Conference Info: Programme

Michael Hopwood
11:51am 5 May 2010

So... who else is intrigued yet bemused? :)

Martin Weller
12:01pm 5 May 2010

Hi Michael - bemused in what sense? Is there any further info I can provide to help? (I'm organising it). Have you checked out the cloudscape with all the other info also?

I'll be putting up a more detailed agenda soon, and links to the elluminate spaces, so hopefully bemusement will decrease ;)

Cheers

Martin

Katherine Miller
5:16pm 5 May 2010

Hi Martin,

What will be the timing for the synchronous part of the programme? I am in Pacific Standard Time and I'm curious if the synchronous portion of the programme will be when I'm available. Thanks!

Tim Hunt
9:24am 6 May 2010

The Moodle community had its first online conference at the start of February. That is the only online conference I have attended, and it worked quite well.

You solicit presentation about "How does openness affect learning/content/access/teaching?" That carefully avoids anything I could talk about. Do you think there would be interest in a talk about "How does open source affect the development of an institution's learning systems?"

If there was I, or someone else from the VLE team, might be able to say something interesting about it. If not, I'll forget about the idea.

Martin Weller
10:13am 6 May 2010

@Katherine - the sessions will run 9.00-12.30 and 2-5ish each day (UK time). We'll be recording them so you can watch back if that is out of your time zone and having asynchronous discussion in here also.

@Tim - I'd disagree - I'd say open source and VLEs are pretty solidly in the context of how openness affects learning & teaching. Yes, we'd love to have something about how the open source process has influenced the development, because the open source community is by far the maturest in this respect. I think open education has much to learn from it as a model, so any experiences you can share would be great.

Elizabeth Camp
10:49am 7 May 2010 (Edited 1:35pm 7 May 2010)

Well, I think this will be an interesting way of delivering the conference and will be fascinated to see if it works.  I admit I'm not entirely convinced - I am in an open plan office and will have to go onto Elluminate with many others around, and just hope not to be disturbed, or to disturb!  Elluminate is all very well, but a face to face conference allows you to physically meet people and to leave your desk.  As an academic related member of staff, I can't attend online from home which would allow more peace and quiet and an ability to contribute fully.

Liz

Janet Macdonald
2:54pm 7 May 2010

I'm wondering what will happen to teaching awards..are they going to be virtual? Print your own certificate perhaps? (Well it works in Tutor Moderators..)

Ms R.C. ten Veen
9:19pm 7 May 2010

Re: "We'll be recording them so you can watch back if that is out of your time zone and having asynchronous discussion in here also." - that's great to read as though I am in UK time zone I may not be able to get time off from my day job on those days.... In peace, Rianne (AL, R04)

Gráinne Conole
9:20am 8 May 2010

Yes good point Janet, important to ensure these are still high profile during the conference.

Karen Cropper
10:02pm 9 May 2010

Janet, the teaching awards are being organised separately, and taking place at the same time on campus in Milton Keynes, in person not online only.  Martin Bean will be there handing out the awards.

Martin Weller
4:10pm 10 May 2010

@Liz - I suppose the online version has benefits and drawbacks - for instance there are many people who can't get to a f2f conference, or if they can it means being away for four days (1 day travel either side). It also allows us to be open in a way we can't be with a f2f conference.

I also think we, as an institution, need to learn how to participate in such events, as remote participation is becoming more prevelant (there is an eco argument to be made here too). For instance, if you would be allowed to attend the f2f conference, it would be reasonable to be allowed to attend the virtual one? This might mean wearing headphones, or if a group of people are interested maybe having a meeting room set aside with the conference on a screen.

It'll be interesting to see what the feedback is for virtual participation anyway, and that is part of the purpose of the conference this year.

Adejare AMOO
10:37pm 14 May 2010

e-conference is more effective since participants operate at different times and at different  places.

Juanita Foster-Jones
8:49am 18 May 2010

I think this is wonderful, especially since it means that as an ex-OU employee I can still catch up in a virtual sense and participate on the fringe.  I remember when OU first got Elluminate suggesting that this extending of events to enable regions to participate, so it's great to see it happening.

I have study school in Aberystwyth so may be watching the recordings rather than live participation, but can't wait.

Janet Macdonald
10:45am 19 May 2010

So if this is the programme the rest of us can go back to bed and just turn up at the end of June?

Janet Macdonald
10:50am 19 May 2010

That sounded as if I was fishing for a slot which I'm not, life is mad enough. Just that I wasn't clear that this invitation to join the conference was an invitation to listen with some discussion rather than to present. Maybe others have been similarly misled.

Tim Hunt
10:52am 19 May 2010

Yes. It was odd to have a call for presentations with no clear closing date, and then the next thing you hear is an announcement of the final program.

Karen Cropper
8:53pm 19 May 2010 (Edited 9:00pm 19 May 2010)

The call for contributions has a closing date of 7 June and details are here: http://cloudworks.ac.uk/cloud/view/2978 about what to do. Record a video, make a slideshare, make a cloud, try out some new tool or programme that you haven't used before, start a discussion... Contributions will be pulled into the Elluminates sessions that they fit best into.

Martin Weller
12:46pm 20 May 2010

Hi Tim and Janet

apologies if it wasn't clear. The 'Your Contributions' element is open to all and still open. The idea here is that people can contribute videos, slideshare etc. This is separate to the main synchronous presentations. What we hope to do is have the contributions up before and then pull them into the discussions in the main sessions, which is why we've left room for discussions.

We're trying to explore different ways of doing things than the traditional call for papers, so we're using the main sessions to exhibit some OU related work, get in external speakers on openness, and use the open contribution method to get as wide a range of contributions as possible.

I'm going to update the info on the Your Contributions element soon.

Martin