{"id":210,"date":"2016-08-12T10:15:03","date_gmt":"2016-08-12T10:15:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs-staging.imperial.ac.uk\/ict-elearning\/?p=210"},"modified":"2016-08-12T10:15:03","modified_gmt":"2016-08-12T10:15:03","slug":"m25-learning-technology-meeting-20th-july-2016","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs-staging.imperial.ac.uk\/ict-elearning\/2016\/08\/12\/m25-learning-technology-meeting-20th-july-2016\/","title":{"rendered":"M25 Learning Technology Meeting, 20th July 2016"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Mimi Weiss Johnson<\/strong><\/p>\n

On the 20th<\/sup> July I attended the M25 Learning Technology meeting at the University of Westminster.\u00a0 As always, it was a lovely event attended by representatives from Universities in and around the M25 area.\u00a0\u00a0 I wanted to highlight three of the presentations that I enjoyed.<\/p>\n

Presenter:Janina Dewitz from UCL<\/strong>
\n Topic: Hackathon<\/strong><\/p>\n

Janina has been involved in organising Hackathons for UCL.\u00a0 These are friendly, competitive events for UCL staff and students that usually take place over a whole weekend at venues like the O2.\u00a0 Attendees are divided into groups where they are asked to raise a challenge or a problem to solve.\u00a0 The groups brainstorm and exchange ideas on how to solve the problem and in some sessions they will actually develop a solution prototype.\u00a0 Prizes are awarded for the best solutions.<\/p>\n

This sounded like a really interesting and collaborative event.\u00a0 The challenges were wide ranging and focused on getting people work together to find solutions.\u00a0 Janina described the event as \u2018competitive but supportive\u2019.\u00a0 People are given the opportunity to show creativity in a hands\u2013on environment and they forge connections with those who they meet and collaborate with at the event.\u00a0 It is truly a unique learning environment and UCL plan on running these events again in the future.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Presenter: Yanna Nedelcheva, University of Westminster<\/strong>
\nTopic: Open Badges<\/strong><\/p>\n

The University of Westminster has decided to provide open badges for their students.\u00a0 Open badges are a type of online certification that can represent a student\u2019s non-accredited achievements and it is a unique way of displaying skills.<\/p>\n

Badges can demonstrate lifelong learning as students can collect badges from different courses or institutions over time.\u00a0 Badges are collected and stored in an online passport that can be opened up for anyone to view, including potential employers.\u00a0 The badges that are provided are inter-operable so they can be transferred to other systems.<\/p>\n

Yanna provided some examples of when the University of Westminster might use these badges.\u00a0 They are:<\/p>\n