End date: 14 May 2004
Funding programme: Learning and Teaching (5/99) programme
The following resources have been funded by JISC through the Learning
and Teaching programme. The aim of the programme was to develop a wide
range of electronic content and to adapt it directly for use in learning
and teaching.
The programme has now been completed and has created a wealth of resources,
most of which are freely available to further and higher education
institutions. Most of the resources can be accessed through the web.
Biz/ed Virtual Learning Arcade
The Biz/ed Virtual Learning Arcade is an exciting section on Biz/ed that
provides interactive online models and simulations for economics and
business teachers, lecturers and students. Each of the 15 simulations
enables the user to carry out a series of experiments exploring such
diverse topics as ways to relieve traffic congestion in London, simulating
behaviour in the housing market, and even running an arable farm. The
simulations have support materials that have been written to enhance their
educational value. These include explanations of relevant theories,
interactive worksheets, definitions and guidelines on using the models.
Access conditions: Freely available
Contact details: Kate Sharp Tel: 0117 928 7189 kate.sharp@bristol.ac.uk
http://www.bized.co.uk/virtual/vla/index.htm
Click and Go Video
Imagine using a technology that could capture students' attention,
engage them and leave them with a richer, more meaningful and vivid
learning experience. The use of streaming digital video and audio to
support web-based learning resources is rapidly becoming an attractive
option for many educators. This technology not only provides on-demand
access and opportunities for student interaction, but can also enhance
teaching practice to open up new ways of representing, delivering and
sharing a subject discipline. Through its use, teachers can visualise a
process or show how something works, moves or performs live, without the
need to rely on purely text-based forms. They can enable their students to
"be there", without the constraints of time, space and safety.
Video Streaming: A Guide for Educational Development, developed by the
Click and Go Video team, is the ideal beginners' guide to this exciting
new area.
Access conditions: Freely available
Contact details: Clive Young Tel: 0141 331 8434
Email: clive.young@gcal.ac.uk
http://www.clickandgovideo.ac.uk/
Crafts Study Centre
The Crafts Study Centre attempts to redress the paucity of records about
the crafts (across the museum sector and within higher education
institutions), creating easy access to rich visual collections, on occasion
of materials rarely, and sometimes never, seen in the public domain. The
Crafts Study Centre has developed an international reputation as a unique
collection and archive of modern British crafts, embracing ceramics,
textiles, calligraphy and wood, together with reference books, documents,
photographs and craftspeople's working notes. High-quality images
capture details of the makers' techniques and use of materials. These
images, together with associated information and six learning and teaching
modules, will further an understanding and appreciation of the link between
the historic collections of the Crafts Study Centre and new developments in
the crafts. The resource will advance independent learning and add
substantively to the teaching of this subject area.
Access conditions: Freely available
Contact details: Simon Olding Tel: 01252 892953 solding@surrart.ac.uk
http://www.craftscentre.surrart.ac.uk
Designing Britain 1945-1975: The visual experience of post-war society
Designing Britain enhances access to the extensive Design Archives at the
Faculty of Arts and Architecture, University of Brighton, and other
associated collections. The resource explores the history of British
post-war design, including product design, sculpture, fashion and the
crafts. Tutors and students can engage with this material via seven
e-learning modules. Written by subject-specialist lecturers, and based on
their own teaching experiences, the modules comprise essays, assignments
and reading lists. Moreover, they offer access to approximately 800
high-quality images of archival material.
Access conditions: Freely available
Contact details: Catherine Moriarty Tel: 01273 643219 dhrc@brighton.ac.uk
Digital Egypt for Universities
Digital Egypt for Universities is an online resource based at University
College London. It was developed jointly by the Petrie Museum of Egyptian
Archaeology, the Institute of Archaeology, and the Centre for Advanced
Spatial Analysis. In over 3,000 web pages, learners are able to explore the
objects and material cultural content from a variety of aspects. Although
the material is historical (ancient Egypt, prehistory, Hellenistic and
Roman Egypt, and Islamic periods), the site is intended to promote
multidisciplinary and interdisciplinary learning. Audio extracts and a
series of 3-D virtual reality models created for the project facilitate a
pluralised approach to interacting with historical data, and the site
offers accompanying learning and teaching materials.
