Putting ideas into practice

A rough and ready guide and a few answers.

(what you might/can/should do, communication and learning networks)

'The core competency of universities is not transferring knowledge, but developing it, and that's done within intricate and robust networks and communities.'

Brown and Duguid, 1996

What are we trying to do anyway?

• Traditional teaching– Can we effectively use large classes– Utilize small group teaching

• And how effective is this for certain types of instructional work (labs, field)

• The 'numbers' problem; leading to• The 'tail' problem• The provision of independent learning in a diverse

student population

Instructional Position Mix(Further Education Unit, 1981; Good 2000*)

Deficiency model - 'we're here to put something right that went wrong earlier'

Competence model - 'we're here to teach people some specific competence and skills'

Socialization model - 'we're here to help learners fit into society'Counselling model - 'we're here to help our learners work

through the key issues and crises'Guided discovery - 'we're here to help learners discover things

for themselves'Fostering autonomy - 'we're here to help learners become

autonomous and self-sufficient'

The level of technology

• Many teachers steer clear of engaging with technology - they leave it to the technologists and get on with the business of teaching' (Good, 2001)

• Is this You? If so,• 'Don't Panic' (D. Adams)

[I love deadlines. I love the sound of them whooshing past!]

For me, we have to attempt to:

Achieve an appropriate mix of the previous approaches andReach more students, effectivelyAllow for student problems (jobs, Access etc)Use the technology available with our individual skills and

aptitudes'Blend' learning as an approach (embedded/involved)Within the usual constraints of time and cost etcBUT - we try to do this anyway!

What does the 'e-' add?

Technology is an answer, not the answer, how can we make it more effective?

Identify our own skills and aptitudes and reflect on themSee what others have been doingKnowing how to use the technology imaginativelyMaking student-centred choices

'And the problem is not the technology. The true problem in education is helping students to learn.' (Freeman and Capper, 1999)*

A student-centred view of learning (after **Freeman and Capper 1999)

StudentChooses best learning

Method.Motivated to objectives

Workbook

Extra Q & A

Lectures

TutorialsStaff office

Phone

Students

WWW

CBL

Text

Plus, linkagesbetween these

Overall, I believe we can

• Hand opportunities to students• Enhance learning opportunities• Provide freedom from (some) time constraints

(I.e. towards distance learning)• Enhance feedback opportunities• Provide better 'Socratic' approaches

– Go from mass communication to become more personal

Learning and Understanding= Education

• How to get to learning– as understanding, – as a change in personal reality

• Encouraging active learning (strategies)• Giving opportunities to practice skills• Giving opportunities to consolidate learning• Posing problems which develop critical

thinking• Allow Socratic approaches to learning

Assessment(Much assessment simply fails to engage students with appropriate types

of learning - Gibbs and Simpson 2003*)

• Better frameworks of assessment (style, timing, frequency, submission etc)

• Allows conveying of high expectations (examples, feedback)

• Allows more concentration and engagement on the tasks (experiment design, problem solving, developing analytical skills)– And of course we can add a variety of on-line systems for

assessment such as MCQs(Aside from the relative weighting of exams vs coursework the above relate primarily to coursework.)

A few more words from:

Educational Innovation: Hvpe, Heresies and Hopes(Freeman and Capper*)

1. We must understand the learning context.

2. We must carefully choose a curriculum that accommodates learners' previous knowledge and experiences and sets them on a course of improved understandings.

3. We must design learning activities that achieve learning outcomes that accommodate learners' contexts. This requires carefully selecting and supporting the appropriate human, print and electronic learning resources.

4. We must integrate assessment with the desired learning outcomes to maximize the likelihood

of focused effort. 5. We must track the extent to which learning outcomes are achieved at a formative and

summative level, and ensure such feedback is individualised and responsive. 6. We must change the way we see our roles as teachers, from expert content providers to

people who can create and support learning communities, both with our students and among our peers.

Clarke and the Medievalists…• '[she] argued that we should get back to a medieval

concept of the university as a community of scholars unfettered by difficulties of the wider society.'

• Sage on the stage from this; the lecture?• Traveling scholar and student

– (Name of the Rose - Ecco)

• Traveling masters and their apprentices– (Was this medieval situation as elitist as has been made out?

• We now have the chance to broaden the scope, access and allow 'elitism for all'.

