Pontydysgu – Bridge to Learning

The end of September sees the annual European Conference on Educational Research in Vienna (ECER). For many years now, I have supported the Vocational Education and Training Network (VETNET) which forms a constituent section of the European Educational Research Association, the organisers of ECER.

Whilst VETNET has been extremely successful in organising around the conference, its attempts to form a stronger community of practice have been hampered by the lack of activities between conferences. One long discussed aim is to launch a research journal. Many hours of work have been taken up in drawing up proposals and negotiating with publishers, with little result. For some years now, I have been arguing for a web based open journal. Whilst some have seen the potential of such a development, the majority of researchers within the vocational and education training community have remained wedded to the traditional publisher led model, mainly, I think, feeling that the academic standing of a journal can only be secured through publisher involvement.

In that regard, I am delighted to read in OLDaily (welcome back from holidays, Stephen) of  the launch of AISHE-J (The All Ireland Journal of Teaching and Learning in Higher Education) which has just launched volume 1 number 1. “It is an open-access, peer-reviewed, journal of scholarly research into Teaching and Learning in Higher Education.” Here’s the RSS Feed. The first issue includes an article from Phil Race on assessment as learning and Kate Day on learning environments.

Open Journal do not imply any less quality than traditional closed print journals. The more examples there are of such journals, the more the sceptics will be convinced. VETNET take note!

More Alt-C conference fun. The incomparable James Clay has organised a deabte at the Alt-C confernce entitled the VLE is dead! And I am speaking at it! Guess my view (in fact i seem to recall speaking on the same subject six years ago at a meeting in Denmark where my opponent was the CEO of a company producing a then little known VLE called Fronter!).

Here is the line up (as told by James):

“Josie introduces the session and the ways in which the audience can contribute. I would like to take a poll at this stage too and some initial comments from the audience.

The first panel member, Steve Wheeler, will argue that many VLEs are not fit for purpose, and masquerade as solutions for the management of online learning. Some are little more than glorified
e-mail systems. They will argue that VLEs provide a negative experience for learners.

The second member of the panel, Graham Attwell, believes that the VLE is dead and that the Personal Learning Environment (PLE) is the solution to the needs of diverse learners. PLEs provide
opportunities for learners, offering users the ability to develop their own spaces in which to reflect on their learning.

The third panel member, James Clay, however, believes that the VLE is not yet dead as a concept, but can be the starting point of a journey for many learners. Creating an online environment involving multiple tools that provides for an enhanced experience for learners can involve a VLE as a hub or centre.

The fourth panel member, Nick Sharratt, argues for the concept of the institutional VLE as essentially sound. VLEs provide a stable, reliable, self-contained and safe environment in which all teaching and learning activities can be conducted. It provides the best environment for the variety of learners within institutions.

This then leaves forty minutes for discussion and online interaction.

Each member of the panel offers a final thought and we have a final vote.”

Th session takes place from 1340 – 1500 UK summer time on Tuesday 8 September. I bet you are all wishing you take part but cursing the Alt C fees. but you can, and for free. The whole event will be streamed live and you can take part through Twitter. As soon as I have details I will post them on this site But put it in your diary now.

And remember : the VLE is dead! Vote early and vote often.

Does Twitter art [Twart] exist? – a question raised by Jools Matthews to stimulate debate in a Facebook forum on artists using social networks such as Facebook, Twitter and Myspace for art projects. Thinking about the use of Twitter as a medium for the arts I came across the project “Overhere“, an installation by Lauren McCarthy:

“In Overhere, the twitter feeds of the two characters are converted into whispered automated voices and play through speakers embedded in objects in the lobby. The feeds are experienced separately, intimately…requiring you to get close, to move, to listen, to work together to overhear the dialogue.

With the collective action of two or more participants, a full conversation is reformed in physical space based on the virtual communication of two fictional characters.