Access conditions: Freely available
Contact details: Stephen Quirke Tel: 020 7679 2882 s.quirke@ucl.ac.uk
http://www.digitalegypt.ucl.ac.uk
FILTER - Focusing Images for Learning and Teaching, an Enriched Resource
The FILTER project has produced a web site and database containing useful
examples and resources for anyone wishing to use digital images in learning
and teaching. The primary resource is a database containing more than two
dozen examples of image-based learning and teaching resources and hundreds
of digital images. The exemplars range from PowerPoint presentations and
web sites to multimedia and interactive tutorials. These have all been
created by practising lecturers, designed for use in their own contexts
with the intention that they be re-used and adapted for use in other
contexts and subject areas. To enable and support materials creation, each
exemplar is accompanied by a case study and 'how-to' guide. The
database is fully searchable by image, subject area and tutorial type so
if, for example, the user wishes to see how images are used to teach
geography, he or she could keyword search on 'geography', by type
of image (eg 'aerial maps'), or by delivery method (eg 'web
tutorial'). The database is also browsable. The images, like all
materials in the FILTER database, are free for educational use and come
with complete metadata records and creation history.
Access conditions: Freely available
Contact details: Jill Evans Tel: 0117 928 7164 filter-info@bristol.ac.uk
http://www.filter.ac.uk/
fineart.ac.uk
The National Fine Art Education Digital Collection is a prototype for a
national web-based collection of work by staff and students of UK higher
education institutions who have made a significant contribution to UK fine
art education through practice. The site makes available online an initial
selection of 230-plus works by more than 150 artists who have studied and
taught fine art in the UK, together with supporting information. The
selection of works covers the period from the inception of British art
schools in the 1850s through to the present day and includes work from many
important figures in British art such as Henry Moore, Bridget Riley and
Richard Hamilton. Timelines and maps provide visual access points to the
still images, films, work descriptions and artists' biographies that
enrich this unique resource. When grown to full size, fineart.ac.uk will
offer an unrivalled source both for teaching and research purposes, and for
use in planning exhibitions, conferences and publications relating to
higher education and fine art.
Access conditions: Freely available
Contact details: Polly Christie Tel: 01252 892807 polly@vads.ahds.ac.uk
HERON
HERON provides a complete copyright-clearance and document-supply service,
including digitisation and paper coursepacks where necessary, to academic
institutions wishing to provide online access to learning materials.
Access conditions: Institutional subscription required
Contact details: Tel: 01865 799133 heron@ingenta.com
http://www.heron.ingenta.com/
INFORMS / INHALE
The INFORMS/INHALE database is a pool of over 400 interactive, bite-sized,
online information skills units for students within all the main subject
areas taught in further and higher education institutions. A unique aspect
of the materials is that they are based on searching LIVE quality
information databases that lecturers now expect their students to use to
gather information for course assignments. Accessible versions for the
visually impaired (that may also be customised) are automatically generated
when a new unit is written. The INFORMS/INHALE database resources have been
used in face-to-face teaching sessions as well as linked into different
VLEs and institutional web sites.
Access conditions: Freely available
Contact details: Jennifer Brook j.a.brook@hud.ac.uk
http://inhale.hud.ac.uk/cgi-bin/informs.pl?area=home
Lemur
Lemur is a web-mounted database of c.3,500 items, each with at least one
image. Material is mainly drawn from the collections of The Marischal
Museum, supplemented by items from other University of Aberdeen
collections.
While the collection is diverse, there are particular strengths in:
Scottish archaeology, north-east Scottish folk life, non-Western
ethnography, Egyptology, Scottish paintings, ancient Greek coins and pots,
scientific instruments, and ethnographic photographs. A virtual version of
the Marischal Museum, showing views of all cases, information about all
objects, QTVR panoramas and active plans, is also available, and is of
particular relevance to museum studies. There are links to the database
entries for all objects on display.
Access conditions: Freely available to all via the web:
www.abdn.ac.uk/virtualmuseum
Contact details: Neil Curtis Tel: 01224 274304 neil.curtis@abdn.ac.uk
RDN Virtual Training Suite
The RDN Virtual Training Suite offers free Internet training via a set of
61 interactive tutorials on the web. There is a tutorial for most of the
subjects taught in UK higher and further education, each offering a guide
to key Internet resources for the subject and tips for Internet searching
and critical evaluation of web sites. Tutorials are being used in taught
courses, student induction and information, and research skills classes.
They are easy to link to from VLEs and departmental web pages.
Supplementary "Resources for Teachers" are available with ideas
for use with students.
