TEL in HE

My move to full time HE last year caused a blip in my use of technology in the classroom. I had a few wobbles and wasn't sure if it was appropriate to use all those tools in my new setting.

I've recovered from those feelings now and am beginning to build these activities up again, and in some ways, I've learnt from that blip. Returning to using technology after a brief gap has made me realise just how useful these tools can be.

I started with a firm favourite of mine - Poll Everywhere - because I am confident in its use and it's familiar territory for me, something which was reassuring when introducing it in a new setting. I set up a few recap questions, and the results were really useful for formative assessment.

I dabbled with Kahoot, but the class I was with found it just too tempting to use inappropriate names, so I'll probably leave that for a while.

I tried Plickers for the first time. I needed all 63 cards available for this particular class, so giving them out was a bit of a headache - I will need to work on that. However, using the cards was incredibly easy, didn't rely on the students having devices to take part, and collecting the results was pretty instant and very informative.  If I can just work out the best way to distribute the cards I can see this becoming a regular feature.

Finally, I've had a go with Socrative. This was also a really effective tool for checking that learning had taken place and I will definitely use this again.

What I've enjoyed most about all of these tools is that I'm getting something back from the learners. Lecturing in HE is a different beast to FE - partly because the classes are considerably larger and also because I generally tend to see less of the students overall, so being able to review the results of these 'fun' activities after the students have left is really valuable and means I can revisit those topics they didn't quite grasp. It also means that students are much more engaged because they actively have to respond, and whilst I haven't specifically asked for feedback from them on whether they enjoy doing these activities, there is no doubt that they brighten up and seem keen to do their best - all of which has got to be better than falling asleep staring at PowerPoint slides.

I'm looking forward to expanding my use of technology in my new role - I know that done right it will be a great addition to the learning environment.

Microsoft OneDrive - Sharing Folders

Most of the time I think Office 365 is pretty good - keeping shared documents in one location in order to make sure we are all working from the most up to date version, for example.

However, there are some things within OneDrive which are mighty annoying.

Organising Shared Folders

Firstly, sorting the 'shared with me' files and folders seems to me to be very flawed.  This morning I seemed to be able to sort my shared files and folders into alphabetical order, making it somewhat simpler to find the folder I was looking for.

This afternoon that functionality seems to have disappeared.  I can sort by date, but not by title.  Perhaps that's just me having a dull moment.  I will try again tomorrow.

Moving Files from my Personal Drive to a Shared Folder

This would appear to be a real design flaw.  I'm working on some leaflets that need updating.  The folder has been created by another member of staff and shared with our team.  They are graphic heavy, so need to be downloaded into Word to work on for full functionality.  As they are works in progress, I want to save them into my own area so I can check them all when finished and then return them to the shared folder.

This cannot be done.  Having saved my updated version into my own OneDrive, I now have to download them one by one to my computer, and then re-upload them to the shared area.  This seems to me to be totally illogical.  A quick Google search confirms that this is indeed the case, and that there is no way to move a file from my own staff OneDrive into another OneDrive folder that has been shared with me.

Come on Microsoft, this seems like a simple ask!!  A drag and drop function would make this a breeze.  I'll keep my fingers crossed for an update soon!

To grade or not to grade??

Over the past few months I have been involved in graded (and ungraded) lesson observations.  For 45 minutes to an hour, I sit in a classroom and watch the teaching and learning that is taking place.  I have a form to complete which prompts me to look at various things such as classroom management, evidence that learning is taking place, assessment tracking, lesson planning and so on.

What I've noticed though is how staff behave at the end of the observation, when the lecturer and I start the feedback session. I always start by asking the lecturer 'What do you think went well?' and 'What didn't go so well?'  More often than not, this is followed by a somewhat garbled response - understandable - the lecturer is relieved that the observation is over and is anxious to hear my views, not dissect the lesson themselves.

But what really happens is this:  if I grade the lesson as 'Excellent' (a grade 1), then the lecturer thinks 'Yippee - I did it, I am an excellent teacher, and you can now say anything you like because it doesn't matter because I'm already excellent';  if I grade the lesson as 'Adequate' (grade 3) - or worse, 'Unsatisfactory' (grade 4), the lecturer doesn't hear anything I say beyond that, what they have heard is 'despite your best efforts, and the sleepless nights you have had in the run up to this observation, you are still only adequate at this job, mediocre at best.  They are now thinking, 'what is the point, I've worked this hard to just be adequate'.  They do no hear my advice or suggestions for improvements, they do not listen to the good elements that I highlight, they hear instead a barrage of 'adequate', 'reasonable', 'satisfactory', words that are damning by their mediocrity.

