Archive for the ‘teaching’ Category

Newer Entries »

defining the digital divide by connectivity rather than age

Saturday, March 21st, 2009

I’ve thinking about difference and the challenges we have in encouraging the adoption of digital and learning technologies for learning and teaching.

The original idea of Marc Prensky’s digital natives and immigrants and more recently Dave White’s suggestion that it’s more about digital residents and visitors has kept me thinking about the best ways for me (as an early adopter) to engage those who aren’t keen on things digital.

I was chatting with my 15 year old nephew a while ago and he suggested he was a digital native and that I was an immigrant. I challenged him as to what he meant, and we had a good chat about using technology, being digital, and growing up with the Internet. Intitially he was probably basing his judgement on age rather than knowledge, expertise, and understanding. Carl Berger presented some research at the Apple University Consortium Conference in 2007 and mentioned a student (‘digital native’) who spoke about his knowledge of technology ‘being a mile wide but only an inch deep’. What the student meant, was that he had a broad experience, but a shallow understanding, of digital technology.

I’d suggest (as discussed in earlier posts in this forum) that we don’t really know to what extent students (let alone staff) know and engage with technology, it makes it difficult for us to develop policy and implement technology use to support learning and teaching. I came across Kate Carruther’s blog post, The Real Generation Gap, where she suggests that the difference between those who know technology and engage with “is about the individual’s relationship to technology and their willingness or desire to become and to remain connected.” Kate refers to Mark McCrindle’s report, ‘Seriously Cool: Marketing, Communicating and Engaging With Diverse Generations’ (.pdf). Is it really more about (as Kate suggests) being connected (having the willingness, desire and inclination) rather than age, that divides us?

This all resonates with me. I’m as engaged with social networking as my kids but I use it professionally as well as socially. I’m interested in the use of what I’ll call Web2.0 applications in education, but now asking questions about how willing others might be in taking up these ideas on communication, collaboration, and connection.

Does this mean that the adoption of social media and encouraging social networks in education (let alone anywhere else), may only work for those who are interested in using it. What does that mean for all those who aren’t? What does it mean for the curriculum? Do we understand that we may be disenfranchising both students and staff as we adopt more and different technologies?

I believe we need to think carefully about how we proceed and ensure that care be taken to ensure that any implementation be scaffolded in such a way that no one is disadvantaged or dismissed as a laggard for being negative or hesitant. We have a responsibility to understand and cater for the interests and limitations of our cohorts (of students and staff). What kind of support and activities could we provide to help narrow the gap – is professional development (in whatever form that might take) a solution?

Tags:, , ,
Posted in learning, professional development, teaching | No Comments »

a month is a long time between posts

Saturday, August 9th, 2008

I’ve convinced myself that I need to write a blog post today, or I’ll feel bad for the rest of the year. My last post was a month ago, which to me seems far too long! I’ve jotted down a few ideas for posts over that time and I’ll get to them soon – but for now it’s just a matter of getting some words and thoughts down so I can sleep tonight. In between weekend chores, watching the Olympics, and catching up with what’s happening to my friends via Twitter, I haven’t spent any time preparing or thinking about this post so, here we go (might have to rely of some ‘stream of consciousness’?, or how’s this for an idea? As this blog is about my observations and reflections, I think I might write about some of the more significant aspects of my work that I’ve experienced over the last month. Hope you find it interesting and maybe even useful…

I attended a workshop on e-Assessment by Geoffrey Crisp who presented as a part of his ALTC fellowship project. We were given a good overview of assessment and how you might create new possibilities for immersion and activity using e-assessment as well as enhancing social interaction (through using a wiki) and even adding value to learning by doing something other assessment can’t do. You can visit his website, register as a user, and check out the resources available.

