Helen's Learning Maze

What's the (Share) Point?

2011-09-15T17:48:00.000+01:00

Sorry for the lack of blog posts (again!) It's proved to be a busy summer this year - even taking into account that we've had no major upgrade and no major renovation works.

That said, I've been able to get on with lots of little bitty things. The biggest one of them all, and a project that has been on my wishlist for a good few months is to develop a booking system that automates most of the processes for us as an e-learning team.

Historically, we sometimes forget to tell staff development who attended a course (sorry Sue!) and we don't always do evaluations. But I think it would be really nice to see how many people attend particular courses, and to identify patterns of attendance, as well as to solidify the evaluation and feedback process.

The main problem is that as a team we all have our fingers in different pies and as such aren't consistent in the way we process our training. This is because we are usually dashing from one place to another.

Anyway, to cut a long story short, I thought about creating a booking system that was automated, and would allow us to automatically gather evaluations.

In short, I wanted to:

Advertise available courses browseable via a calendar with an RSS Feed so that we can display up and coming courses
Allow people to sign up for the courses themselves
Receive a notification when a course is full so that we can decide to put additional courses on to meet demand
Automatically generate a reminder email the day before giving them details of the course - title, venue, start & end times
Generate an email after the course with a link to the evaluation form and any resources and links to accompany that course
Generate an email 3 months after a person has attended a course with a follow up, asking whether they have used what they have learnt, and whether they would like a refresher, or access to supplementary materials. I also wanted to give them the opportunity of creating a case study using what they had learnt.

I thought it was a tall order. The details started coming to me when a friend of mine got a job in the Oxwich Bay Hotel. She was telling me about hotel bookings, conferences, rooms etc and it made me think that it was all possible.

I then proceeded to look at our VLE (Blackboard) as I recalled being on a training session run by Blackboard's Trainer, Pepijn Kalis and he was talking to us about workflows. I distinctly remember being the only one who properly understood the functionality (having used something similar but clunkier) in a previous job. I hadn't started in e-learning at that time, I'd been offered and had accepted the job but hadn't started so it was all new to me.

Since we have upgraded to Blackboard 9.1, we have switched the Workflows functionality off. So Blackboard as a tool was out. I then went to look at open source event booking systems. The best of the lot seemed to be Eventbrite, but we weren't able to tweak it to what we wanted, and it wouldn't generate the emails the way we wanted. I blogged about Eventbrite and its capabilities here

My 'lightbulb' moment came in June, when I attended some of RSC Wales' fantastic series of webinars - "RSC Summer Bytes" and in particular, the webinar given by Hannah Mathias of St Davids Catholic College (presentation here)

She showcased some of the things she had been able to do with workflows, and that made me think that it was feasible.

Why has it taken me till now? I needed to think things over, and to work out what it was that I actually wanted. Then I had to work out whether I could do it in SharePoint, and I've had some productive discussions with staff here in ISS.

Anyway, it is work in progress - I've got the first part of it done thanks to a nifty download from Microsoft's website called Microsoft SharePoint Designer. My next steps will be to create the forms that will go in the front end, and hopefully link it to a database so that we can collate the statistics and generate our reports.

Look out for more details on my progress soon.

Top Ten Tools 2011

2011-07-04T10:52:00.000+01:00

Yesterday (30 June) marked the event of the fourth annual unveiling of the Top Ten Tools list. Every year during June, members of the e-learning team get together with a couple of other speakers from within the University to showcase the tools identified by staff as having been the most useful this year.

The concept was started as a result of some inspiration from Jane Hart and her top 100 tools list.

This year, the process was slightly different. Previously, the team have approached "known" e-learning champions from across the University and asked them to submit their top ten tools in order of preference. When we looked at last year's results, we decided that the data gathered was skewed as we were only targetting known elearning champions. This year, we thought we would try and extend it to all staff.

The analysis has not yet been carried out fully, but I do know that including all staff resulted in a much smaller return. However, there were still 69 different tools listed as a result of this year's survey. Focussing on the top ten, there were 5 new entries. The presentation can be found on Slideshare, though some details and links can be found below:

Google Docs came in at number ten this year, down four places from 2010. Google docs is a free, online office suite consisting of word processing, spreadsheet, presentation and database applications. The beauty of Google docs is that it can be saved "in the cloud" and allows for collaboration. Google Docs requires a google account, but can be accessed at https://docs.google.com/#home.

QR codes was a new entry to the top tools list altogether, coming in at number 9. With the advent of mobile technology, QR (Quick Response) Codes are becoming increasingly common in the media, in shops and around the home/workplace. Elen Wyn Davies, Deputy Subject Librarian spoke to the lunch and learn about the Library's use of QR Codes in the library catalogue. (Presentation and links to follow).

