Introduction to Reflection

November 2, 2009 at 11:34 pm (1st Year Experience, PG-Cert, Student Support, learning)
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Although I had always planned to host a session on reflection and how it could be recorded using Mahara, it was evident that from my last class that a significant number of students required more work to be done in this area. Feedback from the students, both formal (online CIQ) and informally relayed a range of concerns over this issue. Questions raised by the students were:

  • Whether reflections were personal or public?
  • Difficulties with reflecting for the first time i.e. Where to start?
  • How will it benefit their education?
  • How will it benefit their career?
  • How does reflection ‘marry’ with their ePortfolio work?

I had already designed several solutions to the above questions, specifically those that related to Mahara. The student feedback confirmed that theses solutions were valid, however some of the questions raised weren’t addressed in the original design. A major re-write was required. It was also an ideal opportunity for me to show that the students that their input into the evaluation process, was as much for them as it was for me. Within a week, their comments had been acted on and their learning needs were being addressed. I emphasised this during my introduction to the session.

50% of the students had completed their assignment, set last week. As a result, those who did, received formative feedback and went on to to submit more evidence and reflections. There was a flurry of activity on Tuesday evening on Mahara, as students left the work to the last minute, forgoing the benefits of timely feedback. It was also evident that, in a lot of cases, the assignment wasn’t completed solely because of student apathy. There were those who were struggling with the technology itself. The pace at which we went through the Introduction to Mahara session did not suit every student and as a result they struggled to keep up. The CIQ clearly supported this. As a result I have rewritten the next session to allow the students more time to explore the software, with myself in passive attendance, in order to support them if required. I had originally attended the session to be solely on how to gather digital evidence and upload it into Mahara, outlining several techniques e.g. screen capture, online file conversion, hyperlinking etc… I will produce an online resource to cover these aspects and present it on Mahara for the students to use.

I had been disappointed by the initial student response to the CIQ I had posted last session. In order to address this lack of evaluation (though the little I did receive was enough for me to redesign a large portion of the reflection session) I asked each student to fill the form in, there and then. It was the last opportunity to do so as I didn’t want them to mix up the this and last weeks sessions. It was at this point that I reiterated the value of these forms. I am glad that I did now, as several students have commented that they were impressed that I had moved so swiftly in addressing their concerns.

I then outlined a new support mechanism that I had instigated for them, where TPA staff were allocated several students each to support them with their evidence gathering and reflections. I had asked the staff to make at least one comment on each of their students Intro to TPA views. The breakdown was as follows:

Martin – Holly Baxter, Joy Bonfield-Colombara, Nicola Stewart, Alexander Ridgers

Christine – Emily Black, Gillian Tormey, Adam McCall, Rosemary Sims

Jamie – Rachael Brown, Roishann McGuire, Emma Fitzgibbon, Alexander Morgan

Zander – Maisie Cottingham, Sarah Crooks, Rachel McGovern, Elizabeth Milne

Simon – Samantha Burns, Iain Jolly, Ching Long Koo, Simon Legg

Steve – Dougal Gudim, Fiona Nisbett, Hannah Nicol, Barbara Brza,

John – Chris Gowling, Margaret Kiernohan, Siobhan MacIntyre, Ellen Porteous, Sarah Wilson

Ros – Ross Oliver,  Fraser Walker, Danielle Farrelly, Jonathon Towers

I was surprised to hear from the students that a few staff members hadn’t done this, even though the students had posted artifacts and reflections up onto their views. I plan to have a training session in place for the staff as soon as possible as I may have wrongly assumed that they were comfortable with the software and the concept of ePortfolio learning. Those who did receive feedback, found it useful and a positive step towards their own learning experience.

What are you doing here?

I wanted to find a question that was fundamental to the reflection process i.e. What happened?, with the emphasis on ‘what’. To simply reflect on this aspect of a learning experience would be tantamount to writing a diary, a chronological recording of events that happened. By suggesting this as a place to start their reflections the students were in familiar territory, as most had recorded events in this way, at some point in their lives. I recommended that if they found themselves staring at a blank screen (or paper), unable to conjure up words that adequately express their reflections, then perhaps a paragraph or two of recounting what happened would kickstart the process. Somewhere within that simple process the ‘what?’ may transform into the ‘why?’.

