I will say from the beginning I am a tutor, I have mentioned this in other posts too :)! This is an interesting thread. I think when teaching adults, the whole relationship is different to one where you are a teacher of children. There is a sense I think in this MOOC of being the guide on the side, asking questions, summarising points, commenting…[Read more]

Choosing the right off the shelf company if you do go down that route is also very important, so you don’t have a company who might be out of business in 18-24 months after buying their software or hardware product. I agree with the other points – especially about the in house specialist leaving and even if it is an off the shelf product, it might…[Read more]

Whilst it may be simplistic to say but a lot more lecturers and even learning technologists and supporters of learning need to experiment as part of their job if possible, as not all technologies and methods will suit everyone and knowing which technology for assessment and feedback you are comfortable with as a teacher will greatly help and relax…[Read more]

As someone who never got online feedback as an undergraduate or postgraduate, but have supported a number of courses over the years with online feedback via a VLE, ePortfolio solution etc I can see the benefits but also time spent on a screen marking must be tough (was a big reason a few years back for lecturers not using online feedback. Until we…[Read more]

I am also a non gamer and I have agree with some of the comments made so far, @pmiller – I agree the badges don’t lead anywhere (as a tutor I will say they are part of the motivation mix for people engaging in the course), I think until they mean something in the real world with a wide range of employers, or bodies offering accreditation, they…[Read more]

A very interesting thread with some really great points – I agree with Professor Laurillard’s points but wonder how best to encourage this deeper learning, as Keith mentions too. We don’t in my view do enough of this thinking and practice it in our teaching and the way assessment is structured makes this difficult. Almost have this image of a wave…[Read more]

@vanessa-todd and @hannahtyreman – I agree about the making students more autonomous – I didn’t come in until now to give you the veneer of autonomy 😉 !

I think the assessment practices of A-Level programmes don’t help, as the student lock down and focus on the mark and in the arts subjects where the answer is less defined by right or wrong and…[Read more]

Thanks Moira, this is interesting, thanks for posting / sharing – won’t spoil it for others but just to say it’s important to revisit concepts / papers and theories after a period of time, as you often see things differently after a period of time has passed, does anyone else have any reflections on this?

Thanks Phil, yes I agree totally, I wanted the other OCTEL-lers to have their say here ;), but yes, Portfolio based assessment is so under used in Higher Education. I think it’s because the curriculum has be altered and lecturers are not as comfortable with letting go of teaching in a traditional way. Seen good and bad examples of practice in this…[Read more]

@vearg – I agree with your comments here, this is a common issue that teachers all standards have on the preceding level and as someone who’s seen and taught (a little) at all age groups over the years, it’s often that teachers are, as you say teaching to the test, which isn’t allowing time for autonomous and social learning, because it doesn’t…[Read more]

Some great tools mentioned here, have used Prezi and Articulate before and recently used IFTTT (If This Then That), to automate some bookmarking etc, would be interesting to hear about the educational use of IFTTT! I think the most interesting tools at the moment are the web apps like Mentimeter, Socrative etc, for in-class voting, which when…[Read more]

@ghizzi_d – “Across the PGCE course students, there was an enormously diverse range of content types, approaches and foci. There was also an enormous range of ability and facility with the use of the technology, the relation to pedagogical practice and standards of implementation. So even amongst young/ newly qualified teachers there were many who…[Read more]

@djennings – you too Sir, no problems, I am finding the narratives of the use of technology or lack of it really interesting, so learning is definitely a two way street for me so far!  Thanks for your more clearer definitions, which I agree to, I should have mentioned them in my answer.

@paulsmry – when I started back in this field, in 2004, it was e-Learning,  but it has since been fashionable to use the term ‘Technology-Enhanced Learning’ or ‘Learning Technology’. What to call the people who do ‘Learning Technology’ is also quite amusing to read in job adverts. I recently wrote this blog article on ‘What is a Learning…[Read more]