We tweet therefore we are…..

At the moment it’s easier for us to share our interests, news and relevant information with you on Twitter and Scoopit.

You can find and contact the library @LlandrilloLib on Twitter.

You can find, comment and share library, esafety and digital footprint headlines at http://www.scoop.it/t/esafety-and-digital-citizenship 

Our new online catalogue is now here  but you can only include all the Grwp Llandrillo Menai campuses in your searches at the moment.

If you need us for anything we also have real live people at the end of the phone on

(01492) 542342.

Diolch!

 

Blended Learning Weeks 4 & 5

Where to start? Well, with a planning hat on. Key message is to use technology solution in the area that you want most improvement, not just shoe horn it in for the sake of it….

Week 4

Curriculum planning, learner needs, teacher pedagogy (need to get myself one of those), assessment and feedback. What is the best fit and where will I use technology to its best advantage? Who are my learners and what are the learning outcomes I need/want them to achieve? These are questions I need to ask, even if I am just doing a parachute session for study skills! I had never heard of the ADDIE or DADDIE framework for creating courses and had been using OTARA without realising (as part of the scheme of learning we need to use to map our teaching sessions) In some ways I know more than I think and in other far less! Or maybe it’s just terminology? I did feel that I am putting a  lot of the tips into action already with using Twitter, Linkedin and other platforms in my teaching sessions but I am sometimes unclear as to the how and why I do it – other than I know that it works 🙂

Week 5 – and the last

The main message that has stayed with me from this week has been enabling learners to have a “belief in their own capacity to achieve”. They should be at the heart of everything we do and that blended learning can give the flexibility to enable those most at risk of exclusion to participate. It takes a department-wide agreed change to embed a blended learning approach – but there are small steps you can take for your individual courses and to suit your learners. Managing your own time as a tutor is just as important and must be included in your planning – how and when do you expect to be contacted and by what time must you reply?

This course really helped to me to see that the steps we have taken here towards blended learning have definitely been in the right direction. The ideas and questions posted by participants have been very helpful in vocalising the issues we have had, as well as highlighting things we never considered. The sharing of teaching ideas and resources has been excellent and we have kept a list open on shared Google Doc for staff here all doing the course to share and amend.

Week 2-3

“Digital betacam tape (6498599453)” by DRs Kulturarvsprojekt from Copenhagen, Danmark

 

A double up of our MOOC after a very busy couple of weeks where we are also helping out with blended learning case studies because of this course.

Week 2

What I was waiting for really – real time examples of blended learning and technology in actions. A relief that actually the things we had been trying with VLE’s , video conferencing, forums, social media and collaborative documents are all on the right track. But also a realisation that for some learners, espeically WBL, a VLE might not be the main solution. The use of apps like iObserve and Coach my video have given us great ideas and we have also started to support a QIF bid using screen capture to support off site learners and support others to create case studies based on this. Real like and online life collide!

 

Week 3

No so unfamiliar this one, with us using Moodle extensively with our learners of all levels. The tools we use within it now are great for supporting self reflection, collaboration, independent learning as highlighted in the week 3 video. Thinking about the content though has made me realise that apart from forums and and wiki’s we need more student generated content to support learning. First idea is annotated diagrams created by a group of learners and then compare this to the pre-designed version I prepared for class. I also think audio feedback would be another element to include – either for us as tutors or learners in their reflective practice. I might also start to take time at the end of a teaching session to record a 1 minute summary as one of the case studies mentioned in their video.

 

Blended Learning – Week 2 – Skills, context and embedding

Abacus via Wikimedia Commons

Understanding the context that your blended learning approach will take place and also understanding what tools will suit the context were two of the main action points I took from this weeks course.

The most useful part of the first section for me was the explanation of teaching pedagogy theories – constructivism, social constructivism and problem based learning. It made total sense and the approaches were clarified further with an example of a suitable digital tool for each theory in case study examples. I am not from a teaching background and despite trying to read up on the subject, this was the first time I really understood it.

As highlighted in the course, the use of digital technologies to support education is increasingly an expectation (and maybe one where some areas are lacking?). I thought the use of digital tools to introduce a topic and then use more traditional methods to solidify that learning was an achievable approach. The digital tools can then also be used to assess learning and progression.

My one misgiving is that many of the technological approaches used, especially the nearpod and google classroom examples are exactly what can be achieved using existing technology like Moodle. This is a VLE well established in the College but underused – however, nearly every example of managing the learners progression by using digital tools can be curated and structured on Moodle. You don’t always need a shiny new app when the platform is already there to be utilised. Moodle has it’s own app too and can be used on multiple platforms. Maybe the design of it is more what puts people off?

The digital literacy skills audit section was a useful exercise and one that we could do with learners at the start of course – in conjunction with their literacy and numeracy skills audits. It is very similar to the audit that JISC are developing to enable better DL support and practice in FE colleges. There were also great links to training materials – the JISC series are an invaluable tool for FE and the educator guide to social media is very useful in the planning phase of any digital tool use. i found that I was confident in most areas, but I do need more help to understand how to best support learners with additional educational needs.

This was a more practical week and I’ve really benefited from seeing the learning tools in practice.

I also took the time to find out who else in the College is taking this course and hope to set up a community of practice where we can share developments and ideas.

Onwards to week 3!

ESOL Reading Group – Tuesday 10th November

Walker Books Image

This Tuesday, our Reader Organisation ESOL group will be reading a poem by Roger McGough and another excerpt from The Unforgotten Coat by Frank Cottrell Boyce.

