#altc25 Glasgow Conference Reflections

Decompressing from some excellent days at the Association for Learning Technology's annual conference in Glasgow. Here are some quick reflections on what I picked up. Programme was great (as co-chair some bias in that) and I probably missed many other useful nuggets. Thought venue and catering etc all excellent. Company as ever was splendid. I even managed to appear on ALTC Radio. 

Great to work with team at ALT and my co chairs to pull things together. I hope everyone had a great time 

Preconference Evening in NQ64

Looked inspired had a previous engagement but what a fun place. Made me think about Reclaim Hosting folks and other edtechs I know who collect, repair and build gaming machines as a hobby.

Day One 

Charles Knight 

Great keynote and call to action. Learning Technologists do , do magic - but they do need the right context. Good institutions succeed by giving staff and students agency and confidence and this is still possible in period of massive change. Good advice too though if magic is not achievable where you are move on to the next gig and light up another room.

Publication of New Jisc Beyond Blended Report and Assets 

An open set of resources and report to improve learning design across the sector. These can be repurposed and made your own. So well done on creative commons licence. Would be great to see QAA, SFC , HMIE were directing centres to resources like this.  Blended is about taking a whole institutional approach including working on co-creation with learners to improve the learning experience. All directors of teaching and learning, faculty heads and quality managers etc should know their way around this. 

Mark Bush - Inspera

Mainly a session around how to trust suppliers. An old chestnut. But sensing a market maturity in lots of discussions with suppliers and exhibitors over the two days of the conference. New entrants need to have a better solution to displace incumbents. As there is less money about, the sector generally tends to be much more risk adverse and not as willing to pilot new things and there is a constant concern about lock in (once you are on board, will tolls , licence fees simply climb with no clear escape route) or perhaps this is just a timely awareness. 

Where in Scotland APUC, in UK UCISA and organisations like ALT come in.  We do all talk to each other about suppliers and possible technical solutions.  

Online assessment systems like Inspera now handling 18.2 million submissions a year and operating in 26 countries globally.

Student Panel 

Was interesting as ever to hear level headed students taking a measured approach to AI adoption and mainly asking for more support around academic writing. And not really having clear answer on what is best way to communicate with them.

Edgehill University  

Attended interesting sessions on blended learning and costings.  The current ABC model struggles with spiral curriculums that exist in medicine and some other disciplines so does need different approach while keeping a laser like focus on not overloading students with content.  Edge Hill University has some useful resources to support collaborative development. 

University of Southampton

The University of Southampton have created a useful tool for helping with very vague faculty requests to create digital learning materials. Looks great it creates resource allocations. costs and realistic delivery timelines. I do hope academics take time to fill in the forms in properly.

University of Leeds 

Good story where learning technology was pulled back from faculties to become more centralised service- became design led strategic partners with much better focus on educational enhancement framework using institutional data to target academic teams that needed support.

Did a quick change and had great fun at dinner, awards ceremony and  Ceilidh - band were great and still home by 11pm. Congratulations to all winners and nominees. 

Day Two 

Launch of AmplifyFE Impact  Report

It was a privilege to get to say a few words and launch the #AmplifyFE impact report. Led in partnership with ALT and the UFI Vocational Trust it now embraces a community of around 3700 practitioners from across the UK.  A few more FE folks in Scotland should tune into this network. 

Gabbi Witthaus 

So grounded and so human. I do wonder that system still can seem so rigid, remote and hostile to learners.  Four dimensions work is really useful way to help teachers and students manage life and learning loads. Gabbi has kindly shared her keynote. 

Edinburgh Napier and Sciaten Partners

Great work around ethical use of AI with academics and students. Great too to see Open Scotland referenced in influences here. Some really useful resources to open up discussions about AI in curriculum and assessment here.  

Would be good to see more Scottish Colleges visible in supporting this work. 

Paul Basich

Great session focussing on efficient ways of delivering blended learning. It is mostly common sense - but staggering to hear that some large institutions are just beginning to think about institutional templates in virtual learning environments etc. In some respects HE has a lot to learn about course design, teaching and learning from Colleges. In feedback highlighted that West Lancashire College has delivered to 10,000 online  learners in last 5 years - part of Newcastle College Group. 

ALT Strategy Session

Sort of what it said on the tin - in a world where everyone is now an 'expert on digital learning'  ALT needs to keep ahead of the pack. 

