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Grant posted an update in the group Paul is looking for participants: Activity 0.2: Small group reflection 10 years, 6 months ago
As others have said, it seems clear that there is a great range of experiences and preferences among the participants. I don’t know if this is just my perception, but it does seem to me that there are more “technologists” than “teachers” here. I think this may have advantages and disadvantages for me personally. So far the advantages have been in the sharing of so many technological resources and the quick and effective help of fellow participants which has allowed me to finally start getting my head around Twitter and get a blog going. What I have perhaps missed so far is exchanging with other teachers about how they use this technology to successfully enhance the learning experience of their students and their own teaching experience. However, I’m sure these conversations will take place over the coming weeks once everything gets going and we start getting a bit more organized.
I think it’s still early days to say how a MOOC like this one is well or poorly suited to these challenges. Everything so far is suggesting that it is well suited to doing so. I think it will be largely up to the individual participants to make sure they have a clear idea of what they want to get out of the course and find strategies that allow them to construct the best way of reaching their objectives. I’m counting a lot on the Dave Cormier model I came across earlier in the week: Orient, Declare, Network, Cluster and Focus.
I think the badge system and the one-thing-a-week approach might help. It’s my first experience of a badge system and so far I’m enjoying it and feeling quite motivated by it.
Hi Grant: I’m also particularly looking forward to hearing and learning from teachers about their TEL experiences. I’m benefiting from the participation of many ‘technologists’ here because this is their world and they have a wealth of resources and references to share. In practice, I find that sometimes technologists and teachers work at cross purposes: technologists are rightly more focussed on the tech and all the things it can do and how great it would be if we implemented it in our teaching; teachers are more focussed on the subject content and how it can be taught effectively, whether this involves TEL or not. Teachers sometimes feel beseiged by what they perceive as overzealous technologists bombarding them with things they need to add to their already full courses; technologists sometimes feel frustrated at what they perceive as stubborn academics who refuse to try new things that the technologists know could enhance their students’ learning experiences. I can see the frustrations of both groups (and I know the lines between these two groups are nowhere near as clear-cut as this post indicates). It wil be interesting to see how these two groups interact in this MOOC, or whetehr they are in fact identifiable as two groups in this environment. I’m learning from both.
As a result of thinking that through, I’ve come up with one new initiative: I’m going to invite one of the Learning Designers to attend each of my department’s monthly departmental meetings. The LD will have a standing agenda item each month: s/he will either give an update about a piece of tech that is working particularly well in our areas at the moment, and/or take questions from academic staff about tech ideas they have. Could be a neat way to bridge the sometimes gap between techs and academics, a way to get us working together.
Hi,
I put this in my response to Big and Little questions but what you’ve said here is interesting
What’s the motivation for all stakeholders to use technology in learning?
This question should probe at why people want to implement, but also, why will people use it, and this more often than not causes differences in opinion.
My own view from looking at current practice is that it’s not common for systems to be properly joined up within Academia and this makes life very difficult for the users. Simply Learning Technologists are beholden to the IT department and the senior systems managers.
Strategically it makes better sense to design in all systems so that they are easy to use and involved less double handling of work.
Teachers are generally assessed against the success or failure of the students; and will not use a system that makes their lives more difficult.
To ‘win’ them over they need convincing that learning technology will make their lives easier. It cuts little ice with them when systems fail and they have to explain it to senior managers. So therefore it makes sense that they reduce the risk to them by avoiding its use where possible. Is there where the resistance is?, It’s catch 22.
To exacerbate the situation learning technologists and IT Departments sometimes don’t help. This is why it’s important to understand why people want to implement and look at the challenges involved not only technologically, but culturally.
I agree that it may well be a cultural solution that’s needed, rather than a technological or a pedagogical one. It’ll be interesting to see if I can effect a cultural shift by having a Learning Designer attend our monthly departmental meetings: my hope is that this will integrate him/her into the departmental culture, and will shift academics’ perceptions so that they start to see him.her as part of the team rather than as an outsider. The experiment will begin next month, but I expect it will take six months or so for any cultural shifting to take place.