Digital Learning Dispatches

Project 252 is an innovative crowdsourcing initiative that is running during 2015. The project has been undertaken by Dr Enda Donlon who is a member of our Digital Learning Research Network.

The general premise of the project is simple. Every two weeks for the 52 weeks of the year (hence 252) the project focuses on a different letter of the alphabet – starting with A and going through to Z. For the two weeks that each letter is featured, participants are invited to contribute the details of an Ed Tech tool (for instance, an app, Web 2.0 service, software package, etc.) that begins with that letter. All submissions are currently grouped by letter and available via the project website. When the project reaches the halfway mark (letter M) a search facility will be opened that will allow visitors to search the directory using a number of criteria. There are also a number of additional features that will be unveiled in the coming weeks and months.

Project 252 invites contributions from those working at all levels of education (contributions are classified into a number of categories in this regard). Participants are invited to log in via their Twitter account to make a contribution or they can do so anonymously.

The project has just completed its focus on the letter ‘E’ and has (to date) compiled over 180 contributions from all levels of education and contributors from across the globe. With twenty-one letters of the alphabet and over nine months remaining, it is hoped that this number will continue to grow at a similar rate.

For further details and to contribute to the project please visit the Project 252. You can follow along on Twitter using the hashtag #proj252 or by following @proj252.

Last Monday the NIDL hosted a highly successful full-day writing workshop for people doing research in the area of Digital Learning. This event was open to the sector and specifically targeted new and emerging researchers, and scholar practitioners, currently completing doctoral theses and/or wishing to disseminate their research findings in suitable publications. The workshop attracted 16 people from a number of institutions and was facilitated by Lynn Nygaard of PRIO Institute, Oslo, Norway. The day provided an opportunity to complete a piece of writing, article or conference paper at various stages of development, and we expect to see the fruits of this event in journals, conferences and completed dissertations over the next six months or so. Thanks to Muireann O’Keeffe and Dr Pip Ferguson who took the lead in organising this event and based on feedback from participants, we hope to offer a follow up workshop later in the year.