Annual learning & teaching conference booklet

Workshops and Biographies

Contents Keynote Address:

Dr Kevin Burden, University of Hull Supporting students and staff in using digital technologies to make thinking more visible

02

Presentation:

Deborah Millar, Blackburn College What is the Learning Wheel?

04

Workshops

1. Using Google Hangout - Andy Smith

06

2. Will it blend? : Hints and tips on creating blended resources - Christopher Willitts and Lee Holroyd

07

3. Blended Critical Studies in Creative Arts and Digital Industries - Tracey Eastham

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4. Mind The Gap: Assessing and meeting HE Staff & Student knowledge and skills gaps in blended learning technologies and technological based practice - Adam Hawes

09

5. Academic and Digital Literacies on line portfolios- An evaluation of the multiple platforms available to support student development and achievement - Rosie Thompson

10

6. Tutorial, I have an idea - Rob Scott and Ashley Lister

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7. Technology to enhance learning and pedagogic practices - Colette Mazzola

12

8. U sing Moodle effectively in HE - Jane Lomas

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9. Zeetings platform and mobile device apps to enhance student learning: a development of the key themes explored in the Keynote address - Dr Kevin Burden

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Panel Discussion 3:30- 3.50 At the close of the day participants are invited to take part in a panel discussion with the presenters and workshop facilitators together with and on line learning experts from the college. The panel session will provide participants with the opportunity to pose questions and engage in debate around the conference theme ‘Technology Enabled and Enhanced Learning.

01

Keynote Address Dr. Kevin Burden University of Hull

Profile

Dr. Kevin Burden is the Director of the Taught Doctorate in Education (EdD) and is also a Reader in Educational Technology in the Faculty of Education. He leads the Technology Enhanced Learning (TEL) research group and has a key responsibility for promoting and embedding the use of digital technologies in teaching and learning across the faculty. Kevin taught in various secondary schools across the country for nineteen years before joining the University of Hull in 1999. He completed an MA at the Institute of Education, University of London in 1986 and completed his PhD thesis in 2012 at the University of Hull, exploring the transformative impact of Web 2.0 technologies on teachers’ professional learning.

He has held numerous roles and responsibilities whilst at the University of Hull including history mentor on the PGCE secondary programme; CPD co-ordinator for the Centre for Educational Studies; Director of the University of Hull’s New Opportunity Fund Training programme; Director of Cascade Multimedia Training and Evaluation Unit; and Programme Director for the Postgraduate Masters programme in the Faculty.

Since joining the university Kevin has secured in excess of £1.4m research and evaluation income and £1.8m in enterprise and consultancy income. His research interests lie in the intersection between digital technologies and the professional learning of educators and he is recognised internationally for his ground-breaking work in the field of mobile and handheld technologies where he has undertaken evaluations and research for national and international organisations including the European Commission, Education Scotland, the Hong Kong Manpower Bureau and ICT Qatar. He has developed several international networks with university partners in Australia, New Zealand, Hong Kong, the USA, Egypt, Germany and Norway, and is currently leading a major Erasmus+ project for the European Commission to develop a sustainable mobile learning network for teacher educators across Europe.

His innovative teaching with technology has been recognised by his own university with the award of a University Teaching Fellowship in 2012 and by the Higher Education Academy (HEA) who conferred the title of Senior Fellow in 2013.

02

Supporting students and staff in using digital technologies to make thinking more visible Abstract Recent research in cognition and learning suggests students and staff alike are ‘troubled’ and challenged by serious obstacles and impediments that Meyer and Land term ‘threshold concepts and troublesome knowledge’ (Meyer and Land, 2005). These challenges and barriers often prevent learners from grasping the fundamental building blocks or ‘signature pedagogies’ that are unique to each discipline. This keynote will start to explore how the use of mobile and networked digital technologies can enable educators to identify and tackle some of these barriers, enabling students to become more cognisant of their own learning processes and the pedagogical approaches that best support them. In 2015 Dr Kevin Burden was awarded a National Teaching Fellowship by the HEA based on his innovative work in supporting students and colleagues alike in overcoming some of their own preconceptions about technology in order to learn, or support learning more effectively. His work focuses on encouraging learners to take greater control and agency of their learning and in this presentation he will demonstrate how students can be encouraged to do so using a variety of pedagogical approaches and digital technologies that include authoring tools (e.g. producing their own eBooks); screen-casting; online feedback and assessment tools and ubiquitous mobile technologies. The presentation will model the use of some of these tools and approaches, engaging participants in an interactive discourse and exchange of ideas/perspectives that will be further explored during a subsequent workshop session. The effective use of technology as a cognitive tool to enhance and augment thinking is still in its infancy and this presentation will draw upon recent research findings and literature to suggest where this field of work is leading and what impact it is beginning to yield.

