What is a PLE?
"For students and lifelong adult learners, we can think of such a permanent home domain as a personal learning environment (PLE). It is not one particular cloud app, rather it is the 'pure web' with a toolset enabling the person/owner of that domain to constantly adapt it to new developments. It grows with the person over time and constantly reflects new 'interior designs' and 'remodeling' as needed. A PLE allows the owner of it to be a true author, contributor, and social interactor with the wider web ecology while still maintaining the stability of a personal home base on the web which is not dependent on the evolving marketing strategies of free portal services...
Unlike the 'exhibition model' digital portfolios, a PLE is much more naturally attuned to the authentic personal and professional needs of the owner. Of course, as in a digital portfolio, we all like to naturally exhibit/display new features. However the passive role of an 'exhibit' is only one of many features of a fluid PLE site. Along with exhibiting this or that project, a PLE might just as likely be hosting a discussion on a particular topic, asking visitors to complete a quick survey, providing a quick 'breaking news' report about storm damage in one neighborhood, contributing a 'how to' screencast video on a recently learned technique…the possibilities are endless!"
(W3PLE, 2011)
CONTRIBUTOR
Simon PerkinsSHARE
Ken Robinson: human ability and talent is highly diverse
"Yes you know there’s this view that only special people are creative and it's not me. It's not it's not anybody I really know. It's a very isolated sort of genius you know to be really creative. And you know people doubt their own strengths and their own capacities. So I meet all kind of people who don't really get much fulfilment from the work they do. You know they just get through it and wait for the weekend. But I also meet people who love what they do. And couldn't imagine doing anything else. You know if you set and don't this anymore they wouldn’t' know what you were talking about because this is who they are. You know I mean like I don’t know what else I would do. They are so to speak in their element. And so the book is about that. It's about the journeys people took to discover their own talents and what difference it made in their lives. And I talk to all kinds of people. It's not just interviews. But the book is seasoned as you know with interviews with people in science in business in the arts in sports in technology all kinds of different fields and what's interesting to me is of course it's different for everybody and this is really a key point you know that human ability and talent is highly diverse. You know what turns somebody on might totally turn somebody else off. What excites some propel does not excite other people and I know when I am signing the book these days I always ask people what they do. And when they tell me I ask them if they like it. And I always think it's great when people say I love it. Because you just never [inaudible].'"
(Ken Robinson, Conversations from Penn State)
Fig.1 Conversations from Penn State Episode 207: Sir Ken Robinson, Uploaded by WPSU TV/FM/Online on 6 Nov 2010, YouTube.
CONTRIBUTOR
Simon PerkinsSHARE
QUT Communication Design's 2008 Exhibition 'Play On'
"QUT Communication Design's Exhibition 'Play On' was broadcast and promoted on a Channel 10 News story. The coverage from the news allowed the Exhibition to be a huge success, reaching the highest attendance count to date."
(Aimee Hewson)
CONTRIBUTOR
Simon PerkinsSHARE
Keeping Britain's special effects dream alive
"The country's reputation as the go-to Hollywood alternative was underlined at this year's Academy Awards when London-based Double Negative picked up the visual effects Oscar for its work on Inception.
The company, which has also been involved in the Harry Potter and Batman series, employs around 950 people at its headquarters in Soho.
Across the UK, approximately 5,000 people work in SFX post-production, according to the UK Screen Association.
But while business is currently booming, there are dark, computer-generated, clouds on the horizon.
A report, commissioned by the government and published earlier this year, delivered a worrying prognosis.
It warned that, while special effects was enjoying a rapid growth, the sector was also 'having to source talent from overseas because of skills shortages at home'.
The study, entitled Next Gen, concluded: 'That is mainly a failing of our education system - from schools to universities and it needs to be tackled urgently if we are to remain globally competitive.'
Part of the problem is the lack of awareness of the profession among young people, according to Paul Franklin, a visual effects supervisor and part of Double Negative's Oscar-winning team.
'There is not a huge amount of information available to them,' he told BBC News.
'Typically you tend to find that students who are seeking out courses in visual effects and film-making are the self motivated types who have gone out and found the information themselves.'
'It is something we work very hard at, but schools and colleges could be more aware about how a creative art education can be applied in the world of high-end modern digital media,' he said."
(BBC News, 14 May 2011)
CONTRIBUTOR
Simon PerkinsSHARE
ListAssist: peer-reviewed reading list service for Emerald subscribers
"Emerald will soon be offering a unique peer-reviewed reading list service to all subscribers - Emerald Reading ListAssist, which will help users to make the very most of their subscription. This service will raise awareness of Emerald's cross-disciplinary content, coherently combining new research with more seminal papers, in a format which breaks down a subject by sessions, making it easily applicable to under-graduate or post-graduate courses or modules.
Created for students and lecturers by students and lecturers, Emerald Reading ListAssist aims to improve and support faculty workflow. The service also provides students with a high-quality research tool, helping to build information literacy and research skills. The rigorous academic construction of Reading ListAssist assures a high level of quality for the user; each list is peer-reviewed by subject experts as well as in-house reviewers to make sure it meets the highest quality standards."
(Emerald Group Publishing Limited)
[Note that this is a subscription-only service.]
CONTRIBUTOR
Simon PerkinsSHARE