Netvibes was the entry for number 8, a new top ten entry for this year, though it did initially feature in last year's tools. Ironically, it replaces iGoogle in the 2011 list. This is largely to do with the fact that several staff are using the "public facing pages" to feature an aggregation of blogs, news and resources that are related to their subject. iGoogle's shortcoming is that it doesn't allow for both public and private pages. Netvibes can be accessed from http://www.netvibes.com

In at number 7, dropbox was another new entry. It has been around for a few years though has never featured in the top tools list. It allows for remote storage, sharing and syncing of files over several computers (with an internet connection). Users will need to create an account. A video and details of how to create an account can be found at http://www.dropbox.com/

Youtube was the sixth entry in the list. There have been several instances of youtube being used in various formats across the university, particularly in Modern Foreign languages. Chris Hall give a short presentation on YouTube and an exciting up and coming development at Swansea University: The creation of our own streaming server. (Details to follow). This will be launched formally at the start of the next Academic Year.

Blackboard made an appearance at number 5. Blackboard is the VLE or Virtual Learning Environment used in Swansea University. Ironically, Moodle was in the top ten last year (2010) largely we think to the presence of the RSC Wales staff, who use it for their work with FE. Blackboard can be accessed from http://blackboard.swan.ac.uk

Last year's number one tool went down three places to number four. Delicious is a social bookmarking tool, and allows you to create an acocunt whereby you can save your favourites (or bookmarks), tag them appropriately and share them with others.

However, some of the respondents put Delicious/Diigo down, which prompted me to create a combined category. Earlier this year, it was decided that Delicious was going to be sold, and people panicked (including myself!) and promptly moved their bookmarks to other platforms. Diigo was my tool of choice, and I have accounts with both. This might explain part of the reason that Delicious fell from the top spot.

It was mentioned in the meeting that both can be combined but this is something that I have to look into in more detail.

Delicious can be found at http://www.delicious.com/ and Diigo can be found at http://www.diigo.com/user/helenmd

Number three's entry was Firefox/Chrome. As last year, these aren't perceived as "tools" in their own right, but both browsers have plugins or add-ons what are pretty nifty tools. Firefox can be dounloaded from http://www.mozilla.com/en-US/firefox/new/ while Google's Chrome web browser can be found at http://www.google.com/chrome/

Blogs were the number 2 tool of 2011. Respondents used a combination of Wordpress and Blogger, or simply used the word "blogs" so these three entries were combined.

... And Finally! The top tool of 2011 was twitter. This is my weapon of choice, and the amount of problems and queries that I've managed to solve with the assistance of colleagues on twitter has proved its worth, not just to me, but to my colleagues also. Twitter also comes with desktop/web widgets, so you don't have to rely on the web pages to keep up to date with your feeds.

Twitter can be found at http://twitter.com/

CPD23 - Continuing Professional Development

2011-06-20T11:16:00.000+01:00

I am following an online course - cpd23. I heard about it through a colleague's twitter account. It appears to be aimed at librarians, but I thought it would be useful to follow it up anyway.

I currently work at Swansea University in the e-learning team. This involves helping to run our VLE (Virtual Learning Environment - Blackboard) and support/training for all things e-learning.

I enjoy the training aspects of the job, and am very support focussed, probably stemming from my background in lecturing (FE) and IT Support. My interests lie in accessibility, developing and delivering new resources/training and marketing/promotion. I am also interested in open source software and mobile technology.

I see myself progressing along with the introduction of new technologies, though whether this would be general, or whether I'd follow a specific route remains to be seen.

Training Bookings

2011-05-26T14:01:00.000+01:00

I have recently been thinking a lot about the training courses that we offer within the e-learning team, and am looking at how the process can be streamlined to make our training process and sessions more efficient.

One of the features that I particularly like about our VLE (Virtual Learning Environment) is the sign-up tool. This allows the instructor/lecturer of a course to filter their students into different groups, and has options for the students to sign themselves up with a variety of options, as well as randomizing the selection. This powerful tool allows students to sign up, tells them how many places on that list are remaining and if the option has been set, they can add themselves to a reserve list.

Basically it is a booking system. However, we don't have a central booking system for booking our training courses, it is all done manually. Unbeknown to me, a colleague had come across such a system that appears to do the job, is easy to use, and best of all, FREE (though you can pay for higher packages and different services).

EventBrite (www.eventbrite.com) is the tool in question. The front page of its website simply states, "Eventbrite empowers you with simple but powerful tools to manage, promote, and sell out your event. It's free to sign up and get started".

I've only had a quick look at it, but there are several options to make this quite a nifty little tool. It gives you the option to set up a web page specifically for the booking, use discount codes (if needed) and lets attendees register online. Eventbrite will even handle the transactions for you (for a fee). There is built in integration with social media such as LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter. Search Engine Listing is available, as are a host of web based tools relating to transactions, reserve lists, automatic name tag/check in generators as well as the ability to manage recurring events.