03

Presentation Deborah Millar

Blackburn College

Profile

As Head of eLearning at Blackburn College, Deb is responsible for driving technology enhanced learning. With over twenty years teaching experience in both Further and Higher Education in visual communication and as a practicing graphic designer, Deborah has forged successful collaborations with internal, external and international stakeholders.

She leads a team of enthusiasts known as DigiPals who are a team of staff and student peer mentor roles. They work with colleagues to encourage a positive culture shift towards embedding technology enhanced learning within the everyday practice of staff and students at the College.

Deb is passionate about her role and always eager to connect with others involved in education, technology and creative industries. Her excellent proven track record for creative thinking, sharing best practice and knowledge exchange is optimized in the #LearningWheel tool she has developed to help bridge the gap between traditional teaching methods and contemporary digital learning content and resources.

In this session Deb will post a twitter callout asking for tips on resources that can be used by HE teachers to engage students in research methods.

04

What is the Learning Wheel?

Abstract The #LearningWheel incorporates a range of technologies to enhance learning. It is a rich and relevant resource created by teachers for teachers. The aim of the resource is to raise awareness of emerging educational technologies and share the latest digital pedagogies.

The #LearningWheel offers visual prompts that provide answers to What? Why? and How? for busy educators. Each individual #LearningWheel has a number of spokes which signpost teachers towards digital resources that have the potential to engage learners in the following four modes of student engagement: Learning Content, Assessment, Communication, and Collaboration.

To create a truly rich and collaborative resource the #LearningWheel content is crowdsourced via Twitter and Google Drive. Contributions come from range of individuals from both educational and technological settings across the globe.

This model recognises that student involvement and input across the four modes of learner engagement is increasing, and that the modes themselves are not distinct but that there is a significant blurring of the boundaries between them. The wheels encourage teachers and managers to value and utilise what students already know about the digital world, how they access content as a matter of course in their daily lives, and the degree to which they already collaborate in social networks. The wheels will help staff to gain knowledge and competency, from building confidence and understanding around digital technologies through to the application of those technologies within their own curriculum areas.

Please join our #LearningWheel community, your contribution is essential!

Add just one or two suggestions. Add your name and organisation to be redited for your input.

To access the full collection of #LearningWheels visit https://goo.gl/iJt8at Learn more Learning Wheel Prezi

05

Workshop: 1

Using Google Hangout Andy Smith

School of Engineering and Science Whether it is supporting a remote student in a one-to-one, ensuring a student on maternity or with an broken leg can still be ‘present’ in class or even connecting to another class elsewhere in the world... Google Hangout can provide the answer.

Andy Smith will take you through the pros and cons of using Google Hangout, talk of the experiences of staff and students over a three year pilot study, and ensure that you can start your own Hangout with ease.

Andy Smith Biography

Andy Smith, as well as being a full-time lecturer at the the college, is also about to complete his doctorate at Lancaster University where he is researching into the effect of induced affect on cognitive associative flexibility in on-line environments. He was also one of the first LSIS (Learning & Skills Improvement Service) and IfL (Institute for Learning) Research

Development Fellows, studying informal learning within virtual social learning systems. Andy previously worked in the games industry and has written about teaching and learning ethics within virtual communities of practice and through the use of games and simulations.

For more information see: www.dragontech.co.uk

06

Workshop: 2

Will it blend?: Hints and tips on creating blended resources Christopher Willitts and Lee Holroyd School of Computing

This workshop led by two members of the Computing team will explore the ways in which you can look to include Blended Learning opportunities within your own sessions, potentially how to record your own session or materials from home. It will then explain how staff at the college can upload their materials and resources to both the college’s new streaming platform (Planet eStream) and the VLE (Moodle).

