FE colleges and HEIs are invited to apply for one or more of the Podium Awards and be part of a prestigious one-off celebration recognising the vital role FE colleges and Universities across the UK will play in delivering the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games.

Individual projects that are shortlisted will be showcased at a high profile Awards Evening in London on 3 May 2012, to be attended by shortlisted applicants, Government Ministers and dignitaries from Sochi 2014 and Rio 2016. The Podium Awards Evening will take place at Forman’s Fish Island overlooking the London 2012 Olympic Stadium.

There are a number of award categories including education, research and skills. Grant funding will be awarded to category winners to enable projects/activity to continue in legacy post London 2012. Nomination deadline is 12 March and further details at www.podiumawards2012.com.

A full report and resources from a highly successful RSC London e-Safety Workshop are now available from: http://www.rsc-london.ac.uk/1489/

Delegates heard from keynote presenter Betty Willer, a Legal Information Specialist at JISC Legal, who advised that an organisation’s e-safety policy needs to link to other policies like the anti-bullying policy. Colleges must also not forget part-time staff and students and  ensure that vulnerable adults are included in the policy.

Two London learning providers: The College of North West London (CNWL) and Newham College for Further Education shared their experience of e-safety. Tony Delahunty, e-Learning Manager at CNWL shared e-Safety leaflets developed at the College (available in the web report) and Nasreen Bhatti, Learning Resources Manager at Newham College was joined by two of her colleagues, Sima Heer and Wendy Gibson, in a presentation that explained the  key objectives of the e-safety agenda at Newham FE.

As usual the group activities provided lively debate as different scenarios around e-Safety were considered by the delegates.

http://www.rsc-london.ac.uk/1489/

Triumphant Technologies for Testing Times

~On behalf of JISC RSC South West~

Over the course of June, the JISC Regional Support Centre South West will present a variety of online seminars focusing on how teachers and support staff have effectively integrated technologies into their practice. These online seminars will cover a large variety of topics, some explicitly technological, whilst others focus on the processes and procedures which have underpinned the successful incorporation and development of new approaches.

All of the sessions are free to attend, and as they will be facilitated via the RSC’s web conferencing software, you can participate from anywhere with an internet connected computer. Each session will last a maximum of 45 minutes.

Spaces are limited, so if you want to attend, early booking is recommended.  You can book online at the JISC Regional Support Centre  South West website:
http://www.rsc-south-west.ac.uk/index.php?p=14

Using principles of good practice, work with colleagues towards an effective model for the use of technology in assessment and feedback.

A series of free workshops based around the JISC Effective Assessment in a Digital Age publication
www.jisc.ac.uk/digiassess and associated online resources
www.jisc.ac.uk/assessresource will take place during January – March 2011. Workshops will be held in London (20 January 2011), Birmingham (16^th February 2011), Bristol (March 2011) and Newcastle (24 March 2011). The JISC e-Learning Programme will be working in partnership with the JISC Regional Support Centres on these events.

These workshops will be exploring how the use of technology in HE and HE in FE, linked to principles of good practice in assessment and feedback, can help promote more effective learning. These workshops, which draw on the work of recent JISC-funded projects as well as related significant developments in the area of assessment, will have a practical, hands-on flavour with a focus on how to move from current challenges towards sustainable change.

The workshops will be suitable for:

• Lecturers, tutors and course leaders who design assessment and feedback for their learners on HE-level courses
• Intermediaries with a role in supporting practitioners with assessment, and technology-enhanced assessment (learning technologists, e-learning/ILT champions, staff developers, educational developers, academic registry)

Booking information for the London workshop is now available from www.jisc.ac.uk/assessworkshops

Mahara2010 logo

July 16 2010
Westminster Kingsway College

The MaharaUK 2010 conference will showcase a range of exciting and innovative work taking place with e-Portfolios from across all sectors.  Don Christie, a founder and director of Catalyst, the company that leads the technical side of the development of Mahara is flying in from New Zealand to provide updates and future directions of Mahara.

Lisa Gray, JISC e-Learning Programme Manager will be joined by Gordon Joyes, University of Nottingham to demonstrate findings from a number of funded projects, suggesting that e-portfolio implementation is particularly complex.  Come along to hear about the new threshold concepts!

Plus ‘show-and-tell’ projects and innovative work conducted by Mahara users from around the UK.

http://www.maharauk.org/

Programme details

FOTE10 will be held on 1 October 2010 at the University of London’s iconic art deco building, Senate House, which has recently undergone major refurbishment and has been ULCC’s (and RSC London’s)  new home since autumn last year.

