Learn About Fair 2011

'Learn About, explore and share' is the theme for the fourth annual 'Learn About' Fair on 30th March 2011. Once again IET, The Library, LTS, MCT and the Learning Innovations Office are jointly organising the event.

Your Feedback: If you attended the fair we are currently seeking feedback on what you thought of the event (via an email with a link to the appropriate questionnaire):

Attendees questionnaire http://www3.open.ac.uk/forms/LAFair2011feedback/

Presenters questionnaire http://www3.open.ac.uk/forms/LAFair2011presenterfeedback/

Please complete the questionnaire by the 4th May 2011.

The fair was in the Jennie Lee Building at Walton Hall from 11.30 am - 2.30 pm.   It was a drop-in event open to all staff regardless of role and gave an informal opportunity to find out about the latest developments in the use of technology in education.  It featured a wide range of subjects grouped into 5 themes:

• Mobile Learning
• eContent and Digital Literacies
• Communications & Collaboration
• Inclusion and Diversity
• Learning systems

There were be a number of stalls hosted by various 'experts' in some of the most popular Learn About Guide topics - presenters talked about their subject, demonstrating new technologies and explaining how they are used in learning and teaching.  Additionally there were demonstrations of research into Gaming in Education, the Out There In Here project and TU100 My digital life (see also http://www3.open.ac.uk/study/undergraduate/course/tu100.htm).

Layout of the Fair and Contacts

For the complete list of stalls see http://kn.open.ac.uk/public/document.cfm?docid=13345 http://kn.open.ac.uk/public/getfile.cfm?documentfileid=17511

There were four presentations at the fair this year which were filmed and will be turned into podcasts soon:

• 12 noon: Learning Systems roadmap (Niall Sclater and David Wilson)
• 12:30 pm: Digital Literacy (Jo Parker and Robin Goodfellow)
• 1:00 pm Curriculum business models (Mick Jones and Martin Weller)
• 1:30 pm eProduction (Geoff Aldridge)

The schedule for the presentations is at Learn About Fair 2011 presentations and PDF of the Learn About Fair 2011 presentation schedule

If you tweet, the hashtag for the fair is #learnaboutatOU

The Competition winner for 2011 is Martin Brazier of LTS who was delighted to collect his new Kindle.  If you participated in the competition at the fair by getting your trail card stamped at 5 or more different stalls you had a chance to win a wifi Kindle (regretfully this competition was not open to Learn About Fair Planning team or presenters/stallholders).

The 2008, 2009 and 2010 Learn About Fairs were very successful and well attended. See http://kn.open.ac.uk/public/workspace.cfm?wpid=7850

The Learn About Fair planning team are also planning an online Learn About Fair to take place later in 2011.

OU Associate Lecturers attending the fair are asked to check the procedures for claiming travel to Walton Hall which are explained at http://www.open.ac.uk/tutors/employment-info/pages/expenses/traveltodevelopmentevents.htm

OU Staff can also find information about the fair on the Educational Professional Development site.

See photos from the 2011 Learn About Fair at http://www.flickr.com/groups/1661705@N21/ and http://www.flickr.com/photos/acpage/sets/72157626524799022/

See photos from the 2010 Learn About Fair at http://www.flickr.com/photos/acpage/sets/72157623651063746/