eTutoring - Models for facilitating online discussions

In early 2015 I was studying two modules on my Technology Enhanced Learning MSc, one of which was eTutoring.  From sharing a part of my eTutoring work in the post 'An experience of facilitating an online discussion' (which I received a distinction), after looking through some of my work I've decided to share the accompanying essay (which was graded a B).  It would be a shame not to share it as I really enjoyed the subject of eTutoring - in fact it was one of my favourite pieces of work during my Technology Enhanced Learning MSc, but not forgetting my eLearning package evaluation, ePortfolio and dissertation!  Here is a presentation I made taking excerpts from the essay component of the eTutoring module I did.  EDIT: this is now down at the bottom as I later decided to include the entire piece.

Models for facilitating online discussions

Introduction

eTutoring (online tutoring) is where a tutor facilitates and orchestrates learning within an online environment, usually to support learners in a distance and blended delivery models (Bennett & Youde, 2010).  This role can consist of initiating an activity right through to facilitating and motivating it to giving feedback and assessment (Mobbs, 2005).  Garrison (2011) defines eTutoring as;

“Facilitating discourse recognizes the role of the community of inquiry as enabling and encouraging the construction of personal meaning as well as shaping and confirming mutual understanding” (p 58).

However, the increasing availability of online technology such as social networking and online tools/resources has led today’s teacher to use a wider more flexible and diverse range of technologies to meet the needs and demands of today’s learners (Jisc, 2012).  This has resulted in teachers needing rigorous training and skill development to cope, facilitate and manage learning within these rapidly evolving and demanding environments (Gordon, 2014).

This essay aims to introduce and broaden Salmon’s 5 Stage Model (2011) with a discussion of themes that can be applied within in it, with the view of proposing a simplistic model.  In this essay I will explore and discuss a range of themes that are concerned with facilitating within an online asynchronous environment.  I investigate and examine related theories and practice through the themes, outline concerns that have future possibilities, then conclude with my findings that extend my understanding and practice, with an outlook of using my own model for facilitating an online discussion.  eTutoring is of high interest to me as firstly I like to learn and facilitate learning from a distance, secondly I like discussion forums but I want to improve my practice of facilitating them and finally eTutoring is where practical application of technology is supported with pedagogical purpose.

Discussion

There are many types of online tools and resources to support eTutoring via discussions such as asynchronous text-based discussion forums, instant chat, webpage authoring, ePortfolios, blogs and wikis (Bennett & Youde, 2010).  Furthermore, there are methods in which these online discussions can and should be approached.  The following section starts with a discussion that explores strategies that are concerned with facilitating online discussions such as initiating engagement and motivation of learners.

Considerations for online facilitation

As within face-to-face delivery, the eTutor is expected to manage learners within an activity (Setlhako, 2014).  Garrison (2011) claims that teaching online is just as important as in face-to-face discussions.  Folley (2013) recognises that tutors transform from direct instruction to a more facilitative approach when teaching online.  This adds the notion of how can a tutor facilitate in an online environment?  Drawing on Salmon’s 5 Stage Model (2011) I discuss how some themes; empathy, motivating, prompting, challenging, weaving and summarising can be applied within the model along with further ideas.  Salmon’s model is heavily influenced on the constructivist approach (Jonassen et al, 1995 & Wenger et al, 2002).  Salmon supports this model by stating that a scaffold for learning, interaction and an eTutor are vital for high-level constructivist collaboration (Salmon, 2011).  Salmon’s model encourages the eTutor to facilitate discussions so that learners can focus on the exploration and examination of accessible information of problems or issues (Salmon, 2011).  Garrison (2011) concludes that converging interest, engagement and learning can help meet the purposes, processes and outcomes of an online activity.  Garrison also makes the point that instruction is critical part of the eTutor.

Empathy

Firstly within access and motivation stage, the eTutor is encouraged to show sensitivity to online relationships and communication (Salmon, 2011).  In my experience as a tutor, without this approach the activity can appear rigid and emotionless; which can demotivate learners and the activity itself.  I agree with Cornelius (2001) that to facilitate interactions there must be focus on relationships and the environment for learners to form strong connections between the content and the interaction around it.  But to do this I believe that individuals (humans) and in particular tutors (both online and face-to-face) should include and promote empathy in both personal and professional life as it helps to understand others so you can communicate better with them (McLaren, 2013).  Additionally, as McLaren (2013, p 4) eloquently puts; “empathy is crucial to the functioning of all social structures.”  It is my belief that empathy surrounds and binds all connections, interactions and relationships either personal or professional.   Through opening these internal skills and widening our external awareness, greater understanding of individuals can be achieved.  McLaren (2013, p 3) sums my thoughts up by stating;

“Empathy helps you connect with others, feel alongside them, understand them, work with them, meet their needs.”

