Digital library 

When I begun life as an Ultraversity facilitator, the supporting library structures were somewhat flakey. Today though the Anglia Ruskin University library system offers a growing number of texts and documents to online learners, as I'm sure other university systems do. In recent days though my heavy use of this resource has shown this to be very much slicker than before. The expanding range of resources coupled with an interface that is better all the time will serve particular types of learners, especially geographically remote, part time and work based. In my own experience of being an online learner not getting the right texts can be immensely frustrating, time consuming and disappointing. It is super to see a library service which is rising to the challenge of the changing needs of learners. 

 Race for life - Cancer Research UK

 I haven't been very organised this year in getting sponsors for the Race for Life - so in hope - I am linking my sponsor page here.

Cancer Research UK - a fine cause indeed :-) 

Technology Supported Learning in the 21st Century: Issues and Paradigms in Transformative Tertiary Education (Staffordshire University)

Yesterday I presented at an elearning conference at Staffs University. For anyone wanting a copy of the presentation it is available for download here.  

The session details from the programme:

Happy to take any follow up questions or thoughts here :-) 

 Immigrants and natives : Useful for HE? 

On Friday I virtually spent a good portion of the day at Anglia Ruskin University’s eFair led by Inspire. An event which considered ideas around e-learning and associated concepts from within the university, and which invited dialogue with colleagues from outside of the university.

A running theme through the day was that of Prensky’s digital natives / digital immigrants. This notion came up time and time again.  There was a viewpoint that students are so often digital natives and staff are so often immigrants. The notion of such extremes is questionable of course, but taking it at face value for the moment, this led me to ask … “if many academics are digital immigrants how do we equip them to lead the natives?” 

Unsurprisingly answers included:

More non-contact time

More contracted ‘digital’ hours

Training

Support e.g. Skilled learning technologists

Then the more ‘radical’ answer was put to the room … how about the staff learn from the students.

Of course!!!

So where there is a knowledge gap, a knowledge transfer occurs.

Perhaps then, not so radical?

However the reaction scales ranged from shock to laughter.

A culture of co-learning or (staff-student) mutually supportive learning is then, far from being culturally embedded across HE. The deepest challenges to e-learning and the use of digital technologies are deep rooted and relate back to the need for new clarity re. purposes of HE, the role of the ‘teacher’ and the relationships of learning. Transposing the immigrant / native interpretation in to HE, mocks at the old order (student as teacher????) and causes us to look for surface solutions.  Before we pigeon hole and juxtapose staff and students in these ways, we need to consider the world out there. In the learning society, knowledge flows with no (or at least less) hierarchical relationships, it is more democratic; In the super-complex world, knowledge gatekeepers appear in fancy dress, learning is not unique to ‘learning’ establishments; and for individuals learning is personalised to be fit for purpose. Against this reality the student as teacher, a scenario of co-learning, in a digital world would seem a perfectly rational scenario. 

 Transferability : Exporting methods and cultures from the BA LTR

Increasingly I am aware of the potential in the transferability of methods and approaches to work based learning out of the BA Learning Technology Research (LTR) program in to other programs. Indeed many of the issues in WBL, particularly within Foundation Degrees (FD), maybe addressed by the full or partial utilisation of methods from the BA LTR.  It seems that there is a direct match between some challenges faced by FD’s (taken from numerous sources including HEFCE, 07; QAA 04 and  NSS) and some of the solutions and approaches already successfully active in the BA LTR.  For example:

Few of these solutions, if any are new, but so many e-learning bolt-ons have limited success. Whilst the mechanisms of course are the visible transfer, it is suggested also that attitudinal, cultural and pedagogic transfers are also critical for success with these potential solutions. 

Worth it!

Today, with a rather unceremonious chink of my letterbox, ended my enormous feat!  Five years ago I started my MA (yes … it shouldn’t have taken that long!) – I studied research methods, online learning and facilitation, autonomy in online education, personalised learning and eventually undertook a dissertation on personalised learning from a learner perspective. Perhaps the greatest learning for me came in the experience of simply being a learner; feeling first hand and understanding what it is like to study when life gets in the way.

Studying at times has a high price on an individual and critically on their nearest and dearest.

So to all of mine – thank you! 

And was it worth it? Of course it was.

I guess if was easy then the warm glow I got when opening my certificate would not be quite so warm.

I have just (literally) seen that the researchers that I have facilitated in their learning have also received their certificates today – each and every one of them has their own story of triumph, tribulation, heartache and celebration. Experts in Learning Technology and Research; but also not mentioned explicitly on the certificates - relentless in determination. Well done folks - magnificent. 

