FInal Keynote presentation: ALT-C0 209

Terry Anderson, Athabasca University

Brief scan of the environment

• Making improvement of the quality and effectiveness of learning experience
• Student control is integral to the future of learning and teaching
• harmonising disruptive technologies
• promising signs of web2.0 ubiquity and functionality
• 21st century students are NOT deeply digitally engaged, empowered, skilled nor homogenous
• Getting out and presenting ourselves and information, focusing on the relationships
• choosing the right tools - is the VLE dead, on life-support or live and kicking? www.go2web20.net - lists over 3000 apps

Taxonomy of the many - a conceptual model

• Long-standing research into formal learning and groups
• Established set of tools to aid learning - classrooms, VLEs
• Need to develop f2f AND collab tools, security. trust, decision making and project mangement, a/synchronous dialogue
• Groups as communities of practice - distributed web2.0 group tools e.g. Wiggio
• Problems with groups - restrictions - tech and expectations, isolation from real world, low tolerance of international differences;
  
• from groups to flocks - do groups still make sense in learning today?
• frontiers of group learning -
  
• Groups are necessary but not sufficient for deep learning

-> Networks

• 
  

Online Identities - an ALT-C09 Workshop

Blogging session
Frances is leading a session on blogging. I'm taking my notes in my blog. Erm. I THINK I'm in the right session....We're looking at setting up iGoogle - erm - I've been using that for some years now... Helped the lady I was sat next to, so felt I was of use even if I didnt learn anything.

Fun activity - using the Internet to search for 3 facts on someone I'd never met in the room.
The person looking for me discovered that I'd had my hand up a cow's bottom and that I'd stayed at the Imperial College Halls in June. Scary, huh? - but my choice to use Twitter and tell the world what I'm doing. Enjoyable discussion about our online profiles.

Would love to do this session again but at a more advanced level

I need a Huddle....

...online collaboration tool providing a social network.

I'm planning a demo of Huddle at Bloomsbury on 29th Oct. Give me a shout if you're interested...

Benefits of Web 2.0 (preaching to the converted, but anyway)
-engaging students by encouraging use of new techs and collaboration with peers
-freedom of costs, maintenance, etc

• Email still top collaborating tool.
• Impetus for change comes from the students
• Emplyability skills changing
• Give users what they want, not just the latest, cool trend

How is Huddle being used?

• Staff collab portal
• Collab reserach
• DL/WBL students
• international office
• summer school

Who's using it (local to Bloomsbury, anyway)
LSE, UoL

What about Google Wave?
Huddle will integrate with it if customers want that. There is overlap, but seen as complementary according to Huddle and Google. Huddle is out-of-the-box collaboration and does not require development, like Google Wave does.

Data servers are located in the UK (Docklands)
Hosting service - SLAs, security

Rigorous and constant updates and upgrades; works with all browsers;iPhone and Blackberry Apps available

Second Life Technology

I'm chairing this session!!! So notes may be brief as I'm keeping a close eye on the time!

1) Designing game-based learning activities in SL
Maria Toro- Troconis, Imperial College

• Study set up to explore game-based learning in medicine
  
• aim to explore gender-related differences between groups
• Surveys conducted to examine users' feelings - no sig diffs found between two groups using or not using SL
• Females found SL SLIGHTLY more useful than males
• Recommendations - students had probs getting used to it; orientation really important before letting students loose for e-learning
• what are the practicalities of sharing resources developed in SL..?
• www.elearningimperial.com

2) If we dream it, they come? The self-efficacy of students new to SL training
Kathryn Trinder, Glasgow Caledonian University

• Many projects already running at the university; wanted to look at SL, which had been set up predominantly for marketing
• Aim was to look at ways to deliver rather complex mathematical concepts
  
• introduction/orientation - 2 hours - 20 students in two groups; avatar creation, personalising and finding friends, basic navigation
• Students took some time to change their mindset that SL was for LEARNING not PLAYING
• There is a steep learning curve and the university is planing to include SL training built into general ICT training
• Making sure students understand the purpose of the envt - that it's there for learning. Etiquette/guidlines are a good idea. Dont really want to restrict students from exploring, but they need to understand what is expecting of them.
  
