Introduction and Big Question

[audrey_alice]

Greetings from the small but historic City of Chester (England, UK),
Just a quick introduction hopefully…
I have worked at the University of Chester as a Learning Technologist since 2007 and before this post worked within a Business ICT advisory post in North Wales and also as an English Language Teacher in Hong Kong. Each of these roles whilst unique has allowed me to explore how to improve or enhance current practices with the use of technology. Although I have taught and do teach, I haven’t yet completed a formal qualification in teaching and learning. However, I am currently studying an MA in Learning and Teaching in HE and I feel this is improving my practice greatly as I am gaining more of an understanding of learning and teaching from the ‘lecturers perspective’ which I feel is helping me to understand and communicate the reasons for using technology from an academics point of view. I registered to take this course for several reasons. Firstly, to network and learn from other learning professionals, to explore the use of MOOCs and to gain further insight which can inform and improve my everyday practice. One common problem I come across in my role and therefore My Big Question, how do we encourage creativity and mindfulness when it comes to technology enhanced learning?
 

[andyramsden]

Hiya, I’m currently the e-learning Development Manager at University Campus Suffolk (UK).

My motivation for participating in this course is primarily to think about how I might use TEL focused MOOCs delivered by other organisations and individuals to develop lecturers at University Campus Suffolk in technology enhanced learning?

As with most institutions we have a limited capacity to provide staff development and tend to focus on a set number of themes and technologies. Therefore, MOOCs offer a very exciting opportunity to provide both breadth and depth to our staff development provision. However, I’m particularly interested in trying to understand;

What is the appropriate model to help staff at UCS navigate this learning space? Is it simply, encourage participation or should there be follow ups and milestones either during or post the activity? For instance, coffee catch ups? Alternatively, should a member of the Elevate Team participate in the MOOC?
How much of the discussions and innovative ideas from the MOOC are transferable to our processes and systems? As a central staff development team how can the Elevate Team help facilitate this transfer?
How might we motivate staff to participate? What might be the most effective / appropriate approach?
What can we transfer from this MOOC to the design of our own online provision?

I’m not sure if I’ll have answers to these questions at the end of the course, however, I’ll hopefully have a more thoughtful insight and set of further questions I’ll need to answer. I’ll be reflecting on the course from my blog (http://andyramsden.wordpress.com/category/octel/).

I’m looking forward to the journey 🙂

[HughGallagher5]

A Chara (Greetings)
I’m a part-time lecturer in science (calibration and environment) for a number of years and I have a lot of experience of part-time education from both view points. I want to be able to use technology to a greater extend to help improve my experience and that of my students in the learning process. I am also interested in how technology can be used to enhance learning for students with physical disabilities in subjects that have traditionally been difficult such as the sciences and engineering.

I am mindful that many of my students are mature and that technology should not become a barrier to education, not so much that they do not have access to it, rather that the technology itself becomes the the barrier in a similar manner as the the inability to read can be.

[AnnaVerges]

Hello to all

My name is Anna Verges and I am a learning technologist at the University of Manchester.

I have participated in a MOOC before (Oxford Brookes First Steps into Teachign and Learning) and although I have to confess that I was a bit sceptic abotu MOOCS, I became much warmer to it aftwerwards.  I am interested in how learning can take place in this one too and how it happens as well as its limitations.

My big question would favour pedagogy before technology: What are the mechanisms, conditions and necessary ingredients for effective, enduring and transformative learning? And on a less abstract way, how technology can help us in setting the right conditions.

 

 

[Lyn]

Hi, my name is Lyn Bender, I am an e-Learning Advisor for the south west Jisc Regional Support Centre.  My role focuses on the use and integration Learning Resources and VLE’s (predominantly Moodle).  I am based in Cornwall and work closely with FE colleges throughouth the south west region.   I lead on a national group to support learning providers at strategic level in their implementation and development of IT strategies.  My contributions to this course will be regular but brief!  So to keep things short, my burning question would be centred upon how to measure the impact and effective use of technology to support teaching and learning.

 

[cookie20]

Hi all. I’m Gordon Cooke and I’m primarily a postdoctoral researcher in biology but I’m also an associate lecturer. My big question is (like Lyn’s above) how to measure the impact of my use of technology in teaching, on the students and also what other technologies are out there now that I haven’t come across but what I could still use. Particularly in relation to distance learning and new students.

