We generally assume that technology enhances education, and often have anecdotal evidence in support of this. But how much concrete evidence do we have? Given the costs associated with acquiring and using educational technologies,  I think this is a question worth asking.

There are quite a few case studies that highlight the benefits of specific technologies in specific contexts – for example, in HE, ‘Exploring Tangible benefits of e-Learning’ (JISC Infonet, 2008), and in HE/FE, ‘Effective Practice in a Digital Age’ (JISC, 2009). However, there are very few studies that attempt to measure effectiveness – one of the few examples I’ve found is the ImpaCT2 project in schools (Becta, 2002) which compared time spent using technology (mainly PC use) with ‘value-added’ scores in a range of subjects.  (Becta also discuss the impact of technology in the FE and Skills sector in England in their recent review publication, and note that there is a positive correlation between ‘e-mature’ colleges and Ofsted inspection results). Some literature on this subject can be found in a RSC Wales Moodle area, and I’d be very interested to learn about any other relevant studies that you may have come across.

Perhaps it is no surprise that there have been relatively few quantitative studies in the field of e-learning. For a start, it is difficult enough to study ‘discrete’ aspects of technology in this way – for example, a particular  application or an online course – but it’s a real challenge to apply a numerical approach to the more realistic blend of online, mobile and classroom technologies that many learners now encounter. And what exactly should be measured? Cost-savings might be a priority for some, but  indices of achievement or retention are usually preferred. However, it is almost impossible to separate the effects of e-learning from the many other factors that have an influence on learning.  Learner surveys can generate quantitative data on learners’ preferences and experiences of technology, but interpretation depends on the proportion responding and their profiles.  Similarly, teaching staff could be surveyed to look at technology in the context of delivery of learning. 

This last approach is currently of particular interest to me, and I am keen to get feedback from educators about their experiences of specific educational technologies. To this end, an evaluation form has been devised which asks respondents to comment on and grade a technology of their choice. This is not a particularly scientific approach, but it may give an indication of relative usefulness from the point of view of teachers/trainers/tutors. If we receive sufficient responses we hope to compile a ‘TechAdvisor’ Moodle area – so please do visit the ‘Evidence of Efectiveness’ area on the RSC Wales Moodle and download and complete in the ‘Evaluating your Technology’ form in section 7 ( and return it  to us!)

BETT 2010 … should I go, shouldn’t I go? It was a debate I had with myself and with colleagues before I went to BETT (on Saturday, the last day of the show ) and now in this blog post I am going to share and reflect on what I saw and whether I think it was worth it in the end.

What I expected to see was a lot of companies selling their educationally relevant technological wares, with some teachers sharing their experiences of using technology to support their learners … and that is more or less what I saw! On my way to London I also picked up the Guardian’s tweet about their BETT Show article ‘Its not just about computing‘  … having been myself now I can certainly see what they meant about this years show.

So now to a summary of what I saw:

• A very wide range of software, hardware and service providers all keen to share their wares … lots aimed at schools but many relevant to most learning provider.
• A teacher talking about glogging as part of the ‘Teachmeet takeover‘ … glogging being something I will be exploring in more detail and the Teachmeet being a great part of this years event, from what I have read in several blogs today (Learn4Life and  The Whiteboard Blog to name but two).
• Lots about Green ICT/being environmentally aware, including £65 pcs that use 1Watt (i.e. virtual desktops) … Jon (our technical expert) has talked about these a lot but now I have seen them in action and read a couple of case studies, I really ‘get it’ and think lots of organisations should too!
• Interactive WhiteBoard (with or without the short throw projectors) after IWB after IWB … but the Ver-table-interactive from RM (a moveable IWB with a short throw projector attached that can be flipped into a touch screen surface)  really caught my eye.
• Free web resources from E2BN (East of England Broadband Network), which although largely for schools did include some for all ages … ones to explore further include E-ngagelive, for interactive roleplay with online experts and Discovery Box, a tool that enables you to make up virtual boxes with images, video, sound about any topic.
• Lots of laptops/netbooks … including the Intel Classmate PC (not new I know but the first time I had seen it to touch), with its swivel screen that turns it into a tablet and whose handle makes it easy to carry.
• Becta’s new publications, ‘Raising Standards’ & ‘Inspiring Learners’  … which I had downloaded and put in the ‘To read’ folder on my desktop but which I now can read away from my desk!
• A very attractive looking Sharepoint being demonstrated for use by a school.
• Flexible furniture from a whole range of suppliers … secure desks, movable mounts for monitors, portable banks of workstations, now its a desk, now its a PC table. Great for learning spaces that need to be flexible.
• Digital signage for public areas … landscape, widescreen,  portrait (my favourite), very large and even signage projected onto the floor that reacted as you walked through it (although this last seemd to be an Olympia thing rather than a BETT exhibitor thing).

