Wednesday 23 July 2008
Going around continental Europe
In about 4 hours we leave on an overnight bus (yuck) to Gatwick airport, which marks the start of our month-long trip around Europe. We're flying into Dubrovnik, Croatia, but we'll quickly move up to Split area where we're renting a flat for a week. Then we'll move on through Zagreb and Ljubljana, Slovenia before staying with one of Victoria's friends in Vienna. From there we take a long train to Krakow, then an overnight sleeper to Berlin. From Berlin, it's on to Amsterdam, Bruges, and finishing with the Eurostar back to London. Should be a good, relaxing trip. I think we both deserve one this summer.
Monday 21 July 2008
From the exhibition hall
I thought it might be useful to pass on this:
http://lmspodcast.com
Bill Vilberg from Miami did interviews with many of the exhibition hall vendors, and is including them as podcasts.
http://lmspodcast.com
Bill Vilberg from Miami did interviews with many of the exhibition hall vendors, and is including them as podcasts.
Friday 18 July 2008
The End
Well,
It's the end of the conference now, and I'm sitting in McCarran Airport, Las Vegas - taking advantage of their free wireless access (thank goodness some airports take care of their customers).
Last night was a final bit of relaxing after the business of the conference, which has left me with a cold and feeling quite exhausted. Went to the pool for a bit before the client appreciation event, which was like a mini-Epcott Centre, if that means anything to you (Epcott is Disney's take on international cultures, with every one whittled down to the biggest stereotypes you can think of). Best part was finally meeting Andrew Rosen, then teaming up with Bob, Presidium's operations director, at table shuffleboard which led to a 30 point comeback to beat Andrew and El (sp?), another Presidium guy. Also discovered that having too many Blackberries in close proximity to a Wii makes it go crazy and be totally unusable at times. Andrew then took me and Paul and Bob out for an amazing steak dinner (saving us from the hotel's lousy buffet foods which had tormented us throughout the conference), which knocked the socks off the UK client dinner Bb hosted at a steakhouse Wed. night (which didn't include steak on our set menu strangely, and led to us being surrounded by ex-WebCT clients for the evening, rather than the small group of people we had been told about).
Lots of great food at the restaurant last night and good conversation. As Paul said, last night certinly gave a great ending to our trip.
Felt lucky that evening so I took my money to the slot machines and doubled it. Admittedly it was only one dollar I bet, but still I left Vegas in the black, which is more than most people can say.
Highlight session of the trip: Michael Wesch, Project NG, and eUreka's research management tools.
Biggest disappointment: faculty commons online session, both birds of a feather sessions
Weirdest moments: hearing Frankie Valli impersonators every time you stepped into the lift, and Phantom of the Opera when you went to the toilet (guess what shows were playing at the hotels). Also up there is the Siren's pirate show across the road with weird lip-synching, skimpy costumes, and an overly sexual nature for the large crowds of families that were watching it.
Most expensive thing we stumbled across: Tried to get a drink one night, a 'taste' of wine was 40 dollars at the bar we went to first. Glass was 100.
Least expensive thing: 99 cent margaritas at some of the casinos to get you in the door. That and penny slots.
Hope you three enjoyed the collocation game. Prizes will be distributed next week.
It's the end of the conference now, and I'm sitting in McCarran Airport, Las Vegas - taking advantage of their free wireless access (thank goodness some airports take care of their customers).
Last night was a final bit of relaxing after the business of the conference, which has left me with a cold and feeling quite exhausted. Went to the pool for a bit before the client appreciation event, which was like a mini-Epcott Centre, if that means anything to you (Epcott is Disney's take on international cultures, with every one whittled down to the biggest stereotypes you can think of). Best part was finally meeting Andrew Rosen, then teaming up with Bob, Presidium's operations director, at table shuffleboard which led to a 30 point comeback to beat Andrew and El (sp?), another Presidium guy. Also discovered that having too many Blackberries in close proximity to a Wii makes it go crazy and be totally unusable at times. Andrew then took me and Paul and Bob out for an amazing steak dinner (saving us from the hotel's lousy buffet foods which had tormented us throughout the conference), which knocked the socks off the UK client dinner Bb hosted at a steakhouse Wed. night (which didn't include steak on our set menu strangely, and led to us being surrounded by ex-WebCT clients for the evening, rather than the small group of people we had been told about).
Lots of great food at the restaurant last night and good conversation. As Paul said, last night certinly gave a great ending to our trip.
Felt lucky that evening so I took my money to the slot machines and doubled it. Admittedly it was only one dollar I bet, but still I left Vegas in the black, which is more than most people can say.
Highlight session of the trip: Michael Wesch, Project NG, and eUreka's research management tools.
Biggest disappointment: faculty commons online session, both birds of a feather sessions
Weirdest moments: hearing Frankie Valli impersonators every time you stepped into the lift, and Phantom of the Opera when you went to the toilet (guess what shows were playing at the hotels). Also up there is the Siren's pirate show across the road with weird lip-synching, skimpy costumes, and an overly sexual nature for the large crowds of families that were watching it.
