Planning for the Research Methods Module

I met with George Georgiou yesterday to plan for his research methods module for next semester.

The module runs over the Autumn semester. The main challenge is that the class size is quite large and George, who is the the module convener would like to make the class much more fun and lively for the students as well as ensure they learn the most from the different lecture sessions and get them engaged as much as possible.

George is keen to use the Audience Response Systems. These were used by Barbara Kingsley who ran the module last year to run a revision session. They proved extremely useful and popular and students gained a lot from it. Information on Barbara's use of the ARS systems can be found in the classroom technologies wiki site (this is a member only area at present.) George is planning to use them twice next semester. At the middle, to run a revision class and at the end of term for another revision session.

I also discussed the possibility of using the flip cameras with students. I really like the idea of student/user generated content. I suggested that since students would be working in groups throughout the term that we could get them to summarise each lecture and share this with other students online via StudyZone. Each week a different group would be responsible for generating content. The videos would then be shared via the discussion tool allowing other students to share their comments and feedback as well. Students will receive a bonus grade towards their final mark for their videos. A few things that I need to look into before this is rolled out:

• Can we get students to upload to google videos and then create a link to the videos in StudyZone (look at data protection issues)
• Create some guidelines for students
• Book flip cameras ( is one enough?)

I'm quite excited about this and I really hope that students engage with it. Hopefully the development of these videos will allow students to develop their

• Group working skills
• Presentation skills
• Learn to revise and reflect on what they have learnt
• Share their thoughts and ideas with others

Mahara 09 Conference

I’ve been debating as to whether I should put the content of this posting here. This blogspot was created specifically for the Classroom Technologies Project but I think for now, I will keep all the eLearning posts in one place and if it becomes too much move my postings around.

What is an eportfolio? Click on the link for some more information.

Mahara? Well Mahara is an open source eportfolio tool that integrates with Moodle which is the new VLE we are looking at implementing. Once we have moved to Moodle it will be bye bye to the WebCT portfolio tool which I must admit is not the best of eportfolio tool out there.

The Mahara 09 conference was an opportunity to meet professionals from both FE and HE institutions and see how they have been implementing eportfolios and also find out more about Mahara and eporfolios in general. The session started with a presentation from Lisa Gray. She highlighted the various reasons for using them, employability, PDP requirement, assessment etc. One statement she made that got me thinking was when she said that it had the potential to transform the process of learning. I am hoping that some comments from those reading this blog will open up a discussion on this. The process of reflection is very useful to me though doing it is another story. I learn best when I reflect and get the opportunity to gather my thoughts. I think a structured/guided approach to reflecting would help any learner immensely. Activities that keep the learner engaged and interested and are meaningful would be a start and in fact the learner might not even know they are reflecting. Being able to keep evidence of my professional development in 1 place i think is so useful and no my USB stick would not suffice.....

Another statement made by Lisa during her presentation which got me thinking was when she was highlighting the various definitions of what an eportfolio is. The jury is definitely still out on this “The problem is that portfolio is a learning approach and not a technology." This is a statement taken from a publication by Trent Batson and the full document can be found here . We have so many different eportfolio systems out there, all to an extent providing the same tools. Have we been paying too much attention to the tool rather than the process? Getting all excited about the different eportfolio tools out there but not giving any guidance on how to effectively build, develop and transform the learning process? The whole process of what to present, how to reflect, how to engage and do something meaningful with the portfolio is what matters. Yes?????

Case studies on how eportfolios have been used can be found via the Jisc Info kit http://www.jiscinfonet.ac.uk/case-studies/e-portfolios

Other than Lisa’s session I attended a couple of other workshops that were quite useful. I wont go into all the details they raised a few questions

Things to think about when implementing an eportfolio?

• Well make sure that you embed it into the curriculum to make it meaningful and purposeful. Don’t just tell students here is your eportfolio and I want this and this in it by the end of term.
• Think about what benefits there will be for the whole group.
• Provide some structure. The whole process of reflection is very hard.
• How about creating an eportfolio yourself ( I’m going to start on mine :-))

A presentation was done on Mahara and inter-operatability. Leap2A was a used to refer to a standard being developed that would allow users of different eportfolio systems to zip their files and move them to a different platform if need be. More information on this can be found here

A few things about Mahara that I need to look further into:

• creating templates (Can any user create a template and how is this shared?)
• Different user levels
• Portability and interoperability
• Enrolment on Mahara and Moodle - single sign on?
• What about a different name for the eportfolio rather than eportfolio. Call it something that makes it personal to the student???
  

The Classroom Technologies Project- Introductory meeting

Yippee... the meeting seems to have gone well!!!! As always, I was a nervous wreck but I think attendees found the session quite useful. (feedback would be much appreciated)

We started off at 12:30pm with lunch which was quite important in getting us all started.

Phil Cheeseman then kicked off the main business of the day with an introduction to what the project was about and this was followed by a presentation about the CAMEL Approach and why we chose to use this methodology to research and develop the toolkit that we aim to make available to all staff.

Tessa Willy then facilitated a discussion that allowed staff to get to know one another and find out about technologies staff have used and also allow staff to put forward ideas on what technologies they would like to use. Staff shared a range of ideas which were very useful from using social bookmarking tools, Audience Response systems, to creating online diaries and social spaces.

The session then moved onto a discussion about barriers that are experienced by many users when tying to use various technologies. Things like hardware problems, too much technology out there, not knowing when to apply what, fear of things going wrong were identified as some of the major things that put staff off using some technologies.

All in all I think it was a very informative session and a good start to the project as a whole.

If you missed out on attending this session you can watch the video clips on the Project Documents page of the wiki as we captured most of the proceedings on the cool flip cameras we have in the Green Room.