Blog posts – Page 41

Category: Blog posts

This is an archive of the 2013 version of ocTEL.

OCTEL – Week 0: A little about me!

Posted on April 8, 2013 by

kateawright Posted in Blog posts, Course Reader

I have been a ‘learning technologist’ for about 8 or 9 years – it’s a role I fell into via Web development and an MA is Eighteenth Century History!

I read for my degrees in the early 90s and wasn’t accustomed to using technology much beyond word processing essays; when I first went to University you could only send email to other universities! In the final year of my undergraduate degree my tutor introduced us to email discussion forums, which opened my eyes to a whole world of possibilities. Suddenly, as a third year undergraduate, we were able to ‘listen to’ and join in discussions with real researchers and academics. We could hear the debates that previously only took place in staff seminars and postgraduate tutorials. And if we felt brave enough we could ask a question, or even join in. At the end of my final year I used a web browser for the first time!

I worked whilst studying for an MA part-time, and learned to word processing, had a job as a trainee graphic designer, learned HTML (because no-one else wanted to!) and eventually got a job as a Web developer. My role sat in the same team as the learning technologist and when she left I got the opportunity to take on responsibility for the VLE.

During the last 9 years my job has changed massively, but a number of key elements have stayed the same. I still train people to use the VLE, I still answer questions about why people can’t login. But there is much more to CAL / e-learning / TEL than there was. We are involved in university policy and strategy, we have projects that are funded by external bodies, we run large-scale online exams, we help staff to decide what tools and techniques suit a range of class sizes, teaching scenarios and activities.

But I often reflect on those days of email discussion lists and the new horizons that they opened. My job has the potential to help academics and students access resources and opportunities that are far beyond what I was able to do as a student – opportunities to see and experience so many resources, to take part in new ways of learning, reflecting and understanding your chosen field of study. In some ways I wish I was able to take my degree again, and experience what it’s like to learn through blogging, find video resources, take part in online discussions. Maybe that’s why I’m doing this course …

Introduction

Posted on April 8, 2013 by

Berry Crafter Posted in Blog posts, Course Reader

As a Subject Librarian at the University of Huddersfield, my role involves teaching ‘Information Skills’ to Library users, from foundation level through to academic staff. This involves face-to face tuition, classroom teaching, lectures, and the provision of instructional materials in print and online. To date, my use of TEL has mainly been restricted to the […]

Tagged with: #ocTEL, Uncategorized

ocTEL: Week 0 Activity 0.1: My Big Question

Posted on April 8, 2013 by

Martin King Posted in Blog posts, Course Reader

“How do we encourage even greater use of e-learning?”

http://edina.ac.uk/cgi-bin/purl/eig/jc5424-001.jpg

This is not my big question, but one that has been asked many times before. Each time we reach an e-learning milestone, e.g., all departments making use of the Virtual Learning Environment (VLE), or presiding over 65% annual increases in the use of E-Assessment, Senior Management ask it once more.

I have answers to that question, but these in turn ask further questions. So my big question is in fact threefold:

How do we facilitate active staff and student ownership of institutional services?
How can staff and students move beyond the basic use of the VLE?
How can research intensive Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) encourage and recognise e-learning activity among the staff?

Tagged with: #ocTEL, #ocTELwk0

#ocTEL Week 0 – Introduction

Posted on April 8, 2013 by

Phil Posted in Blog posts, Course Reader

I think it’s about time I started using this blog for something, and the ALT ocTEL MOOC has given me a great reason to start…so here is my introduction… My name is Phil Vincent, and I am currently working as…

Tagged with: #ocTEL, mooc

Characterisation – ocTEL

Posted on April 8, 2013 by

James Clay Posted in Blog posts, Course Reader

Having already decided on my big question one of the other things that the ocTEL course is asking: What characteristics do you think the participants in this course have in common? I have partly answered this already in my post about handling e-mail. What was interesting was how few people who responded to my post […]

Tagged with: #ocTEL, ALT, characterisation

One thing…. #ocTEL

Posted on April 8, 2013 by

claire donlan Posted in Blog posts, Course Reader

The induction week ‘if you only do one thing…’ is to write an introduction about yourself and your experiences with TEL / technology as a student / teacher / learning technologist and how it affects the way you absorb, reflect, discuss etc. etc.I hav…

Tagged with: #MoocsAndMe, #ocTEL, eLearning, mooc, moocs

TEL and Me

Posted on April 8, 2013 by

claire donlan Posted in Blog posts, Course Reader

This post started off as the introductory activity for #ocTEL but ended up being too wordy so it’s here instead.I’m not great at drawing a distinction between TEL, eLearning, ICT, computing, technology etc. so this post has aspects of them all – …

Tagged with: #MoocsAndMe, eLearning, moocs

#ocTEL Week 0 – Introduction

Posted on April 8, 2013 by

Phil Posted in Blog posts, Course Reader

Tagged with: #ocTEL, mooc

Who does the driving? Technology or pedagogy?

