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Social-learning mash-up?

I was sent a link this week to an application within Facebook, CourseFeed. This is a small application that integrates your Virtual Learning Environment with Facebook. At the moment it seems to support Blackboard® only, with some limited functionality for others.

The full app when used with Blackboard® allows (using their words not mine):

• Course Wall
• File storage for Course Notes, etc.
• Course feed display of what’s new posted by others.
• Connect with others in the course.
• Profile display to let friends know when you’re in class.
• See everyone in your course – guaranteed accurate course roster.
• View all Blackboard® course materials without leaving Facebook
• Course feed shows when professor posts announcements, files, etc. to Blackboard®.
• View all announcements, new or old, in the announcements area.
• One-click access into Blackboard® and auto-navigation that takes you right to the item. No hunting!

This may be the articulation of something that has always been there in face-to-face education, a nexus between students’ social activity – formal learning – informal learning – peer group exchanges. Potentially a great step forward for electronic environments?

Conversations with students in various surveys over the last few months suggest a different picture. Whilst it is by no means clear-cut, there is a feeling amongst students that they would like ‘private space’, and there as also been some negative publicity around, for example, Facebook, where “university authorities are using the Facebook website to gain evidence about unruly post-exam pranks”.

Kim Carey of Pepperdine University poses the question:

“Does anyone think giving your university id & password to a third party is a good idea?”

Any thoughts or comments? This could be an application that might really help learning, but what about privacy?

7 things to do in Education with Web 2.0

I recently read an article by Laurel Delaney about small businesses marketing within the social software environment. It tells the story of ‘Sidney’ a web designer who reinvigorated her business by using existing social networks and web 2.0 technologies. My immediate thought was how this can be applied to educational projects and individuals (ignoring the teaching aspects – I suspect that will be a much longer post and better done by other people). Taking the approach that I normally abhor I looked first at the tool or technology and sought out an application for it. During the course of doing this I discovered that in each of them there was already someone using it in that way, unsurprisingly! So here’s a short list of five, some of them are platform specific (apologies) some are generic, and if you know of any others please post them in the comments, I’ll post a further list at a later date.

1. Facebook, love it or loathe it, for now it’s here. The premise of Facebook is simple a social network of people interacting for ‘fun’. However, one colleague has used this as a tool for eliciting feedback on a tool he’s been developing. Another example is Edge Hill University who have a closed (private) network on Facebook for their staff with 2,087 members.
2. Instant Messaging (IM). This is one that immediately springs to mind for my practice and this article is a good example. During the writing of it I used my IM client to elicit comments from colleagues; one of them came back and immediately gave me the example of this article! One of things that I understand is effective is the group IM chat where a record of the conversation can be used to create quick action points. One project told me that they often use IM during meetings as a way of clarifying things that were said without interrupting the flow of the meeting.
3. Slideshare.  More than just a presentation tool, this allows for interaction and discussion. The colleague who alerted me to it regularly presents material at a variety of universities and uses Slideshare as a way of providing a ‘copy of the slides’ without wasting paper. It also allows him to use the discussion function to allow questions there was not time for in the session and eliciting comments from peers prior to presentation. It also allows you to provide a simple online resource for anyone to access: do a search for federated access management and you’ll find an excellent presentation (http://www.slideshare.net/rsc_southeast/federated-access-management-jisc-presentation) given to a small audience at a Regional Support Centre Event but which as been now viewed 459 times (at time of writing).
4. Googledocs, “to be honest it could be any interactive writing tool but I like the format” was the comment that stood out. This colleague needed an easy shareable and ‘familiar’ tool that she can share potential research proposals on and refine them with colleagues whilst maintaining a log of what’s been changed. Simple and effective, as an aside I asked if she had got any successful proposals yet – “no comment!”
5. Flickr. A personal repository for storing, sharing and discussing your photos and images. One of my favourite uses is for presentations: instead of using text heavy powerpoints do a search for the keywords or concepts you’re looking for in the advanced search (you can select to search only those images that have an creative commons licence). Try doing a search for web 2.0, community or Emerge in the tags only section.
6. Personalised Homepage (www.google.co.uk/ig or www.netvibes.com). These tools are great if you need to assimilate information. All of the projects within the U&I programme use RSS feeds and report regularly using their blogs etc, I just aggregate them all on to one page using www.google.co.uk/ig and I get a great snapshot of what the projects are up to. I also get my email, calendar and news from other blogs that I’m interested in (I also get news about rare birds and my football team).
7. Meetomatic. For me this is one of the key tools in my job, it’s a way of organising a meeting date – select the dates you need, email the link, identify any ‘must attends’ or ‘VIPs’ and wait for the responses. Simple to use, does one thing and does it well, and it’s free.

