Onwards and upwards.

H800 draws to a close EMA has been submitted and its time to reflect on what has been a fast and furious course. There was an awful lot of reading and trying to fit it all into a busy life / work schedule has been difficult. I am note sure how well I have managed to cover all the detail in the EMA and part 4 for me became a hard slog but its done and should meet the minimum requirements.

There was certainly a lot of evidence I could use for the  Part A thanks to the superb collaboration within the conference this year. It has been fun sharing ideas with a group of students that have been prepared to share ideas and experiences so freely so a big thanks here. We wrap up with a pyjama party on Google + tuesday night (hopefully I can make this).

I now have a new friend, a reader that has just arrived through the post for my next course. E856 Educational Leadership, this looks a dry course compared to H800 and some of my previous courses but I am looking forward to the course. Interesting how the TMAs all involve group activity in the conference which is one difficulty some of my students have on T215 it certainly might help me get a student perspective. I think I deserve a rest couple of days off before I start getting stuck into the material. But being a technology savvy learner I have just converted the reader and the course material into 'Mobibook' so I can read it on my Blackberry, not as good as an IPad I know. One problem I have had with H800 is getting through the reading and I think having the material on my phone will give me a chance to study in the small gaps during the day. Whereas some of my colleagues choose to have a smoke break or even a game of cards I should be able to top up my reading.

H800 Conference Activity

A busy year on H800 is coming to an end as we all sit typing up our End of Module Assessments (EMA) I thought I would take some data posted by  fellow student, Shaw (2011) and represent it graphically. It becomes clear to see how well this tutor group has engaged. Although as pointed out in the conference from week 12 onward personal blogs were also used it does give a good representation of the activity.

Thanks to all this activity there is plenty of evidence to call on for our justifications and arguments, so a big thankyou from me goes out to the rest of the group, all the best for your EMA.

Shaw,P. (2011) H800 Tutor Group Forum, EMA Tutor Group Forum, Just sharing something, 13 September 2011, 17:43.

Woolgar's Five Themes

Having read Woolgar’s five themes I can identify with two of the five themes that I feel most strongly reflect the way in which I perceive the effects that technology is making currently in a context known to me.

Student geographical location

Theme 4: The more virtual the more real
Following along the theme used of face to face tutorials it is my experience that offering online tutorials as an alternative to face to face tutorials has not lead to increase in attendance. I find this surprising considering the area covered by my group this year attendance at F2F was more supported that a recent online tutorial. What was even more interesting was the fact that only one of the attendees had not previously attended a traditional f2f tutorial earlier in the course.

Given the opportunity I wrongly thought I would be giving an opportunity for students further afield to take part. Perhaps there are other barriers that I did not perceive.

Theme 3: Virtual technologies supplement rather than substitute for real activities

Following on the theme of the paperless office, I am surprised at how much I have printed this year and yet at work I am trying to reduce the amount of printing. A case of ‘do as I say’ not ‘as I do’. Despite Diigo and delicious coming to my aid there is often a need to sit away from the PC and study. I have tried hard this year to reduce printed material and have even contemplated the purchase of an iPad.

Tags on my Blog

Therefore Diigo certainly supplements the storage of reading material but when it comes to preparing for an assignment I prefer to throw all the material on the floor and start selecting important readings that help before highlighting sections and perhaps identifying quotes. It is only then that I will refer to the electronic media which includes Google Reader and Diigo. Tagging certainly helps but I wish I had given more thought to this as the my studies have progressed why for example is H808 more dominant than H800 because now I avoid using the course as a tag and tend to be more selective.

I guess I am not quite all electronic yet, but not sure really why this is.  

Woolgar, S. (ed.) (2002) Virtual Society? Technology, Cyberbole, Reality, Oxford, Oxford University Press.

My Learning Experience - not quite a 'Circle of Trust'.

The following diagram is my 'Circle of Learning' based on a normal study session on H800. It represents a number of key activities and links to a range of technologies that assist in the learning. I refer to it as a circle of learning because the loop is iterative and should lead me through the activities whilst collaborating and reflecting. Occasionally I may get stuck in a particular area for the whole session or even skip collaboration for example to  move on but at the moment this is a fair reflection on how my learning progresses.

