Toastmasters International is a very large nonprofit educational organization, with offices in 126 countries. Throughout its history, it has served over 4 million people, helping them develop and master their communication, public speaking and leadership skills. Today, the nonprofit serves more … Continue reading →

[Post by Greg Gammie, Implementations Manager at GeoMetrix Data Systems Inc.] Our company president, Justin Hearn, mentioned in a previous post that we’ve decided to continue to offer customizable learning management systems and talent management systems. But the concept of customization can be daunting for some organizations, especially if they’ve had a bad experience in […]

CC licensed ( BY ) flickr photo shared by Pen WaggenerFor longer than I care to remember, I’ve been wishing there was greater emphasis on open text books in the UK. It seems like discussions around OER with American colleagues is somewhat disjointed, as open text books feature so heavily over there, and are so sparse here. There are huge initiatives across California and Washington, to name but two. I know there is lots of good work across the UK HE sector around open education but I think open text books offer some of the most transparent and obvious benefits for students i.e. easy access across platforms, including multimedia, FOR FREE! What’s not to love, right?So, you can imagine my delight that the University of Liverpool has successfully received JISC funding to explore ‘the institution as e-textbook publisher’. In the first instance for this project, the University will publish two open text books under Creative Commons licenses [CC BY-NC-ND I think]:Essentials for Financial Management: authored by Jason Laws of our Management School; Using Primary Sources: A Guide for Students: authored by Jonathon Hogg from History. The project is a collaboration between the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences (HSS), the University Library and Liverpool University Press. Now ok, I won’t be involved in this phase as I’m not in HSS but I’m still mega-excited that we’re getting involved in this area, and hopefully, a sustainability plan will be in place to roll this initiative out more broadly across the University when the funding ceases. Fingers crossed!How good is this???If you want to learn more about exactly what's going on, feel free to holler at Andrew Barker (Head of Academic Liaison) or Anthony Colt (Director of Liverpool University Press), and if you're involved in anything like this I'd love to hear about it!Peter@ReedyreedlesThe Reed Diaries by Peter Reed is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 3.0 Unported License

Art Shape is a non-profit organisation that runs a countywide programme of arts courses and projects with a specific focus on disability issues and social inclusion. Based in Brockworth, Gloucestershire, in the UK, Art Shape was established in 1993. The … Continue reading →

[Post by Greg Gammie, Implementations Manager at GeoMetrix Data Systems Inc.] Continued from previous post. Our statement of work (SOW) document answers the five basic questions of who, what, where, when and, in this case, how much. The SOW identifies the customer representative requesting the work along with the specialist at GeoMetrix responsible for the […]

Even though June is official end of a study year, we still got aver 200 message from you with various ideas for improvements via UserVoice. Thus we made June or official "improve everything" month, in particular we: Set all embedded … Continue reading →

I've been thinking about visualising a student's assessments diary on a timeline for quite a while now, and that has been spurred with a conversation with a colleague Peter Alston. It was timely that I came across some stuff when accessing the new briefing papers on assessment and feedback in the JISC toolkit.What typically happens in many schools/faculties/institutions, is that many modules are assessed by way of:Traditional high stakes exam or essay;With significant weighting;And assignment deadlines all within the same 7-14 day period. So typically twice a year students are mega stressed to meet 4 (or more) high stakes deadlines. If we visualise this, assessments are all bunched together at the end of semesters and there is a lot of stress. So it's logical we think about:How we assess students, both formatively and summatively;The burden of assessment across a period of time placed upon students.I'm not going to touch too much onto setting meaningful assessments, but more so about the nature and timing of those assessments. We don't necessarily consider what else students have on i.e. another 3 high stakes assessment tasks. So the call to introduce lower stakes assessment is great for this reason, let alone providing greater opportunity to feed forward into future assignments.As an example, I introduced my final year eLearning Multimedia students to a continuous assessment of reflective blogging, which I thought worked really well - even for a subject where we don't traditionally emphasise the practice of reflection. The result - meaningful short pieces of writing, with lower stress levels, and ongoing feedback (by way of comments and even peer feedback). I would definitely follow suit again.(Figure 1. visualises three alternatives for assessments, but these could really blend to include a mix of low and medium stakes assessments).Now I seldom see a discussion across modules, to deliberately focus on a) when we are assessing students, and b) how we're assessing them. Shouldn't such a discussion be paramount to curriculum development at a programme level to ensure students are not a) over assessed, and b) are assessed by meaningful tasks rather than the same old same old?As I said this something my colleague is interested in within the School of Life Sciences here at Liverpool, and I'm keen to get something going across the other schools as well.If you are interested in this area, it's worth following the links through to the JISC toolkit as there is plenty of good reading to be had, in particular, the work of the ESCAPE Project at Hertfordshire.Peter@ReedyreedlesThe Reed Diaries by Peter Reed is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 3.0 Unported License