Christopher Willitts

Lee Holroyd

Biography

Biography Lee Holroyd graduated with an Honours Degree in Interactive Design awarded by Lancaster University.

Since the completion of his PGCE Initial Teacher Training course at the college Lee has worked across all levels from FE to HE in subjects including Mathematics, Web Development, Digital Graphics, 3D Modelling and Programming.

Christopher Willitts is a graduate of the HE curriculum at Blackpool & the Fylde College and has first-hand experience of both the student and faculty within the college.

Christopher is currently the Senior Tutor Higher Education in the newly formed School of Computing and has been involved in both the development and promotion of the Partners for Success framework and is currently supporting and driving Blended Learning opportunities within the school.

Lee has been working closely with the Software Engineering and Game Development degree programme team to help produce resources in programming, engine development and 3D modelling. The programme is due for revalidation soon and Lee has been researching core content to ensure that the programme reflects and incorporates the latest technological trends In addition to his teaching commitments, Lee is seeking to pursue postgraduate study in the area of 3D Animation which will enhance the degree programme and also further his knowledge in this area of great personal interest. A passion for 3D modelling and the progression of students fulfilling their potential is what motivates and drives Lee. Outside of work Lee takes a keen interest in pool and runs three thriving pool leagues across the Fylde Coast.

07

Workshop: 3

Blended Critical Studies in Creative Arts and Digital Industries Tracey Eastham

School of Creative Arts and Digital Industries This workshop will provide a showcase of the blended learning developments that have taken place within the Critical Studies module in the current academic year which has already seen a 13% increase in attendance. Major changes that have been made include a weekly hand-out that can be filled out online or hardcopy as well as using specific Moodle resources to facilitate students’ ownership of independent learning. Critical Studies, critical thinking and academic practice are a part of all HE degrees and I hope to show that blended learning is perfectly suited to this type of module and can increase the amount of online provision that we provide, as well as potentially improving engagement, attendance and students’ retention of information.

Tracey Eastham Biography

Born in Preston in 1983 I graduated from Wimbledon School of Art, London in 2006 with a distinction for my Master’s degree. I completed my teaching qualification in 2012 and have worked within the lifelong learning sector as well as further and higher education since 2008.

I moved to Blackpool & the Fylde College in 2012 and am now Higher Education Senior Tutor for Creative Arts and Digital Industries. Key interests lie in landscape studies especially the idea of nature as ideology, and also the role of so called ‘arts writing’ in interpretive creative analysis

08

Workshop: 4

Academic and Digital Literacies on line portfolios: an evaluation of the multiple platforms available to support student development and achievement Rosie Thompson

School of Computing The workshop will comprise of a short background on the development of the Academic and Digital Literacies module to provide context for the study. This will be followed by an outline of the SRDS funded research project methodology, comprising a questionnaire and a variety of focus groups conducted with both staff and students on the topic of On-Line Platforms for Reflective Practice. Finally, the results of the study will be presented, findings discussed and conclusions extrapolated. Opportunities for audience questions and input throughout.

Rosie Thompson Biography

Rosie Thompson is a graduate of Blackpool and the Fylde College’s HE provision, holding a BA (Hons) English Literature, Language and Creative Writing. She returned to study as an adult after living in Norway for five years. She currently works as the Senior Tutor Support and Guidance for the School of Computing.

Rosie has been teaching in HE since 2008; her experience includes managing work placements for three Computing Foundation degree programmes, as well as delivering Academic and Digital Literacies and Cyberethics and Computing Law on a range of computing programmes.

09

Workshop: 5

Mind The Gap: Assessing and meeting HE Staff & Student knowledge and skills gaps in blended learning technologies and technological based practice.

Adam Hawes Mind The Gap is a research project examining digital pedagogical practice and examines the confidence and competence of both staff and students. Mapping confidence is essential in order to identify and interrogate the gaps which exist between student and lecturer confidence and competence. Early results indicate that students in the research study have a high degree of competence, but a low degree of confidence; however the opposite appears to be present in the sample of academic staff. There appears to be a strong correlation between these preliminary findings and Koehler’s (2009) model of TPACK [Technological, Pedagogical and Content Knowledge]. TPACK could be used as a basis to devise training sessions and resources for use with both students and staff to support knowledge, skills and pedagogical practice in equal measure.