Got a favourite tool? – tell us about it! 

Technology and language: a plea for calm…

Over the past 18 months I’ve been immersed in activities with staff across the UK higher education sector looking at technology that is characterised as web 2.0. Purely from anecdotal evidence it is, to me, becoming apparent that some of us are not speaking the same language as the practitioners that we seek to influence.

In the past there have been barriers up to technology through the use of jargon, in my early days of going to e-learning conferences I would sit and listen and wonder in awe at the intense technical discussions, wishing that I was part of the group that was trading the jokes about lines of code. Then the same people would stand in front of a room of practitioners and make the same joke, and watch as only 2 or 3 people laughed. We see it in other communities - the staff and educational developers can be an imposing community with their discussions, throwing knowing looks and muttering “kolb”, “metacognition” or “constructivism”.  And when this community meets the technology community we end up with “m-learning” and “e-tivities” and other invented terms.

With the advent of the technologies characterised by web 2.0, we have a new subset of terms being applied. But this time we are not only providing a barrier by the use of the terms but in the nature of the terms. Glynis Cousin recently suggested that commercial companies in learning and teaching understood this and used logos and metaphors for technology in teaching to make practitioners feel comfortable, for example WebCT’s little character in a mortar board resonates with a teacher, making them feel that it is technology but grounded in their experience.

But there are some of us that have applied the language and metaphors in ways which challenge practitioners in a, perhaps, negative way. These range from the simple assertion that ‘you’ as a practitioner had better do it because you will have to at some point anyway, such as “Dave Cormier’s “Blogging: not ‘if’ but when and where”, to the application of terms that are wholly inappropriate such as ‘disruptive’ technologies. The latter term implies that the application of the technology will enforce disruption on practice, having pushed the term, we then try and retrofit a learning activity into it.

So why do we do this? Is it because we seek to change and challenge practice through the application of pressure through language? Or is because we like the idea of cool and radical new terms? Certainly ‘disruptive technologies’ sounds cooler than “using technology to enhance real-time collaboration in a classroom”, or “e-tivities” rather than “activities that are carried out online”.

Working with the diverse U&I community (a group that includes teachers, researchers, librarians, learning technologists, administrators and people in a range of other roles) it became apparent that we as the U&I community needed to communicate exactly what we meant, not only from a technical perspective but also from a (sub)community context (such as library or research). One of the things that I identified people NOT doing was using language as a weapon, a way of forming cliques or to confuse people. The language used was, largely, inclusive and simple and this seemed to enable ad hoc communities to develop quickly and easily.  

Have a view – post a comment

Web 2.0 Briefing Paper

For the Association for Learning Technology conference 2007 I was asked to prepare a short Web 2.0 briefing paper. Limited to 2 pages this has not been an easy task, the paper can be found at http://www.jisc.org.uk/publications/publications/web2socialsoftwarev1.aspx. However below is a longer version with live links.

The terms Web 2.0 and social software are now used widely in the education sector. While often difficult to determine an exact definition, with
many new tools and applications released on a regular basis, most commentators agree that these terms apply to a set of characteristics in the context of the internet and applications served over it.

Web 2.0 and social software in education
As broadband becomes more affordable and widely available, and the relative price of hardware calls, many more people are finding it easier
to access rich content and interaction on the internet. Whilst there is currently limited research into the level of use by students and potential
students, anecdotal evidence suggests that not only is it being used widely, but the perception of it is also shifting. Many students seem to see
the use of the tools in their workflow not as an additional overhead, but as an integral part of ‘their world’.

Case studies indicate that whilst content is accessed on virtual learning environments (VLE), courses and modules are also discussed in a
variety of other media, such as instant messaging tools (MSN and Skype) and social networks (Facebook). In addition there is also a growth
in the use of these tools to support distributed research groups, including online research
groups in biomedical, cancer, physics and many other disciplines.

