Helen Keegan, Senior Lecturer in Interactive Media at Salford University in England will report to OEB on how she teaches new media to her students using the mobile phones in their pockets to make short films. Accustomed to classic video-sharing web sites like YouTube, students collaborated to explore mobile film making and demonstrate their digital literacy.
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How can teachers tell in real-time how well their students follow and understand what they are being taught? The EduMECCA research team, a multinational EU-funded Lifelong Learning-ICT project, has developed a new open, web-based student response system for iPod Touch, iPhone and PC. Originally designed for vocational education of welders and welding engineers in Norway, Slovakia, Hungary, Slovenia and Sweden, the project has been extended – for example into high schools and higher education courses at the Sør-Trøndelag University College in Trondheim, Norway. At ONLINE EDUCA BERLIN, Gabrielle Hansen-Nygard and John Birger Stav of the College will present examples of the practical use of the student response system. Here, Lars Erik Skjærseth reports on how the students in Trondheim use the methodology in their maths lessons.
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Back in 1992 the Boeing scientists Tom Caudell and David Mizell coined the phrase Augmented Reality to describe how aircraft assemblers in Seattle were given head-mounted displays that showed them photographic images of their work enriched with layers of technical information. Now Inge de Waard, e-learning coordinator and researcher at the Institute of Tropical Medicine in Antwerp, Belgium, will report to the ONLINE EDUCA BERLIN conference in December on how her team trialled Augmented Reality in tropical medicine. De Waard, a pioneer of e-learning projects in South Asia, Africa and Latin America, forecasts that “AR will reach us, and change all of us, within five years”.
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In health care, adequate training of professional staff can literally be a matter of life and death. Students in this sector not only have to absorb extensive amounts of knowledge but they also need to be able to put theoretical knowledge into practice – quickly and correctly. At the University of Derby, UK, a team of lecturers and e-learning developers have used the small iPod Nano model to enhance the training of health care professionals and at the same time enable them to review important resources just when they need it most - within the work environment. At OEB, the team will share their experiences drawn from a study involving eighty students and nine hospitals within the British East Midlands.
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Even Homer Simpson can help to make technology more accessible. At least, that is the view of one of the keynote speakers at this year’s OEB. ”I have always worked towards empowering people to speak for themselves“ says Dr Lizbeth Goodman, Chair of Creative Technology Innovation at the University of East London and Director of Research for Futurelab Education. And even Homer Simpson, the crude and boorish character from TV’s ‘The Simpsons’, can be put to good use by lending his voice to someone who otherwise could not speak.
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Portugal: Mobile Phones in Schools
Over 1.83 billion calls made by 14.3 million mobile-telephone subscribers in the second quarter of 2008 - the Portuguese are clearly a phone-savvy nation. The potential a widespread and personalised tool like the mobile phone offers for learning has been discussed by e-learning and education experts for several years. Carla Ganito, researcher at the Portuguese Catholic University, has now produced a profound study of the mobile entertainment market in Portugal, putting special focus on usage trends in schools. At OEB 2008, she will share her findings.
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Learn to Make Quick Decisions – With Your Mobile
Could an SMS calamity management programme reflect reality? The University of Aberdeen tried to find out more on the impact of SMS for learning and developed an inventive mobile course called “Flood Disaster Management Simulation” to drive instantanious reaction and decision-making power among its students. Sarah Cornelius from the University’s School of Education will present the appealing real-life simulation at OEB 2008.
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Mobile Gaming for Dutch Students
Games Atelier, a web-based environment for the creation of mobile location-based games for students, will be launched at the beginning of 2009 in the Netherlands. Students will be enabled to create their own mobile games on topics of their choice. The gaming activities can be part of the history or citizenship education lessons at Dutch schools. The authoring environment, which was developed by the Dutch mediaLab Waag Society in cooperation with five secondary schools and the Amsterdam city department of social development, will be introduced at OEB 2008.
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Will E-Books Ever Become Mainstream?
They are easy to use, offer full text search and let you carry around tons of knowledge in your pocket: e-books. For many years now, members of the e-learning community have awaited the “final breakthrough”, but problems on the technical side and users’ reservations have hindered e-books’ development on the path to becoming an efficient tool for mobile learning, as well as for everyday reading purposes. Recently, though, new e-book devices have entered the market, and the industry is making an unprecedented push toward helping e-books live up to their perceived potential. Has the day of the e-book finally arrived?
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Preparing for a Cyber Attack
© Falko Matte - Fotolia.com
Cyber attacks and preparing to fight a cyber attack will be key topics for discussion at “The Third International Forum on E-Learning for Defence and Security” on November 28th at Online Educa Berlin. General Johannes Kert, Military Representative of the Estonian Delegation to NATO and former Commander of the Estonian Armed Forces, will speak at the Forum about lessons learned from the cyber attacks that Estonia faced earlier this year.
