An odd title for this post, perhaps to sum up the mixed bag I think I'll be getting next week. So far, my new timetable has me down for one level 2 class in college, two level 2 adult groups, one level 3 class in college and ... wait for it ... possible foundation degree groups :O
Whilst feeling somewhat under-prepared (oh how understated this comment is), I'm almost (dare I say it) looking forward to the challenge. I love IT, I think I'm ok at teaching, and I've lately been thinking that I'd like to move into HE at some point in the future. It seems to be coming earlier than planned, so whilst I think there may be stormy seas ahead, I hope that there will be clear skies not too far away. Immediate forecast: changeable.
Sunday, 18 September 2011
Saturday, 10 September 2011
e-Portfolios
I thought it would be useful to review my experiences of using e-Portfolios for the first time, as last week they successfully went through moderation.
After a Level 1 web design course, where there was a considerable volume of work produced, I decided that it would be more suitable to produce the work as an e-Portfolio. This would more effectively demonstrate the skills the students had learned, as well as vastly reducing the amount of paperwork to submit.
Moodle
The course was already set up on Moodle, so for each session I added an area to upload the work that had been done. I also set up all the course criteria so that I could add outcomes to each of the assignments as appropriate. This took a while as I incorrectly set up one criteria initially and it took me a while to work out how to remove it and replace it with the correct one.
Building content
Early on, I discussed with the class how I wanted the portfolios to work. I wanted them to create an over-arching website, which would include, in some format, a list of all the criteria which should be covered during the course. This site would then contain subsites of all the websites they had created during the course, and the criteria list would have links to corresponding evidence throughout the subsites. I suggested that the students add to their over-arching site whenever possible, to avoid having a huge amount of compiling to do at the end of the course.
Completing the Portfolios
In the final few sessions of the course, I got the learners to upload working versions of their final portfolios, and I made suggestions for improvements where necessary. Some of the portfolios were excellent, and the students had done exactly as asked. A variety of cross-referencing methods were used. Several students downloaded the criteria checklist as a Word document (as provided by me), and then made clickable links into the relevant area of their portfolio. Another student practiced creating drop down menus using CSS, and used the menus as links to all the criteria. Several others created a new web page at the front of the portfolio, and linked to all the criteria from this.
Moderation site
I then created a moderation website which included a few details about the course, along with a page for each student. Within each student's page, there was then a link to their portfolio, which was packaged into my moderation site.
Problems
There were just a couple of students who ran out of time to create their e-portfolio. One student collated their work into a website, but didn't have any cross-referencing, another two failed to compile their work at all. However, as all the work was on Moodle anyway, I was able to draw this together into a single folder, and incorporate it into my moderation site. Where evidence referencing was absent, I created the links from a standardised criteria page - and clearly marked this up in red so that any internal verifiers / moderators would be able to see what work was the students, and what I had added. Even in some of the best portfolios, there may have been the odd cross-reference that was not linked correctly, so I used the same technique here, adding the link but marking it clearly in red.
Conclusion
The final moderation website passed internal verification and moderation without any problems, and the internal verifier commented that the evidence had been very easy to find. There was a fair bit of work to do on my part in collating the portfolios into one site, but in many ways it was easier than ordering what would have been close to 100 sheets of paper for each student and adding page numbers and cross referencing manually. Now the site is set up, it should be easier still to repeat the method. I will definitely use e-portfolios again.
After a Level 1 web design course, where there was a considerable volume of work produced, I decided that it would be more suitable to produce the work as an e-Portfolio. This would more effectively demonstrate the skills the students had learned, as well as vastly reducing the amount of paperwork to submit.
Moodle
The course was already set up on Moodle, so for each session I added an area to upload the work that had been done. I also set up all the course criteria so that I could add outcomes to each of the assignments as appropriate. This took a while as I incorrectly set up one criteria initially and it took me a while to work out how to remove it and replace it with the correct one.
