Block 2, Here we come

I thought a good honest reflection was in order here.


How do you (or your teaching colleagues) currently design modules?

I teach in FE/HE and normally a module would represent a 2-3 Hr session on a given topic. The Key Learning Points (KLPs) are listed by the course design team, but the detail of the content I teach is left to me. It therefore relies on my expertise and knowledge base to develop the lesson material.

I use course design quite loosely as I don't consider a great deal of design goes on. They rely on me and my team to compile the learning. I use a range of practical activities and provided a blended learning environment although there is still perhaps too much didactic style teaching for my liking because there is not always enough practical kit.

How do you and/or your teaching colleagues get new ideas?

We keep abreast with the technical content of the subject and introduce new technology as it unfolds when appropriate. In the field of Controls this is ever changing but the fundamentals are fairly static.

We share ideas and are continuously looking at adding more practical / blended activities. I have learnt a great deal from previous study but a major driving factor is the feedback that students offer at the end of each course.

What resources and support are used?

I am quite fortunate that I have a modern lab with plenty of facilities and internet access although this is filtered to prevent the use of uTube, streaming media and some elements of cloud computing. The use of Moodle is gradually unfolding but I have provided web based resourses to my students for ten years, it is just a case of adding it to the new platform.

I do not consider my material to be elearning material as it supports the learning that goes on in the classroom although I now tend to put more into my presentations to give more detail. I am currently trying to use software to add a voice over to my presentations as an attempt to enhance this somewhat, but It is not intended to be viewed as elearning material.

What issues do new technologies raise for teaching and learning?
The technology doesn't always work, unfortunately my college restricts some web based activity which is annoying because having produced web based material only to find that he filter blocks it you then have to produced another copy to overcome the barriers.

This has a real negative effect and many colleagues are not so willing to use new technology as a result.

What is Web 2.0

In a not so recent article on ZD Net Wainewright writes "Microsoft's business model depends on everyone upgrading their computing environment every two to three years. Google's depends on everyone exploring what's new in their computing environment every day." This sums up what web 2.0 is all about for me but this article is seven years old now and no Microsoft has not beaten Google, in fact Google is very much a front runner with it vast range of web 2.0 applications.

So what exactly is web 2.0?

According to O'Rielly (2005) the principal features of Web 2.0 companies can be summarised as:

• Services, not packaged software, with cost-effective scalability
• Control over unique, hard-to-recreate data sources that get richer as more people use them
• Trusting users as co-developers
• Harnessing collective intelligence
• Leveraging the long tail through customer self-service
• Software above the level of a single device
• Lightweight user interfaces, development models, AND business models

Lets just use a web 2.0 app to help explain that

Web 2.0 is simply the parts of the web that are interactive with its users instead of the parts of the web that simply allow users to read a published page. Web 2.0 allows users to interactive, edit, and even create their own content. For example, YouTube is part of Web 2.0.

This video gives a quick overview. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nsa5ZTRJQ5w

What is it for me?

I think an hour or so of web activity whilst studying H800 will paint a picture as far as I am concerned within this period I have used  a range of Web 2.0 apps:

• I start at iGoogle which is where I store all my links under different tabs, work' study. research.
• This links me into the OU site and a whole world of learning opens up.
• My course material opens in a Moodle Learning management system (LMS) 'Open source and free'
• I use the social learning tools to communicate with my fellow students within a Forum.
• I find a useful site for discussion or further reading and Tag it to my Delicious, bookmarking site so I will be able to find it again under certain categories..
• I check my Google Reader account for latest blog postings and research material or just some general reading. This saves me trawling lots of forums and blogs, instead they come to me.
• I quickly check to see if any fellow students have added to our collaborative presentation on Google Docs.
• Perform my research and finally complete this blog to store an account of my personal learning and reflection for future reference and sharing with my fellow learners.
• I make a note of an important date by adding it to my online calendar which synchronises with my phone I never miss an appointment.

Where do I do this? Anywhere in the world, I am not tied to any computer to perform any of these tasks I could have been sat watching Argyle win whilst performing all of this (albeit a bit slower) from my blackberry or better still from some exotic location in a cybercafe.


Not convinced yet, well you better get on board because you are missing out and this is just the start.


