So some of the key issues we’ll be thinking about are:

* technical competence and a set of aptitudes often bracketed together under the ‘digital literacy’ heading;
* language and culture, from understanding of the jargon of a domain
to different cultural norms about interacting with individuals and
groups via the medium of technology;
* individual sensory, motor or cognitive impairments that affect what is accessible via technology;
* learning preferences and disciplines, such as the ability to schedule self-paced learning.[1] [ #ocTEL]

Prepared for online learning…are you sure…have you checked?
ACTION: Complete two/three self-assessment questionnaires and list their common characteristics.
I completed the following questionnaires:
Penn State University: Online Readiness Assessment  Scored 56
San Diego Community College: Online Learning Readiness Assessment  Scored above 45
University of Houston: Test of Online Learning Success Scored 211

Themes
A list of some of the characteristics that are common to all three questionnaires:
* Asked about the personal motivation for undertaking the course via this method
* Checked the learning style, reflective, participatory, kinesthetic and ease with modes of delivery face-to-face, audio-visual, textual
* Checked  previous experience of using forums, emails, online discussions, communication with other
* Checked awareness of time needed each week/supportive environment/space to study
* Asked if self-motivated re will keep on track and not fall behind as an independent learner even when subject becomes difficult
* Time management – deadlines and organisation skills
* IT skills – use of PC (emails,internet, file management, updating software), hardware support keyboard/mouse and if something goes wrong (business continuity),
* Academic skills – from ability to read instructions, express oneself in writing etc.,

THOUGHTS
It was
interesting to complete these questionnaires when I am already
undertaking an online course and it really made me think about what was
required from me regarding equipment, motivation, organisational skills,
digital literacy and time.
I
think it is very important that learners understand what participating
in an online course will entail.  It is quite interesting that for most
students this level of information is not communicated for traditional
face-to-face courses; well certainly not from my experience of
education.  There is an assumption that the learner ‘knows what is
involved’ without it being explicitly expressed.  Much of the checking is of previous
knowledge/expertise of wide range of  IT issues – ones that would
normally be addressed and support provided as and when they arise if the learner was being
taught on campus. The questionnaires are used as a device to re-orientate
the student to this way of learning and where necessary to provide an
opportunity to address skill gaps in a formative approach that will equip
the learner with transferable skills.

Yes the test did accurately
identify my readiness to participate on an
online course.  So for a learner where it identified they were not, I
would hope that the advice or suggestion that both San Diego and Houston
provided would be acted upon.  Of course all of this only works if the
student is honest/realistic in their responses and don’t over estimate
their abilities when completing the questionnaire.

This is a great way of ensuring that students really do understand what
is required from them and to ensure that the infrastructure is in place, if you will, to underpin
their studies in this medium.  The checking for readiness is is not
something I had considered before but I can see how helpful it would be,
especially if one wants to improve retention rates.  The more basic
issues/skill sets can be dealt with before the course begins the better
the outcome for the learner.  Having students coming new to a
topic/subject/discipline whilst also trying to
become familiar with a new way of studying is like setting them up to
fail with two fences rather than just one to clear! 

Activity 2.1. Learners expectations

Find a colleague or someone else
you know who has limited experience of online learning and TEL and
discuss the topics with them. I discussed the ‘readiness’ questionnaire themes as identified above with a colleague who has not participated in any TEL courses.

Ready to engage with TEL?   Answer: NO.
* Motivation: Easier to give up when it becomes really difficult because there isn’t personal contact and easy to ignore communications by emails
* Learning styles: Having to wade through all of the various blogs and forums would be off-putting even though this in some ways replicates interaction in the classroom as well as active participation in others learning
* Time management: Although good at time management felt sure the estimated amount of time required would need to be trebled to be more realistic
* IT skills & experience of using forums, emails etc: Didn’t have much confidence as seemed too much to wade through in the various forums and Google+, etc, very overwhelming. Wasn’t keen to participate in TEL course before this but even less so having seen what it actually entails. One was asked about whether you used email but the use of various social media and different applications went far beyond normal emailing.
* It was good that the questionnaire was used but it in no way prepared you for what would actually be needed. 

Expectations and concerns?
* Expected courses to be more structured and study areas in ONE place (like VLE possibly)
* Expectation of TEL was low but seeing the lack of structure and flexibility in the number of routes that can be employed even lower as it would be completely overwhelming for a first timer
* Main concern would be the amount of learning required to use the various social media BEFORE starting the course and to use them whilst studying the materials on the course

Resonate with my experience?
Some of these concerns are ones I had when I did my first MOOC, EDCMOOC and thankfully have not been replicated on this course, but I can understand how daunting it must be. By providing enough time in advance for the learner to become familar with relevant social media and the different way the teaching/learning space is structured online,  concerns can be addressed and mitigated and expectations managed – in other words “week zero” on a longer timeline.
Only two elements resonates with my experience:  (1) the number of social media that one has had to start using and, (2) the amount of time I spend on this course far exceeds the stated 5 hours per week.  If I had a larger number of other projects on the go I would not be able to cope.  On the other hand the advice given – to focus on my big question and be selective has helped me to manage my expectations and how much I put into this course. 

