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The upgrade of our Blackboard system to release 9.1 is progressing according to schedule. In the last few weeks, we’re received many enquiries about when the new system will be available and what changes staff can expect. When will I have access to my courses? It is intended that the new Blackboard system will be available for use during the week of 22nd August. There will be a new URL to access the upgraded system, but otherwise you will log on using your username and password as before. You will have access to all your courses for the academic year 2011-12. So, if you are an instructor on a Blackboard course currently, or if you requested access to a course within the last few weeks, you will have access to that new course on the new system. In keeping with existing policy, the new courses will be created as empty shells, ready for you to develop as you wish. What about the teaching materials in my current course? How can I get it into my new course? To facilitate the re-use of teach...

In CELT, we are busy preparing for the introduction of Blackboard 9.1 in NUI Galway. More information about the new system will become available over the next couple of weeks and you can expect a full schedule of information sessions and training opportunities. In the meantime, here is a recording of a keynote given by Sir Ken Robinson at Blackboard World 2011 two weeks ago. Tweet

Last week we hosted the joint Galway Symposium/NAIRTL conference at NUIG, with the title Engaging Minds: Active learning, participation and collaboration in Higher education. Iain has already blogged about the event and the recordings of the keynotes will be available in the near future. As part of the local organisation, and having participated in a number of very active conference backchannels in the last year (for example #pelc11 ), we wanted to ensure an active twitter experience. This was particularly important because one of our keynotes, Derek Bruff from Vanderbilt University, has already written about Encouraging a Conference Backchannel on Twitter . The strategy we used was based on Derek’s guide. Here’s what we did: Hashtag : obviously, nothing can happen without a hashtag. It has to be short and easily remembered. With a joint conference, this can be tricky! So, I just proposed using #nairtl11, which was accepted, and it worked a treat! We started using this a couple of we...

The Echo360 Community Conference Europe event, entitled Education Unconfined, took place last Wednesday at the London School of Economics. I went along, with Labhaoise Ni Dhonnchadha, to find out about the new release (version 4.0) and to network with other users. We have been piloting Echo360 for lecture capture at NUI Galway for the last couple of years, with 5 installations in lecture theatres and seminar rooms. We were very impressed with the venue, the New Academic Building (NAB) at the LSE. It is bright and airy, with lots of space. The view from the 8th floor was stunning. The event itself was successful, with lots of exciting new features in version 4.0. We especially like the contextual collaboration for students, along with usage trend reports for instructors. The delegated admin capability is also very important for us, as we contemplate scaling up. There was an excellent session from Jeremy Speller and Andrea Sella from University College London, where there are 20 lecture...

This year's EdTech conference Innovation, Technologies and Practice: Show me the Learning! is being held from 1-2 June 2011 Waterford Institute of Technology . As usual, there is a wonderful representation from NUIG covering the following innovative areas: Bonnie Long 'Implemention of Digital Storytelling with Pre-Service Teachers - Challenges and Lessons Learned' Anne Egan 'Podcasting as a Novice an a Legal Environment' Catherine Cronin 'Re-thinking the Lecture - Audio Podcasts and Telling Stories' Paul Gormley and Anne Walsh 'The Quick Win Meets the Trojan Horse: Formative 2.0 Assessments and the Adult Blended Learners Experience' A number of CELT staff are also involved in the EdTech Organising Committee , which gives us an inspiring overview of the learning technolgy landscape in Ireland. For those presenters or potential delegates, registration is now open. For a chance to win an iPod touch please register before lunchtime on Monday 23rd M...

Photo: Sharon and Lindsay at the iPod Touch prizegiving Over 2,500 NUI Galway students completed the annual Blackboard Student Survey in April of this year. We hope to publish the findings shortly, but are very heartened that so many of students took the time to share their thoughts and suggestions about their experiences of using Blackboard as a student, at NUI Galway. Congrats also to Lindsay (pictured above), the lucky winner of the draw for an iPod Touch!

The call for applications to fund projects supporting the development of learning resources /materials for the NDLR Users is open. All material pertaining to the call is available from http://www.ndlr.ie/view/view.php?id=171 The deadline for applications is Friday 20th May 2011 We are issuing funds from 17th 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 the next NDLR FEST event in March 2012 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 ten months. Reviewers Rubrics and a screencast with details for completing these forms will be...