On Wednesday 5th June
2013, Learning Technologists and academic developers from intuitions across the
North West of England travelled to Liverpool and attended the first meeting of
a group tentatively known as the ALT North West England Special Interest Group
(#ALTNWESIG). Convened by Professor Chris Jones,
(Professor
of Research in Educational Technology), and
myself, Alex Spiers (Learning Technology Developer) both at Liverpool John
Moores University. We had been talking about
setting up a regional support group after a fruitful visit to the White Rose Group led by Graham McElearney and Robin Gissing. It was interesting to note that only a day
before this meeting, a similar group was being set up in the East Midlands. Seems the time is right for
learning technologists to come together.
The main task of the meeting was to
come to some agreement over the groups remit and get a recognised structure in
place for our formal application to ALT. The role of a learning
technologist is as broad as it is wide. Hence, a considerable amount of time was
spent discussing structures at our respective institutions, range of responsibilities
in our roles, and the changes that are currently being experienced.
The importance of networking and
sharing good practice was also discussed. Face to face meeting were considered useful
but complemented with online tools to keep updated in-between meetings. Also, it was recognised that many of us are
involved in discrete evaluation and research into technology that tends not to
get published. It was agreed that the SIG could be used as a platform to talk
about research that is often not disseminated outside the University.
Attendees from Manchester, Lancaster, Chester,
Liverpool and Salford made the conversation enjoyable and stimulating. Sadly,
our friends at Edge Hill were unable to attend due to it clashing with their
Solstice conference and there were no attendees from our colleagues in Further
Education institutions. We hope this will change at our next even at Media City
in Salford.
Remit for the ALT NWE Sig
The Sig exists to
provide a network for the exchange of ideas and practices in relation to
current issues in educational technology with the aim of supporting the
informed use of learning technologies in NW England.
It will have a focus on
the following areas:
- Developing a sustainable network, using face-to-face and networked technologies, which is focused on sharing experiences and the pedagogical possibilities and constraints of learning technologies
- Exploring changes within our institutions, in e-learning pedagogies and learning technologies.
- Horizon scanning and supporting a view of the bigger picture across our institutions and across sectors.
- Discussing and disseminating research opportunities with a view to a) joint bids/work b) providing an outlet for small scale and unpublished research c) developing research capacity
- Considering ethical issues including the use of universal services (e.g. Twitter and Facebook) with their own terms and conditions, copyright, the use of open source and OERs
- Supporting the CPD of members e.g. by sharing development opportunities
Group officers:
Coordinators
Chris
Jones (LJMU)
Alex Spiers (LJMU)
Decision making group:
Tunde Varga-Atkins (University of Liverpool)
Dianne Bennett (University of
Manchester)
David Dowdle (University of Salford)
and the 2 coordinators.
Technical advice
Phil
Tubman (Lancaster University)
Alex Spiers (LJMU)
If you would like to get
involved, please get in touch:
A.Spiers [at] ljmu.ac.uk
*
C.R.Jones1[at] ljmu.ac.uk
*
* replace [at] with @
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