I once discussed a grade with a lecturer who I felt had missed a number of opportunities to stretch and challenge the students.  The lesson was - dare I say it - 'adequate': learners were achieving at a level that was expected of them, but they weren't going the extra mile.  At the end of the observation I sat with the lecturer and told him I was not sure whether I was going to give him a 'good' or an 'adequate'.  He told me that he would hand in his notice the next day if I gave him the lower grade.  He asked me how he could face his colleagues with an 'adequate'.  We chatted for a long time that day, and I gave him his 'good' in the end, because I could not see any benefit to him or his students if he left, and because it was a borderline decision anyway.  I discussed with him the shortcomings of the session, and I highlighted his strengths too.  Did giving this lecturer a grade encourage him to do better?  Did it make him think deeply about the way he taught the lesson?  I very much doubt it.  Without the grade at all, he might just have listened to my observations and feedback and reviewed how he was engaging with those learners.

The same is true for students.  I've observed students scroll through a marked, annotated assignment right to the end to find their grade.  If they've done well, they turn to their friends with a whoop and then ask them what they got.  If the student did badly, they scowl and move on.  It is very rare that I see a student sit and digest all the comments and feedback I have given them on an assignment, and then use this information to improve their next piece of work.

I once tried an experiment.  Initially I gave the learners their written feedback as usual for an assignment.  When we started the next assignment some weeks later, I asked them to review the feedback they had from the first assignment and then told them to write a point or two about how they would respond to this feedback in their second assignment.  I got them to write this point as the first line of their next assignment.  It was met with some confusion ('why are we doing this?') and some suspicion ('what is she getting at?'), but it at least got some of the learners to consider how they might improve on their previous grades.  This is something I think is worth adopting as regular practice, and it would certainly be interesting to research the outcomes of such activities to see if it has a positive impact on grades.

One thing I can say is that I really enjoy giving lecturers feedback on their lessons.  I find that the experiences I have had throughout my teaching career give me a good insight into what is effective and which tools might enhance a lesson, and I am very enthusiastic about sharing these ideas with staff.  I really don't like giving lecturers a grade.  Some colleges are already moving away from graded observations and discussions I've had with these colleagues suggest that after an initial period of uncertainty from staff, the consensus is that these observations are more effective in that staff get more out of the process than just receiving a judgement.  Perhaps there might be room for both?

Useful Reading

There are some excellent insights into Feedback and Assessment (mainly from a student / teacher perspective rather than lesson observations) on the UKEdChat pages, and a very good research article by Ruth Butler (rather old now from 1988) called Enhancing and Undermining Intrinsic Motivation: The Effects of Task Involving and Ego Involving Evaluation on Interest and Performance.  Finally there is an excellent piece of research by John Hattie and Helen Timperley (2007) entitled 'The Power of Feedback' which is well worth a read.

Adobe Document Cloud

I've discovered Adobe Document Cloud and what it offers me in terms of PDF documents.

This week I have been away from my desk carrying out lesson observations. During the observations, I write notes on a standard form.  I give my feedback to the tutor concerned, take a photo of the 2-page form on my mobile and then leave the form with the tutor.

I then upload the photos to my Evernote account, and in the past, I have waited until I've been at my desk to download the files, convert the two pages into a single PDF using Acrobat, and then email them to our Quality department.

Recently though, Acrobat was removed from my desktop PC, so I was looking for a way to convert two separate JPEGs for each observation into a single PDF.  I discovered Adobe Document Cloud did exactly what I wanted.

I already have an Adobe Creative Cloud account.  By going into the Document Cloud, I can Create PDFs by dragging and dropping the JPEGs into the browser.  I can then combine the two PDFs into one by selecting them and giving them a new name.  I'm pleased at how easy it is.

I could probably send the JPEGs from my phone directly to Creative Cloud - so that's the next step to investigate.  I love it when things just work!!

New beginnings

Next week I will start a new (albeit temporary) role as a Teaching & Learning Mentor.  I'm exciting at the prospect, as well as being a little nervous.

