Acquisition, management, promotion and creation of ebooks from the learning resource centre (LRC) / library perspective (Part 2)

Posted on March 19, 2013 by Sharon Crossan

Free (or very cheap) ebooks

This post forms part two of a series of five blog posts on the acquisition, management, promotion and creation of ebooks from the learning resource centre (LRC)/library perspective. These blog posts are aimed at giving an introduction to these areas and where possible I’ve tried to include references to further information.

This post focuses on accessing free (or very cheap) ebooks.

Sources of ebooks

There are several projects offering free or almost free access to ebook collections and sites which offer free access to classic texts.

The Jisc ebooks for FE project provides a core collection of FE relevant ebooks “The LSC, JISC and JISC Collections are working together on a national level to acquire a critical mass of relevant e-books, to achieve efficiencies and harness the opportunities technology provides.”
Project Gutenberg has over 42,000 free ebooks. They are copyright free in the United Sates so it may be worth checking the copyright implications in this country for specific titles.
Jisc Collections/Cengage This resource is part of Cengage Learning eTextbook Collections which includes: Core Collection, Art and Music, Communications and Media, Government and Politics, Marketing, Psychology, Study Skill
National Library of Wales ebooks (and other eresources) relating to Welsh and Celtic interest.
Books from the Past on-line collection of books of (Welsh) national cultural interest which have long been out of print.
Ebooks for Wales jointly funded pilot project by CyMAL (Museums, Libraries and Archives Wales) and 17 20 (correct as of 19th March 2013) local authorities
Free ebooks section on many commercial suppliers websites.
Google Books through a partner program and library project gives access to millions of books.
ManyBooks Many of the etexts are from the November, 2003 Project Gutenberg DVD, which contains the entire Project Gutenberg archives except for the Human Genome Project and audio eBooks, due to size limitations, and the Project Gutenberg of Australia eBooks, due to copyright. There are also public domain and creative commons works from many other sources.
Feedbooks an ebook retailer with mobile reading in mind.
This page from the Mobile Read Wiki lists various free ebook sources, including specialist ebooks and ebooks in languages other than English.
Australian free ebooks portal, like Project Gutenberg mainly copyright free ebooks although the portal is Australian based so again check copyright restrictions.

Harvard Classics The Harvard Classics, originally known as Dr. Eliot’s Five Foot Shelf, is a 51-volume anthology of classic works from world literature, compiled and edited by Harvard University president Charles W. Eliot and first published in 1909.
Bartleby The go-to source for the classics, features Gray’s Anatomy, the Harvard Classics (see above), the King James Bible, other major publications.
OER Commons Worldwide learning network of shared teaching and learning materials made freely available online.

For more free eresources check out the RSC Wales bookmarks on Diigo.

In this post we have looked at a variety of sources for free (or very cheap) ebooks. If you have used any of these services or can suggest others then please use the comments section below.

The third post in this series will look at some of the legal implications with managing an ebook collection…

Acquisition, management, promotion and creation of ebooks from the learning resource centre (LRC) / library perspective (Part 5)

Posted on March 18, 2013 by Sharon Crossan

Creating Ebooks

This post forms part one of a series of five blog posts on the acquisition, management, promotion and creation of ebooks from the learning resource centre (LRC)/library perspective. These blog posts are aimed at giving an introduction to these areas and where possible I’ve tried to include references to further information.

This post focuses on how to create ebooks.

Why create ebooks?

Creating ebooks means that you can generally bypass the publishing process and generate your own content removing the need to have the book printed. This could be particularly useful for libraries/LRC wanting to distribute guides in a more accessible way for students, publish their own research information or for tutors/lecturers to get material out to students again in a more accessible way.

Creation

The first stage in creating an ebook is to create the content; the process of creating ebooks often starts long before the final conversion into a specific ebook format. Which ebook creation tool used depends on the content of the book and the reader on which the ebook will be used.

A range of tools are available, most can take a word processed file and convert into EPUB although some documents may still need tweaking in order to format correctly.

Building in interactivity often means books are released as apps and therefor limited to specific platforms. For example interactive ibooks can only be read on ipad devices.

Apple’s iBooks Author package is used to create ebooks using the ibook file format.
Calibre allows you to convert ebook formats, for example create your ebook as a PDF document and convert into another ebook format for use on an ereader.
Mobipocket is similar to Calibre; you can also upload Microsoft Word documents to be converted into an ebook format for use on ereaders. I have used Mobipocket to create a Kindle version and HTML version of this series of blog posts. I have also saved them as a PDF which can be downloaded from my Dropbox. This was a very quick experiment so that formatting can be a bit off in places; if you would like to see how to do it properly please have a look at Zak Mensah’s blog.
Save documents as PDF or Microsoft Word documents to upload to VLE or document repositories. PDF creation tools are often built into the word processing application.
Various apps including:
Creative Book Builder (iOS)
Book creator for iPad (iOS)
Ebook creator (iOS)
Ebook magic+ (iOS)
Demibooks composer (iOS)
Ebook creator (Android)
IDEAL ePub creator (Android)

Further Reading

Wikipedia ebook creator http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Special:Book&bookcmd=book_creator&referer=Portal%3ATechnology

Amazons Send to Kindle service

http://www.amazon.com/gp/sendtokindle

The End…?

