[LucyTallents]

Trish, thank you for the Articulate pointer, but I’m working with pretty much a zero budget – anyone know any Open Source alternatives?

My students are conservation professionals from remote areas in the developing world, so course costs need to be minimal to keep fees affordable for them.  (I also like to support the development and use of open-source software where possible 🙂

[LucyTallents]

Roger, re your RCT comment, I started my teaching career by designing and teaching a F2F PGDip on the same topics as my online course.  I’d love to do some pedagogical research comparing learning outcomes and student experience of the F2F versus online versions!  That’s a plan for the future – need to finish writing the online course first…  😉

Trish, re engaging students, I think it’s even more critical in online learning to continually relate skills/concepts back to why the students need to understand them, because they don’t get the reinforcement from casual classroom chat/questions.  Embedding learning activities in case studies or real-life problem-solving exercises will keep them interested and motivated.

TEL gives us the chance to simulate situations from their future/current professional life, but it’s easy to be led by exciting new technology, and forget that it’s the servant, not the master (in my opinion).  This is equally true for technological and analytical developments in the world of wildlife monitoring – people get caught up by new tools and forget to ask whether they’re useful and appropriate to solve a given problem.

[LucyTallents]

Roger, Jim et al,

I like the idea of OER in theory, but I’ve yet to use any resources in my own teaching.  I have a reluctance to use OER materials just as they are, and am still figuring out why – the desire to use and improve my expertise through practice, wanting a coherent voice throughout a course, a need to justify my existence, knowing that my students aren’t the usual graduates from western unis so wanting to customise teaching for them, or …?

Somehow it seems just as time-consuming to repurpose someone’s framework for my own teaching, so I tend to browse OER for ideas to implement in learning materials that I develop myself.  This in itself makes sharing OER very worthwhile, but I’m wondering how others use them, and if I’m alone in my hesitation?

[LucyTallents]

Thanks for posting about the eLearning Matrix, Jim – a useful resource!  I’ve just used Moodle so far in my work with the Continuing Education dept, but almost every other dept in Oxford seems to use WebLearn, which I didn’t realise was Blackboard.  I find the Moodle interface much easier to read threaded discussions than this one, but haven’t checked out WebLearn yet.

In the future, we may offer my online course as a self-study ‘textbook’ (printed or digital) with interactive exercises for formative feedback in the absence of peer-to-peer interaction.  I’d like to investigate tools such as eXe and HotPotatoes to create engaging and useful activities (which could also be used on a standard-format distance learning course) – does anyone have experience with these, or recommendations?  Thanks.

[LucyTallents]

Trying to keep this short so I can afford the time to participate little and often…

Judging by the emails (my initial preference 😉 most people have multiple experiences of TEL as students, tutors and designers – few say this is their first experience.  Do you agree, and does this match what you’ve seen on blogs & twitter?

There also seem to be a very broad definitions of TEL, dating back to radio/TV broadcasts at school and recording feedback on cassette tapes, and extending beyond desk-based internet to mobile devices and apps.  I think this breadth of tools will make it difficult to have a unified discussion of how TEL can help learners and tutors.  We each need to identify others who share our interests and particular questions re using TEL, to narrow the discussion to something manageable and targeted to our individual needs.  The MOOC caters for different modes of communication so should be easier to fit into people’s lives, but it’s bewildering wondering how to identify who to interact with or follow!

[LucyTallents]

Hi Kate, Roger, Sarla, Jim and Trish!

Mind if I join your group?  I’m a postdoc at Oxford Uni, currently developing an online course for wildlife conservation professionals to teach them how to use scientific research methods to inform their decision-making.

I’m keen to exploit interactive and multimedia online tools (e.g. quizzes, screencasts) to bring learning materials to life, and encourage students to engage with the concepts.  I’d like to learn how to promote peer-learning and support, moving the focus away from the tutor as the fount of knowledge, empowering students by developing confidence in their own problem-solving abilities.  Bit of a mixed bag, that, but I’m sure I’ll encounter lots of relevant ideas here and elsewhere on ocTEL!

I’m off to explore the forums, post my introduction and read other people’s, but will be back later with thoughts on the questions we’ve been tasked with.

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