A_L_T: A new Chief Executive for ALT - http://t.co/OmLJr1H4
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A_L_T: Taking shape steadily on the ALT wiki: pages about Agile Learning http://t.co/0Aiy7DKh
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A new tool launched by Cardiff University’s information services directorate and JISC allows people to assess the popularity and use of e-resources so they continue to deliver value for money.
Eileen Brandreth, director of university IT at Cardiff, said: “I am confident that Raptor will make a real difference to education institutions looking to maximise value from investments in e-resources. The information that Raptor provides will enable institutions and individual Academic Schools to assess the best value and most useful e-resource subscriptions for their students and researchers.”
People using Raptor can produce statistics on e-resource use whenever they are needed in as much detail as they require - for example, usage by an individual university department.
Chris Brown, JISC e-Research Programme Manager, added: “The Raptor tool has successfully gone through beta testing and incorporated user feedback prior to the release of this version, which is ready for production deployment. With universities looking at the potential cost savings and efficiencies, the Raptor tool provides valuable statistics on resource usage. It can analyse a variety of log files and present important information, not only promptly, but most importantly, in an easy to understand and visual way.”
The fully-released Raptor system lets institutions view usage statistics from different access management systems in use across the education sector.
Chris added: “The team at Cardiff have used their wealth of experience in this area to build a tool that is easy to install, use and is extremely powerful.”
The launch of the tool follows the JISC webinar on the Journal Usage Support Portal which can also help librarians assess their subscriptions.
The Raptor system focuses particularly on federated access systems, where online resources request access authorisation from the ‘home’ institution of the visitor, resulting in easier single sign-on access for users.
Raptor is also now available for both Linux and Windows servers, further widening the potential audience.
Millennials will benefit and suffer due to their hyperconnected lives | Pew: http://t.co/XeW5MLp9 #msel #mscidel
A_L_T: Learning with Technology – What the Research says: The London Knowledge Lab in collaboration with University o... http://t.co/9Aapbx0Z
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A_L_T: We've published a Web-based version of Sugata Mitra's "Self Organised Learning Environment" School Support Pack http://t.co/5tNWQyKY
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A_L_T: ALT News Issue 26: Sugata Mitra, The Self Organised Learning Environment (SOLE) School Support Pack - http://t.co/wt27QrNr
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A_L_T: ALT News Issue 26: Scott Hennessy, Mobile Publishing with Jutoh - http://t.co/hxMdJUml
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A_L_T: ALT News Issue 26: Terumi Miyazoe, Getting the Mix Right Once Again: A Peek into the Interaction Equivalency Theorem... http://t.co/nfXO4f1c
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A_L_T: ALT News Issue 26: Amber Thomas, A Story of (O)pen - http://t.co/QYtm8Brk
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A_L_T: We've published a Web-based version of Sugata Mitra's "Self Organised Learning Environment" School Support Pack http://t.co/Nsv14Slx
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The broadest single collection of historical maps from around the world is now available online.
The JISC-funded Old Maps Online, described by its creators as like Google for old maps, will act as a central repository to a vast collection of maps held by institutions across the globe. It is the first time that access to such an extensive collection has been made available online.
"By customising existing technology Old Maps Online makes it easy for everybody to find and compare maps through time in a highly visual way without the need for specialist knowledge. JISC is supporting a big step towards widening access to and use of these fascinating resources.”
The service, hosted by the university of Portsmouth, launches with over 60,000 maps which will double by the end of the year.
Project director, the university of Portsmouth’s Dr Humphrey Southall, said: “Our obsession with the past includes an innate curiosity about how the world around us looked, and the sheer global reach of this collection is what sets it apart and makes it unique. But historical records must be accessible in order to be useful. Having a single point of entry to a repository of this scale offers historians and the general public a gateway to some of the most fascinating images from history.”
The site incorporates access to collections at the British Library, the National Library of Scotland, the Moravian Library in the Czech Republic and the prestigious David Rumsey Collection in California.
Adam Farquhar, head of digital scholarship at the British Library, said: "The Old Maps Online project brings together our cartographic heritage digitally in one place. It supports both researchers and the wider public, aligning beautifully with the strategic goals of the British Library."
Other collections to be added later this year include those from Harvard University, the New York Public Library, the National Library of Wales, the Bodleian Library at Oxford and several major European libraries.
Visit Old Maps Online to search maps by placename, date or collectionAll photos copyright David Rumsey collection
A_L_T: Book for free [REF-related] Seminar “How can we demonstrate the impact of learning technology research?” #ltrimpact http://t.co/S5Z5KC6T
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A_L_T: Your ALT Newsletter needs You!: Being a membership organisation, the quality of what we can do for our members i... http://t.co/2KRPUds3
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Today JISC is announcing how, by bringing the leadership from across JISC into a more cohesive structure supported and enabled by the creation of a legal entity, it will reshape itself for the future.
“This is the start of an exciting future for JISC,” said Professor Martyn Harrow, Head of JISC. “We are determined to continue and develop our crucial role in supporting UK colleges and universities and skills providers, keep at the forefront of best practice. This has never been more important than now at a time of tighter funding and unprecedented challenges to the sectors.”
