RSC Eastern annual e-fair 2014 hosted by West Suffolk College
Returning for the 14th successive year, the Jisc RSC Eastern e-Fair has provided opportunities for learning providers to share experiences and best practice in e-learning and information learning technology (ILT) since 2001.
Gerard Hayes
Manager Jisc Regional Support Centre Eastern
Introduction to the days events
Dr Nikos Savvas
Principal West Suffolk College
Welcome to West Suffolk College
Evaluation – Alice Sharples, City College Norwich
Video – Lipi Zaman Dara, Barnfield
Twitter – Emma Furness, GYC
Contributors – Amar Nazar, EFC & Trudy Waterton-Duly, WSC
14 Jul 2014
We had brilliant weather and a brilliant day at West Suffolk College, the venue for the 14th Jisc RSC Eastern e-Fair on the 4th July.
Over 150 delegates attended and the feedback received at the end of the day was an overwhelming ‘excellent’. A crafted blend of ‘ingredients’ gave this highly excellent rating.
Every one of our e-Fairs have been held at a college campus. This gives a number of challenges compared to a convention type venue, but outweighed by having the added seasoning of a real life setting and access to appropriate resources and facilities.
Before the day itself numerous tweets were generated and this continued throughout the day. View all of the discussion, news and views from the event via the #rscefair14 hashtag on Twitter.
Nikos Savvas, Principal, West Suffolk College welcomed delegates, encouraging the use of digital technologies with learners.
The ‘entrée’ was in the form of Neil Stapleton, Technology Enhanced Learning Manager at The College of West Anglia. Neil gave a wide ranging keynote “Chasing the Rainbow”. Watch his keynote here.
One memorable quote was the need to unlearn in order to learn!
Delegates showed innovation when Neil invited then to hold up red or green coloured screens by replacing them with the Jisc colour coded guides inform their delegate packs.
A free ranging ‘smorgasbord’ of exhibitions and ‘show and tells’ occupied everyone until the excellent buffet lunch.
The ‘show and tells’ given by volunteers from a wide range of providers were an extremely popular part of the experience.
Delegates said that they were really inspiring and that they picked up a number of quick tips. This was closely linked to another main ingredient, sharing and networking throughout.
The afternoon was occupied with the final course of a range of workshops within menu choices covering a variety from using basic technology, Xerte, Ofsted, Tablets/iPads, functional skills and maths, the learner experience and augmented reality.
In addition to our evaluation forms, delegates had the chance to voice their views of the e-Fair in the video diary room, giving a rich source of feedback. View the videos here.
The day was rounded off by our thanks to all of the people who worked so hard contributing to such a successful day. Prize draws gave a final fizz to the day before everyone departed inspired and spreading the word.
Delegate feedback was particularly positive.
"Thank you. What an amazing day."
"Brilliant as usual. Great to catch up with other colleagues and learn new technologies."
"The keynote speech gave an excellent introduction/overview, and the workshops gave me so many ideas."
Gerard Hayes, Manager, Jisc RSC Eastern