The university where I work has three campuses and I regularly travel between the one I’m based on (Geelong @ Waurn Ponds) to our main campus in Melbourne. This is usually a 75 to 90 minute commute and I try to hitch a ride with someone who’s driving a university vehicle (to keep one extra car off the road and for the opportunity to talk on the way). Because there’s quite a few people traveling on a daily basis, the university has undertaken a trial for three months of running a bus (12 seater) between the two campuses. I’ve used it a couple of times since inception, and I think that it might catch on. There’s always the opportunity to meet and chat with people from other areas of the university, but the IT people have installed a mobile wireless internet connection on board (this is the cool part). There’s a wireless router (connected to 7.2 NextG card) so everyone with a wireless laptop connection can connect into the uni network while zipping up the highway. There were four of us checking email (me also keeping an eye on my Twitter friends) earlier this week, and after a day of meetings it’s nice to get some of that correspondence out of the way before getting home. There are plans to also provide a couple of laptops on the bus for those who don’t have them, and they are also going to provide a couple of IP telephone handsets so we can call the office over the network instead of using mobile phones. Apparently the cost of maintaining this mobile wireless connection annually (excluding the card and router) would only be around $600 as part of our telco contract. Cheap! All we need now is an AC power supply to plug in the laptops in case batteries run out – and maybe even an espresso machine. 😉

I also managed (with a couple of colleagues) to get a paper written and submitted (by the end of July) for peer review for the ASCILITE Conference at the end of the year. Don’t understand why there’s such a long lead time but I understand that there will probably be well over 200 papers submitted.

I partcipated in the The Knowledge Bank online conference 2008 which was focused on Web 2.0 in education: what it is, how it’s being used today and its potential to radically change education. The event was facilitated through Elluminate (sessions were recorded and available from the website), featured live blogging and is supported by a wiki. It was a great (learning) experience to be part of a group of nearly 200 people from all over the world listening to a range of speakers/presenters. The event was well managed and with a few moderators and presenters (with their slides) went more smoothly than I thought it might. It was fun to hear school bells ringing in the background as teachers participated live (and included their students!). Nice to experience what’s possible.

I’m also on a group providing feedback and support to the implementation project for a learning repository for the university. We’ve been discussing project scope and milestones, metadata, workflow, digital objects, permissions, and training etc. Will be nice to have this available by the end of the year.

I also attended a training session/workshop on using our new powerlink for Blackboard/Vista that enables us to create a Drupal/SMF and/or a Mediawiki installation in our units/courses that integrates within the system. This will be a good enhancement to the LMS ad provide opportunities for some authentic collaboration between students, particularly those studying off-campus/remotely.

I also attended a couple (brown bag) lunch time seminars; ‘multiple choice questions – cultural, linguistic and item writing factors’, and ‘designing, facilitating and assessing group assignments’.

Well, that’s most of the exciting stuff (I’ve probably missed a few things) and looking back reasonably interesting. As second semester settles down I’ll be writing more reflectively on these experiences.

Tags:, , , , ,
Posted in collaboration, learning, software, teaching | No Comments »

I need to know what you don’t know

Wednesday, July 9th, 2008

Just read a post by Britt Watwood where he reflects on the mood post NECC 2008. Apparently some of leading lights in the education technology field felt less than enthusiastic afterwards. I’m sure though, that many people would have enjoyed the conference and come away inspired and champing at the bit to try out new things.

Anyway, Britt’s post was reflecting on Everett’s, Diffusion of Innovations theory with the innovators, early adopters etc. It reminded me of Geoffrey Moore’s book Cross the Chasm, and while he’s on about marketing, I see his idea as useful for us who are encouraging change in education. How do we innovators and early adopters get the early and late majority across the chasm? Moore suggests that we need to know the market, understand the product, position the product, have a marketing strategy, determine a distribution channel and the price. It’s fairly easy to adopt this to education and I think there’s a range of ways we can apply it (but that’s for another post). In the past a colleague and I determined that an integrated learning environment could actually become a professional development vehicle for staff to use to help cross the chasm.

