Just had my first experince of learning through 'blended' learning and learning how to navigate the learning platform. There were no great pictures or fancy things but it was easy to navigate around and find out all you needed to know.
I am very intersted in doing the course partly because it is CPD but also it is blended learning and I would like to experience this first hand. I also took a management profile test and got a short summary displayed electronically. They send you the actual report (20 pages of it ) through the post which I think is really pointless. I couldn't understand why you couldn't just get a copy to save online??? also we completed an evaluation at the end of the course but it was paper based. This seemed totally ineffective considering everything else was on line.
I also had my first opportunity to complete an online reflective journal to document my progress through the blended learning and this seemed very easy to do although others found the reflective bit difficult. I would now like to be able to be assured that I am able to keep an electronic portfolio or work log online for ease of access.
Wednesday, 30 June 2010
Saturday, 19 June 2010
Talent champion role & Students writing their own text book
I was quite interested to read how you could use wiki's in a class. I have already thought about how you could use a collaborative wiki for the group to contribute to perhaps for one particular subject. I think it would be easier for me to use this in a group tutorial slot as sometimes we have an IT computer room. I think initially it would be necessary for me to guide the students in contributing to the resource. I think we would also need to discuss the point of it and rules of engagement etc. I think it would be necessary to provide some sort of structure to keep it focused and to provide a valuable resource at the end of it. Although the book does talk about making sure you don't police the collaborative wiki too much as it can stiffle inovation and students don't value it as much pg 61 "teachers who impose a lot of right and wrong on the process can undermine the tool" Richardson 2009:61
The author describes how the students begin to "teach each other" I'm very interested in this aspect as students seem to really enjoy teaching each other and taking the role of the teacher so this could work. Ultimately I suppose the students over a year could have all contributed to a 'year book' of their studies which would certainly be something for them to digitally keep for lots of different reasons. To show to a prospective employer how they have been able to collaborate and what exactly they have learnt. As it is digital it could perhaps be attached electronically to application forms etc? this is something I will have to explore further.
I think there may be an opportunity already on the college's BB which I will look into first, no point in reinventing the wheel. Another aspect of this collaborative writing I'm pretty sure could be linked to functional skills? It would be possible to perhaps vet all entries before students posted them or talk as a group about grammar and punctuation. This is somthing I have just recently become aware of when I have now started blogging. The minute you look at the readers view of the blog you notice typo's and all sorts of things.
I think I could also use the wiki with other staff members to collect and share good practice. All tutors of the same subject being able to add or highlight areas already added which they don't agree with to discuss in meetings etc. This would help with standardisation for the IV process within the department
The pedagogy of the wiki is also somthing I would like to explore further as there is not much detail in the book about this although there is for weblogs and it does give a url (http://tinyurl.com/2zu6fb)
The author describes how the students begin to "teach each other" I'm very interested in this aspect as students seem to really enjoy teaching each other and taking the role of the teacher so this could work. Ultimately I suppose the students over a year could have all contributed to a 'year book' of their studies which would certainly be something for them to digitally keep for lots of different reasons. To show to a prospective employer how they have been able to collaborate and what exactly they have learnt. As it is digital it could perhaps be attached electronically to application forms etc? this is something I will have to explore further.
I think there may be an opportunity already on the college's BB which I will look into first, no point in reinventing the wheel. Another aspect of this collaborative writing I'm pretty sure could be linked to functional skills? It would be possible to perhaps vet all entries before students posted them or talk as a group about grammar and punctuation. This is somthing I have just recently become aware of when I have now started blogging. The minute you look at the readers view of the blog you notice typo's and all sorts of things.
I think I could also use the wiki with other staff members to collect and share good practice. All tutors of the same subject being able to add or highlight areas already added which they don't agree with to discuss in meetings etc. This would help with standardisation for the IV process within the department
The pedagogy of the wiki is also somthing I would like to explore further as there is not much detail in the book about this although there is for weblogs and it does give a url (http://tinyurl.com/2zu6fb)
Book of the week 14/06/10
This week I visited the UEA library in Norwich a fabulous place to be inspired, you could almost hear the learning taking place. I thought how all children (any age) should be taken out of their classroom to visit to be inspired. Not necessarily by the prospect of learning but by the community.
Most youngsters soon feel 'trapped' and a bit claustrophobic when living with parents. Uni is possibly one of the first opportunities they will get to live away from home, but still with some support mechanism around them.
The book I borrowed (to test the system) was 'Blogs, Wikis, Podcast and other powerful web tools for classrooms. Written by Will Richardson a former classroom teacher for 20 years. He is an 'evangelist' for the use of weblogs, RSS and related technologies in classrooms. The book is a dreaded '7 day loan' book chosen deliberately for that reason (although the content has turned out to be excellent). The method behind my madness was to see how easy it would be for me to visit the library in my busy daily schedule. Hopefully the book will open up a new world for my teaching and encourage me to experiment with new technologies in my classes. I'm still not sure what the difference between a 'weblog' and a 'blog' is in basic terms but I'm sure I will learn.
Most youngsters soon feel 'trapped' and a bit claustrophobic when living with parents. Uni is possibly one of the first opportunities they will get to live away from home, but still with some support mechanism around them.
The book I borrowed (to test the system) was 'Blogs, Wikis, Podcast and other powerful web tools for classrooms. Written by Will Richardson a former classroom teacher for 20 years. He is an 'evangelist' for the use of weblogs, RSS and related technologies in classrooms. The book is a dreaded '7 day loan' book chosen deliberately for that reason (although the content has turned out to be excellent). The method behind my madness was to see how easy it would be for me to visit the library in my busy daily schedule. Hopefully the book will open up a new world for my teaching and encourage me to experiment with new technologies in my classes. I'm still not sure what the difference between a 'weblog' and a 'blog' is in basic terms but I'm sure I will learn.
Getting Started!
Having a very limited experience of IT I am now trying to hitch a ride to the future by exploring the world of blogging. This blog will serve to organise my thoughts and experiences whilst completing my MA in Learning and teaching...........here goes!
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