NEWS - PRESS RELEASES

Professor of E-learning and Learning Technologies Gilly Salmon, Executive Secretary of JISC Malcolm Read, Director of Library Services Louise Jones and Graduate Dean Professor Sarah Hainsworth.

Zoo opens at the University of Leicester

A new Graduate School Media Zoo will open for business on Wednesday 25 November

Issued on 24 November

The Graduate School Media Zoo is something rather different; it is the new home of ‘technological wildlife’ at the University. The Media Zoo will enable post-graduate students at the University to get to grips with digital technologies that look set to play a pivotal role in future research culture.

On November 25, Malcolm Read, the Executive Secretary of JISC (Joint Information Systems Committee) will officially open the University of Leicester Graduate School Media Zoo. At the launch, zookeepers will showcase ‘technological wildlife’ including e-readers, podcasting equipment and Second Life.

The interactive research space transforms the Graduate School Reading Room in the award-winning David Wilson Library. It provides the opportunity for young researchers to experiment with new technologies for academic networking and collaboration, research presentation and dissemination.

This innovative development is welcomed by students. Malcolm Noble, a PhD student at the Centre for Urban History, commented:

“Web 2.0 is increasingly important in higher education, and it is vital that students and staff alike are conversant with the technologies involved. Not only will the Media Zoo provide an invaluable resource for postgraduate research at the University, but it will also equip students with useful skills transferrable outside academia.”

The Media Zoo will be staffed by a recent University of Leicester doctoral student, Emma Kimberley, who said:

“It is fundamental to research support for the 21st century researcher. The University of Leicester is a leading provider of postgraduate education in the UK. The Graduate School Media Zoo will provide essential training for our research postgraduates – the academics of the future – encouraging innovation and enabling them to develop their skills at the cutting edge of research technology in an accessible and supported environment”.

The Graduate School Media Zoo builds on the acclaimed Media Zoo for academics provided by the University’s Beyond Distance Research Alliance (BDRA), and has been a collaborative venture between the David Wilson Library and BDRA, with support from the University of Leicester Graduate School.

Professor Gilly Salmon, Professor of E-learning & Learning Technologies, who pioneered the concept of the Media Zoos said:

"Our graduate students wish to get the absolute most from the huge range of knowledge technologies and tools to support their research and learning – and prepare themselves to make great contributions to the world of the future. But the diversity and choices of platforms and approaches are complex. The Graduate Students’ Media Zoo sets out to offer relatively easy options, trials and examples to enable them to develop more learning for less effort!"

The launch will take place at 2pm on Wednesday 25 November in the Graduate School Reading Room, David Wilson Library, University of Leicester.

Notes to Newsdesk:

For further information about the Graduate School Media Zoo, please contact Louise Jones on 0116 252 2034 or lj14@le.ac.uk.

Ruth Shepherd