Where do you draw the line?

I had a lesson recently where I gave a presentation and encouraged discussion and input from my class throughout the session.

The class in question has a number of individuals who are difficult to engage and who find it difficult to concentrate.  Throughout the presentation, I was faced with bad language, innuendo after innuendo and some degree of disruption.  But.... and it's a big but.... the class did discuss the information required, and they did contribute to the content.

Afterwards, I considered whether I should have been more forceful in trying to stop them from using such language in class, but it was a pay off.  I didn't want to alienate them by coming down too hard, but neither do I want to be seen as a soft touch.  Where is the line between tolerance and weakness?  I think it's a judgement call for each and every case individually.  I hope I got the balance right on this occasion.

Dissertation Planning - Blended Learning

In the next few weeks I need to submit a protocol for my dissertation, which, all being well, I should be starting in September.

However, I'm struggling to decide what angle to take.  I know I want to do online learning / blended learning, but the focus is difficult to pin down.  I could work with a diverse group of students - ranging from my youngest (school leavers) in an FE setting through to mature learners in a community education setting, and look at the different levels of engagement in online learning from the different groups.  Alternatively, I could focus on a single cohort of students, and dig deeper into the individual experiences they have with online learning, and whether these are successful or not, and why.

I have started a literature review, but I think I've got some way to go with this.  So far, I have identified that Gilly Salmon's Five Stage Model forms an excellent starting point, but that less research has been done on student engagement with a specific task and that there is more focus on social engagement.

Perhaps starting with a well structured task (using the Five Stage Model) and rolling that out to all cohorts (in a relevant format) is the way to go.  This will then form a comparison of different cohorts and levels of engagement, and perhaps suggestions as to how to promote the benefits of online learning to different groups of students.

Any thoughts or suggestions would be gratefully received.  Is there a gap somewhere that needs investigating?  Feel free to comment!

Resolution Specific Web Design

Great web lesson today, discussing and trying out creating websites which use different css style sheets depending on the size of the display that the site is being viewed on.

Actually, this area of research is really interesting - it opens up lots of discussions about how far a designer should go to ensure their site looks good on a variety of devices.  Ultimately, because of all the various issues with compatibility, failings of Internet Explorer and so on, creating a full cross-platform friendly site is not as straightforward as it really should be.

One thing's for sure - my own site (which is really a very basic site to demonstrate some of the things we cover in class) desperately needs modifying itself.  It's not good form for the tutor to have a shabbier site than the students!!  If only I could stop time to give myself a couple of days to get it sorted!

QR codes

Well I've thoroughly enjoyed preparing my next web design lesson.  We'll be reviewing good & bad web design, which I think will be interesting and offers a great opportunity for collaborative working, and then I'm going to do a session on QR codes, which I think will be great fun.

I've generated a couple of codes of my own to get the class started, but I can see great potential for this with my teenage students, who I think could be very easily engaged in a variety of ways using QR codes.  Definitely one of the more interactive aspects of ICT at the moment!!

The Fickle Face of Teaching

It's been a mixed week for me.  On Monday I had a run in with a student.  He challenged my teaching methods, and I challenged his attitude.  We came to a mutual agreement to move forward, but it left me feeling rather despondent.

On Tuesday, I had quite productive lessons with my usually more difficult learners.  I feel we've built up a better relationship, and that we're all benefiting from this.

On Wednesday, I had a great lesson.  We had fun, we learned lots, and the students were fully engaged.  I even came away from the lesson with the next session fully planned out in my head.

This seems to be the normal way of things in teaching.  I don't think I'm alone in going from one extreme to another on an almost hourly basis.  I am constantly experimenting with what works and what doesn't, and there is always the unexpected reaction of my learners to deal with.  Whilst this makes for an interesting and challenging career, I do sometimes wish for a simpler life!

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.

Short bursts of activity

Today, I did a Q&A session with one of my groups who are notoriously difficult to keep on task.  It was Q&A with a twist though.

I wanted them to research a few subjects on the internet.  If I had handed out the questions, or posted them on the VLE, a handful of them would have completed them in the lesson, but many would have failed to maintain the momentum to see the handful of questions through to the end, and it would have taken an almighty effort on my part to keep them focused.

So I decided to read out the questions one at a time.  I sold it as 'speed searching', giving the students only 2-3 minutes to research each question.  My students are not dull, they just find it hard to commit themselves, but the fact that there was only a very short space of time to get an answer down meant that they carried out efficient searching, excellent scanning, and following a warning from me (and the frantic tapping sounds of fingers on keyboards), a fair attempt at putting what they found into their own words.  As I observed them, I was pleased to note that many found some excellent, reliable sources of information - and not just the obvious ones.

There were six questions in all, and in the timed slots between one question and the next there was near silence in the room - something I experience very rarely with this group.  At the end of the question session, I used (and had explained this would be the case) targeted questions to individuals to ensure everyone had participated.  Everyone I asked was able to answer their question.

I think the group enjoyed a change of activity, and they produced some good work as a result.  Well worth using again.