The Hitch-Hikers Guide to surviving in the e-mediated age

• You can use what you already know and do• You can find new skills without too much problem• You can get students to provide mutual support• You can get departmental/institutional help (with

luck) by using common applications and systems• You can find ideas, aids, examples etc. ready tried

i.e. hitching a ride, and don't forget your towel.

Impediments - being honest

• Skills

• TIME

• And, er…….

• More time and

• Perhaps more skills

• Patience and enthusiasm……

• And a bit more time (but don't be put off!)

Task 4 (2 minutes)

Making a start

Please list the skills you have:

1 as a teacher

2 as an academic using computers

Write them down (2 minutes) in a column for each and then we'll list them on the board.

My guess:

• Face to Face (f2f)• Tutorials• Fieldwork• Lecturing• Labs• E-mail• Giving feedback• Web-pages• O-L discussion group• Video conferencing

• 'Word'• E-mail• WWW - browsing• Excel• PowerPoint• Minitab/SPSS etc• Databases

– (Access/Endnote)

• Illustrator/Pagemaker• Photoshop……• HTML editor

How can we bring some of these existing skills together and develop others?

• First of all, looking at some pedagogic issues

• Looking at the skills we have and

• The tools to provide better reflection and inter-activity

Technical fearlessness(*Good 2001)

• Level 1: competent in a few tools that are used in everyday working, e.g. w/p

• Level 2: competent in a wider range of tools to a higher level (e.g advanced w/p tools for productivity) use a conference area - but still a victim of the many problems that will happen and dependent on others to solve them

• Level 3: autonomous explorer - engaged with technology and able to solve own problems and look for opportunities as things change and develop

• Level 4: expert

What we might do what we're not attempting

• Use what we know• Adapt the tools we know• Think about the methods

we use to teach• Help the students in their

learning experience

• Full distance learning• Technology for the sake of it• Trying to re-invent the wheel• Needing investment of

masses of time• Putting 'notes on the web'

How to add both technology and value

• Looking at the pedagogy

• Looking at what we do and how we do it

• Linking these to student needs

• Seeing if there are some general aids

A possible introductory model of operation

• Use a delivery system

• Use a presentational system

• Provide a query system

• Provide a feedback system

• Provide a support system

• Provide an instructive system

WWW

PowerPoint

E-mail

Web - E-mail

WWW

E-libraries / WWW

All within a VLE - WebCT

You almost certainly know how to use all of these

Death by Bullet Point?or, how to do it by PowerPoint

• You don't have to be 'whizz-bang'• But it will deliver lots of things that you want• And that your students like• It's easier than web pages• It's easy to adapt and deliver• It's a multi-media package (surprised?)• It's amazing value for money

– Even if it is from Microsoft!

Task 5 (10 minutes) with a colleague of like specialism -

use a large sheet of paper

• Sketch (Storyboard) about 6-8 scenes/slides on a topic that you know students find 'difficult'

• Put bullet points of text - phrases are fine– This can be done on simple ppt

• Then, include any static visuals that might help (35mm slides, graphs)

• Then, include any video shots• Then, include any audio that might help• Then, consider what you might want to elaborate upon -

this could be placed in the 'Notes' section*.

Delivery systems and things you have to consider

You can show it, how do students get to it?

Web delivery (ftp for the techie bit)

Student downloading and printing

Pitfalls: size of file and place (site/server)

IPR and copyright (this can be a serious problem)

Other considerations of security

Asynchronous Learningadditions to make networks

• Communication to, from and between students and staff using:

• E-mail,

• discussion groups,

• video conferencing (centralized/distributed)

• SMS

Some notes on the use of web pages

• Every module should have a home page!

• It doesn't have to be fancy or elaborate or comprehensive

• It should be a point of reference and a means of finding and linking to basic information and module materials

• This is where your PowerPoints should go

However - 'The notes are on the web'

• Is a minimum response (as web pages) and • Is a rather lazy way out (if it's only notes) • Denies the power of the web• Isn't interactive• Is probably less useful than putting PPT there• Is less easy than putting on PPT• Means you have to know something about

HTML - Don't use the 'Save as HTML' option

Things to go on module websites• All the 'official' bits (pre-session)• Module reviews and evaluations ('Advertisements') • Time tables/assessment dates/changes• Extras for the module (e.g. current events)• Latest news, assignments, f-trip reminders• Feedback; specific, general• Pointers to resources, skills pages• Links to departmental 'how to' pages• Results of posters, web pages,• Tests, MCQ, quizzes etc • Lab sheets, instructions, safety documents

etc…….

