EUNIS 2005: Workshop

This page contains details of a half-day workshop on "Supporting Technology-Facilitated Learning In The Conference Environment" which was accepted at the EUNIS 2005 Conference.

Workshop Details

Title

Supporting Technology-Facilitated Learning In The Conference Environment

Facilitator's name, affiliation and contact details

Brian Kelly
UKOLN
University of Bath
BATH
UK
BA2 7AY
Email: b.kelly@ukoln.ac.uk
Phone: +44 1225 383943
FAX: +44 1225 386838

Short abstract

The increasing availability of technologies designed for the purposes of computer-mediated communication poses new opportunities and challenges to those working in the higher education community. Tools such as blogs, wikis, instant messaging, etc. are claimed to hold the potential to revolutionise education and research - yet, badly deployed, they may serve only to confuse or act as a poor substitute for traditional methods.

This half day workshop will provide participants with the opportunity to learn when, why and how such technologies can be deployed in the context of conference events. In this interactive workshop session, participants will explore a variety of technologies and frameworks in the frame of actual user requirements. Several issues will be discussed, such as the impact of learning styles and cultures, and the conflict between interoperability factors and user needs.

As a WiFi network will be available during the EUNIS conference itself workshop participants will be well-placed to put into practice the skills they have learnt during the conference itself. This will provide an added incentive to take along a networked computer to the conference.

Objectives

By the end of the session, participants will have gained an appreciation of the various technologies available for computer-mediated communication and will be aware of several potential scenarios for their use, including certain common pitfalls. Depending on the available facilities, participants may also gain hands-on experience of these technologies during the workshop, which is itself envisaged to be supported by online resources and discussion.

Requirements

The workshop will take place in a PC cluster room. Each participant will have their own PC for use during the workshop.

Accompanying Materials

Participants will receive copies of PowerPoint slides, exercises and briefing papers as part of the workshop pack.

About The Facilitator

Brian Kelly gave a keynote presentation at the UCISA Management Conference held at the G-Mex International Conference Centre, Manchester (the location of the EUNIS 2005 Conference) on "What Can Internet Technologies Offer?" [1]. In his talk, which addressed the issues in the proposed workshop, he suggested that at future UCISA events held in venues such as the G-Mex, that the conference organisers should encourage use of the venue's WiFi network to further the conference's aims.
Brian subsequently organised a highly successful joint UKOLN/UCISA workshop [2] on this theme in which networked applications such as instant messaging, Blog, Wikis, etc. where used during the workshop.

CV

Brian Kelly is an adviser on Web standards and technologies to the UK Higher and Further Education Communities and the museums, libraries and archives sector. Brian became active in Web development in the early days of the Web, having helped establish a Web site at the University of Leeds in January 1993. He immediately saw the potential of the Web and became a early pioneer and advocate of the Web. Brian joined UKOLN in 1996 and has been active in promoting use of Web standards and best practices since then, initially within the higher and further education communities, but now also to the cultural heritage sector.

References

1. What Can Internet Technologies Offer?, UCISA 2004 Management Conference, G-Mex International Conference Centre, Manchester, March 2004
   <http://www.ukoln.ac.uk/web-focus/events/conferences/ucisa-2004/>
2. Beyond Email - Strategies For Collaborative Working In The 21st Century, UCISA WLF / UKOLN Workshop, Nov 2004, <http://www.ukoln.ac.uk/web-focus/events/workshops/ucisa-wlf-2004-11/>

Timetable

The draft timetable is given below.

Note On Technologies

In this session we intend to make use of a Jabber virtual room. We will use the name eunis-2005-kelly.