Digital Directions

ALT-C 2009 - A Virtual Perspective

As I was unable to go, I asked a couple of colleagues who went to the Association of Learning Technology Conference (ALT-C) to let me know of anything interesting, so here’s a guest blog post!

 

ALT-C isn’t subject specific, so many new and emerging classroom technologies can often be found… not all take off, but some do.  The following post is by Kathy Trinder and Linda Creanor, so my thanks to them!

 

--------------------------------------------------

 

A very busy few days this year. Many old contacts reconnected, many fellow education tech twitter-ers met in person, and many interesting and in depth conversations took place in pubs, over pints & pies, at the end of the day.

 

This year I initially put on my researcher hat and attended one session on "The agenda of research culture". I won't comment on these here, but links are available for the abstracts:

 

Activity Theory: what does it offer e-learning research?

 

A Research Agenda for Emerging Technologies in Education:

 

Gathering evidence of the design, use, reuse and redesign of Open Educational Content:

 

SCoPE Online Community to Support Individuals Interested in Educational Research and Practice: A Snapshot of Evolution:

 

 

For the rest of the conference, other than the keynotes by Wesch and Bean (see links to the videos

and other blog posts here and here, and always lots to read about ALT-C at: http://elearningstuff.wordpress.com/category/altc2009/), I have to admit I pretty much just followed the Virtual Worlds theme, of which I was part with my presentation on how Glasgow Caledonian University has been using SL in teaching Artifical Intelligence (AI) in computing.

 

2 years ago at ALT-C few people were using 3D virtual worlds in teaching, and the main conference themes revolved around Web 2.0 tools and how we could possibly use these. However that was the year that I detected a buzz and many whispers about this thing called Second Life. Like many I'd signed up for an SL account the previous year, when it first hit the headlines, but had not done a lot in there. It was highly intriguing to hear that year what had been happening, what all the really early adopters in H.E. had been doing.

 

This year there is a noticeable difference, with several sessions on Virtual Worlds, mirroring the general trend in UK HE of most universities now having some presence in SL or other 3D virtual worlds.

 

We are now beginning to see some real solid teaching scenarios appearing, beyond the pilot project stage, however pilots are still seen as important as we are still exploring what we can do with these worlds, and we cannot yet know their limits as they are still very much in development (though some are calling for an end to pilots and a start to some real teaching. But to me they are technology killers. This is an emerging technology and will be for many years to come. We are not there yet!). There is still much discussion about the technical issues, and institutional barriers this year at the conference. I think most places now are aware of issues and whilst we haven't solved them all we have discovered the more obvious ones are and sharing work rounds.

 

But it could be seen from the presentations given that many different disciplines are now exploring 3D Virtual Worlds. Some concentrated on the technology - 'bots, haptic feedback, tool kits, and integrating mobile & cross world devices; whilst others explored the cognitive - e.g. simulations, drill & practice, etc. About half the presentations though looked more at the affective or soft skills, (particularly in the arts & social sciences), and are more concerned with issues such as identity, gender, networking, and the very social aspects of such worlds.  There was discussion around whether or not the the SL expericne can feel like a 'real' experience ('Yes', but it depends on the student, the scenario, the design and the willingness of all participants to allow it to feel real.) Another question asked was does such a visual medium always benefit or can it kill imagination and creativity ("Which one is *your* Hurcule Poiroit or your Mr D'arcy?").

 

Another strong strand that emerged is that of staff and teachers and how we 'train' staff about these worlds. Do they need to become immersed in order to understand the environment and be able to use it effectively for teaching?

 

Games based learning emerged, I feel, as 'the next big thing'. With the introduction of 3D virtual worlds, who many see as being game-like, this is perhaps a natural progression. Again there is much historical work in this field, but it is being re-visitied because it seems that many of the processes of game play can potentially be used in virtual worlds to help structure learning and teaching.

 

These are all trends that can also be seen emerging across Europe as well as in the UK (I recently attended ICWL VW Workshop http://www.iicm.tugraz.at/ViWo/ViWo2009Workshop).

