If you are interesed in using Mobile Apps for teaching and learning, you will find the JISC RSC Wales Free Android and Apple Apps for Education presentation useful. ...

Information about using the LiveScribe Pulse Pen for recording handwriting and audio. ...

This year's AberLearn Blackboard Course Copy will take place on Monday 11th June 2012. On Mon 11th, existing modules will be copied to create new modules for academic year 2012/13. Staff can start work on developing next year's materials without affecting the current year's modules. 

Students will retain access to their old modules modules for revision purposes. They will not see next year's modules until after they have formally registered in September.

You can find out more about organising your modules and the course copy procedure at http://www.inf.aber.ac.uk/advisory/faq/555/. For more information please email bb-team@aber.ac.uk. ...

It is often said that videoconferencing is a green technology – but just how green is it? How much energy is consumed in the production and installation of the equipment… in its support, and eventual disposal? And how much electricity does a studio full of equipment consume when in use?

To answer these questions, a project has been funded by JISC as part of its Greening ICT Programme.

As part of this project, on the 2nd February 2011 a videoconference took place between Aberystwyth, Bangor, Cardiff and Swansea Universities to discuss why and how to get the most from videoconferencing facilities.  The event was organised jointly with another JISC GreenICT project (Suste-IT) and combined local and videoconferenced presentations, discussions and research between members of staff at each institution.

All of the presentations and recordings from the event are available to download on the Welsh Video Network’s Greening ICT page, located here: http://www.wvn.ac.uk/greenict/vfactor.

JORUM has announced the winners of the competition for best open educational resources created under the Creative Commons licence. These are free for use for educational purposes.

We encourage staff to make use of open educational materials that are available, to contribute your own materials and to enter next year's contest. Perhaps AU can be a winner next time around!

You can view the materials on the JORUM website. The press release announcing the winners is quoted below:

News release
 21 September 2010

Call for teachers to share resources

At the start of a new academic year, JISC is encouraging lecturers and trainers to share their teaching materials - as a competition highlights useful resources from across the UK.

David Kernohan, programme manager at JISC, said: “We are fortunate in this country to be developing a community of people willing to share their teaching resources, but what we lack is a coherent way of highlighting the best examples of such collaboration.

“Competitions like this one show what we all know instinctively – that sharing can benefit not just your colleagues but also your own teaching reputation and that of your university or college.”

The competition was run by JorumOpen, the UK’s national repository for educational materials created under a creative commons licence.

Louise Egan, Jorum communications officer, said: "This competition aims to champion learning and teaching resources from all backgrounds and subject areas. We were delighted to have received a great number of entries, and see the high standard of resources being shared amongst our community of users."

The resulting winners of the competition are all excellent examples of how to make learning more interactive and are available alongside the other entries at Jorum for anyone to re-use.

First place went to a resource that explains photosynthesis using 3D models of the key molecules involved.  Its author Katy Jordan has used the kit to teach undergraduates at the University of Cambridge.
 <http://open.jorum.ac.uk/xmlui/handle/123456789/7023>

An interactive module from the Open Dementia E-learning programme, funded by the Department of Health, came in at second place.
 <http://open.jorum.ac.uk/xmlui/handle/123456789/7022>

The University of Wales Institute in Cardiff claimed third prize for a resource called ‘Making the creative process visible’, a series of films documenting how ceramics students develop their ideas.
 <http://open.jorum.ac.uk/xmlui/handle/123456789/2027>

Contributing to open repositories helps resources to be discovered more widely. Currently over 80 UK universities are involved in the pilot open educational resources programme run by JISC and the Higher Education Academy with all outputs made available via JorumOpen.

Explore what we’ve learned and how sharing resources can benefit your organisation through our dedicated briefing paper at <http://www.jisc.ac.uk/publications/briefingpapers/2010/bpopeneducationalresources.aspx>

To contribute to Jorum or find resources, visit <http://www.jorum.ac.uk>

 ...

