The Other E-reader: Apple iPad

As promised in my last post re E-readers, here's the official Apple iPad trailer. If you can live through the OTT first 3 minutes as marketing reps gush about how you 'don't have to change to fit the product, the product changes to fit you', the presentation becomes much more practical in terms of the possibilities for use re education and of course, the all important mobility factor.

The iPad challenges Amazon's Kindle in the lucrative market of E-readers. Given the price of these E-readers, it remains to be seen whether they can actually be adequately utilised in education or remain the domain of those who can afford shiny new toys. I imagine that the opportunities for use in education and the development of EduApps are certainly a high possibility in the E-reader market, however we have yet to see something that really has the ability to make a difference (in terms of access - a key drive of education and social reform) and not just an amazing gadget that impacts upon the household/school budget.

Having said that, Apple are still on friendly terms with educators and continue to offer discounts to staff and students on their entire product range, but it would be nice (dare I say heart-warming?) to see an effort go into the development of delivery to those marginalised by what is increasingly looking like elitist shiny toy syndrome. Don't get me wrong, I'm an Apple fan from way back and I'd LOVE an iPad, but I find myself increasingly wondering when a company with Apple's resources is going to develop a technology for people in real educational need. I'm thinking here of the XO Laptop, of course, which currently has a programme for Haiti. However, I'm also a realist - I know that technology like the iPad or the XO for that matter, doesn't sow crops, provide clean drinking water, or assist women with small business loans to support their families and villages, but it would be a nice sea change if we could put a lot more consideration into the churning out of devices and apps.

What's on your Kindle? Understanding E-books and E-readers

The good folks at IPOL are running a seminar on understanding E-books and E-Readers for the University. If you haven't heard of Amazon's Kindle or it's upstart little brother the Apple iPad, then head down to this informative session with Deirdre Wilmott and Ian Knox to evaluate and come to better grips with the potential limitations and purposes of this mobile technology.

• When: Thursday 25 February 2010
• Where: Room F200, F Building, Mt Helen
• Contact: IPOL@ballarat.edu.au or 5327 9155
• Cost: [and I quote this] "No cost to UB Staff and Affiliates. $300 for Non-UB Staff and Affiliates" >:-0

Here's Amazon's official Kindle video. It's definitely worth a look. I'll post an entry on the Apple iPad later.

International Student Safety Debate

With increased violence against international students in general and Indian students in particular on the rise in eastern Australia, the publication of of a paper directly addressing this issue by Nyland, Forbes-Mewett & Marginson in the latest edition of the HERDSA journal is timely to say the least. The HE sector in Australia is largely driven by a (previously) perceived reputation (asset) for being able to provide a safe study environment in the international education market.

Nyland, Forbes-Mewett & Marginson's ARC funded work suggest that the 'industry' is having difficulty coming to grip with how best to address the safety concerns of international students following recent demonstrations by Indian students & those concerned for their welfare, and the framework of management responsible for exporting Australian HE as a site of safe and reputable education for internationals. The ramifications of what has/is happening to internationals whilst in Australian HE is impacting on enrollment numbers and the business sector. Their report tracks developments across the USA, New Zealand and the UK before focusing on Australia.

C. Nyland, H. Forbes-Mewett and S. Marginson, 'The international student safety debate: moving beyond denial', HERDSA Vol. 29, No. 1 2010, 89-101. Routledge website here.

March Book Group

The book group resumes in March this year with John Ajvide Linqvist's Handling the Undead. Another engrossing read by the author of Let the Right One In. We meet at The Known World bookshop in Sturt Street on Sunday 7th March at 2:00pm.

UB Learning & Teaching Conference 2009

Monday 30 November - Thursday 3 December

This year the concept of a Learning and Teaching Week has been instituted to combine a number of events into one focussed week. The week will start with a TDU Showcase on Monday November 30 and be followed on Tuesday by a LEWS 'Using Technologies in Teaching' Session presented simultaneously at Mt Helen, Horsham and SMB campuses. The LEWS sessions in particular, appear to be of most value in the context of direct applicability to teaching and learning, with sessions on Mahara ePortfolio, Limesurvey, Turnitin, Moodle, Flash and video options in teaching.

On Wednesday IPOL will present a series of pre-conference workshops conducted by leading academics from around Australia who on Thursday will provide the keynote addresses to the IPOL Learning and Teaching Conference around the themes of Assessment and Evaluation.

