Personal Blogs

Working with Anna Sabramowicz I have been introduced to the following scenario-based projects. This is what I would like to create to teach compliance with asthma drugs, and so much more ...

Broken Coworker : https://brokencoworker.com/ 

Connect with Haji Kamal : https://www.worldwarfighter.com/hajikamal/activity/ 

How to survive a nuclear bomb : http://how-to-survive-a-nuclear-bomb.pilots.bbcconnectedstudio.co.uk/index.html#

Our World War : WWI BBC :https://our-world-war.pilots.bbcconnectedstudio.co.uk/ 

Life Saving : Life Saver:http://life-saver.org.uk/#/REAL_STORIES

Will You Fit In? Deloitte:http://www.raptmedia.com/customers/deloitte/

I break the process down into six parts: 

1. Business Alignment : are you a match for the client. Do you understand what they want and where your skills lie for delivery of interactivity.
2. My Perfect Learner [Persona profiling] : get it down to one learner. Know who they are so that you can talk to them. 
3. Interview. Call preparation and the story journey questions : interview the life out of the Subject Matter Expert (make sure they are the SME and you're not being fobbed up with an apprentice or someone tangential to the learning problem).
4. Character Identification Criteria : build a profile of the protagonist of your story. The hero. It is their journey. 
5. Write the Script : like any great storyteller, made all the harder with what is in effect a short story with a number of parallel routes.
6. Produce it: find an illustrator, get a developer. 

Learn from a Master of their subject from the youngest possible age. Picasso studied under his father, a university art teacher, from a young age - from the moment he could pick up a pencil, crayon or paint brush I imagine. His talent is extraordinary and takes off someone between the age of 10 and 14 by which time Picasso could produce works such as this:

Having visited the museum before my interest this time was drawn towards his life drawing studies - such a vital skill. Seeing his anatomical drawings as well as life model drawings brings it home. He had the skills. He did the preparation work. He knew what he was doing - even if for now he is under the direct guidance of his father.

Annotated anatomical drawing by Picasso. 

9 Museums, 13 exhibitions, 4 days. Mostly visited on foot from a small Barcelona Air BnB off Rambla del Ravel. 4 wonderful vegetarian/vegan restaurants too. 

I used to have this gripe about Microsoft - that on a PC the default on a computer bought in the UK was for US English. Why has it just taken me 10 minutes of pain trying to change the page settings in a Google Doc from inches to centimeters? Because the default on thousands of college computers is US English,  and with that all the spelling, punctuation and measurement defaults.

It no longer surprises me how much American English is now used in England - not just spellings, but pronunciations too. But I am no longer my mother's son, ready to do as her generation did - correct anything that wasn't 'Received Pronunciation'.

I see it is indicative of multiculturalism and welcoming constant change. I am the antithesis of conservative, laggardly tradition.

On 7th July the Environment Agency were called out to investigate the condition of Piddinghoe Lake, East Sussex as there were a number of dead fish. Acting quickly to test the water first an emergency pump and then two industrial scale pumps were brought down and set to work re-oxygenating the water.

Speaking to Mark Bennett, Team Leader at the regional headquarters of the Environment Agency, Worthing an explanation was offered. Warm weather, a lack of shade on the lake and little wind or rain lately had caused the temperature to rise. This had resulted in an algal bloom. Not a worry in itself, these blooms might crash suddenly at night or even with a thunderstorm. 

Blooms such as these are a summer event. It is rare but not unknown for these to occur as early as February. Algal blooms like these have been occurring more often in recent years so there is no doubt that climate warming is a factor.

This event impacted on the larger fish and eels. Smaller fish and carp have proved more resilient. 

The water is not a health hazard so long as people don’t ingest the water and you wash your hands before eating. There were no signs of the blue/green algae which would have been a cause for concern.

Working through a variety of platforms and approaches from Google Classroom to Planet eStream I find myself narrowing down my favourites to Kahoot and Rix Wikis.

All in education need assessment and feedback. Their progress needs to be measured. 

If you have an interest in interactive learning then this is a great example of how a story can have multiple outcomes. 

https://our-world-war.pilots.bbcconnectedstudio.co.uk/

To join a political party (Greens).

To stand as a Town Councillor and be elected. 

To attend a Party Conference.

To speak and vote at the party Conference. 

To attend my first Town Council Meeting.

Does this give me a sense of purpose?

We happen to be running 'Green Week' at GB MET all week so coming out of the conference I was keen to get the students to think about all things 'Green' and log onto Planet eStream where I have programmes and playlists for them.

A hard sell:

They are in exams, or just about to have exams ... or have had exams.

if it won't come up on their phone they are not interested. I pointed out that they could log in via their phone.

Having that stats I know that 14 did on Wednesday, 3 did yesterday and I'd be surprised if any at all did today.

The only person I spoke to today, oddly enough, was Caroline Lucas, who I found in reception a couple of hours ago. We'd already met at the Spring Conference and have missed each other at least twice in Lewes where it is easy for her to come over and give support from her Brighton & Hove constituency.

Next up a Green MP for Lewes District? 

