Activity Nine; Technologies

Technologies for learning and teaching are in a constant state of flux. Therefore, it is important for teachers to stay informed about the trends, and be confident about trying new approaches. ( Flexible Learning Guidebook).  I attended Dr. Thom Cochrane's workshop  and felt slightly overwhelmed by the speed of which these technologies are moving and the slowness of which I am picking them up!

Yes I agree with the first statement and so I decided to try to develop a 'model' activity that could be inserted into the Wiki course content for the Certificate in Travel and Tourism programme. 

The idea is to have short video clips modelling activities, incorporated throughout the wiki which would have a twofold intention of providing a step by step example to follow and would model literacy and numeracy exemplars for the students to access repeatedly and in their own time, if necessary. 

My first attempts at this have been foiled somewhat by the breakdown in the particular piece of technology I wanted to use.  The' Visualizer' enables you to demonstrate an activity with voice over,  record it and embed into Moodle or a Wiki, but the sound was not working on it. 

The Travel and Tourism students have to write formal emails within their course and the idea of this example was to model an email highlighting all the sections that needed to be filled out.  My second attempt was recorded through adobe connect with the assistance of a colleague.  Follow the link to find a draft demonstration, it needs alot of work!!  But gives you the idea.  Be patient! the screen will say 'nothing being shared'  it took me a while to warm up!!!!

https://adobeconnect.op.ac.nz/p8cy18424fg/


On reflection - How it could be improved.

• The email example is too grainy and cannot be seen clearly
• The explanation is too long
• The screen has too many other icons which can be distracting
• The adobe connect process was time consuming and hard to navigate around as a novice

Attempt number 2;

https://adobeconnect.op.ac.nz/p91ras51uh7/

On reflection;

• The example is clearer to read
• I need to work on my methodology behind the explanation
• Still too long

The Horizon Report was very interesting reading, particularly in the new apps that are being developed almost every second.  This paragragh caught my eye firstly in helping students to choose which University to go to and in helping to orientate them in the first few months.
At the most basic  level, many universities and colleges have developed map and directory apps for current students to navigate campuses and for prospective students to take virtual tours or to enhance physical tours.....check their grades....or (view) breaking campus news.  (The Horizon Report).

References;

The Horizon report 2012

 presentation about mobile learning by Dr Thom Cochrane

 ePortfolios - getting to the nuts and bolts by Bronwyn Hegarty

Activity Eight; Adult Learning Theory

Define and describe the Adult Learning Theory;

Diagram from James Atherton, 2009 
How does this connect to what I do and what I believe about teaching/facilitation?

 The Adult Learning Theory I have decided to focus on is Honey and Mumford's Typology of Learners which builds on Kolb's Learning Cycle, this succinctly explains  'individual people's different learning styles,' and also 'a cycle of experiential learning that applies to us all'.  A behavourist model, it fits very well with my own philosophy of creating authentic real life experiences 'grasping the experience' in order for there to be an 'emotional transformation from the experience' .  This does not necessarily happen every time, but under controlled circumstances learning can come from the experience.   I have used aspects of this theory in the past and have come to understand the importance of planning and preparing the activities with initial VAK diagnostic tools to assess the particular learning style of the individuals in the class, another aid to assist in getting to know the group.  Effective team work is important in the hospitality/Tourism Industry and paying particular attention to how the group is formed using the diagnostic tools should, in theory, assist with working productively on a task.  Structured briefings and debriefings play an important role in helping the learner to reflect on their performance, build on it and move forward.  However, it is easy to miss the opportunity to reflect and this is an area where I can create more opportunities.
This Theory fits very well with our methodology of teaching, the students gain background information, there is a model or demonstration, then the students role play or 'do', making their mistakes along the way, until they gain competence in that activity or task. 

  

How will this support my plan?

• Use of ice breakers, de-inhibitizers, energisers throughout the sessions to encourage participation, cooperation and belonging
• By incorporating  learning style diagnostic tools to effectively group the students
• Prepare briefings and de-briefings of experiences, activities  
• If students learn by 'doing' then providing more real life experiences or helping them to create their own

References;
http://www.businessballs.com/kolblearningstyles.htm 

http://www.learningandteaching.info/learning/experience.htm

Activity Seven; Open Education Resources and Philosophies

A definition of Open Education practises according to Catherine Casserly, The William and Flora Hewlett Foundation;

'Education and knowledge are public goods freely shared.... high quality educational content and tools freely available on the web, in all languages, useable and re-useable' ( C.Casserly, 2008 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yjajtXb1PYQ&feature=related).