Many of these tools can bring benefits in a range of ways:

• Using instant messaging to conduct tutorials at a distance with a distributed group
• Providing easier opportunities for students to collaborate, and make word of mouth recommendations about sites including, or
  related to, course content
• Allowing students to create their own interest groups allied to their studies
• Allowing students to interact with students from different universities and countries
• Providing researchers with ways to share results faster and with opportunities for instant
  feedback
• Allowing the formation of ad hoc research groups
• Providing a way of having material peer reviewed by a broad audience before publication

There’s always a but…

However, when using these types of tools for their practice, staff should be aware and beware of some of the key issues.

Intellectual property rights and copyright

Intellectual property rights (IPR) are core to many of the issues around content.

• Material that is placed on most sites will be accessible to a wide audience: are you happy that everyone can see it, access it and potentially use it without your permission?
  Make sure you are entitled to place the material on the site: for example do you own the copyright? Do you have a licence to use the
  content and place it on a public website?
• Check the terms and conditions; one popular application states:

‘All content on the Site and available through the Service, including but not limited to designs, text, graphics, pictures, video, information, applications, software, music, sound and other files, and their selection and arrangement (the ‘Site Content’), are the proprietary property of the Company, its users or its licensors with all rights reserved.’

System stability

With literally hundreds of sites and applications being released it is difficult to know which to use and what will persist; consider:

• How reliable is the service?
• How often has the site been unavailable?
• What happens to your material if the site ceases to exist?
• Can all students gain access, or does the site require high specification machines or have a cost associated with it?

Branding

Design, look and feel play a big part of the Web 2.0 movement. Consider:

• Some sites, such as Flickr and YouTube, allow you to embed images and videos into your own pages as long as they link back to the host site,
  meaning that students clicking on the video will be taken to the host site
• The use of some of the tools allows users to create their own look and feel; if the site is being used as a teaching enhancement or
  supplement, the person who has developed the site may deviate from guidance given at an institutional level, diluting the corporate brand
• Some sites are prone to extreme views or may attract inappropriate attention; users should monitor the site carefully, especially where comments can be left, such as blogs (these can be used for spam postings to various sites including those of an adult nature)

Interoperability

What if you have content in YouTube, Slideshare and Facebook? Can you cross-search it, use it in various ways coherently to support whatever task you’re engaged in, or build it into managed activities?

Preservation

If you want to keep this material, Web 2.0 services may not be the best option. Data backup is
important, but it needs to go deeper than this: if this content is to be managed and retained over time, then serious planning needs to go into the
environment in which that happens.

You, Web 2.0 and students

We are most often alerted to the tools and sites associated with Web 2.0 by students themselves. However, that doesn’t mean they are ubiquitous in student circles. Before using such tools consider:

• Can the tools you are using be accessed by all students, for example can a blind, deaf or dyslexic student access content appropriately?
• Is it appropriate for a member of staff to have access to the site, or is it a site that is aimed at ‘students only’?
• Do the students want you there? Would you follow them to the student’s union and listen to their conversations?

You and Web 2.0: next steps

Before applying a Web 2.0 or social software solution to your practice you should ask yourself the following questions:

• Does my institution already have a solution for what I want to do? It’s worth not only talking to IT support or staff and educational development units, but also asking your colleagues whether they have needed the same facility. A supported, resourced internal
  solution will probably serve you better than an unresourced, unsupported, beta version of something in the Web 2.0 community.
• Are there solutions at other institutions? JISC have funded many innovative technologies and approaches that have been deployed across
  the education sector - would one of these technologies fit your need?
• What are the risks? Do these risks put you, your work or your students in difficult situations? Take each of the situations and write down a risk assessment. Think about privacy, data protection and copyright conditions, and provide students with advice also.

Finally, if you decide to use a Web 2.0 technology make sure that you back up all of your data in a safe place.

Further Information and Resources

JISC Users and Innovations programme Looking at a range of new and emerging technologies and the issues that surround them, including IPR, accessibility and good practice models.

TechWatch Social Software briefing paper

Web 2.0 for Content for Learning and Teaching in Higher Education report

Secure personal institutional and inter-institutional repository environment (SPIRE)

Personal Repositories Online: WIKI Environment (PROWE)

Supporting Document for Circular 02/07

In appendix F of Circular 02/07 reference is made to the Users and Innovation Development Model (UIDM) Guide. The document is attached to this post.

For any other all other questions please contact the person name in the appropriate circular.

UIDM Guide

Next Generation Environments Conference, Linda Creanor and Ross Graham

New Technology from both the learning and teaching perspectives, Linda Creanor and Ross Graham

Linda and Ross will be looking at the teaching and student experiences

Next Generation Environments Conference, Dave Cormier

Development, Deployment and Take-up of New Technology, Dave Cormier

Dave will be reflecting on the experience of the implementation of new technologies at the University of Prince Edward Island.

