Pontydysgu – Bridge to Learning

The deadline for submissions for the PLE conference being held in Barcelona on 8 and  9 July this year is fast approaching. Abstracts should be submitted by March 26. Full derails can be found on the PLE conference website.

The PLE Conference is intended to produce a space for researchers and practitioners to exchange ideas, experience and research around the development and implementation of PLEs including the design of environments, sociological and educational issues and their effectiveness and desirability as (informal) learning spaces.

Whilst the conference includes a traditional research paper strand, the conference organisers also encourage proposals for sessions in different formats including workshops, posters, debates, cafe sessions, hands on sessions and demonstrations. The conference will also provide opportunities for unconferencing events, including the provision of spaces for informal meetings and discussions.

As well as the face to face sessions, the conference will be supported by a variety of different online spaces.

Selected papers will be published by the International Virtual and Personal Learning Environments Journal.”

We were recently approached by an organisation looking to develop a project on webquests. did we have any experience of using, web quests they wanted to know. And where could they find documentation of our work? As in so many things, we have been working on webquests but have never properly documented it. In particular we have been looking at how to enhance webquests through the sue of social software and Web 2.0 tools. And the subject of webquests is one of the main research topics for Pontydysgu blogger Maria Perifanou. So working with Maria we have developed a  wiki page on webquests. It includes presentations, examples and references. Some of the material is in English, some in Italian.

It took us some time to unearth a copy of Maria’s popular presentation at last years Thoughfest event. But we finally found it and are happy to feature it on this page.

If anyone would like to add to the wiki please email us and we will give you permissions.

We would like to welcome Ilona Buchem to Pontydysgu blogs. Ilona’s Polish language blog is called ‘Paradygmat’. Paradygmat, she explains, “means paradigm and I hope that the Latin origin makes this word sound familiar to a broader audience.

Based on the approach of Thomas Kuhn, the term paradigm can be seen as a set of practices, such as methods of observation and interpretation, that define a scientific discipline during a particular period of time. A paradigm shift may occur when shortcomings of the basic assumptions in the prevailing paradigm build up and can no longer be ignored. The existing paradigm is enlarged and frontiers of knowledge and methods are pushed forward. In this sense paradigm shift refers to a major change in certain thought-patterns. So the idea is write and discuss about changes and trends in educational sciences and education research with the focus on ICT-based learning and Social Media.

I would like to focus on how educational sciences are shifting towards so-called “post-normal science” with more openness, interdisciplinarity, exchange, debating, incorporating multiple viewpoints, stronger interactions with practice etc.”

We hope you will enjoy reading and engaging with Ilona’s ideas. Whilst many of you may not read Polish, we have provided a link to Google translate on the blog page.

Ok – nothing dramatic. But we are slowly adding to the functionality and features on Wales Wide Web.

Firstly we have updated our PB wiki – accessible through the badge on the right hand side of this page. We are using the wiki to record both work in progress about different themes and ideas and about projects we are working on. We hope the wiki will prove especially useful for those wanting access to source materials around particular topics.

We have also used the Goggle API to provide access to Google translate fort those unable to read Maria’s blog in Greek language. OK – Google translate isn’t perfect. But it does provide a good overview of her blog articles in different languages.

Jo is working at adding easy access to academic papers produced by members of the Pontydysgu team. We set out to do this once before using the BIBTEX standard through CiteULike, However, in practice this turned out too unwieldy. After a lot of thought we have decided to use Scribd. We are planning to embed them on the publications page of the site. In the meantime if you can’t wait you can search for Graham Attwell on Scribd (more papers to go up in the next few days).

And, finally, we are embarking on a long overdue redesign of our projects pages. Pontydysgu takes part in many projects. Our previous page design was not really fit for purpose and we are redesigning the pages, dividing the projects into current and completed past work.

If you have suggestions for how we can further improve the site please do leave us a message.

We live in a multi cultural and multilingual community. Yet all too often, educational technologists tend to assume the world speaks just English. Witness the Edublog awards whcih as far as I can remember featured just one non English language blog.

We are hoping to develop Pontydysgu blogs as a forum for innovative and exciting thinking over the next year. And we hope to reflect the diversity fo the community we live in. to that end we are delighted to welcome Maria Perifanou to Pontydysgu blogs. Her blog – appropriately named Dialogos – will be in Greek language, although she will write the occasional English language entry.

Its that time of the year again and its the ONLINE EDUCA BERLIN conference on 2-4 December. Over 2000 educational technologists in one conference. Presentations, demonstrations, exhibitions, parties and more. Can’t afford the conference fee? Can’t get away from the classroom? Don’t worry – we will be there to bring you three special live interent radio programmes from Sounds of the Bazaar. We will be doing our very best to bring you the views of leadings peakers, refelctions on the latest trends and of course we will be speaking to particpants.

