Hurrah, I've now got access to post to the blog. Bit late for all the fun and games, but hey...

Arriving at ALT-C after nearly a month away from work was slightly surreal, but somehow the synapses sparked up and generated familiar, and even convincing contributions to discussions. Manged to take on board a few new concepts too.

I liked:

• Itiel Dror's comparison of student learning habits to toddler's eating habits.
• Scott Wilson and Andy Powell at F-ALT acknowledging (and celebrating) the usability limitations of the UK-LEAP and IMS Content Packaging Standards.
• The recognition that students in creative areas value originality in ePortfolio formats, but may accept that ePortfolios have a role as 'virtualized' portfolios.
• A 2nd Life discussion with some delegates from Glasgow Cal, who have found the strongest uptake for SL in the Nursing and Midwifery subject areas - they use it for teaching communication skills.
• Research skills ARG (poster) for History Studies students at U Leicester which includes clear assessment criteria for participation in discussion forums as part of the game, and has improved students' assessed skills.
• JISC's new eportfolios infoKit: http://www.jiscinfonet.ac.uk/infokits/e-portfolios
• Magic Whiteboards: http://www.magicwhiteboard.co.uk/ 20 times more reusable than a flipchart. And made from the best recycleable plastic. Worth a try?

Unimpressed by:

• The session called 'Turning edcuational content into open content' was too broad for its title. It included everything about transforming paper-based content to e-content, aimed at producing sanitised, chunked, learning materials, and relied on learning technologists to achieve the process. Urk. However, it is based on the experience of OpenLearn, and the OU, is, afterall, a leader in distance learning. We may want to go there.
• 'The space between the institituion and the learner' - enjoyable participant roleplays led by Helen Beetham but they were predictably pulled towards a VLE v Facebook standoff. Few surprises there except a reminder to use what we do have imaginatively and to support active and proactive learners.
• Easimap - a way of mapping student marks and PDP to the professional spec for Engineering - useful for curriculum design as well as for students, but best reserved for subject areas with a high degree of conformity.
• Compendle from myknowledgemap - a bizzare little app. that shows the potential for drag'n'drop, almost works as as student portfolio, but ultimately doesn't fit our setup. Shame. Storywriter (from the same company) holds a lot of promise.

Summary: Not as exciting as the 3 packed days the previous year, but still plenty of food for thought for one day away, and an excellent way to return to work.