Most expensive thing we stumbled across: Tried to get a drink one night, a 'taste' of wine was 40 dollars at the bar we went to first. Glass was 100.
Least expensive thing: 99 cent margaritas at some of the casinos to get you in the door. That and penny slots.
Hope you three enjoyed the collocation game. Prizes will be distributed next week.
Thursday 17 July 2008
Day 4: Final competition round
Louise's lead was eaten into by Mary and Robin yesterday, can they keep it up? Robin really wants the iWoz book which could be up for grabs as a prize - can he score enough points to get it?
Words:
#1 - health
#2 - international
#3 - research
Words:
#1 - health
#2 - international
#3 - research
Keynote: Donna Shalala
Donna Shalala is President of the University of Miami, but she used to be US Secretary for Health and Human Services during the Clinton administration. She told the story of how she was the cabinet member who wasn't allowed to attend the State of the Union address (when the President talks to Congress) - because there is always one cabinet member who stays away in case of an attack. She said she took over the Oval Office and got a picture of her in the President's chair, as she had the ability to do anything she wanted. Also talked about how when they moved into the White House in 1993, the secretaries were still using typewriters instead of computers, which shocked her and her staff.
Anyway, she talked a lot about her experiences as a university president, teaching a seminar to students. I didn't get that much out of her speech as takeaways, though she was interesting to listen to.
Too much pressure to create people who have today's employability skills rather than the skills needed for 3rd/4th job students will have.
Thinks institutions will be shaping the perception students have of them with new forms like YouTube, mySpace - says Yale is doing this well already (though I wonder if that is a drop in the ocean of student opinion, with them more likely to shape what other students think of the university).
Anyway, she talked a lot about her experiences as a university president, teaching a seminar to students. I didn't get that much out of her speech as takeaways, though she was interesting to listen to.
Too much pressure to create people who have today's employability skills rather than the skills needed for 3rd/4th job students will have.
Thinks institutions will be shaping the perception students have of them with new forms like YouTube, mySpace - says Yale is doing this well already (though I wonder if that is a drop in the ocean of student opinion, with them more likely to shape what other students think of the university).
Our session
Our session seemed to go over well, though we did not have evaluation forms as the Bb folks lost them. Still, those who talked to us afterwards seemed interested, and we have some who want more information as a follow-up. Ours was the only session I attended with any sort of interactivity in it, which seems crucial for a 50 minute session. I think we got about 30-40 people in the end.
Managing Project Work with eUreka: Create, Discover, Innovate
Managing Project Work with eUreka: Create, Discover, Innovate
by Daniel Tan, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore
Sheryl Wong, Nanyang
1991 inauguration of the university (1 of 4 in Singapore) – 29,000 FTE
Mostly were doing knowledge transfer in e-learning, but wanted to do knowledge discovery (web 2.0 style)
https://edventure.ntu.edu.sg/
Traditional role of a university
-generate and transmit knowledge
-scientific research
-services
-skill training and workforce development
Now:
-research more important
-policy institutes
-think tanks
-regional initiatives
-CPD for workforce
Project work – authentic learning, self-discovery, good way to do application, creation and discovery of knowledge, good for group work
year 3 for their students, do a 6-month professional internship/placement
year 4 – final year project
Normally, students use a logbook to record their observations, work done. Supervisors read this log regularly. Eventually students publish a paper or other result
Not as many institutional tools to help with managing research and technology
Because there is no central system, the learning in the project book can be lost at the end of the year when the student throws it away. So they wanted an online system to store the project work assets, and this can help it be shared and monitored. Also, can add in more opportunities for reflection and authentic assessment.
Fully integrated with Blackboard as a building block, built entirely in Java
Single-sign on with security to ensure it is safe (especially important if an idea is patentable, etc.)
Has access control on specific documents – can work so project supervisors can't see some things but students and employers can (company private docs for instance)
Built in scaffolding and coaching processes to support instruction
Learning processes – communication, reflection, knowledge representation
eUreka does not replace face-to-face sessions, but allows you to check on your students between sessions, examine their work, also when on placement. Means time with students can be focused more on learning (reflection, challenging their ideas, etc) and less on describing what the student is doing.
Has a work flow for the different stages they might do while doing the research (e.g. proposal, darft, introduction, etc.) Has a timeline for the different elements to tell them when It is due, how far they are in each timeline. Alerts can be sent for each milestone (x due in one week)
Also want to help professors manage research information – can they publish their workbook to the world?
Differentiation between pre-project process and post-project process
pre:
proposal, selection of project, allocating project to a specific student
post:
oral presentation allocation, selecting a project moderator
enter project grades into system
Inside the product:
What recent activities are there, what new tasks completed?
Can be used for any institution event – organise study groups, plan social events, plan own studying
Like a type of institutional memory
Appears as a tab in Bb – launches like Parature support centre – otherwise not connected to Bb.