My 'Circle of Learning'

However in reality there is a controllable mass in the way called disturbance which helps to give a much fuller representation of the true experience. From the following representation it is clear that this large mass has to be controlled in order to focus on the learning. However many tools link the two areas together making it more difficult to stay focused on the learning. As I write this I can remember reading an article on a blog which will have popped up in my Google Reader. A quick distraction here but I quickly found it, Foster (2011) offers some timely advice on how to avoid some of the many distractions. Of course as I open Google Reader to find the article I am confronted with an array of disturbance, news, conference postings, articles of interest all fail to distract me on this occasion though.

A more realistic 'Circle of Learning' with disturbance

Foster, D. (2011) 'How to minimize the impact of 5 common distractions', blog entry posted 22 July 2011. Available from http://gigaom.com/collaboration/how-to-minimize-the-impact-of-5-common-distractions/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+webworkerdaily+%28GigaOM%3A+Collaboration%29 (Accessed 23 July 2011)

Activity 3d -The Future of Technology

Choose an alternative paper, one that talks about the future of technologies or sets out directives on strategy and policy with respect to technology.

Well I have to say I am a bit tired at the moment and thought I would rebel here a little I found a piece of future technology that I thought I would share with you before I search for something more serious I am sure Janet will forgive me.



I will be back to finish this off with a paper of relevance soon honest....

Activity 4 I am not so sure about this.

Bringing mobile phones into the classroom, now why would I do that?
It is difficult enough getting my students to pay attention as it is, if I make the mobile part of the learning just what do I expect to happen.

I shared my concerns with a small group of 19-20 year old male students to try to see if they were on board with my ideas. I posed questions like, if your phone was allowed on the desk during lessons what would you do with it? Do you know what a web 2.0 app is? Would you make notes on you phone? What would be the most useful app you would use?

My findings told me quite clearly that these students are not ready for this yet.

Here is a taste of some of my findings. The most used tool would be facebook not twitter none of the group actually used twitter and when I explained it they said "well we can do that on facebook", good point I suppose. Notes? we can just write it on the precis in front of us why would I want notes on my phone, less room for photos. Only one student gave a glimmer of hope, when he said "I could google something if I needed more detail" but then he ruined it by saying "I might be able to find an awkward question for you to answer" , give me strength. As for web 2.0 not a clue, they just use the phone to quote one student.

21stcenturyfluency.com

This left me in no doubt that if I introduced a activity that utilised a mobile phone it would be nothing more than a distraction at the moment. They are just not ready for posting live questions or blogging their ideas for a project. It also identified another problem not all students had a smartphone one hated technology and only used his phone to make calls and avoids using a computer as much as he can. Surprisingly in this small group (12) he was the most attentive and asked the most questions, he was in tune with the lesson material, I know for a fact that some student where there in presence only and no doubt were thinking how can I get a message on facebook without the old guy down the front seeing them.

Little do they know about the power of the phone in their pocket and the apps they are missing out on, but for now I am happy to keep it that way, especially with this current trend of students.  

Reflection on TMA02

Week 16 already H800 is flying along, with TMA02 nicely tucked out of the way it may be an ideal opportunity to reflect on my approach.

The TMA question was pretty straight forward, well that was until I started researching it and starting to form 1000 words per activity so it was worth a quick recap and yet another read of the question which in summary was:-

For each activity, explain to your tutor:
what it enables you to understand about:
     choices that practitioners make about ways of applying technologies for their learners

and/or

    choices that learners make about their own learning, in terms of which technologies they use, why and how.

I approached this task by picking my three activities based on popularity and my own interest and ended up looking at:

• Blogging
• Visual representation of design
• The learner experience

My approach was to extract a number of forum messages that made relevant points, produce a mind map of my initial ideas, determine what key points I wanted to make and finally find some readings from the block which generally supported my ideas or added a different viewpoint.

Pretty straight forward then, if only.