The changes are designed to provide a firm footing for the organisation as it responds to the recommendations made in the Wilson Review in JISC which was published in February 2011. The Review was commissioned by the Higher Education Funding Council for England (HEFCE) in response to the current economic environment looking at the value of JISC.
“It was important that we take the time to study the recommendations made by Wilson,” continued Professor Harrow. “We therefore set up a Transition Group, made up of expert representatives from across the communities that we serve to go through the Wilson report in detail. The Group, so ably and skilfully led by Professor David Baker, Deputy Chair of JISC, has provided recommendations that will help us secure a better and more sustainable future for JISC and the sectors we serve.”
One of the first changes will see JISC will become a company limited by guarantee on 1 August 2012 managing the JISC offering across its products and services. The new company’s primary focus will be on three distinct areas for UK education and research:
• Infrastructure services: networks, access management, cloud services
• Data and content services: procurement, data hosting, data management and interoperability
• JISC Futures/Solution Services: focussed on supporting education, students, research, and the running of institutions as businesses
JISC will be set up initially as a holding (parent) company and following this, step by step, the current elements of JISC will be brought into this new company structure.
Professor Harrow said, “While it is too early to detail of all the changes, we can say with certainty that our guiding principle will be to ensure that the new model for JISC meets the needs of all our stakeholders. Our challenge is to do the same, or more, with less, but I am determined that the changes will not compromise our record of providing excellent services to UK colleges, universities and skills providers. It is very clear to me that JISC itself must change if we are to meet the challenges that all our sectors are facing, and we must create a new JISC for new times.”
A_L_T: In this Edition – Issue 26, February 2012: This edition of ALT News includes: The Self Organised Learning Enviro... http://t.co/mtcmm0Hz
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JISC Advance is inviting proposals to enhance or repurpose existing resources for use in the further education and skills sectors.
This £1.4 million funding will both improve the learner experience and increase efficiencies. JISC Advance is looking for proposals which:
• apply existing resources (from JISC or elsewhere) to their work and adapt them for their needs
• identify gaps in these resources or current uses for technology leading to the development of additional resources for the sector
£900,000 will be available for large-scale projects and £450,000 for smaller projects.
Bids may be submitted from 1 March until noon on 31 May 2012, but the call will be closed once all the funding has been allocated.
The project will be supported by the Regional Support Centres (RSCs) who will provide advice and support for providers in developing and implementing their projects.
Guy Lambert, managing director of JISC Advance, said: “This is an incredibly exciting opportunity for the FE and Skills sector and JISC Advance is proud to be leading the project. Not only will it enhance the learner experience, but it will also improve the efficiency and effectiveness of providers, a challenge which everyone is currently facing.”
For more details, contact your local RSC or Nigel Ecclesfield, programme manager at JISC Advance, nigel dot ecclesfield @jiscadvance.ac.uk tel: 07508 531431.
RT @lconnelly09: Generation C - digital natives. Interesting stats. http://t.co/xkfiDpZn #mscel #mscidel
Generation C - digital natives. Interesting stats. http://t.co/xkfiDpZn #mscel #mscidel
#mscidel trying to read "I hate the institution_", Library msg: "this ebook is in use" 1. DRM v Learning! 2. There's irony here somewhere!
A_L_T: Should LD be supported computationally? Downes: http://t.co/uIYEpN7h Laurillard: http://t.co/80veiUGX Webinar: http://t.co/N9tbH0F7
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How to gain the best value from journal subscriptions? JISC offers library managers and librarians advice in the first of a number of interactive online seminars this spring.
The webinar on 29 February at 13.30 will offer a practical demonstration of the Journal Usage Statistics Portal (JUSP), a 'one-stop shop' for academic libraries to download and analyse their journal usage.
Jo Lambert, senior development officer at Mimas and Angela Conyers of Evidence Base will highlight the time and cost saving benefits you can achieve by using JUSP to manage your usage statistics.
Using open source software could also improve the efficiency of your organisation, so the team from OSS Watch will be leading the following two webinars in March.
The first webinar will offer advice to open source project managers on how to increase the chances of sustainable community engagement in your project.
The second webinar will discuss how to increase the longevity and sustainability of your academic project or research outputs by choosing the right open source licence.
Future webinars will explore how to increase citations of your research data, extend your Virtual Learning Environment for the benefit of students and access and use a wealth of free online moving images and sound to enhance your teaching and research.
Find out more about the webinars and register now for the next one
A_L_T: Should LD be supported computationally? Downes: http://t.co/uIYEpN7h Laurillard: http://t.co/80veiUGX Webinar: http://t.co/N9tbH0F7
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A_L_T: To what extent should learning design be supported computationally - A webinar discussion between Diana Laurilla... http://t.co/C4fpBm8q
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Downes, Stephen (2012) To what extent should learning design be supported computationally - A webinar discussion between Diana Laurillard and Stephen Downes - webinar presentation. In: ALT webinar: To what extent should learning design be supported computationally - A webinar discussion between Diana Laurillard and Stephen Downes , 22 February 2012. (Unpublished)