During the process of exploring this topic, I keep coming back to the sustainability phrase of reduce, reuse, recycle. That is what this concept seems to be in terms of having unlimited access to information that is monitored for accuracy, opportunity to edit, add to and improve in a collaborative way that reduces costs (publishing, paper) reuses and improves the content and recycles it out to the general public.

This creates challenges for the facilitator and learner by changing the traditional ways we teach and learn, providing opportunity to 'deepen the knowledge and create new ways of learning' (Casserly,2008) .  Time and space become more flexible and opportunity for accelerated learning processes may shorten course length.

Strategies I could use;


The wiki-educator tool forms the basis of our courses on the Travel and Tourism programme.

• Improve ways of linking video's and ppts
• Consistency and uniformity of content on the wiki, throughout each course
• Build up a more extensive library of resources on the wiki
• Embed a reflective framework within the course for the students to provide feedback on the learning process as they progress 

Why I believe OER and Philosophies are important;

The philosophy behind this concept is great in principle, providing free access to educational resources to as many people as possible World Wide and does move away from 'too many on the outside looking in'(Casserly,2008) provided 'all' have access to technology and the internet.  However I do believe that this creates as many barriers as it does in removing them, for instance;

• The teacher/learner needs to be re-educated away from the traditional classroom structure
• It needs to be used as educational resources/tools with the teacher as a guide
• Requires some technological competence in order to ensure the learner remains engaged
• Understanding the creative commons with attribution and ensuring our learners understand this

The vision for the future at Otago Polytechnic is certainly in the areas of implementing and developing  Open Learning and Online resources which will in turn change the face of how we deliver, where we deliver and with what!

References;
Catherine M. Casserly, Ph,D. 2008.  The William and Flora Hewlett Foundation.
'Open Educational Resources: Unlocking knowledge to the Global Community.'

 {Open Education Practices: A User Guide for Organisations}

Activity Six; Developing the draft plan

(I had a few problems adding this, so another huge learning curve for me, hope you can read the ideas ok.)

This mind-map of ideas has been generated from some background reading involving the ADDIE instructional design model which is an acronym for analysis, design, development, implementation and evaluation(Wikipedia), my intention is that this plan displays the process.

I intend to present my flexibility plan based on the Conference and Events paper (Level 5 applied) in the 2nd year of the Diploma in Travel and Tourism.   The course relies on blended delivery with on-line tools and lecturer direction, in the initial stage. I hope to introduce course blogs so that they can plot their progress and start to take ownership of their learning.  The students will set up their own companies and co-ordinate a virtual conference and plan, develop and implement an event, presenting their e-portfolio's as the final assessment.

Weaknesses of the plan so far; The success of the process relies on collaboration and communication between the students to complete their part of the activities.

It relies on the lecturer knowing the process of blog set up and maintenance, not so sure at the moment.

How do I assess this ? I need to progress the peer assessment criteria.

Strengths;  The students have a good foundation of knowledge from previous travel and tourism papers. There is a good structure in place and room for flexibility in terms of content, instructional approach, delivery and logistics (Collis&Moonen,2004).  The scheduled class time becomes tutorial and meeting time for the students as the project progresses, with direction from the lecturer.

My vision for the paper;  To be able to collaborate with other OP departments to plan, prepare and implement an event/conference e.g. Excite, themed dinners, graduation celebrations, promotional tours using mentors to help the students with the project management.

Activity five; Design and describe flexible learning strategies for your context.

I decided to focus on my students in the certificate courses for this next activity.  It is beginning to dawn on me how the concept of blended delivery really can work if the dimensions of time, delivery and logistics (Casey & Wilson, 2005) were truly flexible.  The theoretical components could be presented  as a web conference with on-line quizzes and assessments, the students would only have to attend the practical face to face sessions intermittently at a time and place that suited them.  However, I keep coming back to the issue of how self-motivated and self directed our students are and that many are 'testing the water' in their choice of career direction.  Offering too much flexibility may not suit everyone.
Anyway, I managed to 'download' and 'link'.
Hope it worked!!



http://www.scribd.com/doc/93091928

Activity Four ; Access and Equity, Diversity and Inclusivity

This is one explanation of universal design for learning (UDL) from the Center for Applied Special Technology (CAST), Wakefield, Massachusetts.  Universal Design for Learning is a set of principles for curriculum development that give all individuals equal opportunities to learn.
UDL provides a blueprint for creating instructional goals, methods, materials, and assessments that work for everyone, not a single, one-size-fits-all solution but rather flexible approaches that can be customized and adjusted for individual needs.

In other words: multiple representation of content, multiple means of expression, and multiple options for engagement.  Behind this approach is the idea that individual brains receive and process information very differently, so instruction should be designed to accommodate those differences (www2.bakersfieldcollege.edu).

