My Accepted #altc Abstract with Reviewer’s Comment

Image source: James F Clay – ALT-C 2012

I am pleased to announce that my 2014 ALT-Conference abstract has been accepted which means that I will be in Coventry, at the University of Warwick, this September. This is an output of my HEA funded project..

Here is a copy of the accepted abstract paper and the conference’s reviewer’s helpful comment:

Third and Final iPad (and other tablets) Coffee Club @ UoH

The third and final iPad (and other tablets) Coffee Club was held last week and 10 colleagues attended it. I would like to thank the HEA for the funds to organise these three sessions and there are plans to continue the coffee club sessions next academic year based on attendees’ positive feedback.

Colleagues liked the informal and relaxed atmosphere of the sessions which provided them the opportunity to learn from their peers and from the facilitator

“A great informal get together and opportunity to discuss ways in which to maximise the use of the iPad.”

 

“I liked the informal and relaxed nature of them, and the two-way flow of ideas.”

 

“Communication with other tablet users is good to get ideas for better downloads.”

 

I shared several apps (below) at the session which the attendees found useful.

Conference Dissemination Plans

Image source: Delwin Steven Campbell

Here are my current three iPad dissemination conference targets for 2014. One of the three conferences is already confirmed and I am planning to submit abstracts to the other two over the next few weeks. If you are at any of these conferences then please drop by my session or catch up with me during the conference breaks.

UK HEIs’ iPad and other tablets Support Systems

Image source: @olaojo15

The University of Brighton has a start-up kit which will help you to build your own tablet “App Swap Breakfast Event” at your own institution. The template is under a Creative Commons license so you are free to use and adapt this resource. Ever since, I was inspired to replicate the University of Southampton’s “iPad and alternative devices Coffee Club” at the University of Huddersfield; I have been on the lookout for iPad/tablet support systems used at other UK universities.

Second iPad (and other tablets) Coffee Club @ UoH

Image source: olaojo15

The second iPad (and other tablets) Coffee Club event was held last week. The attendee turnout was lower than the first coffee club event because of the school half-term holidays. A lot of academic staff members were away on annual leave with their families. It was a major oversight on my part to plan the event during the school half-term holiday week. The date was selected late last year and the large conference room used as the venue was free on this day. If you are planning to hold similar events in your institution then take note of half-term holidays when planning your event. 11 people attended the session so it wasn’t a terrible turnout number but it could have been higher. 15 academics attended the previous event.

iPad (and other tablets) Coffee Club @ UoH

Image source: @olaojo15

The first ever University of Huddersfield ‘iPad (and other tablets) Coffee Club’ held this week was a success.

Feedback from one of the attendees provided in Yammer the following day was

 “This was a really good event, well worth attending – and the carrot cake was nice too.”

25 colleagues booked to attend the event and 17 showed up. It seems that colleagues are really busy at this time of the year. Most of the attendees were iPad users and there were 2 Android users as well. A colleague who didn’t own any tablet device came to the event because he was planning to get his own iPad soon and was eager to learn more about the device.

Southampton’s iPad (& Alternative Devices) Coffee Club

Image credit: Tamsyn Smith

I travelled to the University of Southampton last week to attend the Centre for Innovation in Technologies and Education (CITE)’s iPad (& Alternative Devices) Coffee Club which was co-facilitated by Fiona Harvey and Tamsyn Smith.  I am piloting a similar scheme at the University of Huddersfield (UoH) this academic year because the BJET project findings revealed that UoH colleagues were struggling to maximise the use of their iPads for academic practices. There is a demand for institutional support to help them gain the knowledge and skills needed to use their tablets effectively. I believe that the iPad (and other tablets) Coffee Club is a great informal way to support colleagues’ effective use of their iPads.