Monthly Archives: March 2013

100 ways, vle

100 ways to use a VLE – #76 Learner feedback

2 Comments

Desks

So how was it for you?

These days if you go to any kind of coffee shop or restaurant, or buy something from a retailer on the high street, get an MOT or your tyres done, the waiter, retailer assistant or mechanic hands you a little card. The card usually offers you the chance to win an iPad, a £100 or something similar, with a web link (sometimes an QR Code) and asks you for feedback on what you’ve just done.

Now it is generally accepted that we should be asking our learners how the lesson they are in went. Asking questions such as “what went well?” and “even better if?” allow practitioners to evaluate the effectiveness of what the learners learnt, and how they learnt it.

There are many ways to do this, post it notes are an obvious one, that can then be stuck next to the door on the way out. We have practitioners using tools such as Wallwisher (now known as Padlet) for a similar virtual type activity.

As you really need to be asking for feedback at each lesson, it makes sense to have a variety of ways to collect and collate feedback. The VLE has a number of tools that can be used to collect this learner feedback.

As might be expected a tool like the Feedback block in module is designed to do just that collect and collate feedback. You can create a series of questions, or even a single question. The key is getting the learners to add their feedback and importantly for the practitioner to reflect on the feedback and ensure it feeds into their future planning.

If there is a quiz tool on the VLE then using an open-ended format quiz will work in a similar manner to the concept of a feedback module. Just make sure that it doesn’t mark the quiz and give the students a score!

Usually the data from quizzes and feedback style modules can be exported as a spreadsheet file for further analysis.

You could use a discussion forum, where this works well is if you want group feedback and for the learners to reflect and discuss their feedback, collaborating together to provide that feedback to the practitioner.

One advantage of the VLE for gathering feedback is that it is recorded and is also accessible in the future. Perfect for analysis feedback over a period of time.

I wouldn’t use the VLE every lesson for feedback, there are many ways of gathering learner feedback, however it is one tool that you can and should use.

mooc

What are MOOCs?

1 Comment

This Prezi, What are MOOCs? History, pedgagoy, myths and media, explores where we’ve come from, where we are and where we’re going with the MOOC phenomena.

If you are still confused over what a MOOC actually is and what it could be, then this presentation is well worth a look. I also found the video from Dave Cormier useful that explains the original concept of the MOOC.

I have no strong opinions on the MOOC as a concept, I do think there is the possibility they are a bit of a fad, and in a few years we might have moved onto something else to talk about at edtech conferences on the Twitter. Think about how no one these days talks about the PLE in the same way they did back in 2009. I think we should also be critiquing the model of MOOCs where the focus is on content and not learning. Retention figures of 4% and 90% male dominated does indicate that this model still has someway to go.

However I also can see how they may change societal perceptions of what universities and colleges offer prospective learners, and allow a back door for publishers and private educational institutions to start offering, what they would call MOOCs, but in reality would be the privatisation of higher and further education.

I am hoping that the end result is not closed private universities, but that the open aspect becomes dominant and makes it much easier to share and reuse concepts, materials, structures and resources in ways that we have not done before. If we can create a culture of openness and sharing.

MOOCs could offer (for FE) an opportunity for FE Colleges to collaborate on building courses, however my experiences of doing that model back in 2000s with the WCC was that people like the concept, but either aren’t willing to share or more importantly have very little original content to share.

I don’t see MOOCs as particularly revolutionary or transformative, in many ways the concept has been around for a while, the key difference is the connected, participatory and collaborative opportunities that MOOCs offer. Maybe that is the revolutionary aspect.

app of the week, ipad

Noteshelf – iPad App of the Week

3 Comments

Noteshelf Icon

This is a regular feature of the blog looking at various Apps available. Some of the apps will be useful for those involved in learning technologies, others will be useful in improving the way in which you work, whilst a few will be just plain fun! Some will be free, others will cost a little and one or two will be what some will think is quite expensive.

This week’s App is Noteshelf.

The most beautiful note-taking app ever designed for the iPad. Noteshelf is the handwriting note taker that features super natural digital ink, a stunning UI and a comprehensive toolset that will increase the benefits of owning an iPad by leaps and bounds.

£3.99

I am still trying to work out the best way to take notes using the iPad, actually it’s not just about making notes, it’s also about sharing notes, annotating notes and transforming notes into articles, reports and other stuff.

I have already reviewed some note taking apps before, including Microsoft OneNote for iPad and Bamboo Paper however I realised I’ve not covered Evernote in this series, though that is one app I do use a lot, maybe that’s one for another week. I will also be looking at some other note taking apps too.

