Friday 30 April 2010

Developing Professional Skills for Physicists

12th May 2010,
University of Durham

Online registration closes 4th May.

A workshop organised jointly by the Physical Sciences Centre and the Institute of Physics (IOP) Higher Education Group (HEG) on developing professional and employability skills in all levels of students.


The meeting will have input both from employers and the academic community. There is no registration fee for those working in UK HE. Website for registration details: http://www.heacademy.ac.uk/physsci/events/detail/2010/developing_professional_skills_for_physicists

Friday 2 April 2010

Research Excellence Framework – consultation outcomes

The four UK higher education funding bodies have announced the outcomes of the recent consultation on the new Research Excellence Framework:
http://www.hefce.ac.uk/news/HEFCE/2010/ref.htm

New CLA Guidance for HE

http://www.jisclegal.ac.uk/Default.aspx?tabid=243&id=1334

The CLA Higher Education Copyright Licence Operation Working Group has issued a Good Practice Guide for higher education in the creation of course packs. The guidance includes illustrations of good and questionable practice. There is an explanation of the aims of the licence and information on what to do when in doubt.

Full pdf document at: http://www.cla.co.uk/data/pdfs/he/he_good_practice_guide.pdf.

YouTube - speech recognition software

Every single YouTube video with English language audio can now support captioning created by speech recognition software thus improving the sites accessibility for videos. More details from the Out-Law website at:
http://www.out-law.com/page-10815.

YouTube item
Googleblog item

User generated content online
http://www.jisclegal.ac.uk/Default.aspx?tabid=243&id=1298

Amendment to clause 17 of the Digital Economy Bill could lead to entire sites being forced offline if it becomes law. The Bill is designed to combat digital copyright infringement and is planned to be hastily pushed through the legislative process before an April election...potentially, entire sites like YouTube could be forced offline reports the Guardian. This could lead to further legal challenges for institutions providing internet services and using user generated content sites. For the full article, see http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2010/mar/05/digital-economy-bill-pushed-through