In my second week of a six week bespoke course on using scenarios in learning design with Anna Sabramowicz. Aware of her, her work and influence via LinkedIn for many years I leapt at the opportunity to learn her approach. I immediately feel the time, cost and effort on this is justified. It all rings true. I feel at home. I described it to her as the feeling a muscian or singer might get coming back to sheet music to sing or even compose a song after a decade - at first it feels a struggle, but then it all fits into place.

Is that what I wanted 18 years ago when I started the MA in Open & Distance Learning as it was then? Is this practical insight into creating online learning what I had hoped for from the MA ODE which I finally took and completed between 2010 and 2013?

Is this what I had been looking for in my short spells in a Brighton eLearning agency?

The real magic is to feel that my researching, enquiring, planning, developing, creating, visualing and dialogue writing skills and experience can all be used in creating drama recreations, or cartoon enactments that offer the user a number of choices. The MAODE also rings true with course design, the 'swimming lanes' and flow charts that we worked on - and my efforts to simplify this to a few lines of coloured bricks in the style of Gilly Salmon. 

I will be working on a subject that I had worked up into a PhD research proposal - getting young people to follow a better regimen when it comes to taking their asthma drugs. 

Jack of all trades and master of none? 

Adobe Premier Pro

Chasing up skills on different platforms and as I nudge each a little forward I find I can be a long way behind. It is one thing to shoot video, and to stretch behind a basic camera or smartphone to use a Digital SLR, but then cutting in Adobe Premier Pro has considerably more functionality than I am used to. Mastering this looks like learning to crochet while on a monocycle on a tightrope. This is from someone who was brought up on video and had a career working in teams of cameramen and soundengineers, and editors, with specialists for titles, graphics and sound. Now, at this level, you have to do it all yourself and deliver to what we used to call a 'broadcast' standard.

Oculus Go

Having got the kit and having watched several YouTube how to videos I am slowly getting my head around it.  Has it educational value? I rather think the entertainment value is greater - though shutting yourself away to watch a homecinema experience film is even less social than dozing on the sofa with crisps and a hotchocolate. I am hoping that the 360 Human Anatonmy 'cast' to a large screen will have value in an anatomy class.

Google Hangouts

We use them. They are straight forward. Can I get it down to single A4 page poster? I could, or did. I produced an 8 minute screencast which I hope I get deliver in under 4 minutes.

Nothing that an MAODE could have prepared me for. But what do you expect if join the Army via Staff College and then opt to get in on the front line. Next up a PGCE?

 IMAGE TO ADD - Remind me!

First I joined a Party, then I was selected to be a Town Councillor candidate and now I am up to be an MEP.

Agitated and highly active on Twitter this last year learning who I am politically through BBC Parliament I have now decided to 'do a course'. Chance has me signed up to 'Moral Foundations of Politics' with Ian Shapiro which is being deliver by Coursera from Yale University.

I can top this off with the 93 year old Dr Zbigniew Pelczynski, who taught East European Political History to Bill Clinton over Easter - he is my father-in-law and thrilled at my newly found interest in politics.

Until this last 6 months three subjects have left me cold: accounts, football and politics. 

On Wednesday I took a class of 12 PGCE Level Two Teacher Trainees on a tour of Planet eStream. I inadvertently added into the mix the mind mapping tool SimpleMinds, the 360 tour creator ThingLink and Wordpress blogging.

Becoming a champion for this TV, Video, multi-media educational platform I found I could introduce, demonstrate, elaborate, answer problems and queries and even get them signed in without unnecessary panic.

A number of things have got me here:

• time to push the boundaries of the different parts of the platform with close to authentic learning challenges, rather than some random 'giving it a go'.
• Having colleagues and friendly tutors to practice on in small groups until I was ready for something bigger.
• Taking ownership of the class. Therefore having my own 'session plan' and the means to follow this.

My fall back came in several parts:

1. I thought in part like a Swim Coach and on a set of landscape formatted sheets even gave the duration for each part of the presentation and a cumulative duration to get me through the two hours.
2. A flip pack of 18 sheets that I could read standing up at a table
3. Sets of mindmaps, one for the Student experience the other for the Staff experience. I had these as A4 sheets to hand out and as A3 sheets for me to view at a glance. I could call these up on a screen, however, as I found on the day, this was simply a medium sized flat screen that would never be seen across the room.
4. I also hand some corporate handouts from Planet eStream.
5. Logging in I signed in as staff and using an incognito window as a student. 
6. I also had in the tabs the mind maps, the 18 sheets and the final fall back a Slides PPT each of a single image to use as a visual prompt for me. 

There is a lot to get through simply to promote the variety of things the platform can do to support teaching, in particular to create a 'flipped classroom'.

I began with a story. How I got out of corporate training and information films and started at a web agency trying and failing to get broadcast TV content online for Ragdoll.

Finding out what subjects the trainee teachers would be teaching I also wondered where they saw themselves on this spectrum and explained a little about 'Diffusion of Innovation Theory' in relation to constant change and attitudes to new technology, software, applications and upgrades and how this manifests itself in the classroom as people who embrace the new and others who reject it all. 

