I work in the Business & CIS department at Dubai Men’s College. I first experienced on line learning getting to grips with WebCT when Rob Peregoodoff was the college coordinator. He was really helpful and I realized that the best way to learn something was to have a go but to have access to “just in time” training support as well. I became quite adept at using WebCT and could upload audio recordings for online quizzes and other bits which felt quite advanced at the time. Then it changed to Blackboard and I found that everything I knew how to do was redundant, which was incredibly frustrating. So I started using Moodle – which I thought was pretty good. At that point I completed the qualification to be a Certified Member of the Association of Learning Technologists. Then I got another role at DMC and stopped teaching! I have just returned to the class room and have started using BB Vista more frequently.
As a course administrator my most positive and memorable experiences of educational technology was learning how to write the HTML code to incorporate and audio clip into a listening test! But as an educator I really valued taking the opportunity for the students to use independent learning for some of my class time in an Ethics course. This meant I could focus on smaller numbers of students each week. Even now, nearly 10 years later many of my old students will tell me how much they enjoyed and remember that course.
I do have a number of concerns about the use of education technology. The technology changes so fast and its capacity is expanding so quickly that the cycle of “storming, forming, norming and performing” never seems to get fully completed. We always seem to be in the storming or forming stage.
The article by John Page contains a number of good points which I agree with. Expansion of time and place is definitely a benefit of educational technology. However, I think the key to effective use of educational technology is to always remember that the purpose of education is to find out information or develop skills which we can use in the real world. For that reason, Emirates Airlines spent millions on flight simulators so they could enhance the training if their pilots and make it more cost effective in the long run. But the skill they were interested in developing was an ability to fly and land a plane safely in real conditions – not in a simulator.
We need to ensure that with educational technology we always use it because it is the best option available in the circumstances – not a convenient but less appropriate alternative (like sending an email instead of walking across the office to talk to someone!)
By taking this course I am hoping that I will improve my skills not only in how to use educational technology, but also when.
The course I will choose for my project is BUS 1103 Economcis for Managers. It is a Semester 1 course in the new Business Bachelors programme. It uses on line material from Pearson MyLabs so I think has a structured use of educational technology which will be helpful for me in this module
I can really relate to what you said about technology changing so fast that by the time you’ve mastered one tool it’s suddenly gone out of fashion! How incredibly frustrating that is to those of us, like myself, who are relatively new to it all!
ReplyDeleteI’m finding at FWC, several of the FNDS English teachers are using some form of technology as a class management system, but we’re each using different ones and it’s difficult to find the time to learn about the ones that are different from the one you’re using. A few of us have said that we’ll get together at the end of the semester and compare notes on what we’re using. Kind of an ‘each one teach one’ approach, which I’m looking forward to.
I also agree that pedagogy is primary rather than the use of technology for the sake of using it, but I’m also finding that the more I dabble and share with other teachers, the more good ideas for how to use some of these tools present themselves. I sometimes find myself overwhelmed, though, by the amount of material we’re responsible for making accessible to the students, the amount of time we have to do it in and how much there is for me to learn. I’m just going to have to keep taking baby steps for the sake of sanity!
I also think that one of the problems we face here at the HCT is that, not only does the technology change fast, but also the actual curriculum, at least at the FNDS English level, is continuously being overhauled, so it’s difficult (actually impossible) to measure the effectiveness or lack of effectiveness of these changes because they’re not in effect long enough to do so. I think this more than any other factor keeps us ‘storming and forming’ ad nauseum rather than reflecting on and deepening our understanding of what works best with our students.
Thank you for sharing that Andrew, and I’m looking forward to reading your next blog post! - Donna
you're so right Donna, it keeps changing, that ultimately, if you do use technology, you have to supplement it so much that you might as well just not use it sometimes - or at least it can be more of a challenge than it's worth ultimately.
DeleteThanks for your post Andrew. Yes I agree that technology is changing at an ever increasing pace, more new tools are released each day than one person could keep track of if it was their full time job, never mind actually implement. (Though if you do want to know about new tools I know just where to send you) - smile - and I think that leads nicely into week 2.
ReplyDeleteYou and Donna are both right - there is just too much to deal with and so we need a network - we need to store knowledge and ideas in our friends and colleagues! Just as it sounds you did with Rob by the way.
I think the problem is compounded here by the changes to curriculum and to policy as well, not to mention the often transitory people in decision making positions.
I am not sure Donna is using baby steps having just read her blog - one persons baby steps is another bold innovation, it is all contextual anyway. If it makes you feel happier thinking of that way fine - but really it is all a relative thing.
I think you do pick up on another important point Andrew that is often overlooked by the ed tech evangelists, that of effective use and that then leads to money - and rather than go on about here - I make mention of it in my first blog of M2.
Thanks for your post. I'll be back!
An interesting read and comments I understand all too well. Issues of pedagogy v technology and the old chimera of technology offered as a way to make work/life easier when it's proliferation seems to sometimes create a sense of jadedness and cynicism at yet another new application. I like Mark's idea of a network, distributed knowledge of people and media which we can tap into when necessary. We should relax, realise we can't possible understand and use all aspects of technology and welcome our participation in a collaborative community network.
ReplyDeleteHi Andrew, absolutely agree with you regarding the use of digital tech in classrooms - i.e. there has to be a pedagogical reason and purpose (just like with analogue materials).
ReplyDeleteYou are very true that biggest concern with rapid development in technology is that we are always in storming and forming phase. But I think the key is that if you know the basics then it’s easy to adopt and learn new tools. Like if you know one learning management system then using another will not be a difficult task. If you know HTML then you can develop blog or a web page using any new technology tool like dream weaver.
ReplyDeleteI completely agree that we should use educational technology tools to enhance the learning experience not for only our convenience. I have seen many people who use LSM system just to take exams to make their life easier they don’t bother to use other important tools which can enhance learning and which are available in the same system.
One other concern that I have noticed with Educational technology tools is that we as teachers and institute should use similar type of tools when teaching to a particular group of students. Overloading of different tools with different options can lead to confusion among students. Last week all my semester two students were complaining as they are getting confuse between different systems. Right now they are now using Black Board, My management lab and Wiley Plus for three different courses in one semester. I agree with them to some extent that why we cannot put everything in one place and make life easier.
Hi Andrew,
ReplyDeleteThanks for your insightful essay. One that that struck me was your comment about 'storming, forming, norming and performing' (Tuckman's stages of group development) never getting completed in our fast-paced environments. That led me to a little research. Tuckman did his research in 1965. Although it's been updated a little since that time, it has remained more or less the same. The problem with that is that it quite possibly does not apply to our electronic age.
I guess what I'm trying to say is that maybe it's time to develop a new model for our modern context of electronic networking. How and under what conditions do groups 'form' in elearning and what stages do they go through?
Dean