Overall, the core duties at this stage are to welcome, congratulate, encourage, reassure, and give direction to help (Salmon, 2007).  Furthermore, the eTutor should be philosophically and emotionally (emotional intelligence) committed to the activity and enabling learners to connect with their own motivational drivers. (Gamble, 2013).  The eTutor can refer back to Maslow’s hierarchy of needs to help learners feel a sense of belonging within the learning environment (Smith, 1999).  However, Moore (1993) claims that transactional distance could compromise the space between the tutor and learner.  This is when dialogue is minimal between the learner and tutor through internal autonomy thus the distance between the learner and the tutor is increased.  This suggests that this could counteract Maslow’s hierarchy of needs as learners could lose the feeling of belonging.

Motivating

Secondly within the online socialisation stage, the overall aim of online discussions is to achieve interaction amongst the learners.  The eTutor can provide a role model through leading by example (Salmon, 2011).  Introducing icebreakers for example and welcome messages could be used as a method into opening up learners to the topic.  This could be about personal experiences and previous knowledge in relation to the topic.  I recommend that using a powerful introduction with purposeful resources can help trigger interest amongst learners.  The key is to get all learners to contribute as early as possible so that the tutor knows all learners are capable of contributing and not tempted to ‘lurk’ (Walsh, 2009).  Considering transactional analysis could help assess learner’s responses and interactions towards each other.  Transactional stimulus described by Berne (1964) as two or more people encountering each other in a social situation suggests that people will acknowledge the presence of others.  Individuals will respond to each other either through the parent, adult or child ego state related to the stimulus which is called the transaction.  Basic transactional analysis is related to identifying which ego state enabled the transactional stimulus and which one carried out the transactional response (Berne, 1964).  eTutors as with face-to-face need to be aware of the ego states that learners are responding to as this will help identify how learners are approaching their learning, peers and the task itself.  Smith (2003, 2009) introduces Wenger’s ‘communities of practice’ where members engage in activities help each other by sharing their experiments and knowledge, thus learning from each other.  In effect members become practitioners as they are practicing with the information shared.  An eTutor could aim to embed this within any online sharing space to enable learners to become practitioners.  Collis and Moonen (2005) support this through their participation model by clarifying that the focus should be on learning activities and becoming a member of a community of practice and contributing to it.  This recommends that online discussions should be focussed around the activity rather than the content.  However, I agree with Collis and Moonen that learners do need to be self-aware of learning to learn, collaborating and self-regulating to ensure that they can participate effectively within the community.  Weller (2002) discussed how collaborative learning is about learners working in a group or team to construct and develop learning.  It can be in the form of discussions or creating material amongst its members.  However, in some circumstances online discussions could be used in a more informal way.  Weller (2002) and Mayes and Freitas (2004) introduced the notion of situative learning.  This approach is about learning incidentally rather than deliberately; meaning that learners participate in learning that is applicable to them but not central to the course.  This could also be coined with learning as social practice, which places tutor in a more supportive but less central role (Weller 2002).

Prompting

Thirdly within the information exchange stage, the eTutor could be more flexible in their approach; ensuring the right pace for the activity.  It is important for the eTutor to follow the flow of the conversation and prompt where needed rather than replying to each and every individual contribution (Walsh, 2009).  They should try and not be as strict and pounce on individuals for minimal or no participation.  They could be more flexible of how and when learners contribute and praise effort rather than the opposite.  The eTutor should be about guiding learners to the end goal and keeping them on track (Baran et al, 2011).  Also, they could be more creative in their responses, giving stimulus to their replies to provoke individuals to keep coming back (Walsh, 2009).  Ultimately, the eTutor could encourage learners to do their own weaving (taking and replying to contributions) and summarising responses but being observant and willing to correct and comment where appropriate (Salmon, 2007).

Challenging

Also in the information exchange stage, again the eTutor must allow flexibility and not jump to conclusions if some learners are not participating.  Features of the technology could be used to find out if the learner has been accessing or viewing the content.  If this is the case, then a private message or a tutorial may resolve the situation (Salmon, 2011).  However, being empathetic and supportive but praising and awarding effort fairly could provide the encouragement needed to challenge participants (Walsh, 2009).  The overall aim is to give guidance to learners, engage less responsive and manage more dominant learners (Garrison, 2011).

Weaving

Fourthly within the knowledge construction stage, weaving is pulling together all replies and contributions related to a particular topic and making them open for inspection (Salmon, 2011).  Learners should be encouraged to weave other’s efforts to further the conversation with more contributions (Baran et all, 2011).  Weaving could be done throughout a conversation, but not at an early stage as most contributions will be from the eTutor and not the learners.  As Garrison (2011) highlights; too much teaching and teaching presence can affect discourse.  Furthermore, weaving should not be done for the sake of it, but to pull together themes and quote value (Salmon, 2011).

Summarising

Finally in the development stage, summarising occurs at the end of the discussion and the eTutor should collect all main points and themes through positive but reinforcing feedback and declaring any omissions that could be irrelevant.  These contributions could then be collected, colour coded and mapped against learners names and be formed into a resource in which learners can refer to and signals the end of the activity (Salmon, 2011).

Further from Salmon’s 5 Stage Model, the eTutor should also exploit all features available within the technology to help facilitate the discussion.  For example, setting thread-like formats, word counts, annotating/highlighting and archiving contributions.  In my experience, exploiting full potential of the technology should be aimed at making eTutor easier not harder, thus making the learning and teaching experience more enjoyable.

