UCD presentations in the Practitioner strand at EdTech 2008 included:
Blogging as a Facilitator in the Learning Process: Student Reflections on Their Information Seeking During Assessment by Crystal Fulton of the UCD School of Library and Information Studies. About 100 second-year students used blogs to record and reflect on their information searching strategies. This helped to deepen their understanding of their own information seeking processes and thus increase their information literacy. Abstract.Slides.
Scholarcast – Podcasting Irish Studies to the World by Niall Watts of Media Services, UCD IT Services. Scholarcast aims to be the audio equivalent of a research journal. It is inspired by RTE’s Thomas Davis series where specialists in the field of Irish Studies broadcast public lectures. Series 1 of Scholarcast consists of eight audio podcasts accompanied by transcripts, which can be used for referencing purposes. It was developed by UCD School of English, Drama and Film and Media Services. Abstract.(PDF)Slides(zip).
Real & Relevant – learning is changing: reflections on the experience of task-based assessment within a masters’ programme by Anne McMorrough and Ana Maria Perez Martinez.
The presenters are both primary school teachers and postgraduate students in the UCD School of Education and LifeLong Learning. They described ICT projects in their schools - one involving e-Twinning with a school in Newcastle, UK and the other Spanish language skills. In both cases the children learned to work collaboratively using ICT tools. Abstract.Slides.
Developing Communities of Practice: Experiences and Challenges co-presented by a team of National Digital Learning Repository (NDLR) Community of Practice (CoP) co-ordinators, including Diane Cashman of the Centre for Teaching and Learning in the UCD School of Education and Lifelong Learning. Other team members were Muireann O’Keefe from DCU and Lisa O’Regan of NUI Maynooth. The presentation discusses the development of CoPs including motivation, structure, collaborative environment, and sustained promotion. Abstract(PDF).
The EdTech 2008 conference presentations have been published on the ILTA web site. They are divided into three strands practitioner, research and postgraduate with the bulk of the presentations (29 out of 45) being practitioner papers. Being one of the organisers I did not have time to blog at the conference but I can recall the highlights - the best probably being Larry McNutt’s keynote presentation An exploration of the habitus of educational technologists: What does the research tell us? where he explored the beliefs and values of educational technologists.
Practitioner presentations covered topics ranging from podcasting to screencasting, reflection to assessment, communities of practice to e-twinning and learning organisations to learning objects.
Gorka Palazio, a participant from the Basque region of Spain, recorded his experiences on video…
Jakob Nielsen the Usability Guru in his ‘Alertbox’ of June 9th does not believe that the web is optimal for delivering education. In a paragraph entitled e-Learning: An Oxymoron (scroll down the page to find it) he tells us that he continues to believe that a linear, author-driven narrative is best for educational purposes. The web is too ‘fast-paced’ for conceptual learning. He still writes books and delivers lectures because he believes that this is the best way to foster deep learning. The web, however, is ideal for just-in-time learning of new, factual information where the learners already have the necessary background.
If you would like to comment on this post and are not already registered email me and I will register you as a contributor. Unfortunately this is necessary for security purposes.
Larry McNutt is Head of the Head of School of Informatics & Engineering in the Institute of Technology Blanchardstown (Dublin). A computer scientist with a long interest in educational technology he is currently exploring the beliefs and values of educational technologists and how they are shaped by their environment. What effect if any are technology and technologists having on education? His Moodle site Mo Sceál (My Story) investigates these questions.
Tribe Wanted is a group of people trying to live a sustainable life style in co-operation with the local community on a Fijian island. The ‘tribe’ is organised online and leaders are democratically elected from the membership. Members can spend a certain amount of the time on the island, working on community projects. The rest of the time they participate remotely through the website.
TribeWanted has been featured on BBC and on National Geographic.