The poem is called First Day at School (you can listen to a recording of the poet reading it here or watch a video of the poem here) – something most of us have been through and will always remember. But I think it could even be the first day at College, the first day in your new job, the first day in a new country……. It’s a shared experience and also points out that the spelling of some words don’t always match their meanings like “teacher – the one who makes the tea”!

We started the Unforgotten Coat at our last session and were asked to use it again. It’s the story of two brothers from Mongolia and the affect they have on their new school, especially on their friend Julie. It’s based on a true events and we found it very funny and touching.

See you all at 1.00pm in room K16 Bodnant library on Rhos site. There will of course be biscuits 🙂

Staff Reading Group – Jane Eyre

Image of Jane Eyre Penguin Classics Book Cover

This month, staff reading group I will be reading classic novel Jane Eyre.

There’s no lack of Jane Eyre and Bronte related support material online, and fan fiction abounds too. For an interesting insight into the influences on the Brontes early writing and the use of fairy tale and gothic techniques in Jane Eyre, take a look at the British Library video series ‘Romantics and Victorians‘.

My favourite synposis comes from the Internet Movie Database (for the 2011) film

“A mousy governess who softens the heart of her employer soon discovers that he’s hiding a terrible secret.”. At least it would fit on a tweet!

Speaking of tweets, there are also a handful of fictional Eyre and Bronte twitter accounts, but none live since about 2011. However, the official Bronte Parsonage twitter is active and shares a great variety of scholarly and fan created content related to the family. Also the account @WurtheringHikes is an interesting take on fan fiction 🙂 There is a Facebook group too and the Bronte Blog is a comprensive collection of all things Bronte in the media and online.

There is even a web series adaptation of Jane Eyre – http://theautobiographyofja.wix.com/jane-eyre.

Famous quotes from the book:

“Reader, I married him.”

“I am no bird; and no net ensnares me: I am a free human being with an independent will.”

Blended Learning Essentials Blog 1

Here at Llandrillo Library we are always trying to keep up to date with new teaching technologies and resources to support our learners and tutors. Some of the librarians are tutors too, so we are always updating our own pedagogies and skills. As part of this we are taking part in the Blended Learning Essentials MOOC with Future Learn and the University of Leeds. For this we also need to create a learning journal and we’ll host it here – to share ideas, content and future plans we’ll have as we work through the course. This will be especially relevant to the online delivery guidelines that will be implemented in FE from next year in Wales and the digital practitioners building their skills in the college now. You’ll also learn a lot more about what we can support you with in the library and see how we can best work together to support the college aim of inspiring success by proving excellent education and training.

For our first week on the MOOC we’re

• meeting the other participants on the course (over 700 I think!)
• taking a look at the changes that going digital is making to teaching and learning
• working through what blended learning actually means
• making a record of Really Good Ideas (RGI’s!)
• Reflecting on what it means for us, our teaching and the support we provide.

This was a great blog post by JISC that was shared in week 1 talking about why it’s so important for teaching staff to go digital. But the discussion forums also stressed that there is no point in just talking about digital resources in a classroom – you must use them, embed them and collaborate with learners to make the most of the learning experience.

The discussion also related very much to other work we are doing in the library to support the HEA Distinctive Graduate stream with our Digital Footprint for employability seminars and workshops. Going digital supports learners to develop transferable skills that employers need, as well as engage more with their course work and stay motivated. It also links in well with the teaching practice that already exists in the Library FDa programme which is delivered online and via video conference. We talked about how we use social media and online resources to support sharing info, current awareness, reflective practice, group work. It also means there is flexible access to content and also out of hours contact with tutors.

We used Typeform to give suggestions on blending learning activities and thought of practical examples – like asking learners to choose audio visual resources to support the class. This helped me to reflect on the value of using blended learning in a classroom to help with embedding concepts, increased preparedness and progression. The section on social learning was a point that really stood out – independent study is hard work! You need support and interaction to help and blended learning provides that.

This week was all about reflecting on the value of blended learning for tutors and learners. One thing I felt that wasn’t mentioned was the benefit to learners of peer support and creating a motivating learning community. This type of peer support increases learners confidence and encourages people to contribute to their best ability – not just providing something that’s ‘good enough’.

Next week will be about evaluating and delivery – which I’ll be thinking about now having watched the video in advance! #flippedclassroom 🙂

Nine in ten bosses vet applicants on Facebook | Daily Mail Online

The findings were revealed by recruiting software company, Jobvite, which surveyed 1,855 human resources managers in industries including engineering, IT, marketing and sales.

Sourced through Scoop.it from: www.dailymail.co.uk

This might be a tabloid article (and is really an advertisement for Barclays) but there is a grain of truth to the details shared. Employers we talked too said the same thing. they will search for you and what they find will influence their decision. 

See on Scoop.it – Digital Footprint and Reputation Management

How to Market Yourself Using Social Media in Only 30 Minutes a Day | DIY Marketing Tips

Thorny Bleeder: Music Marketing, Branding and Motivation.

Sourced through Scoop.it from: thornybleeder.com

This was originally shared on Moodle for media students as part of their entrepreneurship course. Great advice on social media interactions.  

See on Scoop.it – Digital Footprint and Reputation Management

From cyber security to mobile computing: How all sectors are embracing digital technology

Sourced through Scoop.it from: www.thetechpartnership.com

You can’t get away from it and it is relevant to every area of your working and private life – something more to think about for the Information Society module 

See on Scoop.it – Foundation Degree Information Society