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!)

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?

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

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.

I’ve just returned from the RSC UK 2009 conference and one of the main things that I learnt was a bit more about one of the RSCs ‘relatives’ in terms of the JISC family of services, JISC Digital Media (formerly TASI). I haven’t blogged (although I’ve continued to microblog via Twitter, passing the 500 marker earlier this week) for a few weeks but the rediscovery of this service has inspired me today… so here goes with a quick reminder of the services JISC Digital Media can offer:

• Advice on still images, moving images and audio via documents, case studies, a helpdesk …
• Training on a wide range of digital media topics. Most training costs but there is a follow up service to check how the training has helped you … and JISC Digital Media are now offering FREE online surgeries on a range of topics, the first of which was yesterday covering audio podcasts. The surgeries are recorded and archived and can be viewed by scrolling down the online surgeries page. The archived ‘Recording Audio Podcasts’ is worth watching and will hopefully encourage you to login to the others that are coming up – camera skills, using screencasting, using Flickr …
• Blog posts about all things Digital Media, including new and very useful resources, such as Aviary Software’s new browser based audio editor/mixer/recorder called Myna. I’ve had a quick look at this and managed to create a basic audio recording, which I embedded into our Moodle, all in a matter of minutes (thanks also to @SHSSTELLS for bringing this one to my attention).
• Newsletter – a new service that can be accessed as a pdf and which this edition covers mobile learning, podcasting, using Flickr and pinhole photography.
• Video Assist – another new service whereby you can apply to JISC Digital Media for specific project support for projects which involve the creation of new moving image resources. 2 projects are already underway for the first term of the 2009-2010 academic year but support for 4 more projects is still up for grabs. Visit the Video Assist pages of the JISC Digital Media website for more information, application guidance and deadlines.

A great range of services and support – hopefully you will be inspired too!

Over the past year there have been a series of meetings and consultations to develop a guide to aid teachers in the Lifelong learning Sector in their use of technology. The aim was to update the existing Fento ‘ILT Standards’ (2003) whilst building in more functionality and an awareness of the educational scene in Wales. LLUK (Lifelong Learning UK) led the developments which were funded by the Welsh Assembly Government, and input was obtained from several key organisations in Wales including NGfL Cymru, NIACE DC, NTfW, JISC RSC Wales, Fforwm. The Steering Group for the guide’s development also comprised representatives from all the key Post-16 sectors including FE, ACL, WBL, HE.
Following the example of the previous Fento publication, the guide was developed in three parts:
• A section for Teachers, Tutors and Trainers: this follows the format of the ‘New overarching professional standards for teachers, tutors and trainers in the lifelong sector in Wales’
• A guide for Leaders and Managers: this follows the format of the National Occupational Standards (NOS) for Management and Leadership 2008
• A series of case-studies

The first two of these sections are now available bilingually both as hard copy and online on the LLUK web-site (yng Nghymraeg, and in English). The Managers’ Guide should be of great value in highlighting the importance of educational technology at an institutional level, and outlines the responsibilities of senior staff. The Teachers’ Guide should prove really useful both for ILT Managers and Teacher-Training Co-ordinators when preparing courses/cpd, but the Guide was also designed to be of direct use to teaching staff. Each part of the guide (eg. Planning, Assessment, Specialist teaching) contains specific advice and examples that should be helpful both to beginners and those who are already well-versed in technology. The online version of the guide also provides hyperlinks to an extensive glossary as well as to key external web-sites. In due course, the case studies will give concrete examples of the uses of technology in teaching and learning that should be useful for all sectors and levels.
Any feedback about the guide is welcomed, especially with respect to ways in which it can be used in the professional development of existing and trainee teaching staff. In due course, I hope to use this blog to disseminate further ideas about the ways in which the guide could be used.

I first read through JISCs recent publication ‘Effective practice in a digital age’ a few weeks ago. At the time I thought that this would be something good to blog about but I couldn’t quite figure out what angle to take with my blog post … and I still haven’t, so instead here are a few of my thoughts and comments about the publication:

• ‘Effective practice in a digital age’ is a very readable publication that I have already referred back to on a number of occasions since first reading … and know I will refer to again in the future.
• The supporting videos in the Effective Practice Resource Exchange are great additional resources, especially the ‘Responding to learners’ video from the University of Edinburgh and ‘Rethinking learning resources’ from Birmingham City University.
• The ‘Choosing pathways’ table (p18-19) gives a clear overview of the case studies, from ’simple’ to more complex in terms of the type of technologies used and includes the learning outcomes (goals) expected, the technologies used, etc. It is also a very helpful quick reference when going back to the publication to look for a particular case study or example of how a technology has been used effectively.
• The highlighted ‘Key points for effective practice’ for each case study are great for focusing you or making you think further about the specific practice (example below).

