By Lorna. Cetis have published a new briefing paper on Activity Data and Paradata. The paper presents a concise overview of a range of approaches and specifications for recording and exchanging data generated by the interactions of users with resources.
Such data is a form of Activity Data, which can be defined as “the record of any user action that can be logged on a computer”. Meaning can be derived from Activity Data by querying it to reveal patterns and context, this is often referred to as Analytics. Activity Data can be shared as an Activity Stream, a list of recent activities performed by an individual. Activity Streams are often specific to a particular platform or application, e.g. facebook, however initiatives such as OpenSocial, ActivityStreams and Tin Can API have produced specifications and APIs to share Activity Data across platforms and applications. The Cetis Activity Data and Paradata briefing paper written by Lorna M. Campbell and Phil Barker can be downloaded from the Cetis website here: http://publications.cetis.ac.uk/2013/808. Read more...

Against Digital Research Methodologies
Keynote presentation delivered to Digital Research Methodologies, Preston, UK, via Skype.
This is a description of my approach to research, based on problems inherent in traditional descriptions of scientific method, and the ways I have adapted my own work to compensate. It is a research process more like discovery, more like learning a language, than it is about forming hypotheses and confirming theories. Please note that the video was created May 9, 2013, one day ahead of the presentation, and that the audio is from the presentation itself, May 10, 2013. Both use the same slides. [Slides] [Audio]

Blog Educpros de Ghislain Bourdilleau. Fidèle à ma bible fictive du bon communicant, je prône la production de contenus au détriment de la prestation de services, la préférence au « donner sens » sur l’outil roi. Une philosophie qui me projette dans le transmédia et le choix d’une surcouche rédactionnelle appliquée sur l’organisation classique et fonctionnelle de la com. Aujourd’hui, cet article porte pourtant sur un outil, la vidéo, que j’utilise bien peu aujourd’hui dans mon travail, malgré des envies et surtout des besoins devenus indispensables. Je vous fais donc part de ma jalousie sur de belles réussites universitaires. Suite de l'article...

Student learning strategies in online learning environments are known to be an important factor contributing to learning outcomes. Active learning strategies, a key element of constructivist learning theory, are considered to be particularly valuable, and this has been used as an argument for employing inquiry-based designs. On the other hand, researchers have highlighted empirical evidence showing that ‘pure’ discovery learning is of limited value and that strategies to reduce the complexity and provide guidance to learners are important if the potential learning benefits are to be achieved. This seminar reports on a study in which the learning outcomes from exploration and manipulation of a computer-based simulation were compared with the outcomes from observation of simulation output from a set of logically sequenced simulation parameters, the latter condition designed to limit the complexity of the task. The participants in the study were 158 university students who each used two computer-based simulations – one which allowed exploration through manipulation of simulation parameters and one which allowed only observation of simulation output from preset parameters, in two different scientific content areas. Student learning outcomes were assessed via pre-tests and post-tests of conceptual understanding. Students’ interactions using the discovery-based simulation were recorded and coded as either systematic or unsystematic. The results showed that when compared with observation, systematic exploration resulted in learning benefits, while unsystematic exploration did not. The implications of these results for the design of learning tasks using online learning resources will be discussed. The potential for more widespread application of the learning analytic methods used in the study will also be discussed. It is proposed that such methods could underpin the provision of dynamic support for students based on an automated characterisation of their learning strategies.         
1-2pm, Wednesday 22 May - Frank Tate Room (new), Lvl 9, Melbourne Graduate School of Education, 100 Leicester St, Associate Professor Barney Dalgarno, Sub Dean Learning and Teaching School of Education, Charles Sturt University.

The XIV Encuentro Internacional Virtual Educa Colombia 2013 is organized by the Ministerio de Educación Nacional (MEN) of Colombia, the General Secretariat of the Organización de los Estados Americanos (OEA) and the General Secretariat of Virtual Educa, a multilateral initiative for innovative projects in the fields of education and training for human development.
The associated universities to this event are Universidad Técnica Particular de Loja (Ecuador), Universitat Oberta de Catalunya (Spain), Sistema Tecnológico de Monterrey (Mexico), Universidad de Guadalajara (Mexico), Universidad Intercontinental (Mexico), Universidad Alas Peruanas (Peru), Universidad Católica Los Ángeles de Chimbote (Peru), and the Universidad del Caribe (Dominican Republic).
The deadline for papers is 26 April 2013. Submissions can be made in Spanish, Portuguese and English.
More information about this event…

When the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development invited me to speak at their annual HRD event at London's Olympia I was delighted. I wasn't so keen when they asked me to supply my slides many weeks in advance. The organisers wanted them so they could produce delegate packs that included paper versions of my slide show. I could understand their eagerness, but I hesitated. I don't normally send my slides too far in advance of a presentation for three reasons - firstly I don't think it's a good use of resources to produce paper based slides and secondly, it's not good pedagogical practice because looking down at a paper rendition of slides you are about to see can be distracting for delegates when they should be engaging with the front-of-house presentation. It's even more confusing if the slides don't match the presentation. Read more...

The Learning Resource Metadata Initiative aimed to help people discover useful learning resources by adding to the schema.org ontology properties to describe educational characteristics of creative works. Well, as of the release of schema draft version 1.0a a couple of weeks ago, the LRMI properties are in the official schema.org ontology.
Schema.org represents two things: 1, an ontology for describing resources on the web, with a hierarchical set of resource types each with defined properties that relate to their characteristics and relationships with other things in the schema hierarchy; and 2, a syntax for embedding these into HTML pages–well, two syntaxes, microdata and RDFa lite. The important factor in schema.org is that it is backed by Google, Yahoo, Bing and Yandex, which should be useful for resource discovery. Read more...