Shri Footring

An Update from RSC Eastern

The usual RSC Update from the forum meeting is available here for reference.

Accessibility and Assistive Technology

Toolkit: We have recently updated our accessibility and assistive technology toolkit. It is available for you to explore here, today. We can also loan the equipment out to you, should you wish. Please contact Maryse or Gerard if interested. Techdis Assistive Technology Scheme

EduApps: This time last year we had started to distribute AccessApps memory sticks. This initiative has now developed to include applications specifically aimed at learners and teachers. Keep up with the latest updates here: www.eduapps.org

Support for the E-Guides programme

Regional Support Centres will be working closely with NIACE to offer E-Guides Plus training. In this region, this will be in addition to our successful E-Guides day. Please watch this space for details of forthcoming events. We are looking for suitable venues, please get in touch if you would like to host an event.

Details of forthcoming E-Guides training

Events

• VLE forum Our next meeting will be on the 6th November at Suffolk New College.
• Generator Training Regional training session on the 10th November.
• Moodle training Early December, please watch this space.

For a full list of forthcoming events, please see our website. Please note that the RSC e-skills resources are available on our Moodle. Please see Catherine or Malcolm for further details.

The RSC e-Skills programme

Please note that the RSC e-skills resources are available on our Moodle. The pilot phase is complete. If you would like to offer this programme at your organisation, please see Catherine or Malcolm for further details.

Funding Opportunities

WBL e-learning Content Creation pilot programme:
http://www.excellencegateway.org.uk/page.aspx?o=252965

Deadline for Technology Exemplar Networks is 30th October.

Time is running out – don’t miss out on funding opportunities, and the chance to participate in Phase 2 of the technology exemplar network

Further to our recent communication, please remember the closing date for applications to join the Technology Exemplar Network as a participating provider is fast approaching, and with interest levels high, we encourage providers to submit their application as soon as possible. The closing date is noon on 30^th October.

Grants are available to the successful participating providers for up to £15k delivering LSC funded learning programmes.

JISC RSCs are here to support to providers during the period of application.  In particular, they can offer support on the use of Generator; the technology improvement leadership tool, and how an applicant might use Generator to demonstrate the strength of their application to join the technology exemplar network.

It is not expected that managers or advisers from the JISC RSCs will respond to queries on the application process. These will be handled by the Association of Colleges (supported by the Association of Learning Providers) on behalf of Becta and the LSC.

Regular updates will be posted to the Becta website during the application process and, where appropriate, will be notified to managers and advisers within JISC RSCs. Frequently asked questions are also available on the Becta website.

The application form and guidance notes are available by clicking the respective links.

Please email us at exemplarnetwork@becta.org.uk if you are considering applying to become a participating provider in Phase 2 of the Technology Exemplar Network. Please include the name and type of your organisation; e.g. general FE college, sixth form college, land-based college, specialist college, work-based learning, offender learning, adult and community learning. This is not a commitment to apply but will allow us to monitor applications.

We look forward to hearing from you.

The comprehensive conference website is complemented by an active forum where you can find links to recordings of the main presentations.

Recordings of keynote sessions:

http://www.alt.ac.uk/altc2009/keynotes.html 

Highly recommended.

The main ALT-C conference starts on Tuesday morning, but I took the opportunity to travel up the day before and meet up with colleagues at the pre-conference buffet.

The organisers of ALT-C have shown the world how to make the best of pre-conference online support. For a couple of weeks now I have been a regular visitor on the conference crowdvine:

ALT-C 2009 Crowdvine

This has enabled me to engage with the conference content as well as delegates and presenters well before the event itself.

I’m looking forward to taking part in the “VLE is dead” debate, learning about the latest developments in Second Life / other virtual worlds as well as finding out what work / research is being done in the fields of mobile learning, the social web and the wider ethical implications.

See my ALT-C crowdvine network here and my schedule here.

I loved the way in which details of my personal schedule can be imported as an outlook calendar and accessed from my ‘phone.

Excellent day at Epping forest college.

Highlights for me were the lovely cartoon created by Andrew Hill and of course Lawrie’s keynote.

See website for full details:

http://info.rsc-eastern.ac.uk/events/event_details.asp?eid=558

http://twitpic.com/94s3l

The following opportunity may be of interest to learning providers:

dius.gov.uk/skills/engaging_learners/informal_adult_learning/transformation_fund

“The Learning Revolution Transformation Fund of £20 million offers grants of various sizes to help projects get started. Funding will be allocated this summer so that you can bring your most inspirational ideas to life by March 2010.”

“Public, private or third sector organisations in England are eligible to submit their creative proposals, preferably in partnership, by 12 July 2009. For a chance to meet other organisations with shared interests, you can register for a networking event on 9 June and the opportunity to talk to colleagues about ideas and get advice from the DIUS team on the bidding process.”

 http://info.rsc-northern.ac.uk/events/event_details.asp?eid=590

Presented a workshop, jointly with Jane.

All presentations and resources from this event are available from:

http://moodle.rsc-northern.ac.uk/course/view.php?id=117

http://info.rsc-eastern.ac.uk/events/event_details.asp?eid=607

RSC West Midlands have set up a regional forum to support those interested in learning and teaching in virtual worlds. The forum, which meets once a month, provides an opportunity for the showcasing of regional projects as well as a chance for all to have a conversation about emerging themes, issues and developments.

An announcement was made that RSC West Midlands are to purchase their own island to enhance their support for learning providers in the region.

The day included presentations from the following:

Wolverhampton University
Virtual Worlds Watch
The British Council
BKSB (NeverWinter Nights)
Wolverhampton University, Kriti Island
Daden Limited
Geminix Ltd
The Theatron Project
Skills in Services
Worcester University

There were also some informal updates including one from Staffordshire University and another from a group of Leverhulme Trust funded PhD students at Coventry University who are developing theoretical models for socio cultural aspects of virtual world interactions. http://cuba.coventry.ac.uk/leverhulme/

The muve blog was also announced, and participation invited:

http://muve.jiscinvolve.org

Many thanks to Jane Edwards and the RSC West Midlands team for the invitation to attend this event. It was extremely useful for me to be able to learn more about activities in the region and meet the people involved.

Virtual Worlds Mailing List: http://jiscmail.ac.uk/virtualworlds

For reasons which have now become obscure, the twitter tag for this event was #jiscfrisk (and occassionally #jiskfrisk). See related tweets below:

http://search.twitter.com/search?q=%23jiscfrisk

http://search.twitter.com/search?q=%23jiskfrisk