[Post by Greg Gammie, Implementations Manager at GeoMetrix Data Systems Inc.] Continued from previous post. We’ve found that our SOW process works on several levels and in a number of project stages. In the design phase, the SOW process provides the person requesting the work to define a clear picture of the project requirements. The […]

[Post by Arden Rose, Account Manager at GeoMetrix Data Systems Inc.] Veronica Zaman, vice president of Human Resources and Learning at Scripps Health in San Diego, Calif., believes that learning culture and programs play an important role in the success of any large company. Read what she had to say in a question and answer […]

After a triple booking and some hectic late cancellations, I was able to present my work to date on VLE minimum standards at the ALT North West Special Interest Group, convened by Chris Jones and Alex Spiers of Liverpool John Moores University.It was a great event (unsurprisingly) and I managed to share quite a bit of info. There was also some great discussion about some of the things - for example the inclusion of past exam papers or online discussion forums in minimum standards. In fact, the terminology of 'minimum standards' was discussed - UCLAN call their's the Digital Shift Project, which puts a nice creative spin on it. I think we've decided to stick with Blackboard Baseline.Anyway, I've embedded my slides from Slideshare below, so feel free to access/share as you see fit. Slideshare notes feature hasn't been working great so I've pasted them in below.Peter@reedyreedles Presentation of work around VLE Minimum Standards at the North West ALT SIG (7/5/14) from Peter Reed Presentation NotesThis presentation shares the work I’ve done over the past year. I have received a small grant from ELESIG to disseminate this work. The presentation will share my work around minimum standards, and in particular sector-wide subscription to VLE Minimum standards and activity at UoL    Criteria identified across the sector included in their minimum standards.  The most popular….    Work from the Liverpool Guild of Students was one key driver for this work. Their report identified significant inconsistencies between blackboard module areas and called for a plicy action. This has been picked up in the new University TEL strategy, and furthermore, played a significant role in a three phase audit I’ve conducted within the Faculty of Health and Life Sciences.  In both a staff (n=102) and student (n=840) surveys, the same question was asked. Respondents identified criteria they felt should be included in any series of minimum standards. An ‘other’ option enabled wider responses.  Student responses. The most popular items selected included: Lecture Notes/handouts Past exam papers (although this is more likely relating to some type of sample question(s) to familiarise themselves with the type of questions they would face in summative assessment, rather than necessarily the past 5 years worth of complete papers. Further Reading Timetable Contact details for module leader  Staff responses were similar - although there is a similar pattern in responses, fewer responses were received for each item.  Comparison of student and staff responses  Comparison of student and staff responses   This slide demonstrates the individual items with the largest difference in responses between student and staff. Often staff are concerned about releasing past exam papers because e.g. they may reuse papers each year. Housing/access of papers can be an issue also. Repository can solve this Module Specs is an interesting issue because they already exist. Why are staff hesitant? Perhaps a concern that they’re written for a different audience but closer inspection suggests otherwise.  Which criteria should we include in any policy, and how many student responses warrants includsion? For example, over half of student responses want online discussion forums in every module area…  Computing services department have developed a custom Bb building block to pull information from TULIP - our central system housing module specs. Each piece of information is held in its own field and can be accessed.  Tulip view 1  Tulip view 2  Bb view 1 - Module overview page will be automatically created for every module  Bb view 2   Ethical approval has been granted to investigate students desires for minimum standards in more detail e.g. how they access and why they want these things. This work has also proposed a conceptual framework for considering minimum standards, based on the work of management theorist Frederik Herzberg (1960s). His two factor theory suggests factors that cause dissatisfaction are not necessarily the same as those that cause satisfaction. I am proposing this might be true of many of the minimum standards e.g. they may prevent dissatisfaction but not cause satisfaction if present. More can be read at http://thereeddiaries.blogspot.co.uk/2013/11/tel-herzbergs-two-factor-theory.html  I have mapped these dissatisfiers (hygiene factors) and satisfiers (motivators) against Maslow’s heirarchy of needs.  This adapted SIEME model demonstrates the impact of motivators and hygiene factors, and suggests resolving dissatisfaction should be a priority ahead of satisfiers.   The Reed Diaries by Peter Reed is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 3.0 Unported License