JISC Capital Circular

The third circular for proposals under JISC’s capital programme is issued today and includes seven calls in the areas of e-Learning, e-Infrastructure, and Repositories and Preservation, as well as a cross-programme call. The calls total £5.3m worth of funding for development across higher and further education in England and Wales.

Proposals may be submitted by HE institutions funded via HEFCE and HEFCW, and by FE institutions in England that teach HE to more than 400 FTEs. However, HE institutions in Scotland and Northern Ireland should note that SFC and DEL are contributing to the programme area on institutional exemplars so that in this particular case HEIs in Scotland and Northern Ireland are eligible to bid for this strand. HE institutions in Scotland and Northern Ireland can be project partners in the other areas within the call but are only eligible to lead a bid in the institutional exemplars area. 

The deadline for receipt of proposals in response to this call is 12:00 noon on Thursday 21 June 2007. Funding is available for projects starting in September/October 2007 for up to 18 months depending on the area of work. All projects must be complete by the end of March 2009. The full version of the circular describes the funding available in each area and can be found at: Circular

A briefing event will be held in Birmingham on Wednesday 9 May 2007 to provide a forum for discussion of the call and its subject matter. Institutions will need to register to attend this free event, using the form available at: Briefing Day

This third circular follows the announcement of around £15m worth of funding through the second circular issued last October.

Next Generation Environments Conference, Simon Whittemore

Supporting Institutions’ Collaboration and Engagement with the Wider Community, Simon Whittemore

Higher Education’s impact on the community in which it exists is becoming more important, Simon will be looking at the role that new technologies can have in supporting this aspect of and institutional strategy.

Next Generation Environments Conference, Derek Jones

The Industry Perspective, Derek Jones

Derek will be outlining how Blackboard will be responding to the changing Higher Education Landscape, both locally and globally.

Next Generation Environments Conference, Sarah Porter

The JISC Perspective, Sarah Porter

Sarah will be outlining the work of the JISC Development Group and the impact that it is having at an institutional level. Lawrie Phipps will also outline the new JISC Users and Innovation Programme.

Next Generation Environments Conference, Peter Hartley

Professor Peter Hartley, New Technology and the Modern University

Thanks to new technology, we now live in an age of ‘perpetual contact’. Many staff and students are carrying in their pockets devices with the computing power which only a few years ago would have been regarded as a respectable desktop. And these devices have become the electronic equivalent of the Swiss Army Knife with an ever-increasing array of integrated functions. Given this rate and pace of change, how can and should modern Universities respond and develop within limited resources? This session will consider what we can (and what we cannot) safely predict in the application of new technology to learning, identify major issues and barriers to future development, and suggest potential ways forward.

Next Generation Environments Conference, Malcolm Read

Dr Malcolm Read, The JISC Strategic Mission and Priorities

Malcolm will be opening the conference welcoming delegates and outlining the JISC Strategic Mission and Aims.

To provide world-class leadership in the innovative use of ICT, to support education and research

• To deliver innovative and sustainable ICT infrastructure, services and practice that support institutions in meeting their missions.
• To promote the development, uptake and effective use of ICT to support learning and teaching.
• To promote the development, uptake and effective use of ICT to support research.
• To promote the development, uptake and effective use of ICT to support the management of institutions
• To develop and implement a programme to support institutions’ engagement with the wider community.
• Continuing to improve JISC’s own working practices.

Next Generation Environments Conference

This event is at Aston Business School, 27th April 2007. Although the event is almost at capacity there is a list in case we have cancellations. In addition there will be a discussion about the presentations online, details will be on this Blog during 27th.

Programme of Speakers

New Technology and the Modern University - Peter Hartley, Head of Teaching Quality Enhancement Group, University of Bradford.

The impact of new technology, and approaches to its use, on the future of the modern university.

The JISC perspective - Sarah Porter, Head of Development, JISC

JISC’s role in the changing higher education landscape.

The Industry perspective – Derek Jones, Solutions Engineer, Blackboard Commercial

How the industry is responding to the ever-evolving needs of institutions and academics.

Supporting Institutions’ Collaboration and Engagement with the Wider Community - Simon Whittemore, Programme Manager, Business and Community Engagement, JISC

The role of new technologies and environments in business and community engagement.

