Rare Books and Special Collections and University Archives - located on the lower level of the Irving K. Barber Learning Centre - will be open today (Wednesday, September 4). They had been temporarily closed due to facilities issues. All other branches are also open for use.

Thank you for your patience, and welcome back to UBC Library! 

Photo: Martin Dee

A pioneering offering from the Faculty of Education and UBC Library is enabling UBC students, staff and faculty to hone their digital literacy skills.

The two units have introduced the University’s first LOOC, or local open online course, as part of UBC’s Master of Educational Technology program. This course, called M101, helps users “acquire, maintain, refine and promote” digital literacy skills. These are grouped into topics including Mining (research), Meshing (idea creation) and Mobilizing (generating value from information and knowledge).

The LOOC is open to all members of the UBC community who have a campus wide login (CWL). M101 is self-paced, and users can build their skills in any area, and in any order, that they wish.

As the name suggests, a LOOC is a localized form of a MOOC – or massive open online course. MOOCs have been a big topic in online education recently; indeed, UBC’s first MOOC – which it launched in January 2013 with Stanford University – attracted more than 130,000 registrants. “A LOOC is a way of attaching this phenomenon of massive learning to a well-defined peer community,” explains David Vogt, Graduate Advisor for the MET program. He adds that the project could be expanded to all B.C. post-secondary campuses in the future.

Vogt feels that the LOOC effort is a good fit with UBC’s flexible learning initiative, which focuses on technology-enabled learning. “A lot of flexible learning has to do with the University’s understanding of how it can be flexible,” says Vogt. “I see this from the other side – how do we enable our learners to be more flexible?”

The project received a grant from UBC’s Teaching and Learning Enhancement Fund in spring 2013. Work began in April, and the LOOC was opened to co-authors of content, including UBC librarians, in July. The first set of students from the MET program will be able to contribute as of this September. “The idea is that we’ll get all of these online graduate students in education offering content for the LOOC as a fundamental part of their learning experience,” says Vogt, also the Director of Innovation Strategy for UBC’s MAGIC lab.

Nicole Christen, a MET student who is researching adult participation in online communities, looks forward to being a project participant and contributor. “The main benefit of this particular LOOC is its ability to be regenerative and remain current, in terms of content, through student participation,” she says.

Vogt hopes that M101 will eventually offer online “badges, ” which would mark another first for UBC (badges can be used to recognize a learner’s new or enhanced skill set). And that could prove to be a powerful incentive. “In this age where employers of all kinds are really looking for added value from new employees, digital literacy knowledge and skills are going to be a slam dunk combination,” he predicts.

Erin Fields, UBC Library’s Teaching and Learning Librarian, notes that the LOOC offers benefits for a range of audiences. “The LOOC is providing an experimental space that pushes content creators like librarians to become confident in the immediacy of information creation and co-creation,” she says. “For students and the UBC community, the LOOC is filling a large information gap. It provides education in an area that isn’t currently addressed in a campus-wide way, and allows for the community to engage in information and conversations about social network technologies while growing digital skills.”

Fields, who has organized a group of six UBC librarians to develop LOOC content, is excited about the initiative’s potential. “This is a huge benefit for UBC Library, as it allows us to partner in a truly forward-thinking project,” she says. “It opens a discussion that may not have been possible before now.”

Due to a facilities issue, the reading room for Rare Books and Special Collections and University Archives will be closed on Friday, August 30. We apologize for any inconvenience and look forward to seeing our patrons when we resume reading room open hours.

This is full recording of the Small Business Accelerator event, Smart Business, Small Business held October 17, 2011 at UBC Robson Square. The lecture features two compelling figures: Paul Cubbon, Marketing Instructor at the University of British Columbia’s Sauder School of Business; and George Moen, a University of British Columbia alumnus, serial entrepreneur and President of Blenz The Canadian Coffee Company. Speakers offer insights around the notion that entrepreneur success is often bred from failure. Learn more about Paul Cubbon on his blog: http://blogs.ubc.ca/paulcubbon/ and George Moen on his blog: http://www.georgemoen.com/. The series was a celebratory event marking the Small Business Accelerators first year of service and was also held in conjunction with Small Business Week, organized by the Business Development Bank of Canada.

Speaker Biographies

George Moen proudly describes himself as a Serial Entrepreneur. With more than 30 years of experience in food and franchising, he specializes in transitioning small businesses into big business success stories. He is one of the country’s most followed CEO’s in social media and speaks as a keynote or on numerous panels at a variety of events about franchising, entrepreneurship, business and social media. Learn more about Paul Cubbon on his blog: http://blogs.ubc.ca/paulcubbon/

Paul Cubbon is a Marketing Instructor in the Sauder School of Business at the University of British Columbia. Cubbon’s interests are in marketing communication, customer behaviour, innovation and competition, social media, and how these combine to influence management practice in changing organizations to be truly customer serving. Learn more about George Moen on his blog: http://www.georgemoen.com/.

UBC Library Resources

Kruchten, P., Lawrence, P., Dahl, D., & Cubbon, P. (2011). New Venture Design–Interdisciplinary Capstone Projects at UBC. Proceedings of the Canadian Engineering Education Association. [Link]

UBC Research Guides:

Current Awareness for Business Researchers

Marketing

The following message may be of interest to new and returning graduate students:

• Are you an Education graduate student who is applying to SSHRC/CIHR/Affiliated Fellowship this fall?
• Would you like to learn how the SSHRC/CIHR/ Affiliated Fellowship process works? 
• Would you like to receive personalized feedback or advice on your application?

If so, the Office of Graduate Programs and Research (OGPR) is pleased to announce the following event:

Education Graduate Student SSHRC/CIHR/ Affiliated Panel and Feedback Forum
September 11, 2013 11:00 am-1:30 pm
Scarfe, Room 310

This event is designed to give you an opportunity to learn about the SSHRC/CIHR/ Affiliated Fellowship process, or provide you with personal feedback on your application/proposal.

You can either attend a general panel presentation that provides advice on the construction of a SSHRC/CIHR/ Affiliated application (e.g. letters of reference, program of research); or attend a break-out group where you can receive personalized feedback from faculty and students on your application.  Please note that due to time constraints you cannot attend both the panel presentation and receive personalized feedback – therefore, you must indicate which part of the event you are attending on the registration form. 

So please bring either your questions for the panel, or a copy of your proposal (draft copy is fine) if you would like to receive personalized feedback at the session.

Space is limited so please RSVP by 4:00pm Monday, September 9, 2013, using the online registration at the following link: http://ogpr.educ.ubc.ca/2013/08/01/sshr-ccihr-affiliated-panel-and-feedback-forum/

You must indicate whether you wish to attend the panel or receive feedback.  We cannot guarantee a personalized feedback session to late replies.

Note: If you are unable to attend this information session, you can view videos of the July 2010 as well as the 2009 Information Sessions, and the Perspectives from Successful Students video at the following link: http://ogpr.educ.ubc.ca/grad/funding/resoures/

Event sponsored by the Office of Graduate Programs and Research.

In 1831 – http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Faraday%27s_law_of_induction

(From MAA blogs)

Buzzwords and trendy abbreviations seem to be all the rage and the business and tech worlds are no different.

read more