Extending from this discussion, when facilitating online learning it poses some questions that I feel need further exploration.  The following is a discussion of what I feel are concerns related to my interest in facilitating online discussions.

Time in accessing and visiting contributions and interpreting them before responding

It can be time very time consuming to check on online discussions, more than it would face-to-face; effective timetabling for feedback and checking participation is the best way to ensure timely assessment of contributions (Salmon, 2011).  Likewise, it takes time to interpret contributions before responding.  In support, Schön (1983) suggests that this is good practice through their Reflection in Action theory; where the tutor is expected to reflect on an issue or improvement in front of them and consider the connection in their behaviour.  Furthermore, the recent explosion of Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) uses the recent learning theory of connectivism to empower and influence others (Wheeler, 2012).  This learning theory could be used more effectively within in online discussions, for example it could make better use of the eTutor’s time by allowing learners to peer feedback, review and critique.

Lack of empathy and personal involvement

eTutoring can portray a pseudo tutor disguised as an avatar, which can be a ‘turn-off’ to learners as they need a sense of realism and tutor interaction (Thompson, undated).  Scott (2013) claims that “technology does not give you the human element”.  A way to improve this is to have real picture on profiles and/or include some personal but yet professional information such as a regularly updated blog for added value.  However, this may not be enough as McLaren (2013, p 18) positively states;

“It’s not enough to merely share an emotion with another; you also have to be able to do something helpful and compassionate in response”.

The expectation of ‘leaving learners to it’

It is my understanding through colleagues’ views that online discussions can be left to develop on their own without teacher presence or interaction.  However, Folley (2013) implies that tutor presence is essential to lead and facilitate activities to build social presence.  Furthermore, if constructed carefully and considerately, Just-in-Time teaching (JiTT) can be applied.  As Peeters states, JiTT is about creating a feedback loop in learner’s learning by them specifically developing understanding through non-contact hours, which is often online materials (Peeters, 2010).

Synchronous vs asynchronous

I feel that many people think that delivering learning from face-to-face to online has the same principles.  However, as Krznarić and Buinac imply;

“Online learning is different from the traditional face-to-face learning in many aspects such as the way in which the information is conveyed, interaction with instructors, lifestyle of the learners” (2010, p 876 - 879).

Salmon (2014) supports this through their Carpe Diem process which is a methodology for highlighting the difference in delivery and tutoring through careful planning and designing for blended learning opportunities.  Furthermore, Cornelius (2001) finds that text does not suit everyone and that synchronous (real-time) learning provides an additional sensory experience through audio and video as people learn, hear, and think in different ways; adding the human element.  Also, Cornelius (2001) explains that asynchronous (time independent) learning is beneficial as once it has developed it can be reused more easily than asynchronous, plus learners have the time to think and reflect about their contributions.  I agree firmly with these statements as they sum up the difference between both mediums.

To conclude my essay, I will close with the following discussion of how my findings have improved my understanding and informed my practice.

Conclusion

Throughout this essay it has helped me expanded my awareness and widen my knowledge of how the themes sit firmly within Salmon’s 5 Stage Model (2011).  Previously, I have used the model to signpost and judge where I am at in running an online discussion.  It was very much just a static framework, but now I have added meaning to it and filled it with a purpose that I understand.  Throughout the model I have applied the following themes to the stages; empathy (access and motivation), motivating (online socialisation), prompting and challenging (information exchange), weaving (knowledge construction) and summarising (development) giving myself theory of how to achieve each stage.  My experience of eTutoring previously has been with the model but very under used.  But now I feel I have made sense of this model and can now use it as a framework to use on future online discussions.  However, I can use and adapt other pedagogies such as community of practice, contributing student, situative and connectivism learning to help me achieve what I want leaners to do.  However, synchronous learning is a better approach to be more human, but is a limitation of getting everyone together at that particular time.  Furthermore, Garrison (2011) strongly recommends that eTutors should address the following pointers:

• Managing and monitoring discourse
• Sustaining encouragement demands serious commitment 
• Quality contributions require discourse to be focussed and productive
• Awareness of cognitive and social presence
• Timing of responses to be carefully considered (timetabling and maintaining momentum)

Concentrating on these ideas helps me to understand what implications could be present in pre and post to running an online discussion.  Garrison (2011) emphasises that we must model critical discourse when scaffolding to meet goals as pedagogical, interpersonal and organisational issues are involved.  So, to help me create a critical model for discourse in which Garrison (2011) suggests, appendix 1 illustrates a future idea in which I could plan out my facilitation skills within an online discussion.  It can provide a plan in which informative and formative feedback can be given.  It can be viewed as a typical overview of facilitating and online activity.  The duration indicates the length of the activity from start to finish, the E-Tivity identifies the type of activity and the action outlines what the learner and eTutors is expected to do.  However, the interactions will differ depending on learner numbers and the amount of replies they contribute, but this example focusses on my recent experience of an online discussion via individual contributions.