Although this is the end of the blog posts it’s not the end for the story of ebooks with upcoming projects looking at a variety of models of ebook delivery including the Swedish ebooks project. The project has just won a grant of around £1.2million to explore the impact of ebooks in Sweden. This project is of particular interest to Wales with an issue they call ‘the small language problem.’ That is an investigation into what particular difficulties arise in a country like Sweden, when publications in the local language are potentially in competition with books in English, and where the local publisher or bookseller is competing with international publishers and Amazon.com.

This post has been the final post in a series of five looking at the acquisition, management, promotion and creation of ebooks from the learning resource centre (LRC)/library perspective.

I’ve referenced several Jisc services in these posts and would recommend subscribing to the news feeds, mailing lists and social media accounts of these services to keep up to date with developments or you can access the RSC Wales portal to these services here. Also keep up to date with the Jisc RSC Wales ebulletin.

There has been a flurry activity relating to ebooks in public libraries and I would recommend keeping up to date with these development through Alyson Tyler’s Welsh Libraries blog, and as many academic libraries develop their ebook collections keep up to date with the Welsh Higher Education Libraries Forum (WHELF) blog.

I hope these posts have been of some use, if you would like to discuss any aspect of these further please get in touch with me the usual way. I’ve collated most of the reports read for these posts in a Dropbox folder available here.

Acquisition, management, promotion and creation of ebooks from the learning resource centre (LRC) / library perspective (Part 4)

Posted on March 18, 2013 by Sharon Crossan

Promoting ebooks

This post forms part four of a series of five blog posts on the acquisition, management, promotion and creation of ebooks from the learning resource centre (LRC)/library perspective. These blog posts are aimed at giving an introduction to these areas and where possible I’ve tried to include references to further information.

This post will focus on promoting ebooks.

The following tips may be helpful for promoting ebook titles:

Publicity Material

Get publicity materials from your suppliers; most will provide posters and sometimes promotional items like pens, bookmarks, mugs, on request.

The marketing section on the Library Wales staff toolkit has a wealth of publicity material that Welsh FE and HE libraries can use and includes a story bank (case studies), photo bank (free to use images) and the Bibli family cartoons.

Create a focal point for the ebooks on the VLE or website and highlight how to access them.

Circulate links to tutors/teachers/lecturers for the relevant subject areas

Encourage them to take a look and then encourage their students to use them. It is also important to manage expectations: make clear any limitations on printing, copying or downloading.

Embed in VLE

Many suppliers will provide direct URLs for titles that can be embedded in a VLE

Makes access simple

Getting access to the ebook should take as few clicks as possible and definitely as few logins as possible. Set up IP access on campus and find the shortest, easiest route for off campus access.

Import MARC records

Import MARC records directly into the library catalogue: most ebook suppliers will provide these free of charge. If possible, ensure that the record in the catalogue also provides any access instructions.

Highlight collections at inductions/teaching sessions

Demonstrate access too if possible.

Support college strategy

For college staff, highlight the ways that an ebook collection can support college strategy e.g. improving accessibility, provision for distance learners or those less able to visit the library, better provision for learners.

Use social media

Promote the access to the ebook collection through social media or use it to highlight specific titles/subjects within the collection.

Track usage

Most ebook platforms provide statistics for usage so you can track the success of your publicity. This can be useful for identifying what works and adjusting your marketing plan accordingly. Google analytics on the LRC website can be used to track which mobile device were used to access eresources.

QR codes

Create QR codes which link direct to the collection and can be scanned from publicity material and emails. Have publicity materials throughout the college with the QR code to scan.

You could also add a copy of the QR code to the print based version of the resource or in subject areas on shelving. The same could also be done for areas on the VLE or website.

Research quiz

Use the resources as part of research questions or quizzes, not only does this promote the collection but can help identify any access issues.

Conclusion

In this post we have looked at a variety of ways for promoting ebook collections. If you have tried any of these methods to promote ebooks or have tried something else please use the comments section below.