University of Glasgow - Jenny Crow

A nice bit of work echoing the mornings keynote and some of the themes from the student panel around experiments using whatsapp and other platforms to give learners a solid sense of belonging

Manchester Met - Andrew Larner

Great tool for suggesting new assessment designs using generative AI from Manchester Metropolitan University. Really worth exploring.

Exhibitors etc 

Great to see many established players and a number of new potential suppliers for Education sector - I did get around and say hello. 

Good to have lots of proper dialogues around sectoral challenges that were way beyond the 'sales patter' of old. Among the VLE suppliers still some frustration that institutions are not 'sweating' the assets and doing more with the great platforms that are available. 

Good to meet the team from Brickfield and hear about their tools for monitoring the accessibility of learning content.

Interested in Edina's new walled garden for trying out AI tools.

A shout out to Vevox their polling solution worked very well throughout the conference.

Nice to meet Estendio, Eduface, and Study Stash all harnessing AI to improve teaching and learning.

Endnotes 

It was great to have a number of colleagues along from City of Glasgow College but I do think Colleges generally should be more engaged with ALT and communities of practice. I'll keep pushing through ALT Scotland , CDN and the work with Jisc that is already in place. 

I miss social media Discord was ok but needs everyone on board. Remember you are all agents of change. Find each other on social media @joecar80.bsky.social

I listed seven things for delegates 

1. (Beyond) Blended Learning is the future !

2. Is your own practice open ? (Discover Open Scotland )

3. I hope you are all blogging and aggregating (ScotEdublogs) 

4. It ain’t a microcredential without a digital badge ( using 1Edtech open standards) and a platform that supports these. 

5. Hope you have figured out how to allow learners and staff to use AI ethically. Local models are the way ahead for many. 

6. In a world where everyone is now an expert on educational technology – ALT continues to be beacon in the darkness.

7. I hope you enjoyed Glasgow and haste ye back. 

An Unofficial Glance at things to get up to in Glasgow #ALTC25

 I am co-chairing ALTC25. Conference for UK Association for Learning Technology. I promised a Glasgow post on other attractions. 

There are loads of ways you can find out what is on in Glasgow while you are about for the ALTC Conference. But I thought I'd add my own wee list of places that I like.  Remember I am now a 60 something Glaswegian but I think the fun here can be pretty intergenerational. Whatever your thing is, you will find it in Glasgow. 

Here is a wee very Glasgow playlist of Glaswegian musicians over the years to speed you on way. 

I do hope if you are arriving early on Wednesday you are coming along to Riverside Campus of City of Glasgow College. To see the ships simulators. 

I am big into cultural activities art, theatre and drinking coffee etc too, but you will get these from the internet.  I do recommend the hop on hop off Glasgow City Tour bus as a way to get your bearings. If you are about on Saturday have a look around the Barrows Market in Glasgow's east end. 

Here are a list of eating and drinking spots that  I think are really worth finding and all within  range of  the conference hotel.  You can look them up. I'd catch the subway if going to west end , get on in city centre and get off at Hillhead. You can't get lost, one big circle. 

You can combine visits to these places with more cultural activities. 

City Centre Drinks 

Sloans  - Old coaching house - old intercity coach terminal.

Mono and Stereo -  Two related bars Vegan and Good music 

Potstill - Best Whisky Bar 

Horseshoe Bar - Authentic Victorian Glasgow Bar 

Lauriston Bar - Just across the river - best Guiness and frequented by Indie bands.  

McChuills - live music 

Clutha Vaults - live music 

Scotia Bar - live music 

Del Monicas - live music and dancing 

Buff Club - dancing and new Jazz club 

City Centre Eats 

Brutti Compadres - a bit of eats and drinks in nice old courtyard

Cafe Gandolfi - Up market Glasgow classic for arty folks 

Pisano - best pizza in town and great value 

Sugo - great pasta dishes and great value 

Margot - up market posh nosh 

Dhabba and Dhakin - North and South Indian restaurants near each other

Finnieston and Around - lots of wee bars mainly great eats 

Craab Shakk - tiny atmospheric fish and sea food straight from west highlands. 

Mother India and Mother India Cafe - best Currys in Glasgow - second one is tapas style.

Ox and Finch - very posh nosh and hard to get booking 

The Gannet - posh michelin type but good food.

