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Tuesday, 15 April 2014

Smart Devices for Learning #3: using smartphones, tablets and apps to enhance learning


Image source: Andrew Middleton


Yesterday I was in Manchester for the MELSIG event - the third in a series focusing on smart devices for learning. (The previous two were held at the University of Huddersfield and Sheffield Hallam University).

The day started well sharing the scenic train journey across the Pennines with Anne Nortcliffe and coffee on arrival at Manchester Met University in the Business School with David Eddy. It was good to meet up with old friends and meet connections I have made over Twitter for the first time face to face

The programme for the day was jam packed and promised opportunities to learn and share good practice using a whole range of apps all accessible from our smart devices. Given the vast range of tools there are available it was good to hear about specific examples and how they had been put to good use both in a personal context and for learning and teaching.

Chrissi Nerantzi and myself also shared the highlights of our recent open course 'Bring Your Own Device for Learning'. It was great to be able to draw in comments from some of our co-facilitators Alex Spiers, Chris Rowell Neil Withnell and Andrew Middleton as well Anne Nortcliffe who was a participant of the course. The opportunity to communicate in new social spaces previously not used in an educational context and having the opportunity to learn with new people across different institutions was valued.


Where ideas grow #BYOD4L from Sue Beckingham and Chrissi Nerantzi


Key take aways

I need to go away and explore the iPad app Penultimate and Evernote! There is also scope to make use of augmented reality and whilst I am still mulling over possibilities for use, this is something I need to look into.

During the final session which was a series of 5 minute 'thunderstorm' presentations, Terry McAndrew reminded us of the importance of thinking about accessibility when introducing technology and to inlcude this apsect in project write ups. Terry is Academic Lead (HEA) for Educational Learning Technologies and a JISC Techdis Advisor.


But this is just a mere few and as I go back through my notes and tweets I will be reminded of more. Clearly I was not alone! Twitter was on fire and so many delegates went away with numerous ideas. Terry made his own summary using Padlet.


Links

  • http://byod4learning.wordpress.com/
  • http://melsig.shu.ac.uk/
  • http://www.jisctechdis.ac.uk/
  • http://evernote.com/penultimate/
  • http://www.aurasma.com/

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