TEL-lingit like IT is

I'm guilty of sometimes getting myopic about TEL as consisting of the effective use of VLE systems. Administering, maintaining and extending VLE infrastructure is a vital foundation for TEL practice. It provides the platform for learning activity design (in all its forms), tutoring, and analytics to assist with student success. In all of this it's easy to lose sight of the potential of TEL to, somewhat more adventurously, add to the authenticity of learning. A colleague at the Open University is a keen advocate on supplying students with real data in their learning. It's a value all TEL practitioners will endorse; technology routinely extends into authentic environments, particularly where the gathering or analysis of data is technologically-mediated and so already digitised. A recent catch-up with a different OU colleague showed me something very interesting. A stone's throw away from my current OU desk (though safely protected by at least two walls and my naturally...

I've just finished reading Bharat Anand's The Content Trap , which describes itself as a book "about digital change, and how to navigate it" (Kindle Location 123). It's excellent. Naturally it has much to say about the digital experiences and prospects of traditional media agents - newspapers, television networks, audio and video distributors. What I connected with most, though, was the coverage in the last few chapters considering strategy for digital education . Anand is a key member of the HBx initiative, which represents a further step in Harvard's move online (previous ones being in the form of edX ). This new approach is one implemented by the Harvard Business school. I think HBx cracked it. Anand describes the strategy in these terms: ...we carved out an online learning strategy that departed from the established MOOC model in virtually every respect. We decided to pass on the increasingly standard “camera in the classroom” in favor of a more...

Research, research, research! If there's one thing I've enjoyed most about BERA 2016 it's been the clear focus on serious and rigorous research, right across the educational spectrum. This year was my first BERA, and I'll be prioritising it from here on as one to attend. The format was especially new to me. Less plenaries and many streams meant a lot of travel across the Leeds University campus. The breadth of options gave new meaning to the term 'multiple choice'! Sessions were generally excellent and thought-provoking. Sadly, I am unable to link to the abstracts of the sessions identified below. I do find it surprising that abstracts are not made publicly available! I'll limit myself to those presentations that I personally found noteworthy. Day One The first presentation I attended was Kate Litherland's  Sustainability in technologies for higher education - a review of the literature . Kate's presentation was a highlight for me, as it drew...

Open Learning has released an early online article, " The use of Facebook to build a community for distance learning students: a case study from the Open University ". I've long wrestled with the concept of using social media in formal HE for a variety of reasons - but the format proposed by Callaghan and Fribbance works. I suspect their successful use of Facebook is based on three main characteristics: It's purposeful, and facilitated.  It's optional.  It's cross-programme, rather than intra-module (adding variety and scale).  The authors concludes that "Using everyday technology to connect with students, remind them of sources of informal learning and nudge them to think about contemporary social science issues in a critical way, the Faculty Page would appear to make a contribution to overcoming isolation and creating an academic community". Their work is certainly proof-of-concept; as the authors add, however, more research as to the bene...

A colleague recently steered me toward de Jong and Hartog's 2008 Innovative Work Behavior: Measurement and Validation , available here . The article describes development of an instrument for measuring IWB. Critically, and most helpfully, the authors propose four dimensions contributing to innovation outcomes: Opportunity exploration. Idea generation. Championing. Application. These four dimensions serve to better flesh out the concept of innovation itself. Frequently, innovation platforms are obsessed with the first and the second, under the mistaken belief that good ideas sell themselves. I cannot help thinking that a fifth element is also critical, one that more logically links the second and third elements together: Proof of concept It could be, though, that de Jong & Hartog are suggesting their four dimensions relate to getting an idea even to the proof of concept stage (with the proof of concept equated to implementation). The authors are, after al...

A conference paper by Geoff Kaufman (Carnegie Mellon University) and Mary Flanagan (Dartmouth College) called “High-low split: Divergent cognitive construal levels triggered by digital and non-digital platforms” ( PDF available ) has had some coverage [ Science Daily ] [ Psychology Today ] [ PC Magazine ]. The studies published in the paper compared levels of construal (perception and comprehension, or ‘gist’) of subjects reading the same matter from print, and a screen in an RCT (Randomised Control Trial). There were four studies, each comparing performance in digital and print formats, as follows: One: Completing the same survey (Behaviour Identification Form) Seventy-seven participants (average age of 24.2 years), completing the same survey either on an iPad 2 or in print. After being randomly placed in the iPad or print groups, subjects completed survey testing their use of abstract and concrete descriptions of various behaviours and events. Care was taken to provide the same ...

Inspired by this: http://www.ted.com/talks/michael_bodekaer_this_virtual_lab_will_revolutionize_science_class I sincerely hope this does, in fact, revolutionize science class . The statistics mentioned in the clip alone make pursuit of this worthwhile. And, it's cost-effective: http://web.labster.com/ My team's currently playing with Gear VR; take my word for it, it's absolutely awesome. Labster is available for other formats (including PC, iPad, Mac), but it's the £400 Gear + Galaxy combo that looks to unlock it as an engaging and immersive experience. Awesome. Thoughtful and proven... and, like all good innovations, perfectly obvious when you think about it! An excellent example of how a resource-based approach to education can unlock scalability, exploration, and impressive outcomes.

In innovation it's tempting to focus just on one factor. In education, the overwhelming focus tends to be that of technology . But technology is just one part of the story. Consider how pit stops have changed over the decades. This clip contrasts things well: Clearly the technology is different (what is that first guy banging the tyres with?) But the real success here rests on so much more . A few observations: The main technology shift here is the use of pneumatic wrenches (and new ways of connecting the wheels). There are more people involved - and some with new roles. There is a clear objective, namely less processing time for the car. The process is much more efficient: from 57 seconds to about 1.3. The video seems to emphasise the difference in time taken to change tyres . To be fair the second driver didn't get their windshield wiped. So, to focus on the tyres: there were 12 people involved in the 2013 example instead of the one in the earlier clip, and ther...

I've submitted a response to the current Productivity Commission exercise considering aspects of the New Zealand tertiary education system. Unsurprisingly it has an explicit focus on innovation, which seems a key theme right across higher education providers at the moment. My current role sees me responsible for a fantastic team of dedicated learning and teaching innovators, and I'm proud to be able to say that their ideas really rock my world from time to time. I'm even prouder to say that I am actively encouraging them to make me uncomfortable. My interest in innovation goes back to - I'm embarrassed to say - last Millennium , when I studied entrepreneurship as part of my BMS at Waikato University. I was greatly influenced by reading the late, great Peter Drucker and encountering the theory of Joseph Schumpeter . The lessons from these classes, innovation in the context of entrepreneurship, have guided my interest in online distance education right from the start....

It seems TEL and innovation are terms eternally linked. While much of actual TEL practice is rather predictable (not in the sense of it somehow being disappointing), TEL practitioners themselves are often driven by a desire to be more innovative, to always stretch the limits of what is done. Stakeholders and institution leaders are likewise interested in TEL innovation. But what exactly constitutes innovation? The term innovation is a much-used, yet seldom-explored term. Only somewhat helpfully, innovation is defined as " something new or different introduced " and as " a new idea, more effective device or process ". Innovation is most certainly perspectival, in that what one person would describe as innovative may not be considered innovative by another. Innovations might justifiably be at either extreme of tiny ("that's nice ") or incredibly significant ("that changes my understanding of what can be done!"), just as they might be eith...