EdTechUK

EduGeek

Who's your favorite technician?  There is no way I'd answer this question in public, apart from to say at Wyggeston & Queen Elizabeth I College they're all pretty great. Why not show your favoritism (or just your general appreciation) by emailing your nominated tech with the url of EduGeek, the UK based online community by and for IT professionals working in education. There's a whole load of great resources over there - check out their wiki and forums. And they're having a conference next month, which will be a great opportunity to meet others in the same boat.

Remember - url's are an edugeeks best friend!   

Blogging on the job

Although more and more people are blogging for a job, the dilemma of blogging as a private individual about or around your work or work place continues to be a recurring one. Some sensible progress being made in all the 'fired for blogging' furor at the moment:

CNETs' FAQ: Blogging on the job gives some US based advice (cheers ProNet), the ever insightful Ben Hammersly discusses Niall Kennedy's recent predicament and wisely points out that the work-blog relationship is going to have to be a symbiotic one in some circumstances. And to cheer us all up (well those of us slaving away to make our blogs interesting and readable), Tim Bray in what promises to be an early contender to the most blogged about entry of 2005 contributes 10 reasons why blogging is good for your career.

I forsee a hot-or-not-for-bloggers site on the near horizon <shivers>.

ALT accreditation framework for learning technologists

University College London has just posted the project reports from the now complete development and piloting of an accreditation framework aimed at learning technologists. The project was carried out by the Association for Learning Technology, and funded by JISC.

The project reports are:

Accrediting learning technologists: a review of the literature, schemes and programmes
ALT Accreditation project report no. 1
Martin Oliver, Rhona Sharpe, Julia Duggleby, David Jennings, David Kay

Liaison with professional bodies
ALT Accreditation project report no. 2
Rhona Sharpe, Gwyneth Hughes, Julia Duggleby, David Jennings, David Kay

Consultation with learning technologists, employers and sector representatives on the development of an accreditation scheme
ALT Accreditation project report no. 3
Martin Oliver, Richard Frances, Julia Duggleby, David Jennings, David Kay and Gwyneth Hughes

Recommendations for an accreditation scheme for learning technologists: a consultation document
ALT Accreditation Project report no. 4
Gwyneth Hughes, Rhona Sharpe, Martin Oliver, Richard Francis, Julia Duggleby, David Jennings and David Kay.

A report on the consultation and recommendations for revising the scheme
ALT Accreditation project report no. 5
Aileen Earle

Report on the Pilot of Certified Member of the Association of Learning Technology Accreditation (CMALT) Scheme
ALT Accreditation Project report no. 6
Gwyneth Hughes, Martin Oliver, Rhona Sharpe, Richard Francis, Julia Duggleby, David Jennings

Recommendations to ALT
ALT Accreditation project report no. 7
Martin Oliver

Thanks Ulises Mejias!

Project Management

Sad as it may seem I’m preoccupied with Project Management right now. I contacted Markos Tiris from the Learning and Skills Development Agency (LSDA), as he’s been involved with the FENTO module Q project. Module Q advocates a project management approach to any adoption of ICT to education in both Teaching and supporting Learning and Management.

I’m moving very much towards a Programme/Project Management approach to my ILT role & work. I’ve had generic PM training (as part of the University of York’s management training programme) and am approaching my work on a pretty ad hoc PM basis already. I want to source some comprehensive training in PM methodology as I think this would be really valuable.

So the first question to Markos was are the LSDA currently planning on providing something like this in their staff development training programme – seeing as it would be so useful for many of us in the sector?

The other thing on my mind is that it would make sense – in terms of enhancing communications and transparency, and in terms of the overall aim of embedding e-learning - for members of our IT team and other key staff in the College to take up and work to the same PM methodology. I’ve been currently looking at PRINCE2 since this also provides accreditation and transferable skills.

My next questions would be: are there any other institutes that are looking at (or already use) a standardised PM methodology? And are there any PM methodologies that the LSDA recommend/favour or have evaluated?

