In the "Pet's Corner" the familiar animals are hosted and supported. Which applications would you rate as tried-and-tested components of an online learning environment? And which care tips can you give?

Prof. Salmon: We display applications from our Virtual Learning Environment. We encourage teachers to explore successful and less successful examples from others, and we try to keep our focus on student learning. We find that showing teachers actual applications rather than theories is the most inspiring.


They are interested in examples from their own disciplines and from those of other departments that they might otherwise not have the chance to view. We also show them frameworks for podcasting, e-tivities, and scaffolding of group work... that they can take away, and look after themselves. Care tips: focus on designing for student learning activities and on developing skills for teaching online.

In the "Breeding Area", new and rare species can be gazed at. Which new learning technologies have the greatest appeal at the moment? Are there any consolidated findings about their benefit?

Prof. Salmon: Well we've found that using podcasts that are integrated with all aspects of learning and teaching have proved the most popular exhibit recently. They are easy to produce and listen to- and they add a range of value to use by students.

In your "Safari Park", visitors can acclimatise to the environment. What is the most important step to get teachers into eLearning?

Prof. Salmon: Here we are ambitious in working with hybrid species of learning technologies. Our partnerships across the world and our 3,000 students in many different locations mean that we try and capture the similarities and differences in different learning cultures. We all learn about the great value of diversity in learning arenas!

Adventurers can dare to enter the highly risky zone of the "Exotics House". Where do you see the most thrilling future challenges in embedding eLearning?

Prof. Salmon: We will indeed be in a continuous change situation for the foreseeable future, and we need to ensure that the changes are beneficial for student learning. Thus we need to be visionaries and have a huge range of inputs, ideas, visions, strategies, and plans for growth and development to draw on to face the challenges that the social, economic, and technological changes in education bring. We encourage visitors to have wild thoughts in this area of the zoo!


Title of ONLINE EDUCA presentation:

Living in the E-Zoo

Date: Thursday 16.30 - 17.30

Session: Institution-Wide Adoption