Love #octel catch-up week (working on wks 2 & 3). While it’s the course that we can’t fall behind it’s still hard to get over that feeling!— Jennifer Englund (@jmenglund03) May 31, 2014

@casey2_casey that was my plan too. How is the #ocTEL course going so far for you?— Jennifer Englund (@jmenglund03) May 15, 2014

My goals for this week of the #ocTEL course were to watch the weekly webinar and complete one of the activities.
Webinar notes
Presenters: Kyriaki Anagnostopoulou, University of Bath & James Little, University of Leeds
Learning design

systematic way of developing and describing experiences
includes a description of the learners, the environment, and the tools they use to interact with each other

Learning design frameworks

break tasks down to see which tool would be most appropriate
provide vocabulary and structure when working in a team-based approach in developing learning modules
consider the developers’ view of technology: is important to have those well-versed in learning theories and technical skills

I particularly liked the analogy of learning technologists acting as a bridge. The points on the summary slide were helpful take-aways to wrap up the webinar.
Activity 1.4 What’s the theory?
I chose to watch Helen Keegan’s talk that described an augmented reality game she created for an Advanced Multimedia class. I picked this one as I don’t have much experience with ARG use in an educational setting, and was curious to see what it was about. Wow…what a surprise. She described how she created a game with a fictional character at its center and the set up of the game in the months before class began. Students were given clues via mail, and some of them reacted quite negatively. Over time, their perceptions changed, particularly as they became more heavily vested in the activities and clues. Throughout the presentation, I kept thinking about the ethical implications of such a game, plus the many opportunities for it to take a bad turn. The students’ comments at the end of the course about their experience and their amazement at how much they had learned were overwhelmingly positive.
Week 2 kicks off today – we will be talking about understanding learners and learning.

@mhawksey @chcoll @iLearningUK count my hand up as well! #ocTEL— Jennifer Englund (@jmenglund03) May 12, 2014

@chcoll ok, thanks for your feedback. Just trying to figure out if I had accidentally clicked the wrong thing in #ocTEL or not…— Jennifer Englund (@jmenglund03) May 12, 2014

@mhawksey @chcoll No worries! I like the idea to use badges as a way to see who’s active in #ocTEL each week.— Jennifer Englund (@jmenglund03) May 12, 2014

Other #ocTEL folks running into issues w/badges? Not able to claim ones for recorded webinars. Also seem to have two Week 0 check-in badges.— Jennifer Englund (@jmenglund03) May 11, 2014

Finally finishing up the #ocTEL week 1 webinar. Like the comparision that @jimjamyahauk made of learning technologists acting as a bridge— Jennifer Englund (@jmenglund03) May 11, 2014

@iLearningUK @chcoll depending upon your theme, can u enable that functionality in the sidebar? see “appearance” in WP dashboard. #octel— Jennifer Englund (@jmenglund03) May 10, 2014

@chcoll Am watching video now and was struck by some of the similarities to current views of education (F2F, blended, & online) #ocTEL— Jennifer Englund (@jmenglund03) May 08, 2014

#ocTEL course begins today – still plenty of time to sign up and join the discussion abt tech, teaching, & learning https://t.co/EomKSMYUat— Jennifer Englund (@jmenglund03) April 28, 2014