To summarise, I have identified two models that could potentially be used to support online facilitation; one that describes depth to the process and the other for a simplistic overview of actions.  Overall, the eTutor needs to plan rigorous strategies that enable and encourage deep, meaningful and purposeful learning (Garrison, 2011).  Cornelius (2001) suggests that eTutors need to recognise their styles and how to assess the styles of the participants to design and facilitate considerately.  However in my opinion, the activity does depend on how it is designed and what and how the technology is implemented.

Appendices

Appendix 1.  A model for critical discourse in an online discussion.

References

Baran, E, Correia, A & Thompson, A (2011) ‘Transforming online teaching practice: critical analysis of the literature on the roles and competencies of online teachers’ Distance Education, 32:3, 421-439

Bennett, L, Youde, A (2010) ‘Teaching in Lifelong Learning: Chapter 12: E-tutoring’ Open University Press, McGraw-Hill Education

Berne, E (1964) ‘Games People Play: The psychology of human relationships’ The Penguin Group

Collis & Moonen (2005) ‘An On-Going Journey: Technology as a Learning Workbench’ University of Twente

Cornelius, S (2001) ‘Online Tutoring e-Book’ Heriot-Watt University, The Robert Gordon University

Folley, S (2013) ‘Bridging the gap between face-to-face and online teaching : a case study exploring tutors’ early experiences of teaching online in a UK university 2009-2012’ Doctoral thesis, University of Huddersfield

Gamble, M (April 2013) ‘Jiscmail List Discussion of Online Distance Learning: Online Learning Tips’ ALT-Members, Jiscmail

Garrison , D, R (2011 second edition) ‘E-Learning in the 21st Century’ Taylor & Francis

Gordon, N (2014) ‘Flexible Pedagogies: technology-enhanced learning’ The Higher Education Academy

Jisc (2012) ‘Learning in a Digital Age: Extending higher education opportunities for lifelong learning’ HEFCE

Jonassen D, Davidson, M, Collins, M, Campbell, B, Haag, B (1995)’Constructivism and computer-mediated communication in distance education, American Journal of Distance Education 9 (2), p 7-25

Krznarić, M, Buinac, R. (24-28 May 2010) 'Can online learning help Croatian ESL students achieve better fluency' MIPRO, 2010 Proceedings of the 33rd International Convention

Mayes, T, Freitas, S (2004) ‘JISC e-Learning Models Desk Study: Stage 2: Review of e-learning theories, frameworks and models’ Jisc

McLaren, K (2013) ‘The Art of Empathy: a complete guide to life’s most essential skill’ Sounds True, Inc.

Mobbs, R (2005) ‘The Role of the eTutor’ http://www.le.ac.uk/users/rjm1/etutor/etutor/etutorrole.html (accessed 8 February 2015)

Moore, M. G (1993) ‘Theory of transactional distance. In D. Keegan (Ed.) Theoretical Principles of Distance Education’ New York, Routledge

Peeters, S (2010) ' Just-in-Time teaching' http://www.sussex.ac.uk/tldu/ideas/methods/jitt (accessed 4 February 2015)

Salmon G, Wright P (2014) ‘Transforming Future Teaching through ‘Carpe Diem’ Learning Design’ Education Sciences, 4(1):52-63

Salmon, G (2011 third edition) ‘e-moderating: The Key to Online Teaching and Learning’ Routledge

Salmon, G (April 2007) ‘80:20 for E-Moderators’ University of Leicester

Schön, D (1983) ‘The Reflective Practitioner: How professionals think in action’ London: Temple Smith

Scott, D (2013) https://twitter.com/_Daniel_Scott/status/332038926669840384 (accessed 4 February 2015)

Setlhako, A, M (November 2014) ‘Competencies Required for the Facilitation of Online Learning Courses: An Online Teaching Assistants Competency Based Approach’ Mediterranean Journal of Social Sciences MCSER Publishing, Rome-Italy, 5:23

Smith, M, K (2003, 2009) ‘Jean Lave, Etienne Wenger and communities of practice’ http://infed.org/mobi/jean-lave-etienne-wenger-and-communities-of-practice/ the encyclopedia of informal education (accessed 23 February 2015)

Smith, M. K (1999) ‘The humanistic to learning’ http://infed.org/mobi/humanistic-orientations-to-learning/  the encyclopedia of informal education (accessed 8 February 2015)

Thompson, K (undated) ‘Group work/collaborative based learning’ https://bestpracticemodels.wiki.staffs.ac.uk/@api/deki/files/167/=Online_participation.pdf (accessed 8 February 2015)

Walsh, S (2009) 'Ten tips for online tutors’ http://www.kineo.com/resources/top-tips/learning-strategy-and-design/ten-tips-for-online-tutors (accessed 4 February 2015)

Weller, M (2002) ‘Delivering Learning on the Net: the why, what and how of online education’ Routledge

Wenger, E, McDermott, R, W, M Snyder (eds) (2002) ‘Cultivating Communities of Practice, Harvard Business School Press, Boston MA

Wheeler, S (2012) ‘Theories for the digital age: Connectivism’ http://steve-wheeler.blogspot.co.uk/2012/10/theories-for-digital-age-connectivism.html (accessed 8 February 2015)

Blended Learning Essentials - a summary of curation

I've known about FutureLearn's Blended Learning Essentials course for some time, but I haven't been able to do them until now.  I heard that they have been very successful and read lots of positive things about them.  Since I completed my Technology Enhanced Learning masters last Summer, I haven't done any other formal learning as such.  So I think I was due to participate and learn something new or reinforce things I may have forgotten along my journey.