Conference details and programmes available here.

December Book Group

Picture: Sporting Times, April 1922

The December Book Group will meet at The Known World bookshop in Sturt Street for a 2pm start. We return to James Joyce's Ulysses and continue from the section starting "In The Heart Of The Hibernian Metropolis" and ends with "Urbane, to comfort them, the Quaker librarian purred". My Penguin Modern Classics edition has this between pp. 147-235.

2009 Philosophy Symposium: Philosophy and Responsibility

Photo: Marnie Nolton

The 3rd annual Philosophy Symposium is being held at the Mt Helen campus of the University of Ballarat. In choosing Philosophy & Responsibility - A Day of Philosophical Friendship & Conversation as the theme of this year's Symposium we reflect on philosophy's two-fold nature. It is and must be a responsible practice in its own right, but it is also an activity of reconsidering the issues of our (epistemological, ontological, ethical, social, political, aesthetic) responsibilities in the world.

The Symposium will be held at the University of Ballarat on Monday 7 December 2009 and is open to interested academics, postgraduate and undergraduate students. Our goal is to provide a supportive collegial forum to promote the vital exchange of ideas and ongoing conversation in philosophy, as well as to foster ties between participants.

The UB Philosophy Programme invited abstracts of 250 words for twenty-minute papers in any field of philosophy or papers that present philosophical perspectives on other fields of the humanities and social sciences. We are please to confirm the presentation of ten diverse papers (The School of Law, Deaking University; Faculty of IT, Monahs University; Philosophy, Murdoch University; School of ITMS, School of BSSH, University of Ballarat).

For further information contact
Dr Jane Mummery
Philosophy Programme
School of Behavioural, Social Sciences & Humanities
University of Ballarat
j.mummeryAT ballarat.edu.au

For Symposium registration contact
Marnie Nolton
Philosophy Programme
School of Behavioural, Social Sciences & Humanities
University of Ballarat
m.noltonAT ballarat.edu.au

The Humanities in Australia: Taking Stock

Last week saw The Australian Academy of the Humanities hold its 40th annual symposium on 19 -20 November at the National Library of Australia, Parkes, Canberra. This year's theme was The Humanities in Australia: Taking Stock, and syposium convener Prof. Mark Finnane (Griffith University) saw this theme as befitting a retrospective on both the Academy and the state of Humanities in Australia. Papers focussed on both the development and changes in the last 40 years as well as looking to future trends which might impact upon the Academy and the humanities themselves.

A stellar cast of academics presented a diverse series of papers that provoked lively questions from the floor. Including but not limited to Catriona Elder, Genevieve Lloyd, Graeme Davison, John Frow, Mark Byron, Ian Hunter, Ien Ang, Glenda Sluga, and Ian Donaldson. The symposium was attended by Jane Mummery and Marnie Nolton.

Japanese Character Animations

The LEWS team have worked with Japanese Language staff in BSSH to develop a set of interactive Japanese character animations to assist students in drawing characters using the correct stroke order (an essential element to many langugaes such as Japanese, Chinese and Hebrew, for example). Characters from Hiragana, Katakana and Kanji have been covered, with each character set being broken down into animation and simulation files. Animations display the correct stroke order whilst the interactive simulations allow students to practice and consolidate stroke order. Download these character sets from here.

These Interactive Japanese Character Animations are produced by the University of Ballarat - LEWS, and are licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 2.5 Australia License.

Adjunct Professor of Literature Awarded

Congratulations to Dr Alice Mills who has been awarded the position of Adjunct Professor of Literature for a three year period. Alice is a prolific researcher in Literature at the University of Ballarat specialising in picture books, myth, Jungian and Kristevan theory. In addition to her academic position with the University, Alice also organizes and participates a range of writing and book reading groups in the local community.

Alice's webpage with publication details can be found here. Use the navigation pane on the left to select 'Mills' from the stff member list.

Understanding Feminsim book launch

The University extends an invitation to all for the book launch of Understanding Feminism for Jane Mummery from the School of Behavioural & Social Sciences & Humanities. Published by Acumen, Understanding Feminism was co-authored with Peta Bowden from Murdoch University, and will be launched by Adjunct Professor Alice Mills.