Posted on April 8, 2013 by

philtubman Posted in Blog posts, Course Reader

Thought I would blog on this one. Please do comment if you have anything to add.

Perusing through the ocTEL mailing lists, I have noticed that a few people are talking about who does the driving in this relationship. The commonly held view is that pedagogy should come first and technology should be its slave. It is religiously cited by Learning Technologists and academics against their ISS division.

This blog post wants to make you think about whether this is such a no-brainer.

Taken from a post on the JISCMail list:

The temptation given the many different technologies evolving every year is that we say “How can I adapt my teaching to make use of this technology” rather than “Is there a technological tool out there that will enhance what I do?”

How can I adapt my teaching to make use of this technology? vs Is there a technological tool out there that will enhance what I do?

My take is that reality is less clear cut than this. Most innovation happens in the no man’s land or ‘the rub’ in between pedagogy and technology, and who is to say what is the ‘driving’ force, when both conditions are necessary? When you are considering the adoption of a new tool, it can be useful to run it past your existing pedagogical practices, but that is no guarantee that your learner’s experience will improve as a result. It may get worse as you get used to the new tool. The risk here is that you are perfecting the ‘mechanical horse’, rather than rethinking the learning process.

The question goes further back than this. Are my current teaching practices appropriate? Who do they serve? I think the problem is that online technology and traditional teaching are not always comfortable bedfellows. The technology wants to disrupt everything in its purest form, and the traditional teacher wants to domestic-ise it. For example, many teachers ask me how best to use the VLE, but behind this question is ‘how best can I use the VLE in support of my lectures?’, so it gets used as a resource repository, a self-testing centre, and sometimes an FAQ.

9 times out of 10, teachers are not looking for this answer:

“get rid of your lectures and spend that time co-creating knowledge with your students in online discussions and resource sharing exercises”

they are looking for this:

“why don’t you try adding MCQs so the students can do formative quizzes, and the VLE will do the marking?”

So the internet-as-p2p-communication tool gets used an a autonomous ‘hole in the wall’ portal for fact checking.

This is because most teachers will compartmentalise their ‘VLE stuff’ away from their ‘lecturing stuff’ so hobble its potential from the start by not integrating the VLE activities with their classwork. For the student to take the VLE work seriously, there must not be a break in between classwork and VLE mediated homework. (You’re surfing the same wave, right, albeit with different feeling ‘sections’ and ‘bowls’)

Getting back to the main question (Is there a technological tool out there that will enhance what I do?), the argument could now be framed:

What can (careful use of) this technology bring to my students? which puts the technology back in the driving seat, at least rhetorically (and perhaps thats where this question belongs full stop).

I think the recent rapid emergence of new technologies such as podcasting or mobile real time communication really makes us rethink this chicken and egg question. Sometimes technology will afford something you haven’t already thought of, or suddenly make possible a new way of communicating (such as using public channels on lecture captures for peer support and resource sharing) which can enhance practice in unexpected ways. Similarly poor use of a tool (such as not moderating forums or over use of MCQs) will inhibit the learning even if the theory is right.

It is certainly easier to evaluate each new technology on the basis of how it affects our current practice. We need to first question if our current practice is acceptable, or if it hobbles the potential of the technology. e-Learning takes us back to the primary question, not to be used as a gloss for existing practice.

Perhaps it ends up like most domestic car sharing arrangements: both parties get a chance to drive sometimes, but always with the ‘support’ of the other half (shouting out instructions and directions, sometimes down the phone at someone else) 🙂

(and isn’t it all really about getting there, safely, without the kids falling out or being sick?)

Tagged with: octel. elearning, pedagogy, platforms

Learn About Literacy, Learn About Technology? #ocTEL

Posted on April 8, 2013 by

crumphelen Posted in Blog posts, Course Reader

As part of my learning odyssey, I’ve just embarked on the Open Course in Technology Enhanced Learning #ocTEL. This week is week zero. It’s designed to ease participants into the course, and it sets out by asking you, in terms of technology, what’s your “big question”? In truth, I wasn’t planning on doing anything major […]

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