Big Congrats also to Sarah :-)

 Reflection : A step beyond. 

Reflective practice is increasingly expected across many professions, it is particularly visible in care and teaching roles. The benefits of reflection are well rehearsed. However an additional step to reflective practice might be connectivity, whereby reflections on our own practice (or the learning from reflections) are directly compared to the experiences of our students/researchers/children/clients etc. 

An example - Last week I engaged with some unfamiliar technology. I thought, as a tech savvy sort of individual, all would be well. Just another online media. I was freaked! I hated it ... I was awkward, unnerved, isolated ... the action steps from my Gibbs/Schon/Kolb or other first level reflection were research use of technology before embarking on significant use; practice before going live and create contingencies. 

Reflection ends. Full stop.

Err … No it doesn't ... 

Compare this then with my own learners experiences. 

I take for granted that learners are familiar with all that I am. I forgot that feeling of newness, the daunting sense of ... is anyone listening ... I have no cues to lean on ... I have lost four of my five senses in communication and I am in an unfamiliar land. I understand with my whole sense of self again what it is like to be lost online. I wonder if this is a reason for course withdrawal on an online course. I should imagine, as we do not stipulate that online students should be digital natives, that this is an issue that impacts the quality of learner experience. The reflection and the comparative reflection leads me to empathize and to inject a lesson back in to my practice through induction, support, empathetic facilitation and perhaps a greater personal emphasis on tracking and understanding non-participation.   

I have not found a model that encourages this outward comparative step.

 How learners interact with the underpinning principles of BA LTR 

How facilitators interact with the underpinning principles of BA LTR 

Experiential Work-Integrated Online Learning. Insights from an Established UK Higher Education Program

Innovate journal of online education is an online bimonthly peer-reviewed publication - access is free by registration. 

In the current Feb/March edition is a paper (Experiential Work-Integrated Online Learning: Insights from an Established UK Higher Education Program) on the BA Learning Technology Research which may be of interest to some readers here. 

Reading joy and action research

A short article in The Telegraph points out the importance of developing a love for books if children are to read well - it goes on to point to some  classic books for children. Particularly handy for me (with a six year old) is the guide for the middle years - the stage when perhaps wide eyed toddlers lose the joy of books as they turn from bright and seductive picture books to text heavy volume.

This reminded me that a number of the BA LTR researchers  have undertaken inquiries in to reading strategies; developing approaches to teaching practice that inject passion and joy and motivation in to reading. A worthy cause. A recent graduate on the BA LTR course who acted to motivate young readers as part of her final year research, reported how her action research lives on beyond her time on the course .... "the kids are really excited. teachers from downstairs are commenting that every time they come upstairs children are reading - walking along the corridor reading, books under their arms when they go downstairs to monitor etc ... They get so excited when a delivery of books comes in too".

This is a tribute to how action research can be used to develop an individual's practice which then in turn influences others. A ripple effect. Action research can be done without enrolling on an undergraduate degree of course, but this researcher found the course to be an effective route to change.

"I would probably have had all these ideas without [the course], but I would never have had the confidence to action them. Indeed I might not have found the opportunity to get these kids "into"  books".

It is a real joy when undergraduates can action real change - developing their own skills, their own knowledge and the practice of both themselves and others. 

  Undergraduates have been redefined as "researchers" ...

The Times Higher Education (10/1/08) - in its all new glossy splendor -  reports that staff at Gloucestershire will be encouraged to think of students as fellow researchers to erode the idea of passive learning. Huzzah! 

When the BA LTR launched in 2003 a decision was taken to call our students researchers. Internally we use this term and externally in most instances.There are though occassions when to use researcher not student causes confusion, when writing about the research in to the research of the researcher that was carried out by researchers it can get a little confusing! I jest but  to make research on teaching and learning accessible, familiar terms have been called for amongst some external audiences.     

Our degree is research led and in this way it was a simple choice of term. But the term researcher was used not just to reflect the way in which learners learnt but also to recognise the journey that we staff and 'students' are on together -  together, trying to better understand issues of teaching and learning in an online work-based inquiry led degree.

 A culture of co-research was absolutely essential in developing the course, establishing good practice, establishing change and improvement and in formalising tacit knowledge. Mutual respect is an essential ingredient in a culture of co-research, everyone needs to be heard and trust their ideas will be valued.  A threat to this model would be complacency - in a world of change I believe that learners being co-researchers in the teaching and learning process provides a safe-guard against stagnation. The culture offers a means through which higher education institutions can stay in touch with the changing needs of students and together use creativeness and innovation to develop, adapt, improve and thrive in learning. Using the term researcher is much more than a quirky name change.