Activity 2.2. Researching themes in Learners’ need

I have considered two of the four themes:
* The nature of adult learning and implications for practice (tags: ocTEL, #adultlearning)
*  Implications of digital literacy (tags: ocTEL, #diglit)

Share what lessons you take concerning the theme, and how you would apply them to your own teaching and learning practice.
Cercone[2] and Shank[3] are very clear as to the approach that should be adopted for adult learners see my precis in the tweet below.

Taking this on board I would apply this to my teaching for both adult learners and teaching digital literacy by:
* Explicitly linking e.g. information research skills being taught to other uses than just for academia,
* Encouraging learners to share their experiences good and bad,
* Using group collobaration whilst working on problem based exercises.

In online delivery this would mean providing readings and handouts before the actual session, getting students to use a reflection log to self-assess themselves before and after the skills session, and provide differentiated pathways through the topic being covered.

The provision of a varierty of problems to work on but ensuring that the ‘tell, show and do’ principle is followed is essential for digital literacy – I just need to provide a wider range. The need to organise learning in chunk-size is hard as I do have the tendency to try and cram as much as possible into the one session. Providing the scaffolding for skills that may be new whilst ensuring I provide time for experimenting, reflection and explicitly mapping out how these skills can be used in other aspects of their lives will ensure that I achieve the learners’ need in both themes.

Tweets on thoughts on themes for application 

For new ocTEL resources see Diigo ocTEL Group entries.

Bibliography
[1] ocTEL: Week 2: Understanding Learners’ needs
[2] Cercone, Kathleen. “Characteristics of adult students with implications
for online learning design,” AACE Journal 16(2) (2008): 137-159: http://editlib.org/p/24286/.
[3] Shank, Patti “More on designing and teaching online courses with adult students in mind” Faculty Focus Higher Ed Teaching Strategies from Magna Publication. (2013)

Teaching Machine plus and minus

What do you think they would like about the Teaching Machines approach?

Both Socrates and Illich would like that Skinner’s Teaching Machine
(TM) views learning as not being a chore (pleasurable perhaps), and that this method should also draw out of the individual what they know.  It can be applied to both advanced and standard learners as individually they are able to
progress at their own speed whilst covering the same programme of
study. Independent learning is accommodated irrespective of the size of the class. The step-by-step or ’chunking��� of learning content and
the importance of high quality course materials is also a winner. Hints and suggestions
with immediate feedback equates to Socratic guidance and support
resulting in formative learning rather than summative.

What would they oppose?

The Socratic method would oppose the prescriptiveness of TM and
although undertaken in the classroom not much social
discussion/communication was taking place, they all appear to be working
separately under test-like conditions – but I could be wrong.  This
method of teaching does not appear to allow for independent /original  thought and mirrors a rather robotic/factory production line approach to education.  Illich would
see attending only schools for teaching and learning as a mistake with the social agency of other social and or institutions or groups being bypassed as being valid.

What alternatives would they propose?

Socrates would have wanted a more social environment for teaching and
learning with the individual’s learning being ‘challenged’ by other students to check the underlying integrity/understanding of ideas being
presented. Illich would move the teaching of particular subjects/topics
where appropriate outside the school and encourage social activities so as to promulgate
learning.   The social and communication elements that are missing from TM would need to be integrated
in some aspect into the use of TM both in and around it, with
a facilitator/teacher supporting these interchanges.

My findings of the themes I have noticed in others’ post are here…

* Communication and the social element is very important and is missing in Skinner’s TM approach or need to be more explictly expressed
* We all agree that each of the approaches have some merit to them as well as drawbacks
* They each demonstrate how at a different time in education and discipline educators have tried to use technology to enhance learning, some more successfully than others but always with good intentions
* In all cases the technology used was simply a tool and not the object of the exercise
* There is a need for the role of teacher/facilitator – someone with expertise in that subject, who guides and support and sometimes leads the learner in navigating the learning landscape
* Luckily we don’t have to choose one approch and stick to it religiously, we do have the freedom to choose the right technology for the job and part of that choice may be to forego technology – as long as it is a conscious decision!

#ocTEL

If you only do one thing… 5 stories

From the 5 stories presented I initially selected: Eric Mazur, Sugata Mitra, and Stephen Downes and George Siemens. #ocTEL

After reviewing them I was more drawn towards Eric Mazur’s and Sugata Mitra’s stories. That is not to say that I am less interested in MOOCs because if that was the case I wouldn’t be on this course but I felt that the first two had points of interest that would have a greater impact on my teaching practice at this time.