The Virtual Training Suite is just one of the resources offered by the
Resource Discovery Network (RDN), a national web service pointing to
thousands of high-quality Internet resources that can support learning,
teaching and research.
Access conditions: Freely available
Contact details: Emma Place Tel: 0117 928 7183 emma.place@bristol.ac.uk
http://www.vts.rdn.ac.uk/
The Rhynie Chert: the biota of early terrestrial ecosystems
This web site is designed as a learning and teaching resource based on the
Rhynie Chert, a rock formation from north-east Scotland. The Rhynie Chert
was originally deposited as beds of sinter, formed from the effluent of
geysers and hotsprings that were active in the area approximately 400
million years ago. The rock is famous for containing diverse and superbly
preserved associated early Devonian terrestrial and freshwater flora and
fauna, and as such is important to our understanding of early land-based
ecosystems. The web site is designed to be of greatest value for Honours
Geology students but can be used by anyone with an interest in earth or
life sciences.
The site comprises two main components:
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The first is primarily a resource site for students and teachers covering
many aspects of the present knowledge of this unique geological deposit
and its scientific significance. It also includes glossary and
bibliography pages, as well as a page containing links to many other
Rhynie Chert web sites and related sites of interest.
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The second part provides guidance for teachers in this subject area and
as such will require a password to enter: this is available on request
from the authors (see contact details below). It is primarily aimed at a
university Honours degree level but can be used at any level. The content
is primarily of value in the teaching of geology but has relevance to
botany, zoology, ecology and history of science.
Access conditions: The main resource site has no restrictions on
access and is available to all. However, the second part of the site,
the 'Suggestions for Tutors' component, requires a password to
enter.
Contact details: Nigel Trewin n.trewin@abdn.ac.uk Stephen
Fayers s.fayers@abdn.ac.uk
http://www.abdn.ac.uk/rhynie/
TRILT - Television and Radio Index for Learning and Teaching
The BUFVC's Television and Radio Index for Learning and Teaching
(TRILT) is an online database of UK broadcasts, covering over 300 channels,
including terrestrial, cable, and satellite television (with regional
variations), all national and many local radio stations.
TRILT facilitates the use of audio-visual material in learning, teaching
and research, allowing staff and students to identify television and radio
material relevant to their area of study. In many cases, TRILT indicates
sources of post-transmission copies, including the BUFVC's Off-Air
Recording Back-Up Service and online copies of radio programmes.
Transmission details for forthcoming programmes are available at least ten
days in advance, allowing users to plan their viewing and recording. TRILT
has a personalisation service enabling users to set auto-alerts to email
them when programmes relevant to their interests are coming up. In
addition, programmes selected for their value to the educational community
are enhanced with further information, such as improved descriptions,
additional keywords, bibliographies and web links.
TRILT grows by over a million records every year and, with the
incorporation of the BUFVC's Television Index database into TRILT last
year, the data span covers nine years of UK broadcasting (1995-2004:
selective 1995-2001, comprehensive 2001 onwards).
Access conditions: Available to BUFVC members using Athens
Authentication
Contact details: Marianne Open Tel: 020 7393 1501
asktrilt@bufvc.ac.uk
http://www.bufvc.ac.uk/TRILT
Virtual Norfolk
Virtual Norfolk provides access to over a million words from over 2,000
transcribed primary source documents relating to the medieval and early
modern periods of Norfolk and Norwich (c.1200-1830). The content has been
purposely selected for use in HE teaching with a wide variety of document
types and subjects. It also includes over 400 high-resolution images of
documents from the Norfolk Record Office, many of which are available as
text transcriptions, plus hundreds of photographs and maps illustrating the
period in the city and county. Most of the content is contextualised within
teaching pathways, with additional secondary introductions and
bibliographies by specialist authors. The site has accompanying
cross-referenced biography and glossary sections and, in addition to basic
search facilities, allows the user to assemble and store their own pathways
though the material for presentation to class. The site is ideal for those
teaching the critical use of documentary evidence, and soles the notable
problem of making copious primary source material readily available to
students previously forced to rely on secondary sources. From Kett's
Rebellion to the dissenting meeting houses, Virtual Norfolk is the
convenient teaching resource for the history of Norfolk and Norwich.
Access conditions: Freely available
Contact details: Leon Doughty Tel: 01603 593937 leon.doughty@uea.ac.uk
http://virtualnorfolk.uea.ac.uk/