The Development, Deployment and Take-up of New Technology: Challenges and Inspirations - Dave Cormier, University of Prince Edward Island, Canada

A reflection on the experiences of the implementation of technologies at the University of Prince Edward Island.

Technology from both the Learning and Teaching perspectives – Linda Creanor, ALT, and Ross Graham, final year student, Glasgow Caledonian University

An individual learner’s experience, and overcoming barriers to accessing new technologies.

Interested in e-portfolios

I don’t intend this blog to be used as a means to advertise events, but as appropriate, relevant events and workshops appear I will alert the U&I community to them as a means of perhaps building the existing networks. So with that in mind if anyone is interested in doing work with portfolios I’d suggest having a look at this conference as a way of creating links with exitsing practitioners and as a way of learning of some of the good practice in the sector. (Lawrie Phipps)

Telling more Stories: real users, real eportfolios

Wednesday, 20 June, 2007

University of Wolverhampton
Following on from the very successful event held last year we are hosting another ‘Telling Stories’ conference. (see feedback)

This eportfolio conference will focus on real eportfolio users who are the authors or recipients of eportfolio stories. A diverse range of speakers will share their experiences of using eportfolios to support their learning and achievement. At last year’s conference delegates witnessed inspiring work from contexts as diverse as primary school through to university education and from personal stories of learning to workplace stories of development. Well over half of the speakers last year were students - something we will seek to achieve again this year.

If you or your students have an eportfolio story* to tell we would welcome a
submission from you (see below).

The conference will cover three main themes:

• eportfolios for assessment and transition
• eportfolios for learning and teaching
• eportfolios for personal development planning and continuing professional development

Each theme will have four sessions giving delegates a choice of 4 from 12 sessions as well as 4 informative presentations from invited speakers.

This is emphatically not a technical event but rather an opportunity to share real experience of real eportfolios.

For more information, for a submission template or to book a place please
visit the (evolving) Telling Stories website.

A Degree in Social Computing

For an interesting read this weeend I had a look at Dave Cormier’s synthesis posting about the University of Michigan’s degree in Social Computing. It does have some resonance, perhaps, with the media coverage of some of the degrees, for example in Surf Science. However, scratching a little deeper reveals a good multi-disciplinary degree with some sound principles underpinning it. Have a look and perhaps join the debate on Dave’s site.

Some Second Life Resources

I’ve been putting off writing a post highlighting some of the Second Life (SL) activities that we (in the U&I programme) have identified. However, Andy Powell of Eduserve posted an excellent overview of SL, with some of the myths and misconceptions highlighted and we thought it was worth sharing.

In addition there are few other resources out there including a short promo video from Thomson NETg and how they are using SL.

And finally there is an excellent piece by Charles Nesson on how they are using SL at the Harvard Business School.

We’ll be publishing some of the information from UK SL resources in the near future.

Media from the e-Framework modelling workshop

This event was held on 12th February, the media from the event, a rich collection of presentations, recordings and other documents are available on the JISC website. Of particular note I would recommend that Bill Olivier’s overview and presentation.

What is Web 2.0? Ideas, technologies and implications for education

Within 15 years the Web has grown from a group work tool for scientists at CERN into a global information space with more than a billion users. Currently, it is both returning to its roots as a read/write tool and also entering a new, more social and participatory phase. These trends have led to a feeling that the Web is entering a ‘second phase’—a new, ‘improved’ Web version 2.0. But how justified is this perception?

This TechWatch report, What is Web 2.0? Ideas, technologies and implications for education, was commissioned to investigate the substance behind the hyperbole surrounding ‘Web 2.0’. It reports on the implications this may have for the UK Higher and Further Education sector, with a special focus on collection and preservation activities within libraries. The report establishes that Web 2.0 is more than a set of ‘cool’ and new technologies and services, important though some of these are. It has, at its heart, a set of at least six powerful ideas that are changing the way some people interact. Secondly, it is also important to acknowledge that these ideas are not necessarily the preserve of ‘Web 2.0’, but are, in fact, direct or indirect reflections of the power of the network: the strange effects and topologies at the micro and macro level that a billion Internet users produce.

The report argues that by separating out the discussion of Web technologies (ongoing Web development overseen by the W3C), from the more recent applications and services (social software), and attempts to understand the manifestations and adoption of these services (the ‘big ideas’), decision makers will find it easier to understand and act on the strategic implications of ‘Web 2.0’. Indeed, analysing the composition and interplay of these strands provides a useful framework for understanding its significance.