Applying for - and subsequently getting - the job have made me think a lot about what the role of a Teaching & Learning Mentor should be.  As a lecturer, I look to my campus Mentor for support with lesson plans in the main.  I'm pretty competent when it comes to technology for learning, so this is not something I need a lot of support with.  But when it comes to lesson observations, I find it handy to be able to chat through my lesson plan with someone else who can give me suggestions or point out areas that I have not explicitly included.  I guess it is useful to hear an objective point of view on what I have put together.

Today, I read the Guardian's Secret Teacher post on inset days (Guardian, 2015).  I agree with the author that there is nothing worse than sitting in training which feels less than relevant, whilst thinking about all the prep and / or marking that is sitting on your desk, whilst trying to control the building sense of panic about when you are going to manage to fit it in.

Last term, I was involved in putting together an inset for a specific group of staff.  One of the things I was determined to do was to ensure that during the session, staff would complete something tangible which they could take away and use in a lesson.  We did this by including a brief introduction, and then four activities - short 15 minute group sessions which introduced a teaching tool or technique and then gave the staff an opportunity to begin planning their own take on the technique - something that would work for them and their learners, and that they could take away at the end of the session.  As an example, my session was on the use of online collaborative forums as a way of developing higher order thinking skills.  I explained the purpose of the forums and briefly some of the technicalities, and then I got the group to think of a forum topic that they could use within their own subject area.  Once they had done that, I asked them to think about how they could drive the online discussion forward to develop those critical thinking skills that we so desperately want our learners to have.

Feedback from the session was very good, and as a team I think we did a good job of making use of the time in a way that the staff felt was productive.  My post now will be to replicate that productivity every day, with every member of staff I interact with.

There is definitely a need to bring staff together to plan and to disseminate information, but how we do that is just as important.  We are telling teachers that they need to be less didactic and more interactive, but that's not always how inset sessions run.  Perhaps now I have an opportunity to lead by example.

So much to learn, so little time

I found this post from this time last year which I never got round to publishing.  The subjects may have changed, but the principle still remains!

----
Sept 2014

I've re-connected with my piano.  Last week I had it tuned, and just before he left, the piano tuner played a short but beautiful piece of music on it.  I sat in the other room and listened and it reminded me how much I love playing the piano, and how much I miss playing it.  So I've started playing again.  I picked up a piece of Chopin that I've tried to learn once before, and practiced, and it's been a joy.

What I need now is lots of time to practice.  But wait, I don't have lots of time.  In addition to getting back to the piano, I'm also two weeks into an online Mobile App course, learning about the ins and outs of Android applications, Eclipse, SDK's, Java and XML.  I'm really enjoying the course, but it's very hard with so many system tweaks and downloads, and complex programming and packaging.

And then in a week's time, the Introduction to Guitar Playing starts on Coursera.  I've already delayed starting this course twice because of lack of time, but I think I'd love to be able to play the guitar, and apart from a couple of chords and one short piece, I've never really dedicated much time to it.

I'm also getting to grips with MIT App Inventor for one of my modules at college - that's great fun too, and I'm looking forward to getting the learners enthused about what they can do with it.  I'm writing lesson plans for my Website Production class - next week it's client and server side scripting - that'll take a while to put together.  Soon, I'll be joining a Preparing to Teach class, so I'll need to refresh my memory on learning styles and theories for that.

I'd also really like to get to grips with a bit of Visual Basic programming, so that I can tinker further with my home automation system, getting lights to turn off after a certain amount of inactivity in a room - but I've never done Visual Basic before so that's proving quite challenging.

And of course, I'm trying to allocate a bit of time to training my border collie for his agility classes - we're even planning to enter a competition next month.  Gardening, housework, taxi driver for three kids, and I'd like to have a go at making my own bread without cheating with the bread machine.

Life for me is about learning.  I love learning.  If I don't know something, I google it.  If I don't understand something, I read about it.  If I want to get better at something, I practice it.

Now if I could just stop time for a hour a day of dedicated learning, that would be perfect.  There is so much to learn, so little time.  Perhaps a course in astro physics is what I need...

Something Different

This year I have a Level 3 tutorial group.  Much of what we need to do in tutorials is admin based or building up personal skills - not something many IT students are particularly enthusiastic about.

As something completely different today, I decided to do a general knowledge quiz.  I thought it might be good on a number of levels:

• getting the learners thinking early (ish) on a Monday morning
• giving me a better understanding of their existing general knowledge
• encouraging them to start thinking beyond assignments and criteria based learning and into news (both technology and general news), common sense and life skills

Questions included one capital city, one cooking, one health, several news (politics and sport) and a few other IT based questions.  Learners were asked to work independently, and I tried to generate a bit of a sense of competition to encourage them to do better than their friends.  At the end of the quiz, learners swapped papers for marking, and scores were given by way of hands raised in score boundaries.