West End/ Byres Road - near Glasgow University so loads of places to eat and drink

Oran Mhor - old converted church always lots going on 

Tennents Bar - classic Glasgow bar

Ubiquitous Chip - nice bar and posh nosh

Craab Shakk West End - larger sister restaurant of Finnieston one 

There are lots of great places South Side Glasgow too - you can discover them next trip 

One Year Over the Top ; Reflections. The Joy of Not Being There: A September Without the Start of Term

I've been feeling a bit guilty. I've done a bit of work over summer but mainly I've just chilled.  It was strange coming back from a foreign holiday and not having to check lots of work emails - but it is a really nice sensation. 

This September, for the first time in thirty nine years , I am not preparing for the start of term. No staff briefings. No last-minute system tweaks. No wondering whether staff will be more engaged, more challenging, more everything - and what budget cuts are coming down the line etc and mainly wondering if the students will cope and will staff actually step them through induction or leave them to sink or swim. And or the dreaded moment when we discover that something promised to support induction hasn't actually happened - but it's included in all our start of session materials. 

As I push on I am bringing opportunities back to the College sector and the folks I know will be receptive to new ideas.  

Time to for a quick reflection on what I said I would do and what I've actually achieved and what I have to catch up on - I am due a post both on ALT Scotland SIG meeting at end of June and on #OER25 which I keynoted at before heading off on leave. That will be my next tasks.

When I said my farewells I promised I would keep pushing on a number of fronts.  Here is a potted update and a report card. 

• UNESCO - Continue shaping bid for project around better understanding of the open source code available for creation and management of Open Badges in support of Micro credentials. Bid completed and I anticipate publication appearing before Christmas.  This from work in Bilbao 
• Continue work with UK Digital Badging Commission - input completed and work now published. Tied in well with UNESCO work and my fellowship with RSA. Led to some comms and  work with 1Edtech.  Scottish education seems miles away from adopting these approaches. 
• Hopefully continue to support work of QAA around Scottish Tertiary Quality framework. Delighted to say I now have a part-time role as a Quality Assurance Specialist for QAA.
• Champion Teachermatic and other AI approaches to changing learning paradigm. This is still work in progress have delivered a number of sessions and keynotes.
• Champion Canvas by Instructure . I am still due to do a bigger deeper blog on Canvas and why it should be platform of choice. But enjoyed working with Martin Bean in Scotland and enjoyed my time in Barcelona at #CanvasCon 
• Continue to support Open Scotland following Dubai Summit to encourage more Open practice in Scotland. I keynoted #oer25 in London in June ( post to follow) I've presented to Once for Scotland to see if we can re-engage policy makers across Scotland and hoping to pick up conversation with Lee Dunn in the current administration. I am presenting OERGlobal25 in November. 
• Encourage better understanding of Adaptive Comparative Judgement - this probably one area where I haven't really pushed on. 
• Offer informed input on shape and future of tertiary sector in Scotland.  I keep knocking on relevant doors. There really needs to be a wholesale change in approach. 
• Continue as Chair of Association of Learning Technology special interest group in Scotland and do a bit more community building for ALT. Held two meetings this year. Summary of online conference April  - report on June Stirling Conference to come and I am co-chair of UK ALTC Conference coming to Glasgow for first time in October. 
• Continue to offer support to  suppliers , institutions and staff who want to digitally transform their practice and the experience of learners. Some notable successes with Smart Technologies really down to quality of product and support available in Scotland and in dialogue with a number of other suppliers. I continue to work with lots of old friends from @Bett Conferences  and my network. 
•  I've run a couple of College sessions but sector could do with a few more - still not really seeing blended learning to the fore.  I think I could do more on that front. (if anyone wants a short workshop on digital transformation for managers or teaching staff - please just reach out) 
• FRSA - Support Glasgow branch around organising a series of events this and next year. Making progress civic reception at City Chambers and event at Citizens Theatre in planning - reaching out to Education contacts for RSA.
• Continue as Chair of IWasGonnae and Old Hall Scout Group. - both organisations thriving - really down to the energy and skills of the teams there. 

I've done lots of travelling over the year for business and fun and hosted some guests in Glasgow. 

Here are two happy snaps of 

Kim William Gordon, PhD from EdTech Research Labs St Louis USA

Maria Soledad Ramirez Montoya, UNESCO Chair Open Educational Movement for Latin America

ALT Scottish SIG Agenda and Sign-Up Wed 21st 10am - 2.30pm

 

Looking forward to seeing some familiar and some new faces from across the sector.

