Encouraging Formal Informal Learning

Choice.....

That after all is what drives us an enables us to do the things we do.  Today we had Interviews for the new Dean of 'Learning Education and Innovation' department.  Almost all of them were focused on Students Learning 21st Century skills.  When asked what how we could support that as a department they talked about us working closely with Academics.

Here's my idea .... With all these informal learning learning spaces, we could utilise them better.  Having workshops, ran by academics and training staff on technology throughout the semester could prove valuable.  Students could pick n chose what workshop they wanted to attend.  Having them certified would be even better!

We talk about getting students to use web 2.0 technologies etc, but what are we doing to encourage the use.  We push stuff out to academics all the time, but what are the odds of it filtering through?

I think having informal workshops now and again would not prove too difficult, would enable students to feel in control of their teaching and help towards there PDP.

Whats in a VLE...

Mobile can be added to the list,

With Stanford University and a lot of other Universities using the MobileEDU (Now Mobile Central) iphone app from Blackboard the world of the student has opened up, now they can easily check module information, assignement information, sports info etc on the go.  The app is even 'fashionable' in the sense it looks up to date.

Now Moodle have stepped into the arena with their own app Moodle4iPhones though this is still in development it would be interesting to see what it can offer students, especially since the project is open source.



I will run a comparison on the two once the moodle one has been released, in the meantime I am going to be looking into the Iphone app from Blackboard and will report back here

Who are we to play god?

With the advent of social networking sites, peers were able to link up relationships with others.  There was no heirarchy with regards to the relationships unless you count the people who collected others to look popular.  Now that is all and well, but what happens when a University or Company introduces these capabilities.  The lecturer if in the group now becomes the lead figure and this create heirarchy and accountability.

That gives a lot of power to the University, we now not only control and administrate the students education system, but we are now trying to control and administrate their personal information.  We can see who is more popular, who is the alpha's. Would that slip into the way academics perceive students, will the lecturer use that to their advantage?  Others might feel left out of a group if they start Uni and see that there are already groups being formed.  It is an interesting topic, and one that should be experimented with first to ensure that these details do not come to pass.

Will the uptake be as well without a heiracrhy or with?

University e-Learning Scale

Recently a colleague attended another University to have a look at what their e-learning set-up was.  It was interesting to hear what other Universities are doing.  I thought I would spend a few minutes visualising what I think the different stages are of a Universities e-learning structure.

Have a look at it and feedback any comments changes or where you think services should be placed.

Social Networking Games

Competition can be healthy....especially with regards to education.

While looking at supporting Social Networking capabilities and other programs within Institutions I wonder how much is geared towards the student. We seem to be heading to a very business like venture, forgetting that students are generally in their teens. As with health and safety spoiling alot of fun we could be to blame for that as well.

My point is that when implementing something like a social network for the classes/modules students we should bear in mind that fun also comes into play. For example if you dont know someone on your course and you give them a game of poker its one way to strike up a comradship and banter between the students.

So when your thinking of employing a social networking facility, why not drop in a few games there as well.