The fifth and final post will look at creating ebooks…

Acquisition, management, promotion and creation of ebooks from the learning resource centre (LRC) / library perspective (Part 3)

Posted on March 18, 2013 by Sharon Crossan

Legal Implications

This third post forms part of a series of five blog posts on the acquisition, management, promotion and creation of ebooks from the learning resource centre (LRC)/library perspective. These blog posts are aimed at giving an introduction to these areas and where possible I’ve tried to include references to further information.

This post focuses on the legal implications in managing an ebook collection. It is not written as a complete guide to the legal issues around eresources and I would strongly advise getting in touch with Jisc Legal for more comprehensive guidance and advice.

The main legal issues to consider when managing an ebook collection are copyright and intellectual property rights which Jisc Legal can provide guidance on.

Copyright

Unlike printed books, the library does not own most of the electronic books it subscribes to. Instead, a licence agreement is made with each provider, specifying the terms and conditions of use. The terms of the licence generally limit the usage for research and scholarly study, and you are not permitted to distribute the content to someone else by email. Under UK copyright law it is generally accepted that you may print out one whole chapter or 5% of a whole work, whichever is the greater. Ebook providers closely monitor and restrict the amount of printing from their titles.

Self-publishing an ebook also brings up copyright issues and it is recommended to thoroughly check these before publishing. Where possible use Creative Commons licences too for distributing your ebook.

Amazon Kindle

The Amazon Kindle ereader raises additional copyright issues which Jisc legal have tried to answer here what are the copyright issues in lending Kindles and ebooks to our students? (31 August 2011) and here How can we legally lend digital content to our students via a Kindle? (31 August 2011)

DRM

Digital Rights Management (or DRM) technology is used to limit copying, printing, and sharing of e-books. Ebooks are usually limited to a certain number of reading devices and some publishers prevent any copying or printing.

DRM is a complex issue, the Jisc ebooks in education report highlights that different publishers can use different DRM technologies “The variety in DRM technologies can result in problems in use: an EPUB file protected by one type of DRM, and usable on one particular device, may not be readable on a different device, even though both devices fundamentally support EPUB…such conflict in DRM protection can cause confusion for users who may see that their device supposrts EPUB, but then wonder why some ebooks still remain inaccessible.”

Accessibility

Not considering accessibility issues can leave an institution vulnerable to action under the Disability Discrimination Act (DDA).

This video from Alistair McNaught discusses the Accessibility of Ebooks (http://youtu.be/IoKuflMsUfI)

In this post we have considered the legal implications when managing an ebook collection and also looked at some accessibility issues.

The fourth post will look at a variety of ways to promote ebooks…

Further Reading:

Jisc TechDis Good Practice Guidance for Library and Information Professionals

http://www.jisctechdis.ac.uk/techdis/resources/detail/learnersmatter/Good_Practice_Guidance_for_Library_and_Information_Professionals

Acquisition, management, promotion and creation of ebooks from the learning resource centre (LRC) / library perspective (Part 1)

Posted on March 18, 2013 by Sharon Crossan

This post focuses on the acquisition perspective, specifically commercial suppliers, and also considerations before purchasing ebooks.

What are ebooks?

Ebooks are quickly becoming staples of a Learning Resource Centre or library service and offer many benefits amongst eresources. Ebooks can be easily accessed by distance learners, offer multiple simultaneous access to core text and can be manipulated for better accessibility. In a presentation to IFLA, CILIP President Phil Bradley quoted that academic libraries offer access to 21,189,696 ebooks.

Jisc Digital Media ‘Introduction to ebooks’ is a guide to what ebooks are, how they can be used to support teaching and learning, an overview of ebook readers (including desktop software), and creating and editing ebook environments.

Ebooks can also provide a challenge for the Learning Resource Centre and careful consideration has to be given to the acquisition, management and promotion of ebooks.

Commercial Suppliers

Jisc RSC Wales does not endorse any particular supplier, what is presented here is a list of market leaders in the Welsh academic sector.

Publishers:

Elsevier, Springer Science+Business Media, Wiley and Cambridge University Press

Vendors:

Vendors sell ebooks on behalf of publishers. Two popular vendors for Welsh FE ebook supply are Coutts Myilibrary and Dawsonera. Both allow the purchase of individual titles so it is relatively easy to try out a small collection or pilot with a particular subject area. Both will provide free trials so you can see how they work.

Aggregators:
Aggregators supply content from a range of different publishers but unlike vendors who sell content on behalf of publishers, aggregators’ license content from them and sell directly to libraries, hosting the ebooks on their own platform rather than the publisher’s website.

The major aggregators are EBL ebook library, Netlibrary, Ebrary, EBSCOhost, Credo, Bloomsbury and Overdrive. For others see the Jisc RSC Wales collection of links.

