Jun
The Moodle Toolkit as developed by the Pathfinder Project is available here
http://moodle.bradfordcollege.ac.uk/extmoodle/course/view.php?id=3
Please use it and become more engaged with Moodle
R
Jun
Our Higher Education Authority funded Pathfinder Project Research Officer – Kathrine Jensen writes:
The Pathfinder journey report has been sent to HEA and this is the final phase of Pathfinder. Remaining tasks are to animate the conceptual model, write the briefing papers and put together a poster for the 26th June Pathfinde rmeeting in London.
All Pathfinder outputs can be found on the External Moodle site at
http://moodle.bradfordcollege.ac.uk/extmoodle/course/view.php?id=4
R
Jun
We had an excellent presentation from the Wimba people yesterday who took us through the range of their classroom. We were interested in the way it might link with Moodle. We already use Course Genie which has been rebranded as Wimba Create.
Further datails of Wimba can be found here.
R
Jun
Please see this as a useful way to explain Moodle to those who have not been paying attention.
R
Feb
This will be an opportunity to share your experiences and ideas for using moodle in the delivery of courses. There will also be a brief update on the Pathfinder project and the latest on the moodle server – live and kicking.The venue is now booked, the Victory Room in Grove Library for Monday 25th February from 12-14. Please let Kathrine Jensen k.jensen@bradfordcollege.ac.uk know if you can attend and whether you would like to have lunch at 12.30. If you cannot attend for all of the session, just drop by for part of it. So please add this event to your diaries.
When: Monday 25th Feb
Where: Victory Room, Grove Library
Time: 12-14
Thanks to the people who have already let Kathrine know. Please respond by 18th Feb at the latest so that catering can be organised.
Jan
Learning Resources are developing a new Digital Creative Learning Lab to help with the push towards more effective use of ILT in the classroom and the greater use of the Virtual Learning Environment. Following a successful bid to Yorkshire Forward for funding this exciting project will begin now and the aim is that we will have the Lab up and running by the end of March. The funding is designed to help build a higher level Skilled Economy through Building Capacity – key aspects of Yorkshire Forwards ambitions for the short-term future. In particular capital funding for technology to support the delivery of foundation degrees.
The focus of the lab will be on creating multi-media learning materials which can be delpoyed within and alongside the VLE. This sort of development would typically be commissioned by a course team leader and delivered through a range of different skills from pedagogic principles through to user acceptance testing. The lab will be a key resource in developing our e-learning strategy for Foundation Degress and other learning offers.
Jan
This is the latest piece of equipment I am evaluating, the Eee PC is a Mobile Internet Device that offers many of the advantages of mobile computing.
I am particularly interested in how it might work for our learners. It is easy to setup and learning how to use it takes less than 5 minutes. It has excellent Wi-fi connectivity and this is enhanced by its fast operating system – Linux – (there is also an option to install WindowsXP) and 512mb (DDR2) memory. There is no hard-drive. Instead the Eee uses Solid State Disk storage which comes in 4gb or 8gb – it boots very quickly and is pretty shock-proof (although I’ve not tested this!). The 7inche screen has a built-in webcam, excellent audio and its packed with useful applications.
Perhaps the most remarkable feature though is its price – it retails round the £220 mark. Full testing, as part of a wider exercise, for example by a group of 10 students, is planned – findings will be posted here. My findings so far are very positive – it could be a very useful tool for learning.
Jan
As the new building on Trinity Rd. progresses well, plans for the delivery of our open-access library/learning resource centre become more firm. We have chosen the thin client or virtual pc solution. Reasons for this are primarily to do with environmental (heat generation) issues, which are of paramount importance for the overall comfort of the building. The maintenance and administrative overheads associated with running banks of fat client pcs are significantly reduced by thin-client. Expected disadvantages seen recently in a pilot exercise, for example include constrainst on the ability of the thin-client to handle video streaming. Such limitations are expeted to be overcome in the foreseeable future. Additional to the provision of thin-client machines will be the facility to loan laptops to learners. This, again at pilot phase has yielded some interesting results and demand has been consistently high.
Jan
Issue 3 of the international online Journal of Information Literacy, with Ronan O’Beirne as Editor, has recently been published and includes a number of interesting articles and book reviews. To access JIL please follow this link:
Dec
On arriving at the University of Westminster (Baker Street Tube) I noticed this rainwater stain on the brickwork that seemed to depict a ghostly shape of Sherlock Holmes.
The SEEC conference E-Portfolios: employability or engagement? was held on December 7th. The aim of the event was according to the programme “to explore how E-portfolios capture evidence of skills and learning curves for a range of purposes, including credit accumulation. What are the benefits for student, academic tutors and others, including, arguably that vital ‘end-user’, the employer? ” It was an excellent event with a good range of presentations. I learned a lot about the practical application of e-portfolios, took lots of notes and made some useful contacts.
At Bradfrod College we are conducting an evaluation exercise prior to implementing an e-portfolio solution. It is complex with many different definitions of an e-portfolio still causing a fog amongst practitioners. There are quite a number of product on the market for example; Pebble Pad, ELGG, MyStuff and MultiPort. Our evaluation exercise will look at our unique requirements and then match these with the right product. If you are interested in taking part in this evaluation exercise please contact me.
