The 3E Approach to the Online Professional Development of Educators

Dr Keith Smyth, Edinburgh Napier University

Teaching and Learning Innovation Symposium

7th June 2010

• Technology does have transformative potential, and many learners are already using a rich range of technologies within their everyday lives, and also in their formal studying, in empowered and empowering ways…

• But ‘transformation’ as it is currently discussed in relation to education, technology and the future of educational institutions is a troublesome and loaded concept

Some framing propositions

• Unless the educator knows what it means to be an online learner, and has experienced what good technology-supported learning offers, the potential to use technology in transformative ways will remain only partially fulfilled

• The distinction between ‘sage on the stage’ and ‘guide on the side’ (or even “ghost in the wings”, Mazzolini and Maddison, 2006) is no longer enough when considering the role of the tutor in today’s ‘web 2.0’ world

…

The project

Joint FE-HE initiative SFC e-learning transformation programme

Transforming and Enhancing the

Student Experience through Pedagogy

Building upon existing good practice

Using technology appropriately

Learner-centred staff development

2005-2007

Collaborative learning

Working across the partner institutions

Working with the sector

Beyond the VLE

Increasing learner

autonomy

‘Web 2.0’

Sharing ideas

TESEP in practice

Pathfinder projects SCQF levels 4 to 11

Joinery

Art

Drama

Accounting and economics

Painting and decorating

Engineering

Law

Brick working

Local and global learning connections

Getting the blend right

Subtle changes to practice

Languages

Computing

Major changes

Preparing students

EvaluationTransform website

What are implications

for tutors role?

‘Cutting through’ the jargon

I’m already doing good things, so how do I build on that?

What kind of transformation?

How much learner control is enough?

Choice and control?

Implications for student?

What role for current and emerging technologies?

This is all too ‘blue skies’!

3E Approach3E Approach

Where do I start?

Transformation as a troublesome notion

I’m interested in good teaching not in technology!

So what we’re doing now is no good?

Lecturers and other education professionals

Choice and negotiation in

every task

Pg Cert/Pg Dip/MSc

MSc Blended and Online Education

Individual and collective needs drive from outset

Peer and self assessment

Technical development

projects

Learners as co-tutors

Tutors as co-learners

Preparation for continued professional development

Applied and practice-based

Reflective projects

SEDA accredited

Participants from over 25

different institutions

Collaboration

The 3E Approach on the MSc BOE

Driven by individual and collective needs

Group work often involves case study investigations around shared interests…

…while individual projects often involve implementing engaging tasks & resources

Learners as co-tutors tutors as co-learners

A student-led online seminar implemented in ning

Course context as a critical focus

Screenshot from an interactive report in which a group critiqued part of the MSc BOE against key principles

“I wanted to become a ‘Tutor 2.0’ – someone who can exploit the capabilities of Web 2.0 technologies and critically utilise state of the art blended and online learning pedagogies to create and maintain a learning environment befitting 21st century learners’. The programme more than fulfils this for me.”

“I have benefited from the interaction with the other learners enrolled on the course. Having a wide range of individuals who have different skills sets, knowledge and experience has been beneficial to me as I have learnt from my peers…Even though it is online and distant learning, in some ways it doesn't feel like that because of the activities that we undertake as part of the course.”

The student experience

International student support

One participant completely new to technology-supported education on joining the MSc BOE in 2008 manages the Language School at a small business school in mainland Europe. Her work on the MSc BOE over the first and the second module included a reflective blog and a group project that critically reviewed the MSc BOE's own online induction provision for students. This work was presented to colleagues, and the participant has subsequently been charged with convening the first senior management meeting that explores the use of technology to improve support for the institution’s mainly international cohort.

Illustrative student stories

Internal capacity building

One programme participant is the Head of e-Learning at his institution, leading online staff development provision a significant element of which was designed and developed for an individual project on the MSc BOE. Building upon the developmental work done in module 1, this participant is currently evaluating the pilot run of the first fully online course which will inform the next series.

Illustrative student stories

Empowerment in professional communities

Online guest expert sessions (recorded for revisiting) allow participants to interact with national and international experts

• Engaging with internal professional groups and communities (Committees, Schools, programme teams)

• Engaging with wider professional communities (online and online supported communities that can support continued professional development beyond the MSc BOE)

• Engaging with the wider academic community through disseminating and presenting work done or supported through the programme via relevant journals and international conferences (including at ECEL 2009 e.g. the papers by Foley, Wilkinson and also De Groot)

Empowerment in professional communities

• Enhance (and Extend) classroom seminars with online follow-ups, in which pairs of students post summaries with a follow-up question for others to respond to (particularly effective in engaging those less forthcoming in classroom seminars)

• Consider using social bookmarking tools or wikis for learners to gather links to relevant resources. In the spirit of sharing and collaboration that characterises the read/write web, artefacts can be passed to the next cohort to support their learning

• Provide skeleton PowerPoint slides or a wiki page (with headings, key terms) on a specific topic to a small group, for them to research and further develop ahead of the next class

Simple but effective Enhancements to consider

• Similarly, encourage early engagement with key concepts by having small groups produce a short audio podcast to be shared with class, or having individuals take turns in writing the definitions for key terms on a wiki-based class glossary

• Consider using (Not Just For) Problems Forums, where general questions and queries can be posted in the first instance for the tutor and other students to respond to and help one another

...

• Consider the essence of the 3E Approach and the kinds of activities that could work well for the level of students you might be supporting. ‘Enhance’ activities work well in many contexts

• Give students control over what they learn, and how technology supports this, wherever possible. The benefits of relinquishing even some of the control the tutor traditionally has can repay that decision several times over in blended and online courses

• In any course context, encouraging wider participation in online and online-supported professional communities in the discipline area will help ensure continued learning and professional development and engagement beyond the course in question

Some concluding considerations

Bringing guest experts into courses is one of the most effective simple uses of technology for enhancing learning

• Transparent assignment specifications and guidance on what is expected of students, and what to expect from you, is critical

• Using technology in LTA isn’t so much about meeting learner expectations as recognising that the ways in which many learners are using technology, and the possibilities offered by technology, align perfectly with important pedagogic principles around collaborative learning, supporting learner autonomy, and developing skills needed during and beyond formal education…

• ..but engaging our colleagues as online learners is critical to this!

…

Questions?

Keith Smyth k.smyth@napier.ac.uk

MSc BOE http://www2.napier.ac.uk/ed/boe

Transform website http://www2.napier.ac.uk/transform