This is the second year that the Association for Learning Technology (http://www.alt.ac.uk) has run the awards, which celebrate and reward excellent practice and outstanding achievement in the learning technology field - the broad range of communication, information and related technologies that can be used to support learning, teaching, and assessment. The award is this year sponsored by learning and ICT solutions specialist, Tribal Group (www.tribalgroup.co.uk)
The 2 winning and 3 commended entries shared prizes totalling £3,800.
Winner, Individual Award
Josie Fraser won the Individual Award for her wide-ranging, influential, and sustained contribution in the learning technology field. She said, “Winning the Individual Award for the 2008 Learning Technologist of the Year is a huge honour. It represents a fantastic opportunity for me to raise not only my own professional profile as an edtech, and even more importantly to celebrate the amazing organisations, teams and individuals I've been fortunate enough to work with to produce some world class projects. My work for Childnet, producing the DCSF's Cyberbullying Guidance, and research on Young People and Social Networking Services for Becta, the continuing development of the Emerge community for JISC, and the International Edublog Awards programme are all initiatives which I am hugely proud of and have involved working with teams of people who are amazing. I feel incredibly lucky to work in such a dynamic, vibrant and above all community focused international sector.”
Winner – Team Award
The Learning Technology Group at Lancaster University was awarded the Team Award for successfully providing and integrated learning technology service that has had a major and beneficial impact on students and staff across the whole university. Accepting the award, Dr. Richard A. Ranker said, “Winning this award will bring some well-deserved recognition to the team. They have been providing world-class business-essential tools for use in teaching and learning, but too often receive no recognition of it. This external validation and selection as the best learning technology team in the UK will let them -- and our staff and students -- know they are appreciated. I believe their introduction of two new applications this past September while still updating and improving our other three main applications is a major accomplishment for this team of seven FTE, most of whom are on fixed-term contracts.”
Commended - Individual Award
Stuart Hepplestone from Sheffield Hallam University for leading the development, implementation, and roll-out of an assignment handler and feedback wizard now used on a large scale at the university.
Commended – Team Award
The Learning Technology Team at London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine for developing online courses for use in less developed countries: an MSc in clinical trials and a PGDip/MSc in infectious diseases; and for enhancing the School’s capacity to produce further online courses of this kind.
Commended – Team Award
The Technology Directorate at Ufi learndirect for successfully in-sourcing the production of and transition to a new learning platform that supports over two million learners.
Shortlisted
Barry Nicholls, from Liverpool John Moores University, for creating and maintaining a timesaving and quality enhancing software application to support laboratory experiments in analytical chemistry.
The judging panel for the 2008 award comprised individuals at the cutting edge of elearning:
• Angela Sanders, NIACE
• Bob Banks, Tribal Group, and member of the ALT Research Committee
• Hannah Whaley, Dundee University, and joint winner of the 2007 Award
• Margaret Bennett, QIA
• Stephen Heppell (Chair of the judging panel), CEO of Heppel.Net Ltd and Visiting Professor at Bournemouth University
• Steve Ryan, London School of Economics and Chair of ALT
To download the PDF brochure with more information about the 2008 awards
and the winners, visit
http://www.alt.ac.uk/
To register for an entry form for the 2009 awards, visit http://www.alt.ac.uk/
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Notes to editors:
The Trustees of ALT gratefully acknowledge the Tribal Group's generous sponsorship of the 2008 Learning Technologist of the Year Award. For more information about the Tribal Group go to http://www.tribalgroup.co.uk/
ALT (the Association for Learning Technology) is a professional and scholarly association which brings together all those with an interest in the use of learning technology. There are over 200 organisational members from higher and further education institutions, private and public sector organisations and over 500 individual members. Sponsoring members include Becta, HEFCE, Microsoft, the Scottish Funding Council, Adobe, and the Learning and Skills Council.
ALT organises a yearly high profile conference – ALT-C, the theme for ALT-C 2009 will be In dreams begins responsibility. The conference takes place from 8-10 September 2009, Manchester, UK. http://www.alt.ac.uk/
Association for Learning Technology, Gipsy Lane, Headington, Oxford, OX3 0BP
Tel: +44 (0)1865 484 125 Fax: +44 (0)1865 484 165 Email: admin@alt.ac.uk
URL: http://www.alt.ac.uk/
ALT is a Registered Charity in the UK, number: 1063519
For media information, interviews or high res images, please contact:
Catherine Dhanjal, TheAnswer Ltd
Tel: 01883 650434 or 0794 166 9925
Email: Catherine.dhanjal@