The full report can be downloaded from the ‘published reports’ section of the TechWatch website at: http://www.jisc.ac.uk/techwatch.

Introducing service oriented approach (animation)

The e-Framework is a major international initiative, undertaken by JISC and partner organisations, and is designed to provide a means by which education organisations can ensure that the components of their IT systems work together, or interoperate, and that their development is driven by strategic need rather than by purely technical considerations or short term expediency.  The benefits of such an approach are potentially significant in terms of better value for money when purchasing or developing IT systems, the increased ability of organisations to adapt, to change their systems to meet changing priorities and to plan effectively.

The ‘service-oriented approach’, is being increasingly adopted across all sectors and one which JISC and partners in the e-Framework initiative are exploring in terms of its applicability to education and research.

Communicating what the service oriented approach is, how its benefits can be realised and how it departs from earlier approaches, isn’t always straightforward. The problem of IT jargon doesn’t help either. 

A new animation, developed by JISC, addresses this issue by providing, in a straightforward, non-technical and entertaining way, the key elements of a service oriented approach and its application to education and research. It ends by introducing the international e-Framework initiative, and how it seeks to support colleges and universities.

To find out more and to view the animation, please go to: e-Framework animation

Scenario Planning Workshops: March 07

JISC Users and Innovation Scenario Planning workshop

The JISC Users and Innovation programme will be holding two one day workshops in March. The workshops will be looking at scenario planning and its use in identifying new technologies and their potential impact on education. The purpose of the event is to inform the development of a Scenario Toolkit to support the programme (and wider community planning), and also to shape the scenarios that will initially be presented as potential futures to projects working on the JISC Capital Programme.

The process being used is scenario planning and the day will be facilitated by CiBIT, an organisation that specialises in scenario planning and has worked with major organisations within the European Community in both education and industry.

Workshop dates and Venues

Friday, 9th March 2007, Royal Horticultural Halls

Thursday, 22nd March 2007, CBI Conference Centre

Spaces for these workshops are limited but if you would like to attend please email Lawrie Phipps, the Users and Innovation Programme Manager.

Next Generation and Emergent Technologies: Web 2.0 and Social Software - What do we mean?

The Users and Innovation (U&I) programme’s remit is to explore what has been referred to as ‘next generation or emergent technologies’. The terms ‘web 2.0′ and ’social software’ fall witin this programme context and will also be explored durng the programme.

This posting is here to outline how the U&I Team defines these terms within our programme context. We are using the approach that many web 2.0 commentators have taken, which is to set down the following characteristics as articulating what we mean by the terms, rather than one definitive statement.

• The web as a platform, allowing an application to be delivered and used through a web browser, for example tools such as online word processors or spreadsheets;
• Things that think, for example embedding computers into the education or research environment through the use of commonplace mobile and/or entertainment devices, thereby enabling people to interact with the technology naturally and casually wherever they are;
• An architecture of participation, in other words the system has been designed to encourage and support users in contributing to it; an example is the application of wiki software being used for the generation of collaborative documents;
• Data consumption and remixing from other sources, particularly user-generated data; often these are referred to as mash-ups, where content is often sourced from third parties via an API (Application Programming Interface). There are currently a plethora of mash-ups to be found on the web, utilising anything from local directory listings and web-based mapping software to photographic libraries to generate reviews of events or places;
• A rich, interactive, user-friendly interface, where the needs and perspective of the individual user are a priority;
• Elements of social networking. Whilst not necessarily a requisite, the social elements of these technologies are important in generating the engagement and user data.

We also hope, as the programme progresses, that we’ll be able to refine and add to these in order to create a much richer understanding of the terms and the applications of the technologies.

Happy New Year

Happy 2007! The programme activity is gearing up for the Spring, with a interviews being held on January 18th for the support projects for the Community aspects of the programme. Once these are in place successful projects under the e-admin strand and applicants to the Next Generation Technologies strand will be notifed.  There is already much interest in the programme and Alice Gugan, from the JISC Comms Team, has written a piece about the programme for the next issue of JISC Inform.

The Programme is also preparing for two more Scenario Planning Workshops, these will be held on 9th and 22nd March - Venue to be confirmed.

Welcome to the Users and Innovation Blog

This blog will be maintained by the Users and Innovation (U&I) programme team. The primary focus of the blog will be to communicate with the U&I community, providing a range of information about technology and education, JISC programme management issues, new technologies and news.