Models of access

You can compare ebook platforms using a tool from Jisc Collections. It does not compare their actual content or titles available, just the technical and functional aspects of their interfaces. There is currently no single database that lists all books available electronically, along with which publisher/aggregators the title is available on, and whether the titles can be bought singly or as part of a collection.

The IFLA matrix, Models of accessing digital content: Libraries, elending and the future of public access to digital content highlights benchmarks for some of the biggest publishers, online publishers/retailers, distributors, self- publishing, elending models, library initiatives and aggregators of free access to non-copyright restricted content.

The American Library Association has issued a “scorecard” for American public libraries which allows them to rate business models offered by publishers and aggregators which although public library focused can highlight issues faced by FE LRCs when considering different models.

Both Bangor University and the University of Glasgow have explored the use of Patron Driven Acquisition (PDA) models. The principle behind PDA is that purchases are triggered for books users’ access, rather than librarians or lecturers creating a collection of materials.

In September 2012 CILIP (the Chartered Institute of Library and Information Professionals) released this briefing paper ‘ebook acquisition and lending briefing: public, academic and research libraries‘ ”It presents some of the legal, strategic and technical problems that arise from the addition of scholarly and trade ebooks to library collections, together with possible solutions. Some of the most common business models are briefly set out. The latest data on ebook usage is also included.”

Jisc InfoNet provides an InfoKit on ‘Working with commercial suppliers’ . Although not specifically about ebook suppliers one of the aims of the InfoKit is “It looks at the types of licensing and contracting arrangements that exist in the Web 2.0/Web 3.0/Cloud environment.”

The Jisc Observatory report states “Institutions need to prepare for new subscription, purchasing and licensing models as the current ones are in an embryonic stage (often following traditional printed-book business
models). If ebooks follow a similar pattern to music and films, these subscription, purchasing and licensing models will evolve and change”

Considerations before purchasing

There are a number of factors you will probably want to investigate when looking at different ebook suppliers’ offerings:

Usage reports: Are they Counter Compliant? Can you use them to evaluate usage?
Digital rights Management (DRM): Is it built into the ebooks with associated restrictions? Can the ebooks be copied/pasted/printed/downloaded? Can they be imported into an ereader or other mobile device?
System access: Does the supplier allow for Federated Access Management, OpenAthens, I.P etc?
User access: Can multiple users access a book simultaneously? Is there a limit to the number of logins per year?
Minimum spend/pricing model: Can you purchase on title or do you have to subscribe to a bundle?
Format: Are the ebooks in HTML, PDF or something else? Does the format have any implications?
Selection: How many titles does the supplier have? How frequently is the list added to?
Ownership: Are the ebooks only available while you pay or are they available in perpetuity? How would that work?
Platform charges: Is there a separate ’platform’ fee i.e. a cost to access the ebooks? Is it annual or one-off?
Platform interface: Is it user friendly? Can you view the ebook in full screen? Is it easy to navigate?
Editions: If a newer edition of an ebook comes out, is there an option to upgrade to that edition?

Jisc TechDis can provide guidance, support and advice when considering the accessibility options of ebooks and have recently held an ebooks and accessibility event which was blogged about here. The RNIB is another good resource for ebooks and accessibility and have a ‘Getting started with ebooks guide.’

This post has highlighted some of the major ebook suppliers for Welsh academia, introduced the idea of piloting subject specific collection, the tools available to compare ebook platforms and Jisc services to support the acquisition process. We’ve also looked at some factors to consider when looking at different ebook suppliers’ offerings.

The second post in this series will focus on free (or very cheap) ebooks…

Further Reading

Jisc Inform:

http://www.jisc.ac.uk/inform/inform33/Ebooks.html

Jisc project, The challenge of eBooks in academic institutions:

http://www.jisc.ac.uk/whatwedo/programmes/di_directions/strategicdirections/ebooks.aspx

Posts from WHELF (Wales Higher Education Libraries Forum) blog:

http://whelf.wordpress.com/category/e-books/

Posts from Alyson Tyler’s Welsh Libraries Blog:

http://libalyson.wordpress.com/2013/02/22/keep-up-at-the-back-e-books-and-libraries-update/

http://libalyson.wordpress.com/2012/01/11/not-really-everything-you-need-to-know-about-e-books/

March Twippets

Posted on March 13, 2013 by Sharon Crossan

Here’s a selection of snippets of information that we (as @rscwales) have tweeted (tweet + snippet = twippet) over the last few weeks that might be of interest, even if you are not a Twitter user.

This month we have tweets from Open Education Week (11th – 15th March) which leads into our very own Paul Richardson’s lunchtime byte next week ‘Practices, resources and other animals: trends in the open education landscape.’ The section on learning resources and educational technology seems to be growing month by month so lots of new ideas to explore!

