Blended learning for PhD Students

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Transcript of Blended learning for PhD Students

'THE 21ST CENTURY LEARNER: BLENDED LEARNING TOOLS’

Dr Bex LewisBex.Lewis@winchester.ac.uk

24th May 2010

http://johnwilborn.wordpress.com/2008/08/23/the-digital-natives-are-here/

A Digital Native: Jake’s Story

“Jake told the executive that he never goes directly to a brand like this man’s newspaper or even to blogs he likes. ... he reads a lot of news – far more than I did at his age. But he goes to that news only via the links from Digg, friends’ blogs, and Twitter. He travels all around the internet that is edited by his peers because he trusts them and knows they share his interests. The web of trust is built at eye-level, peer-to-peer.” (Jarvis, p.86, my emphasis)

Discuss

Similarities Differences

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/education/8577272.stm (20th March 2010) The current financial squeeze, which is set to continue for the next decade, will

accelerate a transformation that has begun in many universities. Already more than one in three students studies part-time and one in six is from

overseas. There will be more mature students, more studying part-time, more living in

their own or their parents' homes, and many more studying online. There will be more tailor-made vocational courses, operated in partnership

with individual companies and employers. There will be more "pick-and-mix" degrees, with students accumulating course

credits at different universities, even across different countries, and with gaps for employment in between.

Students will increasingly become "consumers" as we reach the tipping-point where their contribution to the cost of the degree is greater than that made by the government.

Private providers will take over an increasing share of the university market. The all-round university will increasingly lose out to more specialised institutions. Finally, universities will become more global.

SOME REPORTS

http://www.clex.org.uk/

Government Report by Sir David Melville, published March 2009 The impact on their experiences and

expectations Their use of social networking Their adoption of new technologies Developments at schools, colleges, campuses,

including institutional developments. Read Summary:

http://digital-fingerprint.co.uk/2009/11/jisc-e-learning-fair/

Some Highlights:

A 2007 Study and a 2008 Report found that most students had been exposed to “push” technologies (i.e. top-down), and especially valued face-to-face contact.

Late adopters are learning first, knowing that they have to be ‘equipped for the real world’.

There is evidence that students ARE using social networking for L&T, especially for enhancing group work. A key question is what is the nature of that space, and who controls that space.

There was a strong feeling that Facebook was a “private space”, that these shouldn’t be used formally, that students could set up their own Facebook groups if they desired, and that staff could only be invited in by the students.

Some Findings:

Use of Web 2.0 is ubiquitous from the age of 12. New technology is different, but is it better? There’s been a patchy take-up from staff even when there is

a strong drive from management (tools can take a long time to use properly, and VLEs don’t always help)

Students are not yet demanding change, but note not yet. Critical/evaluative skills are a deficit area and likely to get

worse (e.g. “The 10 Second Researcher”: Google/Wikipedia facilitate “shallow research”. ) It’s hugely important that we find ways to impact deep research.

New skills that technology can foster for future workplace demands.

Staff time and support issues are critical. It’s not just familiarity with the technology, but where they fit

strategically.

Informal Learning

“This book offers advice on how to support, nurture, and leverage informal learning and helps trainers to go beyond their typical classes and programs in order to widen and deepen heir reach. The author reminds us that we live in a new, radically different, constantly changing, and often distracting workplace. He guides us through the plethora of digital learning tools that workers are now accessing through their computers, PDAs, and cell phones.”

Informal Learning: Rediscovering the Natural Pathways That Inspire Innovation and PerformanceJay Cross, 2006

2020 and beyond, June 2007http://bit.ly/9PuIu4

To what extent are we prepared, as a society and as educators, for the massive changes in human capabilities that digital technologies are likely to enable in the next 13 years?

To what extent are our future visions for education based upon assumptions about humanity, society and technology that are no longer valid?

To what extent can we, as educators, help to shape the developments of technology in order to enhance human development?

“the best way to predict the future is to build it”. (Douglas Adams)

Which are you?

Web Bear? Web Elephant? Web Fox? Web Hedgehog? Web Leopard? Web Elk? Web Octopus? Web Ostrich?

Which do you think those you work with are?

https://www.bbc.co.uk/labuk/experiments/webbehaviour/articles/eightanimals

Impacting the Student Experience

What is Blended Learning?

