UK news sites see 54% increase in hits from USA September 20, 2009
Posted by Jonathan Hewett in : delicious links , add a commentRobin Goad of Hitwise sets out the figures, noting that the Drudge Report is the second-largest source, sandwiched by Google Search (top) and Google News (third):
“UK Internet visits to News and Media websites grew by 8% last year, but British news sites aren’t just being successful at home. As the chart below illustrates, US Internet visits to UK News and Media websites have increased by 54% over the last 12 months.
BBC News ranked as the 21st most visited News and Media website in US during August, while the Daily Mail was 47th and the BBC Homepage 65th. Other British sites in the US News and Media top 200 last month included: the Telegraph (71st), the FT (115th), The Sun (117th), Times Online (131st) and the Guardian (134th).
The growth of British news sites is somewhat slower in Australia, but then they are starting from a larger base; BBC News ranked 13th in the Australian News and Media category last month, for example, while the corporation’s homepage was 18th.”
QAA reports on public concerns about academic standards March 27, 2009
Posted by Jonathan Hewett in : delicious links , add a commentQAA lines up more work, saying it has found "evidence to support further scrutiny of […] concerns in the following areas:
– the range of contact hours appropriate to the student learning experience
– guidance offered to international students about UK higher education and the support arrangements that international students should expect from higher education institutions
– processes use to identify, train and support external examiners
– the assessment and degree classification practices used by higher education institutions
– effective ways of informing the general public about academic standards and quality in higher education and the ways they are assured."
Local newspapers must be 'information provider of choice' online, says industry panel — Journalism.co.uk October 17, 2008
Posted by Jonathan Hewett in : delicious links , add a commentLaura Oliver on the Journalism Leaders Forum at UCLAN:
"becoming an information hub could also help address the problem of advertising, as the 'revenue base [of newspapers] is eroding along with the newspaper's grip on its audience'.
"The general concept of ad-supported news isn't broken… it's the fact that we’re not building the audiences that the advertising community wants us to provide," said [Steve] Yelvington. […]
Offering a UK perspective, Simon Reynolds, editorial director at the Lancashire Evening Post, said the notion of a local newspaper as an information portal was 'nothing new', but that the delivery mechanisms for this information had changed.
"I do believe we have to extend our reach away from news and become a more sophisticated portal," he said.
"The press need to understand where the new revenues are going to come from and build a business model on that. We must make ourselves invaluable."
£5.7m to develop Open Education pilot projects in UK October 15, 2008
Posted by Jonathan Hewett in : Education, HEA, Teaching resources, learning , add a commentFrom the HEFCE press release today:
HEFCE has announced an initial £5.7 million of funding for pilot projects that will open up existing high-quality education resources from higher education institutions to the world.
In plain English, this means making available teaching and related material in digital form — for others in HE (and elsewhere) to reuse and adapt for teaching and learning.
The press notice explains that:
Open educational resources could include full courses, course materials, complete modules, notes, videos, assessments, tests, simulations, worked examples, software, and any other tools or materials or techniques used to support access to knowledge.
Also spotted today: Martin Weller of the Open University writes about SocialLearn, the OU’s project to develop a social network for learning — a few steps on from its Open Education initiative, OpenLearn.
Anyone wanting to keep track of developments in Open Education would do well to check Stephen Downes’ invaluable blog, where it features frequently, eg covering recent publications and events.