You can still find copies of past Twippets on the RSC Wales Moodle. Let us know what you think by posting comments below or getting in touch the usual way…

11th – 15th March is Open Education Week so we have a lot of tweets about open educational resources (OERs)…

Open Education Week #openeducationweek March, 11th – 15th http://ow.ly/iAfrU #UKOER
Open Education Week resources: http://goo.gl/LDYSD
A break with tradition: What is the value of #MOOCs? Are they an opportunity or a threat? http://bit.ly/VOyt4P
Gold on Hold: Move towards full open access to research papers undermined last week, but should prevail in long term http://bit.ly/XAhthR
6 MOOCs You May Not Know About http://ow.ly/hM4Sq
British Library becomes the first non-university institution to join Futurelearn http://goo.gl/2Iy3c

Some great ways to stay in touch with JISC and JISC services…

You can also follow @Jisc on #LinkedIn http://linkd.in/XETUVk and #Facebook http://on.fb.me/WuxJAr
Pinterested in the Legal Risks? JISC Legal http://goo.gl/AYFM6
Public lists which JISCmail has recently created for the UK Academic and Research Communities are listed here: http://bit.ly/X6sSGs
What you can expect from the new Jisc website: http://bit.ly/XW1Hdr
#eSafety toolkit: http://irte.eu/hH from @JISCLegal
@Procureweb: Hello to all of our new followers! You can find out more about us at http://www.procureweb.ac.uk/

In Wales we had some interesting tweets on the subject of technology in education…

Online Digital Learning Working Group – Written Statement & ToR @LeightonAndrews http://goo.gl/b9nwk
News: Social networking plan for pupils http://bbc.in/107l4TY

We also have our usual round up of learning resource and educational technology tweets…

Video of #FreeApps4Edu Webinar is now online & available for download http://goo.gl/b0Gnr #edchat
Sync your presentations to your audience’s laptops and #iPads http://bit.ly/Z2NaP8 (via @rmbyrne) #edtech
Guest blog on importance of maths apps for adults from @RobWilmot http://bit.ly/XaeWeF #maths4us
Student experience winner: MMU. Great project, showing value of coherent organisational change. http://bit.ly/Y8YWZ9 Hat-tip @thestubbs
“Memory, community, football”: @SwanseaCity100 online community history project http://scfcheritage.wordpress.com/ @martinjohnes @SwanseaUni
Twitter users: A guide to the law (BBC). Some really useful recent case histories here; could be a learning resource. http://bbc.in/XW9JFU
Engaging learners with Augmented Reality at Bromley College, London http://bit.ly/XeA17Z
This could be a nifty little tool ‘Krunchd: Shrink multiple URLs into one short URL’ http://krunchd.com/krunch
My first Keek talking about the NearPod webinar #techoverload #apps http://www.keek.com/!Yxkpbab
Been playing about with LiveMettings today http://liveminutes.com Quite impressed with it I have to say, and it works with Evernote yay!
Great resources from BBC Earth YouTube channel http://www.youtube.com/bbcearth and Earth Unplugged http://www.youtube.com/earthunpluggedtv
Nifty little tool (still in beta) http://www.wirewax.com/ The world’s first taggable video tool, can add tags to moving people & objects
Getting Started with your Interactive Whiteboard : A quick guide http://goo.gl/5trOf via @dannynic
’8 resources to find and edit digital images without being sued’ http://bit.ly/13kf9zp (via @TeachThought)
I just attended a Nearpod WebiNear & got a certificate! Sign up & learn more about this #edtech tool! http://ow.ly/cNYLS
iPadagogy – YouTube A channel dedicated to instruction videos of useful apps for education. http://bit.ly/12BYI1b

Some library specific tweets…

Why Libraries Are The Best Places To Learn http://ow.ly/ios1O via @anniemurphypaul #education #edchat
The 7 critical services all #libraries should offer http://bit.ly/13zZVX2 (via @edudemic)
Library’s $20,000 router cost more than the building (via @arstechnica) http://ow.ly/i7WWQ

Digital literacy was another popular subject this month …

Digital Literacy Defined? (via @mpowers3) http://ow.ly/ijfvY #jiscdiglit
All of the presentations from today’s webinar “Rising to the digital literacy challenge” are available at http://goo.gl/8rt5K #jiscdiglit
Addressing Interdisciplinary Digital Literacy: http://ow.ly/i3cJ3 via @cengagelearning #infolit #digilit #jiscdiglit
Secret or sharing? Play our Privacy Game http://www.open.edu/openlearn/privacy
E-pub brings together worldwide Information Literacy resources available in 42 languages: http://ow.ly/hSjE2 (via @UNESCO) #infolit

And just for fun…

Are you awesome? Find out here http://amiawesome.com/

February Twippets

Posted on February 18, 2013 by Sharon Crossan

Here’s a selection of snippets of information that we (as @rscwales) have tweeted (tweet + snippet = twippet) over the last few weeks that might be of interest, even if you are not a Twitter user.