“The term is commonly associated with the introduction of online media into a course or programme, whilst at the same time recognising that there is merit in retaining face-to-face contact and other traditional approaches to supporting students. It is also used where asynchronous media such as email, forums, blogs or wikis are deployed in conjunction with synchronous technologies, commonly text chat or audio.”

Janet Macdonald Blended Learning and Online Tutoring: Planning Learning Support and Activity

Design, 2008, p2

Learning/Pedagogy

http://www.slideshare.net/redmagma/elearning-sucks?src=embed

Student Expectations?

Global (Used creating their own YouTube videos, and expecting a quick response – from anywhere in the world!)

Responsive (Used to rapid response/feedback, 3 week guarantee “too long”)

Flexible (Used to having more than one starting point)

Interactive (Looking for a relationship of trust, staff/student partnership: The teacher has a role of leader, but needs ‘distributed leadership’)

Often facile or trivial

Web 2.0: Characteristics

User-centred design Crowd-sourcing Web as Platform Collaboration Power

Decentralisation Dynamic Content Software as a Service/

Cloud Computing Rich User Experience

With the web you can...

http://digital-fingerprint.co.uk/2009/09/fully-convergent/

The 21st Century Learner

http://mscofino.edublogs.org/2008/11/30/a-meeting-of-minds/

But how can we use it?

Technology is just a tool?

http://www.camb-ed-us.com/school/standards-assessment.asp

Wireless Presenter with Laser Pointer

http://bit.ly/buZ0mM, September 2009

What is Twitter?

140 Characters (based on SMS) known as “Tweets” Displayed on author’s profile page Read by subscribers (known as “Followers”)

Different from Facebook More interest/thematic based Not time/geographically dependent Not as “personal” ‘I had toast’ does not cut it!

Twitter is about relationship building, you can’t just “broadcast” announcements out, you need to engage with your followers.

Retweets (a mark of approval)

@stephenfry

What do you want to do on Twitter? Build personal brand Find friends with similar interests Show your expertise Drive traffic to your business/course Find new readers for your blog Share your passion Communicate what you’re working on

with colleagues

Image: http://digital-fingerprint.co.uk/

http://twitter.com/

https://twitter.com/invitations

http://twitter.com/drbexl

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TASKS

Set up your Twitter account/user name Short is sweet!

Set up your profile Full Name Location Link to personal or winchmfs website

http://winchmfs.wordpress.com/ Bio: 160 characters, think ‘keywords’ Photo (of your face!) Can use e.g. http://www.twitbacks.com/ to

change the default background

Image: http://doubleyourincomechallenge.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2009/08/twitter-name-copy-300x300.jpg

FIRST TWEET

Tweet

Simply type (140 characters or less), then press ‘Tweet’ The shorter you keep it, the more options you give others to

“RT” Learn that ‘text language’

http://www.netlingo.com/acronyms.php Congratulations, you’ve just sent your first tweet!

Retweets: A Mark of Approval

TASK

Find 20 people to follow http://mrtweet.co

m/

http://www.twellow.com/

Find an appropriate message and ‘RT’ itImage: http://social-shirt.com/wp-content/uploads/retweet_me_shirt-p235424843409036863o1o7_325-300x300.jpg

FOLLOW & BE FOLLOWED

@drbexl @winchmfs @markshaw @jamesclay @nwjerseyliz @lisaharris @mattbuck_hack

Start Following Finding people to follow

http://www.flickr.com/photos/jasdhaliwal/3647896402/in/set-72157619503976393/

http://www.facebook.com/?ref=logo#!/group.php?gid=106375376072443&ref=ts

http://theterracottawarriors.files.wordpress.com/2009/10/blogging1.jpg

http://ww2poster.co.uk

Synchronous Conferencing

http://www.elluminate.com/; http://www.wimba.com/; http://www.webex.co.uk/

Specific Academic Social Networking? http://winchester.academia.edu/

BexLewis http://www.mendeley.com/profiles/bex-

lewis/ http://www.sciweavers.org/ http://www.humbox.ac.uk/

Most are moving towards using software that others are using.

Slideshare

Blended Learning Pages on the Learning Network:http://learn.winchester.ac.uk/course/view.php?id=1203