#ocTEL Designing Active Learning

I am getting very excited after a week of meetings and discussions about the SCALE UP project we are going to be running in the university next year. I have proposed two very different modules for the pilot - one is already very much a collaborative, tech based module but the other has been taught in a traditional way up until now and I am going to have to rethink learning activities.

The idea behind SCALE UP is large group teaching with students organised into round tables of nine, with 3 internet connected devices to share (3 to a device). Teaching is meant to be inquiry or problem based with students teaching themselves and presenting work to one another. While some might complain that here the technology is driving the pedagogy (I am rethinking activities to fit the environment) in reality, it is the other way round. I feel I have been constrained by timetabling and room restrictions to teach in a way that is really uncomfortable for me, boring for the students and increasingly irrelevant. (A lecture on Harvard Referencing conventions???) I have secretly been dreaming of a large, flat space with round tables and excellent wifi - and here it comes!

So in the week when ocTEL is asking participants to design a learning activity, I have this environment and the changes needed in mind.

My activity is going to be for very new undergraduates to whom I introduce research and digital literacy skills. One of my favourite moments in (usually final year) tutorials is when I reveal to some poor student, struggling to find the memory stick or email on which they have their dissertation backed up, the wonders of cloud storage.

So I have decided to make this a key part of early undergraduate education.

The learning activity I have designed has some elements of group collaboration built in and relies on the students accessing the internet to read and discover, practice and reflect. (Absorb, Connect, Do)

If you would like to read through the activity - and better still participate in it - please visit this link:
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1wHwaOciE4Zxy8jf3ZKZzEzHTPzcybogQQsfFBtKaAmU/edit

#ocTEL Week 1: reflecting on my practice

Well this is timely. In our institution we are just reflecting on module feedback, marking final assignments, planning for the coming year. I am also personally involved in compiling a portfolio for professional recognition.

Reflecting on my practice is something I do as a matter of course through this blog in particular and I think that in itself tends to shape the way I teach, as well as reflect some of my beliefs.

I trained, many years ago, as a person centred counsellor and later took on the role of facilitator in a course that trained other counsellors. It is only recently, reading about various pedagogical approaches and learning theories that I have come to acknowledge that my approach is essentially person centred.

I generally have a great trust in students' ability to think and decide for themselves  I talk to them as equals and I expect them to respond with equal respect and honesty. Of course at times I am disappointed - first year students in particular struggle with the transition to University and a student/tutor relationship  that may be very different from what they have previously experienced. They seem to either sit quietly expecting to be fed knowledge or switch off from the class and turn on their social networking sites: they don't see themselves as learners so much as hostages trapped in some great anonymous institution.

Getting students to accept responsibility for their own learning is the first, most vital task in year one. So how do we accomplish this?

In my level one module we offer a range of learning activities from sit and listen to the lecture; go away and read something then comment on it in the discussion board; in class paper- or computer-based activities guided by tutor/worksheet;  to a final collaborative group project.

On the teaching styles matrix I would say that over the year I move from directed individual towards social autonomous. It can be a painful journey, but having just marked their group projects, I believe it has succeeded.

For collaborative work to be meaningful there has to be some advantage for the students - although these may not be immediately apparent to them. By working collaboratively, weaker students can get to see how other, perhaps stronger, students write and organise themselves. (Learning by proxy). In my view, lurking can be positive. Equally though it is possible to see quieter students coming to the fore when communication is in small groups and especially in virtual communication. (This has been evident in informal student led social networking groups). They also learn how to work together in teams - the hard way.

The other modules I teach are for final year students. From the outset the module is social/autonomous as students form small groups to research and create an online resource. They get very minimal input from me about the technology - they have to go away and pretty much learn this stuff for themselves  I provide on line learning materials related to the subject, which are a springboard for further research. I ask that they also maintain a personal blog or reflective journal about the process the group goes through. The final grading for the module is split into a peer assessment of the final online project - including leaving feedback via the discussion board for one another - and a short reflective individual piece, based on their blogs, which I grade.

Carl Rogers'  Freedom to Learn is a great read for educators. His basic precepts are:

We cannot teach another person directly; we can only facilitate his learning.The structure and organization of the self appears to become more rigid under threat; to relax its boundaries when completely free from threat...
The educational situation which most effectively promotes significant learning is one in which 1) threat to the self of the learner is reduced a minimum, and 2) differentiated perception of the field of experience is facilitated.

The greatest buzz I get out of "teaching" is when I am not - that is, when students are discovering for themselves and feel proud of their own achievements. I don't win plaudits from my students about the brilliance of my lectures, but they do say that I am supportive, that I treat them like adults, that they have fun and that they learn stuff without really realizing they are doing so.

I use a lot of tech  in my teaching - videos to bring in other voices and views; Facebook and Twitter to connect to the outside world; blogs, wikis, Diigo, Dropbox and Evernote for reflection and information management. At the moment this is all fairly chaotic (my students also notice that and tell me about it!) and I hope to use the ocTEL course to become more systematic in the way I share my love of tech with my students.

Team Challenge!

This is the third year I have run my Level 6 modules on leadership and the third time I have set the group project/on line presentation assessment task.

It is really interesting to see how the students' response to this task has changed over the three years - and to see the increasing sophistication of their responses.

In the first year, I prescribed Google Sites as the platform for one group; the second group chose either Blogger, Facebook Groups or PowerPoint.

The following year - both groups were being taught together and I used Wikispaces as the main teaching and discussion platform with varying degrees of success. Students had a free choice of presentation platform.  PowerPoint was still used by two groups but other options chosen were Wix, WordPress, Blogger, WikiSpaces and Facebook.

