Digital Practitioner 2011

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The Digital Practitioner: when Digital Natives grow up

reflections on the LSIS survey on “technology in action”

Nigel Ecclesfield LSIS & Geoff Rebbeck IfL

The context of our EnquiryNow we are 11…..

Background;

What has changed in 11 years of College elearning & edtech

Can we find new ways to describe Impact?

What should staff development look like in a digital learning world?

Survey;

Staff Attitudes to learning technology in action 2011 (LSIS Survey)

Conclusions;

The rise of the reflective practitioner

The emergence of the Web 2.0 practitioner

Applying Learning Analytics to reflective CPD

The context of our EnquiryNow we are 11…..

What has changed in 11 years of College research

How can we describe Impact?

What should staff development look like

The rise of the reflective practitioner

The emergence of the Web 2.0 practitioner

Digital Native confidence used professionally

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Combining Staff

Development

Learning Analytics &Reflection

The LSIS Survey structure

The Matrix (see resources)

Looking at technology in action

Emotive responses led to free open reflections

700 stories, stories for which learning and teaching in the daily experience of practitioners is the primary focus and stimulus. 240,000 words of which 93,000 is free response

http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/thanet-lsis-survey

http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/thanet-lsis-survey

LSIS Survey FindingsOver 90% of tutors see Moodle as normal practice

Teachers are natural explorers rather than being passive in receiving guidance by others

They describe responses in terms of teaching and learning rather than the virtue of the technologies themselves

The challenge of fitting the familiar social software to the particular learning application

The possibility of personal learning space to support this evolution of professional practice

Mapping all survey participants

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Conclusions; What have we learned

• The enquiring Mind of the Digital Practitioner

• The influence of Web2 behaviour & social media

• Pragmatic use of what tech, old or new, works

• Diversity of experiences & technology tapestries

• The critical friendships between same subject tutors are under-utilised – so communities of practice fail to emerge

• Professional practice of the Digital Practitioner could be transformed

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Ways Forward with the Digital Practitioner

• Introduce professional meta-skills approach

• Training to pedagogical not technology purpose

• The meshing of CPDand Staff Development

• The utilisation of IfL REfLECT

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Moving from staff development to

reflective professional development

Redefining Impact

Teachers are doing new Teachers are doing new things in new waysthings in new ways

Impact as Impact as exploring exploring technology personallytechnology personally

Impact as Impact as input input (change (change over time) and over time) and output output (benefit over turbulence)(benefit over turbulence)

Benefits of Benefits of confidence confidence to to apply technology based apply technology based on pedagogic skillson pedagogic skills

Designing for Teaching Transformation

Don’t fear fragmentation & turbulenceTrust the Digital PractitionerInstitutional Fixity & Stasis stifle initiative

Train to pedagogical purposeTrain to take the low hanging tech fruit

Build on professional confidence not processes that date rapidlyTeachers own the management of their own developmentUse analytics to develop new approach to assessing impactDevelop the enquiring teacher through communities of like minds

Nigel Ecclesfield FRSA MIfL (LSIS)[email protected]

Geoff Rebbeck FRSA FIfL [email protected]

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The Digital Practitioner: Part 2; Data & Survey Info

from the LSIS staff capability survey 2011

Nigel Ecclesfield LSIS & Geoff Rebbeck

The resources of our enquiryNow we are 11…..

Background;

Survey of 16 FE Colleges, 700 Practitioners, Summer 2011

Survey structured against 7-levels of “higher level” thinking

Survey offered structured & free text responses on user ‘feelings’

Learning Analytics;

Using SurveyMonkey & Analytics to produce individual narratives

Outcomes give, system, subject, institution & individual views

Outcomes;

Can professional practice drive new technology adoption?

Creating ‘meta-skills’ framework to map the rise of the reflective practitioner

See following slides for examples of these

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Survey Process

Described graphically by Naomi

Grew

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An individual reflective narrative by a teacher. Derived & anonymised from the survey

