Reflections - Activity 5.3 group work

From my vantage point, we have struggled to realize this task as a group.
Possible causes, we may have indirectly imposed a limitation on our selves by choosing to start and carry on discussions / exchanges via the FCC board. Curiously, a comfort level with using this, despite having had some exposure to the affordances of wikis and blogs; having them modelled to us in prior weeks. We overlooked choosing how to tackle the problem as a group;working out roles; breaking the task down into small tasks; not review and examine our strengths as members of the group; not coming on board at the same time .... all of it indicating to me that we did not reflect deeply enough on the most appropriate tool nor how to facilitate our task.. and thus undermined our own success or at least slowed it down dramatically.

My contribution to this? A dreadfully late move into 5.3 after spending too much time on 5.2. I felt a need to assert a role as a "Co-ordinator" / "Team

I'm in agreement with anything at this point that gives us some more structure .. such that it facilitates more collaboration. We have a lot of interesting and well developed ideas here but I find the current arrangement highly fragmented and difficult to follow (ie. not one or two but many discussion threads). I would really like to encourage that all of this information be put in one common place so that we can collate it, reflect on it - I would like to suggest the wiki that Nigel set up .. but I'm happy to have it anywhere. No ownership issues here, just acting as an elearning practitioner in identifying what in my opinion is the "best choice" of utility to realize the learning that we are being asked to do here ..

NOTE: I've become well aware about how this whole process is a lovely test of our ability to be elearning practitioners - using good practice in realizing this task involves

• understanding the limitations of online communications
• identifying the best of technology to realize learning
  
• identifying and applying the best strategies to overcome or manage limitations
  
• promoting collaboration / buy in amongst us
• realizing something meaningful / purposeful in the process

I'm even wondering if whatever principles we come up with can be tested against our success in realizing this activity. That would certainly point out their relevance.

Reflections - Critical finding from Activity 5.3 readings

What did I glean from the articles?

A need to closely examine the roles and related competencies of an online instructor / elearning practitioner. This would lead to a better understanding of what an elearning practitioner does first.. in effect to learn from other practitioners (those more experienced) ... essentially learn from their own research / experience. Then incorporate that research / experience into my own reflections on my own practice ... to then inform my own practice. To me that may be one important and distinguishing characteristic that differentiates a practitioner from a professional - this connection with other practitioners.

That was a critical finding for me.

I've tended to go to research, perhaps to validate a specific project or approach .. rather than approach it from a much broader point of view. Perhaps such reading on a routine basis would build in me a better understanding of my roles and be incorporated into my practice as part of my practice rather than an "after the fact" add on.

Summary - CEN / ISSS Workshop on Learning Technologies: Project Team Quality Development ; Providing Good Practice for ELearning Quality Approaches"

Source

Dondi, C., Moretti, M., Husson, A.M. and Pawlowski, J.M. (2005) ‘Interim report: CWA 1 - providing good practice for elearning quality approaches’, CEN/ISSS, [online] Available from: http://cms.eun.org/shared/data/pdf/cwa1_20051118.pdf (Accessed 6 November 2008).

Interesting read of what appears to be a system for assessing submissions looking for a stamp of approval or recognition as "quality work" or an emerging "good practice".

Criteria for "quality work" includes the need to demonstrate the following

• has been "field' tested and trialed
• is culturally appropriate, contextually relevant
  
• addresses a current need, issue, problem that required monitoring for quality improvement
• is well documented
  
• demonstrates improvement and effectiveness
• can be used in an new context but in a similar field
• invites continuous improvement (promotes improvement)

In short, a good practice

• has been tried and tested in the field
• clearly targeted and adapted for a specific user group (takes the user into consideration)
• relevant or current (deals with current issues being faced in the field by other practitioners)
• is presented transparently so that it can be clearly understood by other practitioners
• demonstrates its benefits
• has broad support from other users who have used it
• is transferable to others ( it can be used by others in a new context)
• promotes improvement (quality sought after via feedback loops)

It would seem to me that these are qualities to be looking for and using to realize a good poster presentation.

Summary - Competences for Online Teaching: A Special Report

Source

Goodyear, P., Salmon, Gilly, Spector, M., Steeples, C. and Tickner, S. (2001) ‘Competencies for online teaching’, Educational Technology Research & Development , 49(1), pp. 65-72, [online] Available from: http://learn.open.ac.uk/mod/resourcepage/view.php?id=90970 (Accessed 11 November 2008).

Compared with Hillier, this piece provides a more systematic approach to identifying the different competencies of an online teacher. It starts by identifying the many roles an online teacher may be asked to assume. Then it looks at the skill set / tasks required to carry out these roles to produce a comprehensive "competencies" list for an online teacher.

