Keith talked about the scholarship of learning and teaching requiring us to identify want we contribute to HE teaching and learning communities and the evidence that underpins our work. This also means engaging systematically with complex problems and opportunities.
To evidence the impact of educational development we need to be clear about what we are trying to achieve. We also need to take a longitudinal approach to evaluation if we really want to see impact. In their article Gunn, Creanor, Lent and Smyth address some of the difficult issues around evaluation of development work and in particular impact. They have focused on what influence has there been on departments and teaching and learning. In relation to planning evaluation you need to set targets that are quantifiable but also where there are some soft measures and stories. The audience for the evaluation should be clear and then the data gathering, analysis of the findings and the report can be catered to this audience. There is a need to offer case studies to illustrate critical influence and follow up actions should take place to enhance strategy, research and practice. There is a need to shape and share good practice which is our role. We also need to locate ourselves in digital networks. Educational development work is active and draws on critical pedagogy, critical friends and our ability to facilitate effective practice.
Learning is increasingly multimodal but some teachers fear change and so keep their traditional practice. There is a mismatch then between class and social life. Developing technology literacy for teachers is essential. A mentor/facilitator has to guide the teachers to be more creative. Digital literacy means the ability to use digital artefacts is an integrated part of learning. Learners have an infinite amount of information available through the internet. Changes are so rapid now teachers need to keep to date.
The study undertaken was an interpretative qualitative paradigm and used connectivist learning theory. The question was how do teachers in secondary schools make use of proposed design?
Data was collect using questionnaires, individual interviews and group interviews. The results showed that there remains varied technology use beyond a computer. Factors appeared to be crucial to this which were the initiative must come from grass roots and not be imposed, educators need support, HEI should provide training in class for student teachers and training is the key.
The purpose of the study was in the teacher education programme where there was an expanding use of technology and they wanted to explore how to use the technology to observe and rate student teachers in the classroom. In particular they wanted to see if they could explore the student teacher disposition. Usually observations are done face to face but this is not always possible. A range of technology was used and this involved 2 universities and four supervisors from each. Action research was the approach used. There were five open ended questions in the interviews.
The findings were that some differences between using face to face and technology. It was more of a challenge to get to know the students and the relationship between the mentor teacher who was on site was more critical. The mentors needed to give the supervisors an advanced organiser for the session so they could follow sessions. The technology was inequitable and single cameras meant things were missed.
The recommendations from the study were that 3 way conversations were critical, students of the student teachers should be given a questionnaire about the teaching style of the students student teachers, the camera should run before the class started. There should also be a rethink of the classroom observation around the technology with more cameras, microphones and an ability to give feedback immediately.
17 million phone in Ecuador for 15 million people. Most projects aim to develop educational software and do not focus on teacher development. Problems included HE reforms which forced university professors to integrate technology into their teaching with limited support and adopting innovative teaching approaches.
The objectives of this study were to adopt the Ipad as a technological tool, adopt PBL, create a research community and provide teachers with technological resources.
The study had 8 staff involved and used Desjardins 2005 technology profile questionnaire. There were pre and post tests and interviews prior to the project and post. Ipad were given out and training to use them was provided and there were also monthly meetings to discuss progress. Usually projects were top down designs but this was from the grass roots and invited the participants to design activities and so they became co-creators.
The pre project interviews showed that participants used classical teaching approaches, textbooks provided the content, the assessments were all summative, there was communication with students but this could be better, they had limited knowledge of PBL and they needed resources to encourage critical thinking. Their aims with technology were to gain technical skills, social skills, informational skills and epistemological skills. They also wanted to learn how to create PBL open resources and classroom management.
The results showed that most had tried to develop and use PBL open resources, teaching provided more authentic learning and one professor was using the ipad in class. The questionnaire showed all had improved their skills.
Information literacy is a set of skills to find, retrieve, analyse and use information. Librarians usually teach these skills for faculty so they teach students to define, locate, select, organise, present and assess. The focus is on first year students and support students with their assessments.
The presentation focused on a specific programme and third year students doing a degree and undertaking a sociology module. Students did not have the skills to research a problem and the assessment was an analysis of a book related to one of the topics from course. Students however could not find other reviews to draw on and were not critical in their discussions.
The students were surveyed to find out what their skills were and what the issues were. The students did not get help at the point they needed it so had sessions in a period of time when they were doing assessments, they thought you could not get help from the library and it was just full of books.
To solve the problems the librarian went into class throughout the module for 20 minutes to provide information but also the students went to the library for a session. The learning was broken down into small pieces and did different skills each time so review a book, review an article.
The students’ feedback was positive and they felt they had the skills now to use a library, they could use the skills in other modules.
Facebook was used because students used this more than any other social media tool. The student experience is the focal point and has links to retention, attrition and students success. Uses moodle as the VLE. Students are changing and come from a broader area of society.
Wanted to facilitate informal students groups and had looked at the literature but much of this literature around social media use is related to course materials. Role theory was thought to provide a useful framework (Muibrack & Farrell 1995) there are 3 types in their framework which are:
- Task orientated – information seeker
- Maintenance – supporter – encourager
- Descriptive – lurks
The study wanted to explore the key reasons students use a college facebook and understand the roles students play. The students were all on a one year government funded programme focused on foundation studies to enable students to enter an undergraduate programme and so was at first year undergraduate level.