Month two of our new look Twippets and a lot has been going on since we last blogged. Some recurring themes in Edtech and Social Media but also a topical section on Tweets from Safer Internet Day 2013 #SID2013.

You can still find copies of past Twippets on the RSC Wales Moodle. Let us know what you think by posting comments below or getting in touch the usual way…

Accessibility and Inclusion

We’re very excited to have launched an accessible version of @YouTube funded by @jisc http://ow.ly/hKD8U
Declutter your online reading – Evernote Clearly http://tinyurl.com/aqglaj5
iTech study: Using Sign-now remote British Sign Language interpreting service to support Deaf learners http://www.rsc-scotland.org/?p=1340
Another handy recommended resource from today’s webinar: Opendyslexic (fonts for dyslexia) http://dyslexicfonts.com/
Resource to create rich images (suggested in our webinar chat today) : Thinglink http://www.thinglink.com/

Social Media

Foundation Degree Tweet-up! http://wp.me/p6KpW-DR
Twitter Announces Vine. But How Could Higher Education Use 6-second long Videos? http://bit.ly/XAIoWD
New Surprise: Teenagers Say Facebook Isn’t Their Most Used Site – Stephen’s Lighthouse http://goo.gl/pT64i
Popular Educational Twitter Hashtags http://buff.ly/YvCDuc

Digital and Information Literacy

Recording of Tuesday’s webinar “current issues & approaches in developing digital literacy” available http://bit.ly/12xgTQX
Dig lit and citizenship: free curriculum materials http://www.swgfl.org.uk/digitalliteracy aimed at schools but could be useful for older students
N Wales Information Literacy Best Practice Sharing Day @scoopit http://sco.lt/5SJNuT
Digital Literacy and Digital Citizenship | http://goo.gl/SfmLg
It’s really worth joining the DLinHE ning community – very active on general DL issues not just at Greenwich: http://dlinhe.ning.com
Seek! The search skills game on @JorumTeam http://ow.ly/hx4RO

EdTech and elearning

Augmented reality in education: teaching tool or passing trend? http://ow.ly/hFz0s
City & Guilds launches mobile apps | City & Guilds http://bit.ly/VSckhx SmartCards, QuizCity and A-Z Hair
Flipped Learning and Flipped CPD http://shar.es/Y4nNY
How to connect your iPad to your Interactive Whiteboard http://goo.gl/Vqy4P
Info about @WelshGovernment Education Wales on iTunesU http://goo.gl/2SDUf
Moocs and more; a round up of our posts in January: http://bit.ly/WXZXDJ
Support available via @Communities2_0 to pre-start microenterprises that rely on digital technologies http://bit.ly/VrqH1s
What issues does ‘Bring Your Own Device’ raise? Useful resources from @JISCLegal, linking to private sector experience http://goo.gl/S0nj1
Dydd Santes Dwynwen hapus! More on Dwynwen’s story from the People’s Collection here: http://bit.ly/10HeT7Z (bilingual site)
MOtIvATE: MObile messagIng And communiTy Education: Key stats from learner survey http://goo.gl/gHQ2z
Today’s OpenLearn recommendation is – Hands on Science, make an ice lens. http://goo.gl/qvInF
What kind of training works best? Take a look at Donald Clark Plan B. You may be surprised. http://bit.ly/WTiP2U
Are you gaining the strategic advantage which insights from analytics can provide? CETIS briefing papers may help. http://bit.ly/SLPLJV
The Levels of Citizen Science Involvement: http://bit.ly/10LHb6Z
Gaming in the classroom – a new way of teaching? Opportunty for FE/skills sector to review pilot selection of software: http://bit.ly/WSvZx5
Great, so easily distracted today, have started downloading this iPad app: Take a Virtual Tour Inside Bones http://goo.gl/XHllQ
Mobile internet devices ‘will outnumber humans this year’ http://gu.com/p/3djcb/tw
Goodbye wallwisher, hello…Padlet? http://goo.gl/eTjeR
Frequently Asked Questions on Open Educational Resources (OER) | @scoopit via @OLnet http://sco.lt/5FE0yf

LRC/Library

Revised TweetDoc capturing tweets from today’s excellent Walk-In Access Wales project event http://www.tweetdoc.org/View/63397/Walk-in-Access-Wales-(v3)
100 tips for a library technology manager: http://ow.ly/hrjU4
What is Responsive Web Design and Why Librarians Need to Know About it: http://bit.ly/TmnPlR
Virtual Book Displays are Easy to Create with New LibraryThing for Libraries Widget http://goo.gl/LOFbK
If you’re working in an academic library, how do you demonstrate its value to your institution and its students http://goo.gl/Y37Uh