From what I've seen, You can also have it synchronised with your calendar, so you'll never miss another training session or meeting again!

An update

2011-05-20T11:43:00.000+01:00

It's been a while since I blogged here, no particular reason other than that I have been focussing on Twitter and also on some larger projects.

These last few months have seen a few developments, namely the Blackboard Conference, this year held in Leeds which I will blog about later. The other main development job-wise is the HEA project on "Developing an Inclusive Culture". Assistive Technology support is part of my job, so it has made sense to look at these separately. To this end, I have created an additional twitter account for myself, @assist_tech. I also have an assistive technology blog - http://assistivetechnology.swan.ac.uk/.

This blog will remain, though it is hoped that I will become more active. I am going to change the focus slightly, and look at technology that is available and how it can be used in education, rather than just being support driven.

A Success story?

2010-08-05T15:06:00.001+01:00

In April 2009, we launched the Blackboard Knowledgebase. The idea behind this was that it would be a bilingual, searchable help facility. There are some nice features within this, but, as always, there is some room for improvement.

The knowledgebase is available publicly - obviously an account is needed to access the administrative features, though potentially it can be searched by anyone. Each article is available both in English and Welsh, and users can either browse through the categories or they can "Ask a Question". This is a nifty little feature that lets you ask a question in natural language (yes, even in Welsh!) while it offers you answers that may be of interest. The more you type into the question box, the more it filters down. You can then click on the answer you want to view or submit the question.

What's unusual about our Knowledgebase, is that it doesn't actually just service Swansea University. It is but one of the success stories emerging from the SWWHEP Project, its content serving Swansea University, Swansea Metropolitan University and Trinity University College (now officially University of Wales, Trinity St David).

When the knowledgebase was launched, there was no fanfare, no fuss, just a little gentle prodding as a result of queries (email and telephone) to the Blackboard teams at each institution.

Having reviewed it today, and produced Wordle clouds for each month since June 2009 (when we decided to collate the search terms), it seems that, after the blank entries, the spam and joke entries (What does the morning after pill have to do with Blackboard, technology or e-learning?) we still recorded 11,457 hits.

When I say hits, I mean users who actually went to the knowledgebase and used the Ask a Question feature, clicking the submit button at the end. Unfortunately, we've not been able to record those who browsed the knowledgebase, nor those who asked a question and found their answer.

What I've been really surprised at over the last year, is the nature of the queries: Look at October 09 - the start of term for many . Wordle Tag Cloud There were no out and out Favourites, though Blackboard, Turnitin, Courses and Timetables all featured quite prominently.

Fast Forward to April 2010. This is around the time that most students are handing assignments in, or have other, related deadlines. Wordle Tag Cloud. No prizes for guessing which was the most popular query!

For almost all of these, there were articles in the knowledgebase, and for those that weren't, they have been duly added. By using Wordle tag Clouds, we, as a team, have been able to visualise what the most popular queries have been and roughly when they occur. This year, we will promote certain articles at certain points in the year, thus promoting the knowledgebase as a whole and also trying to reduce the number of queries that we get at that time of year.

You might be wondering why I think this has been a success, particularly since over 11,000 people haven't been able to find what they are looking for. Well, there are a number of reasons. Firstly, this was a new service offered without any fanfare or official launch. I think that if that many people are using it (and more who have been successfull in their searches) then it's working in some form.

Secondly, I can now estimate which queries will occur at roughly which time of year - this will help us in the coming Academic year as we will be able to promote FAQs in a more timely fashion.

Finally, one of our plugins, Turnitin, changed their interface TWICE during the last academic year. This led to some confusion, as well as the fact that use of Turnitin at the three institutions collectively went up by approximately 30%. That would go some way towards explaining its frequency.

Where next?

Although I feel that the knowledgebase was a big success, there is still room for improvement. We have just upgraded to Blackboard 9.1, so the articles need to be updated to reflect this. This will be done over the next few weeks.

I am hoping to incorporate the wordles from the last academic year into Blackboard, and use them as a tool to promote the relevant knowledgebase articles when students and staff need it most. This will then, hopefully, serve to improve the amount of traffic going to the Knowledgebase.

Then there is the option of expanding the knowledgebase to include all things Web 2.0, not just Blackboard.

If anyone reading this should want to see the wordle diagrams for each month, then please feel free to leave a message.

Helen

Top Ten Tools for e-learning

2010-07-15T16:32:00.001+01:00

RSC Wales ran an event on Wednesday 30 June 2010. I was originally booked to attend, but as one of the presenters dropped out, was asked to present.

Looking at the nature of the programme of the day, I decided to take a presentation that I had prepared for another session based on the top tools for elearning.

The presentation itself is on slideshare: http://www.slideshare.net/lsdavihm/top-ten-tools-for-e-learning.

Links to the tools within the presentation are given below:

PowerPoint

This is not necessarily a tool per se, but Powerpoint is used along with the likes of Adobe Captivate or Camtasia to record presentations and interactive learning content, thus rendering it a bona fide elearning tool.