All I can say is it took hours and having read my final version I am still not sure if I am answering the question. It’s a strange feeling you breathe a sigh of relief when you reach the word limit, read it back to yourself and realize that there is so much more that could be written.

However it was made a lot easier by the cohort of H800 students in my group this year, plenty of forum activity which made the finding of ideas and evidence straight forward so a big thank-you from me here.

Technology in the classroom, 'An example'. Part 3

So why am I the only one using these panels then?

Well this is  not strictly true but since the implementation of panels across many classrooms in the college, why do I see them in use so little? In fact in some classrooms the position of the panel completely contradicts its use.

Here the panel is correctly positioned enabling the teacher to face the class the image is projected behind for all to see. But I have seen panels tucked away in the corner being used as mere computer screens facing away from students and in fact encouraging the teacher to talk whilst looking away from the students. So what barriers have been put up here by my colleagues

Training has been provided, tools and resources made available to prepare at their desks and a number of videos to help accelerate the learning yet still they are not used?

Reasons I hear for this range from:

• I don't get on with them
• I can't be bothered with this new technology stuff 
• Whats wrong with my board work
• I haven't got time for this

The list goes on. To say I am disappointed is an understatement, as far as I see it a small investment in time has reaped rewards in my classroom. 

• The ability to print board notes and save several pages of board work to review at the end of the lesson or later on in the course.
• Being able to prepare flipcharts in advance in little time at all.
• Review lessons at a later date or indeed use an old flip chart as preparation for a new lesson.
• Its actual fun too.
• The list goes on

Talking to students, I am often asked why other lecturers don't use these facilities, what can I say? They are laggards who can't be bothered to spend a little time learning, they don't need to their board work is great, or make some other lame excuse. Well needless to say I remain professional but to be honest they are missing out as far as I am concerned  missing a good opportunity to improve the learning experience for the students.

Technology in the classroom, 'An example'. Part 2

I thought I would follow up my previous post with some more detail on the panels. Some time ago I was asked to share my experience of using the panels with my colleagues and I created a number of short video demonstrations to help them get started so I thought I would experiment with uploading them to youtube and embedding them into my blog. This means that the quality is reduced but the size is also reduced. The videos aren't brilliant I basically put them together over a weekend, but it should give an idea of how the panels can be used.

The first video is just sets the scene and gives some quick examples.



The second demonstrates the use of the flipchart facility.



Additional videos
Flipchart Demonstration 2
Active desktop demonstration
Promethean and Powerpoint used together

Technology in the classroom, 'An example'.

I would like to discuss the use of Promethean panels employed in a number of classrooms at my place of work. Many years ago I was the first lecturer to purchase a panel and now due to my efforts these panels are now widespread however a number of fellow educators don't seem to use them why I cannot understand.

Panel at the front of the classroom

They work in a similar way to interactive whiteboards but you sit facing your class and as you write it is projected behind you more details can be found on the Promethean website.

What do you think is the likely impact of this technology on the students’ perceptions of the quality of their modules, their approaches to studying and their academic performance?

From my experience of using this tool most students enjoy the enrichment offered, powerpoint presentations come to life a number of whiteboards can be completed and saved for future reference giving a record of the lesson contents. Students still like to make notes of their own but they are more likely to listen if they realise they don't have to make notes. The lessons have a more professional feel to them.

What do you think is the likely impact of this technology on the teachers’ perceptions of their teaching context and their approaches to teaching?

I am more confident facing my audience and watching them rather than facing away from them writing on a board. The fact that lesson contents can be saved enable a truer reflection after the event and a change to go back over past lessons at a later date. It is also possible to prepare whiteboards prior to the lesson helping with those rather difficult derivations or mathematical manipulations that sometimes present a challenge in front of students. So I guess it makes me feel more confident and enables a more structured lesson to be prepared.

Do you think this technology embodies particular assumptions about the nature of teaching and learning in higher education?

Well it assumes a face to face didactic classroom session, but it also offers student interaction most students jump at the opportunity to play with my toys. I wouldn't go so far as to say it offers student centred learning but I have used it for group work activities in a similar way to presenting a group of students with a flipchart to complete.

