Nigel EcclesfieldFred Garnett

Geoff Rebbeck

The Digital in Further Education

2014

Digital Practitioner; Background

❖Emerged indirectly from EMFFE project (E-Maturity For Further Education)

❖A instiutional level-project looking to transform Further Education rather than to e-enable it

❖Gives primacy to qualitative data not quantitative

❖Based on Geoff Rebbeck’s human resources staff development work at Thanet College

❖Use’s critical thinking Matrix as key determinant of technology-in-use not technical competence.

The Big Issue

confidence emerges from experience developed through learning & reflection

finding out how teachers work, insight developed from knowledge and experience - teaching as a craft that involves emotion and commitment.

referring to technology-in-action, not just technology

1990 2000 2010 2013 Horizon0

25

50

75

100

125Kit count Process & System Behaviour

User behav-iour now

important

The research process & numbers❖ Phase 1 September 2011 to march 2012❖ 870 of 1,107 teachers from over 23 organisations responded❖ 301,652 words of narrative of which 107,600 were free response.

19 Technology in actions activities1. I have access to a VLE/Learning Platform in my work for teaching and assessment2. I use texting in my practice3. I meet colleagues on-line4. I meet students on-line as part of my work5. I produce learning resources using technology6. I use sound files in my work7. I use still images in my work8. I use videos in my work9. I use Blogging in my work10. I use social media/networking11. I use personal devices in my role at work12. I use personal applications (apps) in my role at work13. I reflect on my work and personal development14. I see using technology for teaching and learning as a joint enterprise for staff and students15. I contribute to learning communities16. I collaborate with others in College and beyond17. I share resources and ideas18. I have access to technology support from someone who understands the context of my work19. I work with colleagues who are outside my college

The Critical Thinking Matrix

The Survey is at tinyurl.com/FEteaching13

Critical Thinking Matrix revisited

The Survey is at tinyurl.com/FEteaching13

A first Study

❖ Technology intervention in learning is fragmenting and is supporting highly individualised patterns of use.

❖ The common factor that holds it together is good teaching and learning and not uniform use of large centralised technology hosted by the employer.

❖ Practitioner use of technology is increasingly driven by their use of and experience of personal technologies

❖ Curiosity about the application of technology to the circumstances of their learners and subjects taught is a key driver in an individual’s exploration of the potential uses of technology. This includes their feelings for their work, learners and the technology and the contexts they come together in.

❖ A level of confidence in confronting technology to use in teaching is more important than the level of knowledge about individual products to the practitioners responding. (In reality, very few users ever approach the limits of any specific instance of technology, but they do use those features relevant to context).

Digital Practitioner; Narratives

❖The Survey Methodology developed by Nigel Ecclesfield allowed for some useful innovations which have been further developed

❖Structured Questions around the Critical Thinking framework

❖Free text optional additions, providing 140k words

❖Allowed for individual practitioner narratives

❖Also processed allowing key themes to emerge

❖Tagged to allow comparisons across, subject, college, region, etc

The Story so far…

The language of e-learning; 2 views from SpeedReader

What we concluded

❖ The new data indicates that there is a growing degree of collaboration between practitioners with their colleagues and learners, but

❖ This collaboration is mainly confined to collaboration inside their organisations

❖ Practitioners increasingly regard themselves as independent professionals in exploring and reviewing their uses of technology, with fewer indicating that they are relying on guidance or direction from others

❖ Practitioners are more curious than fearful of technology and

❖ Are using a huge range of products and digital technologies in their practices

Digital Practitioner; 2nd Phase - 2013

❖Re-inforced most survey findings;❖Personal development of technology capability

❖Designing learning experiences❖Fragmented and individualised use of tech that is learner-centric

❖ISSUES; now more ethical & management…

What was different in the second

❖ Practitioners have strong views about using their own personal technologies in their work settings:

❖ There is concern about the boundaries between themselves, their organisation and learners in the use of personal technologies and apps. and the full range of the associated capabilities available to users

❖ Blue line is 2013 (870 teachers)

❖ Red line is 2014 (417 teachers)

❖ Categorised by choice of reactions ❖ Categorised by personal choice

The role of managers

Lear

ners

Teac

hers Age

ncies

College

manage

rs

Inspec

torat

es/F

unders

Employers

I need to find a ladderColle

ge m

anagers

chasing what is possible

Risk Management

The Manager’s dilemma

Oh Lord make me radical, but only if it’s safe

Lack of FundingLack of DirectionLack of Headroom to ‘take a punt’ Lack of Credit Focus on safety not risk managementFocus on campus not cloud Focus on audit and error (OfSTED)Funding by Guided Learning HoursReliance on exploiting enthusiastsThe speed of change is disruptive

said 53 managers of which 43 are in colleges - November 2013

This may change as a result of FELTAG with the idea of "learning presence". the issue, characterised by SFA, is that providers are not using current possibilities and could do more already!

So….

❖ Teachers need to talk to each other, beyond the staff room about their practice and be encouraged to initiate personal reflection for their inner dialogue.

❖ Managers need to have an incentive to re-balance risk management

❖ We are reminded that great e-learning is limited by imagination - and the commitment to context - not technology.

❖ Fragmentation of activity is ‘held together’ by enduring values of good teaching and learning. Perhaps seeing teaching and learning as synthesis (obuchenie)?

❖ e-learning strategy should focus on behaviour changes and experiences and not infrastructure.

❖ Agility is a critical skill, developed out of experience. Insight rather than foresight is essential to this agility.

Fred’s 5 points Real-Time Practice

❖ 1. Methodology shows a kind of Wisdom of Crowds / Architecture of Participation model is possible in "big data" / “Learner Analytics” (or Learning Analytics)

❖ 2. The Real-Time Analytics/Narrative feedback now available means reflective practice & professional development can go together. We need to TRUST digital practitioners & refresh our understanding of what personal / staff / professional development means for teaching and learning

❖ 3. DigiMeets need to replace TeachMeets as an intentional community of practice professional development model. Supported by shared data/reflective narratives/Analytics that the methodology allows IF WE DESIGN for it.  FERL 2.0?

❖ 4. It is higher-level critical thinking rather than user competences that will advance FE Lecturer skills! Still learner-centric but now about learning experiences & co-creation... Professional confidence can now meet learner curiosity AND embrace it.

❖ 5. The e-mature institution is the one that frees up its practitioners to design "artfully-crafted, student-centred, learning experiences" using good tech infrastructure as the learning platform (e.g. wifi-enabled Havering 6th College) and helps address the ethical & boundary issues that personally-driven professional practice throws up.

Digital Practitioner Resources

❖ JISC Workshop e-maturity capability

❖ ALT-C Presentation Digital Practitioner

❖ Architecture of Participation Digital Practitioner Blog Post

❖ Stand Alone OER #nefg2 I Am Curious Digital

❖ CAVTL evidence submission Enabling Digital Practice blog post

❖ xtlearn.net resource page CAVTL / Digital Practitioner

❖ Survey Monkey Resource (to be added by Nigel Ecclesfield)

❖ Digital Practitioner UK 2014 Blog

❖ Geoff Rebbeck grebbeck@me.com

❖ Nigel Ecclesfield JISC

❖ @FredGarnett

The Digital inFurther Education

http://tinyurl.com/Compassarticle2

Nigel EcclesfieldFred Garnett

Geoff Rebbeck