The first course 'Getting Started' proved very valuable for me as you can see I have taken a lot of knowledge and practice from it.  The first part of the course ran for 5 weeks from February to March and included a variety of topics from the theory of blended learning, to designing it then delivering with it.  The second part of the course 'Embedding Practice' ran in May for 3 weeks and explored the practical aspects of implementing blended learning.

Originally this post was in two parts to coincide with the courses, however it made sense to do it as one and delay it until I completed the second course.  In this post I present the interests I have curated during the study of each course and summarised my understandings into categories.  This was a good exercise to review what I have acquired during each week and think about how I can use it.

Blended learning

Blended learning is a mix of traditional and digital technologies that are combined together.  Both learners and teachers use their time more effectively to achieve more.  Because of its flexibility, it can also make a positive impact on those learners that are hard to reach.  There are five benefits to blended learning; flexibility, active learning, personalisation, learner control and feedback.

We use computers (websites, software) to input data into them which is the content (information) which then becomes interactive for learners to take control of.  Such as self-completion of activities or embedded videos for example.  The activities we create can also give feedback on your decisions, which is personalisation.  Blended learning is useful for enabling active learning where learners can do things the same time the teacher does - making their own sense of the actions as it happens.

There are three simple ways to use blended learning; problem-based learning encourages active learning, using real world scenarios, social learning and applying knowledge to new situations; social constructivism is learning as a result of social interaction and collaboration with others; constructivism through learners constructing their own knowledge and meaning through experience.

Blended learning allows you to use a variety of open tools and dip in and out of different types of learning strategies and experiences.  Open tools can be organised into categories in the context of learning outcomes; multimedia production, presentation tools, collaborative writing tools, reflective tools, collaboration tools, interactive tools, social tools.  You will still have the traditional teaching aspects but you have the appropriate technology within that to enhance and support it, and capture and present material in different ways.  For example the flipped classroom is useful for flipping the activities to the classroom with the instruction at home.  Communication is highly important as it enables the need to check and confirm thoughts.  It awakens internal processes that only happens when a learner is interacting with people in their environment and cooperation with peers.

I found the vocational pedagogy very interesting that was located in the City & Guilds 'Culture, Coaching and Collaboration'.  There are six outcomes of vocational education which are encouraged to be used as the basis of vocational learning and teaching.  These are identified as routine expertise, resourcefulness, functional literacies, craftsmanship, business-like attitudes, and wider skills for growth.  Alongside this are ten dimensions of decision-making.  Each end of the attributes below represents a different option of delivery for learning and teaching, encouraging some variety in practice.  Digital technology can be used to experiment with these learning and teaching practices.

Facilitative > Role of the teacher > Didactic
Authentic > Nature of activities > Contrived
Practice > Means of knowing > Theory
Questioning > Attitude to knowledge > Certain
Extended > Organisation of time > Bell-bound
Workshop > Organisation of space > Classroom
Group > Approach to tasks > Individual
High > Visibility of processes > Hidden
Virtual > Proximity to teacher > Face-to-face
Self-managed > Role of the learner > Directed

Curriculum design

The traditional method of curriculum design is to identify the learning to be understood and the sequence of activities that need to be undertaken in order to achieve it.  Curriculum design is the same process for blended or wholly online and should always focus on pedagogy.  These days activities need to be more engaging and interactive which needs to involve the student having ownership of the process of it.  If using a student-centred curriculum (contributing to learning materials and creating content), multimedia production and sharing will be essential.

Curriculum design relies on a structure - instructional design allows us to review how each topic will be taught, what sequence, what methods and tools are going to be used and the outcome.  It's an outcome-focussed process that looks what learners are expected to learn and change as a result - what couldn't be done at the beginning to what they can do at the end.  Designing the assessment (formative, for and of learning, summative assessment) first is a good way of defining the learning outcomes.  It's useful to consider whether the assessment is digitally based or not and aligning to the learning outcomes, curriculum content, learner needs, and the pedagogy.

The instructional design process D(define)ADDIE model demonstrates the value of the iterative design – test – redesign – implement-evaluate cycle. It helps you focus on the importance of considering inclusivity, accessibility, flexibility and usability when planning for implementation.  Define is the link to curriculum design and identifies what is going to be delivered.  Analysis looks at the audience (learners’ needs, expectations and requirements) and how they will or are likely to react to the learning process.  Design takes the information obtained and allows you to create and deliver the learning in a form that is engaging and interactive.  This includes the course sequence, learning outcomes, activities and assessment.  Develop enables you to make your learning design a reality such as the resources, learning activities, and tests.  Implement is about putting your learning design into action ensuring it I accessible, inclusive and usable.  Evaluate allows you to assess whether the learning design was effective or not in meeting the learning outcomes.  Overall instructional design is an iterative process that questions what and who is it all for and did it work and what can be done to make it better in future.  It also ensures that you make the best of the digital technology.

