On 7 June Paul Richardson and I were invited along to do some sessions at a joint staff conference organised by Glyndwr University and Yale College Wrexham. About 90 staff from teaching and support roles, as well as some visiting organisations, came together in the Catrin Finch Centre to focus on “Learning and Teaching Excellence in the 21st Century”. We’d been asked to present to three groups on digital literacies, whilst Paul was assisting with a workshop on accessibility and inclusion. Here are some impressions of the event, and I’ll add more links to resources from the event as they become available.

Professor Michael Scott opened the conference, referring to the recent announcement that Glyndwr University had just signed a £5m postgraduate training contract with a Vietnamese media company. A welcome by Yale College principal Paul Croke further highlighted the importance of innovation in teaching, then we were into the keynote by Donald Clark. I’d looked forward to hearing Donald after reading him online, and his presentation was no less provocative than his blog posts, with plenty of humour thrown in. Focused on the question of whether universities are fit for purpose, and whether technologies support learning, it was an intriguing combination: a lecture that denounced the lecture format; many references to theory but largely aimed at debunking the theorists.

Donald’s main theme was the ineffectiveness of the traditional lecture as a teaching tool (though he was careful not to dismiss it entirely). He warned against transferring its weaknesses from the physical to the electronic learning space (electronic whiteboards have cost a fortune but have not been intelligently deployed). Technology trends highlighted positively included: lecture capture (something several Welsh universities have become interested in lately); iPad/tablet devices; and OER (open educational resources). Donald commented out that the newer generation of OER are an improvement on the early attempts: an invitation perhaps for Wales to take more active part in OER innovation?

Paul and I ran three group sessions on digital literacies which attracted a lot of interest and generated a lot of discussion. We offered a short presentation on what digital literacies might include, the main message being (to quote Paul Gilster) that they are about “ideas not keystrokes”. We reported on some of the JISC SLiDA case studies and mentioned some of the digital literacy-related projects underway in Wales, before handing over to staff to talk about their students’ experiences of learning in a digital age. They came up with plenty of ideas and issues which we captured in a Google Doc so we can share them with the institutions and work further on the topics raised. Discussions continued in an afternoon workshop led by Denise Oram and Carys Davies, where staff from both the HE and FE institutions looked at challenges and opportunities, particularly with respect to students transferring into Higher Education. Meanwhile Paul helped out with another workshop on inclusion, where he highlighted the free resources available from EduApps and the new Accessible IT Practice qualification developed by JISC Techdis. Workshop ideas were fed into a text wall loaned by RSC Wales for the occasion.

We found a real enthusiasm on the part of the Glyndwr and Yale staff to take part in professional dialogue across their institutions, accompanied by a realistic acknowledgement that sharing takes some time and effort. There was also clearly a real need and demand for more staff development to support new modes of learning and teaching excellence. The conference was well-run in a great location, and congratulations are due to the organising team, headed by Clive Buckley, who worked hard to make it a success. We look forward to following up the issues discussed with the staff of Glyndwr and Yale, and hope that other institutions will consider organising similar combined HE-FE conferences in future.

One of the best things about being part of a Regional Support Centre is that if you don’t know something, or can’t get to an event, there is often someone who does know, or has been there, and can pass on the knowledge. I wasn’t able to get to the JISC Techdis/ALT event Rewiring Inclusion recently, but a colleague at Swansea University went along and and kindly sent details of some simulations (a recurring theme this week!) which are being designed  to give the user experience of what it is like to experience difficulties with computer interaction when you have certain disabilities.

The disability awareness tools are being developed by the Accessibility Research Centre at Teesside University.  They are still in progress (apparently a tool based around dyslexia is coming soon) but you can try out the tools for cognitive disabilities, motor disabilities and visual disabilities at http://rime.tees.ac.uk/ARC/simulations/. The project team would welcome your help with completing their questionnaires (available from the home page) so they can further develop the tools.

The Simshare project, one of the projects under the HEFCE-funded JISC Academy Open Educational Resources programme, has been looking at bringing together simulation resources and enabling them to be shared. Simshare is based in the UK Centre for Legal Education at Warwick University, and evolved from an earlier project SIMPLE, which focussed on legal education and attracted various awards . Now Simshare has taken this work beyond the field of law to include simulation learning in all subject areas.