The reason I find Eric Mazur‘s approach so powerful is because it seems to more closely align itself to the subject I teach – information and information skills. The bringing of “peer instruction into the lecture theatre” [1] results in students having to actively engage with the subject, assimilation to take place, and collaboration. The idea of posing questions along with small group work (2-4 in a
group) with clickers or any other type/method of voting device is doable
and scaleable; from delivering a session in a large lecturer theatre, or a workstation rooom, through to a room with just one PC. It would also work in an online/distance learning environment using perhaps ‘Blackboard Collaborate’ and break-out rooms for small group work to take place – then reconvening and sharing findings with the whole group.

My current practice is all about the transfer – telling how to do it, mainly because with large groups and very little time for hands-on sessions there or afterwards one has to cover as much as possible. There is also no time or opportunity to find out what their previous levels of experience/attainment are! It is also not possible for me to know how many of them actually move from the transfer to using what they have learnt. The variety of previous experiences that students bring to the class, further lends itself to this approach of having small group work – to get them to collaborate and share their experience before hearing how others have undertaken the task. That sharing of experiences and ideas can then be augmented by any guidance that might be needed to bring about better/more refined results before they depart. That is a powerful enough reason for me to choose this story instead of any of the others.  I am sure that if I was teaching a different subject/discipline my choice might well be very different.

[1] ALT ocTEL week 1

After I wrote this piece I came across the following:

Wednesday webinar

This webinar was a condensed version of the presentation I attended the previous evening at the Institute of Education.The text chat during the webinar was fast and furious and certainly put me to the test in listening to one thing,  reading another and responding to questions all at the same time!
My take away key points are as follows:
* Technology is a tool and not the objective,
* Education and #MOOCs (cMOOCs or xMOOCs) are currently riding on the crest of a wave but this too will pass, when this plateaus education baseline will have changed
*  The economics of scaling up the guidance, quality subject and student support is not possible given the thousands of participants that enrol on MOOCs.
* To release the necessary time for teachers to be able to provide the above one approach could be to use the ‘Pedagogical Pattern Collector‘  (a collaborative course design tool) 
* Education sector needs to harness technology and use it to further enhance teaching be it face-to-face, distance, mobile or blended learning. The various modes of delivery all have a place and a role to play in the education landscape.

The response to Diana’s presentation was varied and generated many more questions amongst the attendees with very few answers but that is what this course is all about – finding those answers!
The following selected tweets from #ocTEL participants reflect this.

Recording of webinar:

The course site is at: http://octel.alt.ac.uk/ . The course is being organised by the Association for Learning Technology (ALT). ALT is the UK���s leading membership organisation in the learning technology field.

Starting in April 2013 you will be able to participate in an online
course to understand better how to use technology to enhance your
teaching in Higher Education. The course is aimed primarily at people
teaching at Higher Education level, whether in Higher Education
Institutions or Further Education Colleges. It runs for ten weeks plus
one ‘induction week’, requiring about five hours work per week.

The course comprises ten modules plus an ‘induction’ week when
participants get to experiment and explore how the course works. Each
module is designed to consist of five learning hours, including a
one-hour live webinar (scheduled on Wednesday at 12:30 UK time, with one
or two exceptions) and a range of other activities.

Starts
4 April

Induction and reception

Led by David Jennings

Technology Enhanced Learning Foundations — 15 hours

15 April

TEL concepts and approaches

Maren Deepwell

22 April

Understanding learners’ needs

Julia Fotheringham

29 April

Active Learning

Nicola Whitton

TEL methods and tools — 20 hours

6 May

Producing engaging and effective learning materials

Peter Hartley

13 May

Platforms and technologies

Phil Tubman

20 May

Providing timely, effective assessment and feedback

Linda Creanor

27 May

Supporting learners with tutor and peer communications

Gráinne Hamilton

Managing TEL — 15 hours

3 June

Maximising learning for minimum cost

David Jennings

10 June

Keeping things on track and cheating Murphy’s Law

Julie Voce & Sarah Sherman

17 June

Evaluating TEL and farewell

Julie Voce & Sarah Sherman

Materials for each module will be published before the dates above.

And so it begins….

Week 1

Short introduction about myself

I work in a Birkbeck, where one of my many roles is that of a Subjec tLibrarian involved in delivering information literacy training and subject support to students and staff.  I have experience of training others to use both Blackboard and recently now MOODLE as a VLE.  With the implementation of MOODLE the possibility of providing support and delivering information sessions when the user requires it via this enviroment is very appealing, rather than one opportunity and if you miss it that’s it.  I like the flexibility that is offered to the user as well as the possibility of enriching what is made available and the opportunity to provide differentiated approaches to the same material.  I recently dabbled in the #edcmooc – which was enthralling and overwhelming at times.  I want a wider experience of technology enhanced learning as a student on a #mooc to understands how it works and what would best suit what I want to be able to do for my users.  That is my reason for participating in #octel.

Big question?

How will TEL enhance/change current teaching practice and will it provide opportunities rather than challenges to time-strapped students. 

Activity?

I set up a discussion/reflection group for other HE/FE information specialist on the #octel course.  I hope this will be the main forum for our discussions.