 

For the abstracts of the sessions I attended in SL, please see the links here:

 

Second life processes - 3 short paper(s)

300 Bioscience and forensic science students get a Second Life®

Rose Heaney, Stephanie Henderson-Begg, Olivia Corcoran

 

317 A fusion of mobile technology and Second Life in a learning environment to support the transition from school to university

Jane Magill, E Magill, B Canavan, A Devlin, M Pomerantz, J Trinder:

 

 

308 Dreams into [virtual] reality

Kate Boardman:

 

 

Visual redesign - 3 short paper(s)

155 Designing Engaging Visualisations to Support History Learning

Nic Earle, Shelley Hales

 

 

163 A Case of High Engagement: Applying immersive online gaming to History research skills.

Alex Moseley

 

313 Moving in 3D: The X, Y, Z of learning through doing in immersive, virtual environments

Helen Farley, Caroline Steel

 

 

Second life technologies - 3 short paper(s)

75 Designing game-based learning activities in Second Life

Maria Toro-Troconis, Martyn Partridge

 

 

206 If we dream it, will they come? The self-efficacy of students new to Second Life Learning

David Moffat, Kathryn Trinder

 

 

251 Virtual Reality: designing learning environments in Second Life

Fay Cross

 

 

Guest post by: Kathy Trinder and Linda Creanor, Caledonian Academy, Glasgow Caledonian University

 

 

Is the language of English law in need of fundamental reform?

Today, The Times reports on a debate chaired by Lord Justice Jacob on the motion The Language of English law is in Need of Fundamental Reform.  Organised by the English Project, the debate marked the anniversary of the Statute of Pleading in 1362 (647 years not being particularly significant, so I imagine the Statute was passed during this October week) which decried the use of French in English legal cases.

The suggestion that legal language with its "elaborate circumlocutions and Latin tags" should follow the fateful path of les mots français and be abolished in favour of plain English received a bit of a knockback:

For the reformers it was an open and shut case. As Gerlis put it, the traditional conventions — from the use of expressions such as “My learned friend” to Latin expressions such as lis mota and praecipe — were out of place when communication, through texting, was moving towards shorter words and expressions. Traditional legal language did not serve the public who were entitled to understand the rules and regulations that governed their lives, he said.

This was underlined by Clive Ludlow, a prison officer at Belmarsh, who spoke from the floor on behalf of Safe Ground, the education charity. He said that a survey of prisoners indicated that many were baffled by the legal arguments that determined their futures.

Atkins recounted her own recent and confusing experience with a lawyer. “It’s very important that I, as a client, understand what you, as my legal adviser, are saying.”

In response Gordon and Ley conceded that many complicated forms of expressions could be dropped. But the problem, they said, was not with English legal language but with the lawyers who used it — and who lapsed too readily into well-worn phrases.

Gordon said this was not the fault of the language. Its strength and vigour lay in a history of solid Anglo-Saxon words, with the occasional Latin and French term to provide consistency and concision. As Jonathan Croucher, of Taylor Wessing, pointed out: “The law is often not straightforward.” It was inevitable that some complexity would creep in.

As the debate progressed, the case for precision cut the ground from beneath the feet of the radicals. The “rushed” Dangerous Dogs Act 1991 highlighted the dangers that arose when seemingly clear words such as “pitbull terrier” were used. The public might think that they knew what the words meant, but that would not be enough in a court where exactitude and certainty were required, said Ley. Correctly used legal language would guard against these ambiguities.

Speaking from the floor, Professor Susan Nash, the Dean of the City Law School, City University, raised the issue of whether universities should share the blame for obscure legal communication.

She said that the need for “appropriate language suited to the listener” was heavily emphasised at law schools, such as her own, but the complexity of law inevitably meant that some technical language would have to be used — although only when essential.

The question hanging over the debate was whether the French today were doing any better than in the 14th century. Pascal Chadenet, of Salans, the Paris law firm, said that while French contracts were usually shorter than their English equivalents, French legal discourse was at least as confusing and often more complex. “When you read a decision of the French court you often don’t understand the question, let alone the answer,” he said.

Leon Pickering and Saad Butt, both law students, summarised the arguments, followed by Lord Justice Jacob, who, in his guidance to the audience, said: “In the courts one only saw the pathology of the law, not the physiology.” The point went home. The vote revealed that the audience had changed its mind and soundly rejected the motion.