Koehler (2009). What is Technological Pedagogical Content Knowledge?

Contemporary Issues in Technology and Teacher Education 9(1) pp60-70

Adam Hawers Biography

Adam lectures on the ‘Working With Young People’ and ‘Children and Families Health and Social Care’ Lancaster University degrees at Blackpool & The Fylde College.. Adam is researching and writing in areas that concern the existential definition of what it means to be a ‘Youth Worker’ and is broadly concerned with the hierarchical relationship between the statutory and voluntary sectors.

Adam is a keen reader of ethics and socialanthropology and is particularly interested in the practical application of some specific academic philosophies and theories. One of Adam’s primary academic goals, is to explore and draw attention to the vast experiential gap between Youth Workers and those who regulate, monitor and evaluate them.

In line with an interest in experiential knowledge, Adam has recently begun exploring the relationship between Blended Learning and “Professional Students” and is passionately dedicated to introducing Flexible Pedagogies to meet the needs of local organisations and professionals; maximising social mobility and professionalism in the Social Practice Sector.

Adam’s passion comes from working with many insightful and inspirational young people in roles which do not have contemporary recognition as being ‘Youth Work’. In his career, Adam has been a strongly vocal dissident of the statutory sector’s influence within Youth Work and has emphatically remained an impassioned supporter of traditional Youth Work and Informal Educational values.

10

Workshop: 6

Tutorial, I have an idea!

Rob Scott and Ashley Lister School of Proffessional Studies

Since September 2015 the English section in the School of Professional Studies have been trialling an online tutorial within one of our foundation degree programmes.

The potential benefits of this approach to delivering tutorial are multiple. Aside from allowing students greater autonomy over their investment in education, the sessions do seem to integrate smoothly with the technology-focused world of twenty-first century education.

The workshop will explain some of the processes that have been explored to get the maximum benefit from this innovative approach to delivering tutorial and staff and students will be on-hand to discuss the disadvantages and advantages to the exploitation of this electronic medium.

Rob Scott

Ashley Lister

Biography

Biography

Rob Scott has a background in carpentry

Ashley Lister is a creative writing lecturer

and joinery and currently lectures in English

at Blackpool and the Fylde College working

language and linguistics on the BA (Hons)

primarily within the HE sector. Aside from

English degrees at Blackpool and the Fylde

being the author of several novels and short

College. Rob, a graduate from the first

stories he has published a number of academic

cohort of the BA (Hons) English degree

articles on the vagaries of teaching creative

at Blackpool, then moved on to study at

writing. He is currently studying for a PhD in

Lancaster University. His interests include:

Creative Writing with Bolton University.

Conversational Analysis, Critical Discourse Analysis, Stylistics and Computer Assisted Corpus Linguistics

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Workshop: 7

Technology to enhance learning and pedagogic practices Colette Mazzola

School of Computing Colette’s current work as part of her Masters in Technology Enhanced Learning has led her to produce a systematic theoretical evaluation of six contemporary technology enabled pedagogies.

In this interactive and inspirational workshop Colette will present her work exploring four technologies which have the potential to enhance learning and teaching practices. The theoretical frameworks, and research based evidence to support the design, and use of these technologies will be explored in a mix of theoretical and practical activities.

The workshop will focus on: 1. Gamification | 2. Animation Presentation | 3. Flipped Learning | 4. Mobile Learning The workshop aims to engage you in demonstrations, discussions and expositions of research into technology and pedagogy giving you innovative ideas to implement in your own teaching and learning practices

Colette Mazzola Biography

through engagement with scholarship and new technologies. This year Colette has embarked on a Masters in Technology enhanced learning at the University of Huddersfield, where Colette is exploring the interaction of technology and pedagogic practice in the context of advanced research.

Her current interests are in researching different pedagogies which are assisted by technological interventions such as MOOCS, gamification in education, mobile learning, e portfolios, flipped learning and the use of social networking in education.