Overhere heightens the experience for those audience members coming to see the live performance but also stands alone as a voyeuristic experience. Overhere is free and open to the public:  June 5-28, Fri – Sun from 6pm – 8pm at the Gershwin Hotel, 7 East 27 Street between 5th and Madison Avenues.

The combined experience of these environments—the live bathroom performance, audio installation and website—mark a private world revealed in public space.“

About the artist the following can be read at www.lauren-mccarthy.com: “Lauren McCarthy is a designer, artist, and programmer currently living in Cambridge, MA. She recently graduated from MIT with degrees in visual arts and computer science. Her work explores the intersection of physical and virtual space, through participatory interventions that invite participants to question and engage with systems in both spaces simultaneously. She also works as a designer at Small Design Firm, creating interactive installations and media environments for various museums and institutions, including the Visitor’s Center at Monticello, the US Holocaust Memorial Museum, and the Metropolitan Museum of Art.”

via www.lauren-mccarthy.com

Overheredarkhorse.com and Overhere have been commissioned by a canary torsi:
http://overheredarkhorse.com/faq.html#overhere

Recent articles on Twitter in the arts can be accessed here at:
http://www.docpop.org/2008/10/23/robots-dont-know-anything-about-twitter.html
http://www.guardian.co.uk/artanddesign/2009/feb/23/art-twitter-twart

I have written many posts about what I consider wrong with approaches to e-learning based on attempts to ‘manage’ learning through Learning Management Systems and Virtual Learning Environments. I have also written about the promise of alternative approaches based on Web 2.0, social software and Personal Learning Environments.

But are we still getting e-learning wrong? Not the technology but what we are trying to use ot for and with whom.

As with most technological innovation, first attempts at implementation tend to mimic previous social paradigms. This the idea of the virtual classroom and the on-line university. Teaching and learning  through technology have changed with the idea of blended learning and the increasing integration of technologies within curricular and pedagogic  approaches. But the main thrust of use of technology for learning remains the delivery of ‘traditional; curricula or bodies of knowledge to translational students groups – albeit extended through distance learning to a wider student cohort.

I have long thought that the transformative potential of Technology Enhanced Learning is the ability to support explorative (I am desperately trying to avoid that vague ‘constructivist’ word?) learning for anyone, anywhere. And, in a developmental perspective, the most interesting work may be the use of technology for supporting work based learning and informal learning outside traditional courses. In this respect, it is interested to see the increasing interest of projects funded under the European Commission Research programme and Education and Training programme in competence based approaches to education and training.

However, this approach remains problematic. attempts to develop standardised  taxonomies of competence tend to ignore the importance of context, especially or work based learning and Continuing Professional Development. Recently, I have been involved in a number fo projects looking at how we can use internet based technologies ot support learning, knowledge development and knowledge maturing for Careers Advice, Information and Guidance practitioners in the UK. Of course, ‘training’ is important for such a group of knowledge workers. But even more important is the ability to learn, everyday from the work they carry out, both individually and collectively. Within the Mature-IP project we have developed an approach to knowledge maturing aiming at the development and implementation of tools for Personal Learning and for Organisational learning. In reality it has proved difficult to separate out the two. Individual learning rests of more collective learning processes, within a community of practice, and equally organisational learning is largely dependent on the individual learning of the practitioners. it is possible to look at the roles and tasks carried out by Careers professionals and then to develop tools to assist in carrying out such tasks. such an approach has the merit of supporting everyday work, thus meaning that potentially learning is integrated within the work process. However, there is no guarantee that merely using technologies for task management results in significant learning and knowledge development at either individual or organisational level.

One answer appears to be to integrate more social software functionality into platforms and tools designed to support learning. this autumn, we will launch two platforms: one for policy makers within the careers field based on a mash up of WordPress and the excellent Open University Cloudworks software, and the other a professional development site for careers practitioners based on Buddypress. with both we are attempting to encourage and facilitate peer group learning based on social interaction.

