Summary

The last bits to say are that after a trip to a local shopping mall called Cary Towne Center (I thought it was going to be a town centre...) on the Friday morning, we made our way to the airport and home.

It's been quite difficult doing this retrospectively. I could have written so much more, but I don't really want to spend any more time on it. Please leave a comment, or ask me about it if you wish. I'm pretty sure that I'll be re-reading my notes and looking at the online resources for quite a while yet

It was a great trip, I saw, heard and learned a lot, and met a lot of interesting people. And Rob seems to have beaten his fear of flying...

Visit to Duke University's Center for Instructional Technology (CIT)

I managed to set this up through Brian, who made originally made contact with them for me about the Duke Digital Initiative (iPod project) about a year ago.

After being picked up at the hotel by Brian's dad, we arrived at Duke around 11:30 (a little early) and had a look at the iconic chapel (below - the photo is a bit wonky!) in the first rain of the week, well, except the thunderstorm that was on the horizon on Tuesday night. We were due to meet Amy Campbell of CIT at 11:45. I have video from this location that I may put on YouTube and link to from here...


After a brief chat with Amy in her office (I took her some Sheffield Top Trumps cards as a gift, thanks to Helen R for the idea), the next port of call was lunch, with a number of staff from Duke's Center for Instructional Technology. I talked so much I didn't finish my food! not like me at all...

Next was a trip to a room kitted out with the latest gaming technology, and a conversation with Zach (below in photo), who told us how they used the room for teaching - getting the students to talk about media, think about the issues in Computer games etc, and how they also use the room for social events and for getting industry experts in to talk to the students. (The gadgeteer in me was thrilled to see a PlayStation 3 for the first time, no time to play on it though)



Back to CIT (Center for Instructional Technology), to talk about the Duke Digital Initiative (iPod Project), my (soon to be re-ignited) Technology Bundles project, Blackboard, discussion about the LTI and CIT, and then on to Duke's DiVE 6-sided Immersive Visualisation Environment.

OK, now this might take some explaining. Imagine yourself inside an 8-foot cube, where every surface is a screen. Now, put on some imaginary googles and put yourself in a computer-generated 3D landscape, where computer generated fugures can walk towards and past you... it was quite strange, and I don't know if it was the flexibility of the floor or the 3D environment that made my balance go a bit off...


On the way back to meet the taxi, visited a new social/learning space, which I though was cool:

So it was a packed day (I reckon most readers will have seen the conversation in Paul's blog about trips away not being jollies...), rounded off with a visit to Brian's parents for dinner, with Brian's dad providing the transport in a Toyota Prius - another new one for me. I was impressed with how much energy it was creating/storing as we travelled, in massive contrast to some of the gas-guzzling beasts on the American highways. (On the Friday morning, at a shopping mall, we saw a mother and baby park up in what can only be described as a truck! a big, massive truck! no doubt it did about 1 mile to the gallon...)

The street where Brian's house is reminded me of The Wonder Years, which I never used to miss on TV when I was little. It was nice to see a snapshot of family life in America

ELI Spring Focus Session - the main things I'm taking away

OK that's it for writing about the sessions (if in a slightly wrong order - particularly the project parlors...), the photo above shows where the event was held

So, the big ideas I'm taking away from the ELI Spring Focus Session are:

• The taster sessions were great, and are an idea we can adopt fr our own events. It means presenters repeating themselves in the space of a short time, but it does give people a taster, and allows them to make a qualified decision about if a session is for them, and also a bigger picture of what other sessions are happening even if they have chocen to attend others


• We are doing OK with things like games for learning, Second Life, virtual environments etc, but there is still plenty to do


• We should set up some kind of design competition in Second Life (or Sketchup etc, or using good old fashioned pens and paper) for getting our students involved in all the new builds/renovations that are happening


• I'm going to talk to whoever-it-is in LITS about Grid Computing, because it is something we should be doing, there must be hundreds of computers at SHU that sit idle for periods when they can be doing something useful, like rendering 3D videos etc

Virtual Learning Environments in 3D - Phil Long

Phil Long from MIT, talking about Second Life, including a proposed competition to let students use it to design new halls of residence - which is an idea that I think we should steal for getting some student input into all our new buildings/refurbs. (I've since talked to Liz and Paul about this)

Session info/resources: http://www.educause.edu/LibraryDetailPage/666?ID=ELI07206

Student Cameo 3: Online Time Consuming Real Time

Another student cameo - I didn't make a very good job of taking notes about any of them!

This was about how playing games like World of Warcraft can consume a lot of time - too much in some cases...

Info at: http://www.educause.edu/LibraryDetailPage/666?ID=ELI07211

Cyberinfrastructure-Enabled Learning Environments for Gen Z - Gary Bertoline

Gary Bertoline again, talking about Grid Computing and how important it is. This is about making use of unused proccessing power when computers are unused (e.g. when people leave them switched on overnight...), I learned a lot from this, and it is something we should look at seriously

Info and resources: http://www.educause.edu/LibraryDetailPage/666?ID=ELI07204

Student Cameo 2: Visions of the Underworld: Transforming Classical Texts into a Virtual Reality Experience

This was presented by a student form Duke, and outlined how groups from across the University had come together to create an interactive 3D environment based on a story from Greek mythology (I think) - which has some elements that fit with what I have been doing recently. It was only 15 minutes, and I didn't take many notes, and I'm afraid there are no online resources...