ESCalate annual conference

Now on my way home from what has been a very rewarding two days at Stirling Management Centre working at the HEA ESCalate Subject Centre's Annual Conference where this year's themes were: Widening Participation (progression and retention), including the role of HE in FE; Technology Enhanced Learning; Contexts of Learning. Approximately 100 delegates attended 5 keynotes (mainly opportunities to watch the rain!) ; a choice from 70 paper presentations and workshop sessions; 14 of which were delivered by FEC lecturers (some of whom benefited from the having the conference's "best session chair"......). Other than when I was being talked at (see above reference to Scottish rainfall), it was an excellent conference run by, for, and with people who are enthusiastic, skilled teachers & educators from a range of subject areas.Personal highlights were:UPC's "Developing an (sic) HE culture within a disparate HE in FE partnership" where I got an (unexpected) name check for help given 18 months ago and "The Link Between Research and Education: an FE example". Being dragged (forcibly!) onto a dance floor to "start" the Ceilidh was unfortunately filmed and is doubtless on Youtube already. However, the case for the defence would like to point out that it was in exchange for free 10/12/16-year-old malt whisky for the next few hours.......

JISC Annual Conference, Birmingham

More than 700 delegates (from colleges, HEIs, educational developers etc), a range of speakers, presentations, demonstrations, workshops and more than 50 stands in the exhibition hall.
Professor Sir Ron Cooke, Chair of JISC opened the conference, and Lord Puttnam of Queensgate and Angela Beesley, Chair of the Wikimedia Foundation, were the keynote speakers.
Among the subjects under discussion: the benefits of e-learning; the Google Generation report; identity management; student experiences of ICT; virtual research environments, and much more. In addition, the winner and shortlisted entries for the JISC/Times Higher 2007 Award for 'Outstanding ICT Initiative' showcased their work.
Other notable highlights of the day:
* The inaugural JISC infoNet Innovation in Records & Information Management Awards presented by Lord Puttnam
* Launch of a range of e-learning publications, including briefing papers, and case studies on the DEL regional pilots
* Launch of two new resources from JISC TechDis - an online database of accessibility information for UK publishers and guidance for librarians and learning support staff on alternative formats
* Launch of the 'Tangible Benefits of e-Learning' publication by JISC infoNet
* The 'digital library zone', an area dedicated to digital resources reflecting the changing role of the library in a modern academic environment,
* An open source demo stand supported by OSS Watch, showcasing a range of innovative open source applications
* Launch of - 'Libraries of the Future' - which attempts to initiate a debate about the future of the academic library.
* No mention of "Second Life" anywhere - has the bubble burst?
Managed to convince/cajole/bribe 10 attendees for my HE in FE "Think-tank" in Norwich on May 21st - if interested, ask me!