Through my exploration of this concept I understand the importance of designing (not adding to) the curriculum, course or programme with the students learning abilities,styles and cultures taken into consideration.  These multiple resources and multiple situations are used and adapted to meet the needs of the students.
The 'universal' part of this concept is that the product and services have been designed in such a way that they are adaptive and flexible enough to be accessed by all, universally.

An example of inclusive teaching

The example I have decided to use is of my current teaching practise, which has aspects of inclusiveness in it but could certainly be enhanced.
We offer two courses “Conference and Events” and “Industry Operation Research Project” in the School of Business through the Diploma of Applied Travel and Tourism, Level 5. This( 5 month intensive) programme has been designed to create ‘work ready’ students for the tourism industry.

How do I achieve this?

By providing an experiential environment which includes: 

•  Wikieducator (an internet based open platform) which develops open education and training resources. Course weblogs are contributed to by staff and students to facilitate learning and reflection of experiences

          http://wikieducator.org/Conference_and_Events

•  100 seat training restaurant (open to the public) for planning, designing and delivery of a themed dinner for “customers/delegates”
•  A co-operative learning environment where year one students from the School of Hospitality ‘supervise’ the tourism students in the restaurant. This provides the opportunity for the hospitality students to consolidate and reflect on their learning, while using themselves as role models
•  A dedicated classroom designed to facilitate team and individual learning through its design and layout

  By providing an experiential teaching/facilitating experience

• Students develop their co-operative capability – through ice breakers/games that are fun, non-threatening and group based. These promote growth and positive change in individuals
•  Team building (forming, storming, norming and performing) is learnt by students by forming a company, designing a logo, business cards and letterhead, then liaising with a ‘client’ to organise a three day conference
•  Students plan and prepare a ‘themed dinner’ for the final night of the conference
•  Students contribute towards the design and development of open education resources – which will be available internationally for further learning purposes through Wikieducator

 By providing opportunity to process learning through role play and work experience (making sense from what is learned)

•  Simulated and real work environments are created providing students with an opportunity to move from awareness, to knowledge, to action
•  Each individual brings to the course prior knowledge, strengths and weaknesses. These offer unlimited growth potential as the students learn to co-operate and develop their interpersonal-relationships
•  Good constructive criticism is emphasized and provided in a safe environment
•  I use key techniques of observation, listening, feedback and questioning to assist the students to  internalise their learning experience

  I encourage the students to positively manage stressful situations. The process that follows can lead to lasting change. Students are able to reflect on the successful delivery of the required learning outcomes: establish objectives for a conference, design of a branding image for a company, preparation of a conference portfolio (in accordance with clients requirements), investigate venue selection, process specific travel and accommodation requirements for conference and event delegates, design a themed dinner, generate a banquet event order. (In the form of a 10 minute presentation.)

Some issues for access and equity in classes 

The concept of the 'virtual' conference was hard for some of the students to grasp, so were not fully engaged in the process.

The course relied on group work and regular meetings, it was frustrating for the students when others failed to show up to meetings or did not produce the required work.

Students with english as a second language have difficulty understanding the technical industry jargon.
Peer review was used to encourage students to reflect on and review each individual in their group in regards to their contribution and work submitted.  Some students found it difficult to give constructive comments.
Not all students have access to a computer at home.


Definition of Access and Equity, Diversity and Inclusivity relevant to my professional context.

A safe environment where students have equal access to course materials, activities, interactions and assessments. Within an environment that fosters respectful behaviour, inclusive of different cultures. Able to accommodate different physical, psychological and learning abilities. 


Explain what my learners will need, to access the learning environment I plan to create.

My learners will need access to the internet and some background knowledge in orientating themselves through various programmes, e.g. e-mail, facebook, audio, online dictionary/thesaurus, blog.  This access is provided on campus, students are required to attend at fixed times but there is also opportunity for informal group sessions. They will need to be open to participating  and collaborating in setting ground rules, study groups,contributing and sharing experiences, formal speeches and reflecting on their experiences. 

References;

Gravel, J, Ralabate, P & Thomas, L. (2010).  Framework for access and equity retrieved fromhttp://www.slideshare.net/NCUDL/udl-a-framework-for-access-and-equity

National Center on Universal Design for Learning retrieved from http://www.udlcenter.org 

Center for applied Special Technology retrieved from http://www.cast.org/udl/

A Practical Reader in Universal Design for Learning (Rose & Meyer, Eds.; Harvard Education Press, 2006).

Activity Three; Investigating and describing examples of flexible learning.