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Globalised E-Learning for the Local Environment
Environment protection and conservation is a global matter. However, knowledge management in this area is still in its infancy when it comes to internationally standardised learning opportunites. In collaboration with the e-learning consultancy common sense, the United Nations Environment Programme developed and implemented MENTOR, a web-based learning platform. Arndt Bubenzer from common sense provides insight into the concept and practical use of MENTOR in the field of environmental education.
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European Digital Library – Cross-Domain Content
A project has begun to bring the European heritage online through a single portal. In September 2007, 70 senior managers and technical experts from museums, archives, audio-visual collections and libraries across Europe came together to plan the European Digital Library (EDLnet). At Online Educa Berlin, EDL’s Head of Communications, Jonathan Purday, will give further insights into the large-scale initiative.
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How to Raise an i-Kid? Challenges of an E-Mama
Combining work and family is one of the biggest challenges of our time and not only for an “e-worker” like Patricia Ceysens, Flemish Minister for Economy, Enterprise, Science, Innovation and Foreign Trade, Belgium. The challenges can be met with the efficient use of technologies, says Ceysens, who will hold a keynote in the Opening Plenary of this year’s Online Educa Berlin. Governments and political leaders like herself are challenged to lay the groundwork for ICT literacy and quality education…
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Knowledge Work is Learning
“The future of learning is ambient, invisible, and non-formal,” predicts Dr. Peter Scott from the Centre for New Media, Knowledge Media Institute at the Open University, UK. Peter shares his thoughts and observations about learning and technology in the “Future Perspectives” plenary session. To warm up, Peter has prepared a Vlog about his presentation ..
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E-Learning Perspectives in the Developing Countries
Dr. Monika Weber-Fahr is a manager at the World Bank Institute (WBI), heading up the Institute’s efforts in the multimedia arena and in coordinating the World Bank’s engagement with Global Development Learning (GDLN). The WBI is part of the World Bank and focuses solely on designing and delivering learning and knowledge sharing activities for developing country participants. The Institute reaches about to 100,000 people annually, most of them professionals in government agencies, NGOs, and private firms through programmes that cover a wide range of development-related topics. Monika will speak at the plenary on “Future Perspectives”, talking about perspectives for e-learning from working with developing countries.
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Ask the Experts – User Generated Interviews at elearningeuropa.info
Two experts are available for you to answer your questions about e-learning: Online Educa Berlin’s media partner elearningeuropa.info has set up two user-generated interviews.
You can now post your questions online about virtual mobility to Prof. Fred Truyen, from Leuven University. He works on the Being Mobile project and participates in the Virtual Mobility Forum on Tuesday, November 28, organised at Online Educa Berlin. Fred Truyen writes about e-learning, philosophy of information, epistemology and social knowledge theories.
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Dr. Ulf-Daniel Ehlers is ready to answer your questions on quality issues in technology-enhanced learning. He is the coordinator of the European Foundation for Quality in E-Learning (EFQUEL). At Online Educa Berlin, Ulf-Daniel will be chairing the sessions QUA10 on “Approaches to Quality Assurance” on Thursday, November 30, 12:00 – 13:30 hrs, as well as QUA73 on European eQuality Mark on Friday, December 1, 2006 16:30 – 18:00 hrs.
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Copy and Paste
The online publication of doctoral studies, Master’s theses, and all kinds of academic papers and presentations offers a wealth of resources for researchers and students. For some, it is a temptation they cannot resist. Online plagiarism, the unauthorised copying or citing of someone else’s work without naming the author, is illegal and undermines serious scientific work. It is increasingly becoming a problem for teachers as well as for scientists because it is often hard to detect. Ephorus is a plagiarism control tool that is able to detect copied paragraphs and documents. Assistant professor Nina Ree-Lindstad, Academic Librarian Kristin Røijen, and assistant professor Tone Vold will present different ways to use Euphorus.
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e-Inclusion – Workshop on ICT for Children with Learning Disabilities
A workshop on "ICT for children with disabilities" will take place on 29th November at this year's Online Educa Berlin. The seminar focuses on the personal growth of children suffering from severe disorders such as Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD), Autism, or Cerebral Palsy, which are considered incurable.
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Join the Podcast Lab
Podcasting, widely used in entertainment, journalism, and personal broadcasting, is filtering into education, increasingly catching the attention of the academic community. We urgently need to develop pedagogical models that can be used in supporting and enhancing students’ motivation and learning through these new technologies, say Professor Gilly Salmon and Dr. Palitha Edirisingha from Leicester University in the UK. The two will lead a podcast workshop, offering participants knowledge and insight into how the student learning experience can be improved through podcasts. Participants will have the opportunity to develop podcasts and e-tivities as well as experiment with recording podcasts and integrating them into VLEs.
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New Ways to Study Abroad: Virtual Mobility
Imagine taking part in a class at a university hundreds of miles away without ever leaving your desk. How about learning and discussing with students from all over Europe as a regular part of your university education? Virtual Mobility is the buzz phrase describing that vision. And with recent developments in ICT, this vision could soon become reality, though there are still some challenges to be faced…
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