Learning Technologies 2011 and Learning and Skills 2011 | London

24-Jan-2011 » Training Press Releases » Europe’s largest organisational learning event kicks off at London Olympia on Wednesday this week and over 4,000 L&D professionals are expected to attend on 26-27 January.

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Learning and Skills 2011 -- January 26-27, 2011

OER reuse landscape — from the TALL blog at the University of Oxford

See the published map:

OER reuse -- University of Oxford

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The Future of Higher Education -- upcoming conference in London, March 2011

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From DSC:
A global push continues to be evident in some of the things that Pearson has been up to in the last year:

ProTools opens up — from JISC
Avid adds open standard compliance to their industry-standard audio software.

Avid Pro Tools 9

With the release of Pro Tools 9, however, this has all changed. Avid (who have also now dropped the ‘Digidesign’ sub-brand from ProTools) have opened up Pro Tools to interface with open software and hardware standards like Apple’s Core Audio, or ASIO for Windows, and for the first time you can now buy Pro Tools software on its own (rather than bundled with, or limited to specific hardware) and record and play back through any audio interface. At JISC Digital Media this means we’re looking forward to hooking ‘Tools up to our Apogee Ensemble interface, as well as other Core Audio and ASIO audio devices we have access to, and getting back to what for some of us is a familiar environment.

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‘First iPhone app that lets you transfer money’ — from The Telegraph by Kara Gammell
First Direct has become the first UK bank to launch a true transactional banking app for Apple’s iPhone and iPod Touch.

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Half of Detroit’s schools may close — from good.is

studying.girls
Financial mismanagement and declining enrollment are ringing a death knell for Detroit’s schools. According to Detroit Public School Emergency Manager Robert Bobb, to close a $327 million budget deficit, he’ll need to shut half of the city’s campuses over the next two years.

Under the plan, the 142 current schools in the district would be reduced to 72 by the 2012-13 school year. What will happen to the students attending those schools? Bobb plans to shift them over to the remaining campuses, raising class sizes to 62 students per teacher.

From DSC:
Seriously…this is crazy and completely unfair! Those of us who have more resources need to step in and help out. But how can we best do this? How can folks outside of the Detroit area make a solid, helpful impact? Coming from the tech side of the house, I’d like to see us offer FREE materials…online.

That assistance could come from private corporations, individuals, colleges, universities or for-profit organizations such as K12 Inc.  Another idea along the lines of individuals, is to allocate $1-$5 billion from the amounts being donated by some of the nation’s wealthiest people. Use those funds to make outstanding educational materials that engage our youth. Then we could offer those incredibly-well done, multimedia-based, interactive, engaging, highly-sophisticated materials FREELY to anyone who wants access to them — whether inside or outside the United States. This would be a massive undertaking from a curricular, instructional design, programming, production, etc. standpoint. But WOW! What a difference it could make to level the playing field!

Perhaps working with vendors, some of the funding could be used for loaning out the devices needed to “play” and interact with the materials, and perhaps some other funding could be allocated to the city of Detroit to provide wireless access throughout the city and surrounding suburbs.

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The $600 billion challenge– from Fortune

Bill Gates, Melinda Gates, and Warren Buffett are asking the nation’s billionaires to pledge to give at least half their net worth to charity, in their lifetimes or at death. If their campaign succeeds, it could change the face of philanthropy.

The Giving Pledge

…and the list goes on…


The best of BETT 2011

The best of BETT 2011 — from computing.co.uk

From DSC:
This item includes announcements from Dell, Capita, Microsoft, Wyse, Centra Stage and others.

Disruptive innovation — reflections/recap of by Lord David Putnams’s speech by Steve Wheeler

How e-Learning is flowering — by Amit Garg at the Upside Learning blog

elearning flowering

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BrainPOP UK leads move to kids’ mobile devices — from merline john online (MJO)

Materials for learning continue to gravitate to children’s fingertips. Online education service BrainPop UK has just launched a free, downloadable UK version of its ‘app’ for Apple mobile devices. Apps for other mobile platforms like Android are following.

“BrainPOP is committed to enabling children to embrace and engage with learning, whenever, and however they chose to do so,” says Eylan Ezekiel, head of BrainPOP UK. “21st education is not restricted to a desk in a classroom, and the new BrainPOP UK Featured Movie app allows kids, parents and teachers to learn something new every day.

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Global Grid for Learning – 1 million-plus resources — from MJO
Hugh John checks out a BETT newbie, online service provider Global Grid for Learning

globalgridforlearning.com.

Global Grid for Learning (GGfL) aims to connect teachers and students at all stages in education to single sources of digital multimedia learning resources from multiple providers.

Merging interaction and narrative — from webcredible.co.uk by Philip Webb

Excerpt:

There has traditionally been a tension between the idea of interaction (doing something) and narrative (watching or reading something). The experience of consuming a great film or book isn’t necessarily a passive one but it does differ from the immersive experience of playing a game. And yet the possibilities to combine the two seem so promising.

The trouble is games often struggle to convey narrative – the story can seem bolted on as an afterthought or delivered at clumsy moments between levels. Similarly, attempts at interactive books where readers spontaneously choose the way plots evolve can be unsatisfying because constructing a linear story is an art that novelists spend a lifetime perfecting. Of course, there are notable exceptions such as multi-user games like World of Warcraft where the narrative is something players experience and influence through their participation. Here game designers act more as architects than authors – providing an open environment where the interactions form an unpredictable narrative drama.

Professor Paul Black, King's College London - Keynote address: Problems with formative and summative assessment: can a theory of pedagogy help?

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Simon Lebus, Group Chief Executive, Cambridge Assessment
Welcome and introductory remarks
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Podcast

Professor Paul Black, King’s College London
Keynote address: Problems with formative and summative assessment: can a theory of pedagogy help?
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Podcast

Parallel discussion session A: ‘Governments come and go’
Educational reform and strategy in schools and colleges

Professor Jo-Anne Baird, University of Bristol
Video

Parallel discussion session A: ‘Governments come and go’
Educational reform and strategy in schools and colleges

Professor Jannette Elwood, Queen’s University Belfast
Video

Parallel discussion session A: ‘Governments come and go’
Educational reform and strategy in schools and colleges

Professor Jo-Anne Baird, University of Bristol
Professor Jannette Elwood, Queen’s University Belfast
Podcast

Parallel discussion session A: Qualifications, skills and employability: a peculiarly British obsession?
Dr. Geoff Hayward, University of Oxford
Video
Podcast

Parallel discussion session B: Why teacher assessment is not enough
Professor Peter Tymms, University of Durham
Podcast

Parallel discussion session B: Meeting the challenges of change in assessment systems: A Maltese perspective
Professor Frank Ventura, University of Malta
Podcast

Questions and discussion: Parallel session B
Podcast
Panel discussion chaired by Mike Baker, former BBC Education Editor.
Featuring: Dr Mary Bousted, Association of Teachers and Lecturers Professor Richard Daugherty, Cardiff University Isabel Nisbet, Ofqual Lord Sutherland of Houndwood Delegates are invited to submit questions prior to the conference and questions will also be taken on the day. To submit a question please email us: thenetwork@cambridgeassessment.org.uk.
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Podcast

Dr Philip Davies, Oxford Evidentia Limited
Hitting the target but missing the point
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Tim Oates, Director, Assessment Research & Development, Cambridge Assessment
Closing remarks
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Delegates’ reaction

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For another item related to assessment, see: Tests get high marks as a learning tool — from Anne McIlroy

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