Engagement in educational technology

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Engagement in educational technology

• What are (your) needs preferred approaches for
  professional curriculum development?

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Models for staff development

• Formally accredited courses
• Loosely-coupled workshops
• Funded projects
• Teaching fellows
• Collaboration (staff secondments learning
  technologists)
• Consultative
• Informal learning

3
Engaging lecturers, students specialists with
the development process

• The ANNIE Project
• as an example

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Developing courses and capabilities

• Reviewing
• Planning
• Implementing
• Supporting
• Evaluating
• Disseminating
• Transferring

Project development interweaved with staff
development.
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The ANNIE Project

• Description of activities

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Accessing Networking with National and
International Expertise

• Linking together UK universities and outside
  experts
• Universities are Warwick, Kent, De Montfort,
  Exeter, Queens Belfast
• Experts in Kansas, Vancouver, Frankfurt and
  around UK (BBC, Blast Theory and universities
  listed above)

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ANNIE project activities

• Provide access to experts for students of
  performance studies in various learning
  situations.
• Evaluate the experience.
• Determine good practice
• using technology in learning and teaching
• encouraging its implementation.

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Case study scenarios

• The scenarios essentially involved three types of
  approach
• accessing of expertise from outside of these
  institutions,
• delivery of expertise located within the
  institutions to students at a distance,
• use of distance learning mechanisms to deliver
  courses within the same institution.

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Formats used
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ANNIE Project approaches

• Engagement with academic staff

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Pedagogical aims

• to provide students with diversity of experience
  and information
• to enhance learning and teaching processes by
  incorporation of appropriate new technologies
• to reflect the changing nature of theatre.

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Main considerations

• Which technology will best meet the pedagogical
  aims of the activity?
• How can we use the technology to best meet the
  learning needs of the students?
• Will employing technology for this activity have
  a deleterious effect on the rest of the learning
  activities within the module?
• Is there any superfluous use of ICT?

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Factors affecting choice of technology

• Should the engagement with technology be a
  discrete activity or underpin the entire course?
  (discrete/continuous)
• What is the nature of the students relationship
  with technology during the activity? (technology
  foregrounded/hidden)
• Is the ICT literacy expected of the students high
  or low?

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Concerns regarding technology

• It may not be reliable
• It may not be able to implemented (e.g. through
  firewalls, correct plug-ins available)
• It may be too difficult to implement
• It may require too many additional resources

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Concerns regarding technology -2

• The amount of time spent on the activity is too
  much compared to its relative importance within
  the course.
• It may be inappropriate to expect theatre and
  performance studies students to acquire a high
  ICT literacy when this is not a required skill
  for their discipline (theyve come here to learn
  how to be a tree, not press buttons)

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The ANNIE Project

• Review of implementation

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Strengths

• Had involvement of a specific school
• Academics set agenda
• Few changes in working practices
• Provided a manageable and easily implemented
  technology

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Weaknesses

• Central services gatekeepers but not stakeholders
• No in-house technical support to continue work

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Institutional changes

• IT support integrated into schools
• Instigate service culture within service
  departments
• Decentralise AV and IT resources
• Balance security and communication

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Engaging with new learning technologies

• Consider the various starting points for
  lecturers, students and the institution
  (including support depts) as a whole
• Determine IT skills, resources equipment
  required
• Spend time on (Sub-)Project management
• Involve departmental participation not just
  individual innovators
• Evaluate and improvement continually not just at
  the end
• Identify opportunities to inform strategy and
  identify further support needs
• Build on success!

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