You can't do that in a classroom! July 2, 2009
Posted by Jonathan Hewett in : delicious links , add a commentWhat traditional teaching env. canNOT do (Cath Ellis — great post): "I think it’s time we shifted our thinking away from what eLearning can do to what traditional teaching environments can’t do. The simple fact is, however, that such thinking is deeply iconoclastic. The simple suggestion that traditional, face-to-face learning environments have limitations and *gasp* may even be found wanting is unthinkable to many teachers and learners who have never experienced anything else. But that’s precisely the point. It’s vital that we be able to evaluate different teaching and learning environments on their objective relative merits in order to best harness their distinct potentials. As such, it’s vital that we move away from old-fashioned hierarchical thinking that positions face-to-face learning environments at the top of the heap.
To that end, here is a list of 5 things that can’t be (easily) done in a rigidly synchronous learning space (a time-limited physical face-to-face classroom) "
Teaching as transparent learning « Connectivism May 29, 2009
Posted by Jonathan Hewett in : delicious links , add a commentGeorge Siemens: "Let me explain. When someone decides to share their thoughts and ideas in a transparent manner, they become a teacher to those who are observing. Social technology – such as Twitter, blogs, Facebook – opens the door to sharing the process of learning, not only the final product."
Web 2.0 Teaching Tools: Twitter Tweets for Higher Education March 27, 2009
Posted by Jonathan Hewett in : delicious links , add a commentA round-up of some educational uses of Twitter, by Alan Lew:
"I actually had not considered it as a tool for education until I saw a link posted by Twittown to a blog post on that subject. Doing a little online searching (emphasis on the little), I found the following items related to Twitter and education."
Scholarship of Teaching and Learning: Glasgow Uni launches SoTL website October 25, 2008
Posted by Jonathan Hewett in : Academic, educational development, HE, SoTL , add a commentIs this a first for a UK university? Glasgow has launched a website dedicated to the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning (SoTL), punningly called BeSoTLed — and it’s more than just a page with links to some of the (much more plentiful) sites in North America.
This initiative has grown out of a learning community of teaching staff at Glasgow University, particularly Lorna Morrow (psychology), Rob McKerlie (dentistry) and Jane MacKenzie (Learning and Teaching Centre). Congrats to them. These three seem to have an open and encouraging way of describing their involvement with SoTL — for example, I like the way they
do not see themselves as SoTL experts but as SoTL enthusiasts.
Glasgow University seems to have been encouraging SoTL more actively in recent years. It became the only European member of the Building SoTL Communities project, supported by the Carnegie Academy. The six others are all in the USA or Canada. Glasgow also set up a SoTL journal a few years ago — the Practice and Evidence of the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning in Higher Education.
The BeSoTLed website points to other activities, too — indeed, there’s an accompanying Moodle site, which sadly is accessible only to Glasgow staff.
Good stuff. Which also it makes me wonder why the HEA hasn’t created something like this, as far as I’m aware, as a central resource to encourage SoTL in UK higher education. Of course the HEA has supported initiatives such as this one at City, where we do our bit for SoTL, too, with an international conference almost annually, and schemes for SoTL research and recognition. Among other things.
Can a computer lecture better than a human? October 24, 2008
Posted by Jonathan Hewett in : delicious links , add a commentScott McLeod makes the case for covering the basics online. His example is a school assignment but his point has wider application:
"Don’t get me wrong. There’s still a lot of value in human teachers when it comes to explaining difficult concepts, working through students’ misconceptions, inspiring students to want to explore deeper, and so on. We’re not replaceable by robots and software just yet. But […]
There is a wealth of research showing that around 80 to 85 percent of classroom work is low-level factual and procedural work, exactly the kind of work that can easily be facilitated by the kinds of technology-mediated learning activities that I’ve alluded to this post. So why waste an expensive human on those things?"
New image search tutorial from Intute and TASI October 15, 2008
Posted by Jonathan Hewett in : delicious links , add a commentWorth a look. I find the interface clunky but it's a useful resource to which to point people who might not know their way around this area (from the Intute blog):
"Internet for Image Searching is a new, free online tutorial to help staff and students in universities and colleges to find digital images for their learning and teaching:
http://www.vts.intute.ac.uk/tutorial/imagesearching/
[…]
The emphasis of the tutorial is on finding copyright cleared images which are available free; facilitating quick, hassle-free access to a vast range of online photographs and other visual resources."
£5.7m to develop Open Education pilot projects in UK October 15, 2008
Posted by Jonathan Hewett in : Education, HEA, learning, Teaching resources , add a commentFrom the HEFCE press release today:
HEFCE has announced an initial £5.7 million of funding for pilot projects that will open up existing high-quality education resources from higher education institutions to the world.
In plain English, this means making available teaching and related material in digital form — for others in HE (and elsewhere) to reuse and adapt for teaching and learning.
The press notice explains that:
Open educational resources could include full courses, course materials, complete modules, notes, videos, assessments, tests, simulations, worked examples, software, and any other tools or materials or techniques used to support access to knowledge.
Also spotted today: Martin Weller of the Open University writes about SocialLearn, the OU’s project to develop a social network for learning — a few steps on from its Open Education initiative, OpenLearn.
Anyone wanting to keep track of developments in Open Education would do well to check Stephen Downes’ invaluable blog, where it features frequently, eg covering recent publications and events.
Web 2.0 in Secondary Education September 30, 2008
Posted by Jonathan Hewett in : delicious links , add a commentFrom a Becta study — not that different in HE?
"Barriers to the more widespread use of Web 2.0 technologies included:
• Tension between the collaborative learning of Web 2.0 and the nature of the assessment system
• Concerns about e-safety and strict filtering in schools
• Lack of adequate bandwidth
• Teachers need the support, time and space to develop skills and practices
• Learning platforms and ‘walled garden’ approach of VLEs
• Reluctance about Web 2.0 activities being visible on the open internet
• However these issues are not confined to technology and teachers:
Many learners lack technical skills, and lack an awareness of the range of technologies and of when and how they could be used, as well as the digital literacy and critical skills to navigate this space. Teachers should be careful not to overestimate learners’ familiarity and skills in this area.
So it appears that there is a long way to go before Web 2.0 is fully welcomed into the classroom."