Core activity 3.2: Recommending an eportfolio system

For this activity we are asked to provide advice to a learning provider in their choice of eportfolio system.  This is a situation I have been in many times in my role as an elearning advisor.  The following advice is based on discussions between my colleagues and me about the different types of eportfolio system available as well as on research and the experiences of others.  The scenario I will choose is a large Further Education Colleges who is looking to get an eportfolio system to be used with assessors on Btec and NVQ courses, for art students to have an electronic version of their traditional portfolio and to be used throughout the college as a way of planning future progression.

Core activity 2.5: Criteria for reflective writing

The four steps for reflective writing listed by Penn State university are a useful starting point.  Particularly What happened? What might this mean? and What implications are there for future practice?  In the forum Janet Moreland posted some guidelines taken from  Allan, H. J. (2008) ‘Assessment tool for reflective practice’, for the Royal College of Surgeons (unpublished) (updated 2009).  These include points such as ‘Links made between theory and practical application are thorough and well supported from both curriculum and literature’ and ‘Assumptions of others and of self are examined and discussed in relation to future development’.  It is difficult to specify generalised criteria to be assessed for reflective writing as assessment criteria are specific to the course rather that the style of assessment used. However I do think it is possible to provide guidelines help people develop their reflective learning skills.  The following guidelines are based on my own experience of reflective writing for assessment;

• Have clear questions to answer in your writing
• Question any assumptions made
• Include both sides of any argument, and specify which side you agree with, even if that means saying you are not sure.
• Clearly identify links between what you are reflecting on and other resources from the curriculum, any resources outside the curriculum and the experiences of yourself or others
• Don’t be afraid to combine the ideas and theories of others to come up with something new.
• Don’t be afraid to constructively criticise theories proposed throughout the curriculum, but make sure these criticisms are backed up with evidence.
• Plan you writing so all the points are in a logical order.

Core activity 2.4: Reflection and learning

For this activity I read ‘PDP working paper 4: reflection in higher education learning’ & ‘Guide for busy academics no. 4: learning through reflection’ by Moon and ‘Should student learning journals be assessed?’ by Crème

While reflecting on reflection I have asked myself the question ‘Is reflection an individual or shared activity?’.  This is not really covered in these papers, but i think might be generally assumed that reflection is an internal, individual process.  For me this is not really the case as I reflect better when telling and discussing with someone my experience or what I have learned.  This is why I feel a blog is such a good tool for reflection as it provides individuals with the opportunity to reflect and alow for comments and contributions from others.  When I completed my PGCE I had to keep a log of 30 hours of teaching experiences.  This was only seen by myself and my tutor, which I felt was a real waste as I wanted to follow and reflect on the experiences of others on my course, and for them to reflect on my experiences.  Anyway this is all a tangent and not answering the questions I am supposed to answer for this activity.

Crème discussed the thorny issue of assessing reflections highlighting questions such as;

-          “How can anyone asses whats in my head?”

-          Why should anyone be made to reflect if they are not being assessed on it

-          How can assesors be expected to keep up with a potential avalanche of reflections

-          How do you assess a reflection in which the learner admits that they don’t understand something?

-          Will learners write what they think the tutor what’s them to write rather than an honest reflection? How much does this matter?

-          If reflection is not assessed does this mean it is not recognised and valued by the learning provider?

On the H808 we are encouraged to reflect thoughout the course through blogs and eportfolio postings.  These are not assessed individually, however we are encouraged to refer to them in a reflective commentry in which we write an account of personal and professional development throughout the course.   This reflective commentary can be seen as a way of answering some of the questions above.  Although it does not asses what’s “in my head” while writing the individual reflections, and does not require the tutor to give full feedback on everything that I write, it does require evidence of how my reflections and ideas have developed.

I suppose  the reflective commentary could be seen as reflecting on the reflections, which for this particular course would  mean reflecting on the reflections about reflection.  I think I had better stop there before i give myself a headache.

H808 Core Activity 2.2: Reflection

The experience of working as a team to complete a table reviewing various publications regarding ePortfolios was a relatively positive one. As a team we formed a plan using the Moodle forum and used a wiki page to decide who was going to focus on which publication, before completeing the table on the wiki along with a summary of the publication.  The hardest aspect of this activity for me was trying to get useful information out of the EiFEL website which I felt was more about promoting events than being a clear source of information on eportfolios.