Learning Technology is really under the spotlight. A range of agenda items relevant for Schools, Colleges, University and work-based learning. 

Click here to view the accessible version of this interactive content

Reflections on 2021 #oerxdomains , #phygital , #Fujitsu , #openscot , #Bett22

The end of another strange year - this year without the lockdown beard. 

It's all been a great team effort. This year topped and tailed by two College Development Network Awards both reflecting well on the work of the Learning and Teaching Academy. 

Amazing really as the team have battled the frustrations and heartbreaks  of  CoVid like everyone else.

    

Highlights 

• Continued staff support for webinar training and development .
• Chairing #OER21 
• Launching College Fujitsu Hub.
• Sourcing speakers , open badges and chairing sessions at  #Phygital conference
• Staff and Student input to business case that led to procurement of Canvas.
• On going cross College work on transition to Canvas. 
• Trying to figure out what hybrid learning and teaching actually means.
• On going sanity checks from colleagues in College  and  from ALT and many others across the sector ( you know who you are) and patience, kindness, consideration and teamwork.

On personal level - I am still frustrated by the Scottish systems ongoing disregard of Unesco's guidance on Open Educational Resources - startling really in year of COP26. I will keep doing my bit at institutional level and through Open Scotland. 

We once again missed our French fix on the Ile De Re and had none of our usual foreign jaunts and as CoVid restrictions are back in place in Scotland there will be no #Bett22 for me this year. 

We did manage two great escapes to Isle of Raasay and to Isle of Lewis. We also juggled cases of household CoVid - we still are, currently spending Christmas and New Year in splendid isolation.  

I know 2022 will bring more challenges.  I think the main message in these strange and disrupted times is not to be distracted, keep your eye on the horizon and show compassion for all those around you. 

And just noticed this marks 21 years of blogging ;-). Open reflection and blogging will eventually catch on. 

Happy New Year to one and all when it comes !  Slainte ! 

Sign Up for Scottish Association of Learning Technology SIG Event with a difference 22nd of June

Learning technologist in a University , College , local authority schools or other learning environment ? 

Could you please take a few moments to upload a video of yourself talking about what has helped you with the transition to remote learning and teaching, either from an individual or institutional perspective?

https://flipgrid.com/25a5af2e 

Don't be shy - we want to hear your voice ! 

If you are really shy - wear a disguise ;-) 

Is that asking for trouble ;-) 

And look forward to seeing you in person at the ALT Scotland SIG 

ALT Member Groups Check out this Flipgrid! flipgrid.com

Please also remember to register for the event:

https://www.alt.ac.uk/civicrm/event/info?reset=1&id=530

If you are reading this message - could promote the event within your institutions too that would be great!

Very best wishes,


ALT Scotland Special Interest Group Co-Chairs
Joe and Vicki



Dr Vicki H.M. Dale,   University of Glasgow
Joe Wilson MA, MBA , DipEd , PGCSE City of Glasgow College

Association of Learning Technology Annual Conference Edinburgh University Sept 2019 #ALTC

ALT Annual Conference 2019, taking place 3-5 September 2019 in Edinburgh #ALTC #OpenScot

It is only once every few years that the Association for Learning Technology Conference arrives in Scotland. 

The request below arrived today and I thought it worth simply blogging around.

It would be great to see a strong Scottish Education presence - public bodies , Schools and FE Colleges could both learn a lot and contribute a lot to the discussion at the conference.  It is also an opportunity for those working in the private sector to come along and share opportunities. 

The praxis in Education is a global one. Here is an opportunity to share with a UK and International Audience in Edinburgh and take some great ideas back to your own institution to support your learners , and build your network to weather the storms ahead. 

Joe Wilson 

Co-Chair ALT Scotland Special Interest Group 

The Call for Proposals for the ALT Annual Conference 2019, taking place 3-5 September 2019 in Edinburgh, is open until 13 March. We would be very grateful for your help in disseminating the information below within your networks and encouraging colleagues to consider submitting a proposal.

The Call for Proposals for ALT’s Annual Conference 2019 is now open for you to contribute to the critical dialogue we seek to foster on technology in education and its political, social and economic context.

