Reading ‘The Edgeless University’ and ‘HE in a Web 2.0 World’ reports

I have been asked to present the recent Higher Education in a Web 2.0 World report to the University’s next Teaching and Learning Committee. The report came out shortly before, and is referenced by, The Edgeless University. Why Higher Education Must Embrace Technology, which was launched by David Lammy MP at the end of June. I’ve been going through both reports, pulling out significant quotes and annotating them. Here are my notes. It is not a comprehensive nor formal review of the reports, nor a statement from the University of Lincoln. Just personal reflections which I will take to my colleagues for discussion. I don’t whole-heartedly agree with every statement made in both reports or even those quoted here, but I do take government promoted reports, and the funding that accompanies them, seriously.

I include quotes from David Lammy’s speech, as it can be read as a formal statement from government on the recommendations of the ‘Edgeless’ report and a commentary on future funding priorities.

If you’ve not yet read the reports, my notes might provide a useful summary, albeit from the bias of someone charged with supporting the use of technology to enhance teaching and learning.  I am also an advocate of Open Access and Open Education on which the Edgeless report has a lot to say. Methodologically, the writing of both reports combined both current literature reviews and interviews across the sector and as I write, they are the most current documents of their kind that I am aware of.

If you have commented on either of these reports on your own blog or have something to say about the excerpts I include here, please do leave a comment and let me (and others) know.  Thanks.

Continue reading “Reading ‘The Edgeless University’ and ‘HE in a Web 2.0 World’ reports”

UK WordCamp (Ed)ucation?

Having heard about the WordCamp Ed event in Washington DC, I’m thinking of organising a WordCamp, focussing on the use of WordPress in HE and FE in the UK.  Would anyone be interested in helping with the organisation of this? 

There is some support for organising WordCamps from Automattic. A lot of the items listed there would be easy to facilitate with support from one of our institutions.  I’d be happy to ask the University of Lincoln. We’re just off the main North-South East Coast rail trunk, but the access isn’t bad from London up to Edinburgh, and it’s a good, modern university, with decent facilities in a historic city worth visiting. 

I’m sure there would be a lot of interest in attending. It could appeal to teachers, students, researchers, ICT and web dev staff.  We could appeal for the involvement of edubloggers who have a lot of experience in advocating the use of blogs in HE and FE. 

There was a WordCamp in Birmingham in July 2008. We could contact the organisers of that event for advice as well as the organisers of the DC event.

The day might be organised like this: 

  • Registration and welcome
  • Keynote 
  • Live WordPressMU install and set up. A useful overview for both administrators and users. Also introduces the language of blogging which people will hear constantly throughout the day. i.e. ‘posts’, ‘pages’, ‘tags’, categories’, ‘blogroll’, ‘plugins’, ‘themes’, etc. 
  • Two or three presentations with Q&A on how people are using WordPress in education (maybe one from a marketing perspective, the others from a teaching and learning perspective) 
  • Lunch 
  • Keynote 
  • Special interest group sessions: research groups, teachers, students, marketing, administration, development, etc. 
  • Group feedback 
  • Presentation on forthcoming WordPress features. Integration of WP with other (social) services. Intro to BuddyPress and BBPress as extensions to WordPressMU.
  • Close 

Is anyone interested in helping organise a WordCamp(Ed) in the UK? Please leave comments below and join our new Google Group.