seminar

On Tuesday 31st of May and Thursday 2 June 2011 the first 2-day MEDEA2020 workshop took place alongside the annual EdTech conference organised by the Irish Learning Technology Association (ILTA). This conference took place in Waterford Institute of Technology (WIT).

This workshop on animation took place over 2 days. The first part, aimed at beginners, provided an overview of different animation techniques and included hands-on practice with different tools. Topics covered getting started with animation as a way of engaging learners, different types of animation for example 2D, 3D. The session continued with hands on sessions with different software tools (Flash and Animate) for the creation of animation. Participants carried out the first steps in creating an animated movie, and explored in that way the principles of animation.
Winning examples of animation from the MEDEA Awards were presented by Deborah Arnold from Videoscop Universite Nancy2 (France) and invited guest Yannick Mahé from CNDP (France) who is the director of award winning educational media Evolution of LIfe. Demonstrations and presentations were followed by discussions with all participants.

The second part of the workshop, aimed at more advanced users, took place as part of the EdTech programme on 2 June. On that day, examples and explanations on the use of animation in a pedagogical context were discussed: how was it produced and what is the impact on learning. How can animation motivate and stimulate the learner and aid understanding of complex abstract concepts. Also on the second day, there was a hands on session on the creation of scenarios that continued where the first day ended based on the scenarios created during day 1 from an educational and media production perspective. The workshop showed the participants clearly the first steps in the development of a short animated movie plus discussions.

The tutors on this workshop were Deborah Arnold from Videoscop, France; Yannick Mahé, from CNDP in France, Philip Penny from IADT, Ireland and Mathy Vanbuel, ATiT, Belgium. Altogether 30 participants attended the workshop over part or whole of the two days.

The next MEDEA workshop will take place in Poland in July and will cover the topic of Webinars. More information soon on this site and on the MEDEA Awards site.

Two members of our Organising Committee, Clive Young (University of St Andrews, United Kingdom) and Helle Meldgaard (The Danish IT Centre for Education and Research (UNI-C), Denmark) gave an engaging and excellent presentation about the MEDEA Awards 2008 at the DIVERSE 2008 Conference.

In this presentation Clive and Helle look at the trends in video and multimedia and how we can use new technologies and media for education.

They also refer to the MEDEA press release (23th May 2008) in which the Prize Sponsorship was announced. Five finalists will be invited to the Award Ceremony that will take place on 4 December in Berlin and will have the chance to win the first MEDEA Award. Prizes for 2008 will include the award itself and hardware to the value of 6,000 Euro.

The recorded presentation can be viewed online thanks to Collegerama, where a list of all presentations is available.

The summer school organised by the VENUS project, http://www.venus-seminars.net/, in which ATiT is a partner, highlighted Social Software and its uses in Business and Higher Education. Run from 3 to 7 September, this summer school was a lively mix of face-to-face workshop sessions, practical hands-on tutorials and networked cross-border discussion sessions. Thought-provoking presentations from leading practitioners in education and business were used to stimulate discussion amongst the sites participating in 7 different countries who were linked via a videoconferencing network throughout the summer school.

The Virtual Mobility Forum (November 28, Berlin) is a one day Forum is organised as a pre-conference event of Online Educa 2006 and brings together experts and practitioners in the area of Virtual and Physical Mobility. It is a mix of presentation and discussion formats, combining case examples and practical experience with discussions and brain-storming exercises in an effort to come up with clear advice and good practice that others can use in their own Virtual Mobility schemes.

The forum is organised by the Being Mobile and VICTORIOUS project teams.