ricardo.manchester@me.com

Planning an ICT online strategy

I teach at The Foundation Degree in Broadcast Television, delivered by The

Manchester College and accredited by Salford University. Our cohort is mostly

composed of young male British adults, together with a minority of foreign

students, mature students and British female students. It’s my third year of

teaching.

Through this paper, I will look at different models of e-learning, in order to

build up a reference system, to support me on designing ICT resources

specifically related to the only module outcome common to all modules in the

course.

“Allow students to manage appropriate pre-production, production and post-production”

This module outcome is present in virtually all modules from year 1 and year 2

of the Broadcast Television Foundation Degree. The following information is

included in the Programme Introduction paragraph, on the Student handbook:

“The course is broken down into three stages: pre-production, production and post-production. The pre-production stage of the course features an in-depth look into developing projects and researching ways of exploring and developing initial ideas. Time management plays an integral part in the course at this stage. The production stage involves taking developed ideas and creating television content, using equipment and software to film and edit content. The production side of the course is used to explore software in conjunction with a computer environment to turn the filmed content into professional quality productions. The post production stage gives students a unique chance to explore opportunities for publishing content. It also gives students insight into how to develop a proposal to gain funding and how to understand the different funding associations.”

The students have six to eight major long group projects over the two years

period, which the course lasts. Through exercises in the classroom,

individually or in group, and linking up to both formative and summative

assessment, the students have plenty of opportunities to go through the three

production stages and develop a good degree of confidence in the whole

process. The students get feedback from all the tutors in all the modules,

throughout the whole course, relating to their accumulated learning, and

confidence in this specific outcome.

Although thorough, the teaching/learning of the production stages happens

differently for each student. It might be that his/her first role in Production is

centred in research (Pre-production), or video editing (post production), then it

will be difficult to grasp the scope of the whole production. When this

happens, the student will have a chance to experiment and reflect on that

particular part of the process before producing the final work, and he/she will

have a chance to explore another part of the production process later on the

course. This is where some valid e-learning support can assist the overall

Learning Process.

I found it useful to look at Kolb’s experimental learning cycle, which although

coming from a constructivist approach, I feel represents well the learning

environment in which the students formulate this specific outcome.

!

The experimental learning cycle transposes well into different time scales

regarding the learning of the production process.

Here’s an example applied specifically on an exercise about colour grading,

on the directing module of the second year:

1. Discussion on nature and definition of colour grading supported by

learning tools uploaded on the module blog, such as, short video

explaining the technique, short videos about the nature of colour and

industry examples of application of technique.

2. Students do the proposed grading exercise and try the technique, and

uploading the result on their personal blog (AE)

3. One to one formative feedback on exercise, using the learning tools

uploaded on the module blog as reference

4. The students will then apply the same technique in their main project

(CE)

5. The work is reviewed once more and individual feedback is provided

6. The student will follow onto Reflective Observation (RO) by drawing

some conclusions in his/her production diary in his/her personal blog

7. The student will put in practice some of the conclusions drawn from the

process, by deciding on a new/final approach to the task of colour

grading (AC)

8. The student will do some more experimentation (AE), or decide to

apply the best of his knowledge into the final piece of work (CE)

The same experiential learning cycle also applies in the following module on

the course, when the student will face the same task. This time however, the

student will be able to start the cycle in the region of Reflective Observation

(RO), by taking into account his previous experience with the task, which is

documented and easily accessible on both the module’s blog and the

students’ personal blog.

The student can also access strategies that colleagues have developed to

fulfil the brief, by visiting their blogs. The second time around allows for more

emphasis to be placed in the parts of the cycle that the student didn’t initially

explore.

If we now come back to the course outcome I’m concentrating on - the

production stages - we can easily transpose this learning cycle to a larger

timescale, where the student will start building a relationship with a particular

part of the production process (i.e. post production), that he/she will revisit

with the aim of increasing the specific embedded learning. Concurrently, in

other modules, the same student is learning about other parts of the

production stages (i.e. pre production), that he/she will soon revisit.

Overall, the skills and knowledge necessary to fulfil this specific course

outcome are developed and acquired throughout the two years of the course,

across all modules literally, and supported by our ICT resources including

online engagement.