All submissions are made via the ALT Online Submission Form
Call for Proposals open until 13 March 2019

We are particularly keen to look at the big picture across sectors and find common challenges, promote closer scrutiny of evidence and theory, and a stronger commitment to values that we share. Values that include creativity, community, social good, openness, and more democratic access to knowledge and learning. We invite you to submit proposals in response to one of the conference themes:

1. Student data and learning analytics: Critically exploring the intersections between learning technology practice, policy and projects and student data, learning analytics, and evidence relating to engagement. Where do we need to strengthen these intersections, in order to make more critical and effective use of student data and analytics in enhancing policy and practice? What are the ethical dimensions to data and learning analytics we need to better understand and respond to?
2. Creativity across the curriculum: Nurturing the development of curiosity, open-mindedness, problem solving and imagination. How can digital learning and teaching across the curriculum foster creativity skills? What benefits can this bring? What can educators working across the schools, further and higher education curricula learn from each other?
3. Critical frames of reference: To what extent are established concepts, models and frameworks relating to digital education still relevant to emerging practices and possibilities? What are the concepts and theoretical frames of reference that can support further critical research and reflection, and inform more critically grounded digital education practices going forward?
4. Learning Technology for wider impact: using Learning Technology to enable learning which is distributed across formal and informal communities, that supports more inclusive curricula and promotes accessibility, transcends established digital silos and institutional boundaries, creates digital ‘third spaces’ to enable learning amongst those who would otherwise not meet, or which locates opportunities for learning within contexts and communities where there is disadvantage, disenfranchisement or a lack of opportunity to engage. Work which has a high impact on lifelong learning, in democratising access to socially valuable knowledge, and in addressing wider societal needs.
5. Wildcard: if your work doesn’t relate directly to any of the conference themes, then we encourage you to select the wildcard theme when submitting your learning technology research, practice or policy work from any sector including further and higher education, schools, vocational learning and training, lifelong learning and work-based learning.

How to submit a proposal

We look for session proposals that will make an innovative contribution to the conference programme and be of value to other participants.

All submissions are made via the ALT Online Submission Form.

You can only submit 1 proposal as lead author/presenter. You can add additional contributors to your proposal and be a contributor to other proposals.

All rooms will have a projector or screen and laptop as standard.

As there are up to 6 parallel sessions running at any time, you need to ensure that your session can work well with 10-50 participants.

Your proposal

You will need to select what kind of session you would like to run from the following options:

• GASTA talk (5 min, concise, punchy talk, usually in the main auditorium)
• Poster & GASTA talk (digital/print poster + 5 min lightning talk, usually in the main auditorium)
• Research or practice presentation (20 min, with min.5 minutes for Q&A)
• Reflective session (30 min, usually interactive and seeking feedback from participants)
• Workshop, panels or demonstration (1 hour, usually BYOD for participants)

You will need to include a session title, description and further supporting information. You should not submit proposals that have been published, presented or submitted elsewhere.

What we are looking for

We review all submissions to ensure that we maintain the highest quality and include the broad range of learning technology research, practice and policy of interest to our participants.

Each proposal will be reviewed by two members of the conference committee. We ask that you remove any information from your proposal that will identify you as the author, so that the review is conducted impartially. Proposals are reviewed against the following criteria:

• Does it explain how the session relates to the chosen conference theme?
• Is it clearly written (i.e. acronyms are explained, and language appropriate for an international audience and from participants from different sectors)?
• Does it state what participants will gain from the session and why they should attend?
• Does it include details of what the session is based on, such as a particular project or initiative or practice? Does it critically reflect on this and evaluate it (i.e. state how many learners/staff are involved, what feedback was collected and how transferable your experience/findings/tools are)?
• If it is a commercial proposal, we ask that it meets all the above criteria and clearly states what products are being demonstrated or discussed and acknowledges the role of the company in the session.

Increasing impact and professional recognition

If you are seeking to increase the impact of your work or looking to disseminate your work beyond the conference, we encourage you to make a submission to the Research in Learning Technology journal. The journal is a Gold Open Access journal and we do not levy any charges to ensure researchers can disseminate new work in learning technology as widely as possible.

We also invite you to consider entering the ALT Awards which are now open for entries from individuals, teams and research project, with winners announced at the conference.

Registration for presenters

At least one presenter for each proposal needs to register for the conference. We offer a special early bird discount for presenters and we also offer a discounted rate for presenters who are members of ALT or members of the conference committee.

Lead presenters need to attend in conference in person, but can facilitate contributions from virtually attending presenters.

Is this conference for you?

We invite proposals from learning technology professionals and learners from all sectors in the UK and internationally. The Association for learning technology (ALT) represents individual and organisational members from all sectors and parts of the UK. Our membership includes practitioners, researchers and policy makers with an interest in learning technology. Our community grows more diverse as learning technology has become recognised as a fundamental part of learning, teaching and assessment.

