current and ideal formative assessment processes. Formative assessment is an area in which both pedagogical theory and practice have recently seen significant development. However, the use of e-assessment for formative assessment is less well developed than for summative e-assessment, and it is expected that new e-assessment services and systems will be required to facilitate emerging proven practices. The main deliverables of the project are: description of current proven practice in formative assessment in the form of a set of case studies set of process models that synthesise the case studies and model desirable future processes, and detail system and service requirements concise final report (less than 40 pages) that outlines the vision of formative e-assessment, as informed by the case studies and process models Up to £40,000 (including VAT and expenses) is available for the study over an
DesignShare: Linking up IMS Learning Design tools and systems (Apr 15 2008 09:50 GMT)
We spoke to Mark Barrett-Baxendale from Liverpool Hope University about the JISC DesignShare Toolkit Demonstrator project, which focussed on the use and storage of Units of Learning defined by IMS Learning Design. Mark concludes that the project ?demonstrated the utility of the service oriented approach? by linking the Open Document.Net repository to the Reload IMS Learning Design editor.
UKOLN celebrates 30th anniversary at the British Library (Apr 14 2008 18:08 GMT)
UKOLN is celebrating 30 years of expertise in digital information management with a major event at the British Library in London today. Leading international figures from the information world, are gathering to mark the celebration of UKOLN reaching 30 years of achievement and success. 'UKOLN has been the driving force behind many highly influential national initiatives, seminal reports, pioneering projects and innovative technical developments.' The current Director, Dr Liz Lyon and her staff, will be joined by prominent speakers from the JISC, the Museums, Libraries and Archives Council (MLA) and the British Library, as well as from the US Coalition for Networked Information and OCLC, illustrating the global profile and influence of the UKOLN organisation. The first Director, Philip Bryant will introduce the proceedings.
Offender eLearning: an issue of accessibility? (Apr 14 2008 13:35 GMT)
Prompted by my discovery of the Learning and Skills Council funded Offender Learning and Skills Service, I attended a NIACE conference in Bradford at the beginning of the month concerned with e-learning for offenders. Offender learning covers a wide range of institutions from Category A prisons to institutions providing support for non-custodial offenders. The priority [...]
Key organisations call for ?legislative clarity? in the field of copyright (Apr 13 2008 16:49 GMT)
Current copyright legislation is complex and fails to address the requirements for providing and using content in the digital age. This has a ?limiting effect? on the UK?s knowledge economy.
Podcast: The e-Framework for international education and research (Apr 10 2008 11:17 GMT)
The e-Framework for Education and Research is an international initiative that provides information to institutions on investing in and using information technology infrastructure. The primary goal of the initiative is to facilitate technical interoperability within and across education and research through improved strategic planning and implementation processes.In this podcast Sara Hassen speaks with Wilbert Kraan, a member of the e-Framework working group, about the e-Framework's aims, knowledge base, services and major achievements to date.
JISC Circular 4/08: Learning and Teaching Innovation Grants (Apr 10 2008 09:25 GMT)
JISC invites institutions to submit funding proposals for projects to undertake work under its Learning and Teaching Innovation Grants Programme. JISC wishes to fund one year projects and activities that fit with the vision, outcomes and principles of the JISC e-Learning programme and support innovative approaches to learning and teaching. This is an open call, and projects dealing with any aspect of e-learning are welcomed. To reduce the initial investment in time and resource needed to develop a traditional JISC proposal and to encourage speculative and innovative ideas from the community bidders are invited to submit outline proposals online. Funds up to £75,000 for projects of one year duration are available.
TOGAF: fetch me a 27b stroke 6 (Apr 09 2008 15:09 GMT)
I’ve been attending a course on The Open Group Architecture Framework or TOGAF down in London. The aim of TOGAF is to provide a methodology for effecting change in the IT capabilities of an organisation by taking a consistent (though perhaps rather top-down) approach to structuring everything through analysing the business needs and processes… The course [...]
Future imperfect (Apr 09 2008 14:05 GMT)
Following the third Pew Future of the Internet survey and the most recent Horizon report, I came across this Map of Future Forces Affecting Education recently and keep finding myself drawn back to it despite myself. Though the interactive map itself looks smart, it’s a bit clumsy and impractical to use (somehow I wasn’t surprised that their ‘how [...
Funding worth nearly £4m announced (Apr 09 2008 12:49 GMT)
JISC today announced the successful bids under the latest round of funding of its capital programme. Representing an investment of nearly £4m, the 45 projects are being funded under the Enterprise Architecture, Users and Innovation, e-Infrastructure and e-learning strands of the programme. Among the projects being funded under the Users and Innovation strand are a range of small-scale pilot projects exploring next-generation and social networking technologies such as social tagging, ?microblogging?, Second Life and other virtual reality environments in a range of contexts and subject areas.
SQA licence BTL’s Surpass Suite (Apr 09 2008 10:23 GMT)
BTL Group Ltd have just announced that the Scottish Qualifications Authority (SQA) have licenced their Surpass Suite for authoring, storing and delivering eassessments across a range of qualifications and subject areas. This follows shortly after news that the SQA worked with BTL to convert a range of English for Speakers of Other Languages materials into interactive electronic [...]
IMS release QTI v2.1 public draft 2 Addendum (Apr 09 2008 09:16 GMT)
IMS Question and Test Interoperability v2.1 public draft 2 was released almost two years ago. Since then there have been a number of implementation activities, including the JISC Capital Programme projects demonstrated to the community last February. Insights and lessons learned from these development activities have contributed to the QTI v2.1 public draft 2 Addendum [...
Semanticising search (Apr 08 2008 15:23 GMT)
Semantic Web search engines are few and far between ? perhaps unsurprisingly given that two years ago Tim-Berners Lee said this period would be looked back on in twenty years as “the embryonic period” ? but there are some in development.
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