There were 133 students who joined facebook and the age group was 18 – 50 predominantly women and from lower socio economic backgrounds.
Two key areas were the focus of the facebook which were peer support and students experience and social interaction. Some group members did peer mentor those who were struggling and students were very positive about the space. Six themes were found around its use which were logistical support, informal peer support, results comparison, tutor support and clarification, social activities and talking with peers and stress release and anxiety.
The roles from the framework were reflected but the descriptive role was limited in use.
Good quote from the session “may your life one day be as awesome as you pretend it is on facebook”.
Sports institute focus is on undergraduate students and brings together three strands which are students as academic partners, UK sector changing the learning landscape and Worcester learning and teaching strategy. Students were paid to undertake this work.
The aims were to create a portal for students by students, enhance the way communication with students is provided and make resources visible and accessible and enable students to seek information at time critical periods.
The portal is in blackboard and has a first, second and third year tab, the academic tutor policy, an area on assessment and feedback and learning resources. There are video walk rounds for places students need, links to documents, photos, text and the use of highlighting key sources. This will be piloted in September and an evaluation will be undertaken with staff and students. It is hoped that this will become an across institution tool from September 2016.
Has been looking at student progression and achievement for six years. There has been a focus on the NSS and then in one programme where PBL was introduced students were unhappy that teachers were not providing the content.
A study was undertaken to better understand the extent to which recently graduated students perceive that their academic potential was realised. The question was what were students’ expectations and ambitions at the start of their course? How effective do students’ perceive the support to have been?
In June and July 2014 all students from one faculty who had recently graduated to complete an online survey and then phone interviews. 19 students completed the online survey but one questionnaire was incomplete so 18 students. 15 students agreed to participate in the phone interviews. The interviews were to gain more depth of the responses from the survey and students were asked open questions focused on supported or inhibited progress. There were 14 questions in both the online survey and the phone interviews.
Responses to some questions are outlined below.
Most effective ways that your personal tutor supported you during your 3 years?
- E-mail
- Tutorials/one to one meetings
- Talk on the phone
NB focus was a discussion of academic performance (grades, homework and actions)
A scale of 1 – 9 was used and 55% of the students were positive with a mark of 6 or above.
11 of 18 students said tutorials were most effective, 4 said e-mail was and 2 noted the VLE.
How effectively did your module tutors support you during 3 years? The responses gained marks of 4-9 and 85% of the students were positive.
What was most helpful about feedback you received?
Wide range of comments including liked it being online and accessible, useful to talk to tutors, work that has the comments on is helpful but some very varied responses.
What significant factors supported you? 11 of 18 said supportive lecturers, other cited use of the VLE, Tutors e-mailing resources, library and learning environment.
Is there anything that could be done? Students said more help in selecting optional modules and more committed teachers.
Students’ relationship with tutors is critical. Students want communication and consistency.
Where is intelligence situated? In the human brain? In individual living organisms? In groups? In the community? Globally?
How does learning occur?
- Transmission from expert to student
- Transaction expert discussion with student
- Constructed independently
- Emergent a relational process
Shifting paradigms metaphor of knowledge as a building, replaces knowledge as transmission. Shift in understanding education complexity and ecological = objects of knowledge as facts.
Eco-map developed with Hartman and Leud 1983 has been used for social work education. John Coates (2003) challenges notion of individual and says we are challenged to see our impact.
Enactivism – an ecological learning theory development occurs via processed of self-organisation and interdependence. Does not focus on process components. Principles of are reality, mind, cognition, knowledge and learning.
Agency is important. Learning also requires diversity, critical thinking and analysis, shared interests and needs, ability to communicate and interact and decentralised control.
Educators role (Fenwick 2000) facilitates emergence of new structures by promoting reflection, challenging, providing feedback, establishing structures and constraints and monitoring community.
Assessment basic component of learning students are more actively involved when they assess their peers. This study aimed to investigate whether peer assessment could enhance wiki projects. A literature review was undertaken and peers assessment is regarded as a natural process for developing critical judgements (Fry 1990). This has been used for more than 50 years. However it does need to be conducted with care to eliminate reciprocity effects. Wikis can foster good collaborative skills but there are issues assessing them.
This study had student teachers involved and there were 15 of these all doing an IT focused degree. There was 48 participants in all 30 men and 18 women and they were divided into 10 groups. They were taught how to use the wiki in class and then they drew straws to choose topics. These included bullying, internet privacy and copyright etc. There was an assessment rubric that had 5 criteria which were content, design, organisation, credibility and technical elements.
Projects were assessed by peers online prior to final submission. Data was collected through a discussion forum and all students were actively engaged in the discussion except one. There were 209 comments. Students provided feedback on content and areas of development needed. One group actually changed their wiki following comments being posted. All students grades have improved.
Keith talked about the scholarship of learning and teaching requiring us to identify want we contribute to HE teaching and learning communities and the evidence that underpins our work. This also means engaging systematically with complex problems and opportunities.