From guest writer Judy Bloxham.
We are now at a point two years on from Feltag, so has anything changed?
The Feltag panel discussion at Jisc Digifest, whilst it revealed some examples of good practice, returned to many of the pre-Feltag issues we have long observed. There are three main areas that need to come together to help improve the uptake of technology on learning and teaching in the FE and Skills sector. [Read more…]
From guest writer: John Dalziel.
I have spent a lot of time…
Nowhere near as much as much as I did before retirement but, there is no doubt, in my mind, that the best advice that I can give anyone is to…
I feel that the energy and passion that exudes from me, as an active learner using New and Emerging Technologies (uNET), is contagious to those that I communicate with and have communicated with throughout my career in Education. [Read more…]
…keep them safe.
By guest writer Anita Holt.
On Christmas morning, in many houses in the UK, excited young people will open their shiny new internet-enabled devices. By late afternoon, many social media sites, such as Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp, SnapChat, Pinterest (hopefully not Tinder), will have a whole new set of users. Parents everywhere feeling pleased that they have made their children very happy with their choice of present. So where did it all go wrong? Back in the early days of when the Internet started to become available to the home users, the advice was, only have the Internet on a family computer, which is placed in a family room, so you can see what your kids are up to, assured about what they’ve viewing etc. [Read more…]
From guest writer John Dalziel.
Just over 2 years ago, in one of my podcasts, I asked this question…
“What has a Mallard got in common with, using New and Emerging Technologies?”
At that time, before I retired, feedback from workshops, face-2-face and online sessions told me that most delegates had engaged with the amazing concepts and/or inspiring messages I’d tried to deliver. [Read more…]
There appears to be an upsurge of interest in the use of technology in blended learning, even I am engaged in a MOOC at this time and whilst it may not be high on the list of staff development for many, I thought it appropriate to refresh my page of ‘tools’ to see if former favourites remain so and I am pleased to say, they are.
These are just a few of the dozens of examples of software tools which meet my essential criteria to stand a chance of being used. They must be free or low cost, need little or no ICT skills to create content and appropriate to use alongside current Teaching and Learning practices. Including the essential ‘board and chalk’.
Please note: The list is by no means comprehensive and this selection is simply to raise awareness and for readers to ‘try out’ and as always I suggest that they should be used within the framework of a Staff Development Programme or strategy. [Read more…]
When running a food manufacturing company in an earlier life, a young engineer that I had called in to address a packaging machine problem, asked about the antics going on at a different machine which had operators going to great lengths to ‘keep the production line going.’ I explained that we hadn’t time to shut down for the few days it would take to fix it, as we would be late delivering orders and so would make do until we could find the time to sort it out.
…this was one of the most frequent questions I was asked when I was working as an eLearning Adviser for the North West Regional Support Centre (Sadly no longer with us). [Read more…]
For quite a few years now I’ve been enjoying the benefits of teaching and learning tools, which can be accessed via the Internet, that are free and very easy to use. I’ve been delivering staff development in the use of technology, to teachers and lecturers, for more than ten years. I have found, that for anything to be widely accepted, it really does have to have both of those components, the very short learning curve being the most important. [Read more…]
How would you feel if you went to…a doctors and, while waiting for your appointment, discovered that the doctor hadn’t had any Professional development 4 practitioner training since they qualified in the 70’s? [Read more…]
After a few weeks of chasing students for missing work, internal verification meetings and forward planning, you could be forgiven for thinking, great , now relax, here comes the summer holidays. But don’t break open the suntan lotion just yet, you’ve still got one more hurdle to climb and it’s a big one. It’s staff developments days. [Read more…]
