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?