Whether or not these approaches will be successful remains to be seen. But, overall, I am convinced that such projects are key to developing a more transformational direction to the use of technology for learning. In undertaking this work we are lucky to have the support of the Mature-IP project which allows a more focused examination of teh relation between theories and practice in learning and the development of Technology Enhanced Learning tools and platforms. One issue that has become apparent is that research into Technology Enhanced Learning is truly inter-disciplinary – needing at a very least a bringing together of expertise in pedagogy, education, organisational learning, work sciences, design and psychology as well as computer science. Such interdisciplinary research provides a challenge in terms of methodologies.

Projects like Mature-IP and the JISC funded Emerge project offer the basis for rethinking what we are doing with e-learning – and perhaps even for getting it ‘right’ this time round.

My two week break from blogging is over so it is back to normal service!

And with September fast approaching it is time to turn to the conference season. This year I have limited myself to just three conferences from the many goodies on offer. I will be at the Alt-C conference in Manchester, UK, from 8 to 10 September, at the Second World Congress on the Information Society in Crete from 16 – 18 September and at the European Conference on Education Research from the 28th to the 30th.

As ever we are hoping to organise a few fringe events and experiment with different media. Alt – C features the wonderful F-Alt (Fringe Alt for the uninitiated). This is a free unconferencing series of events, organised through a wiki. And for ECER in Vienna we are hoping to run a series of internet radio programmes under the Sounds of the Bazaar series (more details soon).

That is the ‘unofficial’ stuff. Now on to the official things – papers, symposia and the like. I have tried to develop a series of linked papers / contributions for these events (I am not sure whether it will work) around the themes of Web 2.0, digital identities and Personal Learning Environments.  For the first of the events, Alt C, I am making a presentation as part of the project team from the now finished Jisc Emerge support project. Here is an excerpt from our proposal entitled ‘Emerging practice and institutional change symposium: a user-centred, learning technology R&D support-community network’:

“Questions for institutions are to what extent are they comfortable with ceding certain amounts of control to individuals and to new communities?

For individuals the principal issues are to what extent do they subordinate their autonomy and self-direction to communities, how much do they subordinate and to which communities?

This symposium argues these questions from four perspectives:
- R&D programme support
- Community development
- Social networking applications and platforms
- Shifting centres of control

There will be four short presentations from each of these different perspectives. Each presentation will conclude with a series of open questions and will be followed by opportunities for questions and contributions from participants.  Participants will be invited to consider how these issues impact on their practice and the practice of their institutions.”

I am speaking about Social networking applications and platforms and in the next couple of days will post some thoughts on that theme in this blog. If you are interested in participating in the symposium but are not attending the conference we are planning to ustream the event and to invite questions through Twitter. Watch this space for full details.

Here is the detailed information on Leonardo Education Forum , LEF @ARS Electronica 2009

Broad goals of the Leonardo Education Forum
The Leonardo Education Forum LEF is a working branch of the “Leonardo/ISAST – International Society for the Arts, Sciences and Technology, San Francisco. Leonardo ISAST serves the international arts community by promoting and documenting work at the intersection of the arts, sciences, and technology, and by encouraging and stimulating interdisciplinary collaboration.
The Leonardo Education Forum LEF promotes the advancement of artistic research and academic scholarship serving practitioners, scholars, and students who are members of the Leonardo community; LEF provides a platform for collaboration and exchange with other scholarly communities.