Mind Maps

Many people use Mind mapping to organise their thoughts, plan their teaching, plan revision or organise/research essays. There are several commercial applications but also a few free mind mapping products available. Some of these can be found at:

Text2Mindmap: http://www.text2mindmap.com/ - This is useful for those of you who prefer lists but would like to try out mind mapping

Bubbl.us: http://bubbl.us/ - This particular application allows collaboration

Free Mind Mapping Applications (for download):

FreeMind: http://freemind.sourceforge.net/wiki/index.php/Download

XMind: http://www.xmind.net/

VUE (Visual Understanding Environment): http://vue.tufts.edu/ (This is more visual, I haven’t looked at this in great detail).

Moodle

This is a VLE, or Virtual Learning Environment, and interestingly, not one that we use in Swansea University! (We use Blackboard, though people tend to view it as a vehicle/platform rather than a tool). However, Moodle is Open Source and can be downloaded from the internet at http://moodle.org/ .

Google Reader

Google reader is a place for you to collect RSS Feeds (links to headings/headlines on your favourite websites) and read through new content at a glance, clicking through the link to the relevant site for more information. You will need a google account for this, both can be accessed from http://www.google.com/reader .

Google Docs

Google Docs is a free, online office suite of tools containing a word processor, spreadsheet and presentation function. A google account is required but the big advantage of Google Docs is that they can be accessed from anywhere with an internet connection, and allows for collaboration, locking documents when they are being edited. Google Docs can be accessed from http://docs.google.com/ .

iGoogle

iGoogle is a personalised google page, or web portal. You can fully customise this, adding blog posts, RSS Feeds, news, email, calendars, tasks etc to make yourself more productive. A google account is required but igoogle can be accessed from http://www.google.co.uk//ig .

Wordpress

Wordpress is a blogging tool. A blog, in its simplest term, is almost a diary of events. You can usually insert pictures and videos, and can talk about anything and everything. Wordpress is one such brand. It can be downloaded onto your server as part of your website, or you can create an account on their site: http://wordpress.org/ .

Firefox

Firefox is an internet browser, rather like Internet Explorer. What makes Firefox stand out as an elearning tools is the array of add-ons that it has.

Within the Conference, I mentioned one such application called Greasemonkey, and an example of how it was used with the Creative Commons Attributions licence. (Instructions to follow)

Firefox: - http://www.mozilla-europe.org/en/firefox/

Greasemonkey Add-on: - https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/748/

Other Firefox Add-ons: - https://addons.mozilla.org/en-GB/firefox/

Twitter

Twitter is known as a microblogging platform. It is very similar to status updates in that your post must be 140 characters or less. During the session, I demonstrated a few uses of it, and related some examples of how it could be used in education.

http://twitter.com/

Social Bookmarking

Social Bookmarking is the term given to web based bookmarks (or favourites). You will need to create an account, but you can save any bookmarks and can access them from any pc with an internet connection. Other great features of this is that you can tag, or categorise your bookmarks, and you have the ability to create a network of other users, and can share bookmarks.

Delicious: http://delicious.com/

CiteULike: http://www.citeulike.org/

StumbleUpon: http://www.stumbleupon.com/

Diigo: http://www.diigo.com/

It was nice to have some interaction with the audience, as they were from all different education sectors. Some were regular users of the tools, but I hope that there was something in this session for everyone.

I enjoyed the discussion, and the questions raised as to why we ran the survey the way we did. It certainly gave me ideas to take forward!

I also had time to throw the questions back to my audience by asking them what their favourite tools were. Tools that were discussed were:

Opus (Digital Workshop): http://www.digitalworkshop.com/

Lanschool (Classroom Management Software): http://www.lanschool.com/

ComicLife(Use your photos to create albums and comics): http://plasq.com/comiclife-win

CrazyTalk (Facial Animation Creator): http://www.reallusion.com/crazytalk/

Snapz Pro X (Screen Recording software for MACs): http://www.ambrosiasw.com/utilities/snapzprox/

If you have any tools that you’d like to talk about then please comment, or send me a tweet @HelenMD if you’re on twitter!

Support site Continued

2010-06-01T13:20:00.002+01:00

Well, it's been an extremely busy few weeks here at Swansea, particularly considering I was off for a week on holiday!

But it's back to work for me, and I've finally made progress (I think) with the support site. I have got most of the content sorted (well, at least I know what I want to go where). I am going to focus primarily on support for staff and will spend some time working on student support.

I'd like to create a site (I'm using the term loosely as I'm not yet sure what format it will take) which encompasses training guides and self supported learning objects, and possibly some screencasts. I would also like to see a section on inspiration - which is an enhancement of the case studies that we currently hold. I have an idea of where I'd like to go with this, and need to start speaking to people about enhancing their case studies, and indeed finding new case studies to keep the inspiration section looking fresh and dynamic. There are several other features that I'd like to include, though at the moment, the learning objects and the inspiration pages are the areas that I'm not sure of.