What to expect?

This is the 26th ALT Annual Conference. We will welcome 400-500 participants in Edinburgh over three days with a packed programme and social activities. We design our conference to be welcoming and friendly, with specific activities for first time participants. During the conference ALT members organise meetings and sessions such as annual meet ups of local Member Groups, meetings of Special Interest Groups and information sessions to offer ways to get involved and showcase what’s going on across the community.

We look forward to welcoming you in September and wish you good luck with your submission!

You can also view this Call for Proposals as a Google Doc or download a PDF.

#altc 2014 University of Warwick

I've supported and/or attended the Association for Learning Technology conference since the last century when folks interested in technology and learning were really on the outer fringes of education or even  mainstream learning - at institutional level just starting to come out of cupboards where the audio-visual technicians lived or like me realising that as electronic typewriters vanished there was more we could do with computers in the classroom.

Without prejudice (I along with   Linda Creanor and Sarah Cornelius  was a conference chair )  I think the conference went really well this year. The venue , accommodation , food , wifi and technology on site all worked well . The keynotes , each in their own way pushed on the boundaries of learning and teaching while highlighting the opportunities and pitfalls that lie ahead. While the other sessions provided great insights into a broad range of current practice , highlighted useful changes in institutional and government policy or simply explored the challenges of big data , learner analytics , open badges and other new forms of delivery in the post MOOC - yet non apocalyptic world of learning.

They are worth tuning in to - I think they set the tone for learning for the next decade . Not the opening bit but skip to Jeff Haywood , Catherine Cronin and Audrey Watters keynotes


The three things that made me think most - beyond the excellent keynotes - were

1. The Big Red Balloon - offer on-line support for school pupils who have been marginalised by bullying and cannot attend mainstream schools .  Made me think about the support that is available for learners in schools in Scotland - it is a great example of how the world of on-line is transforming school education and supporting learners in new ways

2. The FE day focused on FELTAG - ( it could be  some new select perversion - ) but the feltaging debate was to a degree shaped by the non appearance of the new government minister in England . In corners around the conference there was a lot of private and public feltaging going on.

 The previous minister Matthew Hancock had laid out an ambitious vision for 10% of all further education in England being available on-line in the coming year with targets for 70% being available on-line by 2017.  The realities on ground from the sessions I attended are very different . The big institutions are making some headway but are not sharing learning materials . The private creators of content are touting their wares to fill the void and lots of policy,  not least changing regulations forcing folks to focus on more traditional methods of assessment make the ambitions hard  or expensive to achieve . What seemed lost in a lot of this debate was a sense of the learners . Too much discussion,  particularly those  by organisations with a commercial interest in these changes start off with revenue sharing models or cost cutting models or looking at other efficiencies none of which  benefit learners. It would be good to see more use of open educational resources and some sensible open on-line course activity in the English FE Sector . They could learn a lot from their colleagues in Higher Education.

3. I probably covered this in opening - but really just overall sense that in all sessions technology is now at the heart of all things learning related , not an adjunct , not a bolt-on but something that all institutions have strategic plans for and something that learners expect when they decide they wish to engage with learning.

There was a very active twitter stream and it is great to see all the other themes that caught folks attention.

My biggest disappointment was the poor turn out from Scottish FE. I think this is probably just a temporary blip given the scale of restructuring that is just coming to a conclusion in Scotland. I hope by next year and Manchester 2015 the regional colleges will not only have settled down but will already have a range of on-line offerings to offer both their region and beyond. There is a lot of great work happening in Scotland we could have used a few more voices shouting out about it.

If you missed this year's conference you can see the keynotes and much more on the conference website. An an individual or institutional membership of ALT is invaluable in providing an overview of learning technology both across the UK and internationally,  it  gives you a personal learning network who are active in solving practical problems,  pushing at the frontiers of learning , drafting policy at institutional or national level all to make learning better and more accessible to learners.Maren Deepwell  , Martin Hawksey and the ALT backroom team are a pleasure to work with too.

Donald Clark Plan B at ALTC2010

Donald Clark opens ALTC 2010 Conference in Nottingham.

Founder of Epic an early on-line educational publisher which he sold on for a modest fortune now has an excellent blog at http://donaldclarkplanb.blogspot.com/ always controversial.