Relating the activity to the Framework for Personal and Professional Development, I would say the activity addressed the following criteria;

Proactivity- as we worked as a team to plan and carry out the activity

Critique- as we had to review and summarise the publications

Reflection- What I am doing with this blog post

Communication Related Competencies- Working together via the forum and Wiki

Technology Related Competencies – Working with the Wiki

Practice Related Competencies- Gaining an understanding of ePortfolios and their different uses

What is an eportfolio?

I am currently researching eportfolios as part of the #H808.  In my professional life as an elearning advisor I have vowed never to use the word eportfolio on its own. This is because the same word is used for very different types of system.  Instead I use the following terms which I hope we will get to acknowledge and understand more as the course progresses;

Assesment ePortfolio
An ePortfolio used to record the evidence required for the completion of a course.

This type of ePortfolio is likely to be relatively structured with a clear criteria in order to meet the requirements of the awarding body. It is likely to require clear cross referencing of evidence to a specified set of standards, and be available to internal and external assessors.

Examples include envq and paperfree

Reflective eportfolio

An ePortfolio used to record and reflect upon an individual’s experience.

This could be a learners experience of a specific course, or it could be an individual’s reflection of their continued professional development . As well as evidence of what the individual has achieved, this type of ePortfolio may contain reflections, thoughts and plans in the form of blogs, notes and action plans. The individual may be able to share these with others who could add additional comments.

Presentation ePortfolio

An ePortfolio used to present the work of a group or individual.

Many ePortfolio systems include some form of CV or résumé feature which are used to present the achievements of an individual to potential employers or learning providers.

Media and Arts courses may have an online presence where examples of students work can be viewed by the public. These can be in the form of a specially designed website or as a presence on an existing site such as MySpace.

As well as giving learners the opportunity to show their work to a wider audience, these eportfolios can lead to an increased number of applications for the course.

Maybe there is a Net Generation, and they have a tail.

After being resistant to any idea of digital native/google generation/net generation throughout the H800 course I am now startting to think there is a new generation, but it is not necerceraly the  same as the ones proposed by Prensky and others.

I have decided to blog about this in my other, more work related blog, so if you are interested, please click here

FirstClass, it wasn’t

One thing to comment on about the new H808 course is that it uses moodle forums which I can subscribe to, as opposed to the clunky first class system which  I never really got the hang of.  Now all forum posts can come directly to my personal email system.

H808 Wk 1 Act 1.4 Your first impressions.

I am a few days into my new course which is H808 ‘The eLearning Professional’ possibly too early to give too much of a first impression especially as I am also distracted with my ECA for my H800 course which I am trying to get out of the way.  I am quite relived that I am not the only one  in my tutor group to be in this position.

So far we have listened to and commented on reflections on the term ‘elearning professional’ As I have already commented in the tutor group, I was concerned that other definitions of elearning seemed to only revolve around online and distance learning (understandable as the course is part of the wider MA in Online and Distance education) .

I also had a different understanding of the term professional.  In my mind an elearning professional is anyone who gets paid for working  within the field of technology enhaced learning.  Although the various reflections talk about codes of practice and ethics, I currently feel that following these makes someone a GOOD  elearning professional. I’m not sure how well I am explaining my position.

I am sure I will be able to put things in perspective more as the course progresses (and once I get the H800 out of the way)

Wk 24 Activities 1-5

Communities of Practice

For Activity 1 I read Technology-mediated learning contexts   by Mary Thorpe (2009) which focused on Networks and communities

“The community of practice is characterized by strong ties between its members whereas the network makes connection between weak links possible.”

This paper includes a case study of a successful online activity which involved students researching small islands states and then collaboratively creating an set of demands for these states. This process involved discussions and debates which the learners effectively managed and contributed to online.

 

For Activity 2 I read Jones and Asensio   (2001) ‘Experiences of assessment: using phenomenography for evaluation’ which included an example of a less successfull online activity, in which learners misinterpreted the instructions inspite of (or possible because of) a detailed 12 page booklet of instructions.

 

In the example provided by Jones and Asensio, do you think there was any way that the design of the assessment led to the students’ divergent understandings of the task?

