Caledonian Academy News

Our Academy is involved in two new funded Research Projects; view details

Momentum and Melancholia: Gender Equity in Higher Education

Thursday, 19 February, 3.30-4.30pm
Room H113, William Harley Building

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Thursday 12th February, 10.00 am -12.30 pm, Insight Area, Room H113

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Learning literacies for the digital age
Tuesday 27 January, 3.30-4.30pm, Room H113, William Harley Building

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A vacancy has arisen for a full-time PhD Fellowship. View further details.

The next Learning Communities Forum will take place on 28th October 2008 in the Caledonian Academy. view details.

Professor David McConnell has joined our Academy as Professor of Learning Innovation. Professor McConnell leads a team in the Academy responsible for academic professional development across the University. View Professor McConnell’s profile.

The Caledonian Academy has received £40k JISC funding for a six month study on Learning Literacies (LLiDA) for a Digital Age that will help the University take forward its iLearn initiative and prepare our students for independent learning.

Caledonian Academy Director Professor Allison Littlejohn explains the value of this work:

“The UK Government has been clear that that further and higher education must give learners the strong foundation of skills and competences to enable them to thrive in an increasingly knowledge-based economy and society. In the past these competences have gone under the broad term ‘information skills’ or ‘information literacies’. However, with the convergence of communications and information media, the rise of user-owned technologies, widespread social networking practices alongside open production and consumption of knowledge (so called ‘produsage’)this term should be broadened to encompass new kinds of expertise. We are defining the totality of this expertise as ‘the range of practices that underpin effective learning in a digital age’.

“The future demands skilled, digitally-aware learners with the capacity to draw from and contribute to collective knowledge as they participate in learning. Glasgow Caledonian University is committed to ensuring our graduates leaving University with the ability to adapt to change by tapping into collective intelligence. The great challenge for us is to unlock the potential of each student, ensuring they have the competencies required for new, emerging practices in the workplace.

“Our study on Learning Literacies for a Digital Age integrates with the university’s iLearn initiative. We are working closely with colleagues in Learning Support and the academic schools to develop an understanding of learning literacies, how they are evolving, how societal demands are changing, and how students may be learn effectively in different contexts, such as education and the workplace. Integrating our work at Glasgow Caledonian with a national, JISC funded initiative enables us to capitalise on expertise from elsewhere. By engaging with real examples of academic and learners practices within Glasgow Caledonian and at other institutions across the UK we hope to provide compelling evidence of how effective digital learners develop and can be supported”.

Please contact Allison or the team in the Caledonian Academy to find out more.

The forthcoming Reading Group event (30th May) will run on the 26th June 2008 instead.

“Transforming Teaching and Learning – an Australian experience”
3.00 – 4.00pm, Wednesday 25th June 2008
Venue: Room H113, Caledonian Academy

The Caledonian Academy is pleased to announce a Learning Communities Forum on 25th June 2008. The presenter, Margaret Hicks, will share her experiences of transforming teaching and learning at the University of South Australia.

If you would like to attend, please respond as soon as possible to Elfrieda Callaghan, Tel. 273 1319. view more details