Don’t Lecture Me ! - Why we need to move away from the lecture theatre - a rabble rousing opening address.

I’ve heard some of this many times over the years and have experienced lots of awful teachers, lectures and conference presentations over the years. Donald does an entertaining spin through the challenges of getting individuals and institutions to move away from the lecture theatre. I agree with many of the challenges he identifies – but think we still have to find a way to move pedagogy on – and not least the  the pedagogues who like giving lectures when they can .. even in schools.  So not an easy challenge.

Hardly anyone who teaches in a University believes in any scientific methodology of teaching and learning or even tries to apply any of it. Collection of anecdotes rather than a data driven empirical approach and if any theories are used then they are half-baked. Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs gets a doing it only survives because it is easy to put on a power point. Teachers always focus on what they are going to teach they hardly stop and think about how they are going to teach it.

Great use of teaching clip from Ferris Bueller’s Day Off
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C-S54bbX6eA

The Crazy English Movement fills stadiums with 25,000 in China
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/asia/crazy-english-how-chinas-language-teachers-became-big-celebrities-1777545.html

Recommends  "The Media Equation " – book http://www.amazon.com/Media-Equation-Television-Information-Publication/dp/1575860538 some good ideas on applying new technologies to learning.

Teachers ask pseudo rhetorical questions and don’t really challenge learners. Lecturing grew from preaching in the middle ages and it has never really moved on. Was associated with reading and then instruction – but still a meaningless monologue.

Isaac Newton – was brilliant but no-one turned up to his lectures as no-one could understand them and his delivery was very poor – he often delivered them to empty rooms . Why put brilliant research scientists who can’t teach in front of undergraduates? Problem is not just people it is about methodology Richard Feynman teaching physics through lectures is almost an impossible task has to be through active learning.

Even the new recordings of lectures in YouTube are mostly rubbish – but it is still better to see a first class lecture on video than a mediocre one in the flesh. Russell Group Universities attendance drops to just around 50% among first years over a year.

Institutions should be looking at learning success rates and looking at how they can use technology to time shift Youtube.edu http://www.youtube.com/edu look at Lewins Lectures http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Walter_Lewin_Lectures_on_Physics , i-tunes u , MIT , Open Learn OU Don’t pad out cognitive overload - hardly anyone knows how to use text, images, sound etc in learning - there is lots more we could be doing to improve learning.

The Ebbinghaus Forgetting Curve – keep coming back to this

Carol Twigg – Pew Research – move to active learning approach and redesign your courses around learning http://www.thencat.org/  actually a lot of potential in this work for curriculum for excellence in schools.

People need to be able to study at a distance in a much more enlightened way and universities need to share resources in much more creative ways – most medical faculties still have art /publications departments drawing and digitizing representations of the human body in a massively inefficient ways. When capital expenditure cuts come at least it will stop lots of monument building that has been going on campuses around the country.– most university buildings run at under 50% capacity which is scandal.

The Open University model is the way ahead.

And now 63 minutes later I've forgotten half of it

The VLE is Dead

Some sectors are just discovering Virtual Learning Environments so it is premature to hail the death of these systems. I think the most telling point is the question to academic audience

How many of you would go to your Virtual Learning Environment to learn anything ?

For this audience a VLE is barren closed sterile environment suitable for learners but not a place where they would go to learn.

Have a listen - excellent speakers and the discussion is really broader than a discussion about the technology it is really a discussion about the organisation of learning within an institutional framework.

This is another excellent session from ALTC2009 . As you might expect I think they are setting the benchmark for using technology to share sessions at the conference.

ALT-C 2008: Rethinking the digital divide

Leeds, UK, 9-11 September 2008

I am missing ALT-C this week - but will follow what I can through twitter and bloglines. I enjoyed spell on the executive and still follow many friends from this time. I spotted this piece on the digital divide - some of the creativity across UK elearning is fantastic - (hit more button) and watch the section on eportfolios ( in Wales every one has one already ) I think this is a neat explanation for school pupils. Amused too that it looks like they are having an ALT equivalent of Teachmeet F.ALT.
(hosted on a wetpaint platform, it and Ning are really cool and easy to use at moment)

There has been some consistantly great and useable stuff coming from Pontydysgu the Welsh Educational Research Institute.

Reminds me too that there is still too much of a digital divide among those who work in Education and Life Long Learning. If you are interested in the broader UK community and interested in learning technology across the learning arena then ALT is worth joining.