Safer Internet Day 2013 #SID2013

Blog re Adult Learners by @kevupnorth http://niace.org.uk/blog/?p=1166
Enjoying the SID Radio Show http://goo.gl/lkXT5
What a Brilliant video from WatchYourSpace http://goo.gl/NO9Bv
As part of Safer Internet Day we are encouraging learners to take the Accidental Outlaw Test http://accidentaloutlaw.knowthenet.org.uk/
Experts from across Jisc are on hand to offer eSafety advice via the RSC National blog http://www.jiscrsc.ac.uk
Additional blog about who’s doing what in the UK for Safer Internet Day http://jiscrsc.jiscinvolve.org/wp/2013/02/sid2013/
Take the ‘Connect with Respect’ QUIZ http://www.saferinternet.org.uk/safer-internet-day/2013/quiz
Blog – what are providers doing for Safer Internet Day? 2 mentions for Wales! http://jiscrsc.jiscinvolve.org/wp/2013/01/sid-2013-uk-provider-experiences/
Why not contact your local Jisc RSC & share your eSafety good practice during Safer Internet Day 2013? http://bit.ly/10fBick
Thank you for wishing Safer Internet Day a happy 10th anniversary! http://bit.ly/UrCUTG
Look out for our blog posts, events & eSafety resources during and after Safer Internet Day http://bit.ly/10fBick
Need help with your eSafety provision? Let the experts help! Contact RSC Wales http://goo.gl/wpXKA
Jisc Legal: Make sure you’re doing the right thing. Check out our videos created to support #SID2013 http://jiscleg.al/SID2013

Jisc and Jisc Services

Introducing Netskills Voices – our new blog! http://bit.ly/117JSzK
Join @Jisc on #Facebook for news, views and blogs from around the world of #edtech http://on.fb.me/WuxJAr
Report from @Jisc & Ithaka S+R: helping digital projects to thrive: “wake up call” feat. @NLWales http://goo.gl/mfX72
@JISCAdvance launches 1st national eMarketplace for #WBL providers. #Savings up to 20%. http://bit.ly/Wk1WBQ
We’re pleased to announce that Jisc will be running the Vital subject portals from April 2013. http://ow.ly/gJbWc

Mobile technologies for library and support staff

Posted on January 25, 2013 by Sharon Crossan

The RSC UK elearning advisors Learning and Teaching Resources group held a webinar session for library and support staff on mobile technologies which I decided to join via my iPad using the Blackboard Collaborate iPad app (free…yay!).

It was quick and easy to join the session and all my usual functionality was available. I enjoyed having the session run on the iPad leaving my laptop free for me to take notes, explore links and follow Twitter chats at the same time. Some of the links posted in the chat pane were too long to copy down straight away so I added them to my reading list, by holding my finger over the link, and followed them up in Safari after the session.

Screenshot of the Blackboard Collaborate app on the iPad

Overall I was very impressed with the experience but have made a mental note when moderating a session not to assume all the polling tools are in the same place. It was frustrating being told to vote using the buttons on the left when all my polling tools were at the bottom of the screen.

“Enough of the App what about the session?” I hear you cry! The session was to include three presentations with two focusing on different uses of iPads and the third on QR codes and augmented reality. Unfortunately due to technical problems Tony Bartley, Lowestoft College LRC and elearning manager, was unable to give his presentation however it will be re-recorded separately and put up on the RSC West Midlands events Wiki here, alongside the full session recording or alternatively you can view a video recording of one of his presentations here.

Jackie King from Reaseheath College gave a presentation on the use of iPads by LRC staff for roving. What I found interesting was the use of EBSCO Discovery app to search across eresources meaning staff weren’t having to login to different sites or apps. Jackie also recommended the use of Apple Configurator app to manage the devices, Paper by Fiftythree for handwritten notes, Mendeley, Red Laser for QR code scanning, iTunesU, Dropbox to manage files and the Copyright Licensing Agency (CLA) App.

Ihar Ivanou from North Warwicjshire and Hinckley College library gave a presentation on the use of iPads by Arts students and staff. The devices were loaned to staff and students for them to use however they wanted to support their studies. The staff noticed that they were being used heavily for three main things: editing images, video and surfing the web. Support staff were also able to use the devices and used them mainly for enquiry work. More information about the library and this project can be found on the library blog.

As usual the chat among participants came up with some interesting comments and resources including:

This graphic on iPad app evaluation for the classroom.
A popular method for managing iPads/Laptops was from LapSafe with a lot of interest in using it linked to the library management system to track devices out on loan.
Discussion around which ebooks could be read on mobile devices. (You can use the Bluefire Reader app to read both Jisc Collections ebooks and the Wales ebook collection)

A recording of the session is available here and will shortly have a separate recording of the Tony Bartley presentation.