Are these assumptions likely to promote more positive perceptions, more desirable approaches to studying and better performance on the part of the students?

Yes students like to see lessons that are polished and effective and I believe this tool helps to make this so and printing off copies of the flipcharts instantly is a useful aid to the students, most appreciate any extra help that is available. The lecturer faces the students and is able to quickly pick up on body language and visual signs of confusion. My personal experience has lead me to feel that students are more attentive and tuned into the lesson as a result of this particular tool.

Price hits me with a 'Quasimodo' moment, 'Esmaralda she loves me'

Here I am reading yet another paper, and up pops 'quasi-experimental design' I won't write what popped into my head but a vision of  Esmeralda being taught by Quasimodo didn't help. What an earth is a quasi-experiment. This has been the case so many times this year, with many new terms and definitions and in some cases the use of extravagant  words which just complicate matters. What happened to the desire to speak/write good old plain English. So off I go to find what this means before I read what Price et al (2007) has to say about face to face versus online tutoring.


I find refreshing thoughts on Quasi experimental design care of the web centre for social research methods 'quasi-experimental design is one that looks a bit like an experimental design but lacks the key ingredient -- random assignment'.  There, that clears that up, lol.

Back to Price et al and the topics for discussion on H800.


Do you agree with Price et al. that online tuition is a pastoral activity and not a purely academic activity?
Yes  I can relate to this as I have first hand experience having nurtured hundreds of students through distance learning courses over the years. As I write I am planning a tutorial for tomorrow and I have just replied to a students cry for help via email, this will be followed up with a supporting phone call early next week and perhaps a message for all in the conference to help support others that will be feeling the same way at the moment. It happens every year around this time suddenly the workload is visable for the summer months and panic sets in. Some students want a cuddle and a bit of reasurrance that they are on track and can do this. Others are struggling and show signs of failure, part of me wants to say, 'your being unrealistic and haven't got the time or writing skills to complete this course', but of course I can't say that I have to be supportive and try and actively encourage their development which of course I do.


So yes this is a pastoral activity and only one example. Another example that further supports the suggestion is  that of feedback required by the OU because students in some cases never see you there is a requirement to provide copious amounts of feedback, don't get me wrong its required and a recent TMA of my own was returned with a great deal of useful supportive and accurate feedback (Thanks Janet) so it does have its place. But in a face to face environment feedback can be offered verbally and it's a two way thing, it's very rare that a student challenges or comes back to me to follow up their feedback in the same way as they would in a face to face environment.


Do you agree that the absence of what the authors call ‘paralinguistic cues’ in an online environment can limit the effectiveness of online tuition?


Again Price at el (2007) has this spot on nonverbal elements, such as intonation, body posture, gestures, and facial expression, that modify the meaning of verbal communication cannot be  seen during an online meeting. However, this is one area that I believe is improving all the time. One day I believe elluminate or an equivalent online tutorial tool will be as good as face to face. How? Because I believe the technology will be good enough. Being able to see and hear all members of the group at the same time on one screen will one day be possible. The latest game consoles are introducing the ability to detect hand movements so this is another hurdle that will be overcome. Move the online tutorial into 2nd Life and we have a 3d environment. Again the technology and bandwidth  are not good enough yet but all the signs are there that mean eventually the online experience could be as good as the face to face. Am I over optimistic, naive or in gaga land here,  if I said to you 50 years ago that I have a sat nav system that will guide me from A to B avoiding all the road works and accidents and predict my arrival time accurately, you would have thought I was mad. Well I now have one.


Price, L., Richardson, J.T.E. and Jelfs, A. (2007) ‘Face-to-face versus online tutoring support in distance education’, Studies in Higher Education, vol.32, pp.1–20; also available online at http://libezproxy.open.ac.uk/ login?url=http://dx.doi.org/ 10.1080/ 03075070601004366 (last accessed 20 December 2010).

Questionnaires, questionnaires and more questionnaires.

Having read Richardson (2005) I found I could relate to a lot of what he has to say but I am pleased his research is not solely based on questionnaires, he actually took the time to interview a large number of students as well.

