Thinking and Researching
Been gone a long while
Most of my energies at the moment are put into the managing and teaching of the PGCert course and I've created a
blog site to support that which is where all my posts go these days.
Grappling with academic identity at ISSoTL international collaborative writing group (ICWG), do we have a title now? "
Troublesome
identities: a threshold concept for the SoTL community"
We're deciding that it is a new field and we can't assume everyone understands or knows what SoTL is. Referred to Potter & Kustra article Vol 5(1) IJSoTL to help with definitions. Also Macfarlane (2012 the higher education research archipelago Higher Education Research & Development 31 (1) pp
129-131
Spring election fever
Election fever has hit campus although it made me wonder about some of the motifs being used by candidates, I mean is a panda being equated with democracy really appropriate, even if it does rhyme with your name, and how about the female candidate who uses a logo akin to Easyjet's (maybe understanding the signficance of that one is somethng age related or maybe not when "PanAm" has been broadcasting?!)? The campaign that cites gender discrimination and violence stats is hard hitting but doesn't play well with the administration when open days are beign run simultaneously. And through it all the campus looks lovely as bulbs are starting to erupt.
The New Digital Shoreline: How Web2.0 and Millennials Are Revolutionizing Higher Education Roger McHaney
This book is written in a very direct,
conversational style that is easy to read and explains why we need to rethink
how we approach teaching and learning in the light of technology and learner change
and how we might do that. Roger’s basic premise is that the world has changed,
our learners have changed and we need to understand them better and harness the
technology to make the pedagogic changes we could only dream of previously. He
points out that we have argued for years that active learning is more important
that simple memorisation and information recall and that learning how to learn
and being able to evaluate information found for accuracy and applicability have
become more important in a world where information is readily available.
He uses personal stories to explain and
clarify his points and has developed a range of typologies that categorise
different types of users and learners, helping us to understand the millennial
mindset and our relationship to it, addressing possible culture clashes and
likely disappointments on both sides. He uses leading proponents of a new way
of teaching and learning and the use of digital media (e.g. Michael Wesch,
Stephen Downes and George Siemens to whom I might add Frank Renni & Robin
Mason and Martin Weller) to link to educational theories and explain how we
might use the technology.
Chapter 1 sets the scene, chapter 2
explains the behaviour and skills of our millenials and how we might manage our
interactions with them, chapter 3 looks at learning platforms, tools and
devices we are all familiar with such as virtual learning environments,
clickers and e-books, netbooks and webcams. Chapters 4 and 5 deal with the
opportunities created by the Web2.0 world and provide a useful overview for
those new to these technologies. Chapter 6 deals with why we should embrace
this world and introduces a four stage model of adjustment for us. Chapter 7
links learning theory to technology and reminds us that a variety of approaches
and technology is the way to go: appropriate use. In Chapter 8 he rounds it all
off by summarising the skills he’d like his students to have and which could be
acquired through the judicious use of Web2.0 technology, they include the
ability to search for, interpret and evaluate relevant facts and information,
to make sound judgements, to be able to use social media and communications
tools appropriately and effectively and to make use of and acknowledge others’
expertise.
This is an excellent book for those of you
who have just arrived at the shoreline and are peering out at the horizon with
trepidation. It should be given to
colleagues who need to be persuaded to join those of you paddling out there and
can be used when considering curriculum review or assessment alternatives. It has given me lots of ideas which I’m going
to use with academic colleagues on our institution’s PostGrad Certificate in
Academic Practice: watch this space!
Mason, R., & Rennie, F. (2004). The
Connecticon: learning for the connected generation. Greenwich, Connecticut,
U.S.A.: Information Age Publishing Inc.
Mason, R., &
Rennie, F. (2008). E-Learning and Social Networking Handbook: Resources for
Higher Education. London: Routledge.
Siemens, G. (2004,
December 12, 2004). Connectivism: A Learning Theory for the Digital Age, from
http://www.elearnspace.org/Articles/connectivism.htm
Weller, M. (2011). The
Digital Scholar. London, England: 'Bloomsbury Academic'.
Michael Wesch & Sherry Turkle
Just been sent a link to Michael Wesch's latest:
Remix of Visions of Students Today which reminded me I'd seen him last year at STLHE at Ryerson (his plenary starts about 13 mnutes in). The latest vision just seems to be saying that we don't seem to have moved on from the student centred vs teacher centred, co construction of knowledge vs information transmission for all the technology thrown at us and all its capabilities. He’s great at throwing down the gauntlet and really makes you think about how we engage our students.
