Notes from Centre for eLearning (C4eL) Meeting of 30 November 2006

These notes go some way towards an interim report for Thursday 7 December.

e-Learning Strategy as an evaluation framework

In addition to the various high level evaluation frameworks mentioned: BSLES, Pathfinder, Benchmarking, it will be useful to include the e-Learning Strategy in the mapping exercise. Still it is helpful to remember that learner views are critical, whatever the framework.

Brookes Blogs

… or does it? Blogging is growing like topsy at Brookes and across the academic spectrum, but what form should it take? Should the University have a hosted bog platform? Under what rules of engagement?

I have trawled around the site and found some of what is going on in out droplet of the blogosphere. If you are at Brookes and keep anything that might broadly be classified as a Brookes (or Brookes related) blog, please let me know.

Informal e-Learning: Ishkur’s guide to electronic music

I just stumbled across what has to be among the best bits of informal e-learning ever: Ishkur’s guide to electronic music. Link, load and enjoy.

e-Learning Co-ordinators

Oxford Brookes e-Learning Co-ordinators for the Schools are

Mary Evans on an “Electronic version of teaching”

Mary Evans, Professor in the School of Social Policy, Sociology and Social Research at the University of Kent said on the BBC Radio 4 programme Analysis, last night: “What I would suggest might be happening or happening in sort of twenty or thirty years time is that the sector goes in two different directions. One, certain old universities maintain traditional forms of teaching – tutorials, seminars, so on and so forth. Another part of the sector goes towards a much more electronic version of teaching in which students are given lecture notes on the web, and in that kind of model there is very little point and there is very little place for interaction between teachers and students.” (“Training Minds”, Analysis, BBC Radio 4, 30 November 2006, 2030)

It disappoints me to hear it suggested that in any form of higher education there is ever, “…very little point and … very little place for interaction between teachers and students.” These views do not appear to take into account current trends of thought or practice in learning technology.

Draft agendas for 7 December

There are two related meetings on 7 December:

• Pathfinding project team 1000 – 1230
• School e-Learning Co-ordinators Forum: 1230 – 1530

The visit of Terry Mayes links these events.

e-Learning Forum 16 November 2006

These are my rough notes of the first eLearning Forum meeting of 2006-07. We ranged across a number of issues, on and off the agenda.

Testing ecto settings

I use Ecto, an off-line blogging editor and archiving tool. Very handy for mobile and nomadic blogging at conferences, on the train, anywhere cannot connect to the Internet or do not want to be burning up the battery maintaining a wireless connection. It also keeps an archive of my posts on my machine, which I can then back up to removable storage.

Draft project plan

I have uploaded our draft plan here. This was the topic of a discussion with Terry Mayes, about which more shortly.