The main question is, Where do I host this information? Do I ask if it can be appended to the learning lab, or do I use the University's T4 CMS, Blackboard or even an external website (or even a subdomain of swansea)?

One of the things I'd like to do is have a regular spotlight on the case study that would be shown on the home page. All the case studies would be listed under Inspiration, and I'd like to be able to randomly generate one, or even change it every month. I believe this is possible in Blackboard by using Coldfusion, and I'm guessing that it's possible in other areas, but where to go to start looking?

I know that the learning objects will sit within Blackboard and Xerte and Wimba Create both state that they can be run as stand alone web pages - how to do this is the question?

I also wanted to look at our training provision and look at what we could do with it (see my previous post). However, I've still not had an answer from Bob Boufford. That's a shame. I would have liked to see what they offer in their 5 day "summer school" :(

Does anyone out there have experience of developing such a site, whether on Blackboard, externally or using T4? I'd be grateful for any comments, good or bad.

The advantages of e-learning

2010-04-22T14:20:00.001+01:00

In previous blog posts, I've talked about what I'd like to achieve with regard to enhancing support and training here at Swansea. I also mentioned in the first of my reflection posts (reflecting on the Blackboard Teaching and Learning Conference 2010) that I was really inspired by some of the presentations delivered. Both were training related.

My ultimate goal is to get more people using Blackboard in a way that is more than just a dumping ground for course notes. The question is, how do we (as a department) train the staff to do this, and how can we maintain a high level of support?

I'm always keen to share the experience of other teachers/trainers/lecturers/academics and other institutions. Support and Training was very much on my agenda when deciding which strands to attend at the recent Blackboard T&L Conference.

Bob Boufford, in the first of his presentations, put the case for elearning firmly in its place. Students currently miss lectures for a variety of reasons. This may be due to the flu (Who can forget the swine flu epidemic of 2009?), transportation issues, financial issues or family issues. Even volcanic ash! When I was studying I found the pace of lectures quite rapid. Missing a class in some instances made it really difficult to keep up.

One of Bob's approaches was if something was worth planning ahead for one student who was going to be absent, then it was worth planning for several students for the future.

Suggestions included digitizing course materials - such as lecture presentations/notes or even mp3 files. Another suggestion was that of uploading the syllabus and course outline so that at least the student would know what they missed. Luckily, this is what we advise our lecturers to do here.

One area I particularly like, but am trying to think about how it would work with our staff was the use of audio to film a 10-15 minute introduction to a topic, conclusion or even an overview. By using RSS feeds to subscribe, students will always have access and at the University of Alberta, it has led to more positive engagement of students.

This is something I would really like to pilot here at Swansea, but it is finding academics who can spare the time. Online assessment is something that is actively encouraged at Alberta, and again, something that I would like to encourage at Swansea. It forms part of the 7 principles of good teaching practice as stated by Arthur W. Chickering and Stephen C. Ehrmann.

Another presentation given by Bob Boufford (on behalf of his colleague, Bonita Bray) documented the development of a community based approach to training. I was struck by how well it seems to have worked, and am hoping to have some more information on what they covered in their course.

There was a direct need to change their approach to training (5000 faculty and staff), and their result culminated in the development of an eLearning Summer Institute. This consisted of a 5-day course for academic staff, specifically those teaching rather than in research. While they acknowledged that there was a level of time and effort required on the academic's part, they felt that this investment really paid off, and that by the end of the 5 days, they would have a course "ready to roll" at the end of the course and a host of skills and ideas that they could transfer to any other courses they may be teaching..

The elearning team were very specific in that they focussed on effective uses of Blackboard in teaching and learning, and set down specific guidelines for registration, particularly that they had to commit to 5 full days and that they had to agree to share knowledge and ideas both during and after the course.

Whereas I can't feasibly see this working in Swansea, I'm very interested in the methods. I would like to be able to use some of the ideas and concepts from this course and possibly break it down into chunks. My problem with this is getting the academics to commit to 5 days - they seem to be pushed for time as it is. It definitely won't work this summer with our upgrades, but I can certainly see a case for trying some next term and then a version around Christmas/Exam time. This may be something to think about when planning our training review.

What I really like about this approach, is that lecturers come armed with what they need to teach and they discuss the pedagogical aspects with the elearning team who can recommend a suitable tool if required. This has the advantages of engaging the students and being able to better showcase your work. By the end of the course, the academic will have had basic training and their course will have been built with all the relevant tools utilised.

Coming back to the subject in hand, the reason I like it is because it means that students don't miss out regardless of disability or geographical location. In an ever-changing climate, I think we need a back up plan at least, to the traditional lecture.