The fact that most of the exercises, resources and products are all web

based, allows students that have missed lessons to easily catch up with the

others, and all to revisit the material at any time, which led me to plan more

lessons around an online structure. This suits our 2nd years very well, as they

are all involved in different productions with different schedules, and are more

independent learners.

Friedman et al (2002) pointed out the following when applying Kolb’s cycle to

online continuing professional development courses:

“Although some authors doubt whether learners can have a concrete experience in an online environment, Mackenzie and Staley (2000) cite research in which it was found that different technologies, including email, web-based discussion and multimedia resources, could fulfil the

requirements of the different stages of the learning cycle. However, Staley (2000) also suggests that, in the context of higher education, breaking away from the computer for some parts of the learning cycle is a more appropriate model for learning” Friedman et al (p370:2002)

I apply this learning cycle successfully when planning and delivering my

lessons because the course I’m teaching in has a strong emphasis in practical

experience. I use it as a tool to increase both the reflective and the creative

character of our curriculum outcomes. I would have reservations in using it as

an e-learning standalone framework in my curriculum, (I also don’t need to),

because the bulk of the teaching and learning happens in the classroom,

where I provide plenty of individual support.

The experience of using the blog as a tool, and as a teaching and learning

platform was very positive, but I felt I needed references from other online

learning modules in order to develop my own appropriate tools.

The five stage model for e-learning:

1 -Access and Motivation

2 -Online socialisation

3 -Information Exchange

4 -Knowledge Construction

5 -Development

This model was developed by Salmon (2000) in “E-moderating The Key to

teaching and learning online”.

From this model, I took on the issues of access and motivation, which I

stumbled upon with my students. One student didn’t have Internet at home,

which in turn means he will be cut off from the platform when he leaves

school, reducing his “off school” learning potential. More online resources also

mean more passwords to remember, and to forget… The student motivation

to use these resources is varied, although it seems to be appealing enough

when totally embedded on the lesson plan as part of the classroom activities.

The online socialization stage does not seem to be of paramount importance

since the students already do it via popular sites, such as facebook and

youtube.

The remaining three stages are not dissociated from my experience with

Kolb’s model. This model offered a bit of guidance but it’s not contrasting

enough with Kolb’s.

Moule challenged the five stage model in the following manner:

“It should be recognised, however, that the e-moderating model was developed from experiences of facilitating online networking and group working. Its principle purpose is to provide a model for e-moderators to support student engagement and learning online, employing constructivist pedagogic theory. Consequently, it is limited because the variety of e-learning approaches available for use within computer-mediated communication is neglected and the range of learning theories available is ignored”. (Moule 2007, pp. 38-39)

Moule himself come up with the following e-learning ladder:

!

Figure 2. A conceptual model of online learning: the e-learning ladder (Moule,

2006b; 2007)

I found it particularly helpful to draw inspiration from Moule’s ladder in

planning the development of the ICT/online resources for the course I’m

teaching in. I found that although not very helpful in specific lesson planning,

this model raised the issues I encountered when developing my tools.

Certainly I found challenges on the issues exposed on the right hand side of

the chart, mostly around faulty IT equipment, and a lack of basic ICT skills in

some cases.

On the other hand, I felt unsure as to what kind of tools I was actually looking

for. For example, should I concentrate on one course module only, or look at it

from a wholesome perspective, considering the whole course. I also feel that

the progression from isolated to interactive learning is a quality I see

developing in all our students. I can almost draw my own vector, increasing

upwards like the others on the chart, where I can have “awareness/

experience of the production process”.

Based on the findings of this research I decided to support the delivery of the

curriculum outcome “awareness and experience of the production process” by

developing the following online ICT strategies:

- Implementation of the usage of blogs in the classroom. I use a blog per

module as a constant classroom teaching and learning tool. Each

student has an individual blog, used mostly for his or her PDP

reflexion. It helps me differentiate the actual experience of the

production process that the student has reflected on,

- Inclusion of project management software in the production process.

The tool “Trello” is the only Content Management Software that the

students have continued to use. So I’m sticking with it and have

abandoned others, such as Basecamp. It took some trial and error, but

this tool directly influences their understanding of the process. In Kolb’s

model it emphasises the Reflective Observation (RO) and Active

Conceptualization (AC) aspects of the cycle.

