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VLE Choices: including online teaching in the disciplines Janet Macdonald and Anne Campbell The Open University in Scotland Supporting students online • Staff need to see the value in new tools before they will spend time learning about functionality (Ottenbriet-Leftwich 2010) • Most professional development in this area is generic, and tool focused (Joyes, 2008; Chesney, 2010; Chen 2009; Roskos 2007; Yang & Liu 2004) VLE Choices module • Introduction to choosing appropriate online tools • Illustrates a range of innovative strategies presently in use in the university • For all staff, including student services and course teams as well as tutors • Tools introduced: forum, wiki, Elluminate, Audacity, MyStuff, blog, calendar VLE Choices structure Intention Strategies Tools Pastoral Tutor Activities Teaching & learning Students Course Team Student Services etc Common intentions Different strategies Participants & completions • Two routes: moderated bookable cohorts; moderated self-study • Around 2000 visitors to self-study site • 10 cohort groupings • About 300 completions since March 2009 Elluminate Teaching Project To illustrate the teaching potential of Elluminate in different disciplines Walking into a tutorial.. 9 different disciplines Difficult concepts Skills to be practised Teaching strategy Recorded Elluminate session Development • Invitations to 9 tutors in different disciplines • Common template for plan – Skill or concept to be developed in students – Outline of activity – Note of tools to be used • Forum and practice Elluminate room for team during development phase Lessons learnt from development process • Having some kind of script to follow for a session is really helpful • If possible, practice anything that relies on using more sophisticated tools. If not possible, have a backup plan • Don’t be afraid of using the tools – we found them mostly pretty easy and fun to use • It is very helpful to share ideas • Material development takes time, so it is a good idea to share resources – or for module teams to develop resources Where to find the recordings http://learn.open.ac.uk/site/vle-choices Visit an online tutorial in Elluminate Demonstrators’ perspectives • How helpful was the focus on discipline and student need? • What potential for community approach to activity development? • Can online activities be shared between tutors? • What factors influence online vs face to face activity? Starting with course and student need This project helped me focus on an area I had often thought about – in future I’ll be offering this activity as a starter I think the fact that we were forced to record our planning and make it transparent…was a really useful challenge, it also forced me to consider whether the use of the tools was pedagogically sound or more a way of using tools just because they are there Peer learning I’ve enjoyed collaborating with colleagues in different faculties and other Regions and as a nervous “elluminator” benefited greatly from the supportive environment I learned….by watching other people’s sessions….by talking to my co-course tutors in preparation for the session coinciding views about students’ errors in referencing.. Potential for sharing activities Mine can be adapted to any groups of ideas or theories that need discussion and analysis Quite a number of activities which I would consider adapting for use in my faculty, and some skills, eg referencing, understanding theory have relevance across modules Comparing with face to face The systematic turn taking can help to ensure a more even level of active participation...the hands-on nature of the highlighting activity revealed areas of student uncertainty perhaps more directly It made the reactions of the students more visible Face to face would allow a greater degree of spontaneity In conclusion • Starting with an area in the course of identifiable student need is a productive approach • Tutors can benefit from a community approach to developing online activities. • They need to learn about effective facilitation within the discipline • We cannot assume that an online activity will provide an equivalent learning experience for students to face to face Macdonald, J. & Campbell, A. (under review) Demonstrating online teaching in the disciplines. A systematic approach to activity design for online synchronous tuition. British Journal of Educational Technology Macdonald, J. & Poniatowska, B. (2011) Context and appropriate design. Online professional development for online learning & teaching. Distance Education 32 (1) Macdonald, J. & Black, A (2010) Disciplinary knowledge practices in distance education. Testing a new methodology for teaching enhancement in History. Arts & Humanities in Higher Education 9 (1) 69-86 Macdonald, J. & Creanor, L. (2010) Learning with online & mobile technologies. A student survival guide (Gower) Talking Point.. • http://learn.open.ac.uk/site/talking-point