What next? events, focus, and different ways to engage

Following another successful event, this time hosted by the University of Nottingham, we are already thinking about the next one. We will try to arrange two more this academic year and are now looking for hosts. DM @melsiguk if you’re interested.

We also need to decide on our special focus for the next events. This week’s focus on Creative Capture, Webinars and Screencasting only skimmed the surface of the topic, even though the programme was very full. It was great to get iTunesU on the bill after such a long time focusing on other matters.

MELSIG has never had an event solely focused on the use of images to enhance learning. I am sure there is plenty we can do with this topic if anyone is interested: student-generated media, how the smart device camera is changing project work and academic presentations, drawing apps, social media sites and how they are useful for finding, making and sharing photographs, etc. Yes, a very fertile ground.

One of the next two events needs to be Smart Learning – that is, learning with social media and personal technologies. The MELSIG Smart Learning book is written and is currently being copy edited. February now looks likely for a publication date. We need to keep that agenda flowing.

We are also closer to creating new ways to engage with the MELSIG network having established our YouTube presence. We’ve talked about running a webinar programme for a while and, following support from Simon Thomson at Leeds Becketts University, I think we are close to using Google Hangouts. More news on this here soon I hope.

Get in touch if you have any thoughts on what we should do next or other ways you’d like to engage with MELSIG.