Change of Emphasis!

I have been exploring how students can study a course without attending. I have two students who are unable to attend a course and are studying away from the class. I am uploading all the learning content we use in the session as well as a video recording of the session.

If they do succeed I am wondering what effect this will have on any future session I teach. I am wondering if I should provide the learning material and then use forums for the students to discuss the topic and any questions posed. The class time can then be spent exploring what the students have learned from the material and discuss the issues it raises.

This turns my normal sessions on it's head. I normally provide homework/questions on the subject explained in class for the student to consider at home. The distance learning model I am using appears to require the student to learn the topic away from the class and bring questions and issues to the session. This can be used as a discussion opportunity for all.

I am in deep thought... is this the natural way courses should be delivered whether the student can attend the session or learn at distance.

I am reconsidering my learning and teaching methodology. Time for more reading on the subject.

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.

Shhhh: don't mention Technology Enhanced Learning!

I have just seen the updated policies and planned learner inductions for our college and noticed that there is very little mention of technology in a positive sense.

Thankfully the policies and planned activities are shared using technology to communicate them(Social Networking?) and I have used the available comment feature to highlight this omission.

Question... do we need (more) teacher and learner involvement in the development of policies and planned activities such as Induction? Could a Facebook page and surveys be part of the answer :-) to improve learner and tutor voice as well as another opportunity to become more comfortable with the use of Social Networking?

Random thought: colleges are big ships, but if you lean on the tiller hard enough it will eventually turn.

Time to take control of 'time'.

It has become clear to me over the last few months that I need to take action to control how I use my time even more effectively. So the first change is to ensure that I reflect (blog) most mornings just for a few minutes to unpick my thoughts and allow me the opportunity to reflect on my professional activity and identify improvements.