JISC RSC Wales E-bulletin: MAY 2012
As I sit writing this I realise it’s May and the sun is shining. Dare I say it? Welcome to a “Summer edition” of the RSC Wales e-Bulletin – hopefully the first of more to come. This edition is packed with news and events from Wales and throughout the UK as well as our favourite Tweets and Blogs.
We are delighted to announce that booking is now open for our Summer Conference entitled Technology Working for Wales and that Dr Barrie Kennard, Leadership & Management Wales (LMW) will set the scene for the day with his Key Note address. The Conference offers you the opportunity to attend a diverse range of sessions and to discuss outputs from the Technology for Learning Small Grant Programme.
If you are considering bidding as part of the FE and Skills Development and Resources Programme – time is running out. All bids have to be submitted prior to 31st May. Remember, the RSC Wales team are more than happy to offer advice and guidance in relation to your bid and act as a critical friend.
Best wishes
The JISC RSC Wales team
News
Embedding benefits: three projects in Wales
JISC has announced the result of a call for projects to embed the benefits of JISC-funded innovation work. Three of the successful projects are led by Welsh HE or FE institutions.Gwella ELESIG: mobile and the learner experience
The Gwella ELESIG group staged an interesting event recently on mobile and the learner experience. Read a storified report of the day here.Learning in a Digital Age due out in June
The latest guide in the well-received JISC Effective Practice series, Learning in a Digital Age: Extending higher education opportunities for lifelong learning, will be available from 15th June following its launch on 13/14th June at the Blended Learning Conference, at the University of Hertfordshire, Hatfield.JISC Collections Summer Roadshow
JISC Collections are running a number of roadshows this summer, including one at Cardiff University on 7 June, open to HE and FE.The many Benefits of Virtual Meetings
This report summarises the results from 1,725 respondents to surveys of internal use (or non-use) of conferencing or other virtual meeting technologies at nine individual universities (Aberystwyth, Bangor, Bradford, Central Lancashire, Glasgow, Leeds, Manchester Metropolitan, Staffordshire, and Swansea). They have been conducted as part of a JISC-funded project on the topic, which has also produced a summary report and 11 briefing papers and case studies.HE Gregynog Colloquium 2012: bookings open
The Gregynog Colloquium for Welsh Higher Education information services staff takes place in the week beginning 11 June.The programme and further information are available at and includes a wide range of topics covering library, IT and learning technology services, including an appearance by JISC RSC Wales on the Wednesday.
Information literacy in the workplace
Information literacy underpins many of the skills needed in the workplace and is an important aspect of student employability, says a new guide from the Welsh Information Literacy Project.Embedding Business and Community Engagement 7th June in Cardiff
In the past Business & Community Engagement (BCE) has been referred to as 'Third Stream', however it relates more closely to the term 'Third Mission' adopted by the Welsh Assembly, reflecting its strategic importance alongside Learning and Teaching (L&T) and Research across further and higher education. Certainly there is a great emphasis from the government on institutions working closely with industry and other communities.This FREE event is aimed at senior and middle managers with responsibility for development, co-ordination or support of Business and Community Engagement and managers of core business functions.
Going...going...gone
So far we’ve received an impressive 60 bids from learning providers from across the UK for our FE and Skills Development and Resources Programme. These bids, which come from all parts of the sector, detail some fantastic new and innovative ways to use technology to improve the learner experience and increase efficiencies across the sectorE-learning good practice celebrated in LSIS Excellence Gateway videos
Two learning providers supported by JISC Regional Support Centres in the Eastern and West Midlands regions have seen their e-learning good practice highlighted in two new videos, which are now available on the Excellence Gateway website.JISC curriculum design programme webinars
The JISC Curriculum Design programme will host 3 events in May where some of the projects will share their approaches and findings. These are free to attend and all are welcome but please ensure that you register using the appropriate links below. All the webinars will take place through Blackboard Collaborate and details will be sent once delegates have registered.Public sector saves £28 million through open access, but much greater rewards to come, says report
Open Access to published scholarly research offers significant benefits to the UK, according to two reports released today by the UK Open Access Implementation Group1.The UK public sector already saves £28.6 million by using open access. The reports make it clear that both the public sector and the voluntary sector would see further direct and indirect benefits from increased access to UK higher education research publications.
Already, more Voluntary and Community Sector (VCS) organisations use open access…
Podcast: New business model for National Centre for Text Mining
Jisc funded the National Centre for Text Mining for 7 years between 2004 and 2011. The Centre, based at the University of Manchester, is now independent of Jisc funding, but what does that mean for the researchers who rely on its services? And what can others learn from their new business model? Nicola Yeeles from Jisc caught up with centre director Sophia Ananiadou to find out.Twippets @rscwales
Here’s our pick of the past month’s tweets: . If you want to follow us on Twitter we’re @rscwales.From our Blogs
What Have I Learnt This Year? Some reflections on Adult Learners’ Week.
