Dr Rónán O’Beirne’s Weblog

Education; Technology; Digital Transformation; Information & Knowledge Management; Librarianship; Digital Leadership

Is the Internet overloading our brain?

I have very much enjoyed the BBC World Service’s – Virtual Revolution series which was run throughout March, the blurb for the first episode outlines it well  “Since its birth almost twenty years ago, the World Wide Web has transformed our world : A quarter of the planet is now online and able as never before to communicate, publish, and garner information seemingly without limits. But will the Web’s empowerment of ordinary people endure? As part of the BBC’s internet season, the computer expert Doctor Aleks Krotoski starts her four part series by documenting the Web’s remarkable growth and asking if the old hierarchies it challenges are managing to stage a counter revolution.”

In this first episode one of the interesting ironies of the piece about Napster was the rock band Metallica’s vociferous insistence that the copyright of musicians should be upheld. This irony was not lost on Sean Cannon, singer with the 40 year old Irish folk group the Dubliners who I saw playing at the Lowry  in Salford last Sunday.  Sean introduced one of their signature tunes in a typical way: “Here’s a song we found on YouTube – by a band called Metallica – its called “Whiskey In The Jar”. This got a huge laugh from the audience – the irony of course was that it was the Dubliners who 30 years ago recorded the original version of  “Whiskey in the Jar” which they gave to a band called Thin Lizzy from whom Metallica had ‘borrowed’ the tune – copyright eh, it such a personal thing !

On Thursday I travelled to the Engineering Centre for Excellence in Teaching and Learning (engCETL) at Loughborough University to speak at the Higher Education Academy’s Scholarly Activity Workshop. This was the second of three events, the first was in Stockport and the third will be in Bristol, run by Angus Carpenter, Research Centre Manager at City College Norwich and Becky Turner, Educational Researcher at the University of Plymouth.

The aim of the series of workshops is to ‘develop and enhance the practice and management of scholarly activity and research within Further Education Colleges’. Barbara Edwards from the QAA opened the proceedings looking at the challenges of building a research ethos.

My presentation looked at the development of the research agenda across Bradford college giving examples from our TQEF cohort of projects, explaining our use of our home-grown virtual research environment, outlining our use of research support staff such as academic liaison librarians, and of course talking about the BAR conference. It was well received with a lot of people asking questions both in the session but also later on throughout the day.

My presentation was followed by a very well constructed assessment of scholarly activity and its benefits by Jim Logan from Blackpool and the Fylde College. After lunch Angus was joined by Neil Witt, Head of Technology Enhanced Learning again at University of Plymouth, and they looked at aspects of project management and most interestingly how to attract funding from a range of different agencies. Next up was Becky, helped by Phil Lester of the Higher Education Academy, who looked at the support that is provided by Regional Support Centres, and also Phil outlined the HEA’s professional recognition scheme of associates, fellows and senior fellows. The issue of linking with the Institute for Learning, raised by an audience question, was discussed. The day concluded with a short plenary session that rounded off the event on a positive note.

Yesterday I travelled to the second Future of Academic Libraries meeting and workshop event at Aston University where we further developed some scenarios for how the library might look in the year 2050. Picking up from where we left off at the first event in London in February the key drivers were again useful in shaping the discussion. An excellent graphic had been produced by Cartwright/SAMI that showed the results of our ‘backcasting’ exercise which essentially was a process of identifying the key ‘moments’ of the last 50 years. Yesterday’s event was opened by Professor Brian Collins FREng, FIET, FBCS, FIOP, RCDS whose keynote was interesting and thought provoking particularly his view of some of the future technologies such as the semantic web, cloud computing and, rather scarily, the emergence of synthetic staff. This was followed by a series of workshops that ranked the global drivers and questions then plotted these on axes of certainty to uncertainty and high-impact to low-impact. After a pleasant lunch during which I chatted to Marian Miller from Glasgow Caledonian University about her Saltire Centre, we again formed work-groups and developed scenarios in outline to be taken forward to the next stage. The day was concluded with a presentation by Gill Ringland which outlined the use of scenario building through some case studies. Next up will be a series of smaller workshops over the summer. For more information on the project click here

In response to the large numbers of staff now actively using Moodle, the VLE team and Beth and Deborah have set up a space that provides three services for staff: – Support services for  all development issues; Showcase facilities to show-off what you have done and to see the work of others; and a Lounge facility to share and develop good practice.
Of course the feedback from our recent successful  IQER (Integrated Quality Enhancement Review) about our use of Moodle was very positive, however there is always more that can be done. This new space should be an excellent resource for staff beginning with e-learning generally and also for those with more experience who may be looking to extend their skills and knowledge. Go there now!

The great effort that staff have put into developing the RFID solution here at Bradford College’s Libraries and Learning Resources, has been recognised by the QAA and showcased in a case study hosted on the Excellence Gateway. The innovation was recognised by JISC as being a significant achievement in the sector. Well done to all involved; from the germ of the idea through to the tender process then through to implementation and installation, it has been a very well received initiative and has led the way in FE library innovations.  Thanks also to Intellident our supplier, for their continued support. I know staff are itching to use the wands to manage stock.

To visit the Excellence Gateway and to read the Bradford College case study please follow this link.

Bradford College is the sponsor of the Appleton Academy and I sit as governor on the Curriculum & Standards committee. At a recent meeting some students ‘rehearsed’ their presentation for the final of the STEM challenge in which they were competing. We were all impressed with the very interesting presentation from the students and we wished them well with their trip to the finals in Manchester; what a wonderful surprise then to hear that they had won!!!

The winner of the first STEM Challenge was announced at the National Big Bang Fair in Manchester today (Thursday 11th March 2010).

Appleton Academy from Wyke, West Yorkshire submitted the winning design for an eco-friendly National Handball Centre.

Appleton’s team of six triumphed against tough competition from the other team of fours from, Whitecross Hereford High School, They win a trip to the Olympic Museum in Lausanne, Switzerland, plus a tour of the London 2012 construction site.
The STEMNET website can be found here

Bradford College has secured capital funding through a joint collaboration between the Vocational & Community Education and Learning Resources Departments at Bradford College,to procure new I.T equipment for a number of community and voluntary organisations. The new equipment will play a major part in improving the lives of thousands of people across the region by enhancing employment prospects and strengthening communities.

Voluntary and community organisations from across the region were invited to attend a formal presentation ceremony in a bid to learn more about the latest in new technology secured through the funding. Ronan O’Beirne, Assistant Director for Learning Development and Julie Hinchliffe, Assistant Director for Vocational & Community Education were delighted to present attendees with a variety of I.T equipment, including: laptops, data projectors, digital cameras, netbooks and desk top personal computers. This will replace out of date equipment, which often malfunctioned and hindered classes from taking place. The new equipment will also provide opportunities to reach small, remote communities, making learning accessible.

A full time member of staff John Davies has been appointed to develop a community VLE (virtual learning environment) and provide technical support on visits to out centres. This will help community staff maximise the potential of the new technology.

Elaborating further on how learners will benefit from the equipment, Julie Hinchliffe concluded: “I’m delighted that the funding has secured the equipment here today. It will promote inclusive practices and enable learners in extremely deprived areas to have equality of access to similar resources to those who attend mainstream provision.”

The funding secured supports government strategies relating to adult learning, increasing the number of computers accessible and helping to improve skills and knowledge using ICT on a variety of courses.