Why are you here?

After the initial paragraph had been recorded, the next phase of reflection could be attempted, the ‘why’. Using the three earlier questions we had posed during the PDP session and then as part of the assignment I had set last week, I reiterated their use and suggested that as their reflective practice progressed, the students would begin to create their own questions, perhaps more specific and detailed. Understanding the ‘why’ is the first steps towards a deeper set of cognitive skills. I suggested that, with practice, the learners could develop better analytical and problem-solving abilities. The brain after-all is an organ that requires exercise.

We then discussed the differences between secondary education and higher education. Higher education having different demands on learning responsibility than that of secondary schooling, in so much as the learner is expected to manage their own learning, albeit from within a support network. Most agreed that self-created learning was the most likely to create knowledge that remains with the student on a much more permanent basis than the rote, “parrot-fashion” methods which only served to skim the surface of learning. This open discussion wasn’t intended, but I let it run as I found it invigorating. I could sense the energy in the room change as more of the students expressed their opinions. I had a real sense that the students were indulging in a non-facilitated group reflection. It’s amazing what a simple question can produce.

At some point, I manage to segue into the subject of blogging, or micro-blogging to be precise. As soon as I uttered the word ‘Twitter’ I was met by a chorus of low groans and sighs. It would seem that my chosen subject was somewhat derisory. I sensed another debate brewing…. I outlined the three main uses of Twitter:

  • as a communication medium.
  • as a networking tool.
  • as a micro-blogging/thought capturing tool.

All of which could aid in capturing and gathering evidence in the moment and as a way of reflecting on idea’s through 140 character summaries. I suggested that an effective way to do this would be to RSS feed your tweet streams directly to your blog. In this way the learner has a way of recalling topics for reflection on the same page as they are writing their blogs. With more and more theatre’s and practitioners using Twitter, it has become a direct way of creating contacts within the industry and for knowledge transfer. The debate that ensued seemed to highlight that Twitter had evolved a social stigma, which, it was felt, belonged to a specific type of Web 2.0 user. It would seem that the modern learner and socialite are extremely territorial when it comes to their personal digital environments. It cannot be assumed that any online tool, offered by a teacher, will be eagerly adopted by all digital learners. Their choice of tools are carefully selected to suit their digital identities, an example of this can be found in the devotion Bebo users have to their environment and the distaste they have developed towards the FaceBook clans and vise-versa. The debate was left in the balance, though several students did admit that their opinion of Twitter had been altered slightly and they may try it out.

The session then continued with a short discussion on the topic of blogging proper. The following benefits were discussed on the advantages of using digital reflection:

  • Allows instant feedback
  • Tracks progress
  • Develops deeper cognitive skills
  • Allows media-rich content
  • Can easily be shared or secured
  • Allows collaboration

Again, the issue of making blogs publicly viewable came up, there was a sense of discomfort by a few students at the notion of their personal thoughts and opinions being exposed to a wider public. I realised that, at some point, these students had assumed that because a blog was an online tool, it had to be public. We discussed the options available to bloggers and ePortfolio users which gave them the choice to reflect privately, semi-privately (to an invited audience) or publicly. There is also the option to make online reflections non-searchable i.e. they can’t be located using a search engine. The concept of online learning (blogging) communities was raised, where learners can link, comment and quote from blogs covering a common theme and forming a peer network of reflective practice. A few students also expressed a concern that their writing skills weren’t up to public scrutiny and this would cause them some embarrassment. However, studies have proved that in a high percentage of students who, at the outset, had shown poor creative writing skills, developed these skills to an acceptable level (some excelled beyond the standard) after exposing their writing to a wider audience. Not only did they receive formative feedback throughout, they also developed a self-confidence which motivated them to progress and succeed. I agreed to accept and proof read any students work, before it was uploaded to Mahara and made it clear that their folio’s need not be public at all. I did recommend that their ePortfolio support lecturer, at the very least, should be allowed access for guidance purposes.

Questions?

