Calling Irish Innovators: The Jenn Burke Award for Innovation in Teaching and Learning

If you are or know innovative teaching and learning individuals or teams (this can be either academic or student-based) then consider applying for the inaugural Jennifer Burke Award for Innovation in Teaching and Learning.

Jenn Burke was a leading teaching and learning innovator and highly regarded friend of the Irish Learning Technology community who sadly passed away in June 2007. This award has been established by DCU and the Irish Learning Technology Association (ILTA) to recognise and reward innovative practice in Irish teaching and learning and reflects Jenn's vibrancy, energy, creativity and passion for learning.

The award is about innovative ideas put into practice. The person or persons should be nominated on the basis of an innovative idea that is effective in supporting learning. The innovative idea needs to have been put into practice and have worked with a group of learners.

The submission process is novel. No portfolios required for this award! Original, innovative and creative submissions are required. This could be a short video, audio or multi-media submission. A maximum of 10 minutes is allowed for the judges to review each submission. Those shortlisted will be invited to a Dragons' Den-type presentation forum. Sounds like fun!

The winner will receive a specially commissioned pieces of artwork which will reside in the award winner's institution for one year, and a prize that will be retained by the award winner.

More information from the award website, but be warned...the closing date is Friday February 13th. Good luck innovators!

EdTech 2009 - Call for Papers Open

The Irish Learning Technology Association (ILTA) has announced that their 10th annual educational technology users' conference - EdTech 2009 - will take place at the National College of Ireland (Dublin) on May 21-22.

This year's conference theme is appropriately titled '2020 Vision: Changing Learning Futures Through Technology' to reflect this milestone.

The EdTech conference brings together a range of educational technology researchers and practitioners, and is always an enjoyable and informative occasion. This year's keynote speakers are:

• Richard Katz, Vice-President of EDUCAUSE
• Fiona O'Carroll, Senior Vice-President of HMH (formerly Riverdeep)
• Neil Sclater, Director of Learning Innovation at the Open University

The EdTech 20009 call for papers is now open for practitioner, research and postgraduate strands via the conference submission portal.

Clickers and Peer Discussion in the Classroom

Previously I blogged about a study of the use of clickers, or personal response systems, in the classroom and how a study had shown that students who used clickers earned exam scores that were 10% higher than students who didn't use them.

A new report, published in Science, by M. K. Smith et al, at the University of Colorado, demonstrates that the effectiveness of clickers can be greatly enhanced by having students discuss the questions, and their answers, in peer groups in class.

The study used a class of 350 undergraduate Science students, who were asked an average of 5 clicker questions per class. The students first had to answer a question individually and were then invited to discuss the question with their peers. Following the discussion, they could re-cast their answer. Unsurprisingly, the number of correct answers increased. However, when asked a second, similar question, the average number of correct, individual answers also increased. It appears that students learned from the peer discussion.

Moreover, students reported that "having someone in the group who knows the correct answer is unnecessary". The opportunity for peer discussion allows the group to explore the concepts and arrive at an understanding constructively.

While this doesn't tell us anything new about the power of peer discussion in the classroom, it does suggest how we can enhance the use of personal response systems.

Carbon footprint of that Google Search

Oh no! You've just looked up this blog - think of the carbon footprint of such a rash action! Well a back of the envelope calculation, but one which takes into account the real energy usage of IT server farms and desktop PCs, has revealed that two Google searches cost the same in energy terms as boiling a kettle. The story broke on the Sunday Times yesterday and has made its way across the web over the last couple of days. Aside from the funny little comments many of the journalists have appended to the item, it is sobering to consider just how much energy is being gobbled up by modern lifestyles. Another comparison is that your Second Life avatar uses as much energy in a year as the average Brazilian. Makes you think, doesn't it?

New Year, new technologies

Happy new year to you all. Sorry about the lack of postings here of late, but with the festive period and the high activity in some of our other blogs...

Anyway, MacWorld is well under way now and in jovial and celebratory mood, the Onion has produced this nice little video news item.

Apple Introduces Revolutionary New Laptop With No Keyboard