 

It’s difficult to make judgments on the design of the assignment without  seeing the exact wording of it.  There were links in the article to further articles on the course and it’s assessment regime, but I could not get these links to work (did anyone else?).  One of the things that struck me was the fact that the TMA was provided in a separate 12 page booklet.  I think the fact that it was done in this way, separate from the rest of the course, may have added to the confusion. Particularly if this booklet was only available online.  When any confusion arose it may have been such a laborious process to find and check the relevant section in the TMA booklet, that these misunderstandings were not challenged. 

How would you respond to the problem raised in this paper if you were asked to design a learning activity or an assessment?

 

Here are some suggestions which may have helped in this situation;

 

• Keep it simple

 

• Include the TMA as part of the natural flow of the course (as opposed to a separate booklet)

 

• Get as many people as possible to go through the instructions before the course goes live, and find out how they interpret the instructions

 

• Ask learners to post an early draft of their TMA to the tutor

 

• Post an example of the kind of outcome expected

 

For Activity 3 I read Wenger  (1998) ‘Learning architectures’ which identifies dimensions for learning design highlighted by the following dualities

-      Participation and reification

-      The designed and the emergent

-      The local and the global

-      Identification and negotiability

 

The paper was compared to the work of Goodyear 2002 who identified 3 strands of the learning experience which cannot be completely controlled by the designer and therefore the learning can not be designed but designed for.

 

I admit I haven’t really grasped these papers, and may have therefore completely misinterpreted what was meant.

 

For Activity 4 I read Beetham and Sharpe   (2007) ‘An introduction to rethinking pedagogy for a digital age’.

ow do Beetham and Sharpe view the relationship between learning and teaching?

 

In this paper they claim that there has been a tension with the terms teaching and learning.  They suggest that there has been a move towards focusing on learning and what is learnt rather than teaching and what is taught.  They, however, acknowledge the importance of the social interaction of teaching and the effect it can have on the learning process. 

 

Write down your own view of whether pedagogy is a useful term in the way suggested in the reading.

 

Beetham and Sharpe suggest that “despite its etymological connection with children (paidia), contemporary use of the term [Pedagogy] has lost its exclusive reference to childhood while retaining the original sense of leading or guiding to learn.”

 

Personally, I disagree with this and I primarily think of pedagogy as a term relating to the teaching and learning of children, while I prefer the term andragogy when discussing the teaching and learning of adults.  This is not just a pedantic matter of semantics. I feel that despite the importance of lifelong learning, there are significant differences in the studies of teaching and learning for adults and children, and they therefore deserve distinct names.

 

Why do Beetham and Sharpe use the term ‘design for learning’ rather than learning design?

 

The see the term learning design as an existing term which focuses on the design of learning activities and contents. They argue that the responcibility to learning is in the hands of the learner, and no one else can design their learning, instead they can design an environment suitable for learning.

 

 

Activity 5 Highlighted how boundries between formal and informal lkearning can be deliberately blurred in learning design with an extract  from Satchwell and Ivanic (2009) ‘The textual mediation of learning’ who cited the course manual for a media studies course which interspersed academic language with images from popular culture

Wk 24 A3 Design for leaning

Teaching

Learning

Based on Beetham and Sharpe (2007) ‘An introduction to rethinking pedagogy for a digital
age’.

How do Beetham and Sharpe view the relationship between learning and teaching?

In this paper they claim that there has been a tension with the terms teaching and learning.  They suggest that there has been a move towards focusing on learning and what is learnt rather than teaching and what is taught.  They, however, acknowledge the importance of the social interaction of teaching and the effect it can have on the learning process.

Write down your own view of whether pedagogy is a useful term in the way suggested in the reading.

Beetham and Sharpe suggest that “despite its etymological connection with children (paidia), contemporary use of the term [Pedagogy] has lost its exclusive reference to childhood while retaining the original sense of leading or guiding to learn.”

Personally, I disagree with this and I primarily think of pedagogy as a term relating to the teaching and learning of children, while I prefer the term andragogy when discussing the teaching and learning of adults.  This is not just a pedantic matter of semantics. I feel that despite the importance of lifelong learning, there are significant differences in the studies of teaching and learning for adults and children, and they therefore deserve distinct names.

Why do Beetham and Sharpe use the term ‘design for learning’ rather than learning design?

The see the term learning design as an existing term which focuses on the design of learning activities and contents. They argue that the responcibility to learning is in the hands of the learner, and no one else can design their learning, instead they can design an environment suitable for learning.