Recent initiatives
Currently, a LEF group is working on an international initiative to interrogate the gap between arts, science and technology in education, with a focus on questions such as: “Media Art Education in the 21st Century – what can be done? What are the most inspired educational goals for the 21st century?”
Initial focal areas were identified as;

• The role of Curricula: Mapping the terrain
• The role of Institutions: Institutional / Organizational Capacities and Benchmarks
• The role of Research in media art & science & technology

A culture of research orientation can be seen as a wider trend in the media arts. What kind of new art genres are being developed by artists’ creative use of mixed media technologies, visual culture and communities and what is their impact on education?
New curricula have to be developed, which inform new job profiles of artist researchers and new qualifications. Innovative forms of art practice are being introduced at the intersection of media, arts, science and technology. What are the most effective elements of curricula to educate artists as well as art teachers for the future?
The changing media and art institutions require an interactive debate on new conditions and evaluation criteria for developing new models for institutional networks, which allow implementing the media arts across curricula structures. In January 2009 a short strategy summary, outlining focus issues and an action plan for a white paper on policy analysis and planning in media and new media education, was circulated. This was based on international meetings of experts and educators at Mutamorphosis, re:place, ISEA 2008 and ARS Electronica 2008. These meetings revealed that, although most of the sub questions in the identified focal areas overlap to one degree or another, there is also the need to add a discussion of,
• network-centric and intercultural learning methods and processes.

The LEF@ARS09 education session continues this process of international consultation and aims to further the development of a trans-national approach to research, looking at innovative models for educating media artists in the future.

Outcomes
This meeting will provide the opportunity to summarize the participants’ input on the focus issues (by means of working groups) and to identify a Steering Committee with leaders for each of the focal areas (which may be modified in the course of the discussions). After the meeting(s), the steering group will, among other things, lead the development, via email forum discussions, of longer papers containing strategic recommendations on policy analysis and planning in media art education in each of the focal areas. These recommendations are intended to outline a vision of education transformed by the context of new learning cultures, rather than one that relies on tweeking traditional models of pedagogy. This material will then be edited into one document intended for stakeholders in the field (practitioners, educators, researchers, theoreticians, historians, etc, as well as administrators and policymakers. The text will also be submitted to the Leonardo Journal of the International Society of Art, Sciences and Technology.

Hosts
Nicoletta Blacher (AT), Head of the Ars Electronica Center, Head Education Programme
Angelika Plank (AT), Head of Department of Art Education, Kunstuniversität Linz
Christa Sommerer (AT), professor, Department of Media, Interface Culture
Ars Electronica Futurelab

Organisers
Nina Czegledy (HU), LEF co-chair, board of Leonardo and Leonardo/Olats
scientific committee,
Daniela Reimann (D/AT), LEF representative Germany; Kunstuniversitaet Linz, Art Education
Lynn Hughes (CA), LEF representative, Concordia University Montreal

LEF @ ARS 2009 program

Friday, September 4, 2009, venue: ARS Electronica Center AEC, seminar room

9.00
Welcome by Leonardo Education Forum
Nina Czegledy, Ellen Levy, Andrea Polli, Daniela Reimann, Roger Malina, Victoria Vesna
on behalf of LEF

9.10
LEF initiative: state of the art & the White Paper
Lynn Hughes Nina Czegledy, Daniela Reimann
(presented by Lynn Hughes)

9.30
Keynote host: Nicoletta Blacher, Head of the Ars Electronica Center,
Head Education program

10.10
Patricia Olynyk, Director, Graduate School of Art Florence and Frank Bush Professor of Art; Sam Fox School of Design & Visual Arts, Washington University in St. Louis/USA: Research/Creative work in Media Arts, Technology and Science in Academic Environments

11.00
Change of venue: University of Art and Industrial Design, Kollegiumsgasse 2, Audimax
see here on the map

11.30 Welcome by LEF: Nina Czegledy, Daniela Reimann Lynn Hughes

11. 40 Presentation of “Media Design” (“Mediengestaltung”) the new Teacher Training Programme for secondary schools of the University of Art and Industrial Design, Linz
Angelika Plank, Head of the Department of Art Education, Kunstuniversität Linz
University of Art and Industrial Design, Linz

12.30 lunch break

13-13.30
Presentation “Migrating Art Academies”, Mindaugas Gapsevicius, Vilnius Academy of Arts/ top e.V., Berlin

Discussion
14-15 Introduction to Working Groups – Daniela Reimann

Working Group Session (3 Rooms)
1. The Role of Research in media art & science & technology (Lynn Hughes, Dusan Barok)
2. Curricula: Mapping the terrain (Claudio Rivera-Seguel, Monica Bello)
3 . Institutions: Institutional / Organizational Capacities and Benchmarks (Maria Cristina V. Biazus, Annette Wolfsberger, Virtual Platform, NL)

15-15.15 Coffee break

15.15- 16 Working group session (3 rooms) continued.

