What’s Inside February 2012: • • •
JOURNAL
ARTICLES: RANKINGS
QS published the first ever ranking of cities http://www.topuniversities.com/stud ent-life/best-student-cities/2012/ where students would like to live. London was ranked second in terms of employability, affordability and quality of life for students How visible are universities on social networks? http://econsultancy.com/uk/blog/88 29-how-visible-are-universities-onsocial-networks ecoconsultancy analysis of weekly data for 20 Russell Group universities. JOURNAL ARTICLES: UNIVERSITY ROLES Beyond bricks and mortar boards: universities’ role in building regional economies http://www.ippr.org/publications/55/ 8659/beyond-bricks-and-mortar-
University rankings University access Elearning
boards-universities-role-in-buildingregional-economies IPPR research. This report explores the opportunities for universities to contribute more to their local economy in the new economic development landscape. Wider changes could present an opportunity for universities to increase their influence and impact on their local economy, but universities are also facing financial uncertainty.
newsletter
GOVERNMENT REPORTS Home Office: Changes affecting study, post-study work and maintenance requirements for students and workers – http://www.homeoffice.gov.uk/publi cations/agencies-publicbodies/changes-study-visa-soi Statement of intent. This statement provides further information on the government's plans to make changes to tier four (students) and tier one (post-study work) of the immigration rules' points-based system JOURNAL
University of Genoa Site currently includes project information and news. There is also an interesting blog which highlighted news and events
ARTICLES: ACCESS TO
EDUCATION
JOURNAL
ARTICLES: E-
LEARNING
Staying the course- Barnardos http://www.barnardos.org.uk/what_ we_do/policy_research_unit/resear ch_and_publications/staying-thecourse/publication-view.jsp? pid=PUB-1800 takes a close, initial look at the new 16-19 Bursary Fund for England and its impact on disadvantaged 16 to 19-year-olds in education and training. New website.
GALA games and learning alliance. http://www.galanoe.eu/index.php/mi ssion EU funded project examining and building expertise in the use of games for serious educational learning. Led by ELIOS Lab -
Just released by the New Media Consortium and the EDUCAUSE Learning Initiative. This year’sNew Horizon’s report. http://www.nmc.org/publications/hor izon-report-2012-higher-ededition This is always an inspiring read with summaries of new technology, case studies and lists of further reading. This year their predictions are: mobile apps and tablet computing as technologies expected to enter mainstream use in the first horizon of 1 year or less.
newsletter
Game-based learning and learning analytics are seen in the second horizon of 2 to 3 years; Gesture-based computing and the Internet of Things in 5 years . These are real science fiction. The first are Interfaces that react to touch, movement, voice, and facial expressions the latter seems to refer to a category of small devices or methods that enable an object to be assigned a unique identifier; contain small bits of information, such as the object’s age, shelf life, and environmental data such as temperature or humidity (and much more) attached to it; and then communicate the status of that information on demand, whether they are Compiled by Heather Dawson h.dawson@lse.ac.uk