The Naace Annual Strategic Conference and Exhibition opened in Torquay in early March 2008. This is the definitive ICT Conference in the UK for all those involved in advancing education through the use of modern technologies in learning and teaching.

Naace has introduced a 'hot-seat' where invited colleagues field questions over a four week period. Our guest in the 'hot-seat' will either answer online at specific times, or at pre-arranged regular intervals. We look forward to hearing from you!

Our first 'hot-seat' guest is Phia le Roux. She will be answering your questions from 9 January 2008. Phia has kindly agreed to share an hour per week 'live' at 4-5pm every Wednesday and will pick up and answer any other questions at 8.30am Mondays and Fridays. Please fire all your questions on what podacasting is about, why podcast, how to get started, what you need to get started, potential difficulties, problems encountered etc.

We return to the topic of 'personalisation' as a direct result of flurry of responses initiated by John Cuthell from the MirandaNet 'MirandaLink' asking what personalisation meant to them. Below are several statements from John which Geoff has responded to. Underneath are some points I picked out as particularly relevant to the idea of 'personalisation' - with Doug Highall from Kirklees reponding to the points I made.

Assessment for learning is one of the current buzz phrases in education. I have to confess to being under-whelmed. When I first heard a senior colleague chanting the assessment for learning mantra upon their return from a Primary National Strategy meeting, holding it up as a higher level of competence to which we could only dream of aspiring, I panicked. What was this mysterious nirvana that had been created?

There has been much discussion on the value of e-portfolios, their purpose, how they are used, the data they contain and indeed whether they are worth the trouble of setting up, maintaining and developing. In this Article, Ray Tolley outlines in great detail why e-portfolios can provide meaningful evidence to their importance. He believes an e-portfolio has a number of essential characteristics: portable, personal, generic, flexible, lifelong and credible.

This Article is taken from a paper which suggests that the advantages of social networking may stimulate stronger and more influential collaborative knowledge building for professional communities of educators. It poses the question 'What is braided learning?' in the context of online communities of practice (C0P) with particular reference to the MirandaNet experience.

This Article is taken from a paper which suggests that the advantages of social networking may stimulate stronger and more influential collaborative knowledge building for professional communities of educators. It develops the question 'What is braided learning?' into a study of collaborative online professional practice. The research considered rhythms and phases of debate, roles of members and barriers to braided learning in the context of a professional community of practice (CoP). The focus of the detailed analysis was a discussion on e-portfolios in NaaceTalk.

This Article is taken from a paper which suggests that the advantages of social networking may stimulate stronger and more influential collaborative knowledge building for professional communities of educators. It presents a summary analysis of the findings including a list of suggested social networking benefits for professionals, recommendations, conclusions and ideas for further research.