Further thoughts on Articulate 360

I’ve now had a play around with a few of the new 360 apps and wanted to share my thoughts here…

Rise is a lovely simple course builder, which reminds me a little of Google Classroom. This would be a great way for teachers to give homework in the flipped learning model. However it is a little too simple for what I do.

There were a few changes to the Storyline menu, but the two main things I could see were the addition of many more characters and also a nice ‘dial’ feature which works in a similar way to the sliders. Sadly my longed-for table function was not there 😦

 

 

 

Pokemon Go!

 

I don’t usually bother with games on my phone but since the release of Pokemon Go last month I have become addicted, as has a huge proportion of the nation. Why is this?

It is an excellent example of Augmented Reality and geo-location based game play. There is always something new to look for and regular updates stop users from tiring with the current format.

The success of this game really shows how imagination and creativity can capture the spirit of young and old alike. As an e-learning designer, I hope to use this example of how gamification can be used to engage students and could be recreated in many educational situations. I’m hoping to get a bit of spare time between work projects to explore this idea further and show how gamification can be effective even at a high level of study.

Future Learn

Today I have started my first ever MOOC and it has reminded me about the need to keep up a regular journal. I am a big fan of Twitter for its brevity and immediacy, however these  is also a need for lengthier posts so I shall try to keep this up to date from now on.

The Future Learn course is about Blended Learning and I’m hoping to pick up lots of advice and enthusiasm from other educators along the way. There’s always new technologies to add to your e-learning toolbox and seeing them in action is the best way to learn about them.

Engaging the unengaged

It has been far too long since I last posted but I have been inspired today by attending the Learnpod Unconference again (see last year).

Of course, many things were discussed today, primarily to do with social media but I ended up sort of hosting a workshop about “Engaging the Technophobes”.

This had come up in a discussion on a JISC facebook group and so it was that a fair few people came along to see what good ideas people may have. So often at technology conferences I find that they are preaching to the converted, so I wanted to know about ways to pass on our knowledge and enthusiasm of technology to the technophobes in our institutions. Unfortunately, so did most of the other people in the room as it was very hard to get any good case studies out of people!

However I did make some notes of the positive ideas that people had and here they are…

• Engage older people by encouraging them to reminisce, for example using street view to look up old homes or YouTube to watch classic goals.
• Take the risk element out of trying something new by offering a digital alternative alongside an analogue one – let the user try both to recognise the benefits, Eg. light and portable voice recorder rather than bulky old tape recorder
• Builds trust between technical staff and academic staff
• Student led approach, use digital mentors
• Have enough humility to accept change and recognise that the old way of doing things may not be the best
• Show people a real benefit of using a new technology over an old one, use case studies and share best practice
• Don’t use jargon
• On the job training – set projects with acheivale goals for time stretched staff
• Teaching square peer observation
• Make learning fun
• Promote available technologies at institutions with posters and big screen videos – market them to reinforce ideas
• Provide informal drop in sessions such as breakfast/lunch clubs
• Using technology when it’s best to do so, not just for technologies sake
• Include digital literacies in CPD – lifelong learning is important for all educators
• Let users choose what technologies suit them – desire lines rather than forced path
• Allow room to practice build confidence without fear of ‘failing’ or being judged

Writing down all those notes has made me realise there is a lot to take on board but it is certainly something that I will aim to do in my workplace and in my role.

Happy New (Academic) Year!

I’ve been busy this summer getting ready for a new term at college, but I have also embarked on a project to improve digital literacy amongst ESOL staff and students.

Hopefully I will have lots of exciting things to blog about as that gets under way, but in the meantime, here is a fascinating talk from Sir Ken Robinson, cleverly animated by The RSA about Changing Education Paradigms.

Infographics

I’ve just read this article on mashable about creating infographics (see image below to explain this further)

I’ve been seeing them more and more on social media networks recently and it got me thinking about how to use them in education.

In the college I work at, each classroom is adorned with collage posters that students have made on any given topic. Instead of the old paper based group project, perhaps tutors could get their students to collaborate on a digital poster instead. Blended learning in action!

On a basic level, something like popplet could be used and higher level students could be encouraged to create an infographic from scratch in powerpoint or Photoshop. Not only is it improving their ICT skills but also their research skills as the information displayed needs to be backed up with authoritative statistics.

Social Mediating

Last week I attended the LearnPod Unconference at Doncaster College. For those who’ve not heard of the Unconference format, it allows like-minded people to offer up ideas for discussion rather than the usual structured formal conference format.

Of course all things ed’ tech’ were discussed that day and mainly people were preaching to the converted as all attendees were educators already interested in technology. It’s our job to pass on the information that we gained from that day. A great deal can be found here or by searching for #learnpod12 on twitter.

What struck me the most is how Social Media can be used in education for marketing, communication and collaborative work. Currently, where I work, most social networks are either completely or partially blocked on our web servers. In contrast, our hosts Doncaster College has opened them all up and it seems to be an effective tool for them. In fact their Webmaster advised us to

“be a social media battering ram!”

I’m of the opinion that if you can’t beat ’em, join ’em. Most students access social networks on their smartphones, it doesn’t matter that they can’t access them on the college PCs. So, why not engage students on a medium that they know and understand? Facebook groups can be a great way to keep track of students and pass information to them. Twitter hashtags can be used to get feedback on a class discussion. Hey, even Google+ could be useful if we’re just given a chance to play with it and see what it can do!

Austerity Applications

Yes I know there are tons of free iPad apps for education but that doesn’t get you away from the fact that iPads themselves are still very expensive with the newest model starting at £399. In an age where there is huge funding cuts in the public sector many schools and colleges can not justify spending such money.

