Filed under: group work, second life | Tags: multimedia design, virtual worlds
This has been taken from the presentation that MACS lecturer pal and I did at the Learning and Teaching conference at Heriot-Watt University. Several slides with screenshots from the Multimedia Design students on the HWU island, and my own avatar, gallivanting about the student work.
The quotes are from the students’ Learning Log, and I think – for now – they speak for themselves.
The Good
The Bad
The Undecided
This year I deliberately did not employ an external facilitator for the online version of my module (even though Panos from Napier University did an absolutely sterling job last year!) because I want to keep meticulous track of how much time I am spending with the facilitation of the tasks.
I am using a wiki for classic wiki work, a blog for reflective learning log activities, a blog for posting of findings, reviews and evaluations with the encouraged opportunity to comment constructively, a wiki for discussion and group work (with the pages set up to enable this), and the discussion board to organise the peer review tasks, thus the latter is used in a more administrative way.
There is of course a reason why I use so many different tools: the participants need to gain the experience of using them as learners, to employ them effectively as teachers.
It will be interesting to observe and facilitate and keep track for once, by using my own learning log. I am always hesitant to call good practice and “common sense” action research, but perhaps, if that dresses things up nicely …
Filed under: education, musings, second life, teaching | Tags: flexible learning, virtual worlds
I run so-called “e-nspire” forums (yes, I know, the name is corny, cut me some slack) as part of my Flexible Learning Programme. They have been very successful, probably because of the format as well as the content: one hour “taster” sessions on various fairly cutting edge topics, with half an hour (or more) of discussion time afterwards – if so desired. We’ve had some really good discussions in those sessions, I do sometimes wish I had recorded them.
The topics this year have been:
Interestingly, there had been some worry from others that the sessions would flop, because it was too “high flying” while the exact opposite happened (as I had expected/hoped). We are, after all, talking about academics here. We all want to be challenged (I am saying “all” in a bit of a loose way …) and “come to my session where I show you how to use an awfully clunky discussion board in a clunky VLE and then tell you why you’d want to use it” is really not cutting the cake. I am no Learning Technologist, I don’t work on that level, instead I challenge perceptions, get colleagues across the institution to think (possibly?) differently and open their minds – towards learning and teaching in a digital age, because there is no point in the low-level if the high-level has not been stimulated. I am sure we can figure out the hands-on somehow. 
Anyway, my thoughts have been meandering again. I am considering the following topics for the next academic year:
- Collaborative Learning: blogs – theory and practice
- Collaborative Learning: wikis – theory and practice
- Virtual Worlds in Education (Second Life)
- Information Overload? Rule the digital world with Social Bookmarking, RSS and Aggregators
- Personal Response Systems (Clickers)
- Assessment beyond the exam (learning logs, e-portfolios, formative feedback, blogs, wikis, online discussions etc)
Obviously, I cannot work on 6 new ones over the very short summer, even though it would only be four. I can re-use the blogs and wikis, adding the practical element. (oh look, I am going down the “let’s click the button route” on occasion, when it is the right thing to do) but I really want to do one on Virtual Worlds. It is such an emerging theme in Higher Education (not just in HE) that it should be part of widening the horizon. Besides, as my MACS lecturer pal agrees, there will be interest.
Now … do I throw out the Clickers, because not all Schools have bought them (but perhaps by enthusing staff they might badger their Schools?) or do I throw out the Assessment, because I tap into this all the time in all the other sessions that I ran/am running and will run? The Information Overload one will definitely stay, there is such a need for this.
Decisions … decisions … and while I want to do the Second Life/Virtual Worlds one, it will be a lot of work. However, the work could be used double-fold, because I need to do a Literature Review anyway.
Answers on a postcard, please.
Filed under: musings | Tags: assessment, blended learning, distance learning, flexible learning, learner centred, teaching, vle
I am teaching this term, a module called “Designing Online Learning Environments”, which is part of our PG CAP. The nature of this course is, that it runs parallel, both in F2F mode on campus (while module is blended, though, with elements of online work, both collaborative and individual, as an integral part of the curriculum) and in distance mode, for our campuses in Dubai and Galashiels. Now, as is the nature of working in HE, this has to be developed without significant time nor resources. Hence the silence on this blog.
Also, developing and delivering both modules (and I can assure you, setting them up on our VLE, especially the distance one – naturally – is immensely time consuming if done as well as possible within the resources) means that the data analysis of the Second Life questionnaires and especially the interviews has to be paused just this now. However, I have to get cracking on that soon, because a co-authored book chapter and conference abstract are looming.
As for the Module, I am aiming to run them as parallel as possible. This was not the case with last year’s (the materials were developed externally and this is not an approach I would recommend) and is not the case with the other modules in the course. While this is perfect;y fine, as long as the same Learning Outcomes are achieved, I am aiming this year to give a true sense of being on the same module, all along. Apart from the wish for equality of experience and provision (wherever possible) I was not happy with the common practice of making participants who missed a F2F session write a 500 word summary of the topic. It felt too much like “punishment” to me and I am not convinced that this ensures covering the same LOs for the session. I know, I know, content is not most important, but assessment is, and yet no assessment without content, I’m afraid.
Thus I want the online sessions for the distance participants to be a useful parallel for the F2F participants, so that missed sessions simply means I make to those participants the activities and materials available via adaptive release, that the distance participants are using.
In theory, this will work. In practice I am working myself crazy recording presentations, messages, screenvideos, setting up blogs, wikis, and generally structuring the module so that it gives the best possible learning experience, especially for the distance participants.
It’s not easy, and it takes insane amounts of time, but since I believe in what I am doing, teaching, researching, and learning myself – it is worth it.
