Realising the Benefits

The previous post of images from our recent conference uses a number of web2.0 technologies. Practice what we preach is the mantra in our office and I'm rather pleased with myself having uploaded to Flickr and embeded the slide show in my Blog. It's a slick way of doing things and means that our collection of images can be used in a variety of different ways. Hope you enjoy them.

Flickr photstream from Realising the Benefits conference

Walk the Talk

I had to bite the bullet this week and take a look at the recording of the RSCtv session – ePortfolios in practice – that I delivered a few weeks ago. We’ve recently had a recording facility made available to us which means that we can now make our new RSCtv sessions available from our website. Jason Miles-Campbell from JISCLegal was guest presenter over lunchtime on Tuesday this week and he presented his 5 Top Copyright Tips. His session was also recorded and pressure to make Jason’s session available on our site forced me to review my own session which I’d managed to put off to date.

Somehow delivering a session using video conferencing is one thing but watching yourself on screen is another and I was nervous about reviewing what I actually said, captured for posterity. Sometimes you just have to take a deep breath and get on with it. Well you know it wasn’t as bad as I thought. I was uncomfortable about seeing myself on screen and quite sceptical about losing the live, interactive element to the session. I felt was a “unique selling point” offered to people signing in to RSCtv, but the recording really works quite well. We’ve two recordings available just now but we’ll be recording the re-runs that are scheduled for the last week in June and will be making them available to watch again from our website.

ePortfolios in Practice - watch again

Five top copyright Tips - watch again
Schedule of re-runs

This week I’ve also been out and about, invited to present at College People Week at SFEU on Wednesday, and invited to attend the Scottish Hospitality Association conference today to disseminate information about JISC services and also what support we can give to staff. Events like this give me an opportunity to talk to staff and gain a better appreciation of the issues they are dealing with in their day to day activities.

In the last couple of years I’ve often threatened to spend some time back in a college just to update my knowledge of the curriculum and fully appreciate the pressures and priorities of staff working in FE. I’d welcome an opportunity if any of you reading this have an opening. Actually as I write this, I realise that our plan for next year to work with course teams to take a more holistic approach to course design, and the use of new technology within it might provide this. As well as the RSC team providing support for course development, I’m quite sure that as a small team, delivering a specialist service, we would benefit from spending time with and working with groups of college staff.To find out more about the curriculum development initiative for next year email support@rsc-sw-scotland.ac.uk

Going Green

Last week I attended the annual JISC conference in Birmingham with interesting keynote speeches from Lord David Putnam who is currently Chancellor of the Open University, and Angela Beesley, co- founder of Wikipedia. It was the opening remarks from Professor Sir Ron Cook, Chair of JISC that struck a cord with me though when he mentioned the concept of “Green Computing” as a future area that JISC is likely to address. In fact I searched the JISC website for references to green computing and already there are 20 results that include JISC strategic papers and calls for projects to research the topic.
Anyway feeling very virtuous having just ordered my new discounted composting bin from Waste Aware Scotland I decided to investigate how I might add a greener tinge to my gadgets and discovered a few easy ways to reduce the impact of some of the technology I use on the environment.
Power Saving
Newer LCD flat screens are not so vulnerable to "burn"and I understand screensavers are less important now but use just as much power as when the PC is in active use. By enabling power management features such as “sleep” or “hibernation” settings your PC and monitor will power down to a low power state when they are not in use. Right click your desktop > properties > screensaver > settings and here you find power management options. To re-activate you usually press the on/off button.
Don’t turn your printer on until you are going to use it and break the habit of turning your computer on first thing every morning.
Paper Saving
It seems that instead of creating “paperless” offices, technology has actually increased the consumption of paper. Print as little as possible by reviewing and editing documents on screen and always use the print preview before sending a document to print to minimize the number of draft copies you make but recycle those you do. Save rather than print email messages, and try and use email instead of a FAX. If your printer’s up to it always print on both sides. File > print > properties > finishing > print on both sides.
Although these changes might seem trivial on an individual basis, if scaled up to institutional level could have a very positive effect on the amount of energy used and the environmental impact as well as making significant financial savings.