A statement, not a request. To further emphasise the use of questions to start the reflective process, I suggested that the post heading may be a question e.g. What did I do well during the technical rehearsal today? or Why did I start getting confused in Props class this morning? This may be a useful mechanism to focus the learners reflection and get the process started.

Game-based Learning

I had wanted to introduce game-based learning to my practice for a while, but had never been able to find a suitable platform or game that served the purpose well. I had searched for online management simulations that gave the students variable parameters to experiment with. A critical element of the game had to include the student making basic decisions which would somehow affect their digital environment or virtual situation at the time. It also had to be fun in order to engage the learner. There are many online management simulations (some SCORM compliant) but most were either too complex, boring or expensive and none were 100% suitable to Stage Management. This session wasn’t subject related so I had an opportunity to demonstrate the reflection process with a much simpler (and free) online game. After much searching I found a game which seemed to fit all of the criteria I needed.

I attempted to break down the reflective process and based this (loosely) on Kolbs learning cycle. By using a stage by stage flow chart I portrayed the reflective process thus:

Reflective Process
Reflective Process

I found a game which was simple enough to use as a vehicle to demonstrate this simple model of reflection. It’s called Student Sim and is a basic ‘point and click’ type simulator. The game can be found here.  The students all signed in and I gave them 10 minutes to orientate themselves to the games interface and concept, they were to do this without any instructions. I also asked them to note down any tips that they came across as they played. Some did basic screen captures while others used simpler technology i.e. paper and pen. Having successfully orientated themselves to the software, I then asked them to reflect on the evidence that they had gathered, which they shared to their peers. We then decided to set a common ‘group’ goal and played the game again, for another  10 minutes, with this goal in mind. Again I asked the group to gather evidence by making notes and screen grabbing. As the students progressed through the stages of reflection, I revealed the next stage on the screen, further emphasising the process.

We stopped after the 2nd Action phase as time was running short, but the students seemed to understand. We then discussed the process, contextualising it with theatrical practice. The general feeling from the room seemed to be that there was no need to break down reflection in such detail as most of the learners did this process naturally. I did feel however that it did serve a purpose in highlighting where the reflective phase should reside, as many had admitted to being aware that reflection was a process and had struggled to grasp the concept. It also underlined that reflection was deeply rooted in a practical cognitive process. It will be interesting to review and evaluate the student feedback to this class as the game element was very experimental. I did recognise a problem with this approach, as the session progressed  I felt the students became distracted from the main purpose of the exercise, especially those who became engrossed in the game play. The flowchart, as a visual prompt wasn’t enough, neither was my vocal prompting. However, I was pleased to note that the conversation that ensued was deeper than I had anticipated and the majority of the cohort seemed to understand what I was trying to achieve with them.

I finished the class with another assignment based around reflective practice. I wanted to return to theatre somehow, to leave the students with a contextualised aftertaste. I showed them a short and incredibly experimental production called Fuerzabruta. I had, over the last 3 years, showed this video to 1st year students to inspire them to think outside of the box and that not all theatre plays were stuffy and classical. I asked the students to reflect of their experience of watching the show and highlight moments which inspired them or disappointed them. Which elements worked and which didn’t? Why these elements had this affect and finally; What could have been done to improve the production and their overall experience?

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PAT to PDP (the missing link)

October 30, 2009 at 12:16 am (1st Year Experience, PG-Cert, Student Support, learning)
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After considerable reflection on how to make stronger links between the Personal Academic Tutorial (PAT) system in the Academy and Personal Development Planning (PDP) framework (as identified in my Lighting a Fire post) I have suggested a solution to my colleagues. By extending our PAT student group support to include mentoring indivduals in reflection and evidence gathering (using Mahara) we add a further layer to thier learning experience.  PAT then becomes interwoven with PDP, using ePortfolio’s as the tool to accomplish this. An equal distribution of  1st year students amongst the lecturing staff from the outset would ensure that every student recieves learning support and each member of staff shares an equal workload.