16.15- 17 Working group summary session

19.30 Prix Ars, Brucknerhaus

Saturday, 5 September, 2009
venue: Kunstuniversität, Kollegiumsgasse 2, Audimax

10.00 Welcome by LEF: Nina Czegledy, Daniela Reimann Lynn Hughes

10.10 Christa Sommerer, Professor for Interface Culture, Department of Media,
Kunstuniversität Linz – university of art and industrial design,
The Cultural Interface

11.00 Coffee break

11. 10 Erika Pasztor, Head, Media Design Department, Budapest College of
Communication and Business: The future of media art and design is in the hands of education, but who will hold in hand the future of (this) education?

12.00 -12.30 Concluding session

Daniela Reimann, Nina Czegledy, Lynn Hughes

here is the detailed program as PDF file for distribution.

…and here is the Weather Pixie for Linz..

Dear colleagues,
As you are aware, we are working on an international initiative to interrogate the gap between arts, science and technology in education, with a focus on questions such as: “Media Art Education in the 21st
Century – what can be done? What are the most inspired educational goals for the 21st century?” The changing media and art institutions require an interactive debate on new conditions and evaluation criteria for developing new models for institutional networks, which allow implementing the media arts
across curricula structures.
In January 2009 a short strategy summary, outlining focus issues and an action plan for a white paper on policy analysis and planning in media and new media education, was circulated. This was based on international meetings of experts and educators at Mutamorphosis, re:place07, ISEA 2008 and ARS Electronica 2008.
The LEF@ISEA09 education session continues this process of international consultation and aims to further the development of a trans-national approach to research, looking at innovative models for educating media artists and art educators in the future.

This meeting will provide the opportunity to summarize the participants’ input on the focus issues (by means of working groups) and to identify a Steering Committee with leaders for each of the focal areas (which may be modified in the course of the discussions). After the meeting(s), the steering group will, among other things, lead the development, via email forum discussions, of longer papers containing strategic recommendations on policy analysis and planning in media art education in each of the focal areas. These recommendations are intended to outline a vision of education transformed by the context of new learning cultures, rather than one that relies on tweeking traditional models of pedagogy. This material
will then be edited into one document intended for stakeholders in the field (practitioners, educators, researchers, theoreticians, historians, etc, as well as administrators and policymakers. The text will also be submitted to the Leonardo Journal of the International Society of Art, Sciences and Technology.

Please find below the program of LEF@ISEA2009 Belfast, to take place at ISEA09, the 15th International Symposium on Electronic Art, on 29 August 2009 from 13.45- 16.45h, venue: BT Riverside Tower, Groundfloor

13.45 Welcome
Kerstin Mey Director of Research Institute of Art and Design,
University of Ulster. Artistic Director ISEA2009
Nina Czegledy LEF co-chair

13.55 Keynote Andrea Polli, Director, Interdisciplinary Film and
Digital Media Program, University of New Mexico,
LEF outgoing co-chair

14.15 LEF international initiatives & the White Paper
Nina Czegledy, Senior Fellow KMDI, University of Toronto
Adjunct Associate Professor, Concordia University, LEF co-chair

14.35 Introduction to LEF working group session
Daniela Reimann, University of Art and Industrial Design, Linz
LEF correspondent, Germany

14.45 Working groups
Focus:
1. The Role of Research in media art & science & technology
2. The role of Curricula: Mapping the terrain
3. The role of Institutions: Institutional / Organizational
Capacities and Benchmarks

16.15 Summary

We loook forward to seeing you. The next LEF event will take place at ARS Electronica Linz, 4-5 September at AEC and Kunstuniversitaet Linz.
LEF@ARS is hosted by AEC and the Department of Art Education at the Kunstuniversität Linz

Nina Czegledy and Daniela Reimann

…and here is the weather pixie for Belfast…

I returned from holiday to learn the sad news of the death of my friend and colleague, Bernd Baumgartl.