This morning we had the privilege of listening to George Couros speak about Innovation. This was very inspiring to me because I am passionate about knowledge building, innovation, and incorporating FNMI values, cultures and perspectives into my learning environments. In my opinion, learning in education is also enhanced through play. Innovation can emerge through ‘Play’, […]

[Post by K.M. Lowe, Writer & Corporate Communicator] Around the world, police, corrections and other community service agencies are at the forefront of safety and law enforcement. We all know how critical these services are to the communities we live in and also understand how crucial it is that those who provide these services are properly trained. A report called the Economics of Policing written for the Police Education and Learning Summit states, "Police training is fundamental to ensure police officers have the knowledge, skills and tools to reduce crime and disorder in our communities. Police training must be cost efficient, relevant and delivered in an effective manner. The policing community must work collaboratively and in a forward thinking fashion to ensure police training meets its objectives, including taking advantage of innovative training methods and new technologies." Although training varies from organization to organization, recruits are usually put through a boot-camp program consisting of field work as well as theoretical and practical study. For in-service workers, training is usually on going both to maintain skill levels and to increase proficiency. According to Economics of Policing, "Training for existing personnel is intended to build and refresh knowledge, skills and abilities… in operational policing, specialty policing, and in police administration and management practices." But training is also needed to keep informed of the latest developments in the industry and also of changes in legislation or policies. Requirements for learning management systems at organizations that carry out this training can vary, but compliance is often a huge component. An example of a high-level mandate for a correctional organization was a system that would allow it to "effectively plan and organize multi-layered local and corporate training initiatives while providing instantaneous on-line feedback. The system would be required to provide both actual and statistical data as a measurement of the work completed and compliance with mandatory training requirements." To fill that order, the agency selected an LMS from GeoMetrix Data Systems back in 2006 and has been using it ever since. During its 23 years in business (since 1992), GeoMetrix Data Systems has worked with many of these agencies throughout North America. The software products that GeoMetrix develops provide full learning and performance management to a range of industries but are particularly suited to law enforcement and community services. Policing and correctional customers for the company’s products GeoTalent and TrainingPartner include Calgary City Police, Correctional Services of Canada, Halton Regional Police Service, Ontario Ministry of Community Safety & Correctional Services, and Ontario Provincial Police. The County of Alameda in California uses a GeoMetrix LMS county-wide including for its Sheriff’s Department and other public service agencies. In addition, GeoMetrix works with organizations whose business it is to train community workers including police, corrections officers, judges and fire fighters. These include the Canadian Police College of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, Justice Institute of British Columbia, Ontario Provincial Police College, the National Judicial College in Reno Nevada, and the University of Tennessee Law Enforcement Information Center. The software developed by GeoMetrix is also utilized by agencies in other areas of community services such as paramedic, ambulance and social services. In most cases, as noted in the description earlier, the training for these organizations is mandatory, and the agencies involved are subject to regulations from different levels of governments. The training suppliers that aren’t directly governed by the regulations must still meet stringent industry standards for their trainees to be accepted by those who are. With so many community service customers as well as customers in several other compliance-based industries (including health care), GeoMetrix has put an emphasis on meeting regulations in its software development. One of the company’s customers described a certification program his organization developed with the help of the TrainingPartner LMS and explained that "The auditors were blown away by our validation process." "The auditors were blown away by our validation process." A particularly valuable tool for law enforcement and community services that comes standard in the software is the ‘by-training search.’ This search provides instant access to anyone in the system who meets specific criteria. For example, an administrator could use the by-training search to find all personnel who have completed a negotiations course or who have not participated in range work recently. You can search for all learners who have taken a course or who have completed a course within a specific time period. You can even search for those who took a specific version of a course or who are currently in a certification program. Continued in next post… Photo from Wikimedia Commons