My experience of some of these questionnaires presented to students is not good and I would not like to think that course content and indeed teacher performance is measured or based on comments and scores from questionnaires. Having watched a number of students race through the online forms paying very little attention to the questions, I am sorry but unless the students take care and time to complete properly they are not worth doing.

Back to the findings and a couple of questions to ponder over this week.

Do the concepts, theories and evidence described in my paper fit your own experience as a learner?

They most certainly do I can particularly identify and relate to the ‘Deep approach’ v ‘Surface approach’ both in my learning style and that of my students. I find myself switching between the two methods depending on time in fact I think it is fair to say that many students fluctuate between the styles depending on the teaching methods.  Does learning just happen though? Yes it is possible if many exercises or group work activities are interesting enough to absorb the student, I have sat back and watched the activity unfold and I am confident that in some instances the students don’t actually realise what they are learning but they are engrossed and come out of the activity with the key learning points. It’s great to see and satisfying when I occasionally get this right.

Which of Säljö’s five conceptions of learning best fits your own definition?

An interesting question and I am torn between 1 and 3, ‘Learning as the increase of knowledge’ and learning as the ‘acquisition of facts or procedures’. If I had to pick one it would be the first. However I am a strong believer in the application of real learning and when you truly understand something I believe you are able to take its meaning to a new level. Therefore ‘Learning is the abstraction of meaning’, and certainly in HE this is more likely to be possible whereas the less seasoned student may well see learning as a case of memorising something.  If you think I am sitting on the fence here a bit I am, it’s not an easy question to answer.

Well I am off to see what my fellow students thought about this.  

Richardson, J.T.E. (2005) ‘Students’ approaches to learning and teachers’ approaches to teaching in higher education’, Educational Psychology, vol.25, pp.673–80; also available online at http://libezproxy.open.ac.uk/login?url=http://search.ebscohost.com.libezproxy.open.ac.uk/login.aspx?direct=true&db=a9h&AN=18786906&site=ehost-live&scope=site

A6: Mapping digital media to four facets of learning

One of the main criticisms leveled at the use of many tools in an educational context is that it is technology-driven; i.e. that the focus is often on the tool. Arguably, the focus should be on thinking about the pedagogy and what the student is supposed to achieve as a result of undertaking the activity,and only then mapping the activity to particular tools.

The following example relates to a piece of groupwork on course T215.

Group activity to design a prototype web site on a given subject in this case a Photography Club.

The aim is for the   group (7 Students) to discuss the contents, share the workload and set targets for the completion of the site

Tools and a description of their use in a particular context	Types of learning
	Thinking and reflection	Experience and activity	Conversation and interaction	Evidence and demonstration
Discussion forums used as to plan tasks and discuss content			ü
Wikis used to formalise the process and set milestones and list the shared responsibilities		ü	ü	ü
Video clips used as demonstration to aid the task of using Wordpress.		ü
Elluminate or Skype used for online discsussions and meetings.		ü	ü
Blogs used as personal reflection and record of activity.	ü
Wordpress used to develop the site content		ü		ü

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.

Week 4 already 'Just what is learning'?

H800 is flying along.
Just what is learning?

Write out your own definition of ‘learning’.

This should be your first thoughts, i.e. how you might respond without any research if asked: ‘What is learning?’ Take some time doing this and consider what wider implications your definition might have.

Well here goes

Learning is being able to do something new as a result of reading something, listening to someone/thing or by experimenting (trial and error). I think that just about covers it.

Mmm  now I am off to find out how close I am to the real thing.

Habits and Habitats: Introducing the IDEA

I want a wall, where can I fit one in my classroom. Just been sidetracked by a tweet and took time out to view this. It goes on a bit but you'll get the idea fairly quickly. A flexible learning space and a wall for learners to share ideas. Sounds great !!
Want to learn more than
http://www.ryanbretag.com/blog/?p=2024

I'm Back

Well after a hard earned rest I have today enrolled in H800 for the new year to continue my studies. Slightly hesitant due to the workload but looking forward to getting stuck in. A busy year has seen me pass both H807 and H808 so I am hoping this will give me a lift up with this course.