… and a Dell robot chatting to 8 year old boy who was completely engaged.

There was obvioulsy a lot more to see but being late getting to the last day of the show because of closures on the underground and in the interest of a digestible blog post, these are really my edited highlights or things that have stuck in my mind. My final thought is about whether I think it was worth going to BETT 2010 this year … and my conclusion is that it was, because I saw things I wouldn’t otherwise have done (ver-table and flexible furniture), learnt first hand how effective something I had heard about but not seen can be (virtual desktops) and have come away wanting to find out more about at least one thing (glogging) … but I won’t be going again next year … or not on a Saturday, at least

The wonders of modern technology (a netbook with a respectable battery life and a mobile dongle whilst on the move, Dropbox, an iMac and a blog in the cloud) enable me to share and reflect (out loud) on the things I have heard today at the ‘Moodle Wonderland’ organised by ULCC and hosted at Westminster Kingsway College’s brand new Kings Cross Centre … so here goes:

A refreshing start

Andrew Williams from Kingston College started the day largely focusing on learning, with a bit of technology integrated appropriately … which was great to hear! Andrew began his presentation by considering learning and spirituality, defining both and drawing thought provoking parallels between the two. He introduced the concept of personalisation and then ended with a number of questions asking how technology can enhance different aspects of learning. The key things I took from his refreshing presentation were:

• The verb ‘educe’ (the origin of the word education) means ‘to draw from within’ … but this is not what the education system in general does for our learners today, is it? The focus is much more on pumping knowledge into them and then testing what they can remember, rather than drawing it from them.
• If we want to move back towards the original definition of learning then we need to appreciate what it is we need in order to be able to learn and Andrew suggested three things we need to do: open ourselves to wanting to learn new things; accept that we will change; acknowledge that we don’t learn alone, we need other people too.
• Personalising learning is a step in the right direction if we want to make learning more about the person rather than the information they know.
• Technology may well be able to help to personalise a learners experience but some of the questions to consider are:

? How can technology create space for learners to thrive?
? How can technology enrich the process as well as the product of learning?
? How can we mobilise e learning to enlarge the creativity and imaginative ability of learners?

A gallop through assessment

ULCC’s eagerly awaited Assessment Manager was introduced by James Ballard (ULCC) and then demonstrated and discussed by Scott Hallman (CONEL, one of the pilot colleges) in the first breakout I attended. A summary of what I heard and saw about the Assessment Manager follows:

• It is a Moodle plugin that has 2 parts: (1) Assessment Manager (for the learners, tutors and assessors) enables you to map user evidence to course outcomes, track progress and give assessors and verifiers an overview. (2) Qualification Manager (for the organisation) enables you to select and customise the qualifications.
• It started as an NVQ eportfolio but has developed to be able to encompass almost all criteria based qualifications … CONEL use it for BTECs, Diplomas, NVQs, Access, ESOL, SLDD, IFL staff.
• Moodle courses, gradebook, activities, calendar, outcomes and scales integrate (to a greater or lesser degree) with the Assessment Manager. They are now working towards fuller integration on some of these, including the gradebook and also Mahara.
• It is being used in 3 ways by CONEL: (1) confident tutors are using it fully with their learners (2) the e learning team take the paper portfolios and digitise them for the not so confident staff (3) it is used purely for tracking, rather than as a tracking and digital evidence store.
• It has been tested with Moodle 2.0 and will upgrade.
• It has been piloted with a number of colleges and has changed extensively over these pilots … but there is still work to do before full release in July 2010.
• Information about Assessment Manager on the ULCC website is limited but you can sign up for a demo account at http://amdemo.moodle.ulcc.ac.uk