  Today I had the privilege of having a university professor send me a journal article written in 2013 about Urban Legends in Education. This is an area that I think about often. There are several urban legends or ‘myths’ that exist in education. These myths have a long standing history of being perpetuated, believed, […]

CC BY Flickr photo by Iwan Gabovitch: http://flickr.com/photos/qubodup/4112788560I've blogged over on my Faculty TEL Blog, a very basic intro to using Audacity. The short video demonstrates recording and publishing to WAV and MP3 (including installing LAME).Head over to check it out!Peter@Reedyreedles$nbsp;The Reed Diaries by Peter Reed is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 3.0 Unported License

[Post by K.M. Lowe, Writer & Corporate Communicator] Continued from previous post Because the out-of-the-box software from GeoMetrix offers most of the functionality necessary for law enforcement, little in the way of customization has been required for its customers in this industry. Certification programs, group enrollments, skills tracking and most of the other essential features are included. Unique or specific needs can usually be accomplished with options already built in. For example, statuses and field names can be modified to match each organization’s terminology. Positions and job roles have been utilized for rank or other designators, and fields can be added for special items such as badge numbers. Accreditations are fully tracked in a programs inventory with recertification and expiration dates. Course versioning shows which information has been included in a course to record what each trainee was taught, and upgrade courses can be managed to fill the gaps. The reporting needs of law enforcement and community service customers are generally satisfied by the more than 500 reports that come standard with the software. But GeoMetrix also includes two report design engines — one for quick reports and one for graphical reports. Reports can be customized and set up for automatic notifications, e-mail merges and alerts. For example, e-mail alerts can be sent to supervisors prior to evaluation due dates and notifications can be sent to employees prior to expiration of certifications. Detailed information tracked for each trainee can be integrated with other HR systems for payroll, promotion and recruitment. Skills can be updated automatically based on training attendance or grading. A performance management module provides the ability to carry out annual or more frequent reviews with full evaluation and feedback processes. Outcomes and results are captured in the system. The non-catalogued event feature lets workers enter external training, fitness evaluations and other activities into their personal history with or without supervisor approval depending on administrative settings. GeoMetrix has provided the ability to track not only facilities but also equipment — an important feature for police and corrections. Organizations can maintain an inventory of all gear used in training, which could include weapons, laptops, belts, cell phones, handcuffs, baton holders, and anything else. The system can automatically assign individual items to courses based on pre-defined templates and can also track maintenance history of any piece of equipment. The LMS even allows appointments for both facilities and equipment so that maintenance or repairs can be scheduled in the system to show when inventory items are unavailable for use. Economics of Policing states, "The use of technology is bringing a new dimension to police training. We are seeing more trainers incorporating e-learning, blended learning and simulations into existing curriculum, and police learners are receptive to change." In a paper titled E-Learning and Online Education: Implications for the Future of Law Enforcement Training, the author writes, "There are a number of agencies that have started to experiment with virtual, interactive scenario based training or mobile training." For those who want to embrace these new opportunities, GeoMetrix has already included the necessary functionality to manage all types of training. Of course, the LMS’s online portal can be designed with the look and feel of the agencies they serve for continuity and esthetics. In some cases, single sign-on allows workers to log in to the organization’s site and access training without having to sign in a second time. For organizations such as police and corrections that have both external and internal security needs because of sensitive data, GeoMetrix provides multi-level security settings. Database security is based on logins, roles, and object-level permissions. Security settings can be applied at each level, but system administrators can also set the rights for each and every item in the system if needed. The LMS also allows the definition of security policies and business rules to enable compliance with laws and regulations. One law enforcement customer required that compliance data and benefits information be highly restricted, while timesheets could be available to all employees, even temporary workers. Easily accomplished with the existing security options in GeoTalent or TrainingPartner. Audit logs record changes to key or critical data and contain date of change and identity of changer. Preventive data validation techniques have been employed to enable the user to modify only fields that are necessary. Screens can be set to present the user with only the choices that are valid to his or her security (or needs) and disable objects that are not applicable. A built-in financial management system tracks training costs, travel expenses and budgeting. A full accounts receivable system with a general ledger journal is available for invoicing and revenue administration for those who offer fee-based training. And as noted, with more reporting options than any other system, all data, including that needed for compliance or budgeting, is easily accessible at any time (to those who have security clearance). Continued in next post… Photo from FreeImages.com

