[ElizabethECharl]

Jillian – thank you and for the new concept ‘Ako’.  I like the way you approached learner’s needs and in particular your own.  Helen’s questionnaire is spot on in the commentary section – it is good to see that it held with you as well.

[ElizabethECharl]

Phil – thanks for raising the question in the first place.

I hope to run a webinar for the first time in June so I am very grateful for James C, Sue and James K feedback on their experience of this.  I shall make sure that I include some of the tips mentioned and possibly have another person as moderator…

[ElizabethECharl]

Diane – I think your last paragraph is spot on regarding the debate about “learning styles”.  If you have a variety of facets to your teaching it will enrich the experience for all learners and those with a particular preference; one size does not fit all.

Sandra – An issue that teachers may well have to be explicit about – the difference in thinking and reacting and the role that the context of this plays?

[ElizabethECharl]

Phil –

Thanks for the link to this resource it was very inspiring and how refreshingly different and I like the premise and think that the context of their journey through the course will need to be delineated thereafter the idea of allowing them to choose one activity at this stage is a good example of co-producer of learning.

 

The first storyline could be to undertake an activity in moodle that speaks to three stages using whichever of the x number of activities to bring out their creativity:

 

a) the past – how they initially felt/feel about the course they are enrolled on (excited, trepidation, fear, nervous, worried, concerned, optimistic, etc.)

b) the present – what issue/idea/philosophy/perspective they have come across that really grabbed their attention so far.

c) the future – what do they see their future as being, re the subject/course/work/life being like after the course – what would it look/feel/taste like?

 

Using those 3 options mean that there are no wrong answers and the answer is what the learner presents. Thereafter you could get the individual learner to chooseone/ two other submission(s) from another learner and comment/ augment/collaborate/make connections with them in a wiki, etc.,. . .

 
I am going to stop now as I may have got the wrong end of the stick.  These are my initial suggestions, I will give it some more thought and wait to hear from you.

[ElizabethECharl]

Hi Phil,
Thank you for your feedback and how this might apply to your situation.  Yes it certainly can be difficult to attain a balance between instruction and giving control to learners and keeping to the lesson plan, hence why that part is left towards the end of the session.  You are lucky to have additional support from eLearning Assistants, as I tend to have to run these sessions solo.  I think with such sessions it is very important that all learners ‘do’ and actively undertake a search whilst I can provide support and answer question.  Otherwise the unspoken element of fear will take over, especially if they are novices in using IT – with the demographics of my learners who are mature students this proportion can be quite high and in direct proportion more hand holding may be necessary.

[ElizabethECharl]

Sancha, It was interesting and informative to see how your subject is taught and how that maps onto differnet facets of Kolb’s learning styles. I do not know why I imagined as your subject is creative that the role of feeling would be more important, but I can see now that is not the case. I too found in trying to classify the process that it felt somewhat forced and artificial. As most of my teaching is delivered F2F how the use of mobile devices etc may impact searching is not clear as the process is very much the same irrespective of the technology used.

[ElizabethECharl]

Martin – thanks for information about Google Hangouts and screenr.com as alternatives for short videos/screencast.

[ElizabethECharl]

Alice – I have never used Screen-o-matic so I was very much interested in your review. It was good to hear how easy and versatile it is.  I too have institutional restrictions so when looking for tools and resources to produce learning activities it can be difficult. It is therefore reasurring to know that this is a definite alternative.

[ElizabethECharl]

John, I have never used Prezi but I have seen it in action and thought it was a very engaging tool; and  I do understand exactly what Peter means re the seasick transitions (extreme zoom). In looking at the literature on Prezi the one line that always comes up is the ability to enrich presentation with audio visual materials (video). I may well have a go at using it in the near future.

Peter – you might find these documents of interest re comparison of the two tools:

1) Innovations March 2012

2) Prezi vs Powerpoint – Seattle Pacific Univ. Workshops

2) Prezi: a different way to present

 

 

[ElizabethECharl]

Graham and Sancha – the point about ‘another/other voice’ imparting the same information is a well made one, and all too true.  The need to review the whole and to pick up on any points or views expressed that might need to be (re)contextualised in light of where the class is and the thrust of the lesson is also one of the criterias I use to decide whether a resource is suitable for inclusion.

[ElizabethECharl]

Sancha – a great evaluation of this resource.

Graham – interesing point about citing such items.  I did not think there was an issue with this but it could be because my department includes media studies which equals films, so I am used to learners needing to cite from films and videos wherever they may be sourced. They are treated in the same manner as online databases or other such resources with URL and date and time accessed.

[ElizabethECharl]

Graham – thanks for recommendation re iPad.

[ElizabethECharl]

Sancha – hopefully you have been able to access the recordings of the webinars? They are normally posted if not on the same day the next. This week and previous recording are at: http://octel.alt.ac.uk/course-materials/ .

The issue about being able to locate and search through OERs on Jorum was raised and it appears that they have attempted to address this and are currently testing an improved interface at: beta.jorum.ac.uk/find .

The other possible search aggregator was a resource I was not aware of called XPERT (http://xpert.nottingham.ac.uk/ ) – I have not yet had an opportunity to see how well the searching options works but thought I should mention its as well.

[ElizabethECharl]

Just like Rachel I was inspired to have another go at using iTunesU after reading the posts in this conversation thread, so many thanks for that Imogen.

Phil – perhaps linked open data may redress the situation and enable/facilitate the ability to slice and dice OER and other resources.

 

 

 

[ElizabethECharl]

Graham – thanks for the survey result an interesting spread of sources, with the ususal suspects in play.

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