ALT Scotland SIG: Sharing Stories – enablers and drivers for learning technology in Scottish education

The recent ALT-Scotland SIG event in June was both informative and fun.  It was held on the east coast of Scotland this time where around 50 of us were hosted by Dundee and Angus College at their impressively modern Gardyne campus. The focus of the day was Sharing Stories: enablers and drivers for learning technology in Scottish education. The variety of presentations, discussions and demos can be seen in the outline programme. The event was recorded and both the morning and afternoon sessions are now available on the ALT YouTube Channel (morning and afternoon session) and embedded below (the YouTube video pages for each of these sessions includes navigation to the individual talks).

Morning Session

Afternoon Session

The presenters shared stories about innovative developments, including the ‘huddles and medals’ approach to transforming staff engagement with technology in the University of the West of Scotland, new approaches to mobile technology for blended learning at Edinburgh College, and the publishing of e-textbooks at the University of the Highlands and Islands as part of the Jisc funded eTIPS project.   We also heard about marks integration at Glasgow Caledonian University, approaches to encouraging collaboration among online distance learners at the University of Dundee, and strategic developments around open education and the promotion of CMALT certification at the University of Edinburgh.

We still had time for a useful open update and discussion session, where we shared tips and tricks, successes and concerns around various aspects of digital learning.

The really fun part came when we were let loose in the College’s new Learning Lab where we had the opportunity to try out the various exciting technologies that are now being used for teaching and learning on the campus.  We had a tour of the inside of the human body through virtual reality headsets (definitely not for the squeamish), tried out 3D scanning and printing (with some unusual  results), programmed routes for miniature vehicles  (with variable outcomes) and flew drones to experience how they’re being used by construction and surveying students (all landed safely).

More information and photos of the day can be found on the Educational and Design Team’s blog at the University of Edinburgh and also on Lorna Campbell’s Open World blog.

All in all we had an inspiring day, helped immensely by the very warm welcome from colleagues at Dundee and Angus College.  The lively conversations continued as we left the campus buzzing with new ideas about technology and learning.

Linda Creanor, Head of Blended Learning | GCU LEAD
Glasgow Caledonian University

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