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sue.bebbington posted an update in the group Art & Design 10 years, 7 months ago
I am an Education Technologist for the College of Arts and Social Sciences at the Australian National University. We have a diverse range of courses, including music, languages, philosophy, archaeology, arts and more, which all have some learning management system (moodle) presence.
I find that the level of technology use depends greatly on the lecturer concerned. Most moodle sites just have static information which could be text or health and safety videos, but as the lecturer gains confidence in using technology with their subject matter they begin looking for other ways to get technology to help them in some way.
My preferred practice is to find out what the lecturer needs help with, what they are trying to achieve, have they seen something similar, etc rather than saying ‘hey look at this, you must use it!’. If a pen and paper is the most sensible solution to a problem, then I will suggest it.
In my workplace my most important tool is patience, closely followed by compassion and the ability to listen.
Hi Sue
Personally I think that is a very good philosophy to have. Looking at needs rather than wants is the best approach, in my opinion, to enhancing learning.
I would be interested to discover how some of the more advanced lecturers use Tech to make their subject matters more interactive?
Firstly I must say that ‘advanced’ is open to discussion, and what one lecturer thinks is advanced can be quite old-school to another! Some that come to mind are
– use web conferencing to connect with off campus students
– use web conferencing to view assessment items to check progress and comment on works in progress
– use web conferencing tool with a pressure sensitive tablet to illustrate correct writing technique for Persian characters
– use video clips to illustrate writing character sets and pronunciation of them
– use the moodle database tool to submit and review graphic assignments
– students use moodle glossary to construct their own glossary as they go
and not necessarily increasing the interactivity, but making it easier to disseminate information, such as
– advertising and showcasing visiting artists and exhibitions to relevant cohorts
– have videos of correct operating and safety procedures for different ceramics kilns.
Sure there must be more examples but that’s all I can think of at the moment.
HI Sue, Gary,
yes, I concur with the ‘ asking what needs doing’ approach in order to engage staff in the first instance, and then finding solutions, rather than trying to impose the lastest insitutional too.. When I started my job there was a lot of resistance to any form of online engagement, and our first successes were in attempting to reduce the increasing admin workload with better online systems to support studio based teaching. We did this by developing an online tutorial booking system for elective tutorials, and have gone on since then to full alternative VLE based on Wordpress and Buddypress ( much like this OCTEL site, but I hope easier to navigate!) We are in the process of trying to develop a better system for online submission, assessement and feedback, as our current instutional provision doesn’t work for us in the main.
Another biggie, often unacknowledged is the proportion of very dyslexic staff we have, in addition to the around 28% of students who are DSA registered. I believe this is a something that needs to be taken more seriously by institutions when developing or buying in systems for creative discipline subject areas, and also has implications to approaches to staff development.
Hi Scapoc,
1. I’m SO glad I’m not the only one who finds the ocTEL site hard to navigate!
2. We are dipping our toes into the accessibility issue at the moment and I was surpised (and pleased) to discover that even things like aging and temporary disabilities like a broken arm are real disabilities.
3. the focus of accessibility is so often just on the students but I agree that the staff must be included and catered for – otherwise there won’t be anything for the students!!
that’s all.
🙂