Roles involved in online teaching

• researcher
• assessor
• adviser
• process facilitator
• content facilitator
• technologist
• designer
• manager / administrator

Under one of these roles .... we might have "tasks" listed

• process facilitator
• welcoming
  
• establishing ground rules
  
• creating a community
  
• managing communications
  
• modelling social behaviour
  
• establishing own identity
  

One could mine these tasks to generate a list of competencies

• challenge participants but support them individually and as a group
• tolerate ambiguity when working with individuals and groups
• etc.
  

Noted by Goodyear was how it was implied in the final lists an educational philosophy . One valuing

• democratization of learning
• inclussiveness
• increasing student responsibility for learning

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No mention of the word excellence... but definitely inferring the need for someone who aspires to becoming an online teacher or who already calls themselves one - to reflect on how well they feelthey understand and have mastered these many competencies. Produce evidence to support their development in these area

I can also well imagine for those who came up with the lists, that the task would have been an equally demanding one - demanding a great deal of reflection on one's practice.

Summary - Promoting excellence in HE - Hillier article

Source

Hillier, Yvonne (n.d.) ‘The quest for competence, good practice and excellence’, The Higher Education Academy, [online] Available from: http://www.heacademy.ac.uk/assets/York/documents/resources/resourcedatabase/id494_quest_for_competence.pdf (Accessed 11 November 2008).

Attempts made to identify qualities of excellence. To formally recognize it and in doing so promote good practices to realizing it.
-----------------------------

NTFS (National teaching Fellowship Scheme - UK
criteria for rating submissions for teaching excellence

• ability to inspire students
• ability to inspire colleagues
• ability to inspire broader community
• enable Ss to achieve learning outcomes
• demonstrate reflective practice in their teaching
• innovation
• promotion
• presentation
• sharing and promoting good practice

-----------------------------
Research on the subject by Vielba and Hillier, 2000.
Administrators focussed on organizational qualities

• planning
• resources
• explicitly stated outcomes

Teachers and students focussed on affective / personal qualities

• enthusiasm
• creativity
• interpersonal skills

Students noted the importance of "communication skills"

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So using criteria for judging excellence is dead.. long live the role of research and reflection in promoting excellence (?)

That's sort of what I'm left with here after reading the Hillier article. So there is not true set of criteria to realize what is deemed to be "excellence" in teaching. Rather we know what is needed to encourage personal and professional development to make anyone a better educator - namely "research" to inform "reflection on our practices" and this to inform our "professional practice".

Seems to support my earlier opinion about using the term "expert" - calling myself an expert on anything. I am more comfortable declaring myself someone who is a reflective practitioner thus continually under development. The alternative? To stay the same .... to not grow .. to fossilize.

Reflections - Activity 5.2 Case studies from the Carnegie & Hewlett Foundations

(prior to going to the FCC message board)

Reflections on my review of case studies

Key points that need to be present for a case study / research study to be convincing for me

• relevance of the topic to myself and others
• transferability of the ideas to other contexts(hopefully including my own)
  
• clarity of explanation to allow
• its benefits to be understood
  
• the study to be repeated
• the attractiveness of the benefits (learning / teaching)
• the ease at which it can be repeated
• its underlying educational philosophy is either stated directly or clearly inferred
• flexible .. addresses a number of needs / interests

Possible framework for a good poster?

• context is clearly stated
• purpose / need / issue stated clearly
• principle of the project outlined
• resources required for the project
• methods clearly outlined.. and benefits resulting from them outlined
  

Reflections - Unit 5 (opening section)

This caught my eye in the opening of Unit 5 .

"two factors that determine the effectiveness of a professional in any area of occupation are

• the quality of their sources of information - timeliness, pertinence, reliability
• their ability to apply intelligence to that information (determine what is relevant in each information source, and how best to make use of it)

Paul Lefrere & Robin Goodfellow

Thinking immediately of my work in the ELC a few years back when I used electronic surveys to identify faculty needs but I also made a point of reviewing and assessing the traditional delivery mode for workshops - face to face - largely on a hunch that the current strategy wasn't working. Identified the need for a rethink .. because attendance at past workshops was consistently poor .. yet the same needs were still being expressed in the surveys. This told me that there was a crying need for more flexibility to complement the faculty situation / environment.

I entertained the possibility of capitalizing on the constant availability of the network .. to devise a new strategy that was less proximity dependent (the need for a scheduled time and place to present IT support workshops). That led to the development of a four prong strategy consisting of tipsheets, screen cams, one to one tutoring.. all designed to complement the traditional "face to face" strategy.

The result? Subsequent online surveys noted tipsheets and screen cams as number one support method ... while face to face was still seen as highly desireable.. yet attendance remained abysmal (what people were voting for in a survey, they weren't prepared to vote for with their "feet").

What does it point out to me now .. the importance of challenging assumptions, making decisions when possible based upon data. The data is powerful for informing one's decisions and supporting their close scrutiny by others. However.. the data doesn't offer all the answers .. I realize more clearly now the need to review them in their context. For example, if I was to go on the choices made in the survey, we would still be using only the "face to face" strategy.