Well here is another blog,

just returned from Hull University’s Open Day as my son is interested in studying Accountancy there. Very interesting to see how they deliver their curriculum, many exams, 6 written reports and a fair bit of on-line blackboard work. They were very clear that the main modules were in lectures of around 400. However very interesting and flexible course ie many different routes and options. They did not seem to have the number of 15point modules that we have, in fact they were rather large and spread over the 2 semesters, makes you wonder about our 7 week block system that we have. Are we doing the right thing in teaching and assessing a very technical subject over such a short period of time ?

A big problem is turning around marking and giving feedback in such a short time, especially when we have 270 students on 2 * 7 week blocks. I know Simon has been investigating a JISC project on Audio feedback, if this helps give quicker and more comprehensive feedback then tthis will be a great help. anothe issue is the stress on staff who have to work quickly to get results to the office at the end of each block. I have spoken to a few people with carpal tunnel problems, RSI etc, again audio would help here. I think it would also enhance the material, although all my screen casts contain audio, perhaps a simple audio only explanation of principles and technical detials would help. Hwever the subject id 3D Animation which is a very visual subject.

I will find some theory to support these ideas.

Steve

5.4.08

Well,

here we go again, had a great week away skiing, thrown myself down at least 2 mountains, every muscle in my body aching, had a great time !!

I had some excellent comments from Christina on how I can analyse my reflections to take my thinking further. Here are some areas that Christina suggests that I can analyse :

1. The Camtasia tours you have created that students don’t seem to be engaging with is a good example of the affordances of narrated screencasts that aren’t being realised-why?
2. Why and where do you expect audio to improve your module?
3. How has the WP debate affected you in your thinking around the quality assurance activities currently carried out at your uni or about the poor submission rate?
4. The assignment you report that hasn’t been submitted-might it be worth describing and reviewing it’s relevance? 

Is it only technologists that have to number every thing ? Still can deal with these one at a time.

1.  I found this article on http://www.citejournal.org/vol7/iss3/editorial/article1.cfm

There are today a number of educational video sites modeled on commercial or public Web 2.0 technologies such as YouTube. These sites often archive (with easy search capabilities) video clips of educators talking – essentially employing technology as a conduit for the transmission of information. There is undeniable value in capturing and sharing the world’s most creative teachers’ discussions of their favorite subjects. However, we argue that limiting the use of digital video to the mere transmission of classroom lectures does not take full advantage of the capabilities of the medium. 

In contrast, we believe that digital video technologies offer unique opportunities (through interactivity and user-generated content) to rethink the instructional paradigm particularly to match the needs of the subject to be taught. The technology now makes it possible to capture computer displays to create screencasts, combine images with student narration for digital storytelling, and construct digital animations such as Flash movies, among other possibilities. As a result of emergent technological advances and concomitant expansion of the affordances of the medium, the definition of digital video and digital movies is broader than in the past. As we shall see, the best uses of digital video can vary dramatically from one content area to another.

The article suggest the following relationships :

 Another article which supports the benefits of screencasting compared to other technologies such as narrated PowerPoints and Video Conferencing :

so where am I going wrong , Christina suggested affordance?

 ”An affordance is a quality of an object, or an environment, that allows an individual to perform an action.” http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Affordance

The figure lists ten common pedagogical affordances that a teacher might want to promote – the opportunity to provide students with an authentic experience, getting students to critically reflect, enabling them to communicate or collaborate with others, etc. Then the idea is that as part of the design process you decide to what extent particular tools or tasks promote these pedagogical affordances and use this as a basis for tool and task selection in the creation of a learning activity.http://e4innovation.com/?tag=affordances

 Analysis

• Authenticity- is this real world ie simulated experience as being apprenticed to an expert  ?
• Interaction- can the student interact and query the screen cast ?
• Collaboration- can the student collaborate with others either on-line or within a class to aid their learning.

• Lecture- Inspiration, good examples, talk them through the principles and techniques.
• Screencast led tutorials

• Fewer lectures, howver keep the inspiration and principles
• Work collaboratively on given apprentice pieces.
• Fewer screen casts, there are too many for every eventuality and it must have become confusing.
• Redesign Vista to include more staged progression ie degrees of difficulty as we go through the module.
• Take more account of different learning styles ie some students prefere more audio or text based content rather than visual media, some like to work on thier own, others in groups.