Each cohort has built on the success of the previous year - I have used exemplars from previous years to stimulate ideas - and got more sophisticated.

Final responses this year included Google Sites, Wix, Blogger, WordPress, Twitter and Facebook. Look! no PowerPoint!!!

Topics for the Project have not changed much - Toy Story is still a very popular choice for examining leadership styles and team dynamics (if you think about it for a moment, it really does work!). Obama, Mandela, Thatcher, King are consistently the favourite "real life" figures that have been the subject of students' work. This year we also had Gladiator, Avengers Assemble and Lion King. I really enjoy the juxtaposition of Disney and serious discussions about motivational theory - and so do the students.

I have had the usual mix of responses to the project but far less anxiety than previously - even from the "mature" students. In every group someone has stepped up as the technical expert, having had some previous experience of creating web content. In fact, the self selected group of mature students produced probably the best of all the projects in terms both of content and the sophistication with which they organised their material using Blogger - with tabs, labels and hyperlinks creating a seamless navigation between topics (you can view it here).

Another favourite of mine made use of a Toy Story Facebook group, with each character having been given their own FB profile. Top marks for sheer creativity :)

Another new element to the assignment this year was the method of peer assessment. In the first year, I graded the presentations and the group work was worth just 20% of the overall coursework element of the module.

Last year, there was anonymous peer assessment using an on-line vote. The students' grading of projects was very close to my own grades, but although some feedback was constructive, the worst ranged from the perfunctory to the downright rude.

This year, the group work was worth 50% of the overall coursework element (as agreed with the students) and feedback was public. In the smaller cohort the students were happy to offer suggested grades and feedback on each others' projects using clear assessment criteria. This took place in a classroom session and was followed up with written notes made available on the VLE. The process was uncomfortable for some but all integrated the feedback into their final reflections and generally found the process a rewarding one.

In the larger of the two cohorts, students steadfastly resisted the idea of grading one another's work. Instead, I graded them but all students had to offer written feedback through the Discussion Boards in the VLE. The quality of the feedback (which was of course NOT anonymous) was really very good with classic "feedback sandwiches" being offered. Reflecting on the process in our final meeting of last term, students said they had found it very affirming.

Another aim of this assignment is to get the students to work together on a challenging, short term project and then reflect on team dynamics, team leadership and their own roles. The "product" - an on-line resource examining leadership styles in a case study, film or biography - is meant to present the challenge (learning how to use the platforms, coordinating effort, working virtually etc). I wonder though if this will still feel like a challenge to students in 3 years time or will it become the PowerPoint  of its day? Whatever next?

OER - pure gold

I like things nice and simple. I have used Jorum before (after a great short intro to OER at my institution) and find its resources reliably good quality and reliably open.

This morning whilst baby-sitting a group of first years practising their digital literacy skills, I rifled through Jorums resources to help me prepare next weeks seminar on designing great research questions.

I found plenty- all of it CC share alike licensed - and so fit for purpose I can use it pretty much unaltered.

What this week on #oldsmooc has taught me is to go OER first. Oh and to make sure I license my own work.

I haven't added anything to the launch cloud as I have been posting stuff to Slideshare for years with the expectation it would be redeployed at will. But on checking I noticed it was "all rights reserved". I have changed the default settings now.

So I am also not seeking validation for a badge this week. The process for doing so seems a little unwieldy especially as my application disappears from the screen after pressing the red button and I can't check it's progress.

Anyway I am happy with my progress and have learned some really useful stuff this week and that is reward enough :)

#oldsmooc #digilit Prototyping and observation

Prototyping:
I have created a simple prototype using screen shots. The VLE I use allows for prototyping on the go - you can move widgets around the home page, change colour schemes etc so this is not difficult.

I have contrasted here two main types of learning room - type 1 uses only the minimum standard - a news column to relay key information (in this example, lectures cancelled); the resource list (or link to library catalogue/reading list). Content is invisible - hidden behind the Learning Room Home Page and accessible only via the "Content" tab. There is no scope for interaction.

Type 2 (two versions) has additional "widgets" to help preview and navigate module content, links to social media, provides interaction in the form of group areas and discussion boards, and clearly makes use of e-submission and computer aided assessment. Colour and images enhance the overall attractiveness and welcome feel of the Home Page. But which do students prefer? And how would staff feel about creating a Type 2 Home page?

My cloud is here.

Observation:
My plan for the observation task is to ask a typical first year undergraduate student to find a resource on line and bookmark it. In my module I want  first year undergraduates to be able to find reputable sources to aid their research and make sure they keep a note of references so that sources are correctly cited.

Step 1: find a scholarly article published in the last year which looks at students' attitude to sport

Step 2: bookmark the web page so you will be able to find it again. [will this be accessible from any PC, or just this one?]

Step 3: Make a note of the Author, date, title and publication details [where will the student record this so that they can find it when they come to write their assignment]


Outcome:

I captured the session (with the permission of my guinea pig) using CamStudio free screen capture software :



The beauty of doing this was that I was able to observe the difficulties a student has when they have never before been taught how to search, bookmark or reference academic or scholarly articles. The video has been heavily edited but in reality the student needed a lot of coaching.  From this I can see the value of teaching students about effective bookmarking habits and how to use Google Scholar (which we already do) but it has also shown me the need to give students a "map" or crib sheet to help them "read" a web page like this. So I created one as a document (here on Google Docs) but this could be turned into a screen capture video to talk the student through the whole process.

So - all in all a very enjoyable and productive week on #oldsmooc :)