The opening Keynote - a reflection

2010-04-21T10:24:00.006+01:00

Richard Gerver was the external speaker that gave the opening keynote. I must admit, he really geared his audience up for the session ahead.

Richard’s keynote, “Leading into the future” looked at issues education will come across as we move into an ever increasing technology driven world.

One of the areas he spoke about was that people were fine with the norm, but when someone deviated from that path, then they ran into trouble and couldn't cope - the illustration used was that of wanting a sausage roll (here in Wales we'd call them a sausage bap) and not being able to buy one and after the assistant chatted to his boss, it transpired that he could sell a bread roll and sausage separately. This was likened to education in that People learn facts and yet they don't learn how to find out the facts, therefore they aren't transferring the skills.

The presenter had two main sources of inspiration for me. The first was that of a teacher at a school he used to head who dared to be different and it was this one occasion that aided Richard in revolutionising the school.

The second one wasn't really something specific that he said, it was more the way he said things. He brought humour to the table, he brought an interesting and (literally) mouth-watering presentation to the table (better than death by powerpoint), and he brought tales of his own experiences, and how that related to technology in the future.

One of his personal illustrations was that of his teenage daughter's parent's evenings. Her maths teacher didn't really rate her, yet she understood the value of money and was quite the entrepeneur on Second Life, designing her own clothes and building up a chain of stores over the space of two years.

Blackboard Teaching and Learning Conference 2010 - the Post Mortem

2010-04-19T10:36:00.003+01:00

April 12-14 2010 saw the first ever Teaching and Learning conference held by Blackboard inc.

Overall, I thought it was pretty good. There were a mix of presentations on a variety of topics, all relevant to some of the areas that we are looking into at the moment.

Areas of particular interest for me personally were the various Blackboard 9.0 and 9.1 presentations - Blackboard delivered an hour long overview of the features available in version 9.1, which was officially launched to coincide with the conference.

Their built in blogs and wikis feature was a useful addition, tweeted favourably by many (if you are a twitter user then search for #bbTLC10 and see for yourself.

An even better feature, and one that will probably prove to be most useful, is the ability to allow anonymous marking via the Blackboard Grade Centre.

Several presentations were given by institutions who have already upgraded to version 9.0 and mistakes were made by Blackboard, which Ray Henderson stepped forward, held his hands up and said, yes, we made mistakes, we won't make them again. See his blog at http://rayhblog.com.

Blackboard have released a welsh language pack AND a UK English pack as part of 9.1, so at least the spellings will be correct.

Other areas of particular interest to me were those surrounding Support and Training. Following this theme, two presentations really stood out for me. Bob Boufford's presentation from the University of Alberta talked about their intensive summer school for academics. Basically, Academics go for 5 days' intensive training on Blackboard and come out with a ready prepared course, and the skills required to do the same for other modules. I can't say it would work here at Swansea on the same principles, but I can see a market for it - one for discussion with the team I think.

The other session that inspired me was the training session from the University of York. They have taken a different approach, and during the training session we were encouraged to explore the areas required when planning a module. Two institutions taking two very different approaches to training. Which one would suit Swansea? Each presentation had its pros and cons, but finding the right balance is the thing.

I will try and reflect on specific presentations over the next few days.

Code....

2010-03-24T12:08:00.004Z

I've been working on our knowledgebase this week. I want to get the design finalised before the Blackboard Conference so that when we have to show it off, then we can demonstrate something that looks professional.

I've been using Dreamweaver CS4 to edit the code, having used one of the freely available templates at www.studio7design.com. I initially tried Kompozer but as my html is limited and my css was non-existent, I felt I needed something a little more intuitive.

I have designed the template, and it looks fine, just what I wanted, but for some reason it won't let me preview the documents in the browser :( I have no idea why, but I intend to find out. I'm not going to let this beat me!

My next project is to take a (rather large) matrix that I have adapted with permission from phoebe.ox.ac.uk . This list allows the user to match tools and apps to various tasks. However, it's a long list and not one I'd like to sit through. However, I intend to try and make it manageable by creating something like RSC Yorkshire & Humberside have achieved with their accessibility checklists.

I think its an ideal opportunity to learn a little more about forms design in html, but it will take some time. That said, it opens up a whole new ball game with regard to the support site.

What do you think?

Support - Where next?

2010-03-18T11:14:00.004Z

I can't believe that I left it so long to blog!

I'm still looking at creating a support site but I've come up against some obstacles, both internal and external. I will therefore take a hiatus from this and return to it when my mind is a little fresher. I still have grand plans for the site, but whether anyone is interested is anyone's guess.

I've also been focussing on Accessibility as that is a small and lesser-known part of my role. My aims in this area are to make staff aware that they have a responsibility to make timely reasonable adjustments for disabled students including alternative formats. (Revised Disability Equality Scheme). As I've been delving further and further into this area, it strikes me that there are so many similarities to e-learning content. Why not try and market it so that staff can enhance their use of elearning and promote accessibility for all at the same time?

