Mental tactility: the ascendance of writing in online management education

A qualitative study of online management education and the role of writing as an indicative measure of thinking and learning. Established educational models, such as Dale\u27s Cone of Experience, are expanded and redeveloped to illustrate the central role of writing as a critical thinking process which appears to be increasing, rather than decreasing, with the advent of online multimedia technology. In an environment of increasing reliance on audiovisual stimulus in online education, the authors contend that tertiary educators may witness an ascendance or re-emergence of writing as central to the academic experience. This may be both supply and demand driven. Drawing on a study of two undergraduate units in the Bachelor of Commerce and applying hermeneutics to develop challenging insights, the authors present a case for educators to remain conversant with the art of teaching writing, and to promote writing to improve educational outcomes. <br /

Audiences, Intertextuality and New Media Literacy

This article explores intertextuality as a technique that can be used to bridge old and new media literacies for teachers and students who hope to move beyond the textbook model of instruction into a world of online resources, flexible pedagogies and innovative designs for learning. These include the uses of online archives, media studies techniques, participatory knowledge creation, and multimedia analysis and production.Radio-Television-Fil

The Rhetoric of Video Games

Part of the Volume on the Ecology of Games: Connecting Youth, Games, and Learning Bogost's chapter offers an introduction to rhetoric in games. First he looks at the way games and their rules embody cultural values, following the work of Brian Sutton-Smith and looking in particular at a few examples from international sports. Then he discusses the relationship between games and ideology, showing how game play can unpack and expose deeply engrained social, cultural, and political assumptions. Finally he discusses the ways videogames make arguments. Drawing on the history of rhetoric, Bogost introduces a notion he calls "procedural rhetoric," the art of persuasion through rule-based representations and interactions

eLiteracy versus information literacy at eLit2005 : what's the difference, which should we prefer?

Having successfully migrated to St. John's University, New York the previous year as eLit2004, this year's eLit conference, eLit2005[1], was held at the University of Strathclyde in June and addressed a range of challenging concepts from the electronic information environment. I have to own up to being on the local organising committee for eLit2005, so any comments about the conference on my part may lack a certain objectivity. However, the event did prove to be a success and I hope left a number of stimulating ideas to resonate with the conference delegates

Let's get personal

Philip Butler has worked as an e-Learning adviser in post-16 education for 19 years. Here he describes his experiences and outlines what he believes to be the challenges faced by the NH

Market-Driven Management and Global Economies of Scale

In market-driven management, dominated by competitive customer value, economies of intensity of sharing, or synergies, can be linked to global economies of scale. A market-driven management strategy radically alters the interpretation perspective of the issue of synergies. In market-driven management, synergies or economies of intensity of sharing do not derive from 'pooling resources' in order to saturate manufacturing capacity better, but from exploiting a store of skills to support different businesses. The cases presented (Geox and Yamamay) regard companies that can be defined as competitive customer value oriented, partly as a result of their capacity to exploit economies of intensity of sharing, by synergetic recourse to their basic skills.Market-Driven Management; Global Economies of Scale; Over- Supply; Competitive Customer Value; The Yamamay Case; The Geox Case

Academic digital libraries of the future : an environment scan

Libraries are attempting to face a future in which almost every fixed point has disappeared. Users are changing; content is changing; research is taking new forms. Indeed the very need for libraries is being questioned in some quarters. This paper explores the nature of the changes and challenges facing higher education libraries and suggests key areas of strength and core activities which should be exploited to secure their future

Mobile Digiquest: Developing rich media reflective practitioners

Mobile technologies, well-established as business tools, have now become more educationally-appropriate through integration of improved multimedia functionality. User-generated content and related activities have encouraged a transition from academic content creation to greater student collaboration across a range of platforms, which are increasingly mobile. With a greater awareness of 'citizen journalism' approaches, our students are becoming more familiar with using mobile technology in recounting their experiences. Our own staff surveys have indicated that these techniques are not commonplace internally, and while the greater majority of staff use their camera phones, few feel confident in transferring their rich media elsewhere. Within a wider framework of institutional knowledge-sharing, the OU's Digilab and educational professional development have included opportunities to explore m-learning further. Supported by device loans and emulation tools, the Digilab has provided a range of self-exploratory facilities which have been leveraged by increasing numbers of guided sessions and hands-on Digiquest activities. Other project work in the university has explored capturing local environments and language in residential schools, and a framework for remote fieldwork. Through offering sessions using commonly available technologies, including participants' camera phones, MMS and online mobile-blogging tools, our activities have demonstrated the ease with which rich media can enhance group work and reflection. Building on case studies from other institutions and related research in the field we have constructed two main themes: * Location-based approach, making use of existing physical trails around the campus, integrating with GPS/geocaching activity; * Scenario-based approach, working within a teaching and learning context, capturing practice through use of participant role-play. A number of considerations have arisen for further exploration. Technically, it is difficult to filter content and transcode/modify media sent by MMS so that all participants can access the same material. In creating the activities it was essential to take a more guided peer-learning approach, pairing, where possible, a more adept participant with novice users. The activity worked better when blended with a purpose e.g. creating practice-based course activities. Participants were able to reflect and extend their experiences after the face-to-face session through the mobile-blog. In this presentation we aim to outline the steps taken in providing these staff development opportunities and our future expectations of providing a return path for user-generated mobile rich media