Reflecting on a workshop session I attended at a university

My reflection is on a workshop that I attended at a university. I suggest that technology could provide an increase in class size for Further Education (FE) colleges and reduce barriers to learning by providing access to a 'live' lecture from various locations. I would be very interested in comments on this reflection, especially those that address quality in terms of presentation, interaction, bi-directional feedback and post lecture support.

The workshop session “In conversation with... Personal experiences of teaching at [name withheld]” was a very informative session which allowed me to hear first-hand what it is like to teach at an university. I found that the very large increase in class size and the method of providing a Graduate Training Assistance (GTA) to provide small group tutorials or follow up laboratory work to be a major difference between FE and Higher Education (HE) methods of learning and teaching. While reflecting on this method of learning and teaching I posed myself the question... could this be provided by a FE college?

I do believe it is possible to have large classes of students learning core subjects such as mathematics and to provide the opportunity to have tutorials that will contextualize the subject to the students' own specialism. And this does happen in some curriculum areas but the class numbers will be in the tens, not the hundred or so (in some cases hundreds) that can be found in universities. To reach the numbers mentioned, curriculum areas will need to work closer together to obtain the class sizes in the hundreds. If this was achieved there could be an infrastructure design issue... many colleges do not have rooms designed for that number of students.

On further reflection there may be a technology solution... the lecture could be streamed to a number of classrooms and displayed on a screen at the front of the room. Student feedback could be obtained through the use of services such as Twitter or Textwall and displayed for the tutor and students to see and respond as appropriate. This could be taken one step further by streaming it to students' at home and therefore making a truly (inter)national course. The video stream could be recorded and made available to the students for revision or to provide an opportunity for learning if they were unable to attend the live session.

Thank you in advance for your comments.

Blogging helps me solve problems.

At the end of a busy day at college I find it important to reflect on the main issues (positive and negative) that had happened during the day. This always happens to me whether I like it or not.
I suspect the majority of teachers and other professionals do the same.

For me the act of blogging even if no one reads it, is like making a line in the sand which basically says... I have thought about it and my conclusions are... and I think I will change this or that upon my experiences.

Since I have resumed blogging I realize it is really satisfying and allows me to "put the day to rest". I now think I have a little more understanding of why people spend time entering their thoughts for the day in a diary. Yet again, technology has helped me on a humanistic level as I would have never thought of using a paper diary, but quite happy (increasingly so) writing this blog.


A large part of the day was spent experiencing the on-line conference

Innovating e-Learning 2010 Online Conference

Bringing innovation to life: From adversity comes opportunity

http://www.jisc.ac.uk/elpconference10

This was a new experience for me and right from the first presentation I was really enjoying the high quality of the presentations and the massive amount of interaction between all the attendees. I started to consider how I could use our college interactive video conferencing system to produce a similar experience for our tutors. However the more I thought about it during the day the more barriers I saw. In fact I may have become a little depressed because I am so aware of the challenge this would present. However, I have been a Change Agent for many years and finding ways around problems is second nature to me. The way around this problem has come to me while I was writing this blog. Read on...

I just remembered that a part-time engineering lecturer came up to me tonight and said, please will you video my session on Thursday as you are right... the video you took of me last week is very useful for my students. As I went straight into teaching after that conversation I had not thought about it until I started reflecting while writing this blog. A little positive comment like that managed to immediately re-ignite my enthusiasm and I now know that I must organize an on-line conference in the New Year. The way to reduce the barriers is to involve as many PDAs and tutors as possible in the presentations. It would be fantastic if I can encourage the part-time engineering lecturer to present a short session on the use of recording sessions for students to view via Moodle.

It is all about enhancing the fledgling Community of Practice - TEL. I would consider the on-line conference a success even if only one tutor uses the system after participating. That one tutor could be a case study which can be used to share good practice. I now believe that blogging is another tool for me to use to identify possible ways around barriers.

Last thought: small steps are much better than none at all.

Reminder to self... show the part-time engineering lecturer how to video his own sessions to release him from needing me.

Critical Evaluation of the Barriers to Using FOSS (Free & Open Source Software) in One College


This is the beginning of series of blogs where I reflect on how the LSIS Professional Development Advisor (PDA) model has started to reduce barriers to utilising Technology Enhanced Learning (TEL).

I start the series by revisiting the Abstract from my dissertation (18 months old)

Abstract

Free and Open Source Software (FOSS) has been highlighted by papers produced by several British and international government agencies which suggest that FOSS can provide an alternative to propriety software such as provided by Microsoft and Apple while still providing comparable or improved technology enhanced teaching and learning at a reduced financial cost.

The key question that this research explores is: “Can FOSS successfully replace any current software application used by teachers”? This paper agrees that FOSS is an alternative to some aspects of propriety software. However, it is 'fitness for purpose' that must prevail as pure FOSS can produce its own restrictions by insisting on using relatively unknown file formats such as Ogg Vorbis instead of the commonly available MP3.