I'm still very much in the planning stages and am due to have discussions with various members of staff with a view to developing something for Swansea. Watch this space!

Helen

Reinventing the Wheel?

2009-12-10T17:36:00.004Z

I posted a while ago about my vision for creating a support site for our department, and for other institutions in our partnership (if they want the materials).

What I want to do is create, or develop, or enhance a place where teaching staff can go to find inspiration, support and guidance.

I'd like to see a best practice/showcase area that showcases academics' subjects and how they have used technology to enhance the student experience.

I also want to enhance our training portfolio - how easy/feasible this would be I don't know. We already cover a vast range of web 2.0 tools. I'm having thoughts about different formats, and including bite sized screenshots or podcasts.

I would also like to include documents or short videos that represent how-to guides as an introduction to certain topics, with training sessions for more detailed instruction.

There are several other areas that I'd like to see developed, but have not listed here.

I know that I would like to see it all, and think that given the right amount of development and tlc, this could become a useful resource, but what do other people think? Is it worth all the effort?

Do you think posting links to youtube and videojug would be better ideas? Or should a Swansea brand be the way to go? What do you think about in-house materials?

Please comment if you have any opinion on this, or any suggestions?

Mind Mapping

2009-11-25T17:19:00.003Z

Over the last few months I've been doing a lot of planning. Planning for my CMALT, planning training sessions, planning the redesign of our knowledge base, planning my studies, planning my workload.. and so on.

All the way through education I've stumbled when it comes to planning, yet I have come across mind mapping. I can't believe how easy it is to start, and how quickly I can create stuff.

I've progressed from handwritten diagrams to software based diagrams. I'm so taken with it that I'm running a training session on Mind Mapping next week.

I've seen a few examples and have a good idea of how to run the session (I'm actually looking forward to doing the session!) But I'd like to find any examples of mindmaps in education. Ideas anyone??

CMALT and Webinars

2009-10-15T16:22:00.002+01:00

As you will note from my very first blog, I'm working towards my CMALT. For those who don't know what it is, it stands for Certified Member of the Association for Learning Technology.

I must admit, I'm far from the ideal student. I'm one that will be on the pro plus the night before the assignment is due in.

True to form (well-almost), I had an email gently reminding me that my deadline is 30 December. That doesn't leave me with much time. PANIC.

I've looked at the criteria and it is very vague. I could put so much down on there, but what to choose? And more importantly, how to back it up?

But I attended a webinar yesterday, organised by ALT and I must admit, it was a resounding success! It gave me some ideas of what I can put down, and it gave me back the motivation to carry on. I also got in touch with others who are going through the same process, and some who hadn't even started. So I dont' feel as stupid.

Anyway, the reason I wanted to blog about this was the webinar itself. What a brilliant invention! We used elluminate, and there were 15-16 of us there, all from different areas of the UK. It was good when there was one instructor and several tutees as such. We were all able to participate, and I think it has a lot of potential. But who will buy it? I can see potential for some distance learning courses - and indeed its giving me some thoughts about training in the future.

Worth exploring! AND it got recorded so people who couldn't make it were able to request the video. Lots to think about!

Support?

2009-08-25T15:55:00.002+01:00

I've been involved in support for an awfully long time. I view teaching and training as a form of support mechanism. I started teaching at the tender age of 19, and was thrilled to finally be able to give something back to the college that had given me the confidence and self belief to do it.

Since then, I've trained and taught in many different environments, including FE, HE and local Government. I've also worked in IT Support, and been part of several developments related to technology, not all of them good.

However, I'm now working in e-learning. An area that I've been interested in for years. I've taken on a personal project (off my own back!) in that I want to put together a support site. One of the tasks I was taken on to do was update the existing FAQs.

I ended up creating a knowledgebase and it is easier to navigate than the old FAQs, though in my opinion, the CSS stylesheets could do with a bit of an overhaul. But I want more. I want to help people. It's taken me the best part of 9 months to get to grips with Blackboard, Web 2.0 and all the technology out there. And I've only just touched the tip of the iceberg!

One thing that strikes me though, is how little support there seems to be. Or is it just me? When I go shopping for clothes, I walk into a shop and if there's nothing on the first few racks in my size then I walk back out again. Similarly, when I look at a new tool or application, if I can't fathom it out in the best part of half an hour then it gets relegated to the scrap heap. I mean, I'm IT Literate. If I can't do it, how on earth are others supposed to use it?

Anyway, back to the point in question. Support. I've been listening to, or rather, reading comments on how support should be delivered. What do people want? Do people want some sort of boolean help function (or knowledgebase) that they can search in 'proper english' that will tell them what they need to know? Do they want to pick up the phone? Email? Messenger? Facebook?