A whistle stop tour of 21st century learning

ULCC’s James Ballard introduced the afternoon session by considering 21st Century learning and suggesting how we move forward with the aim of meeting the needs of the 21st century learner. The key things for me were:

• Learners are most definitely at the centre of 21st century learning.
• Knowing what to learn next and how to learn it is as important as what we have already learnt.
• Personalised learning is one solution that aims to meet the needs of the 21st century learner.
• Learners need to learn about the subject, about learning and about themselves as learners. The ’system’ (whatever it may be) should be there to support this.
• The future is interoperable, i.e  a collection of tools that all add to the learning process or experience and work together (for the end user) seamlessly.

A flying visit to view some Moodle practice

The second and final breakout I attended was a showcase of 2 provider’s Moodle practice.

Newcastle City Learning (ACL provider) have just embarked on their 3rd year with Moodle and the positives that have come out of it for them are: that it provides a place for shared resources that can be accessed by their geographically spread learners; online submission of work has made things easier for learners, tutors and assessors; information sharing and collaborative working of staff is much easier. Two other things that were of particular interest interest to me were that one tutor uploads learners work (with their permission) to her course for all to see, share and learn from and another tutor has one course with all of the support materials, tutorials etc and another that all of the learners are ‘teachers’ on so they can upload their work for all to share … and for the tutor/assesors to easily access too.

Hackney Community College have implemented ULC’Cs Personal Learning Plan Moodle plugin and are using it as an electronic ILP, which integrates with their MIS system and electronic registers, links to the Moodle gradebook, allows regular progress reports from the tutors to be added and enables the learner, parent or other nominated person to easily check on their progress.

The last stretch

And so ended my brisk but informative walk through a Moodle Wonderland. Presentations and videos from the day will be made available and I will post the link here once I have it. Thanks to ULCC, Westminster Kingsway College, all of the presenters … and not forgetting our sister RSC in London too

Yesterday I eventually managed to catch up with the latest JISC Inform, when I took myself and a paper copy to the coffee shop to get away from my computer! One article that particulary took my eye was ‘Blue sky thinking or head in the clouds?’ which considers if and how ‘cloud computing’ could be used effectively in education.

It is a great article (that, for those of you who aren’t sure, starts by describing what cloud computing is) and I will be following the JISC work on this one with interest from now … but it also got me thinking about whether I have my head in the clouds. My initial conclusion, just from a few things I have done this morning before writing this, is that my head is much more in the clouds that it has ever been … but it is all so integrated in what I do regarding using technology that I wasn’t aware of it. Here’s what I mean:

So far today my head has been in the clouds when I have used:

• Google Docs – to update a document I am collaborating on with a colleague

• Delicious to bookmark a Moodle resource

• Dropbox to store a document I might want to access on another computer but which I also wanted to share (via a URL) with others

• Twitter to share my (RSC Wales) thoughts on a resource I’ve found and also to serve as another sort of bookmark for me too

… but then my feet have been on the ground as I am drafting this in my One Note and I guess I was ‘hovering’ when I accessed my emails from my Outlook client and then replied to a few

The point of all of this is that the cloud has become so much a part of the way that I do things that I don’t even realise I’m using it … and my choices about the tool I use are not to do with if they are cloud based or not but if they are the most effective for the job (to be able to quickly and easily access, collborate, share with others in the examples above) … and at the end of the day isn’t this how we should all (organisations, teachers and learners alike) be choosing if and how to use any technology?

I’ll be honest: it took me a while to get the point of Twitter.  I have been ‘tweeting’ just occasionally since 2007, but until this year I had never integrated the use of this service with my professional practice in any way. However, that has changed now, and I can pinpoint the time when it all started to make sense to me: it was the day when I started to make use of hashtags. This simple device has  the power to convert apparently random observations from disparate individuals into thematic conversation. There is no technical magic involved with hashtags – it is simply a character which says ‘search me’. This convention enables lots of things to happen in terms of metadata and classification, and it works across all online technologies. But for the moment, I will focus on Twitter and the conversational power of the hashtag in that context.