If you have any questions about mobile technologies, the session, or the Blackboard Collaborate mobile app you can get in touch with me here, by posting comments below or on Twitter @sharon_crossan.

Assessment and Feedback webinars and resources

Posted on January 23, 2013 by Lis Parcell

Over the next few weeks there are so many excellent webinars on offer to help with Assessment and Feedback that I’ve decided to put them all together in a blog post. At the end I’ve added some other resources from Jisc to help with Assessment and Feedback. Here goes!

Jisc Assessment and Feedback Programme webinars

For some time now, Jisc has been running the Assessment and Feedback Programme where an array of institutions have been exploring many different aspects of the subject. The programme runs a series of webinars which are open to all. You can view further information and register for the sessions in Eventbrite. Upcoming sessions include:

Monday 18 Feb 12-1.15pm: Peer Review – Prof David Nicol will be running a session around peer review which will be of interest across the programme and more widely.
Monday 25 Feb 12-1pm: Programme-focused assessment – the PASS project – Prof Peter Hartley will lead this webinar outlining the work of the HEA-funded PASS project. The project aimed to address the issue of designing an effective, efficient, inclusive and sustainable assessment strategy which delivers the key course/programme outcomes.
Friday 1 March 12-1pm: The e-Feedback Evaluation Project (eFEP) (OU and Manchester University) is evaluating staff and student perceptions of and student engagement with e-feedback so will update on findings to date.

Recordings of past webinars are available in the Design Studio. Keep an eye on the e-Learning Webinars Calendar for more webinars coming soon. (For those, interested in Digital Literacies the Calendar also covers webinars from the Jisc Digital Literacies programme too, and we’ll flag those up when we have more information).

Many thanks to Marianne Sheppard at Jisc infoNet for this information, which is immediately relevant to the HE sector in Wales but may be of interest more widely (note the Programme has FE participation too).

Webinars on Assessment from our fellow Jisc Regional Support Centres

These webinars are normally free and last about an hour. Each event needs to be booked separately by following the URL provided:

In brief: video and audio for assessment (6 February 13.15-14.00)
Investigating e-assessment tools: each of these events will look at three tools that are freely available for e-assessment
- 18 February 12.00-13.00: Zondle, QuestBase, Peerwise
- 21 February 12.00-13.00: MBClick, Socrative, InfuseLearning

Resources

The Design Studio
The Design Studio provides the principle source of up-to-date information about the range of emergent outputs and findings from the Jisc Assessment and Feedback Programme. The newly revamped ‘Transforming Assessment and Feedback’ area provides access to a range of themes and topics such as assessment and employability and engaging stakeholders in assessment and feedback as well as a host of project and programme resources. A series of project videos is also available in the Design Studio Youtube Channel.

JISC On Air Radio Show
Driving Change in Assessment and Feedback (December 2012): This edition explores how using technology in assessment and feedback is improving the learning experience for all students as well as contributing to improved graduate employability. Cornwall College, the University of Exeter and the Institute of Education share their approaches and how they are driving change in this area.

Synthesis of programme developments
The most recent synthesis report (November 2012) provides an update on key themes from the programme and progress to date.

Keeping up to date

Blogs: The JISC e-Learning programmes blog provides updates and guest posts on what’s happening across this and other JISC e-Learning programme areas. Each project has their own blog and these have been aggregated in Netvibes.

Twitter: You can follow tweets relating to the Jisc Assessment and Feedback Programme using the hashtag #jiscassess

If you have any questions or queries regarding Jisc’s work around assessment and feedback, please contact Lisa Gray, Programme Manager l.gray@jisc.ac.uk

If you are a Jisc RSC Wales supported organisation and would like to discuss e-assessment please email support@rsc-wales.ac.uk.

Using Tablets and Apps for Assessment and Learner Support

Posted on January 21, 2013 by Russell Symmons

‘Using Tablets and Apps for Assessment and Learner Support’. The speaker, Trevor Eeles from LAGAT Training, a Work Based Learning provider from Lincoln gives a convincing presentation promoting the use of Tablets and Apps in the context of Work Based Learning. During the presentation Trevor speaks about;

Integrating all aspects of assessment through the use of tablets to capture evidence in every form – video, photographs, sound and text.
Learning how to run an on-line induction programme for new learners offering any time anywhere access.
Supporting learners on their own devices to provide improved access to learning resources, guidance and support from any location.
Demonstrating savings in travel costs and carbon footprint.

Click here to view a recording of the webinar http://jagrant0112projectwebinars.webs.com/apps/links/