The Simshare team, whose partners include University of Glamorgan, are now offering a series of free one-day workshops. One is taking place in Cardiff University on 15 March and is designed for academics in any discipline who are interested in knowing more about simulation learning and how to share resources. You will:

1. Learn about OER (Open Educational Resources), and how you can be a part of it.

2. Have access to a wealth of free resources for teaching.

3. Have help in getting started in using simulation as a form of teaching, learning and assessment.

4. Practise assembling a simulation on paper and have access to online resources to help you do this.

5. Know how to download and upload resources to the OER website.

Full details are available at http://www.ukcle.ac.uk/simshare/workshops.html and the contact for more information is patricia.mckellar@warwick.ac.uk. You can also download an event flyer.

I’m grateful to Karen Counsell at University of Glamorgan Law Department for letting me know about this event (she also put me on to an evaluation which her department carried out for JISC Techdis, of the accessibility benefits of the SIMPLE law simulation in assessment – thank you Karen!

Here at RSC Wales we’re very pleased to be involved with a new round of HEAT funding that is specially for Wales. HEAT is HE Assistive Technology, a programme funded by JISC Techdis with the Higher Education Academy, and you can find out all about the HEAT4 programme on the JISC Techdis website.

We know from the feedback from our current Barrier Busting Roadshow events about Accessibility and Inclusion - attended and enjoyed by staff in all supported sectors, HE included – that lots of people are interested in how to use technology to improve effectiveness around inclusion and accessibility, not just for ‘disabled students’ but for all students and staff.

Not only is the HEAT4 funding highly relevant to current concerns, it also has the big advantage of enabling small, manageable projects within the reach of any staff. A HEAT project can achieve great benefits without demanding large amounts of time or resources in the application process or the running of the project. Take Newport University’s HEAT3 project for example, which got staff using vodcasting to give students feedback, or Lampeter’s, where staff in Classics digitised image collections to make their teaching materials more inclusive and engaging.

The JISC Techdis website offers full details of previous projects so you can see the kind of thing that’s possible. So if your reaction to project funding is “but I don’t have time to bid” or “we’ve never done anything like this before” then I suggest think again – HEAT4 could just be the way in.

Proposals are particularly welcome in these areas: Lifelong Learning, Work-Related Learning, Employer Engagement and Business & Community Engagement (see www.jisc.ac.uk/bce for more information about this whole agenda) but no theme is excluded. Funding of £1200 is available per project and is to purchase technology.

We’re looking forward very much to working with colleagues at JISC Techdis and Academy Wales on evaluating the bids (due in 22 February), and seeing projects evolve and share their experiences with the sector so we all benefit.

If you are in HE and interested in the use of technology for inclusion, then you’ve probably heard of the HEAT (“HE Assistive Technology”) scheme which funded a massive range of projects in universities across the UK. JISC Techdis, which managed the projects, have upgraded the information available about the projects on their website, including:

• entries for over 80 projects (they’re also working on getting updates for the earlier projects in the scheme)
• you can find projects by Subject/function (eg Library)
• you can also search by technology (eg mobile technology)
• Del.icio.us tags make it easier to find what interests you

Other recent JISC Techdis news of interest to universities:

• ALT/JISC Techdis conference Rewiring inclusion , 9 February 2010 in Nottingham – book now!
• Universities will be expected to comply with the Autism Act, which is on its way to the statute books before the end of the year

Finally a reminder that JISC Techdis have a dedicated page for HE information here. And if you would like to order or download JISC Techdis publications for staff development events or meetings there are a number of guides specifically for HE here.

RSC Scotland North and East run a Ning  for Accessibility and Inclusion, which is open to all. Ning is a social network allowing like minded people to exchange ideas and resources. There are currently over 250 members on the Inclusion Ning from the UK and around the world, from a variety of sectors.

Craig Mill, E-learning Advisor at RSC Scotland North and East and facilitator of the Ning, says:

“As access and inclusion lies at the heart of everything we do, people who do many different roles are finding it useful to get engaged on the forum with issues like assessment and accessibility, inclusive mobile learning and more.  It is also a useful arena in which to learn about and contribute to a range of inclusive e-learning related topics…you can dip in and out as suits you.”