The learners all took part, and all engaged really well.  It was fun, but with some serious elements in - after all we should really all know at what temperature water boils, and how long to cook dried pasta. 

Personally, I also really enjoyed it as it seemed to bring about a good, friendly banter in the classroom, and I awarded a Merit badge to the learner with the best score at the end.  It felt like a good activity to bring the group together and to get everyone focussed, and it is something I will definitely do again.

The importance of preparation

A few weeks ago I had an interview for a new job. The interview consisted of a 15 minute presentation, topic given well in advance, a task and a meeting.

I worked very hard on the presentation.  Coming up with an idea in the middle of the night just after being told I'd got the interview, I rehearsed well, brought a prop and even practised delivering it to my very patient husband.  All good.

Before the interview, I read through the job spec and my application several times.  I took a little time to think about my own strengths and weaknesses as that tends to be a classic interview question.

But on the day, when I'd done the task, delivered my presentation and was asked the first question 'what can you bring to the post?' my mind turned to mush and I rambled about something not particularly relevant. I failed to mention all the things that I do day in day out, perhaps because I take them for granted.  I didn't talk about quality, or breadth of experience, I failed to tell them how I keep abreast of current thinking via social networking and other online resources.  I didn't comment on my wider reading and research done during my dissertation.

This theme continued throughout the next hour.  I got a few useful bits of information out, but afterwards I kicked myself for missing out the obvious things that they would have been looking for.

Interviews are not unlike teaching - an opportunity to share what I know with others, but because the topic was me, and I thought I'd just be able to answer those questions on the fly, I fell a bit flat. I floundered to find the right words.

The lesson I have learned here is that everthing needs prep.  Often it's just because being succinct is tricky, but it's essential for effective information giving. Despite how well you think you know something, saying it clearly and concisely can take practise and skill.

Needless to say I didn't get the job, but it was a valuable experience that served as a good reminder of some fundamental principles - not least the importance of preparation.

Raspberry Pi Projects

This year I was successful in obtaining a bid for a set of Raspberry Pi computers for our Foundation Degree students to make use of.  Today they delivered their end of year presentations about what they had done with their Pis.

We started the year with a bit of programming.  This included a few sessions to introduce them to Python, and then half a dozen sessions on using Scratch to create some simple games and interactive programs.

There was a clear divide within the class - those who felt comfortable dabbling with programming, and those who didn't.  The students were put into groups to work on the Pi - these were based on friendship rather than ability - possibly something I would avoid next time, as those who were comfortable with programming often took the lion's share of the work leaving the less confident students floundering and eventually backing off from the project.

Today each group delivered a short presentation on their project and what they had achieved.  Several of the groups had achieved some or all of their intended project, others had got stuck along the way and did not have a finished product.

Of the successful projects we had a covert surveillance system, by way of a Pi placed inside an air freshener container with an HD camera to stream video to a remote monitor if the motion or door sensors were triggered.  Another group created a server running Apache for a custom built website.  Other projects started but not completed included a morse code LED lamp, a remote controlled car controlled by a wii remote, a flashing LED cube and another video surveillance system.

Although not all the groups achieved their goals, it was very clear from the presentations that almost everyone had taken something away from their projects.  Here are some of the things that the students have learnt about - often without even realising it:

• A first introduction to Linux
• GPIO (General Purpose Input Outputs)
• Some basic electronics - capacitors, resistors, breadboards and other connecting devices
• Downloading and installing operating system distributions
• Basic connectivity - attaching monitors, keyboards and other peripherals
• Basic programming skills
• Shell programming
• Project planning skills

In addition, all the students learned that sometimes the smallest hitch in building a fully functioning programme can have a huge impact on progress, and I think we all learned that a step by step approach, tackling each tiny element one at a time is the only way to build up to a successful outcome.

I asked the students at the end if they would like to continue working on the Pis next year.  Some said no, but on the whole, the project seems to have piqued their interest in programming and I have absolutely no doubt that what they have done this year will stand them in good stead for the programming, scripting and IT security challenges that they will take on next year.

Is Internal Moderation lagging behind on the technology front?

I admit defeat.  I'm sorry to say that this term, I've submitted work for internal moderation in the traditional, paper based format.

