Last month, as part of a craft of writing session, English and Writing students were invited to contribute to their lecture via twitter. Including a real time conversational element to the lecture seemed apt given that the nature of the session was dialogue. Prior to the lecture students were emailed a hashtag and invited to contribute should they wish.
During the session the live tweets were broadcast to all in the lecture theatre. This was the first time a session like this had been run with the cohort and it was as much of a learning exercise for staff as it was for students. Purposefully no rules were implemented as part of the activity, and although conversation occasionally diverted away from the lesson having staff who were tweeting with the students meant conversations were steered towards the subject should they veer too far off topic. The addition of a digital dialogue element to the session gave an extra dimension to an already engaging lecture.
Particularly interesting was that one of the most engaged students in the session via twitter wasn’t even studying on the course and had instead contributed after seeing the hashtag on his friends twitter wall and decided to get involved.
The decision by academic staff to incorporate this interactive element was really encouraging, they wanted students to become involved in the session and went with a method that they had not used previously. Sometimes it is difficult to try new things because you are unsure of how they will go and if it will be a success. Hopefully the english team will build on this experience, reflecting on the dialogue session to include further methods students can contribute to taught sessions. We’re really pleased Rupert and Fréa got in touch and hope to be working with them again soon.
As a team we are always happy to support academic staff wanting to introduce a technical element into their teaching, if you’ve been inspired by this session or want to discuss any ideas you have please get in touch with the team: etsupport@falmouth.ac.uk
Educational Technology were recently invited to host a session as part of the Lunch and Talk series. In this session we discussed current initiatives we are working on as well as a brief summary of the last academic year.
We finished the session with a mapping activity. We wanted to get participants thinking about learning technology from different perspectives and using post-it’s asked them to make contributions to these areas. We included examples of the types of comments we’d like to see to give an idea.
We asked all to map the following:
Experience – Your experiences of teaching and technology, within Falmouth and external to it. Courses you’ve attended, things you’ve seen implemented or discussed at conferences.
Example: I’ve seen lists of tweets at HEA conference and I’d like to use it. Tagboard
Expectation – Your expectations on the students for the ways they should be using technology, i/e – assessment methods, resources accessed. Students expectations, what technologies do you feel they expect to be using at University.
Example: Many of my students have mobiles, I’d like to help them utilise them. Digital Student project.
CPD – What opportunities are out there for supporting use of learning technologies, what would you like to have made available for you.
Example: I find it difficult to attend scheduled sessions, but I’d like to broaden my skill-set. Video resources/10 min CPD.
We had a positive response to the session and would definitely suggest it as a method to gauge staff and student opinions. A selection of the responses include:
Experience:
“Need easier ways of sharing information on Learning Space (VLE) – e.g share button”
“Mixed…different courses use it (VLE) more or less effectively.”
Expectation:
“An assumption that all students are tech savvy”
“That staff are current”
“Face to face contact with academics and peers”
CPD:
“Windows 10 – students are arriving with laptops with this on”
“How to create interactive flowcharts”
Taking these responses into account we can aim to ensure that staff have the resources and tools to meet expectation, experience and CPD demands.
If you would like us to come and run a similar session with your course team, please get in touch.
The beginning of July is synonymous with Falmouth University’s PGCHE Summer School; this week long event marks the final stage of the course and is an enjoyable few days for those taking part.
Workshops, practical sessions and activities make up the timetable for the week, visits to Tate St Ives and the Foundation Art Studios were included as part of this years programme.
Mark and I were fortunate enough to be asked to contribute from a learning technology perspective, in partnership with course lecturer Elfréa Lockley we contributed to two of the five days.
The first session focused mainly on theories of learning technologies and how these can be applied as part of every day teaching. Participants were asked to Google each other as an introduction exercise which in turn produced lively debate around digital footprint and online identity.
Participants were also introduced to David White’s Visitors and Residents model and invited to map how they engage with digital tools. Comparing where individuals felt they resided proved for some engaging debate and allowed the group to compare fluency with different apps and tools in relation to professional practice.
The day concluded with a quiz to gauge understanding and the promise of something a little different come Friday’s session…
Fréa had previously used a Hunger Games style activity to engage her Creative Writing students and wanted to adapt the concept with a digital twist for the PGCHE group. This game worked on a similar premise as the books/film in that you had teams scavenging in an ‘arena’ and others in the ‘control’ with an overview of where the prizes lay.
Mark and I had been working with Fréa to find a way to introduce a digital element to this scenario, finally settling on using tools as a means of communication between those in the arena and those in the control. Once a prize was found, claim could only be made by means of a photo, uploaded to a dedicated District1 twitter account.
The Hunger Games activity used technology in a more immersive engaging way, with participants choosing their own apps to compete in the hunt for prizes. Reporting back at the end of the game there were comments on app functionality and the reliability of wifi on campus; worthwhile contributions and very relevant to student expectations of a connected HE environment.
All in all we thoroughly enjoyed being part of this years Summer School and will look forward to 2016!
Billed as a list which depicts “the smartest and savviest bloggers in Higher Education” the Dean’s list is an annual compilation of Educational Technology blogs from around the world.
The 2015 list features many well known and respected blogs and we’re chuffed to be included, thank you EdTech Higher Ed!
“The technology team at Falmouth University in the United Kingdom regularly blogs about the deliberations, musings and evolving thoughts on education technology. It’s a great peek into the inner workings of the challenges and successes within a higher education technology team.”
Here’s to another year of thought provoking posts and ponderments from the ET Team!
As the end of another academic year draws to a close it’s the perfect time to reflect on another years worth of teaching and perform some housekeeping on your learning environment module areas.
In the course of the year external links to other areas may have changed and assignment briefs might have altered so it’s important to check your modules to make sure all content is up to date and relevant to a new cohort.
The temptation might be to hide content or move it to the bottom of the page, ultimately this will become confusing for other staff and students in the long run so we’d recommend deleting any content no longer relevant to keep your pages looking fresh and up to date.
As part of our archive process a snapshot of the environment is taken every August so there will always be a reference to past content if needed, a module’s content evolves from one year to the next so the addition and amendment of material is to be expected.
For parity of student experience across the learning environment all modules should adhere to the minimum module content guidelines; further details and tips on how to implement these can be found in Learning Space.
To add any new documents simply ‘turn editing on’ and drag and drop files onto the page, external links can be added by choosing “Add a resource or activity > Add URL”. Section text can be amended by selecting “Edit this section”. Detailed guidance can be found in our help documentation if needed.
If you’re not sure where to start or would like some additional information regarding Summer Housekeeping please get in touch with the team – etsupport@falmouth.ac.uk