Need more information, well rather than re-invent the wheel just take a look at how Dr Helen Barrett's 
'Web 2.0 Tools for Lifelong & Life Wide Learning', she breaks it down in a few tools that fit nicely into education, but explore yourself the list is endless although three years old this should still wet the appetite.

References
Barrett, H.(2008) 'Web 2.0 Tools for Lifelong & Life Wide Learning' (online) Available from: http://electronicportfolios.org/web2/class/ (Accessed 12 Mar 2011)


O’Reilly, T. (2005) What is Web 2.0: Design Patterns and Business Models for the Next Generation of Software [online],http://routes.open.ac.uk/ ixbin/ hixclient.exe?_IXDB_=routes&_IXSPFX_=g&submit-button=summary&%24+with+res_id+is+res18497 (last accessed 10 March 2011).


Wainewright, P. (2005) ZDnet 'Why Microsoft can't beat Google' (Online) Available from: http://www.zdnet.com/blog/saas/why-microsoft-cant-best-google/13 (Accessed 12 Mar 2011)

Expansive Learning at Work

Having crawled my way through Engeström (2001), I have to admit I am finding some of the reading long winded and dull.  On reading sections of this piece I have to admit I wandered off to research it further rather than try and get my head around it.

 Lets face it any theory of learning has to look at Who, Why , What and How, obvious really. 

• Who is learning 
• Why are they learning
• What are they learning and
• How do the learn

What is Activity Theory?


Activity Theory is a framework or descriptive tool for a system. People are socio-culturally embedded actors (not processors or system components). There exists a hierarchical analysis of motivated human action (levels of activity analysis). (Learning-Theories.Com 2011)

What are the five principles of current activity theory?

The Hierarchical Structure of Activity which has three levels- activity, action & operation. The components of the activity can change during the process they are not rigid.

Object-orientedness which it includes not only the physical, chemical and biological properties of the object but also the social and cultural properties.

Internalisation/Externalisation Internalisation relates to the human being's ability to imagine and  consider alternative approaches to a problem by performing mental simulations. Externalisation transforms an internalised action into an external one. (Sunderland University)

Mediation Human activity is mediated by artefacts – tools both internal and external. These tools may be signs, language, instruments or machines. They are created by people and effect control over behaviour. Artefacts have an associated culture and history and permanence that exists across time and space. (Sunderland University)

Development Activity Theory requires that the way a human interacts with reality should be analysed within the context of development. Hence the research method is not laboratory experiments but rather formative experiments that combine active participation with the monitoring of the developmental change shown by the study participants.(Sunderland University)

Surely this is a lot like behaviorism?  it was at this point I really started to lose interest I have spent too long on this article and I am not sure what the answers are to the last two questions I await some inspiration from my fellow learners but I notice this thread has gone quiet I wonder why? 

1. What is the problem with the ‘standard’ theories of learning that expansive learning addresses?
2. What is the criticism that Engeström makes of the apprenticeship model of learning?

References

Engeström, Y. (2001) ‘Expansive learning at work: toward an activity theoretical reconceptualisation’, Journal of Education and Work, vol.14, no.1, pp.133–56; also available online at http://libezproxy.open.ac.uk/ login?url=http://search.ebscohost.com/ login.aspx?direct=true&db=a9h&AN=4139632&site=ehost-live&scope=site (last accessed 10 March 2011)

Learning-Theories.Com(2011) com http://www.learning-theories.com/activity-theory.html


Sunderland University (n.d) 'Activity Theory – an introduction' (Online) Available from Http://osiris.sunderland.ac.uk/~cs0car/hci/3_con_at.htm (Last accessed 10 March 2011)

.

Time management.

I feel shattered having just spent the whole weekend marking assignments yes I have seen some good work but why does the OU insist on so much feedback. With the latecomers still to come next weekend there is more to follow.

All I want to do now is get back to my study things have moved on in the H800 conference and I need to get back in there having just popped in I really can do much now so a quick vent my frustrations type blog followed by a bath glass of wine and bed .
I will wake duly refreshed and get stuck in in the morning. This picture encapsulates just how I feel.

http://plannerinprogress.files.wordpress.com/2009/05/time-management-mindmap.jpg

Absolute chaos but I am in control, a little reading to catch up and a bit of extra time to prepare my first TMA and I am out of panic mode and back on track.