Digital technology

When using digital technology, it should be used to add value to existing teaching practices.  It should enable you to move from one space to another seamlessly due to the open nature of the online learning tools.  A main purpose of Technology Enhanced Learning (TEL) is that learners will engage in more learning time because they are actively involved in the tasks producing and interacting with content, which leads to technology-supported independent learning.  Digital technology can make a significant impact where there is a clear need to make improvements - pedagogical challenges and problems.  However, we need to think about the people we are going to use digital technology with so that we don't exclude anyone.

Synchronous occurs in real time, not just discussions but creating something as well.  Asynchronous is not in real time where people join in at different times - which provides a benefit in thinking before contributing.

The main benefits to digital technology are; time and place - enables education to offer greater flexibility.  Online resources and activities allow learners to learn at home, at work or when travelling, as well as in their designated place of learning; pace of learning - the learner accesses and uses the digital resources under their control; variety of learning modes - learners can do individual, group work or blend their own digital, physical and social learning; content focus - learners encouraged to follow their own online searches to relevance; differentiation - diverse learner needs can be met through assistive technologies and open educational resources to meet learner’s needs; the educator’s use of time - distribute time in different ways to deliver whole class, small group, individual support, across face-to-face and online learning.  It's much easier to get around a computer than it is a textbook.  With a computer you're connected and can search and change things.  Computers save and record work and progress, plus you can access things as much as you need and at your own speed.  Digital technology does or helps to produce evidence of learning.

Learner data

When a learner interacts with a digital system, tool or resource, they leave a digital footprint.  There are opportunities to collect data on individuals or groups which can be used in various ways to improve the learner experience.  This is also referred to as ‘big data or learning analytics’ which enables educators to collect, analyse and report large datasets to identify any patterns and trends of their learners.  Therefore this data can be used to inform a learners own progress, learner activity, behaviour and preferences on how they learn and interact with digital content.  Data analytics should not only be used to capture what student have done or are doing, but it has scope to inform and improve online learning design, online learning interactions, assessment needs and digital marketing of online courses and provisions.

Data collected for improving learning outcomes can derive from performance on tests and learners’ online engagement in discussions, questions, or even comments in focus groups and surveys.  The key questions to ask are; what data to collect, what implications there are for collecting data, and how to interpret and use the data.  I made this comment at the recent MoodleMoot; "Perhaps focus on promoting learning analytic tools to learners to encourage managing their own learning = independent learning."

Culture change with digital technology

I found this interesting and reassuring to know as it reminds me of what I experienced and lead on in my previous role at a further education college.   To enable and manage culture change with digital technology in an organisation, the following pointers are useful to consider.

• Assess whether blended learning is where it should be - challenge the current culture that exists
• Specify that senior management need to be involved by modelling (at the beginning), setting the direction and supportive otherwise it will depend on the motivated enthusiasts to lead it all
• Listen to issues that teaching staff have and work through it with them to build confidence
• Discuss good practice with curriculum staff but allow time for leaders to model the use of it.  Failure of this will stymie the culture change process
• Planning and delivering staff development needs to aimed at leaders not just curriculum staff - develop enthusiasm
• Harness the enthusiasm and create an environment for learning where progress can happen
• Create an environment that is not just about technology and the latest gadget but about making learning more effective
• Enable the environment to be encouraging, rewarding and risk taking - something I was in the process of
• Include early adopters and keep them a focus in the process.  Get the early majority and the late majority will join.  But always expect people that won't want to engage
• Identifying the reluctant and guiding them back to the direction (imperative) set by leaders and innovators
• Ask the reluctant 'how could we make this easier for you?', 'what in this could save you time?', 'where will you get the time back?'
• Invest time to sit and show people the impact and possibilities of blended learning and digital technology.  Ask what they want and what they are comfortable with (learners too)
• Explain how digital tools and resources can be helpful to their practices.  Ask how they are going to make an impact in their curriculum and pedagogy
• Explain blended learning as you can't force people to use digital technology without understanding the pedagogy for it
• Raising confidence with digital technology in the classroom can alleviate many issues of engaging in innovation
• Get managers to make digital technology part of a conversation.  How are teams and individuals using it in their practices?
• Ask learners what is working well and not well for them
• Plan and run workshops, presentations, one to ones, formal and informal meetings, coffee mornings, twilight sessions for people to talk and share about their good practices
• Be proactive and follow up how people are getting on with using digital technology - they might hit a problem and be put off.  Work with them on a solution - problem-based sessions might be useful
• Identify and celebrate successes and promote them.  Others will see the benefits and be inspired to try in their practice and share with others in their department
• Accept that changing culture won't happen quickly or over night - little wins can be a key to bigger wins

The above guidelines embolden what I did for my masters dissertation where I presented the argument of how a further education college's eLearning strategy lacked direction and articulation of pedagogical change in a digital age by not having underpinning pedagogy running through it.

