Category Archives: teaching
by George Roberts
by George Roberts
[This is my abstract for OER13]
Two thousand and twelve was the year of the Massive Open Online Course (MOOC) (Creelman 2012). The MOOC has become a complex phenomenon leaving aspiring designers and conveners with many questions and decisions to make. Speaking loosely, observers notice two broad categories of MOOC. cMOOCs are the earlier form, based on connectivist learning principles (Siemens 2005). xMOOCs are the more recent phenomenon described by some as monstrous (Siemens 2012) and attracting upwards of 150,000 participants. As Peter Sloep (2012) has commented, the key difference between the different types of MOOC is one of underlying beliefs, which will inevitably affect the learning experience and learning itself.
Here, we explore the beliefs underlying one of …
The Business Model for MOOCsby jennymackness
Last week I was at the HEA/SEDA day conference in Birmingham, UK
HEA/SEDA Conference on OER and Staff Development: Open Horizons: Sharing the future
I was there with my colleagues George Roberts, Marion Waite and Liz Lovegrove because we had a slot in which we shared the work we have done on the FSLT12 MOOC. George has posted his slides to Slideshare.
What is Necessary and what is Contingent in Design for Massive Open Online Courses?
You will see that there are a lot of slides (48), but in fact we only got to slide 27 because there was so much interest in the MOOC and so many questions – and of course, so little time for discussion.…
Teaching and Learning in #FSLT12by jennymackness
Today has been the last day of the #fslt12 MOOC, at the end of what has felt like an intense week of participants presenting their microteaching activities in Blackboard Collaborate. Without exception these have been impressive and as one of the course conveners it is humbling to work with learners from whom I learn such a lot. It has been a privilege. The recordings of the microteach presentations, which happened on Wednesday and Friday of this week can be found here They are well worth watching and listening to.
I have also been so impressed that participants who did not choose to be assessed have entered into this activity and have been willing to present their work and …
#fslt12 Final Week – Microteachingby jennymackness
This week the focus is teaching and the evaluation of teaching.
This #fslt12 course is based on a course which runs face-to-face at Oxford Brookes University. The First Steps course is an element of the Oxford Centre for Staff and Learning Development’s (OCSLD) HEA accredited Post Graduate Certificate in Teaching in Higher Education (PCTHE).
#fslt12 has been aimed at new lecturers, people entering higher education teaching from other sectors and postgraduate students who teach. But in true MOOC spirit we have also had some very experienced ‘teachers’ join us who have openly shared their experience.
(Click on the image to see it more clearly)
In the face-to-face course the key activity is to ‘microteach’ - …
#fslt12 Week 4 with Dave Whiteby jennymackness
This week we welcome Dave White to the FSLT12 MOOC. Dave will be speaking to the title
The Impact on Teachers of Open Educational Resources and Open Academic Practice in the Digital University
Date and time: Wed 13 June 3.00 – 5.00 pm BST
Link to Resources to prepare for Dave’s session
Dave tweeted some time ago that he was preparing for this session. I have heard Dave speak a few time before and blogged about him, so I know I can look forward to this session.
(Click on the image to enlarge it)
Lecturing
The curriculum thread this week focuses on ‘lecturing’. Rhona Sharpe has provided an excellent and …
Information obesity, media and other teaching successes! [3]by elenizazani
I started the session by asking the students a similar question I posed at the beginning of one of my previous posts.
Interestingly, all students had a similar experience. Initially, they were puzzled by my question but then one by one started talking about their experiences.
I then continued by saying that I was asking this question because this is what happened to me that morning.
They exclaimed and opened their eyes widely when they heard about my disaster! I could see they could connect with me. I then told them that when something goes out of plan, I always wonder what the lesson is for me and then asked them if they learnt anything from their own similar experience. …
Information obesity, media and other teaching successes! [2]by elenizazani
I headed to Bloomsbury thinking about three things; firstthe example that Lord Putmangave during LILAC 2012 that if you put a “surgeon from 1912 and transport them to the operating theatre of today, they would be completely unable to participate in the work, only stand and stare. Whereas a teacher from the same period, transferred into today’s classroom, would more or less be able to teach a lesson using their skills from that time”*.
This thought gave me the courage to head to the lesson. I knew that if I can teach, I can do so without the medium. 
The secondthought was about honesty. Adult learners want to be treated as adults and being honest …
The limits of navigation: how far does the online go?by George Roberts
Reflections on New Lecturers Courses at Oxford Brookes
Among the practices, which have emerged through the New Lecturers Programme in 2011-12, there are three that challenge the limits to online learning: massive open on-line courses (moocs), virtual conferences as a means of assessment, and distributed collaboration as a means of working in learning sets. While each of these topics deserves a full paper, together they allow us to examine, briefly, the role of the university and to re-imagine a place for institutions in a world where openness, access and community have come to underpin academic knowledge. Massive open online courses work for some, not all. A feeling of being lost can affect participants. The development of autonomy benefits from scaffolding. …
Information obesity, media and other teaching successes! [1]by elenizazani
What if you have spent 6 hours to update a presentation and when you were ready to transfer the file in your memory stick and head to class, your computer crashes and stubbornly denies to start-up?
Well…, that was the case for me yesterday morning, before heading to Bloomsbury to deliver a session to Sociology students.
OK, things happen..
- What did I do wrong?
- How am I going to deliver the session without the presentation?
- How am I going to convey the message to visual learners?
- Are they going to learn anything?
- Am I going to deliver a boring session?
- How am I going to mention this catastrophe to the students?
- How am I going to meet their expectations for
…