Video, audio, presentations and photos from the JISC annual conference
Managing environmentally sustainable ICT in Further and Higher Education
The Green Lounge

A Virtual or an Actual Visit?

Among the team at the RSC this week we've been working out our schedule for the rest of this academic year. As a small team - just 7 of us - we have to work flexibly and very closely with each other and think of ways in which we can maximise the impact of our work across the institutions we support.
RSCtv which we began broadcasting in October 2007 each 2nd Tuesday, continues to grow in popularity. Designed as half hour lunchtime sessions on a range of topics to appeal to a range of staff in HE & FE, RSCtv provides a live video broadcast from our offices, that include opportunities to interact with the presenter and other delegates. Sessions have been aranged for the rest of this academic year and the topics for our broadcasts in the Summer term will be published soon. The next broadcast may be of particular interest to you. Fionnuala Carmichael will be presenting an Update for Senior Managers of JISC and RSC activities at lunchtime on Tuesday 26th February. Contact support@rsc-sw-scotland.ac.uk for details on how to login.
You can see our regular diary of events for the coming months on our website and we will also be supporting a conference to be held at Glagsow Caledonian University on the 1st of May on the use of Mobile Technologies in education - Theresa Duffy our eAdvisor for HE is finalising the programme at the moment.
In the lead up to the Summer break we will be arranging to bring our Roadshow to visit. Not only will we bring lots of information about JISC with us, we are also planning to hold short surgeries and a drop in clinic where staff can visit to find out more about JISC & the RSC and discuss their ICT ailments. More information on that to follow. If you do have suggestions to make on how best we can support your ICT efforts please let us know or leave a comment here.

What’s going on with ePortfolios?

Last week the two Scottish RSCs hosted an ePortfolio conference at the Queen Margaret University Campus newly opened near Musselburgh. Quite apart from the conference itself, it’s always interesting to see a new building and the mix of learning spaces particularly the smaller open areas dotted around the building we were in was interesting. A large suite of rooms seemed suspended in the middle of the large open space was finished in a mix of glass and wood which was quite spectacular – I’m not sure I would sit directly under it though! - view images of QMU.

I’m currently trying to get to grips with how ePortfolios are likely to be used and mainstreamed in FE & HE and what the critical issues are. JISC has a couple of publications that I would draw your attention to – What institutions really need to know and An overview of JISC activities.

There is sometimes an assumption especially in FE, that the term e-Portfolio describes the digitisation of the familiar paper-based portfolios (with perhaps the inclusion of some new media), that have been used to document evidence of achievement and used principally as an assessment tool. An important aspect of lifelong learning is the learners' ability to assemble, demonstrate and reflect on the skills, knowledge and achievement they have built up during their learning experiences. One of the functions of an eportfolio is to support this kind of activity.
There is a shift of emphasis therefore, from the notion of an e-Portfolio being owned by an individual institution, to the notion of the e-Portfolio being owned by the learner for their personal development and personal use. This may include activities aligned to specific learning outcomes or courses but could also involve the learners giving access to relevant parts of their e-Portfolio for different purposes e.g. to a prospective employer. The scope therefore of an e-Portfolio is much broader than a record of achievement for a single course and will be become a personal record of lifelong learning both formal and informal.

As ever the use of new technologies presents challenges for institutions. The main issues as I understand them include:
Interoperability – when learners move between institutions can their portfolio move with them & integration with existing systems and learning technologies used.
Ownership – who owns (and therefore is responsible for) the ePortfolio including the contents, security, privacy & copyright.
Accessibility – how can you ensure that ePortfolios are fully accessible & to what extent do the contents uploaded by learners require to be accessible.

The conference provided the opportunity to focus on this subject and speakers were able to describe how some of the issues are being approached within their own institution and it’s always helpful to see how others overcome obstacles. The Conference Report is now available with presentations available to download.