Using a well-chosen hashtag in your tweets means that anyone can find your tweet on a given topic. Even better, it means that groups of users can sustain a conversation in a given ‘space’ once they have established a unique hashtag, and there have been lots of great examples of this. For example, there exists a weekly and global discussion about educational issues under the tag #edchat, which has proved a fertile ground for the exchange of ideas, as well as resources.(Incidentally, a good way of following discussions is to use a Twitter client such as Tweetdeck, which allows you to filter continuous search into a specified column on your screen.)  Hashtags for conferences often work really well, because it is easy for a group of delegates to agree on a specific tag. Whether or not conference delegates and organisers find the use of Twitter a useful addition to the event, or an irritating distraction, is of course a matter of taste.

I have been looking at three hashtags in particular over the weekend, which collectively illustrate the power and also perhaps the limitations of this approach. These hashtags all relate to climate change, but in very different ways. #thewave acted as a focus for those attending the demonstration in London and elsewhere on Saturday, enabling people to report back, and for those not present to get a sense of what was going on. #cop15 is the informally agreed tag for those interested in proceedings in Copenhagen. Finally, I was also watching #climategate, relating to the email hacking incident at University of East Anglia. Interestingly, this has become space where climate change deniers have virtually ‘gathered’.  I have sent tweets labelled with this tag, but these have failed to engage any of the participants. I wonder if this is because I don’t belong to their community? Even reading the tweets labelled with this tag gave me the uncomfortable feeling that I was somehow invading their space. This suggests that some of these hashtags have moved beyond simple topics of conversation, and are beginning to exhibit the characteristics of online communities.  

If you are amongst the many who have only dabbled with Twitter, and perhaps remain unconvinced about its value, I recommend that you install a Twitter client and run a search on one of the above tags, or something that appeals to you. You may be surprised at what you find….

Recently I’ve heard a few comments and queries about the role of social networking in education, as you would expect there are a wide range of opinions from a resounding “yes” to “no, it’s a waste of time”.

It seems to me that there is really not a lot of concrete evidence out there to say one way or another that sites like Facebook and Myspace have a place in education.  I did find some research undertaken by Christine Greenhow from the University of Minnesota which does demonstrate some benefits of social networking.

They have found that social networking fosters communication and creativity and allows students to express their opinions, emotions and thoughts.

They also found that where students may get some training in class on a subject such as video creation or creative writing if the student is interested and inspired by the subject they may go on learning in their own time. Social networks allow students to display their creations and get feedback and reviews from their peers.

Sir Ken Robinson said at a recent TED conference “Creativity is as important as literacy” and that “We are educating people out of their creative capacities”. With that in mind don’t you think Social networking is a great way to encourage creativity as well as literacy?

Blogging and communication tools can be used for reflection as well as interaction, there is evidence that these tools improve literacy and can help develop a social conscience. A lot of organisations are becoming increasingly interested in e-portfolios but there are currently many definitions of what an e-portfolio is. Some e-portfolios encourage reflection and the keeping of a diary, some allow work and evidence to be uploaded and some allow peer review.  As far as I can see the IT and social skills required for interacting with an e-portfolio are already being developed, social networking sites are working as a training ground without anyone realising it!

We do need to be careful though, I recently came across a quote which I’ll have to paraphrase as unfortunately I can’t find the original source: The best way for a social network (such as Facebook) to kill off a rival would be to say that the rival is educational.

Expecting that we can shoehorn education into students’ existing social networks is probably the wrong idea. Trying to create copies of social networks in education and expecting students to use them like Facebook may also be a mistake. Beware of trying to be too cool and creating a Creepy Treehouse*

Obviously Social networks have downsides too, most students realise that they can be a distraction from their studies, one thing that we should perhaps think about rather than banning and blocking sites is how to encourage their use as an effective study break.

The other main hazards are breaches of privacy, security and digital identity; however the online world isn’t going to go away and can be hazardous to everyone no matter what age they are or what experience they have. Learning to be safe online is an essential life skill these days, effective teaching about these dangers should form a core part of education.