Wow,

interesting how coincidences happen !! I have recently had a bit of a hard time from management on why my module ( along with many other modules) have high non submission rates, currently 25% for a cohort of 270 students. Even the external examiner made the comment that the majority of non submissions were due to repeating students. I had these terrible statistics hurled at me as if I was a rogue lecturer, one member of staff commented that I should have redesigned the assignment so that they did not run away. However technology is truly wonderful and I have religiously kept on-line registers and can monitor engagement via Vista. I can clearly see that they have not even seen the assignment never mind read it !! So whats going on ?

I know that I have been asked by students to give them more conventional seminars during laboratory time in the PC labs instead of point them to the multitude of learning objects I have created using Camtasia ( I sweated blood over those !!). I spent a great deal of time putting together the WebCT Vista VLE with all the information required in a structured format with Learning objects to support my lectures, yet all they want is someone to talk to !! ie Synchronous communication.

I know that some students don’t attend because they have work commitments and because they have so much information on Vista, do these able students need to come in ? Why can’t they stop at home and use their own personal machine and come in if they need help ?

 I know that managemnt now review modules as well as courses, they have already axed a number of poorly performing awards, it looks like the poorly performing modules are next. I just wish they would look at the story behind the statistics. I know our University is very aware of any poor performance and makes sure we maintain standards. We have had a number of QAA reviews that have been very favourable so we must be doing something right. I just hope that the changing face of HE takes note of widening access and the pressure on staff to perform.

 The comments in last weeks Telegraph made thoughtful reading.

 Uk HE retention no better than 2002 even though £1billion had been pumped into supporting students from poorer backgrounds.

So can technology reach out and help these students who don’t want to come in and submit ? I am not sure, its all about committment, maybe the assessment design could be on-line for the first week ie a skills audit and use this as a basis for generating an initial mark to determine which students are engaging and which ones are not. Immediate action could then be taken to chase up and help these students.

I have enjoyed our on-line seminars on WP and there is much useful discussion that can point to the right direction.

Steve

10.3.08

I don’t know what’s happened to the month but its flown by. Rather late creating this blog, but now I have an handle on it I hope I can write something thats worthy. The moral is don’t go away at critical times such as the start of semster B at Leeds Met and start of SBOSE part 2, I like Simon promised no excuses so here goes.

 What I have got from the course so far ?

 1. That it is great to talk to other colleagues and students about something which binds us together … education. We all came into the business from different directions and for many different reasons, its great to share those during the discussions.

2. I have generally enjoyed the theory ie I seem to have blasted through the last 25 years of teaching after throwing away my PGCE notes and adapting to my own style of teaching ( don’t laugh colleagues !), don’t forget that we are all different characters and have our own way of delivering to the many different styles of learner. I have an APD in Teaching in HE, Fellow of the HE academy and numerous other courses that have dealt with the theoretical aspects of  Assessment and Learning and Teaching, it used to be TLA when I first started !! However I have enjoyed sharing those thoughts and had the occasional light bulb moment when I thought, that theory fits our practice, or we have been doing that for years but never thought of a fancy name for it before. Some of the papers were inspirational, others made you think, whats the point of this paper ie beyond my limits of comprehension, although that is probably my background.

3. I loved the great examples you showed us on the different tools and techniques that are available for WebCT Vista, I used some of your ideas when I produced my individual project for part 1 ie :-

Blocked progressive tasks and assessment, a variety of different mediums, although I only had audio in Youtube and the Web Trailers, not audio such as your podcasts, will try though. I have encouraged both my level 2 and 3 to keep Wikis for the management and administration of their projects. Also Chat rooms to encourage on-line communities ie they don’t always meet up as teams, most of them like to run up enormous mobile phone bills ie we cannot make them become an on-line community.

4. Most of all its good to hear what you as tutors have related ie its not easy to be an on-line tutor ie the 3 rules, be there, be there, be there. Also as much as we admire and value group work, it is very hard to manage and can be very demanding, especially when things don’t work out between students. I know that you are just as busy as us and have the same work specific problems.

The implications for me is to become more hopeful about the value of e-learning ie its not just a way of organising learning for the masses but can be a unique learning environment for the different types of learner as outlined in your student scenarous. Parloff and Pratt give some good guidelines, some stating the obvious, others a little utopian ie that will never happen in the real world ie videoconferencing for all ( or will it ?). For me I hope that I can help make my work more interesting and enjoyable and if we can reach out to students who would never otherwise enjoy Higher Education, then that is a good thing.

 Steve 27,2.08

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