We have decided to trial this method using a current assignment that I have set the first year cohort (see An Introduction to ePortfolio post). I have assigned a lecturer to a group of 5 or 6 individuals and have asked them to make comment on the views that the students have posted. It is hoped that, by the assignments submission deadline, every student will have a few lines of formative feedback to support them. This may only act as an encouragement to continue, but at this stage, may be enough. Providing this early scaffolding is essential in embedding reflective processes as well as orientating the students in using new tools, which they can use to manage and deepen their learning.

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RSAMD Mahara

June 28, 2009 at 9:08 am (1st Year Experience, 2nd Year Experience, Flexible Delivery, PG-Cert, Student Support, assessment, employability, learning)
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ePortfolio’s

“An unfolding narrative of a unique learning journey”

(JISC 2008)

How can ePortfolio solution’s such as Mahara provide and enhance employability skills through Personal Development Planning to Academy students?

Current research being carried out by organisations such as JISC and BECTA have identified that e-Portfolio’s can enhance Employability Skills, Lifelong Learning provision, Internationalisation, Retention, Widening Participation, Achievement and Attainment Levels along with offering a high level of Personalisation to the learner. (JISC 2008) With these high level agenda items in mind and a pressing need for an improved Personal Development Planning framework within the Academy, this investigation was both timely and required.

The Academy’s Learning and Teaching strategy clearly states that its mission which, in essence, is to nurture creativity through a focus on the individual through the promotion of innovative methodologies and the exploitation of new and emerging technologies.

The term portfolio has a range of meanings, depending on the context you are engaged with, with Higher Education it can be best described as a collection of artifacts (evidence) presented alongside associated reflections for learning. This archive is collated and drawn on by the learner as evidence of learning achievement. These achievements can then be used to plan targets and set goals. Therefore a portfolio can be associated with the gathering of records which can be used in the Personal Development Planning (PDP) process. The concept of Personal Development Records (PDRs) is closely related to the Higher Educa-tion Progress File, a recommendation found in the Report of the National Committee of Inquiry into Higher Education (Dearing, 1997) and extends beyond that, to incorporate artifacts which may evidence claims made in PDRs. Many institutions are choosing to implement PDP (and to encourage learners to manage their PDRs) through electronic means, often linking this to the term e-portfolio (Ward & Richardson, 2005) .

In 2008 The Academy made the bold decision to implement Mahara as its institutional e-Portfolio solution. It was a bold move as the software was, as yet untested, having only been released two months prior to it’s installation. Two main reasons for it’s adoption was it’s integration with Moodle and that it was Open Source i.e. free. Further to this, the Academy also made the commitment to contract e-Learn Design as consult-ants and to maintain both Mahara and Moodle installations, for a period of 12 months. This move was seen as a positive step towards fulfilling it’s Learning Resources and Student Support Strategy which states, as an objective for December 2009 to “implement Mahara as an Academy-wide platform for Personal Development Planning” . Four Moodle site-wide Administrators were found, including myself and a single Administrator for Mahara (myself), appropriate training was provided for Moodle.

Lessons learned on the JISC funded ISLE (Individualised Support for Learning through ePortfolio’s) Project found that ePortfolio’s cannot be introduced during the academic year. Greater success was found when you introduce them at induction. (ISLE). This Pilot scheme initially focused on employability skills amongst learners at Dumfries and Galloway College. Themed templates were created to provide structure to this process of PDP with categories which included: about me, My CV, my learning style, my interests and hobbies etc… All of which exist as default fields in Mahara, thus reducing the workload of tutors.

Encouraging students to personalize their learning spaces by deciding on layout as well as content can enthuse them to become more creative with their learning. The celebration of achievements can hence be more rewarding, with positive feedback from both peers and tutors acting as motivational devices. Improved retention levels were also recorded during the ISLE Project ranging from 30% to 100% improvement in some cases (JISC, 2008).

Results of an online survey I conducted, where I canvassed the opinion of 79 students and 11 staff members on ePortfolio’s, returned some revealing results. Out of the total number surveyed only 17% currently used an ePortfolio solution and from those, most (13 individuals) used Mahara. When asked the question, “Would you considering using one?” 53% said yes, with a further 36% stating that they “didn’t know” (see Chart 1). This shows that there is an interest worth considering and more promotion of Mahara needed.