- Creation of an online course portal. I felt the need to create a web

space that mediates between the College’s Virtual Learning Centre and

the new web spaces that are developed out of the VLC, such as the

blogs and the CMS Trello. This space works very well in terms of being

a one-stop-shop destination for all online resources. It also contains

links to industry specialists platforms, good valid academic resources,

and course related links, such as our shared google calendar, and

equipment booking form online form.

!

Figure 3: detail of one of the modules’ blog

!

Figure 4: CMS Trello

!

Figure 5: Course Portal

Having had a look at Gilbert-Jennifer and Rowley (2007) qualitative research

on students’ evaluation of e-learning at masters level, I found their first 3

conclusions akin to my own. Students engage differently, sometimes away

from the planned integrated approach offered at their VLC, and they

appreciate forums and discussions. However, I found the fourth item to be the

most revealing to me.

“Students are very unsure about the tutor’s role in e-learning. Their expectations are unformed, but are shaped by previous experience of face-to-face teaching. Many are seeking greater input from and interaction with the tutor.” (Gilbert-Jennifer and Rowley 2007, pp. 570-571)

This is certainly my experience, especially because I’m trying out different

approaches. The more resources I offer online, the more questions and

queries I get from the students. Through different resources I’m also

accessing the different levels of my involvement. From a starting point, I’m

always present in the classroom to conduct a focused learning. Still, I’m

planning the online support around the idea that students will be able to

process the learning independently, without my presence, which is common

with the second year students. The blogs, although allowing for greater

differentiation, definitely add another layer of work to the ongoing load.

I’ve taken ideas from all three e-learning models. Kolb’s is very useful on the

day to day tasks and exercises, and akin to the production process. Salmon’s

raised paramount issues that I confront daily, specially on the first step of

access and motivation. Moule’s provides a context to develop resources in a

wholesome manner, looking at the student progression and confidence over

the whole course, and how I can develop e-learning resources that can be

picked and dropped at suitable times.

After some trial and error I developed the three tools mentioned above, which

although successful, haven’t been rolled out into the course officially. My plan

now is to develop an e-learning support solution for our course, and propose it

to my manager. I will use the research conducted for this paper to support my

plan, and will contrast the solutions with valid student feedback. I will also

aspire to explore the different components of ICT literacy: define, access,

manage, integrate, evaluate, create and communicate (Katz and Macklin,

2007)

“We believe that the concept of Pedagogy 2.0, inspired and underpinned by the knowledge-creation metaphor of learning and the

theory of connectivism, signals a movement away from a teacher-centric pedagogy to one emphasizing learner-directed activity and content creation.” (McLoughlin and Lee, 2008)

Bibliography:

Gilbert-Jennifer. J., Morton, S and Rowley, J. (2007). ‘e-Learning: the student

experience, British Journal of Educational Technology’, 38 (4), 560-573.

Catherine McLoughlin and Mark J. W. Lee.(2008) Future Learning

Landscapes: Transforming Pedagogy through Social Software. Software

Quality Journal 6, (1997) 181–194

Stephen Dowes (2004) Evaluating online CPD using educational criteria

derived from the experiential learning cycle. EDUCAUSE Review, vol. 39, no.

5 (September/October 2004): 14–26.

Irvin R. Katz, Alexius Smith Macklin (2007) Information and Communication

Technology (ICT) Literacy: Integration and Assessment in Higher Education.

Journal of Systemics, Cybernetics and Informatics

Volume 5 - Number 4 - Year 2007 : 50-55

CHRISTINA WILLIAMS (2002) Learning On-line: a review of recent

literature in a rapidly expanding field. Journal of Further and Higher

Education, Vol. 26, No. 3, 2002

Su Illingworth (2011) My use of social media. InTuition-IfL, Issue 4, 2011 :7

Reece, I. And Walker, S. (2007) Teaching, Training and Learning: A Practical Guide.

6th rev. ed. Sunderland: Business Education Publishers.

A.V.Kelly (2004) The Curriculum: Theory and Practice 6TH Ed. Sage Publications

University of Salford (2011) Programme Handbook - FDA Television Production

Student Handbook 2011/2012. The Manchester College