There are a few cheaper Android tablets to choose from but they’re still costly and I am yet to find as many great educational apps for those as you can find in the iTunes App store.

So then, what we should be doing is looking at what technology we already have and how to use it well. Most, if not all, educational institutions in the UK have at least one interactive whiteboard available. Primary schools use these to great effect but I have worked in colleges and universities where they have been used only to advance powerpoint slides.

I have used Smart Notebooks in the past, but in my new job Promethean ActivInspire is the preferred IWB software, and I can see why. It works on all brands of IWB and there is so much you can do with it. I am only just beginning to learn about all of it’s features but Promethean Planet has a huge wealth of information and free resources to help me out.

As much as I love new tech, I’m looking forward to utilising the exisiting equipment where I work and encouraging others to do so too.

E-learning in Higher Education

(Academic Blog Post)

Further to my podcast discussing the impact of the Internet and Web 2.0 on Higher Education (HE) institutions, I would like to look at the use of e-learning in HE.

Turban et al (2010, p.347) define Electronic learning or e-Learning as “the online delivery of information for purposes of education, training or knowledge management”. It has been used for many years in Higher Education, particularly in distance learning. Initially information was distributed on CD-ROMs and consequently DVDs. With the internet now faster and more accessible than ever, e-learning has a whole new platform and importance in HE. A great example is how encyclopaedias were condensed and digitised to fit onto a CD-ROM, such as Microsoft Encarta, and have now developed into an ever-growing websites such as Wikipedia. Web 2.0 has given educators the opportunity to utilise the internet to engage with their students through interactive course content.

One of the benefits of e-learning is to save educators time and money by giving students access to online course material rather than having to provide it in person. Open Educational Resources (OER) allow tutors to download and use free learning and teaching materials, which is obviously a lot cheaper than buying then or spending hours making their own (OER Commons, n.d. ; Pollini et al 2011).

Blended learning involves imbedding ICT into any given subject to enhance rather than replace face-to-face teaching(Garrison & Vaughan, 2008). For example, creating a quiz about a topic studied to assess student’s knowledge of that subject area. Multimedia such as video clips and audio podcasts can be incorporated effectively into course content. Using a variety of teaching methods should cover the three main learning styles of visual, audio and kinaesthetic to ensure that all learners can engage with the curriculum. JISC (n.d.) researches digital technologies for education and encourages educators to implement e-learning into their curriculum.

As well as tutors providing online material for their students, students can do the same. E-portfolios are a good way for students to update their own progress online for a tutor to view. As well as working as a journal, it can also be used for formative assessment. It can replace the need for paper-based journals which are so often forgotten about. Instead students can quickly post a note about their thoughts on a subject or link to articles or journals they may have found. Tutors can then give immediate feedback to the student rather than waiting on a summative assignment.

HE institutions benefit from using a bespoke Virtual Learning Environment (VLE) to house all these e-learning materials. Anderson (2007) recognises that it gives structure and authenticity to the content, which is lacking in wider social media networks such as Facebook. Forums and Wiki’s can be administered by academics to prevent misuse and work can be monitored to ensure academic guidelines are being followed.

It is important that e-learning is used in a structured manner and Napier University has developed a framework “to assist staff to meaningfully incorporate technology into the learning and teaching approach of their module” (Edinburgh Napier University, n.d.). They give clear guidelines to for educators to enhance, extend and empower their teaching with technology.

In conclusion, using a variety of e-learning materials can enhance teaching and benefits both educators and learners alike. Utilising e-learning tools in a structured manner makes technology purposeful and accessible, thus improving the learning experience for all.

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References

Anderson, P.( 2007) What is Web 2.0? Ideas, technologies and implications for education.  JISC Technology and Standards Watch, Feb,  pp.1 – 64

Edinburgh Napier University (n.d.) University benchmark for the use of technology in modules. [Internet] Available at: <http://staff.napier.ac.uk/services/academicdevelopment/TechBenchmark/Pages/home.aspx>
[Accessed 2 Dec 2012]

Garrison, D. R. & Vaughan, N. D. (2008) Blended Learning in higher Education. San Francisco,  Wiley.

JISC (n.d.) e-Learning programme. [Internet]
Available at: <http://www.jisc.ac.uk/whatwedo/programmes/elearning.aspx>
[Accessed 2 Dec 2012]

OER Commons (n.d.) What are Open Educational Resources (OER)? [Internet]
Available at:< http://www.oercommons.org/about#what-are-open-educational-resources-oer>
[Accessed 20 Nov 2011]

Pollini, A., Giusti, L. & Napoletano, L.  (2011) Emerging Informal Learning 2.0 Practices: a preliminary exploration. CHItaly Proceedings of the 9th ACM SIGCHI Italian Chapter International Conference on Computer-Human Interaction: Facing Complexity, pp 71-75

Turban, E., King, D., Lee. J, Liang, T-P. & Turban, D. (2010) Electronic Commerce 2010: A managerial perspective. Sixth ed. New Jersey,  Pearson.

Wimba Create

Wimba is another off-shoot of Blackboard Collaborate and has various tools for creating e-learning materials. Wimba Create (formerly Course Genie) is particularly useful for turning standard word documents into simple web pages. This is most used for converting old course content into pages viewable in module areas on VLEs.

To view an official demo you have to be registered to wimba.com, however there are lots of tutorials online. This one gives a quick overview of the basics:

I have used it myself and it is fairly simple once you get into the swing of it by applying styles to each section of the module, although this can be time consuming. With the right extensions to Microsoft Word it can work smoothly, however it can be awkward for people using older versions of the software.