Vision on

Good to see that all three main presentations (Jon Dron, Emma Place and myself) at the recent HEA e-Learning symposium are now available online as VODcasts, complete with accompanying PowerPoint slides and abstracts. You can view them by clicking on this link. You may spot my little joke about Southampton Football Club, its managers, and the subsequent audience response.... Sorry..... I just couldn't resist it.

Generally all the presentations (which were webcasted live) come across very well, with clear audio and reasonable vision, and are a nice little legacy of the event. Well done to all concerned, and thanks again Southampton University for a memorable and well organised event.

Chocolate coated raisins and termite mounds

I enjoyed a very interesting few hours over at the University of Southampton yesterday, where I was a guest speaker at the Higher Education Academy e-Learning Symposium at the subject centre for Languages and Linguistics Area Studies. The e-Learning symposium was small but intimate with around 65 delegates from about 20 universities. All of the plenary sessions were streamed out to the web, so those who couldn't attend at least experienced a flavour.

Jon Dron (formerly of Brighton University) who is at Athabasca University, gave an interesting first presentation on control and constraint in e-learning. Drawing on diverse sources such as Winston Churchill, termite mounds, Stigmergy, and chocolate coated raisins, Jon took us through a discussion on how ideas develop and learning processes work in online social environments. There was some debate over Personal Learning Environments and an interesting statement about the wisdom of the crowds vesus the stupidity of the masses. Unfortunately, we ran out of time, and so the discussion petered out.

Next up was Emma Place (University of Bristol) who talked about her concerns over plagiarism, cut-and-paste research and the general malaise that seems to be overtaking students in higher education due to digital laziness. Most of the audience concurred, and when a straw poll was taken, there was almost unanimous agreement that Internet research skills should become a part of the fabric of every undergraduate first year programme.

I gave my own presentation just before lunch (probably the best slot of the day) in which I covered some of my recent studies on wiki based learning, and unveiled my new 5 stage model of wiki activities. The model, which progresses through deeper stages of cognitive engagement and also a progression from solo to collaborative exercises can also be applied to just about any other online learning. It's easy to remember, because it's 'E' sy.... Students start by exploring, then progress into exhibition of some of their ideas, followed by explanation. Elaboration ensues in which all the group are engaged with trying to understand the ideas and this is capped by evaluation - placing value on the currency, relevancy, accuracy and other merits of the wiki content. It seemed to be well received, and at least one delegate blogged about it the same day.

After lunch there were two workshops, one on Second Life and MUVes in langaueg learning, and the other very much focused on a new tool for the creation of learning objects. Due to the long(ish) drive back home, I only got to participate in the first workshop, but the trip was worth it. And I met some interesting people, and had some interesting conversations, too.

An eventful month ahead...

I'm very pleased to be so busy at the moment. It keeps me off the streets but on the road. There are several events that I have been invited to participate in over the next month or so, starting with an online event hosted by Yale University tomorrow night. It's a webcast for edubloggers only, in which a new online initiative is being launched. Main speaker will be Professor Diana Kleiner, Deputy Provost at Yale.

On Thursday I fly out to the University of Utrecht to lead a workshop for Bazaar's 'Show that you Share' Networks conference. Other speakers include Marco Kalz, Helen Keegan, Graham Attwell and Josie Fraser.

In January, I will be speaking at a number of events including the HEA hosted e-Learning Symposium at the University of Southampton - Jon Dron will also present; an 'Ask the Experts' online event for the University of Staffordshire, which also features Dave Foord; and last but not least, a paper presentation for the BETT show at Olympia in London. Then I'm going to lie down in a darkened room with a damp towel over my head, Ricky Hatton style...