• The continuing story of effective practice (Where did we start? Where are we now? Where are we going? p50-51) demonstrates quite clearly that this is an evolving story and that as institutions, thoughts about pedagogy, technologies and learners continue to develop and change then so will how we define ‘effective practise’ with regard to technology enhance learning. The story most definitely has a long way to go (IMHO) and as the quote by Lewis Carroll (p4) points out:

The last point above should probably have been my final comment on this subject but, as the first thing that caught my eye when I initially read the publication was e-Learning = enhanced learning (page 8), I am going to end this post by saying that if anyone asks about my job title (e-Learning Advisor) in future then I am considering explaining that I am an enhanced learning advisor for RSC Wales because it sounds a lot more appealing and far more relevant than saying I am an electronic learning advisor

QCA (Qualifications and Curriculum Authority – but now QCDA) originally had high hopes  for the involvement of e-assessment in high-stakes, summative assessments like A levels. As we head towards Autumn 2009, there is little evidence of this, as highlighted in a recent Guardian article. Whilst the use of various technologies for formative assessment seems to be expanding (see RSC Wales blog of Nov, 2008), take-up of e-assessment for summative purposes in schools and colleges is mainly restricted to  certain GCSE subjects (eg. Science, AQA), and courses on basic and vocational skills (eg. GOLA).
The only technology-enabled A level examinations I’m aware of (but I’m happy to be corrected!) are run by the Welsh examination board WJEC (there have also been trials of onscreen assessment in some IB examinations (ie. International Baccalaureate). This summer, WJEC ran online examinations in 25 centres for two A level subjects – Applied Business and ICT –through the medium of Welsh as well as English ( the bilingual aspect is significant, since Welsh-language versions of questions tend to take up more space than their English counterparts, which may create issues of formatting).
There are many reasons why A levels remain largely paper-based, not least the cost of equipping institutions with the necessary technology and support. There are also good reasons why examination boards should look further at e-assessment – for example, the value of multimedia and interactivity for learners, and ease of marking for examiners. They might start with internally-assessed components (eg. course-work, science practicals, extended essays etc), and make use of technologies such as e-portfolios . This would extend the range of evidence that could be examined (eg. images, audio, blogs), and provide far more flexibility for internal and external moderation.

With the publication today of JISC’s new ‘Getting started with Second Life‘ guide and the recent blog post from my colleague Paul (The Meaning of Second Life) I felt that this was finally the time for me to hold my hand up and declare that I am one of the people who has become virtually convinced that there is a place for virtual teaching and learning in virtual 3D environments, like Second Life. I think the thing that has finally convinced me to make my declaration are the points listed below from the new ‘Getting started with Second Life’ guide, that made me chuckle, as I recognised myself when I first entered the virtual world:

… and yet despite feeling like this initially I refused to give up and after reading a range of publications and reports about teaching and learning in a virtual way and being able to have first hand experience of participating in and leading sessions in Second Life (thanks to the help and support of the University of Wales Newport’s School of Health and Social Sciences and my fellow RSC Wales team) I now wish that these tools had been around when I was both a learner and a teacher!

I could continue to share my thoughts about the potential of this tool for isolated or distance learners or for those who find it hard to engage with the ‘real’ world but flourish in this kind of virtual environment … and say this is all despite the potential barriers and issues that there undoubtedly are with an unfamiliar/relatively new tool like this … but I won’t. I will however (in the words of my colleague Paul) encourage those who haven’t tried to ‘give it a go’ and those who have but gave up (maybe because of some of the things listed above) to ‘give it another go’ … and remember that for those organisations who we support you can always call on us for some virtual help!

No, this post is not about criticising vociferously (!), but about the use of ‘Audiboo’. According to the BBC’s Rory Cellan-Jones, this is the ‘next big thing’, almost the equivalent of ‘YouTube’ (he discusses this in his ‘dot.life’ technology blog). AudiBoo involves recording & uploading (on iPhones – a similar application called PhoneBoo does the same for most other phones), and needs wifi/3G. A related application  -‘Ipadio’ – is a ” live streaming phone reporting tool” that generates ‘phlogs’ (again, available now on iPhones and being developed for any phone; a ‘record & publish’ version should be available in due course, also). The likes of Stephen Fry have been ‘booing’ (not like him to be left out!), and Boris Johnson has been ‘phlogging’ (yes, well he did go to Eton, didn’t he?!).
There could be many educational uses for these tools, eg. recording observations on fieldwork, commentaries on experiments. Rory Cellan-Jones makes reference to a specific project run by the BBC World Service called ‘Save Our Sounds’, the aim of which is to gather sounds from around the world which might otherwise be lost.

Have you used AudiBoo? How did you find it, and how useful do you think it might be in education?