• New environment for existing gamers was tricky to work with
• www.gcal.ac.uk/cuthere

3) Virtual Reality: designing learning environments in SL
Fay Cross, Unviersity of Nottingham

• Created a replica of the university's Trent building in SL
• Library project
• Geography project - building scaled models of the Lake District
• Why build building in SL when there's no weather??! It's a human want to do this as a first stage in exploring a new environment
  
• 
  

ALT-C09 Keynote 2: Martin Bean - Vice-Chancellor Designate of the Open University

• The changing nature of HE - Globalisation, Massification, privatisation
• Our collective challenge - UK and US are overshadowed by China and India; need to educate citizens for new types of work (equipping students with the rght set of skills); STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) is a key for a competitive workforce; sustainability; transforming info into meaningful knowledge.
• Analogy of school being like a trip on an aeroplane - putting all your faith in one person to take you on a journey where you have to turn all your electronic devices off.
• Understanding what students want - their values, wants, needs, dislikes; putting the learner at the centre of HE.
• Why is technology relevant? Expanding reach to high quality education to all; nurturing communities - in/formally. enabling relevant, personal and engaging learning; giving educators more insight and more time
  
• Opps for technology - agile, efficient and connected learning systems
• making change possible - 3 key considerations: people, process, technology
• www.open.ac.uk/sociallearn
  

Methodological innovation

I'm not quite sure how these three papers related (again). The students involved were working on very different courses (Level 1 vs Masters vs vocational FE courses ) and were using very different applications (Echo360, e-portfolios and a whole bunch of gadgets). ALT-C, eh?

1) Student perceptions of the value of lecture recordings as a learning resource
Lisa Carrier, Dominic Pollard, Imperial College

* Over view of Echo360 and the tools that are required
* Pilot projects run in MSc Management and MSc Allefy (dept of medicine)
* Students only on campus for five sessions, so Echo360 was appropriate; English as a second language for many
* Evaluation - reasons for using the recordings; no change in attendance; revision purposes; students reported that they engaged more during the f2f time (which they knew was limited) by asking questions and taking less detailed notes because they knew they would be able to access the recording at a later time.

2) Using an e-portfolio to assist first year students through their transition into higher education
Philip Alberts (Brunel University)

* developing online activities, providing support of their engagement with eportfolios
* 3 intervenion programmes - getting started with the VLE, HE preparation, Personal Development programme with e-portfolios
* measuring participation - monitoring size of eportfolios as developing and rate it was used.
* Access depended on what was going on i.e. less access during exam times
* lecturers were unable to support since not all their students were using eportfolios
* Conclusion - all level 1 students will be using e-portfolios

3) New Modes, New Minds - Use of CAMEL collaborative methodology to develop a multi-disciplinary community of practice around mobile learning in The Sheffield College
David Kay, Ian Chowcat, Julia Duggleby, Dave Pickersgill (Sheffield College)

* introducing mobile learning by involving all stakeholders in the College
* A lot of equipment was purchased in a short space of time e.g. Nintendo DS', PSPs, notebook PCs, etc
* 27 curriculum areas involved - those interested came from a variety of subject areas
* Aims included to enhance e-confidence across the College and training the next generation workforce
* Making change happening and developing strategies as the project progressed as well as afterwards
* Trying to change the culture to trust students accessing the Internet on their own devices
* Evaluation - people very keen to try out these tools; wanted training but seemed happy to have a go without much
* Developed a community of practice for peer-support; used Moodle to support what was happening with the project
* People started to think differently once they'd discovered what the tools could do; assessment habits developed too.

I'm wondering what the students did with the Nintendo DSs - would it have been educational??? Oh - apparently ESOL students and Brain Training to share scores. Peer collaboration nice - but this project doesnt seem very strategic: "here's a bunch of kit, have a play..." not all supported either. Maybe I misunderstood?

Second Life

Not really sure about SL, its application to learning and teaching and the point, really, other than its usefulness in Distance Learning. However, this afternoon I'm chairing a SL session so thought I ought to brush up a bit.

1) Bioscience students get a Second Life @ UEL (Rose Heaney)

• Getting on the SL bandwagon - only one academic was interested initially
• Lab experiment set up in SL for Bioscience; 2 test groups for demos - 1 in a lab and 1 in SL demo. Students in the latter group asked better and fewer questions and seemed to acquire better understanding of the concept. The SL group liked the environment and would want to use it again.
• Does not replace real life experiment - unsure if SL is the best platform, Going to look at a Flash-based platform next year
• results have been published and are available
• The forensic lab is being used as a problem-based learning too with a crime-scene housel
• Now have 6 academics using the Health and Bioscience island. Sustainability is key to the future use of SL
• 
  
• Useful for the DL learning students who will be able to interact with virtual patients, as would not have the experience otherwise
• Evaluation - conducted by questionnaires, quizzes (for students during the course) and interviews
• Bought in a service to develop the island
• Induction to SL is vital fro take-up. Training for functions and controls - orientation area and f2f session for induction. Plus basic handouts.
  

2) Fusion of mobile technology and SL in a learning environment to support transition from school to university
(Universites of Glasgow, Stirling and Sheffield)

• Project is InterLife - developing tools to assist with transitions in life. This presentation focused on the transition between school and university in SL (other project is team life - 13-18 year olds
• Research aims to establish whether SL can support educational contexts
• From baseline research, they have identified the issues and challenges of students moving from school to university.
• InterLife is a private island in SL and contains a student union plus tools allowing students to reflect on the change in their life and their personal development: a "skybox" for every student.
  