I'm also enjoying Sherry Turkle's "Alone Together" polemic at the moment as she points out the peculiarity of our technology enabled existence which seems to ensure that technology enhanced communication is far more important to us than face-to-face: check out the etiquette of the mobile phone - ever been stopped mid-track by someone preferring to answer its siren call than talk to you -, what about the bullying email - immediate response expected!? You can hear an inetrview with her on Radio 3 and read an article at the Guardian.
All change
It's a beautiful, sunny, but frosty morning. I'm into my fourth week in a new job at the University of Birmingham and for once the train journey was without hitch (the trains have been a touch unpredictable the last few weeks) probably means getting home will be tricky. I can see
Chamberlain Tower from my office, the crocuses are appearing on University Square and while it's all a bit full on at the moment (trying to get up to speed) everyone is being very supportive and welcoming.
The new job is focused on taking over leadership of the PGCert in Learning & Teaching in HE, shortly to become PGCert in Academic Practice. As with all changes there are chances to develop some activities aligned with our interests and that will hopefully engage the colleagues who are our students. So we're developing some modules around educational research, the use of educational technology, research leadership and leadership & management in HE.
The tyranny of technology
While these are some thoughts I had a while ago (and as usual never got around to posting) they still hold true today with all the discussion around changes in behaviour and brains brought on by technology use. See
Rewiring Young Brains, Small, G. W., & Vorgon, G. (2008).
iBrain: Surviving the Technological Alteration of the Modern Mind New York: HarperCollins & Carr, N. (2010).
The Shallows: How the Internet is Changing the Way We Think, Read and Remember. London: Atlantic Books.
There seems to be a bit of a backlash against the tyranny of technologies at the moment, in particular the way in which we are enslaved by email and in enthral to our always on mobile phones. A little while ago we had discussions on Woman's Hour in which Lowri Turner sounded like she was on speed as she defended her technology use and need to be permanently connected (and, insidiously, able to surveil her children at all times). Then there was an article in the Observer Magazine asking could you live a week without technology (it meant ICT i.e. mobiles, laptops etc). The take away line from this was: "iphones "Are those the things I see men stroking like little pets on the tube?" The main point was about the sterile nature of our electronic (vs aural or face-to-face) conversations and the pointlessness of many of the emails we receive these days (socially and for work) - go on just think about how much time it takes to compose a mail and how much quicker and more effective a walk down the corridor, across the office or a call on the phone is at sorting things out. So all of this culminated in me doing my own experiment one Monday morning back in April and refusing to open email until I had done the things I had set myself to complete from Friday; of course you get into trouble when you need your calendar, but I lasted until 1.30pm and got quite a few things finished off. Email is such a palpitation inducing, white rabbit hole of 'answer me now' urgency it's a wonder we ever accomplish anything. This practice lasted until Friday which was a pig of a day (maybe because I'd tried to be so in control the rest of the week!?!).
Another side to the argument is the use of new technologies in education. A recent article by a friend working in Australia debunks the myth that there is a great difference between so called digital natives and digital immigrants in their technology use (see Waycott, J., Bennett, S., Kennedy, G., Dalgarno, B., & Gray, K. Digital divides? Student and staff perceptions of information and communication technologies. Computers & Education, 54(4), 1202-1211). This is something Prensky himself had already started to review, beginning to write about digital wisdom: knowing what is important (i.e. evaluating use, information literacy, etc) & digital enhancement. It is also akin to what I had been thinking about in my piece on
the tyranny of technology for the ISATT conference at the University of Lapland last year and issues highlighted by colleagues at ISSoTL 2009 at the University of Indiana, in Bloomington: I was arguing that the overwhelming emphasis on technology to the exclusion of the relationships we have with our students and the value we as teachers add was having a detrimental effect on education which was increasingly seen as something that could be packaged up and sold off and Norm Vaughan said in his experience students wanted less technology in the classroom and were frustrated by those tapping away at their keyboards. It takes me back once again to what people like Shirley Alexander and Greg Kearsley were saying at the beginning of the Web explosion, namely: purposeful and appropriate use vs blanket application and it's about the pedagogy stupid! So consider why and how and what for.
See also:
Alexander, S. (1995).
Teaching and Learning on the World Wide Web. last updated 5 November, 1996.
Kearsley, G. (1998).
Educational Technology: A Critique. Educational Technology, 38(2), 47-51.