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

I'm worried that eLearning is too prescriptive. This will depend of course at what level a student is being taught. Primary is different from Tertiary. At primary there is stuff you need to know, at tertiary you can be expected to explore around the subject. However, believing that a student can pick up everything in the most suitable way simply from what is put before them is surel a mistake.

The online learning I have experienced is rather of this type. You are blinkered to anything other than the content presented to you. This might work for some people, or even most people, unfortunately for me, I know this approach does not stimulate me at all.

I am trying to become a certified Google Educator Level 1. This is fairly basic communications stuff, though with some parts of the Google Suite I never touch. The 'learning' is repetitively of the same type and format: read a bit, watch or listen to a few examples, typically a teacher reading a portaprompt off camera (always from the US) in tones that lean towards sales pitch rather than candid revelation. My Teflon brain smells a rat and won't buy it. There are interludes to complete a multiple choice quiz. When you have done this for 12 hours and studies as many units you sit down to a formal 3 hour online test. I don't respond well to having been expected to wear blinkers all the way through the training, and remain blinkered during the test There is no room for manoeuvre: there is their way or the wrong way.

How many MOOCS are of a similar ilk? The learning is a kind of conveyor belt where through reading, answering questions and watching videos you are supposed to become conversant and more importantly a competent practitioner.

I need to be set tasks, I need to fail at these tasks and been corrected, I need to be recognised and rewarded when I get something right. Over time, a lot of time, what I am doing, why I am doing it and how I do it makes sense. This is what I call practical learning. I do best when such learning is on the job. I do best when two years in I am faced with an exam. The narrative of my learning follows the Hollywood Arch which builds towards a climax. I cannot abide coursework because my first efforts are invariably terrible. Here at the OU I was known to get grade in the 40s or 50s. It took a couple of years to reach the stratospheric heights of grades in the 80s (and one 92).

Take the blinkers off. Don't put your students in blinkers, Expect them to venture far and wide. Encourage them to look around, and therefore click around the many resources they can find and be informed by. 

The MAODE taken 2010-2013 has been rendered largelly theoretical given the onslaught of the likes of G Suite for Education. Why don't all institutions, schools and universities, move to Google Education tools and platforms. They are free. They have had vast sums of investment put into them. They do everything anyone was wishing and trying to achieve from 2000 onwards.

I started what was the MAODL in 2000! Things have changed radicaly ... and imperceptably? Dare you be away from it for long Dare you be freelance and not realise how fast, slick and connected we have become (and can be).

Just doing the learning to get my very modest Google Educator Level 1 I have been going through my own use of Google and am staggered at how willing I am to let Google do everything and assume everything - over 10 years at a swimming club I have assembled a vast amount of contacts for club officials, coaches and teachers, as well as the parents of swimmers - all of whom I must have contacted at some stage and have been listed, or grouped somewhere ever since.

So just now I knock together a Test class, as if I want parents of a group of swimmers to encourage their kids to view a carefully chosen video on a swimming technique. It is as quick as playing Chop Sticks on the piano ... one refrain.

Of course, the expectation is that teachers, tutors and associate lecturers are all a whizz at this. Some, circumstantially, if freelance, may not be aware of just how much things have moved on, nor will they be paid, necessarily, to take the time, to get on top of things. 

As if it isn't tricky enough to pass my Google Educator Certificate Level 1 this week, now in Google's wisdom I am getting it all in French. Now, I have to admit, I did think doing all the practice in French would be a good challenge for my French Comprehension. Now I wonder if I mentioned this in conversation lately, Alexa picked it up, and told Google. Do you get this? When Google is one step ahead of you? I use the Gmail function whereby all my emails give me three optional responses that Google gleans from the content. I now use these are a starting point - they're always more polite that I would be, sometimes a bit chummy and American though.

The learning is dull. And entirely composed for a North American audience. Are we in Britain meant to be so closely associated with our US cousins now that we tolerate US English and in this instance US learning too? Tough if you are trying to qualify abroad, as whilst text is translated, it looks like the videos and case histories and in English. A case of American Imperialism?

Meanwhile, of note, are the number of platforms and Apps I am having to use and master:

Thinglink

Planet E-Stream

Screencastify

While some have become second nature:

Umbraco

WordPress

Adobe Lightroom

What are you going to learn this year?

I am supposed to master French in 2019. I continue with Lingvist and Tandem and want to keep a daily diary, old school, in book - but in French. 

I have to pass my Level I & II Swim England Swim Coaching certificate - this is due by 10 Feb.

Then I can relax. Or not?