[Post by K.M. Lowe, Writer & Corporate Communicator] Continued from previous post Today, our changing world is providing new challenges for law enforcement. A report called The State of E-Learning in Canadian Policing noted that "Technology-supported learning can be an enabler of high quality policing. In policing, rapidly changing work environments, budget pressures and demographics… drives the need to train rapidly, consistently, repeatedly to maintain policing standards." GeoMetrix understands the pressures, especially those of budgets, that these agencies face and offers cost-effective systems that provide maximum functionality, avoiding the need for extensive customization without compromising productivity. Confirmation of this is that GeoMetrix software has consistently received good reviews from the Brandon-Hall analyst group and been chosen for its Low-Cost LMS reports. Comments from Brandon-Hall reviewers include "full-featured learning management and talent management system at an attractive price point… A strong system with a lot of bang for the buck." The analysts at Bersin & Associates said, "GeoMetrix’s customers have the lowest annual operating costs of any vendor due to a combination of reasonable licensing, customization and implementation fees… the company is in touch with the needs of its customers and serves them well." "GeoMetrix’s customers have the lowest annual operating costs of any vendor due to a combination of reasonable licensing, customization and implementation fees." The Economics of Policing report states, "… it’s about making the most of available resources and investing in appropriate tools and relationships to meet growing demand for training and to ensure that all police have the knowledge and skills to do the job safely and effectively." GeoMetrix Data Systems is proud to provide appropriate tools to police and community services around North America, and is especially proud of its relationships with these organizations. Recently, when one police service was considering purchasing an LMS from GeoMetrix, the agency looked to the vendor’s existing customers for references. Not surprisingly, there was one just a short distance away. A document published by the Halton Regional Police Service in 2015 reported, "The Director of the OPP Police Academy has given GeoMetrix and their products outstanding reviews and references. The Ontario Police College has been using TrainingPartner since 1996 and have purchased the entire GeoTalent Learning Management System, and report that it is extremely user friendly." "The Director of the OPP Police Academy has given GeoMetrix and their products outstanding reviews and references." What does the future hold for law enforcement and community services training? E-Learning and Online Education reports, "Certainly, technological developments are rapidly changing the way people learn and think about learning and training. One of many challenges that law enforcement will face is keeping pace with these technological expectations." GeoMetrix plans to be there for its law enforcement customers to help them through these and any others challenges they face in learning, performance and talent management. References Economics of Policing: Police Education and Learning Summit Summary Report, prepared for Public Safety Canada and Canadian Police Knowledge Network (2013), last accessed May 28, 2015 from https://www.publicsafety.gc.ca/cnt/rsrcs/pblctns/plc-lrnng-smmt/plc-lrnng-smmt-eng.pdf State of E-Learning in Canadian Policing, prepared for Public Service Canada and Canadian Police Knowledge Network (2013), last accessed May 28, 2015 from http://www.policecouncil.ca/wp-content/uploads/2013/03/State-of-E-Learning-in-Canadian-Policing-2010.pdf Leal, J., E-Learning and Online Education: Implications for the Future of Law Enforcement Training, World Future Review 2009, last accessed May 28, 2015 from http://libcat.post.ca.gov/dbtw-wpd/documents/cc/42-Leal.pdf Photo from Wikimedia Commons

