I have been writing some materials for an online course and have been experimenting with the online mindmapping tool http://mindmapfree.com/
So far, I have found it easy to use and think it could be useful for many students.
Personal Blogs
Group tuition policy
Thursday, 10 Sept 2015, 11:53
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There is an increasing encouragement of tutors working together on tutorials. This strikes me as a good idea and I find it quite exciting pedagogically. It should provide students with a wider range of support and also the ability to decide their priorities - for example, some sessions might be assignment focused whereas others might allow students to follow interests that might not be assessed.
However, the arrangements have been quite time consuming administratively as tutors have needed to coordinate tutorial timetables around the needs of another tutor. This is in addition to the constraints that tutors have anyway - perhaps including the needs of other jobs and family commitments.
The language of tutor group forums
Thursday, 24 Nov 2011, 12:14
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Edited by Patrick Andrews, Thursday, 24 Nov 2011, 12:16
There has been some discussion amongst the E852 tutors about the nature of the tutor group forums and, in particular, how formal and academic the language should be. It is a complex question and it perhaps relates to the relative importance of different aims for the forums.
One of the aims is for the students to interact and this would seem to suggest that the language should be relatively informal. Encouragement of interaction would perhaps tend to focus on frequent and relatively unreflective posting.
Another aim would be for students to explore ideas on the course. This might suggest a more academic style as students refer to experience as well as what they have been reading.
Another important aim might be for the students to rehearse the kinds of ideas and the language needed for their later work. This might tend to suggest that students should post in a relatively academic way.
I would think that it might be appropriate for the students to use a variety of different voices as they post but would be interested in what others think.
Online group work
Monday, 4 Apr 2011, 13:33
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Edited by Patrick Andrews, Tuesday, 18 Mar 2014, 22:58
It has been interesting that online group work for L185 seems to have been particularly successful this time - it is working how it should.
It is noticeable that there is a lot of supportive chat going on as well as the task focused discussion. There are many women in the groups and this does tend to confirm that women post more of what Rovai (2001: 41) calls “socio-emotional messages”.
Rovai, A.P. (2001) “Building classroom community at a distance: a case study” Education Technology Research and Development, Vol. 49, No. 4, 2001, pp. 33–48
Reflections on yesterday's Elluminate
Monday, 24 Jan 2011, 13:31
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Edited by Patrick Andrews, Tuesday, 5 Apr 2011, 10:20
The session seemed to go okay and there was some useful content discussed but students seemed to prefer to use the texting option than speaking. I would like future sessions to be more student centred.
Elluminate compared to Adobe Connect
Friday, 21 Jan 2011, 12:58
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Edited by Patrick Andrews, Tuesday, 5 Apr 2011, 10:20
I had a go with using Adobe Connect a few days ago. It seems quite simple compared to Elluminate. This is both good and bad. From the point of view of students having problems connecting, Adobe Connect seems more successful but it seems to be more limited pedagogically.
an interesting newsletter
Monday, 10 Jan 2011, 16:19
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Edited by Patrick Andrews, Tuesday, 5 Apr 2011, 10:22
I have received a couple of issues of the technogogy newsletter at http://tinyletter.com/technogogy
It has been useful and interesting so far.
Trialling Learnosity
Monday, 8 Nov 2010, 15:21
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Edited by Patrick Andrews, Tuesday, 5 Apr 2011, 10:27
We are trialling learnosity as a way of assessing oral skills and I have just marked the first TMA. This involves learners responding to various prompts by logging in to the Learnosity website. In the case of my involvement in the materials design, the prompts related to academic English (e.g. giving their responses to an academic text).
It seems to be a useful tool but feedback is quite time consuming as I often need to listen several times.
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