I teach Photoshop and Web Design classes in an adult education / community education based setting.  I've been teaching various web design classes since 2008 and or so, and when I first started teaching them, I always submitted learner portfolios as printed sheets.  These rapidly became very cumbersome and didn't truly reflect the student's skills.

So for the past 3 years I've been using electronic portfolios.  This makes perfect sense to me - yes, the internal moderator can look at printed code and check to see if there are the expected tags in a document, but the real test of whether a website does what it's supposed to do is to look at it on a browser.  I've tried to make these portfolios as accessible as possible, getting the learners to put their work together in an overarching website, with clear links to all the criteria.  Where the work has been done, but the portfolio isn't clear in it's signposting, I've added tutor links to help guide the internal moderator through the sites to find the criteria. The files has been submitted on a memory stick, with simple printed instructions on how to locate the first file.

It has always caused problems.  The first stage of internal verification isn't too difficult, as I can be on hand to answer any questions.  However, it's when the files go to formal internal moderation away from our teaching centre that the trouble starts.  Firstly, we have to request a lap top and sometimes a network connection if a learner has uploaded work to a live server.  Should we really need to request a lap top at these events?  Surely in the digital age, the need for at least one lap top is without question.  Then, the moderators take the portfolios for assessment.  I have seen instances where my files have been collected, and then returned to the in trays, unmarked, once the memory stick has been spotted.  On occasions where I have not been at the event, I have had the work return unmarked, with comments such as 'the files couldn't be accessed', when I know darned well that they could be - having asked a colleague to see if they could 'find' the files on the memory stick.  I have even witnessed portfolios being signed off without the memory stick even being put into a computer because it was clearly just too much trouble to look at the electronic version.

So this term I've printed all the paperwork out.  I suppose in many ways it has been easier.  I've marked up the criteria with a pencil, and added the page numbers manually to the criteria list.  I've sat at a desk and reviewed all the work, and I can flick through the mountain of papers and check each and every criteria without leaving my chair.  Furthermore, I know that the portfolios will go off to moderation without any issues whatsoever.  I won't be waiting with baited breath to see if they got moderated at all, and if they did, were they successfully accessed.

What is sad is that I don't believe the moderators are getting a true flavour of what my learners have achieved.  A paper printout of website or digital graphic is no substitute for the online version in all it's multicoloured, interactive glory.  The moderator cannot comment on how great the drop down menus were, or how professional a website looks if they only see the static, black and white printout.

Does the moderation process need kicking into the 21st Century?  Should we, as tutors, be able to expect that IT facilities will be available for viewing IT projects at moderation events, without having to make special requests for such facilities?  In an age where, as tutors, we are encouraged to embrace digital literacy, and to encourage our students to do the same,  we are surely letting them down if we then get them to print out all their work, just so that someone less digitally savvy can sign it off at the end of the course.

I'd be very interested to hear others comments on this topic.  In the meantime, I apologise to all those trees for failing to hit my eco targets this term, and to the poor tutor who has to lug all those heavy files to moderation.

Password Security

I teach on the Foundation Degree in IT Security.  As you can imagine, a lot of my time is spent researching and looking into issues relating to IT security.  As a result of teaching on this course, I have reassessed my own use of passwords, and most of them are now unique in a format that only I would remember (I hope!).

Today I have tried to register for online access to a banking institution.  I was sent a secure password, in a separate letter to my account number.  The secure password was hidden by a peel off sticker, so that it couldn't be read through the envelope.  Next to the sticker, the letter said 'if you think anyone else has tried to remove the strip, please call us straight away'.  Clearly this organisation takes security very seriously.  All good so far.

I log onto the website using a variety of personal information and my new account number.  I'm asked for several characters from the sticky strip, and then I'm taken straight to a screen to change my password.  Here's where things begin to go downhill.

I try my usual method of creating a unique password, using an algorithm I've invented which can work with any website, but the resulting password is too long.  I can see that I can only use 8 characters for this password - that seems a little short.

I try a shortened version of the algorithm, now I'm told that I need to have a capital letter - that would normally come later in my method, so I have to do a rethink.

I try again, this time, putting my capital letter earlier in the algorithm, but now I get a message saying I need a special character.  No problem, I put a special character in, but the one I have chosen is not allowed.  Rethink again.

After all this messing about, my next attempt says that the confirmation password doesn't match.  I'm not surprised - I've got myself in a complete knot by this stage.