I want to help you to make your course better. How do YOU think it could be improved? To me, that is very much like putting a kid in a sweetshop. I'll have this, that and the other, oh, and I have £1.50 left. What can I have for that? All to soon you have every gadget and gizmo going and then you lose sight of what you are trying to achieve, i.e. you want to provide the best learning experience for your students. What do they want? Did anyone ask them?

If they want more collaboration, then fine, there are ways and means of doing that. But do you know enough? No? Well how would you like to be taught? Academics' time is of the essence. They don't want to be perched in training sessions only to go away and forget about it. Do you muddle around and then want to speak to someone when you get stuck?

Do you want to access a bite size chunk that you can dip in and out of as you please? How do you want me to support you? How can I help? What is reasonable?

I've looked around various educational sites and I've seen several FAQs, several flashy gizmos and videos with dodgy accents. The thing is, I don't know what suits me. I don't know what suits everyone else either. I like to look at what other people have done and adapt it for my own use - the method, that is, not the content!

In a nutshell, if I offered you support on web 2.0/VLEs, how would you like it served? What would you look for in your ideal site?

My top ten tools

2009-08-17T12:33:00.005+01:00

Jane Hart, on her website http://c4lpt.co.uk/recommended/top10tools.html regularly composes a list of top tools for e-learning. She invites responses from e-learning professionals and I frequently read them. It's a really useful site to read, I've found many a gem hidden among other people's top ten.

I've been thinking about making my own contribution, and after much deliberation, here it is:

MindJet Mind Manager
I am preparing a lot of documents, training sessions, and other mini projects at the moment. I previously used lots of trees and elbow grease composing mind maps, as I find this works for me. Since finding this, I tend to use this quite extensively.
Prezi
I discovered Prezi when looking through some archives of CogDogBlog's blog posts. I do like Powerpoint, but having attended a conference in Cardiff earlier this year (organised by RSC Wales) and watching a fabulous keynote speech, I started to explore different ways of presenting. And this is FREE!
Pb Works
I am employed as part of a project. PbWorks (formerly Pbwiki) is our collaboration tool of choice. As we are based in different institutions, it means that we can all contribute in discussion and planning etc.
twitter
I am in agreement with several learning professionals here. Twitter is my tool of choice. Through twitter, I have engaged in discussion with other elearning professionals, and it helps me to keep an eye on the latest trends in the e-learning forum.
Delicious
I work at my desk, I work from home, I have a netbook and a laptop that I also use. This is my tool of choice for social bookmarking. Several colleagues are also keen users of delicious so it helps that I use the same medium.
Netvibes
I use Netvibes as my start page. Most of the blogs, articles and feeds that I like to keep up with are listed here. I love that I can categorise my work blogs, my personal rss feeds and keep my photography tutorials on the same web page with use of tabs.
Cooliris
I attended a top ten tools event at my institution last year. Cooliris was illustrated as a useful tool. I am a graphics geek and this blew me away. I must admit I've never used this in a presentation/training situation but I'm looking for ways that I can use it. I've also seen various blogs illustrating how cooliris can be used as a presentation tool. That's fine, but I need something to present now...
Youtube
There are some gems on youtube. Copyright can be an issue, but as long as you're aware of the copyright rules, and follow them then you're ok. My primary use of youtube is research. I look around for bits of software and other web tools, and then I look on youtube for examples of how they can be used. Look at prezi for instance!
Camstudio
I have a licence for the commercial version, Camtasia. However, several staff here don't. Camstudio is the best open source version of camtasia that I've come across. I have developed training sessions using camstudio, and do use it so that I can teach others what I know. Simple to use, Minimal technology know-how needed. If in doubt, try youtube ;
Blogger
I have tried using various blogging tools but keep coming back to blogger. I have to admit, I am new to blogging in that this is my first personal blog. However, I have contributed to other people's blogs for a while, and also blog on Swansea's learning lab

Welcome to my blog

2009-07-24T14:53:00.004+01:00

I thought that, given that I may well be training people in how to use blogs and wikis, it might be good practice to create and maintain my own. So here I am, almost 3pm on a Friday afternoon blogging away.

I've got lots going on here. From Blackboard matters such as working on the basics of the Community System, to looking at training and looking for different bits of new technology.

I'm also embarking on a period of study, working towards obtaining my CMALT accreditation, as well as commencing my BA in Professional Practice. At least it will keep me out of mischief! I believe that the route to CMALT accreditation will give me some structure in my work that I currently lack, it will help me to identify my strengths and weaknesses and allow me to build on that.

The BA will then allow me to (hopefully) do my job better, by encouraging me to use different methods of working, help me with project management/support (an interest of mine) and also to give me more confidence.

My line of work involves eLearning in its broadest sense. Whilst I am currently heavily involved in our VLE (Blackboard Academic Suite 8), I also like to look at some of the latest technology and how it can be used. I've jumped on the twitter bandwagon, and I find that useful for work purposes.