For this activity I chose to interview a cookery lecturer/colleague in the hospitality department. We have collaborated and helped each other develop literacy and numeracy activities for our department's students and I have observed some of her flexible teaching techniques. 
My 8 yr old son had his teacher/parent interview a few weeks ago and as I sat in the classroom and took in the learning space it dawned on me that there was a very different style of teaching happening in this classroom.  It piqued my interest and I decided to interview my son's teacher.  The discussions that came out of these interviews have led me to understand that I am just seeing the tip of the iceberg in regards to the possibilities of flexible learning, and how if primary and secondary schools continue to develop in these areas then there will be a flow on effect to a greater extent in the tertiary system in the long run.  The Dimensions of flexibility grid (Collis and Moonen, 2004) formed the basis of the interviews, I will concentrate on instructional approach and resources, delivery and logistics to compare and contrast the 2 interviews.


My colleague is a lecturer on the certificate in basic cookery which is a 1 year full-time programme.  It is fixed in terms of start/finish dates and its criteria for entry is open.  Her over-riding philosophy when designing and teaching is that the students will learn by doing and by making mistakes.  The department has a commercial sector which incorporates a cafeteria, function department and coffee bar.  There is a fine dining restaurant which is open to the public and is run by the cookery and front of house students, under supervision. 

There are diagnostic tools used in the first few weeks to help the lecturers understand the learners; their abilities, learning styles and strengths/weaknesses.  The information from these assessments form the basis for the group set up, the lecturers understand the importance of analysing the group dimensions, using team building activities to strenghten the groups for working together in the kitchen.  However, Collis, B. & Moonen, J. (2001) argue, 'not all students need to work in groups, and not all students prefer social interaction as part of a learning experience.'  If the students course of study is towards a tourism/hospitality qualification surely the group interaction is beneficial to the students' overall social outcome, also working together as a team to produce a product or service is at the cornerstone of successful catering operations.

The students have access to course information through a number of forums, e.g. moodle, you-tube, on-line quizzes, class time.  The students have choices within the 'organisation of learning' where they can submit work in a variety of forms, through word processed, verbal or practical processes and have measurable assessment techniques in place to provide fair evaluations and feedback.

Contextualised teaching is used where possible, eggs are cracked open, smelt, whisked, cooked and examined to understand how they cook, when they have gone off and many other observations.  Videos on methods of cooking are used as teaching tools and downloaded onto moodle for the students to access at any time.
Reflection techniques are used continually to evaluate the effectiveness of the teaching, e.g. how well did it go? how can I improve? why didn't the student understand?

In comparison, the primary school classroom space has a major impact on the styles of learning that happen.  At the Otago Polytechnic there are limited choices surrounding the physical space that the students learn in, generic classrooms or kitchen/restaurant areas.  Rooms are used by many different courses and there is not the time to plan the lay out each time a class is in session.  In the primary school classroom there has been a year of planning how the spaces would be set out, based on recent research by Ewan McIntosh and his research into physical learning spaces http://www.slideshare.net/ewan.mcintosh/seven-spaces-of-technology-school-building-design. The children have tote trays for their personal belongings, the desks have gone and there are different areas set up for different styles of working, e.g. standing areas,bean bags, swivel chairs, cushions, calculator desks, quiet spaces, learning caves, round tables.
The spaces are well planned with a clear vision from the teacher and collaboration with the children, the children spend the first week on an orientation programme to help them navigate their way through the new structure, there is daily discussion about why the child chose this particular space for their work. 
The children have a class blog, they share experiences with other schools on skype.  They have virtual learning networks and computerised maths tutorials.

The key to the success of this learning space management is how well it is managed on a daily basis, the children are encouraged to make choices about how they learn and where they choose to learn and have many options available to them.  In terms of delivery and logistics, this is a huge learning curve for the teacher and the pupils and the success has been in the careful planning and implementation (instructional approach) and the children have adapted to the changes in an extremely positive way.

Summary;  Instructional approach and resources and delivery and logistics for my colleague are flexible in the range of resources that are utilised and the extent of her experience in using those resources to engage all the unique and varied learning styles within her class.  Casey, J. & Wilson, P. (2005)explain the "danger of projecting an inappropriate learner model onto prospective students......of an autonomous, self motivated, confident, information technology(IT) literate and financially comfortable student". Many of the students require additional assistance in navigating their way through the education system.
The key to the success of the flexible learning spaces in the primary school classroom is the clear instructional goal the teacher has, her collaboration with the children in the set up and her communication with like minded colleagues in the virtual world of twitter and learning networks.

References;


Casey, J., & Wilson, P. (2005).  A practical guide to providing flexible learning in further and higher education. Retrieved from http://www.enhancementthemes.ac.uk/docs/publications/flexible-delivery-a-practical-guide-to-providing-flexible-learning-in-further-and-higher-education.pdf

Collis, B., & Moonen, J. (2001).  Flexible learning in a digital world. Open and Distance Learning Series: Kogan Page Ltd.