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.

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.

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.

My Year in FE

I thought that as the end of term is now approaching it might be time to review what I've learnt this year.  It's funny really to think of it like that - after all, I'm the one whose supposed to be delivering the learning, but I think it could be me who's learnt the most!

Academically, I've learnt a lot.  I've added some strings to my bow - teaching a new course at Foundation Degree, a new level in Web Design, and a fair few new BTEC courses (new to me, if not to the world at large).

I've researched, read, studied, absorbed, sorted, analysed and then rewritten what I've discovered all over again, in my own words, in order to get it clear in my own head.  I've then passed what I've learnt onto my students, and encouraged them to follow suit.  I've honed my classroom and time management skills.  I now work smarter and more efficiently, because time has been so precious.  I've also developed my own academic skills as I've got through the second year of my MA - next year I will be starting my dissertation.

So reflecting on my own development, I can see a huge change in myself.  I feel much more confident in what I know (and indeed what I don't).  I don't see that the gaps in my knowledge are bad things - just gaps that over time I'd like to fill.  I know I can survive FE if I ultimately choose that path, and I know how much I've enjoyed stretching myself with the HE courses I've taught.  I've also found immense satistfaction in my Community Education activities.

It's been a stressful, challenging, but fruitful year, and now I'm looking forward to a well earned rest before it starts all over again!

Differentiation - is it worth it?

Today I had the last official workshop for one of my Learn IT Centre groups.  I've worked hard to try and accommodate their individual and diverse needs.  I've worked at home to locate errors in pages of code to help a single learner, and researched specific add-ons at the request of another.  I know the project that each learner has produced in pretty fine detail.  In the lessons, I try to 'teach' a skill, and then spend the second half of the lesson doing mini one-to-ones so that everyone gets something they want.

At the end of our class today, I was presented with a small gift and a lovely card.  All the learners had written something personal about what they had gained from the classes, and what stood out was how much they valued the efforts I have made to accommodate each individual learner.

So, was it worth it?  Well, in the words of those infamous X-factor judges.... "100% yes".  This is not about patting myself on the back - but it's more to remind myself that we must never forget that our 'learners' are all individual people with individual needs, and every so often they let you know that they appreciate it when we remember that.

Enjoying teaching

I've had a busy few weeks.  Teaching observation one week, Estyn visit the next.  I've upped my game, there's no doubt of that, and I'm better equipped to include useful ILT, differentiation, classroom management techniques and many of the other elements that make up an 'excellent' lesson.

Now, the pressure is off - at least in the respect of being seen to be doing the right thing.  And yet, my two lessons yesterday were equally effective despite being much less well prepared on paper.  I didn't have PowerPoints, printed activities or videos to watch.  I didn't have group work lined up, with clearly defined objectives, and well stated differentiation.  I didn't write about literacy or numeracy.  I just did it.

The 'magic trick' I did with one group (which went wrong because of lack of clear instructions) proved an excellent way to revisit earlier learning on binary and parity bits, including an example of the reason it can be less effective because of where it went wrong.  The installation of a hardware device that I did with another group (which went wrong because I forgot to include a vital instruction) meant that the learners worked out for themselves what was wrong and resolved it.  Instead of giving diagrams out and explaining them, I doodled on the board, taking on board comments from the students as I went.  The lessons evolved naturally, and the skills that I have developed wove into the lesson with seeming ease.

It's reassuring to have a day when you feel like you've done things right, and your students have gone home having had an interesting and fun lesson, whilst still learning something.  Let's hope there are many more of these.

Leaving them to it

I did some discussion / brainstorming work with a couple of my groups this week.

At some points, the discussions became noisy and even heated.  For once, I put on my own brakes and left them to it, only steering them back on course when I felt they had digressed too far from the point.

It was somewhat chaotic, but it was great to see everyone engaging and getting enthusiastic about the topic.  Far better to have a noisy, energetic (if a little disorganised) session, than one where everyone sits silently wishing the clock to tick faster.  Sometimes not saying anything gives the learners a chance to voice their own opinions.

Online collaboration v research

For the past few months, I've wholly believed in the power of networking and the benefits that collaborative working can bring.  For example, being able to connect to other educators via the internet - and in particular Twitter - has meant that I'm frequently exposed to, or directed to, tools which may enhance the learning experience for my students.  On an almost daily basic, I'm clicking on links to educators' websites or blog posts which help me think about how I teach and what I could do differently.  This is highly valuable to me, and I don't doubt will continue to influence my teaching and own learning for some time.

However, starting back on my MA course this month, and being involved in a course delivered under the UHOVI project has reminded me how essential it is for me to read reports and publications from key bodies within the industry - such as BECTA (abolished earlier this year), JISC and so on.  Whilst my online colleagues can provide me with instant examples and ideas, as well as workable solutions to problems and an insight into what has worked for them, there is no substitute for the critical, in depth reading that is available from bigger organisations with a wider remit.

Today I have read (and thoroughly enjoyed) "Emerging Technologies for Learning" published by Becta in 2006.  It hasn't given me immediate ideas for the classroom, but it has given me a broad overview of some of the key areas of growth.  As it is some years old now, I can see how Becta had a thorough view of what was to come and how many of their suggestions (such as the BBC's then non-existent iPlayer) are already mainstream now.  It's provided me with much food for thought, and taken me away from the immediate question of 'how can I make this interesting' to thinking more broadly about teaching strategies and how education is changing in today's world.

So, note to self:  "continue to read beyond what might seem necessary, and search out those interesting articles to broaden my own understanding of changing pedagogy in a digital world".