I've been interested in analytics for quite some time - whether that's been through Google Analytics of websites or more recently, Learning Analytics. There was discussion of analytics at the recent ALT North West SIG where Anne Calland (UCLAN) spoke about the pressures to provide accurate data, and what that data actually means (in relation to data from Blackboard for example).Analytics is a hot topic at the moment, with the idea that BIG DATA (taken from the myriad systems we use) can tell us a lot about behaviours and patterns, which in turn can inform our practices. Now two posts have really got me thinking over the past week on this. Firstly @sheilmcn posted twice, and questioned how neutral such data is. I think in response, I'd say the raw data might be neutral, but its representation and interpretation is certainly far from neutral - biases often come into play and that impacts on how we present data. This leads nicely on to a post @lawrie put us on to by MWD Advisors on Clean Vs Big Data, which really drives home the need to consider the questions we want answering by data. It's such an important point that I can relate to research - quite often we do something and end up with some data that we decide to try and write up for publication. It's hard work (I can tell you from experience)! The best way is to always start off with a question in mind, and go from there.Anyway, this all ties into one particular area of analytics that Cath Ellis got me thinking about - Assessment Analytics. Now depending on my mood, I could tell you that I'm particularly interested in the different aspects of assignments that students' are doing well/poorly in, and how a group of staff mark (in)consistently across that group. OR, I could just tell you that Turnitin and Grademark give us some data that can give us insight into these two aspects ;-)Cath's work was really interesting and since talking to her at #ALTC2013 I've wanted to get my hands dirty in this area. And now I have. I've taken a sample assignment of a group of students from a paper marked with a qualitative rubric, with quickmarks linked to 7 objectives. Exporting the data shows me the range of marks awarded for each aspect of the assignment. I can see if students are doing particularly well/poorly against any of the individual objectives, which might in turn suggest they are too easy/difficult (or if we haven't even taught that aspect). I can also see the average grades applied for each objective by every one of the tutors. In large cohorts like we have in Medicine, we also have a number of assessors, and keeping track of consistency across this group is important. This data gives us a great insight into this aspect.Now whilst it wasn't too difficult get this data and manipulate it in Excel, the Turnitin interface didn't really do much. Why don't they make a bigger deal out of this? Why don't they offer a better view of this data? And if they did would they want to charge us for it? After all, who does this data belong to?Lots more to explore in this area....Peter@ReedyreedlesThe Reed Diaries by Peter Reed is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 3.0 Unported License

  Innovation through ‘Play’ is essential for all students. It promotes a growth mindset and is inclusive of all student values, identities, voices and cultures. This includes all students with FNMI backgrounds. When learners can engage in play, their potential for learning will dramatically increase. A big part of this is because play not only […]

[Post by Greg Gammie, Implementations Manager at GeoMetrix Data Systems Inc.] Training magazine’s second annual Top Training Videos (Ttvs) Awards Program submission deadline is June 29, 2015. The top three videos in each category (produced in-house or by outside vendor) selected by our panel of expert judges will be shown at Training’s 2015 Online Learning Conference (Oct. 6-8, Denver), where participants will choose the top winners in each category and recipients will receive crystal awards. This program is open to submissions from both vendors and internal corporate training professionals. Each company can submit up to 2 training video clips. Each video clip can run up to 2 minutes—no longer than that, please! Any submitted clips longer than 2 minutes will not be considered. Be sure to choose the two minutes that are best representative of your completed video. A panel of expert judges will rate your submission based on the quality of instructional design, engagement, and effectiveness (i.e., ability to change learner behavior). For more information visit: Training Magazine Ttvs

Firstly, I love to see students coming forward with ideas and motivation to explore and innovate. Secondly, I love the opportunities that encourage students to do so.So it's great that JISC have returned with their Student Summer of Innovation. I took note when it first launched, but we had a kick up the backside when @lawrie was out our way for the Changing the Learning Landscape project. I'm happy to say that my colleague Paul Duvall has encouraged a couple of our Medicine students to step forward. Given we only have a few days left, it would be great if you could head over and vote for them! From a digital literacies perspective, it amazes me that they've not only put the idea together themselves, but developed a pretty nice logo and a pitch video! This is fantastic and I hope they get the funding to see how their idea develops!Peter@Reedyreedles$nbsp;The Reed Diaries by Peter Reed is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 3.0 Unported License

