As part of the ocTEL course we are running weekly webinars, starting on 30th April. Webinars are open to all and are free to attend. ocTEL participants will automatically receive joining instructions, so there is no need to register again. We will make the recordings of the sessions available via the ocTEL website. If you haven't yet registered for the course then you can still do so via the ocTEL registration form.

This week's webinar

You can access this week's session via this link (please note the session will not be live until one hour before the start time).

This week's webinar is an introduction to ocTEL and gives you a chance to meet the tutors and previous years participants, and familiarise yourself with the ocTEL platform. This week’s webinar has two parts:

• a welcome to ocTEL, including a brief orientation and networking session
• a panel session featuring questions and answers for ocTEL tutors and participants from last year’s course

About the presenters

Elizabeth Charles has worked in the higher education sector for more than 15 years.  She is currently the Head of E-Services and Systems at Birkbeck, University of London, as part of the Library and Media Services. This post allows her to further explore her interest in online learning and virtual learning environments. She manages the digital resources for students and staff. She developed the digitised readings service at Birkbeck a key resource for users of the VLE and managed the move from Blackboard to Moodle. She continues to be interested in the transition from face-to-face to virtual environment teaching and learning and has actively participated in a number of MOOC, the most recent being the Learning Design Challenge and ocTEL 2014. 

Martin Hawksey is Chief Innovation, Technology and Community Officer for ALT his work is focused on the development of ALT’s member services exploring how connectivist approaches can be used to support the community. This includes the application of data aggregation and dissemination techniques using existing open source platforms such as WordPress.

David Jennings consults on online learning strategy and manages innovative projects. He has been self-employed for over 20 years and first managed and co-wrote accredited online courses in 1997. David is author of “Net, Blogs and Rock ‘n’ Roll: How digital discovery works and what it means for consumers, creators and culture” (2007). He is an Associate Fellow of the British Psychological Society and a Certified Member of ALT. David is also managing a project to develop a mathematics MOOC (massive open online course) with Institute of Education, Calderdale College, CogBooks Ltd and OCR.

James Kerr is a Graduate Research Associate at the Ohio State University. James is taking a sabbatical to complete his doctoral dissertation at Ohio State University in the US. He has over 20 years in higher education supporting technology, in IT and educational technology. His areas of interest include digital badges, instructional design, and higher & further education administration.