I retype both the password and confirmation, but this time i'm told that the minimum number of numeric characters hasn't been met.  Ok, I'm getting fed up now.  I take a breather to gather my thoughts.

A few minutes later I give it another shot, but now I've been timed out and have to start the whole process again.  Finally, I pick a short, random jumble of characters and I'm allowed in.

I'm then required to submit answers to 5 (yes, 5!) security questions digging into my deep and distant past - Mother's middle name, Grandfather's job, first house, first car etc etc, and then I'm asked for 3 phone numbers that they can contact me on.

Finally, I feel I'm getting somewhere, and I'm asked to choose a picture and a welcome phrase so I know when I've logged in that it really is the site I intended to be on, and not a spoof website.  This part I like, and I've not seen before in this format, it would certainly be reassuring if I clicked on a link from an email to check my account (something I would never normally do, by the way!).

This example begs the question:  has security gone too far, or is this how it should be in the age of cyber-crime?  In addition, why didn't the website give me some examples of what was required in the password?  It wasn't until after I'd sorted it out that I realised such guidance was on the letter I received in the post.  One thing's for sure, I feel fairly confident that no-one will ever break into my account, probably not even me, I doubt I'll ever be able to remember all those details again!!

Endnote:  The precise details of what the website required have been changed in the interest of security ;)

Another new year - here's to evaluation

It's the start of a new academic year.  I've been allocated several courses that I haven't run for a year or more - Web Design Level 3, and Photoshop Level 2.  I've also got a new Photoshop Level 3 course starting, along with all my foundation degree stuff as usual.

I've dug out my old files for the first two courses.  Firstly, I'm pleased that the folders are pretty much in order - Scheme of Work and student record at the front, and a poly pocket for each lesson, complete with lesson plan, handouts and if it's something a bit tricky, my own tutor notes to refer to.  This means all I've got to do is skim over the lesson plan, check I still feel comfortable with delivering what's on it, and perhaps spend 20 minutes or so refreshing my memory on the tools and tips I want to include.

What's really been useful though is the evaluation I added at the end of some of these lesson plans.  For example, in Web Design Level 3 I've got a partner activity for the first lesson, where the learners will pair up, find out some information about each other, and then create a simple website on that person as a refresher in Dreamweaver.  As part of the process, the learners must show each other something from their mobile phone - a ring tone, photo, or text for example, that tells their partner something about themselves.  I read through  the activity sheet and thought 'hmmm, I wonder if that will work...'.  Then I noticed that on my evaluation for that session I put 'Worked really well in one centre - mobile phone task was great fun; was concerned about using it in the other centre but actually very successful'.

It reminds me how useful evaluation can be - it's not just a tick box exercise for the inspectors - it really does help us as tutors when we come to delivering the session again.  I must now make an effort to continue recording this information for my future classes.

Children and technology

A couple of things have made me chuckle this week.  Firstly, my son - 8 years old, who likes to play Minecraft with his friends online.  At 8am in the morning, when the rest of us are bleary eyed and trying to rustle up enough energy to eat breakfast and psyche ourselves up for the day, he is chasing spiders and digging holes and building monumental structures with his friend.

People often say that technology renders our children unable to socialise properly, because they spend all their time looking at gadgets and games.  I would beg to differ: when I was eight years old, there is no way I would have been chatting to my friends, plotting our next move, or creating wonderfully imaginative lands at 8am on a school day.

The other thing that made me laugh this week was when I was Googling something.  I can't even remember what it was, but my 15 year old daughter was with me and we were looking for something together.  When we couldn't find what we wanted, I suggested we look at page 2 of the Google results.  My daughter laughed out loud, stared at me in amazement, and said, incredulously "who looks at page 2???".  Personally, I often look at page 2 and beyond, but it struck me as interesting that a teenager would view this as an epic fail, both in terms of Google's ability to 'know' what I'm looking for, and in terms of the user's inability to have chosen the right search terms in the first place.

That's all, really, I just thought it was interesting how these digital natives differ to me, especially given that I consider myself almost a digital native as I use the internet so much.

Peer Assessment

Introduction

I tried an interesting (albeit not groundbreaking) experiment with my Level 4 learners yesterday.