• pilot activity - induction to movement; profiles to be presnted in a gallery

3) Dreams into (Virtual) Reality (Kate Boardman, Teeside)

• pre-evaluation design of SL use in learning. Kate has only seen three examples of good practice of SL in education
• Basic typology - providing space for students to collaborate - wikis/discussion boards use is not great, so why would"beach and cushions" use of SL work?
• Campus replicators? Not applicable to all
• Set up avator, now what (MY reason for not knowing what do to next...)
• Visual environments - what should it look like - cf turning your favourite books into films. Does it matter what it looks like? Kate went through examples of different venues used (available on her slides) - a French cafe, canteen, dwelling, office
  
• Analysing the type of building against the scenario it's for, whether the staff member cares what it looks like and whether it achieved the learning outcomes
• Same questions can be asked when developing a VLE
  
• http://tinyurl.com/klb-sl

Interesting presentations which have given me food for thought in terms of applicability. Some things I am still pondering... What happens once the novelty wears off? Really they need to be focussing on the learning outcome, otherwise we're JUST replicating the real world. Dont just join the bandwagon...have a real reason and purpose (like a VLE).

The VLE is dead (apparently)

A symposium declaring the VLE is...well..dead.

Arguments for the motion:
A content repository; no learning takes place.
PLE is the way forward:
VLE is a factory system delivering a standardised curriculum with no differentiation. It is now dysfunctional and does not fit the need. A ridiculous divide between learning and technology
VLEs are not fit for purpose.
Technology is socially shaped; we need to think about and examine the consequences

Arguments against the motion:
The VLE provides the framework needed for the mass majority who do not use web2.0
It's not yet dead - it's a solution that allows learner to access their learning
VLE is not yet complete
There isnt actually a clear generation gap
We can't leave learners to their own devices
Live, kicking and necessary
The VLE is not a thing - it's a point of discourse
Providing the right environment for learning to happen. Our learners are not Google Generation, Digital Learners otherwise they wouldnt come to us

ALT-C 2009 Opening and Keynote presentation

Frances Bell from Salford University welcomed all 600+ delegates to ALT-C 2009 with some context about Manchester and its industrial past.

Tom Boyle, co-chair of ALT-C and professor at London Metropolitan University, introduced the theme In Dreams Begins Responsobility. His wish is for delegates to realise dreams and find the evidence of respondisility.

Gilly Salmon, the other co-chair, and professor at Leicester University, reflected about collective dreams and creating new ways of dreaming realistically. THe future can be viewed as building on trends from the past - an incremental innovation, but also to reclaim some radical, new thinking of our own. Implementation plans need to be written up and shared collectively. A huge challenge to address as we enter the second deacde of 21st century.

Keynote speaker:
Michael Wesch - Assistant Professor of Cultural Anthropology at Kansas State University, USA

Mediated Culture/Mediated Education
Changing the lecture theatre/campus with wifi -> connecting students to the an mammoth archive. Viewing things from outside the box - Michael descirbed his visit Papua New Guinea - no running water, electricity, etc. He lost his identity whilst he was out there because the things that were important to him in his life were no longer available or meaningful out there.

Media are not just tools or means on communication; he proposes that media mediate relationships; as media change so do our relationships and culture.

Rethinking ourselves - rethinking education
High drop-out rates in High School in the US; psychological drop-outs where students dont really want to be in university. Disengaged, not into uni - but VERY engaged in American Idol!
Examining the history of insignificance - theories are that is started with the industrial revolution, growth of surburbia, television (i.e. to be significant you need to be on TV)
Media saturation -> the MTV generation. Michael examined a brief history of the use of the word"Whatever"
With so much media available to us, it makes us feel important - and flattered. And relates to a higher feelings of narcissism and rise of individualism.

Generation Me, Jean Twenge (Why Today's young Americans are more confident, assertive and miserable than ever before
The search for identity and recognition in a culture where those things are not given; the search for the authentic self; Disengagement and fragmentation.

What does the world of Web 2.0 lend ?
not controlled by the few, not one-way, created by, for and around networks not masses, transforms individual pursuits into collective actions, makes "group" formation "ridiculously easy".
Why this matters deeply - we know ourselves through our relations with others; new media create new ways of relating to others; new media creates new ways of knowing ourselves.
Examination of You Tube and the use of personal webcams.
The medium shapes the possibilities of how we communicate but also how we know about ourselves
The platform we choose shapes the message we deliver to students. So the message of the lecture theatre conveys a message that the instructor is correct, you can discuss, you're there to learn specific information. But the world is changing:
From students being knowledgeable to knowledge-able
The point is the purpose not the platform... leading to new possibilities for the word "Whatever"

mediatedcultures.net