Nearly 2 weeks late but not forgotten, my feedback on ALTC-2011 . I thought I would organise my blog according to specific categories that relate to my interests and what I was looking for at the conference. Before I go any further I would like to congratulate ALT for their excellent arrangements and hospitality. This conference goes from strength to strength, it attracts a very warm crowd of practitioners from various parts of the elearning world, who are willing to openly discuss and share best practice in a non-intimidating manner, which I think is really important.
Strategy:
Leadership in a cold climate. Leading where the past is no reliable
guide to the future. A reflection on the strategic leadership of people,
technology and institutions in UK HE. Ewart Wooldridge:
This presentation held back no punches with respect to how leadership should change to understand the potential of learning technologies. Wooldridge argued that institutions should move away from focusing on the operational aspects of technologies, to focusing on the strategic use, illustrating the shortcomings with respect to management and the exploitation of technology..He stated that leadership within universities should take a less adversarial and more collaborative approach. The great hoorah of the presentation for people based professional services was that Wooldridge said that he had banned the terms non-academic and back office, he could also clearly articulate the need for professional services in today's universities a contrast to this recent discussion in the THES with respect to changes at Northampton.
Not future-proofed but future-focused: graduate attributes and the digital universityNeil Witt, Helen Beetham
Works at the University of Plymouth found that:
'while students have diverse preferences and
expectations around technology use, there is a common need for
consistency and clarity about digital practices at course level.
Students want 24/7 access to course information and learning materials,
but they also need opportunities for reflection and review of their own
strategies for study. They value e-learning experiences where these are
clearly relevant to their long-term goals, and they recognise the need
for teaching staff whose own confidence and competence are high.' (from abstract)
They
also, found that by improving admin processes they could improve
student experience. The project, also, investigated the opportunities
for e-submission. Successful initiatives, were online course payment, producing generic content and providing support via the VLE.
Improving Student Employability using Active Portfolio – the GWizards ApproachLachlan MacKinnon, Liz Bacon, Elaine Major
Mackinnon began with a challenging statement that the HE sector can only afford 4 research intensive universities. In this climate the University of Greenwich School of Computing and Mathematical sciences has initiated a project called GWizards that addresses the issue of student employability giving them the opportunity to be involved in real world projects. The project:
'seeks to re-engage the university with the local
community. In particular, this involves working directly with all types
of organisation to identify project activities of mutual benefit. This
mutual benefit is determined by opportunities for students to gain
experience in the workplace, organisations to gain practical technical
help for little or no cost, and academic staff to gain project
experience and publishing opportunities. To facilitate this process, CMS
has developed credit bearing modules on its programmes that link to
these employability opportunities, so students have the chance to follow
directly relevant project work within their academic studies to earn
academic credits for practical work, and also to be engaged in the
management and control of these activities both internally and
externally to the university within a student-run company structure.' (from abstract)
It would be interesting to see if this could work in other disciplines.
Understanding the Development of Learning Technology Support Staff to Push Beyond MaturityJebar Ahmed
This 5 year longitudinal study at the University of Huddersfield analysing VLE data and data from interviews found that:
'support strategies were initially capable of targeting
large groups of teachers effectively via staff development workshops
which led to an increase in the use of the VLE. Pushing beyond a level
of maturity meant that LT support staff required additional skills to
provide course teams with bespoke and specialised advice, an aspect
often overlooked in strategic models. Once adoption of the VLE across
the school had reached its peak' (Ahmed 2011)
Again emphasising the importance of strategic integrated approach to staff development when engaging academics in technology enhanced learning. The study found that support staff require technical and pedagogic skills. It argued that support staff personal development should include:
a) research on tools, techniques and trends; b) teaching and learning
through courses such as a PGCE – Teaching Certificate and additional
higher qualification' (Ahmed 2011)
I think the challenge with respect to PGCHE courses is making them flexible enough so that support staff can meet the assessment criteria if they are not full time teachers.