After marking their recent assignments, it was clear that some of the learners were not quite on the ball with their academic writing skills.  Amongst the problems which cropped up most commonly were:

• frequent use of unsubstantiated observations or comments
• fragmented sentences
• lack of referencing
• failing to answer the questions posed
• inaccurate content

Activity

As the group are well ahead of schedule in terms of module content, I decided to run a slightly different type of session, which had the following structure:

• First half an hour - feedback on previous written work, with pointers and advice for improvement
• An hour researching a given topic (which had already been covered in class previously) and writing up 300-400 words, complete with references, diagrams and citations as appropriate.  All learners being given different questions
• Submission of the report to Turnitin (plagiarism checker) for their own review

Learners were then asked to print out their reports with a unique reference number on the top.  I then sent them for a well earned break.

In the latter half of the lesson I gave each learner another learner's paper to mark.  This involved their own research on the new topic of the report that they had been given, which they then had to mark with a letter grade, taking into account accuracy of content, structure, grammar, spelling, citations and referencing.  Learners could not identify whose work they were marking because of the unique reference number, which I hoped would avoid favouritism, or more importantly embarrassment if someone felt they had not done well.

Conclusion

I was really pleased with the results of this session.  When I asked the learners how they found marking someone else's work they all agreed that it was very difficult - partly because they had to be sure that the content was accurate, partly because in some cases they couldn't identify what content was original and what was quotes (because of poor referencing), and partly because they found it really hard to grade a fellow student - especially if they felt the student had done badly. 

Reviewing the papers myself has also given me a great insight into how individuals work given the constraints of what was basically a timed assessment.  I found it particularly interesting to review the marking carried out by the learners on each other.

This was definitely a worthwhile exercise, and I hope that by showing the learners what happens when their work is marked, it will improve how they present their own reports in the future.

Wider reading

Yesterday I had a bit of a rant at my level 4 students.  They have started work on a group project, but as yet I have failed to see any evidence of research and wider reading.  I didn't intend to have a go at them, but when I turned up to class, and many of them were late, I felt I needed to remind them that reading takes time and can't be done the night before an assignment needs submitting.

I demonstrated how it could be done.  Last week I spent 20 minutes retweeting information relevant to our subject on Twitter.  It wasn't difficult - I skimmed through the last few hours of posts, clicked on any interesting looking links, skim read the text and then retweeted if appropriate.  It meant that the following day I was able to review my own tweets and add links to the articles in question to our college Moodle pages for all the students to see.  These links can now be reviewed at their leisure any time up until the assignment deadline.

Having just marked a set of assignments, it's clear how beneficial wider reading is.  It teaches the students how to write academically, how to quote text or embed references, but overall, it gives them a much greater breadth of knowledge to draw on, which dramatically improves their understanding.  I think I made an impression on them, as I noticed a few had started posting messages up on a shared resource since yesterday.

Now all I need to do is resume my own wider reading for my dissertation.  It's rather a case of do as I say, and not as I do at the moment!!

Embedding Digital Literacy

I'm currently involved in a project on Embedding Digital Literacy in a Community Education setting.

As part of this, I have been asked to create resources on things I do with my learners, and this in turn has prompted me to be a little more organised in how I go about things.

I've created a few resources as a result:

1. How learners can use Evernote in the classroom
2. Using Screencast-o-matic (screen recording software) to create quick tutorials on skills learnt in the classroom.

Here's my Prezi on Evernote

And here's an example video I've created using Screencast-o-matic:

Both ideas have been very well received by the learners, particular the screencast videos, as it means learners can review what was covered in class at their own leisure.

Any comments?

Screencasting

A learner who missed a session recently said that he'd had a bit of trouble adding text to a curve - something we talked about in the class that he missed, but that was only covered briefly in the handouts.

Rather than try to explain in an email / screen shots how to carry out the task, I thought it would be much easier to do a quick Screencast.  I remember a colleague showing me Screencast-O-Matic some time ago, and I recalled how easy it seemed to be to create a simple screencast, so I decided to have a go at creating one myself.

After resolving the missing Java plug-in on my Firefox browser, I was shown a screen which simply said "Start Recording".  I didn't do any prep (other than to have a quick practice at the task myself in Photoshop to ensure I made the steps as clear as possible).  I clicked Start Recording, adjusted the screencasting window size and hit the record button.

After completing the required steps to create my curved text, I pressed the stop button, and was then given an option to upload to YouTube or Screencast-O-Matic.  I chose the latter, though I think I will definitely explore the YouTube option in the future.

I was amazed at how simple it was.  In fact, I was so impressed that I registered an account (free), set up a Photoshop channel, and even had a go at adding captions (which I then removed).

