UCB Lecturer speaks at European Event

The 7th European Conference on e-Learning was held at the beginning of November in Agia Napa, Cyprus. Julian Robinson from the School of Hospitality, Food and Retail Management presented one of the 180 papers at the conference; entitled Developing a Screen-Capture Reusable Learning Object for Undergraduates.

He said, "The high number of papers presented demonstrates how e-learning is becoming more established in both UK and European institutions. Our own students can access learning and teaching materials online, listen to podcasts, engage in group discussion boards or view other content via Blackboard not only whilst they are on campus but from other locations such as halls of residence.

The presentations were varied - one explained how Starwood Hotels use e-mentoring to help with staff retention in their company and another shared experiences of how students use electronic voting systems to vote on a particular topic or to answer a question set by the lecturer.

With many students juggling academic study with part-time work or family commitments, the opportunity to access learning resources at a time to suit them is a real benefit. For example, some of our second year Hospitality Business Management students continued contributing messages with each other on a discussion board during the holiday period; which shows how they are engaging with such technologies."

The full paper will be submitted to University College Birmingham's new online journal; The Journal of Service Sector Education (JOSSE) when it is launched early next year.