• When: Thursday 22 October 2009, 6pm
• Where: Post Office Gallery, corner Lydiard & Sturt St
  

Understanding Feminism provides an accessible guide to one of the most important and contested movements in progressive modern thought. Presenting feminism as a dynamic, multi-faceted and adaptive movement that has evolved in response to the changing practical and theoretical problems faced by women, the authors take a problem-oriented approach that maps the complex strands of feminist thinking in relation to women’s struggles for equal recognition and rights, and freedom from oppressive constraints of sex, self-expression and autonomy. Each chapter focuses on a different cluster of concerns, demonstrating key moves in second-wave feminist thought, as well as some of the diversity in response-strategies that encompass both socio-economic and cultural-symbolic concerns. This approach not only shows how central feminist insights, theories and strategies emerge and re-emerge across different contexts, but makes clear that far from being “over”, feminism remains a vital response to the diverse issues that women (and men) find pressing and socially important.

Understanding Feminism is part of Acumen's Understanding Movements in Modern Thought series. This series provides accessible and lively introductions to major schools, movements and traditions in philosophy and the history of ideas since the beginning of the Enlightenment, revealing both the unity and the dissonances within that particular traditions or school.

Further author details, reviews and ordering are available from the Acumen website.

UB Equity & Financial Aid Scholarships Program 2010

I've had an increase in students who've recounted that they are homeless or without permanent address and general recounting of serious financial hardship. I can't stress enough the importance of letting students know about student services, counseling and medical attention that is available to them. I urge staff to disseminate the following information on scholarships for next year. Please note the closing date for applications is the end of this month.

UB is releasing a range of scholarships to students to aid in their pursuit and continuation of study. Under the title of the UB Equity & Financial Aid Scholarships Program 2010.

There are a range of scholarships available to UB students including:

• UB Regional Relief Scholarships (Drought/Fire/Flood Affected)
• UB Education Costs Scholarships
• UB Accommodation Scholarships (for students who have had to move to commence study)
• UB Dr Mary Atkinson Scholarship (for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders)
• UB School Based Financial Scholarships

As usual, there are eligibility criteria. I don't have much more information than this but I have a flyer and can make copies for interested students or staff. Further information is available from the following links:

UB Equity & Financial Aid Scholarships
Other UB Scholarships
Online applications at VTAC

Applications close 30 October 2009

November Reading Group

Thomas Mann 1939 photo by Carl Mydans.

• "No man remains quite what he was when he recognizes himself"

This month we're reading Thomas Mann's The Magic Mountain - first published in 1924 - widely considered to be one of the most influential works of twentieth century German literature. We meet on Sunday 1st November at The Known World bookshop in Sturt Street for a 2:00 PM start.

ReMarks Feedback Management Software

ReMarks is a software programme with which educators can annotate, collaborate and report on student electronic submissions. Of particular interest to educators should be the ReMarks XML Word 2007 integration plugin tool which appears to seamlessly integrate ReMarks into Word's menu bar.

The ReMarks toolbar includes the usual features you'd expect from a mark-up programme including the ability to highlight, insert comment boxes, and use a felt pen. More advanced tools that make this worth serious consideration are the Media Tools which allow you to insert voice annotations to documents, or Management Tools which allows you to PDF documents.

This programme is being endorsed by both the Australian Learning and Teaching Council (ALTC) and by the Department of Education, Employment and Workplace Relations. ReMarks is making the software freely available to all Australian university staff until 2011. You download a 60 day trial version of the software and then contact the company (with the supplied form) for a product key.

The programme is only available for PC (sorry fellow Macsters) and the website contain aseries of training videos to walk you through the processs. I'd be interested in hearing from people who try this out. to see if you think it's more useful than the usual track changes. The voice annotation inparticular will appeal to those marking online journals and the like.

webpage link: ReMarks Feedback Management Software

October Book Group

Marilyn Monroe reading Ulysses.

The October meeting of the book group will tackle continue with the second chapter of James Joyce's Ulysses. It was suggested that we also read the second chapter of Homer's The Odyssey in conjunction with Joyce's Ulysses. We meet at The Known World bookshop on Sturt Street at 2:00pm on Sunday 4 October.

Here is a link to the Ulysses page at LibriVox where you have the option of downloading the smaller MP3 files or the higher quality (and larger) MP3 files for each chapter.