Colette Mazzola studied at Blackpool and the Fylde College for a Lancaster University degree and graduated with first class honours in Interactive Media Design. In 2014/15 Colette began her teaching career and secured a post in the School of Engineering and Computing; her teaching specialisms are in Web design, Client-side scripting and digital graphic design. Colette currently teaches on FdSC/ BSc (Hons) Interactive Media Design, Software Engineering Game Development and BTEC IT programmes at level 2 and level 3. Colette is passionate about teaching and learning and is keen to enhance her teaching repertoire

12

Workshop: 8

Using Moodle effectively in HE Jane Lomas

Learning Technologist This session looks at what you can do to make a Moodle course effective and engaging for students studying in HE. You will pick up tips and tricks as well as a chance to discuss ideas with other tutors.

This session is interactive so please bring your device with you if you would like to participate.

Jane Lomas Biography

I started work as an office junior for an accountants back in the day when this job existed. I then went back into education gaining a Computer Science degree from The University of Sheffield before working as a programmer for over 6 years. I then moved into education doing my PGCE with UCLAN and have taught IT at Entry level to level 3 at Preston, Bolton and York colleges. I started work at B&FC in Learning Support and Wellbeing as a HELM, covering maternity leave, before landing the job I currently

do as Learning Technologist. My experience of IT, teaching and support in FE and HE has given me skills which I have found useful when supporting staff with IT, particularly Moodle which I have used for the past 7 years, as a teacher with my students, as well as supporting staff in my current role.

I am a self-confessed geek and prolific Moodler living the e-dream.

You can follow me on Twitter as @ moodleberry but it can be a long time between tweets.

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Workshop: 9

Helping students tackle threshold concepts by creating their own multimedia explanations Dr Kevin Burden University of Hull

This practical workshop will provide participants with an introduction to using mobile and tablet technologies to help students address difficult and troublesome concepts by enabling them to construct multimedia explanations. Participants will use two apps (Book Creator and Explain Everything) to construct a simple but informative explanation of a troublesome concept or idea students typically find difficult and confusing. By modelling this process participants will gain an insight into how they can use these technologies and software to support students in explaining and understanding the concepts they find difficult in particular disciplines or subjects. Participants will be provided with an iPad for the session and will require no prior understanding or knowledge of how it works (this will be explained briefly in the session and beforehand using a series of links to explanatory videos provided by the workshop leader). If participants have their own devices and can access these apps (Book Creator is free: Explain Everything is £2.99) please feel free to bring these along*. Participants will be required to identify a troublesome piece of knowledge or threshold concept in advance of the session which they wish to focus on during the workshop**.

Dr Kevin Burden Biography

Dr. Kevin Burden is the Director of the Taught Doctorate in Education (EdD) and is also a Reader in Educational Technology in the Faculty of Education.

He leads the Technology Enhanced Learning (TEL) research group and has a key responsibility for promoting and embedding the use of digital technologies in teaching and learning across the faculty. Kevin taught in various secondary schools across the country for nineteen years before joining the University of Hull in 1999. He completed an MA at the Institute of Education, University of London in 1986 and completed his PhD thesis in 2012 at the University of Hull, exploring the transformative impact of Web 2.0 technologies on teachers’ professional learning. He has held numerous roles and responsibilities whilst at the University of Hull including history mentor on the PGCE secondary programme; CPD co-ordinator for the Centre for Educational Studies; Director of the University of Hull’s New Opportunity Fund Training programme; Director of Cascade Multimedia Training and Evaluation Unit; and Programme Director for the Postgraduate Masters programme in the Faculty.

Since joining the university Kevin has secured in excess of £1.4m research and evaluation income and £1.8m in enterprise and consultancy income.

His research interests lie in the intersection between digital technologies and the professional learning of educators and he is recognised internationally for his ground-breaking work in the field of mobile and handheld technologies where he has undertaken evaluations and research for national and international organisations including the European Commission, Education Scotland, the Hong Kong Manpower Bureau and ICT Qatar. He has developed several international networks with university partners in Australia, New Zealand, Hong Kong, the USA, Egypt, Germany and Norway, and is currently leading a major Erasmus+ project for the European Commission to develop a sustainable mobile learning network for teacher educators across Europe. His innovative teaching with technology has been recognised by his own university with the award of a University Teaching Fellowship in 2012 and by the Higher Education Academy (HEA) who conferred the title of Senior Fellow in 2013.

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