Can also allow external users to login to it – not through Bb but separate login screen
Staff can use it for their research too - like a VRE
Past final year project data is repopulated into the system each year, but you can add new project info there too.
8 tabs for each project (Information, Announcements, Activities, Project Files, Discussion Board, Members, Weblogs, Links, Assessment)
Information – summary page, contact details for members of the project
Own repository to dump the project into – default folder hierarchy set up, but you can change it
DB for all students to talk to each other (students own the site, so they can set up the Dbs)
Individual blog for each project member – can embed, images, video, charts, attachments – can have comments, hide some posts
Programmed by a company called Relevanz Project Management
Assessment – has a grade rubric with criteria and the points they have received in that criteria, to get the total
Improved supervision tools for instructors too – more timely feedback, more up to date with the projects' progress
Can also save the project map and thing as a read-only archive for them to refer back to, so they can learn from them in the future, find out what mistakes they made. Can potentially see other students' projects too.
4,500 active project sites now (introduced in 2004)
Ad-hoc projects are growing quickly (450 now)
Available at low price – US 5,000 dollars sitewide license per year
Daniel was very interesting, clearly had thought this stuff through well. Was a great comprehensive tool for managing research projects, staff research and just whatever the students wanted to manage. Definitely one of the best sessions.
by Daniel Tan, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore
Sheryl Wong, Nanyang
1991 inauguration of the university (1 of 4 in Singapore) – 29,000 FTE
Mostly were doing knowledge transfer in e-learning, but wanted to do knowledge discovery (web 2.0 style)
https://edventure.ntu.edu.sg/
Traditional role of a university
-generate and transmit knowledge
-scientific research
-services
-skill training and workforce development
Now:
-research more important
-policy institutes
-think tanks
-regional initiatives
-CPD for workforce
Project work – authentic learning, self-discovery, good way to do application, creation and discovery of knowledge, good for group work
year 3 for their students, do a 6-month professional internship/placement
year 4 – final year project
Normally, students use a logbook to record their observations, work done. Supervisors read this log regularly. Eventually students publish a paper or other result
Not as many institutional tools to help with managing research and technology
Because there is no central system, the learning in the project book can be lost at the end of the year when the student throws it away. So they wanted an online system to store the project work assets, and this can help it be shared and monitored. Also, can add in more opportunities for reflection and authentic assessment.
Fully integrated with Blackboard as a building block, built entirely in Java
Single-sign on with security to ensure it is safe (especially important if an idea is patentable, etc.)
Has access control on specific documents – can work so project supervisors can't see some things but students and employers can (company private docs for instance)
Built in scaffolding and coaching processes to support instruction
Learning processes – communication, reflection, knowledge representation
eUreka does not replace face-to-face sessions, but allows you to check on your students between sessions, examine their work, also when on placement. Means time with students can be focused more on learning (reflection, challenging their ideas, etc) and less on describing what the student is doing.
Has a work flow for the different stages they might do while doing the research (e.g. proposal, darft, introduction, etc.) Has a timeline for the different elements to tell them when It is due, how far they are in each timeline. Alerts can be sent for each milestone (x due in one week)
Also want to help professors manage research information – can they publish their workbook to the world?
Differentiation between pre-project process and post-project process
pre:
proposal, selection of project, allocating project to a specific student
post:
oral presentation allocation, selecting a project moderator
enter project grades into system
Inside the product:
What recent activities are there, what new tasks completed?
Can be used for any institution event – organise study groups, plan social events, plan own studying
Like a type of institutional memory
Appears as a tab in Bb – launches like Parature support centre – otherwise not connected to Bb.
Can also allow external users to login to it – not through Bb but separate login screen
Staff can use it for their research too - like a VRE
Past final year project data is repopulated into the system each year, but you can add new project info there too.
8 tabs for each project (Information, Announcements, Activities, Project Files, Discussion Board, Members, Weblogs, Links, Assessment)
Information – summary page, contact details for members of the project
Own repository to dump the project into – default folder hierarchy set up, but you can change it
DB for all students to talk to each other (students own the site, so they can set up the Dbs)
Individual blog for each project member – can embed, images, video, charts, attachments – can have comments, hide some posts
Programmed by a company called Relevanz Project Management
Assessment – has a grade rubric with criteria and the points they have received in that criteria, to get the total
Improved supervision tools for instructors too – more timely feedback, more up to date with the projects' progress
Can also save the project map and thing as a read-only archive for them to refer back to, so they can learn from them in the future, find out what mistakes they made. Can potentially see other students' projects too.
4,500 active project sites now (introduced in 2004)
Ad-hoc projects are growing quickly (450 now)
Available at low price – US 5,000 dollars sitewide license per year
Daniel was very interesting, clearly had thought this stuff through well. Was a great comprehensive tool for managing research projects, staff research and just whatever the students wanted to manage. Definitely one of the best sessions.
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