The following are other key factors to consider when making a culture change with digital technology; leadership, vision and strategy, developing staff buy-in, using champions, reward and recognition for staff, working with students and other stakeholders, using evidence to support change, providing a supportive environment, developing skills and providing a robust technology landscape.

To achieve effective change the following stakeholders are useful to bring together to collaborate; teachers and trainers (design, develop and test new digital pedagogies and technologies); teaching support staff (online learner support); learning technology specialists (support innovation and digital awareness); media and technical specialists (quality resources and tools); library staff (source online resources, tools and services); IT staff (technology purchases and infrastructure requirements); marketing staff (promote online and blended learning courses); leaders and managers (support and champion change); students (develop change and provide feedback).

eLearning resources

• Course map - very useful for laying out the sequence and activities of an online course.
• Quick poll - asked my attitude towards blended learning if I was convinced of it or now and how much I use it in my practices.  Good to start off that reflective thinking and how I may approach the course material to come.
• Crib sheets (how to's') - available to download at the end of a topic or module
• Video case study crib sheet - can be used for Improve International and 5m Publishing H5P Moodle activities
• Typeform - a new digital technology to try out.  Whilst not free it is a good way for learners to be questioned/surveyed and responses are saved.
• Typeform reflection questions asking my attitude towards blended learning and how often I use it in my practices.
• FutureLearn course design could be implemented into our Moodle courses.  Activities structured around the course map, transcripts can be put under the video along with crib sheets.
• Linking back to correct/incorrect answers from a quiz to content/resources in Moodle
• Matching pedagogy to digital technology exercise - selected approaches from above and decided from the example activities which was most appropriate to implement.
• The VLE should be used for interactive activities and learner-generated content.
• OERs can be used for student experience, digital literacy, recognition, marketing and external relations, efficiency.
• Storytelling techniques can be used as a process of trying to get them to treat the course as a quest so they're actually discovering new facts as they go through.  It becomes an adventure for learners rather than a sequence of activities.  Moodle lends itself very well to digital storytelling as it allows the use of rich media like animation, video, podcasting, as well as the written narrative
• Using a basic structure like Moodle you can use it to build a storyline of the course including where learner control is and a clear end point where they can clearly demonstrate what they've learned.
• Communicate with learners a day before a new week so they know what is coming up and can be prepared and have the right frame of mind for it
• Blended Learning Essentials Moodle Hub - good for pre-made Moodle activities
• Different types of learning in action through; acquisition (reading, watching, listening); inquiry (investigate and compare); discussion (exchanging ideas with each other); practice (putting concepts into practice in an exercise with feedback); collaboration (participating and exchanging); production (producing something)
• Moodle Workshop for peer review as a form of active learning - review at least 2 other learners’ drafts, score them in terms of the criteria, and provide constructive comments
• Jorum, Khan Academy, Merlot, The Excellence Gateway and OpenLearn - good for OERs

Taking it forward

Talk about excellent timing!  In my organisation we are at the start of reviewing it's strategy for evolving it's blended and distance learning courses.  This is an excellent time as the knowledge I have just acquired and refreshed on will be very useful to feed forward in the conversations I will be participating in.  The blended learning, curriculum design and digital technology knowledge will be useful to shape a strategic vision and purpose of what we want to achieve.  A well-thought foundation will be discussed and agreed in which we can build upon.  Learner data and eLearning resources will be considered in the learning design process, when deciding on the best and appropriate ways to deliver the digital content.  The culture change with digital technology is useful for engaging and supporting change in the organisation.  It was a firm reminder of the work I was carrying out in my previous job in further education.

I have also been using some of this material in other conversations and learning designs I am working on.  This will be a solid post to refer to from time to time when I need to go to the core of blended learning design.

Digital inauthenticity - the rising epidemic

When it comes to making informed decisions you have to be proactive.  I'll briefly discuss some points you can consider when making informed decisions relating to the information via social media or any websites.  This post is inspired through personal observation of social media that I have been seeing a lot of recently.  This is useful for everyday life such as work and study when searching material on the internet.  By no means is this a politically charged narrative nor am I a politics enthusiast, however this also very useful for making educated political voting decisions.

The rise of social-hungry-attention-seekers and 'fake news' has been amplified more than ever through social media.  Everyone is allowed to make an opinion and the freedom to express themselves whichever way they like, as I am doing now.  So you could say at this point you may ask why should you believe this?  But you should as you know it to be true if you look deep enough.  A lot of this can relate back to early literacy skills - English to interpret and analyse others tone of communication; reading, writing, listening and speaking.  Is it expository, persuasive, narrative or descriptive?  Like marketing, some write their articles to a targeted audience and tap into your existing preconceptions.  Which make you want to agree with them, which could then eventually lead onto the inappropriate use of propaganda.  Organisations pay people to follow them or employ people to go on social media to generate interest and sometimes troll for reactions.  However, if it's not media trying to control our thoughts and feelings on matters, it's retail trying to control our ways of consumption.