questions & free text responses

Makeup and SFX.I find work carried out with the VLE improves the quality of my work and learner results;. I am developing e-learning modules to support my lesson and allow my learners to develop their skills further at their own pace outside the classroom. I use online assessment feedback forms that are anonymous, that help me develop modules that I deliver. I use texting with other staff as part of my work activity. I use my iPhone for texting, I would support texting within my learner group, however, policies at the college do not allow it. The texting i use within the team I work in allows us to keep up to date as we all work fractionally and do not always see each other. I am aware meeting colleagues is possible through the Internet. Up to now we have not had the products do develop online discussions within our team, however, as a team we have asked that we develop this so that we can create an online forum for us as a team and for our learners. We hope that this could be place for the new academic year. I am aware meeting students is possible through the Internet. As the previous answer explains, we have not had this set up, hopefully for the new academic year this will be in place. I create different types of resources for people to use in different ways. I have been developing online e-learning, I continue to place information, handouts regarding my lessons on online for my learners. Some of these resources have been taking by the college quality team to allow all lecturers to use them. I have seen an ipod (digital audio) work and understand what they are. Although I do use sound files as such I do record and film my demonstrations to the students and develop online tutorials with sound and vision. I have used imagery with my learners to create class records and activity to support learning. I continually use still images, within my lessons, handouts, and online resources. I use video and so do my students as and integral part of teaching and learning. I use video to film my learners as they develop ideas and play these back within the group for assessment, also use dvd to show historical content related to their lessons and topics. I have read blogs and know how to comment on one. Presently we do not have blogs setup, however as previously stated hoping to have these setup for the new academic year. I have used social media for personal uses. Again this is some thing we as a team have spoken about, developing for the new academic year. I have produced evaluations of experiences, training, conferences etc. As I work in a field that is ever expanding and changing daily, I am always on live locations, attending seminars etc, all of these I reflect on bring into my lessons for my learners to develop further. Teaching through technology is often guiding and supporting learners to their objectives. This could work for all, although training would need to be setup as a lot of teachers or a little techno phobe. When the learners see a teacher using systems that are common to them it instils respect, it also allows teams to work and gel better together. I have used communities on-line with professionals outside the College. I am part of a group that has develop an online academy within the area that I teach, this is also open to my learners to join. I have instigated circumstances where others have been brought into a collaborative project with me. Through my development of the e-learning platforms I have bought others in to create certain areas of my tutorial modules on-line. I have arranged for students to create and share resources amongst themselves to improve learning. I develop resources and get my learners to develop them further and share these with others within their own group and other on the course I teach, if they develop them well i then place them for others outside my course to use them. I am able to access and use e-learning resources to help me acquire new skills and knowledge of technology used in College. I constantly check the resources given to us from the college to see if they are of help to me. If not I research further a field. I participate in collaborative groups whose members are drawn from different organisations and circumstances. Due to the nature of my specialist area, I work with others outside my college to develop ideas that i can then bring into my lessons. I would describe my approach as being Collaborative.

Gestalt or insight approachThe skills and knowledge demonstrated by our sample has not emerged from systematic use of technology following training.It has emerged from the insightful use of technology to solve particular problems emerging in the interaction with learners and sometimes colleagues. This professional understanding is supplemented by their experiences as users of technology in their personal lives as much as by training.

The fragmentary and possibly chaotic appearance of this technology tapestry is managed by adhering to common values of what constitutes effective teaching; the Matrix.

Reflective thinking and writing is a process. Insight is the result (sometimes).Insight is seeing self as was and how to change self for the better.

A tapestry of technologies"Letting a hundred flowers blossom and a hundred schools of thought contend is the policy for promoting progress in the arts and the sciences and a flourishing socialist culture in our land."

The centrality of the values of teaching & learningThe uniqueness of each learning journey

Word frequency from free-text answers in orderStudentsMoodleResourcesCollegeLearning

The Meta-skills Framework

A set of higher level thinking skills that defines approach

Based in teaching not technology

Universal application in teaching

Captured as soft skills through tagged text

Values not Quantum

The following four slides listing the “Survey Interpretive Framework” show the 13 questions & 8 levels of response that provide the survey matrix

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The Survey Interpretive Framework

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Higher level thinking Indicative description1 Drive to think & work flexibly The ability to use technology in different ways than originally covered in training or

the Manual. Making technology bring learning to life. Personalising learning through the use of technology

2 Ability to adapt technology to purposeful pedagogy

The ability to make technology contribute to learning for learners rather than seeing technology as an end in itself. Includes widening participation, increasing retention, particularly amongst hard-to-reach learners

3 Vision to create imaginative blended learning design

Learning and demonstrating the skill of redesigning teaching and learning by blending in technology to other forms and methods of teaching and learning. This refers to skills developed through practice and engagement with peers and learners rather than in formal sessions or using formal learning resources

4 Curiosity to involve learners in curriculum delivery & design

The Learner Voice. Involving learners in the design and personalising of learning. Student e-learning monitors in classes. Involving learners in the experience of learning in the widest sense

5 Imagination to develop future learning plans

Using technology in helping learners to develop management of their own journey, to account for their learning and plan future learning. Improving the tutorial process, making learning more relevant to the needs of each individual learner

6 Desire to account for personal and purposeful effectiveness

Using technology to develop the skills of reflective thinking. Capturing ideas and themes to inform teacher learning journeys through personal learning space. Developing professional accountability

7 Capacity to develop collaborative and cooperative working

To look across and out of the organisation to work with and for others. An open mindedness. Working adaptively to accommodate the ideas of others. Assimilation of the best ideas.

The seven levels of higher-level thinking using “technology in action”

The Digital Practitioner; some thoughts

When the Digital Native turns professionalthe curious Digital Practitioner emerges

Descriptive keywords should be pedagogicEnquiring, professional, experimental,Playful, student-centred

Learning transformation now more likely to come from professional practice than from institutional design.Practitioners more trustworthy more likely to find new learning processes by experimenting with tools, apps, S/W, H/W, students

The Digital Practitioner; what next?

New forms of professional developmentNew forms of professional community

Professional Development Communitiescan collaboratively drive technology planning

Agile, integrated relationships between learning professionals and learning institutions built on student-centred learningAn institutionally-based approach to developing the support for the co-creation of learning

Nigel Ecclesfield FRSA MIfL (LSIS)[email protected]

Geoff Rebbeck FRSA FIfL [email protected]

with Fred Garnett (LKL)

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Resources

Resources;SurveyMonkey questions; http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/thanet-lsis-surveyIfL Reflect Webfolio, the Curious & the Confident; https://reflect.ifl.ac.uk/viewasset.aspx?oid=3722297&type=webfolioSlides;http://www.slideshare.net/fredgarnett/digital-practitioner-2011Blog Post;http://architectureofparticipation.wordpress.com/Contact; [email protected]

Education

Digital Practitioner 2011