Interestingly whilst I’ve been writing this article I’ve had several related tweets on Twitter pointing to some relevant articles,  I’ll leave you with some links to follow should you want to explore this subject more.

Christine Greenhow from the University of Minnesota:

http://www1.umn.edu/urelate/newsservice/Multimedia_Videos/social_network.htm

Very entertaining talk by Sir Ken Robinson on education and creativity

Schoolchildren should be encouraged to write blogs and use social networking sites like Facebook to improve literacy levels

Children who use technology are ‘better writers’

* A creepy treehouse is a place built by scheming adults to lure in kids. Kids tend to sense there’s something creepy about that treehouse and avoid it. Hence, a new definition: “Any institutionally-created, operated, or controlled environment in which participants are lured in either by mimicking pre-existing open or naturally formed environments, or by force, through a system of punishments or rewards.”

The AoC Beacon Awards for 2009-2010 were announced on 17th November, with Welsh Colleges winning several awards, or ‘punching above their weight’- as ColegauCymru (formerly fforwm) put it. One of the Welsh winners was associated with a technology-related project: Coleg Gwent received the CLA Award for promoting the value of copyright as a result of the development and use of plagiarism-awareness modules for use in Moodle. More information about this success can be found on the Coleg Gwent web-site, and a modified version of the resource can be viewed on the RSC Wales Moodle.

Swansea College was also highly commended for its entry to the FENC Award for the creative production, adaptation, and delivery of learning resources.  Their project involved the production of French-language podcasts as a flexible resource for adult and community students in particular. Podbean was used for free online hosting, and the very popular podcasts mainly involved brief weekly round-ups of news and events in France. Accompanying transcripts were also provided on a specific Podbean site to help learners, along with lists of key vocabulary. Further information about the award can be found on the Swansea College web-site.
   
Congratulations to both colleges, and all the other award-winners and entrants from Wales. A full list of all awards and winners can be found on the AoC site

First, apologies to those of you reading this who don’t like to see ‘text speak’ used in this context. I admit that I am actually one of  those who generally prefer to write and punctuate text messages as I would any piece of writing but in the interests of the content of this blog post I wanted the title to be relevant and mildly engaging at the very least!

Today I wanted to share my thoughts about text messaging in an educational context … but what has prompted me to do this? Mobile phones are everywhere and although some of us use them (not just for making calls) much more than others, the fact that it is a technology that the majority of learners have and are familiar and comfortable with makes it seem like a ‘tool’ to be seriously considered to support learning, teaching and the general learner experience. My colleague Christine’s post in February about mobile phones being a blessing or a curse and my musings on the Horizon Report 2009 have already considered this topic but in response to several requests for more information about using SMS text messaging in an educational context and Christine’s most recent post where she mentioned our ‘text wall’ I wanted to say a bit more.

We (at RSC Wales) have been taking advantage of the fact that most people have mobile phones with them wherever they go by using a ‘text wall’ as a communication tool at events, workshops and staff development sessions to collect feedback and comments and to gather and then respond to questions. The main function (imo) of the xLearn text wall we are using (originally heard about through JISC TechDis) is as a tool to gather, in one easily accessible online place, text message communications. These ‘communications’ could be comments, thoughts, questions, responses to specific queries or even tasks … all things that we want to happen in a teaching and learning environment. This particular text wall can also be used to send texts to individuals or groups but this is not something we have felt the need to do to any great extent as of yet. Here is an example of the kinds of text wall communications we had with the delegates at our July 2009 event ‘Integration Learning Together’, where we used it as one way of collecting general responses to the day as well as gathering questions for Martin Dougiamas who was presenting to us (and receiving the questions directly through the text wall) live from Australia.

However, this is only one way that text messaging is being used/can be used in an educational context. A number of organisations are now using text messaging services like Edu txt or Janet txt to stay in touch with their learners … texting notices, timetables changes, etc … and interest seems to be increasing in this kind of service. In response to this interest I have gathered together some basic notes on the range of SMS/text message services that are now available for those in an education context. Here are my notes on the types of text messaging services that are currently being used within education.