The programmes will go out at the following times:

• Wednesday  2 December 1600 – 1640 Central European time, 1500 – 1540 UK
• Thursday 3 December 1100 – 11.40 Central European time, 1000 – 1040 UK
• Friday 4 December 1100 – 11.40 Central European time, 1000 – 1040 UK

To listen to the programmes go to http://radio.jiscemerge.org.uk:80/Emerge.m3u This will open the LIVE radio stream in your MP3 player of choice. And Cristina Costa will be waiting in our chatroom – address  to be abbounced for your ideas and comments.

If you do have the good luck to be at Educa Online Berlin, then come and join in. We will be broadcasting from next to the main bar (where else!). And we would like to invite all our friends – new and old – to meet up with us on Wednesday 2nd in the bar of the SORAT Hotel Ambassador Berlin (Bayreuther Straße 42) – just ten minutes from the conference centre – map here.

Are you interested in the potential of LIVE internet radio? Would you like to find out how we produce the programme? Want to know more about our equipment? Would you like to start your own channel sharing our bandwidth? Or would you be interested in working with us on a project? Then come and join us in the main bar of the Hotel Intercontinental (the conference venue) at 1900 on Thursday 3 December. We’d love to meet you.

Next week – 9 and 10 November – sees the Second International Open On-line Conference on Innovation in Training Practice.

Although on-line conferences are becoming common in technology related fields, it is particularly heartening to see such practices spreading out to wider communities of research and learning. The free conference, organised by the EU funded Network to Support Trainers in Europe,  is for all those interested in the training and professional development of teachers and trainers. This includes teachers, trainers, researchers, managers and policy makers.

• Innovations in Work-based Learning for VET Teachers and Trainers
• Quality and Diversity: Innovations in training practice for socially disadvantaged group
• Technology Enhanced Learning / ICT for innovation and training practice
• Innovations in company-based training

Each theme lasts half a day, with two or three speakers from a wide range of countries per theme, with plenty of space for discussion. You can find the conference programme on the Trainers in Europe web site. The conference is open – you can find the links for the Elluminate rooms for the different sessions on the Trainers in Europe Web site but please register here so we can send you out more details.

This Thursday sees the final session in our autumn series of open on-line seminars run jointly between the Evolve network and Educamp.

The seminar, which takes place on the Elluminate platform, is on Mobile learning and Augmented Reality, with presentations from Mark Kramer and Same Easterby Smith, both of whom are leading developments in the use of this technology for learning.
Mark says: “The application of computer-generated imagery in live-video streams on mobile devices, as a way to expand the real-world, is finally available for the masses on an affordable basis. Augmented and mixed-reality scenarios are now a common fixture of our technology arsenal of methods to acquire information about our surroundings. This emergence of augmented reality (AR) also has great potential to support individual and group learning. I will share thoughts and experiences on how AR will change the way we view and experience learning in a situated context.”

The seminar takes place at 19.00 (UK time) / 20.00 (CEST) (check your local time).
Link to Venue: Elluminate

Link for more information: Seminars

Tomorrow (October sees the latest n the series of open on-line seminars jointly organised by the Emerge Network and  Educamp.

Erik Duval and Ralf Klamma will guide us through an informal discussion around ‘Learning and personalization of content’, a topic that will certainly generate a lively debate. Make sure to contribute to it too. We look forward to ‘seeing’ you there.

When: October 8, 2009 / 19.00 (BST) / 20.00 (CEST) (check your local time here http://tinyurl.com/mokbjb )

Where: Elluminate (accessible via the following link: http://tinyurl.com/ybb9d3g )

Full details on the Educamp website.

It has been a busy autumn here at Pontydysgu. Conferences, project meetings and so on. At the moment we are focusing on three or four main issues.

On the research side we are continuing to develop our ideas around the WOMBLE – Work Oriented MoBile Learning Environment. In particular we are thinking about the pedagogic approaches ot learning using mobile devices – especially issues of collaboration and context. We are particularly interested in what we can learn from the work of Vygotsky on the Zone of Proximal Development and Boundary Objects in scaffolding learning and developing knowledge.

On an organisational level we have relaunched the Evolve seminar series in conjunction with Educamp. the next seminar is on Personal Learning Environments with Ralf Klamma and / Erik Duval. It takes place on October 8 at 19.00 (BST) / 20.00 (CEST) (check your local time). To join the seminar just click here: Elluminate.

And on the 9th and 10th of November, we are helping to organise the second international on-line conference on the teaching of teachers and trainers. the Conference is entitled ;Innovation in Training Practice’ and is free to attend. Click here for more details and for free enrolment.

Last but not least, earlier this week we attended the annual ECER conference which was held in Vienna. Pontydysgu worked on a project seeking to show the use of audio and video to enhance the conference and to make some of the key ideas and themes accessible to a wider audience. We are editing the videos at the moment and hope to get them on-line next week.

And on