[ClareKillen]

Hi

After many years working in an FE college and for national organisations I have more recently worked as a consultant and author for organisations like JISC and LSIS.  My particular interests are TEL (obviously), teacher training, staff development, curriculum design (including blended and online learning) and use of coaching to support learning.

I am struggling with my big question … I have so many!  I guess one thing I really want to explore through this course is similar to Andy’s – I want to learn more about the MOOC experience and how this can be used positively in education but also how to harness the ever increasing range of channels and social media opportunities effectively.

I will leave it there for now as there are so many posts to read and I need to reflect further.

[Uwe Matthias Richter]

Hi everyone. I’m Uwe Matthias Richter and work as Academic Lead for Distance and Online Learning at Anglia Ruskin University. My role involves supporting the development of distance and online learning across my institution from policy to staff support and development. I teach on the PGCE / MA Learning and Teaching in the Education Department as well (keeps my feet on the ground 😉 ..) and have recently started on an EdD with the Institute of Education, London.

My big questions centre around learner participation in online courses, effective activity design and online learning communities e.g. what engages learners online; in how far does participation depend on effective activity design (what is effective activity design); how important is the creation of  a learning community for effective learning online?, etc.

[Sonya Powney]

Hello everyone. I’m Sonya Powney and I’ve been working as a learning resources developer for the Royal Veterinary College since 1996. I really enjoy my job, working with academics to enhance their teaching and often getting new toys to play with.

I think my big question would be how to make sure that online resources are better than what they replace (usually traditional contact time). I’m interested in the idea of ‘flipped’ learning e.g. students watching a pre-recorded lecture, and then using the hour with the lecturer to develop/improve their understanding. Before ‘flipped’ learning was trendy we developed something similar at the RVC – students work through interactive scenarios in their own time and are prompted to record what they are struggling with, and the lecturer uses this feedback as the basis of a face to face session.

If I’m allowed another big question. I’d also like to think about how to make sure that the tools/techniques we implement are fit for purpose, and not necessarily those that seem the most new and shiny?

[JohnKerr]

Hello all,

John Kerr, Learning Innovation Officer for the University of Glasgow.

I’ve worked in elearning for over 7years for FE and HE institutions.  I am really looking forward to this MOOC journey to gain first hand experience of the process from a students point of view.

My big question is:  How can we engage students with TELT and blend it into their expectations when undertaking a University programme?  I.e. should we ask students how they would like to be taught and the methods they would prefer? #peeragogy  🙂

[Leonie]

Adding a late intro: I’m currently conducting part-time research into the impact of lecture capture on medical/biomedical science students & staff at Kings College London. I used to work in Higher Education publishing – research & development of textbooks & digital resources. Now I’m looking to shift that research & development role into universities to focus on teaching & learning practices instead of a physical product.  I’ve also recently completed an  MA at the Institute of Education (London) on the psychology of learning & use of technology in education.

My big question is from the point of view of working as a Learning Technologist or similar: How can lecturers’ interest in TEL be used to prompt their thinking about course design & teaching approaches in a non-threatening way? Which leads onto: Can I firm up my ideas about learning enough to settle on a framework that would appeal to academics to use to improve their teaching? Will the course help me make suggestions about how to specific hardware/software/activities? Do I have any credibility if just bringing my interpretation of theory not practical teaching experience?

Previous experiences of TEL are as a student. What had changed in 10 years from BA to MA? Our VLE was largely used to disseminate handouts & upload assignments – not much impact.  Google scholar made it much easier to follow a research trail – resulted in folders of unread pdfs instead of unread photocopies – at least cheaper! 🙂  Tech changed the way I access info, but not how I absorb it – still learn best by highlighting & paraphrasing a source, accumulating highlights from a few sources then reorganising into one framework if possible. Still takes ages. Still find there’s a point where ideas flow faster onto paper than onto screen.

The MA also included one online module largely via Moodle discussion groups. Here, tech was used so that students could see each other’s work & tutor feedback – this made a huge difference to learning: a) forced to express ideas better, not just own notes b) insight into how other students made sense of same material c) early & continued tutor feedback & benefit of seeing feedback to others d) feedback from other students – I especially liked the freedom to chose who we interacted with each week, instead of being forced into fixed groups.  This could have been achieved without a VLE – maybe people who are more experimental with teaching tools are more experimental with methods too, or that those with social view of learning dominate [or escaped to!] online teaching in HE.

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