Call for NDLR LInCS (Learning Innovation Community Support) Project Funding 2010

The NDLR (National Digital Learning Resources) is delighted to announce the call for applications to fund projects supporting the development of learning resources /materials for the NDLR Users over the next eight months (June – November 2010).

Further details and the application form are available from the newly launched NDLR website. The deadline for applications is the Friday 28th May 2010.

Funds will be available from 18th June to:
(a) Support projects that will create learning resources and
(b) Generate use and activity around these learning resources and the repository and portal.

The outputs of these projects will be showcased at a major NDLR event at the end of 2010.

Bids should focus on short, practical projects with clear identifiable outputs (i.e. resources and examples of use and reuse). The outputs of these projects should aim to actively progress and support the realisation of the new and dynamic streamlined SMART CoP model ( new CoPs and/or mergers between existing CoPs) over the next six months.

FAQ and a screencast with details for completing these forms are available on the NDLR portal (http://www.ndlr.ie). If you have any queries about the application form or the process for completion, please do not hesitate to contact the NDLR team at info@ndlr.ie.

Astell ddu Confernce Adolyga - Blackboard Conference 2010

Just back from the Blackboard Teaching and Learning 2010 in Swansea, Wales held from 12-14 April. If your idea of fun is seeing: how a Saudi university was built in 1000 days; how Welsh bilingual medium provision is being supported through technology-enhanced learning; or just watching a video of Blackboard employees dressed up as ladybirds and bees to articulate their common goal of ensuring highest quality standards (getting rid of bugs!!!), this was the place to be.

I presented a review of an NUIG 3-year project that aimed to embed Blackboard and other learning technologies as core mainstream technology-enhanced functions on behalf of our project team. Many international colleagues are in the same boat, so it was great chance for information and resource exchange after the presentation.

Blackboard had their US product development team onsite to present Blackboard v9.1, plus a number of new products such as Blackboard Connect (mass notification system), Blackboard Mobile, and Xythos (a content repository system acquired by Blackboard). Some interesting new features in Blackboard 9.1 including blogs, wikis and journals, although my impression is that many institutions are continuing to stick with Blackboard v8 until summer 2011.

Only myself and Ken Lacey from DIT were present from the Irish contingent, but we'll be feeding our observations back to the next meeting of the Irish WebCT/Blackboard Users' Group in due course.

The best session? 'Blended Learning: Principles and Planning Tools' by Richard Walker, University of York. Brilliant.

NDLR Fest 2010

On Wednesday the NDLR held their annual Fest in The Trinity Science Gallery. The day was a great success with many interesting presentations on the excellent projects that individuals and institutions have been working on over the past year. Many of the presenters showcased the RLOs they've been developing and there was a chance to speak with them and view the RLOs they have created. There was also a poster session held that gave everyone a chance to get up-to-date on what various NDLR CoPs are getting up to.

The event was attended by individual academics, groups of academics who have been working collaboratively through various NDLR initiatives and key stakeholders in the Irish HE sector.

Andrew Flaus and Oisín Keeley from the Dept. of Biochemistry at NUIG showcased the fantastic RLOs that they've created as part of a project to develop learning tools that would enable students to grasp conceptually difficult scientific topics and techniques and to create some new assets to aid revision and study for exams.

By coincidence there was a beautiful exhibition installed in the Science Gallery.
The Hyperbolic Crochet Coral Reef (A Woolly Wonder) was really amazing and we got a chance to take a look around at the exhibition. If you're in Dublin between now and June you should certainly make time to pop in and see it.

Irish Human Computer Interaction (iHCI) Conference - Call for Papers

For the fourth year in succession, the iHCI conference is inviting papers on a wide range of topics, including submissions exploring, discussing or challenging the many boundaries within our community today: the traditional boundaries between academia and industry; the physical boundaries which influence our work; the boundaries between creativity and code; the boundaries between research and real-world use; and the boundaries between 'traditional' desktop systems and mobile, tangible, or ambient interaction; and pushing boundaries into novel or challenging spaces. The event takes place at Dublin City University on September 2-3 2010.

Contributions are also welcome that include, but are not limited to, any of the following topics of interest:
- Accessibility & Universal Access
- Case studies
- Collaboration, groupware and social networks
- Context-aware systems
- Ethnographical and field studies
- Evaluation methods and frameworks
- Group interaction, collaboration and social media
- Human-centred design practices, tools and methods
- HCI Theory and Practice
- Information visualization and presentation techniques
- Novel user interfaces, interaction techniques and technologies
- Mobile, Ambient, Augmented or Tangible HCI
- Multimodal interaction and interfaces
- Interaction in multi-cultural settings
- Ubiquitous, pervasive, and mobile interaction
- User-centred design
- Usability investigation and evaluation
- Wearable computing, smart clothes, new devices and sensors

The iHCI 2010 Programme will follow the theme by including an Industry Session (Co-Ordinated by the IxDA Dublin and Limerick Groups), a Student Forum, a Poster and Demos Showcase. We are also delighted to announce that Professor Richard Harper (Microsoft Research Cambridge) will deliver the opening keynote address.

Contributions that advance the theory or practice of any aspect of HCI are welcome. This includes for example theoretical papers, practice case studies, empirical evaluation and methodological work. The conference proceedings will contain all papers (Full, Short, Student, Demos and Poster overviews) and will be published with an ISBN. This will also be made available online.

Web: http://www.clarity-centre.org/iHCI2010/index.html 
Follow the event on twitter (@iHCI2010) for regular updates.