15 May 2012 | Paul RichardsonIt is Adult Learners Week once again. While it hardly seems a year since the last one, it’s a good time to look back to the learning of the last year, and to look forward to the next one. NIACE has just published the headline findings of its annual survey ‘Widening participation in adult education‘. The results of the survey are interesting enough (although a bit depressing in terms of the levels of engagement), but I thought I would take a look at what the survey has actually asked people this time around.
Each year, 5,000 adults aged 17 and over across the UK are provided with the following definition of learning, and asked when they last took part in […]
Libraries Inspire Reader Development/Information Literacy Grants 2012-13
10 May 2012 | Sharon CrossanThe Libraries Inspire Reader Development / Information Literacy Grants 2012/13 are now available!
Reader development/information literacy is a broad concept and can cover:
* promoting reading as a fun/leisure activity
* opening up reading choices
* offering people the opportunity to share their reading experiences
* promoting literacy (reading skills) as a whole
* encouraging readers to try different genres, authors etc
* helping participants to develop the confidence to try something new
* focusing on the reader
* focusing on the user of ICT
* assisting people to find quality information and resources using a variety of different resources and possibly different media
* helping people evaluation different information resources
* hands-on learning of different ICT and information resources[…]
Graduates for our Future: post-conference notes and reflections
10 May 2012 | Lis ParcellHere are some personal notes and reflections from Graduates for our Future, promoted as the first learning and teaching conference for Higher Education in Wales. [It's a long post (of necessity as it was a packed day) with comments to boot. To make it easier to read you may want to click on the 'HE' tab above and that should result in the font resizing and you can then see the full width of the screen!]
Around 170 participants packed out the Catrin Finch Centre at Glyndŵr University on 26 April for sessions linked to one of the three Welsh Higher Education enhancement themes: Students as Partners, Learning in Employment and Learning for Employment. For a press release summarising the day, including the keynotes, see the Academy website. In this post I’ll concentrate on capturing some more personal thoughts about the sessions I attended […]
Events
Storytelling using Technology - A Lunchtime Byte Delivered to your Desk
23rd May 2012Another in the free RSC Wales Lunchtime Bytes webinar series. In this session Esther Barrett will look at storytelling using technology, and how new tools and techniques are enabling people to tell stories in different ways to diverse audiences.
Technology Working for Wales
26th June 2012Cost efficiency and employability are ever present challenges to educators. They are also recognised by Welsh Government as priority areas. This Conference showcases how providers in Wales, through the innovative use of technologies, are meeting these challenges head-on.
We are delighted that Dr Barrie Kennard, Director of Leadership & Management Wales (LMW,) will set the scene for the day with his keynote address.
The conference draws on experiences from all Post-16 sectors and will address themes including Collaboration, Learning for Employment and Learning in Employment, with a wide range of technologies involved such as VLEs, web-conferencing, Google and many different mobile applications. The event also provides an opportunity for organisations in receipt of a JISC RSC Wales Technology for Learning small grant to disseminate their project outputs.
Cloud computing and the law
30th May, 2pm (online)Is your institution considering outsourcing email, moving data storage off-campus or using external servers and data centres provided by cloud services?
This JISC Legal webcast examines the legal challenges for colleges and universities that are considering the use of cloud computing services
LSIS organisational effectiveness conference 2012
12th June 2012 Maple House, BirminghamThis year's conference will delve into cutting costs through methods such as partnership working and technology. Delegates will have the opportunity to share information with peers and take away a range of tools to apply within their organisation.
LSIS national teaching and learning fair
29th June 2012LSIS will host their annual Teaching and Learning Fair on 29th June at the QEII Conference Centre in London.
The event will look at the neuroscience of learning and explore the latest thinking on pedagogy, what constitutes excellence in teaching and learning and the use of technology.
UCISA Support Services Conference 2012
10th – 12th July Crewe Hall, CheshireThis year the Support Services Conference (formerly the User Support Conference), hosted by UCISA, is themed around Great Expectations - the expectations that staff, students and visitors have from IT services within a university.
IT has experienced a number of challenges over recent years and, in turn, has made a number of changes. With the introduction of higher fees for the next academic year IT departments are going to be put under even more pressure to enhance the service they provide.
The aim of the Conference is to bring together the different expectations from UCISA’s various customers, look at how they can continue to deliver, keep up to date and manage services in order to provide an excellent experience for all.
For a full listing of JISC RSC Wales events see of JISC RSC National events can be found at
fJISC RSC Wales, Emily Phipps Building, Swansea University, Hendrefoelan, Swansea, SA2 7NB | 01792 295959