The JISC/Higher Education Academy regional workshop series flying under the banner of Planning and Evaluating Effective Practice with e-Learning signals, perhaps, a growing recognition that the main challenges of the future are not technical or technological at all. It’s a people and organisation thing really. There has been a large uptake of JISC�s Effective Practice with e-Learning guide (published October 2004). The guide is easily digested and takes an appropriately light touch approach to pedagogical theory with a focus on learning activity design. The guide also contains several case studies representing different contexts of practice. What’s needed now is for the community to take ownership and, so, the series of regional workshops should provide an opportunity to begin to contextualize and extend the excellent foundation work.
A people and organisation thing it may be, but we can’t ignore the impact of technology on people and the spaces we inhabit and learn in. JISC has more recently published Innovative Practice with e-Learning which focuses on embedding mobile and wireless technologies into practice. Again, the work is case-study oriented which is an excellent way of providing context and perspective. Those wondering about the potential impact on physical spaces of mobile and wireless technologies might find the case study Designing Flexible Learning Spaces of particular interest. Here’s a starter for ten. Are we really going to need all those fixed desktop workstations? Where are the students going to store their mobile devices if they don’t want to carry them around all the time? How secure can examinations be in the wireless era?