Building your website

• Don't bother if you don't want to - Bare Bones• Use WebCT• This will allow you pretty much all you want to

do for many purposes• Add what you want to and when• Update when you want• Use the interactive facilities• Use links to your (module) e-mail address

Other things to consider:

• Assessment – assuming assessment drives most things

• Question Mark etc - web version MCQ• Essay and project submission on line• Question: What assessments do you want to run on

line?• 'Current assessment procedures in higher education are long

overdue for a rethink. They are particularly ill suited to the digital age in which using information is more important than remembering it, and where reusing material is a skill to be encouraged, not as academic plagiarism to be despised.' Robin Mason 1998

Ac3

A quick note about CMC(Computer Mediated Communication)

• Video-conferencing

• Conferencing tools

• VLEs and MLEs

Tutor implications and concerns

Changed role

Workload

Group size

Activities

Assessment

Changing rolesuggestions via Stephen Brown

• Content facilitator• Process facilitator• Adviser/counsellor• Assessor

• Manager• Administrator• Designer• Researcher• Technologist

Sage on the stage……………...

…………….. guide on the side

I feel this is pretty radical - and many of us would fight shy ofthis, it requires too many things to do it well. Salmon suggestsE-tutors must be trained specifically.

Involvement - summary of possibilities• Remote access and experimentation• Distributed synchronous communications• Asynchronous collaborative learning• Access to resources (libraries, WWW etc)• Manipulating visualisations (learning styles, disabled students and

staff)• Simulations, models, laboratories, results• 'Virtual' fieldwork (even true virtuality one day)• Aids and prosthetics (e.g. dyslexia testing)• Professional tools (applications, scenarios)• On demand learning and assessment• Managed learning environments (student tracking, students at risk)

Task 6 - individually - 5 minutes max

• Now (I hope) that you have some ideas about ALNs and general methods of

• e-learning: communication moderation, etc, E-nhancement in general

• Can you write, in a priority order, three things that you might want to try using some form of E-nhancement

• Please don't be afraid of writing 'none'!• Then (5 minutes) discuss your choice with 3-4

colleagues: is there any common ground?

Other things,……looking onward

• Video of lectures• Synchronous via video-conferencing• Asynchronous, video on demand

– Streaming video• Intelligent agents ('knowbots')• Technology:

– magic whiteboards– Interactive TV capability– Bluetooth capability; 3GN phones– Wi-Fi, – Better software– Falling prices

• Better not forget the students! (phones and laptops etc….) More on this in technology.ppt

At the end of this section, I hope that:• You will be able to see what could go 'e'• At least some of your skills could be 'e'• There's plenty before the rigours of distance learning• A basic application like PowerPoint will do a great deal to help

you on your way • Even a little 'e-activity' may help• Asynchronous Learning Networks are useful • There are good pedagogic reasons for 'e-stuff'• It's not all that difficult • Students appreciate it.

End Powerpoint

Leading on to

Ooops, I got carried away - it doesn't have tobe like that!

A couple of quotes (i.e. it's not just me!)

We must change the way we see our roles as teachers, from expert content providers to people who can create and support learning communities, both with our students and among our peers.– Freeman and Capper 1999

Electronic resources therefore can play just as influential a role as other resources, in that they support "people's deep urges to learn and to teach. ……. information technology should provide easy paths connecting people with information, teaching, learning and educational institutions...and with each other" – Freeman and Capper 1999 and Biggs 1993

Benefits

• It will help your students (and all that entails)

• It will, help you teach better (as soon as you embark)

• A little can go a long way • You don't have to do it all in one go• It's mutually beneficial in the department/university (or

should be)

• Quality and enhancement should go hand in hand• It may/will/should help promotion (if not, why not?)

Finally

• I hope I have shown you some ways to use e-learning

• That the opportunities are as diverse as you wish• That many of the things you may want to done can

be done in PPT • The utility of an ALN for embedding materials• The importance of a set of techniques which really

will help students• That you might find it fun and even• Help decrumblify you!