Phil Devine :: Feeds

A_L_T: In this Edition – Issue 27, June 2012: Aaron Sloman, Honorary Professor of Artificial Intelligence and Cognitive... http://t.co/yyc1xmEn

via Twitter / A_L_T

A_L_T: Call for 2 new Editors for Research in Learning Technology: Image: ... http://t.co/qDoZi869

via Twitter / A_L_T

A_L_T: CMALT webinar for candidates: Date: Monday, June 11, 2012 - ... http://t.co/LaXA5YPF

via Twitter / A_L_T

A_L_T: A Rough Guide To Google Analytics (recording made in Blackboard Collaborate): Barker, Daniel A Rough Guide To Go... http://t.co/45tIPeCW

via Twitter / A_L_T

A Rough Guide To Google Analytics (recording made in Blackboard Collaborate)

Barker, Daniel A Rough Guide To Google Analytics (recording made in Blackboard Collaborate). In: A Rough Guide to Google Analytics.

via ALT Open Access Repository: No conditions. Results ordered -Date Deposited.

Large-scale curriculum redesign where technology plays a central role

Brownes, Howard and Duffy, Ciara and Harrison, Bob and Kilcoyne, Peter and Newman, David and Stubbs, Mark (2012) Large-scale curriculum redesign where technology plays a central role. In: Large-scale curriculum redesign where technology plays a central role, 21 May 2012.

via ALT Open Access Repository: No conditions. Results ordered -Date Deposited.

Podcast: Cookie law next steps - legal expert and university web manager

Podcast Logo Cookie law is now in force in the UK – and we’ve all got a different way of dealing with it. In this podcast, we speak to John X Kelly, lawyer at JISC Legal, for the definitive guide to the law. We also ask Mike Nolan, head of web services at Edge Hill University, to share top tips from his approach.

Listen to the podcast (Duration 8:33)
JISC EMBEDDED OBJECT

Subscribe to the JISC Podcast via RSS

Subscribe to the JISC Podcast via iTunes

Download the podcast

via JISC News Web Feed

John Hayes MP announces new accessibility tools

John Hayes MP, Minister of State for Further Education, Skills and Lifelong Learning launched two new JISC TechDis tools this week as part of our work to improve access to education for all abilities.

The tools TechDis Voices and TechDis Toolbox will improve text to speech and provide a one-stop toolbox of resources, aimed primarily at helping people with disabilities or other difficulties to improve their work and learning.

TechDis voices will improve the computerised voice people hear when they choose to listen to a voice read out text from a device.

The new TechDis voices are two high quality, youthful and modern voices Jack and Jess that can be used with text-to-speech tools.

JISC TechDis have worked with hundreds of learners and the specialist synthetic voice company Cereproc to ensure that Jess and Jack meet high standards.

“Jack’s pronunciation is the best I have heard for a long time. Jess is even better than Jack – brilliant!” says Sid Cameron, assistant manager of Soundwell learning resource centre, City of Bristol College.

Sal Cooke, Director of JISC TechDis says, “We are hoping that Jess and Jack will help bring text-to-speech out of the shadows and into the light of mainstream education provision. There are so many benefits for so many different types of people.”

For instance, this software could help you multitask and listen to texts whilst travelling or exercising. TTS is especially useful for people with print impairments, such as dyslexia, and can also be very helpful to those who are more confident with spoken rather than written English.

The second tool is TechDis Toolbox, a collection of resources which give useful hints and tips on technologies that can help individuals work smarter, quicker and more efficiently.

While written primarily for those with disabilities or difficulties, it is useful for anyone who wants to gain or improve on the skills most valued by employers.

The toolbox explores many common workplace technologies such as Microsoft Office and Google and explains how to get the most out of them. It also suggests different tools for different needs. For example, people with a visual impairment may find screen magnifiers or text-to-speech tools useful; individuals with dyslexia or memory problems might like to use task lists, calendars and reminders.

JISC Techdis decided on the contents of the Toolbox by asking groups of former students “what should your tutor have told you but never did?” Their answers shaped the final resource, so the toolbox now contains bite-size videos, short guides, animations and brief audio files.

The two new tools were announced in Hayes’ plenary speech at the 7^th National Digital Conference.

via JISC News Web Feed

A_L_T: CMALT webinar for assessors: Date: Friday, June 1, 2012 - 12:... http://t.co/bAovbniU

via Twitter / A_L_T

Historic Welsh events online

Flickr: brizzlebornandbred People’s memories of watching television footage of some of the most significant events in Wales from 1950 – 2000, can now be viewed on a new website funded by Jisc for researchers, teachers and the general public.

Historical events such as the Aberfan disaster in 1966, the Miners’ Strike in 1984 and the Queen’s Coronation in 1953 are some of the important events to have been documented and placed on the website, created by Aberystwyth University as part of Jisc's investment in opening up valuable content online.

Paola Marchionni, programme manager at Jisc, said: “The TV audiences that our popular programmes enjoy today is nothing like the peak figures reached by the nation’s favourite programmes in the eighties and nineties. The television was a really key part of our culture. Jisc’s suite of work to support the digitisation of collections like this one and the gathering of people’s memories of these events, shows our commitment to preserving our national treasures and opening them up for the benefit of education and research.”

As well as interviews with contributors and film footage the website, which is called Media and Memory in Wales, also includes maps, documents and photographs.

Working in four areas of Wales – Caernarfon, Carmarthen, the Rhondda and Wrexham – researchers interviewed people about how television affected their lives and the way they saw the world around them at that time.

Professor Iwan Rhys Morus, from the Department of History and Welsh History and leading the project, explains: “The website will be a vital resource for academic researchers, professionals in the media and policy makers. You could easily spend hours searching through the stories that are collected here.If you are inspired to share your own memory of watching these events and of the impact of television on your life, you can contribute to People’s Collection Wales.

“The archive resulting from this project will provide a significant resource for understanding the politics of television. For much of the fifty years in question, television formed a key battleground in struggles for linguistic and national identity.

“The new website includes an extremely important archive which explains the role of television in the lives of Welsh people over fifty years. I am sure there is something of interest to everyone here."

The project was carried out by Aberystwyth University’s History and Welsh History Department with support from project partners Culturenet Cymru.

Other partners are BBC Wales whose footage of the events provided an important spur for peoples’ memories, and the National Screen and Sound Archive at the National Library of Wales where the content will be archived.

Image by brizzlebornandbred on Flickr

via JISC News Web Feed