Representatives of Griffith Connect Schools joined more than one hundred and twenty staff, at the Logan campus, for Griffith's inaugural showcase of innovative approaches to e-learning.

Sponsored by the Deputy Vice Chancellor (Academic) to support Griffith's new e-Learning strategy, the showcase featured a number of thought provoking presentations, particularly those from Griffith's first E-Learning Fellows.

Four Griffith e-Learning (GEL) Fellows, Dr Alison Ruth, Jason Nelson, Dr Philippe Martin and Associate Professor Paul Bates presented preliminary reports on the impact of their recently developed tools and resources on student learning, while other academic staff demonstrated innovations including mobile learning using text messaging, podcasting and online learning communities.

Dr Alison Ruth, from the Department of Management outlined her innovative use of wikis with students from diverse cultural backgrounds, noting that students used the wiki to present their cultural heritage through online multimedia presentations.

School of Arts lecturer Jason Nelson blew the audience away with four tools that he had developed: Vholoce: Weather Visualiser, the Critique Engine, Chronos Timeline, and the Poetry Cube.

The Critique Engine, which has the potential to be implemented university-wide, enables students and staff to critique work presented in a variety of file formats by posting comments on the work and interacting with various forms of content.

The Chronos Timeline tool, a simple application capable of displaying dates, information and images within an interactive and dynamic timeline is also likely to have many applications in different discipline areas.

Staff from Flexible Learning and Access Services (FLAS) provided useful overviews of enhancements to Learning@Griffith, a demonstration of Lectopia, which enables podcasting and downloading of lectures to MP3 players, an upgraded and expanded suite of digital repositories, and the new electronic assignment capacities including plagiarism prevention software.

E-Learning Showcase participants quizzed presenters in more detail over their developments during the lunchtime trade show. The trade show was extremely popular with staff and visitors queuing to get the latest on e-learning projects, enhancements to Learning@Griffith, and the new Electronic Assignment Repository Suite (EARS).

Enthusiastic feedback from participants indicates that the showcase, which will be an annual event, provides a great opportunity for staff to catch up on innovations in e-learning that enhance learning and teaching at Griffith. Several of the presentations will be featured in the Celebrating Teaching pages of Griffith's Learning and Teaching website over the next few months.