Building content
Early on, I discussed with the class how I wanted the portfolios to work. I wanted them to create an over-arching website, which would include, in some format, a list of all the criteria which should be covered during the course. This site would then contain subsites of all the websites they had created during the course, and the criteria list would have links to corresponding evidence throughout the subsites. I suggested that the students add to their over-arching site whenever possible, to avoid having a huge amount of compiling to do at the end of the course.
Completing the Portfolios
In the final few sessions of the course, I got the learners to upload working versions of their final portfolios, and I made suggestions for improvements where necessary. Some of the portfolios were excellent, and the students had done exactly as asked. A variety of cross-referencing methods were used. Several students downloaded the criteria checklist as a Word document (as provided by me), and then made clickable links into the relevant area of their portfolio. Another student practiced creating drop down menus using CSS, and used the menus as links to all the criteria. Several others created a new web page at the front of the portfolio, and linked to all the criteria from this.
Moderation site
I then created a moderation website which included a few details about the course, along with a page for each student. Within each student's page, there was then a link to their portfolio, which was packaged into my moderation site.
Problems
There were just a couple of students who ran out of time to create their e-portfolio. One student collated their work into a website, but didn't have any cross-referencing, another two failed to compile their work at all. However, as all the work was on Moodle anyway, I was able to draw this together into a single folder, and incorporate it into my moderation site. Where evidence referencing was absent, I created the links from a standardised criteria page - and clearly marked this up in red so that any internal verifiers / moderators would be able to see what work was the students, and what I had added. Even in some of the best portfolios, there may have been the odd cross-reference that was not linked correctly, so I used the same technique here, adding the link but marking it clearly in red.
Conclusion
The final moderation website passed internal verification and moderation without any problems, and the internal verifier commented that the evidence had been very easy to find. There was a fair bit of work to do on my part in collating the portfolios into one site, but in many ways it was easier than ordering what would have been close to 100 sheets of paper for each student and adding page numbers and cross referencing manually. Now the site is set up, it should be easier still to repeat the method. I will definitely use e-portfolios again.
Friday, 9 September 2011
New term, new era
After busying myself over the summer preparing new workbooks for our workshop classes, I had a shock this week to learn that I'm being redeployed to the campus to teach 16-19 years old. I don't yet know what I'll be teaching them - other than 'IT', whether I'll have set classes, or be doing cover, or anything else.
This has put the cat amongst the pigeons so's to speak. I have nothing prepared for these groups - nor could I since I don't know what I'll be teaching.
In the interim, I have been looking for some teenage friendly ICT icebreakers. No joy from my tweet asking for resources, but my friends in ILT came up trumps with comicmaster and I'm thinking of being brave and trying Wallwisher (though I fear there may be consequences!). I'll also try the old working with pairs to find out something unusual about your partner.
Now I've just got to see what happens next....!
This has put the cat amongst the pigeons so's to speak. I have nothing prepared for these groups - nor could I since I don't know what I'll be teaching.
In the interim, I have been looking for some teenage friendly ICT icebreakers. No joy from my tweet asking for resources, but my friends in ILT came up trumps with comicmaster and I'm thinking of being brave and trying Wallwisher (though I fear there may be consequences!). I'll also try the old working with pairs to find out something unusual about your partner.
Now I've just got to see what happens next....!
Saturday, 27 August 2011
Catching up
What with the summer holidays and all, I haven't posted much lately.
But, now I'm back to work, and striving to get all our Office 2010 updates ready for the beginning of September. I've also been charged with setting up a Moodle site for our centres, which is something I'm looking forward to doing, but I'm also busy rewriting my Web Design courses for the latest Dreamweaver software, and writing a brand new Level 1 Photoshop course.
On top of all this, we are likely to have an inspection this year, which means I need to ensure all our course files are bang up to date with schemes of work and lesson plans a-plenty. Oh - and did I mention I'm due to start the second year of my MA in Education & ICT?
And as if that's not enough, I'm training hard for a half marathon in October, where I'm hoping to raise money for Macmillan on behalf of my mum who's currently battling with ovarian cancer.