The research includes two learning journals and the analysis of formal interviews of two cohorts; ‘technical’ which consists of personnel that support the computer infrastructure and the ‘education’ cohort which consists of teachers that use the computer infrastructure for teaching and learning.

Both journals support the finding from the literature review that FOSS can adequately replace Microsoft Windows operating system, Microsoft Office Suite and many other Microsoft Windows based applications. However, it is the discovery that the technical and education cohorts of the institution where the research was carried out have a vastly different experience in the use of the ‘computer’ at their place of work which has highlighted a major barrier to the adoption of appropriate FOSS. Although the technical cohort express enjoyment in using their networked computers, the education cohorts expressed frustration and consider that the networked computers are too
restrictive to be effective teaching and learning tools.

The recommendation presents a communication model that can be used as a basis for discussion by schools and colleges to assess the current communication routes used.

This research suggests that by actively examining the current communication
frameworks between teachers, learners and support staff will encourage the whole school or college to think collegiately and enable progress along the E-Maturity model to the category ‘e-enabled’. (BECTA, 2008)

The following blog entries will start to reflect on the communication model I produced and identify where the LSIS PDA model has been incorporated to produce the beginnings of what appears to be a sustainable change.


Reference:
BECTA, (2008). MEASURING E-MATURITY IN THE FE SECTOR – FINAL REPORT. [Online]. Available from http://partners.BECTA.org.uk [accessed 11th August 2009]

Putting pedagogy into Technology Enhanced Learning (TEL)

I am expanding my focus from removing the infrastructure barrier(s) (real and perceived) to TEL onto exploring how pedagogy can be used in this digital age. The title of the essay I am writing is: Beyond the computer screen:Enhancing differentiation through the merging of electronic and human interfaces

The essay focus on how a tutor working face-to-face with a learner in an individual tutorial in the 'real' world can be replicated at a distance through the use of Technology Enhanced Learning (TEL). The 'quiz' is the vehicle used to identify the learners' understanding of a particular topic and the one-to-one tutorial is the methodology used to ensure all feedback from the quiz is understood and that misunderstanding are rectified to enable the learner to succeed.

Is TEL an expert witness for Tuckman's model?

Since 1993 I have been involved with Computer Based Learning (CBT), E-Learning, ICT, ILT, IT (for a little while) and currently... Technology Enhanced learning (TEL). A thought came to mind as I 'people watched' while travelling in a crowded train to work.

If TEL et al was a person, not only would she/he be happy to be called just about anything (CBT, TEL etc.), but would be an expert witness for Bruce Tuckman's (1996) model of 'forming, storming, norming and performing in groups' due to the many meetings, learning and teaching events, conferences discussions, projects dissemination's... she/he has attended.

TEL et al has seen it all!




Reference:
Tuckman, Bruce W. (1996) Theories and Applications of Educational Psychology, New York: McGraw Hill. Third edition with D. Moneth published 2001.

Why have a PC?

A long time ago when I was studying for my first degree I suggested (with many others) that mobile phones and televisions will be the norm to receive information learning technology (ILT). I would like to update this statement by suggesting that qualification based learning via mobile phones and televisions will also become the norm over the next twenty years.

The reason for my (brave?) statement is based on a comment my school aged son made during a session on his PS3. The comment he made was... I can play games, watch iPlayer and browse the Internet all from the PS3... so bring on the learning!

Will 3G set learning free?

As mobile technology becomes more affordable and 3G technology in particular is becoming commonplace, will school/college networks become obsolete overtime?

Learners already mention that they have to power-down when they come to a place of learning (switch off mobile phones etc) and that they have difficulties getting to sites due to filtering restrictions on the provided network systems. Anecdotal evidence indicate that learners don't use their school or college email as much as required. Could it be because they find it easier to use their personal email and other social network accounts to communicate between their peers.

Where is this heading?
If schools and colleges do not deliver the technology that learners and teachers require, it is possible that as technology improves and costs go down, barriers (real and perceived) will be worked around. The resources provided schools and colleges may then become less important as teachers and learners use their own laptops and mobile phones to interact with the Internet and each other.

Two questions to answer if this scenario is played out:

1. How can the current policies used for ILT/E-learning be enforced if learners and teachers do not use the provided (filtered and locked-down) network:?
2. If the provided networks are not used then there may be possible financial saving to be made.

One possible way to ensure that the high quality network provided by most schools and colleges are fully utilised is by ensuring that the services offered fulfill the needs of the learners, teachers and business support. As identified in my dissertation, it is necessary to ensure that there is a communication system across the whole school/college that is responsive and robust to ensure that the digital divide is minimised and that appropriate high quality academic services and support are provided.