Yn ystod yr wythnos sy’n cychwyn ar 26 Gorffennaf, byddwn yn gwneud rhai gwelliannau i Blackboard (gweler http://nexus.aber.ac.uk/xwiki/bin/view/Main/Blackboard+9 i gael rhagor o fanylion). Er mwyn ymgymryd â’r gwaith hwn, ni fydd Blackboard ar gael i’w ddefnyddio (i edrych ar ddeunyddiau na’u hychwanegu) rhwng dydd Llun 26 a dydd Iau 29 Gorffennaf. Bydd y fersiwn newydd o Blackboard ar gael wedyn ar 30 Gorffennaf. Cysylltwch â Thîm Blackboard (bb-team@aber.ac.uk) i gael rhagor o wybodaeth.

During the summer, Information Services will be introducing a new version of Blackboard - version 9.1. This new version of the system will bring in new features for staff and students as well as new look to Blackboard.

New features include:

• Anonymous marking in the Blackboard Grade Centre
• UK English Language options
• Fully supported and developed Welsh Language interface
• Easy addition of material from Flickr, YouTube and SlideShare
• Easy editing options for course instructors

Blackboard will also be bought into AU house-style with new branding.

If you are interested in testing out the new features, please contact the Blackboard Team.

Many thanks to those staff who completed the Technology-Enhanced Learning Survey 2010. Your responses and suggestions will help us to provide the services needed by our staff and students.

Prize winners

We are pleased to announce that Fred Long, Computer Science, has won the first prize, an HD Flip camera. Gareth Hall, Psychology, has won the second prize, a memory stick with EduApps software. The prizes were acquired with Gwella funding. We will be making a presentation of the prizes at the New Technology and Innovation Day event on 15 April 2010.

New Technology and Innovation Day 15 April 2010

Information Services will be offering members of staff a chance to attend a day to demonstrate new developments in ICT at Aberystwyth. The technologies shown could well help you work and/or deliver your teaching more effectively. For more information go to: [http://www.aber.ac.uk/en/is/computers/innovationsday/>">.

Summary of results

Here is a summary of highlights from the survey. Responses came from a total of 64 people from 14 academic departments and a range of other services across the university. A large number of responders (43.5%) have either completed the PGCTHE programme or are currently enrolled in it. There were two main areas of focus for staff when considering techology - communications and resources. For communications, 50% of staff reported this as their main focus, with 23.7% reporting it as their secondary focus. Resources was close behind, with 35% reporting this as their main focus, 44% reporting it as their secondary focus. It may come as no surprise that the tool with the highest reported use was the Blackboard VLE, with 76% of responders saying they use it for teaching. The tool with the next highest use was social networking (e.g. Facebook) with exactly 50% of responders using it for personal use. The next most popular cluster of tools all relate to digital media:

• Shared video resources (e.g. YouTube) - 45% personal use, 31% teaching
• Shared image resources (e.g. Flickr) - 40% personal use, 17% teaching
• Podcasting - 40% teaching, 14% personal use, 14% research
• Lecture capture - 31% teaching
• Video conferencing - 31% research

Video recording also came in high, with 26% of staff using it for teaching. Following on digital media, we find several centrally-provided tools for administration and assessment:

• Discussion boards - 28% teaching, 18% personal use
• Online assignment submission - 29% teaching
• SAMS attendance monitoring - 23% teaching
• Online quizzes - 23% teaching
• Wimba Create (Course Genie) learning object creation - 23% teaching

The following tools for interaction were also popular:

• Blogs -  22% teaching, 19% personal use
• Wikis - 19% teaching, 17% personal use
• Qwizdom interactive voting system - 17% teaching

These patterns show us that when a particular tool or type of tool has been picked up widely for personal use, it can sometimes be leveraged for academic use as well. There is a strong trend toward digital media at the moment.

The two tools that proved most useful for research were podcasting and videoconferencing, which suggests that technology can facilitate long-distance collaboration among researchers.

In February, 2010, the E-learning Team applied for funding from JISC TechDIS under the Heat4Wales? project to evaluate two different methods of capturing audio and image digitally to see which is most effective in enhancing accessibility for students with different needs. We were successful, and the project will begin in May 2010.The technologies we are evaluating are the Pulse SmartPen and the HD Flip digital camcorder (see images below). Please see HEAT4Wales item under Case Studies for more details.