I like these simple, bold images, charts or mindmaps to cue an item I want to talk about. In the shorter lesson I skipped much of my introduction and this and got straight into Planet eStream. I think it works better with the context.

The demos I have created included taking an episode of Sheldon, lifting out the long commercial break in the middle and 'topping and tailing' either end. I then 'cut' it into 7 'chapters' that isolated Sheldon's story from the other characters. Each 'sketch' runs for less than a minute. I find these micro-experiences are ideal tasters rather than dissecting a 48 minute Horizon documentary. 

I also used a less than 2 minute long clip from a 1981 edition of Tomorrow's World where the Carry On comedian Kenneth Williams presented. Once again, the demonstration is short and memorable. I ought to find others for a younger audience. Does Oli Murs do a demonstration? What about a clip from Blue Peter 2019?

Other examples of how Planet eStream works included 'grabbing' the radio series 'The Secret History of a School' in ten parts. each under 15 minutes. Here I created an added a suitable 'Thumbnail' for each episode to distinguish each visually.

What I could not do in either session. This we need a morning, afternoon or evening workshop, was to do something in real time, not just find a programme or upload from YouTube, but then edit this piece, create a playlist or make an interactive quiz. These are all straightforward to learn skills.

Here is the quiz editor platform. 

I'm writing this is part of my habitual reflection. Just as I kept a diary here almost every day of my MAODE plus the two further modules that I did, I have now kept a diary for most working days of the 12 months I have been here are GB MET.

Taking these classes I finally feel a 'change career' I began in 2000 is going in the right direction. Back then it was from corporate training and information films to online. Then with my MAODE 2010 to 2013 it temporarily went into tertiary education with the OU but in a communications rather than a learning role. Since then there has been more corporate e-learning, even a further history degree and a digital editor's role, but it is this., however modest, like a private in the army, like a private in the Labour Corps even, I am working with students and teachers.

Sitting in a class assessing where technology has a role is interesting too. More on this in my next post. 

Tasked with researching the use of eportfolios in education I can google it, or i can come here. Because I have been there already I come here first.

From JISC I have this:

Why use ePortfolios (JISC)

Engagement across time

The use of e-portfolios to store information relevant to learning helps students track their personal development across time.

A rich picture of learning

The use of e-portfolios can help students to build a rich and detailed picture of their learning. Written coursework can be stored in e-portfolios, but make full use of their digital potential. Videos, photographs and audio recordings can also help students to document a more complete image of their vocational educational experience.

Ask specific questions

Students can be prompted to reflect on their learning by being asked questions. Build this into the e-portfolio. You can ask students to detail: practical activities undertaken; the quality and accuracy of their work; their methods and formative tasks; their reflections on the learning process.    

Making feedback accessible

Storing feedback in one place allows students to reflect when they are ready to do so. For one thing, digital feedback is more difficult to lose than paper feed.

Track students’ development

E-portfolios allow teachers to track their students’ learning across time. Teachers are able to see how students are improving and identify students that require more help.   

Enhance department assessment

Teachers can provide evidence that their feedback was rigorous and helpful.  

Demonstrating achievement

Storing evidence of work in one place enables students to demonstrate their achievements to others. In particular, students finish the course with a single document detailing their educational journey and accomplishments to show to potential employers.      

Use familiar programmes

E-portfolios need to be accessible to students and teachers. Using software that students and teachers already feel comfortable with will help create a smooth transition and increase engagement.

Inclusive teaching

Dyslexic students are able to record their work in dyslexic-friendly formats.

Finding the right ePortfolio

Some Options
Below is a list of tools that can be used to collect, organize and share student work. Those that are free are marked with an asterisk (*).

Project Foundry
This tool organizes, tracks and shares learning in a project-based learning classroom. It includes standards-based grading tools and feedback tools. Teachers have the option to include a digital portfolio website for students.

Google Sites*
Create a website to share classwork and projects. Potential users must be at least 13 to sign up. Students can use the “file locker” option to upload files.

Wikispaces and PBwiki* [No longer exists]

These two wiki-creation tools allow students to create a website of their work. Due to the collaborative nature of the tools, student teams can build a workspace to showcase their work. The teacher can create student accounts without an email address. (Note: PBwiki is also known as PBworks.)

Dropbox
Students can create a public folder in Dropbox to share their work. This platform supports multiple file types and can be used collaboratively by sharing folders.

Evernote
Students can create “notebook” within their Evernote account for each class, and that notebook can be shared publicly. Students can upload files to their notebooks, including documents, photos and audio files.

eBackpack
Teachers can assign, collect, grade and return assignments to students through eBackpack. Students can upload files to their digital locker to create an online portfolio for their course. Work uploaded cannot be seen outside of the closed system.

OneFile

From 'Digital Arts': 15 best portfolio websites for designers and artists

Behance

Adobe Portfolio

Wix

Fabrik

FolioLink

Weebly

Viewbook

SmugMug

SquareSpace

Portfoliobox

Cargo

Format

Carbonmade

Moonfruit

Dribbble

 All of these and my direct experience is with:

Wordpress

Pebblepad