But, then I came across an article by Alex Iskold who suggests that maybe early adopters are currently being diverted by so many new technologies that they can’t keep up, and they keep abandoning good technology to try something new. Thought provoking stuff. Sometimes I think that maybe this is why I feel a little frustrated and just overwhelmed with all that’s out there.

For me it’s a about helping people come to know what they don’t know. They don’t know what questions to ask, or how a new technology might be useful for them. I need to get alongside them and we both have to invest time in talking about what’s possible, working out what they do know, so I can help fill in the blanks/unkown to help them cross the chasm.

Anyway, I feel good about being able to write about this, having access to what other people are saying and realising that they may also be struggling with the same challenges and issues. I believe we do need to maintain the passion and look for ways were we can keep energised and learning ourselves (those “Ah, ha!” moments) and that’s where our social networks are so valuable.

So, to all of you, thanks for sharing – I appreciate and enjoy the encouragement.

Posted in collaboration, learning, teaching | 3 Comments »

what we need is a system bypass

Thursday, July 3rd, 2008

Events have recently had me thinking about the LMS and CMS and what they can do for us with regard to student learning, and teachers being able to facilitate this. I’ve realised that we need to recognise these tools as systems and that while they can manage people and content, they need a fair bit of thinking about to be used effectively for learning.

At the university where I work we have an institution-wide implementation of Blackboard (Vista 4) which works quite well (supplemented by Elluminate and Lectopia to provide extra functionality and access to resources), and helps us manage our units/courses and student/staff enrollment etc. Often a template is applied, the class ‘delivered’ via that structure because of the convenience, and the model keeps getting replicated.

My thinking has been encouraged by a recent article by Lisa Lane (in EDUCAUSE Quarterly) called Toolbox or Trap? Course Management Systems and Pedagogy and Britt Watwood’s blog post, Moving Beyond Access and Convenience to Learning. In these two pieces the questions are raised about the potential problems/issues/constraints raised by the use of the ‘management system’ and how they can stifle creativity and learning. Both suggest that many web 2.0 and/or social networking applications are better suited to providing more meaningful learning experiences and allowing students more opportunities for collaboration and inquiry learning.

What is exciting me, is that we’ve recently implemented a project (supported by a Blackboard Greenhouse grant) that has enabled us to make a couple of powerlinks available so that teachers can create drupal/SMF and mediawiki installations within their learning context.

So, I’m looking forward to working on the rollout of this, and hoping that we might get past the tools and functions to some good learning. Being able to go beyond the management system to places where we can encourage conversation, collaboration and community. Where students are able to make sense and meaning through working together…

I’m now looking for good ideas, strategies, and examples to help teachers come to see the possibilities of the social (networking/collabotaive) software they have at their disposal. Anyone able to point me in the right direction?

Tags:, ,
Posted in learning, teaching | No Comments »

we’re gonna have a rev-o-lu-tion

Tuesday, June 3rd, 2008

Spent a day communing with educators at the ACER (DEEWR) Digital Education Revolution seminar on Tuesday 3rd (it was subtitled: Realising the possibilities, Managing the realities).

Keynote was by Mark Pesce (he’s kindly made his talk & video available) who gave us a great overview of where our school kids are with respect to their hyper-connectivity and challenged us to think about how we might continue to engage them in ‘doing school’.

We had a few concurrent strands to attend and saw some of the work being done in schools through integrating technology into the curriculum and exploiting the kid’s ICT literacy.

More presentations and records of the seminars (being held nationally) will be available from education.au after 13th june. Knock yourself out.

The question remains, (and was raised by some teachers at the forum), while it’s OK for the federal government to allocate funding to increase the level of technology in schools (and probably a good thing to do), what about the change in culture that’s required to make effective use of the technology. Who is going to pay for that? How does school leadership, and the teacher in the classroom, make sense of the rapid shift in connectedness that kids embrace everyday? How do we bridge the divide between what it means to use these tools socially, and using the tools pedagogically?

Posted in learning, teaching | No Comments »

Newer Entries »