Chart 1
Chart 1

When asked what they considered to be the single most important benefit of keeping an ePortfolio, the results were revealing (see Chart 2).

Chart 2

Chart 2

The results in Chart 2 clearly show that Employability would be a major contributing factor towards a learner engaging with an ePortfolio, with the organistaion of work being a major secondary concern. These statistics appear to align with the theory that both professional and vocational focus relies heavily on the development of praxis rather than knowledge alone. In this light, the ePortfolio serves as a developmental log in which to track ‘fitness of practice’. (Beetham & Sharpe, 2007).

In Art, we find ourselves confronted with a series of stimuli, such as a performance, a design, literary text or a piece of music. These artifacts  of learning more than often require our learners to ‘respond’ rather than to unravel an answer. These responses are often aesthetic in nature and require a degree of reflection that involves more than finding a formula which leads to a solution. (Beetham & Sharpe, 2007). Having the ability to present these stimuli as media; .mp4, jpeg, .doc or mp3 etc. provides the learner with a platform to host their evidence alongside their interpretations of it. It is hoped that the outcome would be that the learner has a greater understanding of the artifact.

“focus on creative activity is typical of the arts and that the methodologies (i.e. discussion) used to study the artefactual focus of these disciplines are to some degree themselves inspired by the methodologies employed in the creation of those artifacts.” (Beetham & Sharpe, 2007).

This form of reflective discourse based on the study of existing artifacts lends itself perfectly to the learning artist. The creation of new work commonly inspired by existing work. e.g. a learner uploads an .mp3 to their Mahara view then invites collaborators to listen to it, a discussion builds around the work from within a Mahara group forum. Changes are made to the work based on peer evaluation and the view is opened to the tutor for feedback and perhaps assessment.

The collection of this evidence could be a key driver to PDP being a key element to the UK Governments e-strategy (DfES, 2005). The Center for International ePortfolio Development is based in the University of Nottingham and is proof of the United Kingdoms commitment to research and development of this important learning tool.

To promote employability skills is as much about good learning experiences as it is about work placements or careers advice. (Bloxham & Boyd, 2007). They go on to state that more traditional methods of enhancing employability (entrepreneurship, careers guidance and PDP) do not necessarily contribute to the overall learning environment that is designed to foster employability, as they are often stand alone modules or lie outside of programme altogether. In this respect, there seems to be the need for a tool which draws all of these elements together and is still designed for learning. As the electronic portfolio is essentially a student centered solution, in which the learner has control over who and when their evidence is to be subject to academic scrutiny, then it would be fair to conclude that they can also choose when their work is open for employers to gauge their suitability for employment. Mahara can be viewed externally, allowing the learner to produce a media rich CV, which can be viewed by anyone of their choosing. Access to a particular view can also be time-limited or suspended at any point, by the learner.

In the online survey I asked how often those who completed it reflected  on their learning and whether these reflections were self motivated (non-assessed) or part of their course (assessed).  Chart 3 shows the frequency of reflection:

Chart 3

Chart 3

Now that the statistics were in place (and I was surprised at the amount of reflective practice stated) the task was then to ascertain why the learners were reflecting i.e. was it because they had to or was it because they felt it was a viable learning process?

Chart 5

Is this reflection….?

Chart 4

The findings here are even more surprising, it shows that learners are prepared to take ownership of their own learning where reflective practice is concerned. Thus going some way to prove that reflection is seen by a cross section of students in the Academy as an effective way to learn. Couple these statistics with those who outlined an interested in finding out more information about Mahara (85% of those surveyed wished to learn more, while 10% did not) and there is a clear case for further investigation.

To find out which methods were used in reflection I asked ‘how’ these learners reflected, giving a choice of the most common tools available. The results were mixed (Chart 6) and dependent on the learners definition of nomenclature e.g. a log book could be considered a journal by some. What is interesting is that 89% of those surveyed considered themselves to be computer literate which aligns closely to those interested in pursuing an interest in ePortfolio’s, yet most reflections seem to be recorded using analogue (paper-based) tools. One could conclude that this was due to the learners preference. Though when asked if the Academy should be doing more to promote Mahara, the response was that 58% thought so, 6% thought the Academy shouldn’t be promoting it and 35% didn’t know we even had one!