The French did away with Latin themselves, according to the Ordinance of Villers Cotterêts in 1539, which made Parisian French the sole legal language, although not necessarily the sole language of the country (cf. lingua franca?!).  Stipulating:

"Nous voullons et ordonnons qu’ilz soient faictz et escrits si clerement qu’il n’y ait ne puisse avoir aucune ambiguïté ou incertitude, ni lieu à en demander interpretacion"

[We wish and command that [judicial acts] be made and written so clearly that there be neither ambiguity or uncertainty nor possibility of ambiguity or uncertainty, nor cause to ask interpretation thereof].  Humm, did this really work?!

Interestingly, more of my forensic anthropology students have studied 'Higher Latin' at school than my LLB students - nevertheless, my impromptu and ad hoc translations of actus reus and mens rea into the 'naught act' and the 'naughty thought' are sufficent to get the point across!  I haven't yet come up with a witty translation for res ipsa loquitur (although Hobhouse LJ states this is no more than a convenient Latin phrase) or res gestae, but answers on a comment/postcard please!

Blawg Review: On blogs and 'accidental' legal education (teach your children well...)

This week, Blawg Review #232 is hosted by Susan Cartier Liebel at Solo Practice University on World Teachers' Day. Held annually on October 5th since 1994, World Teachers' Day commemorates teachers’ organisations worldwide. Its aim is to mobilise support for teachers and to ensure that the needs of future generations will continue to be met by teachers.

For those who don't know, Blawg Review is carnival blog that is hosted by guest bloggers using their own blog site to provide content of a (usually specialist) theme.  It usually has a technology / IPR / alternative slant and, in the main, hosted by US bloggers.  There have been UK and Irish hosts in the past, most notably BabyBarrista (TimesOnline), CharonQC (Mike Semple Piggot), Cearta (Eoin O'Dell) and Lex Ferenda (Daithi MacSigthi).

This, it would appear, is the first blawg review to focus on legal education specifically, yet does so in a way that illustrates the 'Accidental Educator':

"Who is the accidental educator? In this case, the lawyer, regardless the myriad motivations for doing so, who shares his or her expertise that benefits many through the ever-expanding world of the internet. The tweeter who tweets one article that helps another find invaluable life-saving information and who continues to do so often and in random fashion. The lawyer who condemns in the court of public opinion a rule of law which is just plain wrong. But for this forum it might go unnoticed by the majority, unheard and unexplained. The opinionated who challenges you to rethink your position. The provocateur who baits others to engage in a much needed public debate. They are all educators if they make you think. They are all educators if they challenge your ideas, your biases, your beliefs. If they create and promote the conversation, they educate. You don’t have to agree, but you listen."

Susan then reviews and celebrates some of the blawgosphere's educators - again, mainly US but this does introduce the reader to further niches: bicycle law?

Last week, Colin Miller updated a list of US ‘legal educator’ blogs, following on from Daniel Solove‘s earlier census reports which were restrictedly solely to law professors.  It can be found on the Social Sciences Research Network (SSRN) and downloaded here.

Whilst interesting to flick through, the organisation of this list is mainly by law school or blog title.  Some titles reflect the name of the blogger, such as Lessig Blog, or Brian Leiter's Law School Reports, others are plain subject titles such as the Mass Tort Litigation Blog, some might even be a collective effort from one particular institution: The University of Chicago Law School Faculty Blog.  Others, however, are less indicative of their content: Law Prof on the Loose!  What it does not do, is organise by field, subject or specialism – which might be of more use to those looking for a particular type of blog to read.

Miller does offer some stats on the (roughly) 60/40 male-to-female ratio for these bloggers, and that Harvard Law School leads the field with 23 bloggers on their faculty.  This does, as he observes, offer some “indication of where law schools stand in the blogosphere”, and it will be interesting to see if these observations change over time.  Interestingly, Harvard does not lead the table of ‘number of blogs on which educators at those schools post’.

In the light of Susan's comments on accidental educators, the authors of the blogs in the above list are clearly opining in one way or another, yet few comment on their approach to teaching.  Paul Maharg observed in his blog Zeugma that only one such blog focused on legal education as their primary theme: the Best Practices blog, maintained by Prof Mary Lynch and here are links to some of her recent posts:

So, what can we say about these legal bloggers?  Yes, they are giving an educational experience to the reader, but it is more than likely that the reader will be a fellow academic, a practicing lawyer,or other professional.  Less likely is that law students will read or engage with these blogs, other than perhaps blogs written by their own teaching staff. It might be interesting to consider whether bloggers are better at blogging an opinion or viewpoint than transmitting the same point whilst teaching a class.