In order to integrate and adopt e-learning into the curriculum, a new Virtual Learning Environment (VLE) environment was introduced to support the colleges learning and teaching practices. Consequently to ensure that the VLE is used to its full potential, all tutors need to understand how existing course material can be transformed in more interactive e-learning materials which allows students to work much more ubiquitously. Few tutors have the time or knowledge to develop interactive online material i.e. self tests, and interactive web pages and within the computing school at Wakefield College no interactive in-house online ICT course material has yet been developed. The rationale for developing these skills was to enhance student learning, whilst at the same time improving access and widening participation by creating a more interactive and online learning environment.
4.2 Curriculum Development incorporating Information Learning Technology
The development of my personal skills in Information Learning Technology (ILT) to communicate and deliver teaching and learning materials as part of the HND curriculum has proved invaluable during this last semester in providing the students with a more flexible and interactive learning experience. “We are a digital society and as a result of this it is imperative that our schools integrate meaningful uses of technology into the curriculum”. [Roblyer, 00]
A recent case study undertaken at a Technical College in Kent shows 80% of its students have access to the Internet at home and a growing number have broadband [BECTA 1, 2004]. This backs up the theory that the majority of students regularly use the Internet and as such provides a great opportunity to deliver e-learning within the college. “The ‘digital world’ is an exciting world, which offers those in post compulsory education opportunities to explore new ways of teaching and learning.” [Seale, 2002]
Developing skills in e-learning technologies supports and enhances teaching and learning and is paramount if colleges are to provide a more flexible, interactive and accessible online education that caters for diverse needs as substantiated by [Littlejohn 03] “e-learning can improve the flexibility and quality of learning”. Using the Blackboard VLE to communicate and develop e-learning materials for my first year HND students has allowed me to incorporate a range of teaching and learning strategies that address the cognitive and psychomotor domains of learning. For example the creation of interactive quizzes is a more interactive way of asking the student to “recall factorial information” [Reece, 00]. Professor Phil Race, ILTHE accreditor and former Council member, sees e-learning as an opportunity to “Turn a dull lecture into an unforgettable learning experience” [Race 04]
4.2 Developing Skill to deploy E-learning tools and technologies
From my experience as a part time Lecturer at Wakefield, the integration of new e-learning tools and technologies within the learning environment offers HE/FE colleges a great opportunity to enhance the teaching and learning opportunities. “Learning technology adds value to both the efficiency and the effectiveness of the learning process”. [Seale 01] The major problem however with e-learning is that it provides a golden opportunity to the less honest learner to try to pass off another persons work as his own. Plagiarism is taken seriously at Wakefield College and with this in mind I felt the need to explore the JISC plagiarism tool that has been available to staff to randomly check students work. The software was a little difficult to navigate at first but I persevered until I managed to produce reports that summarised the amount of plagiarised work. The work I submitted was well within the tolerance for acceptable work, as much of the highlighted text was correctly referenced as another persons work. This is a skill I have developed that I believe will be much more in demand in the increasingly electronic age we live in, as students can now go online and purchase course work and academic papers for a relatively small charge.
In order to offer a seamless online service to learners many educational establishments such as Wakefield College have invested in a VLE to support their teaching and learning activities. This personalised portal allows students and tutors to log on to the Internet and access e-learning tools that support the learning process as evidenced by [Newland 03] who strongly believes that “It is this personalised portal bringing together relevant content and activities, which makes a VLE “greater than the sum of its parts”. Part of my personal skills development was to learn how to use the new system in order to allow students access to course timetables, course specifications, course materials, assessments, collaborative learning in the form of discussion groups, synchronous and asynchronous communications and other activities. The VLE /MLE “provide easy to use e-learning platforms” [Littlejohn 03]. It allowed me to create and upload learning materials onto college Intranets, which can then be accessed by tutors and learners. The application also facilitates communication via e-mail, video conferencing, bulletin boards, and Instant Messaging Service (IMS). The personal development has concentrated around such areas as HND curriculum mapping, delivery of learning resources, tutor support and communication via for example e-mails and discussion boards and through assessment such as self-tests where responses can be tracked and progress monitored.
Research undertaken at Durham University shows that the trend in adoption by academics has increased from 81% in 2001 to 93% in 2002 with staff stating it was either excellent or very good [Newland 03]. The students also benefit from using Blackboard with 88% saying they would recommend it for all their modules. The Newman report also stated that the Universities of Huddersfield and Paisley implemented nearly identical strategies at the same time as the University of Durham and had similar results with the uptake of their VLE’s.
Other tools I learnt to use as part of my personal development within the e-learning environment include, interactive whiteboard and projectors, these support conventional teaching interaction, being specifically designed to complement traditional teaching practices. [Grieffenhagen 00] believes that “interactive whiteboards might enhance the collaboration and interaction within the classroom”. In my experience students are often keen to experiment and try out the system for themselves, so becoming much more involved in the delivery of lessons. Other tools I have integrated into the curriculum are shown below:
- Asynchronous and synchronous discussions where students are encouraged to set up discussion boards and to chat online about concepts or theories relevant to their area of study.