Chart 6

Chart 6

Mahara also has social networking functionality which has great potential to create both formal and non-formal learning environments. The ability to build communities of practice within a rich learning environment has obvious collaborative and knowledge sharing potential. This approach could open the door to both self and peer assessment models. These assessment skills are seen as valuable in developing lifelong learning skills such as self-evaluation, giving feedback, justifying a point and negotiation skills (Boud, 2000). Furthermore Stefani reminds us that “If assessment processes are intended to enhance student learning then it follows that students must be able to reflect on their current attainment” (Stefani 1998: 346, cited in Bloxham & Boyd, 2007). The skills required to develop objectivity (needed for self assessment) by reflecting on their own work, carves a path for the learner to direct their own work and thus making steps towards becoming autonomous learners. (Bloxham & Boyd, 2007). Peer feedback is often more accessible to the learner, being that it is not ‘emotionally loaded’ (Black et al, 2003:77) being that the language of peers is much easier for the student to understand, digest and evaluate.

When asked the question, “How often are you required to collaborate with others on your course?” (Chart 7), the results were as expected on programmes that involved both group and individual tuition. Only a 3% minority perceived that they did not collaborate at all, it should be a serious consideration to offer a support platform for these students to enter the fold and be able to reflect and collaborate with other learners. There is scope here for further development in cross curricula design and implementation, there would seem to be strong evidence that student aspirations stretch to include both peer feedback and a more collaborative environment in which to learn.

Chart 7

Chart 7

The final chart (Chart 8 ) was based around formative feedback and it’s perceived quantity available on individual courses. This question was purely subjective i.e. “What are your feelings on formative feedback?”, this was done intentionally as I wished to gauge student perception rather than objective fact. Feedback, or the amount of, is an academic responsibility and the student perception of this is dependent on the individuals requirements. A student who is struggling will percieve that they require more formative feedback, delivered in a timely manner. Race recommends that; “ if assessment is the engine that drives learning (Cowan cited in Race, 2007) then feedback is the oil that lubricates the cogs of understanding” (Race, 2007). Boud goes on to add that, “Assessment methods and requirements probably have a greater influence on how and what students learn than any other single factor. This influence may well be of greater importance than the impact of teaching materials.” (Boud, 1988).

I order to ascertain student perception of formative feedback provision within the Academy I asked, “What are your feelings on formative feedback?” with options depicting quantity rather than quality:

Chart 8

Chart 8

These statistics seem to suggest that there is a balance needing addressed in this area of learning. It has often been alleged that the Academy is heavy on summative assessment and light on the side of formative assessment. With these statistics in place it would seem that this is indeed the case. ePortfolio provision can address this issue head on, with 24 hours access to student evidence and reflection, more importantly it is the learner who opens their portfolio’s for scrutiny by tutors. This places the procurement of feedback firmly in their own hands.

Recommendations

The following are recommendations for the implementation of ePortfolio-based practice within the Royal Academy of Music & Drama, in order to address the findings in this investigation:

1. Staff training on the use of ePortfolio’s with particular emphasis on Mahara as a tool to enhance learning and employabilty within the student body.

2. The implementation of a robust framework for PDP in which ePortfolio provision can exist.

3. The introduction of ePortfolio-based learning at induction at the very latest.

4. Further investigation into allowing new and incoming 1st Year students to access and build ePortfolio’s on Mahara.

5. The introduction of a pilot scheme to encourage FE feeder courses to implement ePortfolio provision within their institutions as a recruitment driver.