[Post by Karla Willems, Account Manager at GeoMetrix Data Systems Inc.] Since 2003, the Chief Learning Officer Learning In Practice awards have recognized learning leaders who demonstrate excellence in the design and delivery of employee development programs through a combination of qualities such as leadership, vision, business acumen and strategic alignment. Nominations for the 2015 Learning In Practice Awards are now open! Submit your nomination by June 22 at 11:59 pm CST. Winners will be recognized during a special Learning In Practice Awards Dinner at the Fall 2015 CLO Symposium on Sun, Oct. 11 at the Hyatt Lost Pines Resort in Austin, Texas. There are three categories: Practitioner Award Provider Award CLO of the Year For more information visit the nomination portal here.

Today I attended the Media Enhanced Learning Special Interest Group - MELSIG - hosted by Alex Spiers (@alexgspiers) and co at LJMU. Luckily for me, it wasn't much of a walk across the city centre.It was a great day looking at the use of social media in learning and teaching, made even better by catching up with people. Sue Beckingham (@suebecks) delivered a great keynote, sharing her Social Media for Learning Framework. The following main sessions by Steve Harrison (on the use of Twitter with UG journalists) and Mark Feltham (on 10 reasons you should use social media, with examples from the use of Facebook groups) were particularly interesting. I had about a million questions or points based on my own practice that I wanted to raise, but would have kept them all there for an age if I had. Anyway, my presentation would be putting my view across on many points anyway.I presented at the breakouts after lunch, discussing my work using Twitter with my students whilst at MMU last year. I have updated my older slides with the newer data and embedded below. The work was also published in Research in Learning Technology - Hashtags & Retweets: using Twitter to aid community, communication and casual learning. Following my presentation, Anne Nortcliffe shared her work on using Facebook Groups, which also featured some students sharing their experiences. I'm sure we were supposed to be doing an activity in the session, but I think we were all engrossed in asking the students questions.The twitter backchannel was bubbling away throughout the day, so as well as my slides, I've also used Martin Hawksey's TAGS Explorer to visualise the use of the #MELSIG and #MELSIGLJMU hashtags. A static image is below but this link takes you to the interactive version. As you can see, @chrissinnerantzi and @alexgspiers were the two most active of those tweeters using the hashtags. Of course, there were many ongoing discussions that failed to include the hashtags - something I'm guilty of myself.Slide for presentation - Hashtags & Retweets: using Twitter to aid community, communication and casual (informal) learning. Hashtags & Retweets: Using Twitter to aid Community, Communication and Casual (informal) Learning from Peter Reed Peter@Reedyreedles$nbsp;The Reed Diaries by Peter Reed is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 3.0 Unported License

[Post by Arden Rose, Account Manager at GeoMetrix Data Systems Inc.] The SHRM Annual Conference & Exposition is the largest HR event in the world, providing organizations with the tools and resources to create and implement the successful HR practices. Targeted strategies and practical takeaways help achieve organizational goals - from talent management to federal compliance to cutting-edge business strategies. The conference hosted by the Society for Human Resource Management features internationally-renowned speakers that offer fresh points of view and inspiring stories that can help shift your perspectives and deepen your understanding of leadership, motivation, and success. You’ll hear from business leaders, HR practitioners, consultants and academicians. For more information visit: SHRM

[Post by Greg Gammie, Implementations Manager at GeoMetrix Data Systems Inc.] The E-Learning Awards showcase some of the most recognisable, memorable, and life-changing e-learning worldwide. They are internationally recognised and open to organisations of all sizes - if you offer outstanding e-learning, then you should be entering the E-Learning Awards! Independently judged to the highest and most rigorous of standards, there is no greater recognition of your hard work and commitment to e-learning than winning an E-Learning Award. Reaching the shortlist is really something to shout about. Winning is proof to your, clients, colleagues and rivals that you’re at the top of your game - a shining example to the learning and technology world. With lots of categories to choose from, there’s bound to be one to suit you. For more information visit: E-learning Awards 2015