“If you look at the FENTO ILT standards area we agree with the need for a project planning methodology - many are tying out formal systems such a prince 2 - but the issue we have found is one of not allowing sufficient flexibility in what is an experimental methodology. Formal project management systems are great for technical installations and beyond- their limitations show up when you tray to apply them to developmental areas such as e-learning application."

"We aren't running any specific training sessions but watch this space on www.nln.ac.uk/events”

Cheers Markos! If any one out there has been through or is going through the same process please drop me a line.

Powerpoint vs. Art

I've been looking for a good article on David Byrne's recent foray into PowerPoint for a while now - & the lovely David Jennings came up with exactly that with David Byrne and the (bogus) PowerPoint art debate. It's a great piece which has me considering spending (a very non boho) £50 on Byrne's Envisioning Emotional Epistemological Information (EEEI).

Why Byrne's PowerPoint work interests me professionally is in it’s delivery of the creative subversion of every day technologies. Most of the staff here have heard of Byrne, and this work particularly appeals to our Art & Design department. Talking about the work has been effective in generating enthusiasm amongst Art & Design to think again about 'corporate' (Microsoft) applications.

I'm also running workshops on PowerPoint soon, aimed at the staff that have little or no experience with presentation software. As well as covering the basics, in terms of the applications, accessibility issues and aesthetics, it's fantastic to be able to give them examples of breadth of use for the technology.

Now, when is John Cage going to take a look at Excel…

Staff Development

Over at Ferl (Further Education Resources for Learning) they’ve just revised & reissued the first four of their excellent ‘What the Research Says’ series of leaflets, including Teachers continuing professional development.

The keen eyed amongst you will have noticed that staff development/career enhancement was an obvious theme missing from my earlier ‘Work in Progress’ post on my staff presentation. Although it’s an important issue I don’t think that sane teaching staff are driven to ILT in the hope of a pay rise. OK, we all live in the real world, but what motivates and excites staff about ILT are the opportunities technologies offer to readdress & re-translate (notice I held back on ‘transform’) their teaching and learning aims, effectively, in the classroom.

Of course that doesn't mean that we can underestimate the importance of staff development.

The AOC (Association of Colleges) NILTA (National Information & Learning Technologies Association) 2004 Conference theme is Innovation in Staff Development - Thursday 13th May 2004 at Kent’s Hill Management College, Milton Keynes.

Ever get the feeling that acronyms may well be some diabolical form of revenge?

EdTech Accreditation

David Jennings recently posted a call for comments on the (UK's) Association for Learning Technology (ALT) draft proposals for an accreditation scheme for people working in learning technology, on his excellent blog, DJ Alchemi. The site asks for feedback questionnaires by 22 March, although the mail I got today from my Regional Support Centre asked for replies by April 4th - so still time if you want to comment.

The scheme proposes:

A definition of a core set of knowledge, skills and values which people working in learning technology need to fulfil their roles effectively;
A range of specialist knowledge and skills which are appropriate to professionals in some sectors, posts or stages of their career;
Certified Membership of the Association for Learning Technology status for those who demonstrate all the core and a number of specialist outcomes.

Any one have international examples or know about similar projects?

Work in Progress

One of the million things I’m currently working on is the written content for a presentation I’d like to deliver to staff at the College. The title will be something like “Why use Information Learning Technologies (ILT) in teaching and learning?” (something like that, but, in my dreams, a bit more snappy and/or intriguing). It will be a good opportunity to keep staff thinking about ILT & follows up requests I’ve had from teachers recently for empirical evidence about the benefits of engaging with ILT.

We are fortunate to have a great ILT team here & we are working as a group on how to practice what we preach in terms of embedding interactive and electronic resources to make information interesting, memorable and engaging. I’ll report on that and post resources in due course.

In the meantime I’m posting the topics I want to cover and asking for comments, references and opinions. I’ve logged them as separate entries (for ease of threading and so you don’t have to trawl if you’re only interested in one topic, although I do know they’re interdependent & in no way discreet).They are:

1. Contemporary learner expectation & familiarity with technologies

2. Empirical evidence: ILT supporting/enhancing retention, achievement & progression

3. Inclusively in the classroom: specific learning disabilities, learning styles & audio-visual-kinetic reinforcement