I see a lot of posts written by non-professionals claiming '10 things you should do to make a better relationship...' or 'these daily ingredients that are slowly killing you...'.  Even worse, I see a lot of memes written with clumsy information on and people believing and reacting to them as if it's true.  It's subjective and unreliable rubbish and we can be just like vacuums sucking it in.  Are we really 'Chained to the Rhythm'?  It's a rising epidemic and it needs to dealt with.  Imagine that all of your life choices were informed by these unauthentic articles.  Scary isn't it!  Ask yourself, who are you responding to, them or yourself?

A lot of this stems from a post I wrote many years ago 'Evolutionary not revolutionary?' where I said; "technology is our greatest invention and I think it will be our greatest killer".  If we do not learn how to adapt to this epidemic positively and effectively, it could result in a huge outbreak of social separation and divide, which has actually been happening for some time.  When people have claimed the end of the world years ago, I've always thought it's nothing to do with a asteroid on a collision course with earth, nor any ancient calendar etc.  I believe it's things like this where humans will just implode on themselves and societies and communities will be so disconnected and divided it will be hard to recover.

Most of us have become somewhat lazy and believing what is laid upon us.  It takes effort and time to search for information and even the truth.  However, we must make effort to learn true facts.  Here is a few points I adapted from Facebook's central guidance, to help inform yourself when searching for authentic material:

• Read and share the information only if you feel the source is credible enough.
• Be aware of trolls.  Some people take pleasure in putting out misinformation and malicious comments to provoke others into anger or to create intentional negative reactions.
• Avoid being drawn by unrealistic and catchy headlines.  It’s usually ‘clickbait’ to gain more views to their websites.  If information looks and sounds unlikely, it probably is.  Be suspicious but in moderation.
• Investigate the source of the information.  How valid and reliable are they?  What is their reputation for accuracy like?  Do they have a background in that subject that allows authenticity?  Are they experts and qualified in this area?  What organisations are they attached to?  Check the language, spelling, punctuation and grammar they use –  if there are basic spelling and grammar errors they are unlikely to be professional.
• Look at the website address/Uniform Resource Locator (URL) closely to see if it matches or belongs to the same company purporting to have published the information.  A fake web page could be an excellent clone of the real web page but the URL will give away its identity.
• Review the images used.  They might look authentic but if you look closely they could be manipulated or doctored and be taken out of context.  Search for the image elsewhere online to check its authenticity.
• Check the dates and reporting of the information.  It could be old and reused information or the actual event might be out of timeline.  If similar information is not being reported by other trusted sources then it’s probably unauthentic and unreliable.
• Distinguish if the information is intended for humour.  Again check if the source is a known parody or comedy establishment/personality; it might just be for fun –  like April Fools’ Day in the United Kingdom.

Overall, consider if the information is true, helpful, inspiring, necessary or kind.

EDIT:

Social media was once about sharing anything and everything with anyone.  Now it's become a huge unmanageable negative 'trollverse'.  I still has positivity in it though, but for general humankind, it's dwindling prospect.  I've noticed the language that is used to provoke negative reactions.  But the technology is not to blame, but people.  People need to be authentic to themselves and not be lazy by scrolling through content and negatively reacting.  It's not good for your health to be honest, getting worked up by others provoked anger.  Vendors write language to get you to click and comment underneath to gain more traction on their supposed 'journalism'.  Not all articles are hateful, but titles suggest it.  Bringing out anger in comments. But people might lazily not read the article.  For example, 'The Scene that was NOT originally planned', Chance To Make Amends After...', 'Why Fans Are Upset That They Didn't...', 'Everything That Went Wrong With...'  Anything that gets put out is instantly hated on.  All for what?  More clicks, views and comments on content to look popular?  People are not only ruining experiences for others but their own.  Just enjoy things as they are without needing to negatively react to troll behaviour.

I'll keep coming back to these earlier thoughts on humans imploding on themselves.  It's happening, whether you are for it or not.  Social media will be the death of humanity.  It already affects peoples lifestyles, entertainment, health, politics.  P!nk emphasises this in her song ‘Can We Pretend’ – can spoil relationships and entertainment etc.

Evaluating Technology Enhanced Learning

I've been in my new job role for 5 months now and as I work with a range of universities on developing their undergraduate and postgraduate distance learning courses.  I wanted to introduce an effective Technology Enhanced Learning (TEL) evaluation process and to increase the quality of the learning activities, experience and overall online learning environment itself.  By proactively seeking to improve the way our online learning is presented and delivered, I understood more about the programmes and the students enrolling to them.

I took it upon myself to investigate appropriate ways of evaluating Technology Enhanced Learning using a really useful guide by the E-Learning Development Team at the University of York.  This came after the success of my efforts of researching and reporting on learning design, which is being implemented into my new organisation as a result.

This little report was a very complex task and I didn't want to over complicate it (which it did at one point), so I brought in the LearningWheel to help me simplify what I was trying to do and generate further ideas.  The following is a video of the visual report I produced and sent to my colleagues at the University of St Andrews to introduce the process and to start a discussion around it.