No rest for the wicked, eh??
But, now I'm back to work, and striving to get all our Office 2010 updates ready for the beginning of September. I've also been charged with setting up a Moodle site for our centres, which is something I'm looking forward to doing, but I'm also busy rewriting my Web Design courses for the latest Dreamweaver software, and writing a brand new Level 1 Photoshop course.
On top of all this, we are likely to have an inspection this year, which means I need to ensure all our course files are bang up to date with schemes of work and lesson plans a-plenty. Oh - and did I mention I'm due to start the second year of my MA in Education & ICT?
And as if that's not enough, I'm training hard for a half marathon in October, where I'm hoping to raise money for Macmillan on behalf of my mum who's currently battling with ovarian cancer.
No rest for the wicked, eh??
Friday, 22 July 2011
My app works!
Mission complete. I've successfully created a QR code and installed the app on my android phone. I've used a photo of my own cat so it's clearly my own app. I even tried to record her purring, but sadly it wasn't loud enough.
Anyway, I'm rather pleased with my efforts so far, but will need to dig into further tutorials to take it any further.
Anyway, I'm rather pleased with my efforts so far, but will need to dig into further tutorials to take it any further.
App Inventor Phase 2 / 3
Ok, so the next phase is to install app inventor software on my machine. 90Mb of download (my ISP won't like that), but it's a necessary evil.
Being a bit wary of working directly onto my phone, I've decided to start by using the emulator.
Phase 2 complete.
Phase 3 - so I worked through the Kitty tutorial and it worked :D The tutorial was excellent, but I did use the emulator and I think I ought to be brave enough to create it on my own phone.
My next plan is to use a photo of my own cat instead, so that it's personal, and then I'll do the last bit and actually add it to my phone, so that I can show it off to everyone. App designing here I come!!!
Being a bit wary of working directly onto my phone, I've decided to start by using the emulator.
Phase 2 complete.
Phase 3 - so I worked through the Kitty tutorial and it worked :D The tutorial was excellent, but I did use the emulator and I think I ought to be brave enough to create it on my own phone.
My next plan is to use a photo of my own cat instead, so that it's personal, and then I'll do the last bit and actually add it to my phone, so that I can show it off to everyone. App designing here I come!!!
App Inventor
A colleague of mine is creating a Moodle site for a course on developing mobile apps, and is looking for interested people to get involved. Not being adverse to a bit of programming, I thought I might have a look. Initially, I think the idea is to get started with app development, and to record progress as it happens.
Today, I have gone to App Inventor for Android and made a start on the set up process ready to begin playing.
Step 1 Remove old versions of Java...
After an online test, it appears I've got rather a lot of old versions of Java and Runtime, so I'm firstly removing all the old versions (a little bit tedious but should free up a lot of space and make things a bit more stable).
Step 2 Installing up to date version...
This caused me a bit of grief - no idea why really, but that darned little Java applet wouldn't show, so did a second install of the latest version, and now it's working fine.
Step 3 Testing Java for App Inventor
Carried out the simple (well, it was for me!!) notepad.jnlp test as talked through by the App Inventor set up pages, and it worked perfectly.
That's all I've got time for now, seems I'm good to go....
Today, I have gone to App Inventor for Android and made a start on the set up process ready to begin playing.
Step 1 Remove old versions of Java...
After an online test, it appears I've got rather a lot of old versions of Java and Runtime, so I'm firstly removing all the old versions (a little bit tedious but should free up a lot of space and make things a bit more stable).
Step 2 Installing up to date version...
This caused me a bit of grief - no idea why really, but that darned little Java applet wouldn't show, so did a second install of the latest version, and now it's working fine.
Step 3 Testing Java for App Inventor
Carried out the simple (well, it was for me!!) notepad.jnlp test as talked through by the App Inventor set up pages, and it worked perfectly.
That's all I've got time for now, seems I'm good to go....
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)