Learning with the Fang » university

NewMedia in Research, Teaching & Learning – Lunchtime Talk

mseyfang — Fri, 29 Aug 2008 10:50:42 +0000

At lunchtime today I spoke to a great bunch of folk about my thoughts on how Web2.0 might impact life at University. HERE is a preliminary audio recording from my trusty little iRiver.

Thanks to the generosity, fine organisational skills and fabulous mailing list of the team from CLPD at the University of Adelaide I had an excellent and diverse gathering at my little rant about NewMedia today. I will update the audio recording with the official ‘MyMedia’ recording when it comes thru. Scroll down for quicktime movie of slides + audio.

After a quick poll and some definitions we looked at some interesting examples of NewMedia and:

Research

Open Access Publishing
Open Science
Open Notebook Chemistry

Teaching & Learning

iTunes and other lecture podcasts
The tricky mix of social networking and formal coursework
An experimental Open Course

Quicktime movie of Slides + Audio from fang.blip.tv:

The mac version of my slides (complete with black rectangles thanks to evil powerpoint incompatability) is up on slideshare.

Uofa Newmedia

View SlideShare presentation or Upload your own. (tags: learning teaching)

Thanks to all who came for the great feedback, I hope to see some of you hanging out at the Science Blogging Conference online tomorrow night.

Fang – Mike Seyfang

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uofaoday – Open Day as seen by me

mseyfang — Mon, 18 Aug 2008 10:00:29 +0000

Yesterday was open day at the University of Adelaide. I was there as staff and spent most of the day helping out with the LaserTAG experience put on by the photonics team.

We captured over 150 images created by punters who ventured into the Bragg lecture theatre and had a go. Our plan was to let people create their own masterpiece on the big screen, capture the image and offer to send interesting ones to flickr and/or the artist’s mobile phone via bluetooth. Here is a quick grab of some of my favourites:

Created with Admarket’s flickrSLiDR.

We learnt a lot from our little experingment here is a list for next time:

NEVER let anyone touch the demo machines after the final test run
Tagging was a real hit with the younger siblings – maybe we could do more to make the day fun for the younger folk
The digital image -> bluetooth -> phone/flickr workflow worked surprisingly well, any display that includes digital images could do this
Scribbling with lasers is FUN!
It takes quite a quite a lot of effort/coordination to get people inside a darkened lecture theatre, down the stairs and to grab the laser pointer

I have a bunch of other images / video from my phone stuck in the outbox and no time till next week to get em out. In the meantime here is an image that jumped out of a search for open day goodies online.

Attribution: PoweriPics

Fang – Mike Seyfang

Get Scientific at OpenDay – Sun Aug 17

mseyfang — Mon, 04 Aug 2008 03:49:58 +0000

Only two weeks to go until Open Day at the University of Adelaide – that’s Sun August 17. If you can come along, make sure you check out what’s happening in the world of sciences. If you can’t, do me a favor and tell someone who can!

Be sure to drop by the sciences marquee near the main stairs (number 2 on this map).
Just a short walk from there is the Bragg lecture theatre where you can have a crack at Laser TAG ing. Trust me its fun – make sure you bring your phone and have bluetooth switched on. I need at least a dozen or so people with bluetooth phone and web skills to upload their masterpiece to the Web and to tag it with uofaoday .

[youtube=http://au.youtube.com/watch?v=LtrXJtPMvKc]

LaserTAG at Open Day

And hey, take lots of pics-n-vids while visiting open day – upload the to the web – tag em with uofaoday and you never know what might happen.

Fang – Mike Seyfang

TWAM07 – The Week According to Me (Mike) episode 7

mseyfang — Fri, 01 Aug 2008 09:02:24 +0000

Some things of interest noticed in the last week of July, 2008.

Download .mp3 [right mouse, save as]

Beth Kanter gives tips on social media in (nonprofit) organisations
The EdTechTalk crew interview key players in an innovative open course in connectivism
George Siemens reviews recently read papers providing short summaries in audio

Roughly ten minutes of snippets from podcasts I have heard recently that might be relevant to Higher Education. My aim is to stimulate discussion around the impact of the read/write web on research and teaching & learning.

Links/Attribution:

Kanter, B., Presentations from Connecting Up 2008 conference | DonorTec. Available at: http://www.donortec.com.au/content/presentations-connecting-up-2008-conference [Accessed August 1, 2008].

Cormier, D., EdTechTalk#81 – The Mega-Connectivism Course (Part #1) | EdTechTalk. Available at: http://www.edtechtalk.com/EdTechTalk81 [Accessed August 1, 2008].

Siemens, G., Learning Technologies Centre Research Blog » Random Readings and Research Findings – #2. Available at: http://ltc.umanitoba.ca/wordpress/2008/07/random-readings-and-research-findings-2/ [Accessed August 1, 2008].

Get episodes delivered automatically via iTunes:

Fang – Mike Seyfang

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Rare and exciting job opportunities in Adelaide, AUSTRALIA

mseyfang — Sat, 28 Jun 2008 09:48:45 +0000

You may be aware that I have a new role at the University of Adelaide that allows me to spend some time in the world class Centre of Expertise in Photonics, led by Professor Tanya Monro. You may not be be aware that the Centre is expanding and that there are up to seven new roles for the right people. If you think you might be the right person (or know someone who might) then you have until the end of July to get involved:

The Centre of Expertise in Photonics has recently expanded with significant growth in two key areas: optical fibre sensing and fibre lasers. We are developing new classes of microstructured optical fibres that can be used as a platform for light-matter interactions. This program of work will include both blue-sky theoretical, experimental and fabrication research and a range of applications including monitoring the quality of water and detecting viruses in real time. We are also building up new research capabilities in fibre lasers, both for the near and mid-infrared.

Apply for a Postdoctoral Fellowship for your chance to engage in cutting edge interdisciplinary science with real world applications. This is a rare opportunity to become part of a vibrant team at a time of rapid expansion.

Click HERE for more information on jobs at the Centre.
Visit the website of the Centre to find out more about it and the team.
Apply via the official University jobs page.

Fang – Mike Seyfang

Inspiring my career at the University of Adelaide (Tanya Monro)

mseyfang — Thu, 24 Apr 2008 10:20:24 +0000

What was the catalyst for my decision to begin the second half of my career at the University of Adelaide?

THIS Podcast which led to a meeting with Professor Tanya Monro – Chair of Photonics and as of yesterday Federation Fellow!

UPDATE: The Photonics team was on ABC Catalyst, 4:30 video HERE.

Some of you would know that I decided to leave a very cosy career in ICT and to pursue technical opportunities in the fields of BioTech, NanoTech and Materials Science. Who would have guessed that my own home town hosts a world leading research team who work across all three of those disciplines? Who knew that local players in the Water, Mining, Defence and other industries could influence cutting edge research to their advantage? – Tanya did!

Congratulations Tanya and thanks for allowing me to stick my nose into your lab and infect your team with my crazy ideas on new media and innovation.

Fang – Mike Seyfang