FOTE10 will address core themes such as mobile applications, augmented reality, geolocation, podcasting and iPad/e-book readers.

FOTE10 is a free one day conference and due to high demand in previous years there is  pre-registration.  Once signed up you will be the first to know when tickets become available, a crucial advantage considering the 300 tickets for FOTE09 were all but history six hours after being released in August last year.

ULCC_FOTE10_announcement

Fote10 Website

JISC RSC Eastern are facilitating this free event hosted by The  which is an exemplar for the Technology Exemplar Network (TEN).

***Posted on behalf of JISC RSC Eastern***

The College of West Anglia has been privileged to be selected to participate in Becta’s Technology Exemplar Network over the last two years. Initially, in the first year, it worked as a developing provider and was excited to learn last summer that it had succeeded in meeting the criteria to attain full Exemplar status and represent the Eastern region.

The college is keen to share and develop its practises with others in the region in addition to those that it already has close ties with through its Technology Exemplar Network leadership. To share some of its uses of ILT the college is running two free open days to which you are cordially invited. Each day will start at 1100 and conclude at 1500 and provide a range of different opportunities to meet colleagues, to share experiences and see some practical uses of that the college make of ILT and understand the infrastructure that has had recent major investment. Lunch and refreshments will be provided for delegates.

Details for Day 1 on 14th May are described here:
http://info.rsc-eastern.ac.uk/events/event_details.asp?eid=769
Day 2 will be held on 18th June at the Cambridge Campus, Milton

Please visit the events page at:

http://info.rsc-eastern.ac.uk/events/event_details.asp?eid=769

Every learning and skills provider funded through the LSC/Skills Funding Agency is now able to benefit from a new LSIS Account.

Nearly 2,000 providers across the sector are receiving an LSIS virtual credit worth between £1,000 and £7,500 – depending on the scale of their SFA funding – which can be redeemed against LSIS events and conferences during the 2010-11 financial year.

Qualifying providers should have been notified about how they can activate their LSIS Account; registering is through a simple online process. Prices for LSIS events will be £150 for one-day conferences and £75 for half-day seminars.

More information about LSIS Accounts (PDF)

Below are some upcoming events in the leadership and e-learning programmes.
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Delegates representing RSC-supported specialist Higher Education institutions, larger HEIs within the region and FE colleges with significant HE provision gathered at Brettenham House on 26 February 2010 to engage with the debate of how recently announced funding cuts for the sector will impact their operations, whilst seeking to maintain Government agendas.

Drawing on views expressed by colleagues in Further Education and at ULCC, some key strategic questions for the future emerged:

• What are the key underpinning values that the sector and indiviual providers need to hold on to during uncertain times?
• How can the twin aims of efficiency and effectiveness be held together given the pressures that HE (and FE) will face over the coming years?
• How could providers best ensure that present and future technological initiatives are quality driven to achieve a positive impact and/or return on investment?

Read the full event report on the RSC London website.

Proposals are now being sought for presentations for the MoodleMoot 2010 taking place at the University of London on 13th and 14th April.

A call for papers has been issued for the parallel breakout sessions and the organisers encourage submissions from all backgrounds, sectors and levels of experience.

The call for papers has a submission deadline of February 19th, 2010 (accepted presenters will be notified by March 5th). Presentations are sought in the following categories:

• Case Study – short 10 minute presentation on a specific topic
• Project Report – 20 presentation on higher level content
• Full Workshop – 60 minute interactive session

MoodleMoot UK 2010 provides an opportunity to look back and map the highlights of the journey travelled so far, reflect on where we find ourselves now, along with sharing in the excitement and anticipation of mapping the future. Moodle 2.0 will be the first of many advances in the second decade of e-learning.

This conference is for anyone using or planning to use Moodle for delivering e-learning and training. You may be from any part of the education sector (HE, FE, Schools, ACL or WBL) or using Moodle in a different environment (e.g. health, staff development or commercial training). The conference will provide a forum to share experience with others in a similar role (e-learning manager, teacher, learning technologist, administrator, technical support, developer or event learner) but also an opportunity to understand the perspectives of those in other roles. There will be sessions that reflect the range of experience with Moodle, with something for those just starting out as well as those who have been using Moodle for years. The conference will also explore how Moodle interworks with other applications.

For more information, including submission guidelines and appropriate application forms are available on the MoodleMoot website at http://moodlemootuk2010.org.uk/