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.

Engineers Exploring Technology Enhance Learning

I have been pleasantly surprised with the amount of support I have received from other tutors on the new HNC Engineering course. I am focusing on moving the programme of study to a more blended/distance learning approach. The first stage of embedding the use of Moodle in their delivery was actively embraced. Now we have moved on from just myself recording sections of their sessions for upload to Moodle/YouTube to one of the tutors' using a FLIP camera to record the session without my assistance.

This is incredible progress in such a short period of time. The next challenge is to show them how to "top and tail" their recordings and upload to Moodle and/or YouTube without the need for my support at all.

Time to start sharing this good practice with other curriculum areas!

Slow accident?

One of my students made a very interesting comment while we were discussing quality management... "I don't think many people recognise the importance of the slow accident". He went on to describe that he perceives that many companies appear to be focused on health and safety for physical accidents (quick accidents) but not for the excessive stress that can be experienced at work". The comparison he made was... "there is little difference to the company if the employee has six months off for two broken legs or depression caused by excessive stress at work.

Food for thought?

Enhancing Feedback to Learners by Providing Video Produced by the Tutor

The reason for uploading each part of this assignment as it is written (draft) is to try and address a fear I have of sharing my work with others. As this is in contradiction to my belief that social networking is an excellent framework for professionals to work together, here it is.

Introduction

The rationale behind the title of this assignment has come from my personal conviction that the computer screen can be a barrier to learning. Not because of the physical transparent screen, but because there is often very little connection between the student and tutor. Anecdotal evidence suggests that learners refer to “getting the answer from the computer or the Internet” rather than from the person who has developed the on-line resource. In contrast, consider for a minute the advantage of being in the presence of your tutor (significant other?) discussing and any subject specific misunderstanding directly and your tutor explaining in person.

I have 20 years of teaching mainly Further Education (FE) and been actively exploring how technology can enhance learning and teaching for 16 years. My new role role as Curriculum Manager - Technology Enhanced Learning(TEL) has a cross college focus which includes a strong emphasis on Higher Education (HE) in FE. My teaching commitments during 2009/10 have been post 18 year old students in HNC Engineering and Cert.Ed/ PGCE courses as well a carrying out teaching observations for the Education department. I have the opportunity to help and advise all academic staff from all subject levels and levels (school link to Masters level) in TEL.

The term ‘Technology Enhanced Learning’ (TEL) focuses on pedagogical approach to utilizing technology in learning activities. TEL has two main aspirations. The first is incorporating social-technical solutions into learning and teaching outside the needs of location, date, duration and pace of learning. The second aspiration is to identify cost efficient methods of supporting learning and teaching. Stone, J. (2010 online) identifies that 'Technology revolution' is the way for education to withstand cuts

“Without a re-evaluation of the predominance of expensive, traditional face-to-face teaching, it is difficult to see how frontline institutions will come close to offering comparable outcomes for so much less. Technology needs to lie at the heart of this.”

I have recently forged a team of 12 Professional Development Advisors (PDA), one in each curriculum area. Each PDA is a member of the academic teaching staff. The outcomes from this essay will be shared via the PDAs and cascaded on to peers and presenting at the Research and Scholarly activity event in July 2011 as part of further research I am conducting.

This essay will explore the importance of the significant other (the subject specialist tutor?) to a student and how this may be replicated over distance by the use of video recordings. The scenario used is a tutorial focused on correcting errors/misunderstandings in referencing within assignments. This particular quiz could be offered by many tutors and therefore the second aspect will explore how to reduce the time taken to recreate for the video feedback for each particular tutor.

My own professional development will be enhanced by understanding the practical aspects of recording video as well as the technical aspects of video recording and editing. In addition I hope this progress will provide me with an insight into how to reduce the barriers (real and perceived) for tutors to consider utilising video recording.

I am hoping that the outcomes from this essay will help enthuse tutors to reflect and consider whether it is time to move on from solely using text and static images based learning content to exploring and producing video of themselves correcting a students misunderstanding as if in a one-to-one tutorial.

I do hope that over a period of time, tutors will produce their own video recording similar to how they now produce word documents that was once the domain of academic secretaries

paulfloss's webcam video July 14, 2010, 01:50 PM

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.