Lesson Observations

Today I had a final lesson observation for the year.  Thankfully I did better than my last one, but it's made me reflect a little on my teaching style.

Constructive criticisms from my last obs were that I didn't push the students enough, so that the more able students were challenged to go beyond the set exercises and tasks.  Hmmm, as all our students work from work books I was concerned that if I digressed during an observed lesson I would be penalised for not sticking to the criteria. I was also criticised for helping too much - demonstrating or giving answers too readily when asked a question.

After that obs, I felt extremely deflated and yes, upset.  I didn't want to be a satistfactory teacher, but a good, if not outstanding one. I told myself that the scoring system for the observation was flawed and demotivating.

But as a result, I did rethink my strategies.  I noticed that with my children I too readily do things for them, instead of encouraging them to work things out for themselves.  I started to hang back from giving information too freely, but rather encouraging both my students and my children to try that little bit harder to work it out for themselves. Reflecting on today's experience, I think that whilst I really dislike the grading system for observations, it has made me rethink my teaching strategies, and ultimately, I think it has made a better learning environment for my students.

My final thoughts then are that perhaps observations do serve a purpose and do have a place in developing better teachers, but that they need to go hand in hand with positive support and suggestions, and yes, encouragement for the teacher themselves.  After all, a good teacher should still be learning, just at a different level to their students.

Learning from my colleagues

A while back I wrote a post about learning from my learners.  Yesterday, I was lucky to have a colleague assisting in the classroom, and I found it very interesting to learn from her.

I had a student struggling with a particular aspect of their course (English skills).  Having spent some time with him already, I was finding it difficult to explain it any other way, so I asked my colleague to help.  After a little thought, she explained the subject completely differently to the way I had been doing it.  She was extremely patient with the learner, getting him to think about the subject in a way that was more meaningful to him, rather than looking at it in an abstract manner.

It made me reflect on how I had approached the subject, and gave me ideas on how I could do it differently next time.


My final thoughts?  That teaching is not easy - it takes a considerable amount of effort, creativity and skill - and that we, as teachers, must never be complacent about our work, but rather that we should take every opportunity to expand our own thinking and share good practice.

Social Networking Session

I've been running a social networking session today at the Learn IT Monmouth.

Letting my learners do the teaching

In my web design class yesterday, we did a recap of adding an image to a site.  Well, I say we - I decided at the very last minute to pick on a capable students (who was at that moment being distracted by some other feature of Dreamweaver) to talk the rest of the class through the process.

She started to talk - and I politely asked her to take my seat at the IWB monitor - and talk it through from there.  The rest of the class were delighted, and it was a successful few minutes.  We gave her a round of applause for her efforts, and I then decided to take it a step further and asked another student to talk the class through adding a rollover button.

What was most interesting to me was to sit back and observe the learning process taking place.  I could see who was struggling much more clearly, and found it fascinating to see how the 'teacher' dealt with stragglers.

Not only was this a more engaging method of learning for the students, I think I really learnt something here as well - it gave me breathing space to take stock of what learning was really going on in the class.  I will definitely be doing this again.

Learning from my students

In my web design class there is a young artist who is building a site for the local art community.  He often asks me in depth or difficult questions for things he want his site to be able to do.  In the past, this might have worried me as I can't always answer his questions, but today I realised what a joy it is to move beyond the constraints of what can be done easily, and to challenge both his and my learning.

All too often we limit ourselves to the things we are familiar with, instead of taking a step back and asking "what do I really want to achieve, and then trying to achieve it.  This is perhaps one of the advantages of not knowing the software.  My student has a "surely this is possible" attitude which makes us both try that bit harder to find a way of doing what he wants.  Great stuff.

Always Learning

There is no doubt that as teachers we are always learning.  I suspect a good teacher should be learning just as much as their students do.

I learnt today that the complex session I taught on CSS went fantastically well, because I was primed and ready for it.

The 'easier' session I did on optimising graphics for my later group was somewhat less successful.  It lacked clarity from the outset, because I had spent so much time concentrating on my more difficult session for the day.

So, next session, I'm going to approach the same task as a puzzle - here are my images (a bmp, a photo with a huge file size, and a photo that is simply too large in its dimensions) and get my learners to add them to a website.  This will force them to solve the same issues, but in a more practical way than just 'optimise these images'.  I think that will get them to see the reasoning behind the session.

On a plus note, we made great use of LAN school as a way of demonstrating a very well thought out response to the task by one learner.

Essential Skills Wales

Teaching ESW today.  Several students ready for the assignment stage, which is quite daunting as it's such a new qualification.  Got the Internal Moderator visiting next week though, so that should be a great help, and a heads up on our progress so far.

LAN School

Had training this week on LAN School.  Seems like a useful tool - I've already used it just to check on student progress in class (without the student's knowledge).  This may seem a bit sneaky, but actually it enabled me to observe where the individual students were struggling, and then offer directed help without them actually having to ask - I suppose it's a way of giving support without the student having to alert the rest of the class to the fact they are struggling.

I'm not sure how useful it will be in a mixed workshop setting - interrupting adults when the are all working on different things may be more detrimental than beneficial.

I did use it a little in my web design class though, and can see that if students produce a good example it will be great to show to the rest of the class, or to get students to demonstrate a skill to the others.

Another thing that I found particularly interesting was the tutor himself who delivered the LAN session.  He is so clearly in tune with Estyn requirements, that he managed to weave Welsh / ESDGC / H&S etc etc into the session with apparent ease, and he directed us to where we might also be able to do this.