I have worked with Bernd for over ten years on a number of different projects. Bernd was always a pleasure to work with, creative and inventive, free thinking and always concerned to support and help others.

When I first met Bernd he was working for the European Training Foundation in Italy. Soon after he left the ETF to found Navreme, based in Vienna. I became good friends with Bernd and stayed many times at his flat in Vienna. We would often stay up late at night, drinking and talking and I came to look forward to my trips to Vienna. We did not agree about everything – Bernd and me wasted many happy hours debating the merits of private universities! But above all it was Bernd’s humanity, inquisitiveness and love of life which was so appealing about him.

His death has come as a shock. I knew he was ill but when we last talked by skype he seemed to be getting better. We talked about his wedding to Uschi in June and he told me how happy he was and how much in love he was.

Words seem so inadequate…Bernd will be sorely missed by all who knew and worked with him. To Uschi and Bernd’s family and colleagues ..we are thinking of you.

“Is this your luggage.com?” is a project by Luna Laboo. Since I am always worried about losing luggage on a flight (especially since we are not allowed to take a survival package in the hand luggage) I like the idea of this project, described on her Web site as follows, very much:

“I COLLECT LOST LUGGAGE, PHOTOGRAPH IT, AND THEN TRY TO FIND THE OWNERS.
IT’S A LITTLE ODD BUT NOT AS ODD AS STAMP COLLECTING, JUST A LITTLE HARDER TO FIND STORAGE SPACE.
WHEN A BAG GETS LOST THE AIRPORT OR AIRLINE WILL STORE IT FOR A WHILE AND TRY TO FIND THE OWNER.
IF THEY CAN’T IDENTIFY THE OWNER OF THE CASE THEY SEND IT TO BE AUCTIONED OFF WITH THE PROFIT GOING TO CHARITY.
I GO TO THESE AUCTIONS AND BUY THE CASES SO I CAN PHOTOGRAPH THEM FOR MY WEIRD VOYEURISTIC PASSION.
THE REASON FOR THE WEB SITE? I WOULD REALLY LIKE TO TRY TO FIND THE PEOPLE WHO OWN MY SUITCASES, SO IF YOU HAVE ANY FRIENDS WHO HAVE LOST A CASE PLEASE GET THEM TO HAVE A LOOK.”

Via www.isthisyourluggage.com

See also: Interview With Luna Laboo: Is This Your Luggage?

German speaking colleagues might know the BR online artmix.gallery series entitled “Hoerspiel und Medienkunst” I recommended earlier on the blog’s side bar (and kept it there as I am a collector). However, BR online now is on call for contributions for the “Techno Fossil” competition of the artmix.gallery:

“Media of communication usually disappear behind of what they’re trying to express: music, sounds, pictures.
Only when they refuse working, the machine itself attracts attention. Distorted pictures, noisy sounds, diffuse and disparate signals testify to the independent existence of the old apparatus. For this reason the new competition was created.

Dictaphone, cassette recorder, tape recorder, super 8 camera, rotary dial telephone, polaroid, shellacs, vinyls, commodore 64, cell phone: anything the analogue and digital range of technical devices offers.

By using allegedly “dead media” – reactivated, manipulated, maltreated – there are many possibilities to produce new radio dramas and videos, to create new stories and compositions.”

Please see here for terms of entry

Web site: http://www.br-online.de/hoerspiel

via BR Hoerspiel und Medienkunst-Newsletter