I know that we all choose to use our mobile phones in different ways today and that many see mobile phones as a distraction to learning rather than as a handy tool … but I think that much as any tool generally has a primary purpose, we also eventually find other good uses for it (a ruler is to measure accurately but also to draw straight lines, track text as you read, mark the place in a book …) as we become more familiar with it. But then thinking about what I have just said, isn’t the primary purpose of a mobile phone to be able to communicate and stay in touch … and isn’t that what we want to do with our learners anyway?

I’ve long been a fan of voting systems (eg. Turning Point, Quizdom) because of their capacity to add interactivity into formative assessment. The trouble is, though, that such systems cost – generally, around £2000 for 16 handsets. Many of us have hoped that voting in this way might become possible using mobile phones (not actually free, but a lot cheaper!), and now it seems that this is a reality.
For a start, there is the option of using a text wall (eg. xlearn: http://www.xlearn.co.uk/sms.htm) in which sms text responses are displayed on a web-site, and visible to all participants with screen & projector. There is a cost to this, but quite low for a standard service. At this level of service, text entry is possible, so words, numbers, ‘yes/no’ etc can be viewed, though there is no analysis of responses and hence no graphs etc (this can be done, but at greater cost).

Another option that I have just discovered (via the e-Assessment Association newsletter) is to use Twitter. Power-Point Twitter tools, developed by Timo Elliott, allow Tweets to be input into power-point slides. If Tweets with a unique ‘voting string’ are made in response to a question, eg. multiple choice, the tool can feed data into charts/graphs (Tweets can be made from a mobile device as well as a PC). The tool can be downloaded from the SAP Web 2.0 web-site at http://tinyurl.com/yecmh86 : it’s basically a power-point presentation from which you can copy and paste slides (they have to be in ‘presentation’ or ’slide-show’ mode to be fully functional). In addition to the ‘Twitter voting’ slide, there is a ‘Twitter feedback’ slide that displays Tweets in speech balloons, and a ‘Twitter Ticker bar’ that can be embedded into a Power-Point master slide to give real-time ticker-tape updates. I have tested all of these, and they work (hurray!), though there is sometimes a bit of delay as Twitter updates. These options are not quite as slick as using an up-to-date voting system, but they’re not bad, and definitely worth trying.

At the FOTE09 conference we heard a lot of common sense advice about our digital identities from Professor Shirley Williams from the University of Reading.  She talked about many of the ways our digital identity can represent us.

Our digital identity can work in our favour, allowing people to search for all the cool things that we’ve done such as conferences we’ve addressed, photographs we’ve taken, even allow people to find our online CV.

However a poorly managed digital identity could have repercussions for a very long time.

It seems that not everybody is worried about the kind of impression that things such as an email address can give, imagine if you were an employer receiving a job application from bob@Icantbebothered.com or pinkfluffybunnyknickers@hotmail.com, what would you think? OK so they’re made up e-mail addresses but they’re not far from real ones!

If you type your name into a search engine such as Google what do you find?  The chances are you’ll find a whole bunch of people with the same name as you, but you will almost certainly find references to yourself.  What do those references contain?  Is it all stuff that you don’t mind everybody reading?  Facebook and other social networking sites are in the news constantly for many reasons, people posting pictures of themselves doing silly things in their work uniforms, making comments about their colleagues or their boss and losing their jobs, in fact only this week a man wanted by the Authorities in the United States gave away his location on Facebook.

Sometimes you can appear “guilty” just by association, many things true or not can be gleaned from  other people’s social networking sites and by the pictures they post in their galleries.  I’m sure there are a lot of people who really wish their friends hadn’t posted pictures of the party last weekend.  Or perhaps they don’t even think of the consequences, once information is out in the cloud we call the Internet it’s more or less impossible to get rid of it.

I know the tone of this post is a bit gloomy for a Friday afternoon but it’s important that the good and bad sides of the digital world are presented fairly. I guess the conclusion to this entry is to go out into the digital world and have fun but think twice before posting anything online that could show you in a bad light now, or in the future.  Check the security of your accounts to limit the number of people who have open access to your private information and be careful who you make friends with… because in the social networking world your friends might not actually be your friends.