Wednesday 27 June 2012

REC:all webinar



Yesterday I watched a web seminar on REC:all - 'Building a community of practice about lecture capture in EU universities'. I had previously not heard of the initiative, but from listening to the speakers and reading more into it, it seemed very interesting.

The speakers were Yacine Abboud from the University of Lorraine, Clive Young from University Collage London, Mathy Vanbuel from KHLIM, Silvia Moes from VU University of Amsterdam and was headed by Sally Reynolds, managing director of ATiT.

REC:all is a project that seeks to develop and better integrate digital lecture capturing technologies into higher education for the purpose of off-campus learning. As well looking at lecture recording and delivery, they are interested in implementing new technologies into remote learning environments, such as study trips and excursions.

One example of this was from Silvia Moes who provided a case study where students on a trip to Rome were told to form groups, each collecting evidence from around the city and depositing it on an open source mapping software. The map could be accessed by the other students who could learn from the data collected from the group.

Particular emphasis in the webinar was put on 'Flipping', a way of providing prerecorded audio or video lectures before a timetabled session so that more time can be spent in the session for the type practical, hands-on instruction that cant be effectively communicated with just a video. Pamala Kachka from Pearson eCollage gives a nice overview of Flipping here.

Another initiative that was mentioned was transLectures, which has been running since November 2011 and whose objective is to develop solutions that translate video lectures into many languages to reach wider audiences.  

Monday 25 June 2012

W.I.R.E.


W.I.R.E. or 'Web for Interdisciplinary Research and Enterprise' is a think tank based in Zurich that sees itself as 'a platform between science and practice'. Their research is interested in global developments which positively effect individuals, communities and industry. This includes looking into interdisciplinary methods that empower people, enhance our lives and help provide for a better future. Their site says:
W.I.R.E. sees itself as a laboratory for the development of new concepts for the creation and dissemination of knowledge. The foundations for this are to be found in the breaking down of traditional boundaries between academic disciplines, the abandonment of hierarchical concepts and the integration of content and form.
I like them.