I do wonder though Noteshelf looks nice and has lots of nice features, if it is too pretty and is form over function.

Noteshelf App

The key with any note taking app, is, is it easy to use, does it allow you to easily make notes, annotate stuff and also share notes. Noteshelf does work better with a stylus.

What I like about Noteshelf is that there are lots of different tools allowing you to be very creative with your note taking. You can make your notes using a variety of paper types and pens.

Noteshelf App

Not a great fan of in-app purchases in many instances, however in this app they are mainly used to add features, rather than add functionality that should be in the app in the first place.

Yes this app is a little pricey to many note taking apps, but you will have the best looking notes on your iPad.

Get Noteshelf in the iTunes App Store.

presentation

Loud Prezi

1 Comment

Speaker

One of the reasons I like Prezi is that it allows learners accessing the presentation to see the “whole thing” and then focus on the area of the presentation they want to review or see again. In many ways you could use Prezi presentations as part of a flipped learning approach in terms of collation of resources and links. Prezi have added a new feature that allows you to add audio to the paths in your presentation.

This is quite easy to use, the only downside I found was that I couldn’t record direct to Prezi, I had to make the recordings separately and then upload to Prezi.

I made a copy of my PSP Prezi and started to add audio to it.

You can see the original non-audio version here.

I think it adds another aspect to Prezi making it much more useful for remote and flipped delivery models.

I would prefer though to do what I can do with Apple’s Keynote and record a “soundtrack” as I present the whole presentation. At the moment I need to record individual tracks over a single flowing audio track. The end result for some parts of the presentation means that you don’t get a nice flowing narration, you get an automated railway station announcement.

apple, ipad

Should I buy an Apple TV for my classroom?

1 Comment

Apple TV

I noticed the following tweet on the Twitter over the weekend and was inspired to reply.

https://twitter.com/digitalmaverick/status/310515754636279809

This kind of response is just as short-sighted and blinkered as those by people who would say “buy an Apple TV”.

I agree with the sentiment that if we work within education, then we shouldn’t waste public money, but to assume that going down the Apple TV route is a waste of money, makes too many assumptions about the context.

So why all this “fuss” in the first place? What is the significance of AirPlay and as a result the discussion over Air Server and Apple TV.

One of the features that Apple have had for many years is the ability to stream media across your wireless network to a device on that network.

You could stream your iTunes audio to the original Airport Express, which was then connected to speakers (usually better speakers than the ones on the Mac) or speakers in a different room. This was known as AirTunes.

The name was changed to AirPlay in 2010 when it could be used to stream video content from your Mac. In 2011 with the release of the iPad 2 it was now possible to stream (mirror) your screen using AirPlay.

What then excited people in education was the ability to mirror your iPad (and now your Mac desktop) over the wireless network. This meant you didn’t need to worry about cables and you could hand round your device without needing to come up to the screen.

Additionally everyone with a device could use also use the technology could use it, so if all your learners had an iPad they could all stream their screens.

Though initially such a technology was restricted to Apple devices, it wasn’t long before developers came up with solutions for other devices.

Your PC could, through the use of Air Server act as an “Apple TV” and allow devices to Air Play or mirror their screens. Software such as Air Parrot allows older Macs and PCs to stream and mirror their screens to Apple TV.

So what was initially an Apple centric solution now didn’t need a single Apple device.

So what about that tweet?

https://twitter.com/digitalmaverick/status/310515754636279809

Well if you already have a classroom setup, there is a PC, a projector then I agree an Apple TV is probably not the cheapest solution, I would also suspect that the projector doesn’t have an HDMI connection. In this instance and context then Air Server is the cheaper solution.

However this is not the only context and to say the Apple TV is a waste of money is not correct.

When equipping a new room, or replacing equipment, if you consider the cost of a PC, a projector, an IWB or an iPad, then compare that to the cost of an iPad, a TV and an Apple TV then the Apple TV solution would be a much cheaper solution. Add a wheeled stand to the TV and suddenly you have a mobile solution.

The important consideration when purchasing any equipment is not to favour one solution over another, but consider the context, what do you have already, what do you want to do, where are you going to do it.

In my libraries we have large plasma screens with a Mac mini underneath, in this instance we have gone down the Air Server route to allow us to stream through AirPlay. However if I already had the iPad and the screen, to buy a £499 Mac mini would cost a lot more than a £99 Apple TV.

It’s not about the technology, it’s about the context. Be informed and think about solutions.