- Interactive learning objectives such as tests and quizzes
- Online assessment and feedback for tests the student has taken during the course of the module
- Collaboration with peers - working on common tasks and enabling peer assessment to be carried out and used alongside tutor assessment
It could be argued that the future success of any further education establishment relies therefore on both the application of modern technology and also the continual professional development of teaching staff, “use of the technology can undoubtedly increase learning opportunities; however the technology does not replace effective teaching”. [Becta 04]
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4.3 Personal skills development learning outcomes
The learning outcomes are that I now understand the significance of e-learning, the Blackboard environment and now have the knowledge and expertise to include ILT in my learning materials. The provision of e-learning within a VLE/MLE offers the opportunity for HE/FE and in particular Wakefield College to provide high quality, flexible and accessible electronic learning, presenting individuals the opportunity to achieve their full potential. With the use of more interactive learning tools such as interactive whiteboards, wireless devices for Internet access and the development of sharable course material, there is a great opportunity to enhance the teaching and learning experience. Overall success however, will be dependent on the creativity, skill and enthusiasm of lecturers to use such a diverse range of learning tools in order to provide a more flexible and diverse learning opportunity for each student. Additionally the e-learning environment will encourage the learner to manage their own learning, through self-learning, the identification of skills gaps, tracking and monitoring of achievement, resulting in an overall increase in self-knowledge and development of learning skills.
One concern I have though is that tutors who are not confident with ILT may use the VLE a very limited way and may not explore the many interactive features that I have integrated into the curriculum for HND students. The challenge however is about developing innovative IT skills, which are increasingly needed for everyday life and work. In this ever-changing world of the knowledge economy, ICT skills developed as part of the learning process, if transferred across into the workplace, will help to boost productivity and competitiveness. Continuous personal development and lifelong learning initiatives can extend a teacher’s proficiency and reduce the time it takes for a student to grasp difficult subjects while operating at a pace dictated by that student. They are able to provide an extremely wide range of experiences (admittedly only simulated) and in some cases evoke active participation from even the most diffident student.
4.4 Provision of Tutorial Guidance
Curzon, page 339, describes a tutorial as
‘a meeting between a teacher and a student, or a very small group of students, characterised by discussion and/or personal face-to-face teaching’.
Tutorials are therefore applicable to all spheres of learning but may not necessarily be so called within a scheme of work. They can compromise a number of identifiable forms, each of which having its own focus a means of enhancing student learning.
Types of tutorial
Teaching specific skills
In tutorials of this type, very small groups of students practice skills which require simultaneous or sequential co-ordination. This type of individual, face-to-face tuition would be especially valuable in any field where the learning of any kind of sequence is important such as with musical instruments, the operation of machinery or even the utilisation of computers.
Remedial work
The primary use of tutorial time by myself has generally been to assist my tutor group with problems they may have with coursework set by other tutors. The reasoning for this has either been because they have found some particular subject tutors unapproachable, or because they have not gained sufficient understanding from their time-tabled lecture periods. These periods allow for remedial work to be undertaken, usually with the benefit of input from a non-subject specialist (me) who can view an assignment without pre-conceived ideas as to what is required from a student, but with the advantage that I have both an academic insight, and knowledge in related fields. As I consider tutorial time to be to a certain extent student driven, i.e. a time in which certain of their needs and concerns are addressed, sessions of this nature are requested by my tutor group on at least a monthly basis.
Post-tuition
Following on from formal lectures or lessons, students can interact with a tutor in small groups to raise individual difficulties or problems arising from their learning experiences. In my admittedly brief experience as a personal tutor, sessions of this type are more frequent than other kinds in the early part of the academic year, with the remedial type of tutorial becoming more common towards assignment deadlines or exam dates. The tutor in these sessions provides supplementary information and encourages discussion amongst the student group, the direction and shape of the tutorial being determined by student contributions.
Individual supervision
Tutorials of this kind consist of a tutor discussing some aspect of a student’s work, with the student either explaining or justifying whatever they have produced so that the tutor can effectively ascertain an individual’s learning. It generally requires increased preparation on behalf of both tutor and student, but if this is done effectively it can improve a student’s analytical and judgmental skills.
Problems with tutorials
The prime disadvantage with tutorial sessions is that they can very easily become wasted due to the lack of a clear objective, the failure of tutor or students to prepare adequate material or the failure of a tutor to comprehend the basis of student difficulties in other subject areas to a tutor’s specialism.
To counter this, care must be taken to ensure that there has been adequate preparation so that the tutorial session is not viewed as an opportunity for the student group to evade accepted learning strategies.
There is sometimes resistance from students at higher educational levels towards attending tutorial sessions as they can view them as either of no benefit (they have ‘already learned enough from other sessions’) or an irritant (they have no concerns to raise, or if they have are not inclined to do so, believing nothing will be done anyway). These reservations can only be dispelled over time, and are entirely dependent on the abilities of the tutor concerned.
Benefits of tutorials
In my experience tutorials can provide an excellent opportunity to establish a rapport with a student group, improving communication and acting as a valuable support to student learning.
They can allow confidential aspects to be discussed which as a personal tutor (my tutor group are mainly 17 years old in their first year away from school), it is within my remit that I deal with student’s issues wherever possible, or at the very least direct them towards a course of action which will provide a solution to their problems (in some cases this has included personal ones). This addressing of individual concerns is in my opinion the most important facet of tutorial time, however this will undoubtedly vary from one tutorial group to another.
Lesson Evaluation 1
References
Minton, D., 2005. Teaching Skills in Further and Adult Education -3rd Edition, Thompson Learning, London
Petty, G., 1998. Teaching Today, Stanley Thornes, Cheltenham.
Reece, I., Walker, S., 2000. Teaching, Training and Learning a practical guide 4th Edition, BEPL, Sunderland.
Rogers, J., 1989. Adults Learning, Open University press, Milton Keynes.
Appendix A Blackboard Handouts
Appendix B Individual Learning Plan of Student A
Appendix C Learning Materials
Appendix D Observation Reports
Appendix E PowerPoint Presentations
Appendix F Leeds Progression Module
Appendix G Assignments
Appendix H Edexcel Unit Specification
Appendix I Marked Assignments
Appendix J Assignment Tracking Sheet