Things I learned:

• Screencast-O-Matic is extremely simple and quick to use
• The automatic highlighting of key actions (eg mouse clicks) is excellent
• The sharing options are very straightforward
• Whilst a mouse click shows, click and drag doesn't - something to remember when doing the commentary 
• I need a better microphone!

I will definitely start using this more in the future, as I think it will be an excellent tool for all my learners. You can see the results of my first attempt below or on the link:  Adding text to a curve - apologies for the poor audio, this is something I'll improve on in the future!

Evernote (again!)

Yesterday I had a session with my Photoshop learners.  They are a group of adult learners, and the course is community based (though still part of Coleg Gwent).

At the start, I got a learner to sit at the front PC which is attached to the White Board, and we did a recap of the previous session.  This rapidly digressed and we covered some really useful, though unplanned, extras.  I was conscious of the fact that the learner at the front was unable to take notes as she was controlling the PC which everyone was watching, but then I noticed her taking a quick snap of the screen on her mobile phone.

I asked if she wished to return to her seat, but she said that she was fine because she was taking photos of all the stages and sending them to Evernote.

This then lead to a discussion about the usefulness of Evernote (and similar online resources).  I showed my Evernote account to the group - most of which is work related although the first thing that popped up was a recipe for Toad in the Hole which I'd sent from my phone, which caused a chuckle.  The students were suitably impressed.

Many of the group were really interested in what such a package could offer them, and it was great to share something which I really think is very useful.  Digression is not always a bad thing in lessons!

Online collaboration

As you may have read here before, I'm currently in the process of data gathering for my dissertation in online collaboration and critical thinking.

I've managed to engage some of the students online, including a wikispaces page with a 'flipped classroom' activity on web scripting languages which was reasonably successful, and I've had all the group at least get onto the VLE and post a message.

A few weeks ago I set up a forum page on our VLE to discuss 'cookies' on websites.  One student engaged with the activity well, and made a couple of posts which demonstrated criticial thinking, but no-one else posted at all, which was disappointing.  I reminded the group of the activity on their next Monday morning lesson and commented on the lack of posts, at which point two other students told me (rather indignantly!) that they had made a post on Sunday evening.  Excellent news.

On visiting the forum later that day, I must admit that I got rather exciting at the fact that three more of the students had made some really good posts which were great examples of how they had extended their classroom discussions and developed their thoughts on the topic.  I think I may have even exhaled a quiet 'whoop' to myself - not because I have now got some 'meat' for my dissertation, but more because I had actually managed to get the learners thinking beyond the classroom and trying to find out things for themselves.

Funny how activities which we persue in order to develop ourselves further have such a great impact on our learners.  Would I have put this activity in if I wasn't doing a dissertation?  Possibly, but probably unlikely.  Now I know how I felt when I read their posts, I feel encouraged to continue to put such discussion forums on for my learners.

Evernote

Over the past few weeks I've been playing with Evernote.  I've been hearing good things about it for a while, but I was prompted by a colleague in another college to have a look at it.  As I was currently in the process of applying for an increase in my teaching grade, and needed to compile a portfolio of evidence, I wondered if Evernote might be the format I was looking for.

I wasn't disappointed.  I started by creating a few short notes, just to test the water.  I added an attachment or two, and asked our campus Director (who would be reviewing the portfolio) to check that he could see the files.  Once he confirmed that he could, it was full speed ahead.

One of the most useful things I've found about Evernote is the ability to use my smartphone to take photos of all my training certificates.  Having installed Evernote on my phone, I can then upload the certificates with one click.  Now, instead of having certificates all over the place - some one one campus, some on another, some at home - I will take a snap of them as soon as I receive them, upload it to Evernote, and then I'll have a copy of it ready to access whenever I need it.

The other thing I really like is the ease with which I can create links between notes.  This means that my index can point to relevant evidence by simply right-clicking the destination note and then pasting in the hyperlink.

Criticisms are few - currently my notebook seems to take a long time to load up for a visitor - I think this is because there are so many certificates (bragging not intended!) and snaps of my classroom obs and so on - perhaps there's a need for me to optimise the images prior to uploading them (I only did a quick resize).  I also ended up paying for a premium account (£4) - but this was because I had a lot to upload within a short space of time and there are monthly limits.  This is something I plan to avoid in the future as I will upload things as I receive them.

All in all, Evernote is an excellent tool, and one I will definitely be sharing with my students and colleagues.