Come one, come all to the MSc in E-Learning Dissertation Festival!

Come one, come all to our wonderful MSc in E-Learning Dissertation Festival!

The Dissertation Festival is a chance for students on the MSc in E-Learning programme to share their thoughts on their dissertation in the lead up to their submission date: it’s a place for sharing ideas, issues and inspirations with each other.

When
All next week – Monday 30 July to Friday 3 August.  We have a range of synchronous events (using voice, so do check your setup beforehand!).  But we also have space for asynchronous activity throughout too.

Note:  all times are UK times.

Where
Everything is happening at our specially Island in Second Life at. (You can take a quick peek at the  building in process at http://slurl.com/secondlife/Vue%20South/191/58/24 but we won’t have all the student materials up until the Festival start date)

Events
The Festival kicks off with a chat about the dissertation process.

Monday 30 July 2012  10:00-11:00
Pop in for a glass of champagne, a poster viewing and a chance to sit and have a chat with tutors and students about the dissertation process.  We’ll cover the more immediate concerns of those about to submit, to debriefs about the dissertation process and more general questions for those about to start their Mighty Work.

We then have a wonderfully rich range of dissertation and work-in-progress presentations throughout the week.  Come along to as many as you like!

Monday 30 July 2012
14:00-15:00

• Mark Dransfield – Exploring attitudes to and facilitating cultural change around electronic assignment submission, marking and feedback.
• Emma King – Exploring staff perceptions of e-learning: the use of e-learning, drivers and perceived barriers to its adoption

Tuesday 31 July 2012
16:00-17:00

• Nicola Osborne – Continuous professional development in collaborative social media spaces
• Paul Salaman – Blended learning for Africa: A pilot study of on-line seminars at a Tanzanian University.

Wednesday 1 August 2012
16:00-17:00

• Austin Tate – Activity in context: Planning to keep learners ‘in the zone’ for scenario-based mixed-initiative training
• Jo-Anne Murray – Students use and perception of Second Life

Thursday 2 August 2012
18:00-19:30

• Noreen Dunnett – Twitter as a place for learning: An examination of the relationship between context, technology and learning with trainee teachers on placement
• Sharon Boyd  – Green electracy: Using digital literacy tools to facilitate reflection in sustainable education
• James MacKay – implementing iPad initiatives:  Organizational considerations, student use, teacher use and pedagogical implications.

Friday 3 August 2012
16:00-17:00

• Debbie Aitken – Medical undergraduate use of smartphones on clinical placements
• Colin Peters – A study of factors affecting summative assessment performance in an online European postgraduate medical education programme

Other ways to participate
If you can’t make any of the times for presentations, you can still view the slides, posters and fabulous haikus each student has made.  These are available on the Island throughout the Festival.  Each cluster of student materials is accompanied by a comments board – so you can leave the authors your thoughts, questions and other feedback to help them on their journey.

We’re also using our #mscel twitter tag during the week – with the stream feeding through into Second Life.

And a little extra goodness
As a special treat this year we also have a display in-world of the products of our first Summer School on writing for academic publications.  So keep an eye out for those too when you’re exploring the Island!

Looking forward to seeing you there!