6. The introduction of a pilot scheme to encourage employers to access final year students work as a recruitment driver.

Bibliography

Dearing, R (1997) Report of the National Committee of Inquiry into Higher Education (The Dearing Report) http://www.leeds.ac.uk/educol/ncihe/

(accessed 18.06.09)

Developing a progress file for HE: Guidelines on HE progress files http://www.qaa.ac.uk/academicinfrastructure/progressfiles/guidelines/default.asp

(accessed 18.06.09)

Ward, R & Richardson, H (2005) Report to the JISC: Generic guidance for stakeholders implementing Personal Development Planning through e-portfolio systems http://www.erdee.org.uk/natsem/eport_seminar_report.pdf

(accessed 18.06.09)

ISLE: Individualised Support for Learning through ePortfolio’s, http://isle.paisely.ac.uk/default.aspx

(accessed 19.06.09)

Bloxman S & Boyd P, (2007) Developing Effective Assessment in Higher Education: A Practical Guide. Open University Press, Berkshire

Stefani, L.A.J. (1998) Assessment in partnership with learners, Assessment and Evaluation in Higher Education, 23(4): 339-50.

Black, P., Harrison, C., Lee, C., Marshall, B. and William, D. (2003) Assessment for Learning: Putting It into Practice. Maidenhead, Open University Press.

Beetham, H & Sharpe, R et al (2007) Rethinking Pedagogy for a Digital Age: Designing and delivering e-learning. Oxon, Routledge

Boud, D (1988) Implementing Student Self-Assessment, HERDSA Green Guides Vol.5, University of New South Wales, Australia

Race, P (2007) The Lecturers Toolkit: A practical guide to assessment, learning and teaching, Oxon, Routledge

Boys, J & Ford, P (2008) The e-Revolution and Post Compulsory Education: Using e-Business models to deliver quality education. In association with JISC. Oxon, Routledge

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Twitter Revisited

June 15, 2009 at 3:44 pm (1st Year Experience, 2nd Year Experience, Flexible Delivery, Student Support, learning)
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I’m having real trouble with Twitter of late. The stream of student consciousness that I am party to 24 hours a day, 7 days a week has revealed a world of stress, confusion and unrest. To be fair, it isn’t all negative but one tends to tune into ‘what’s wrong’ especially where it is relevant to your teaching practice or the course you are part of. Familiarity also breeds contempt and though this may be overly strong, it isn’t far from the truth.

Twitter has exposed holes in our course, that would not have been noticed by us before. Many of the tweets are ’spur of the moment’, ‘knee-jerk reactions from tired minds, I am sure. However, it is becoming increasingly difficult to decide which to act on and which to leave, in the hope they are transient concerns. I find myself constantly struggling whether to take the “ignorance is bliss” option and pretend that I had never opened Pandora’s Box, unfortunately it is not that easy.

Alternatively, I could face the issue more positively and use Twitter as a feedback mechanism. I know have information that could lead to enhancing the programme or improving communications between staff and learner. The ease in which we can know point students in a particular direction (to professional practitioners or hyperlinks for example) has proven to be invaluable.  I now feel closer to my learners and more readily able to enagage in a more honest dialogue after the tweets have flown about. Sometimes the tweeting verges on becoming a tutorial, where snippets of guidance can be afforded 24/7. I’m sure that a few of the students actually prefer this type of support.

A great deal of  the messages are frivalous and irreleavant to the programme and sifting through these streams can be both time consuming and tedious. I tend now to only read direct messages, @ replies and whatever is on my screen at the time (without having to scroll down).  This method seems to work and has cut out a great deal of the open tweets that are wild and trivial.

All said and done…. the jury is still out….

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Mahara

March 22, 2009 at 11:24 am (Flexible Delivery, PG-Cert, Student Support, learning)
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logo_mahara

Another assignment, this time to investigate specific processes within the Academy and   to present our findings back to the group after Easter. I had intended to try and avoid a  technological topic this time around and to concentrate on more traditional teaching methodologies, however the inclusion of Mahara as an option was far too tempting to ignore. My rationale was simple: I wanted to. Since the new install of Moodle, Mahara has sat there on the front page like a green genie awaiting a master. Once again the PG-Cert has afforded me an excuse to step forward and motivate me into action.

Work has already progressed on general PDP within the School, though it has been slow and uncertain of itself. Introductions to PDP have been delivered to 1st Years, but little evidence of progress has been evident. Surely it must involve more than simply outlining the concept to them? The added value of PDP to learning appears to be obvious and the rationale is robust, I just haven’t come across any institutional evaluation of the concept. The whole concept, in my opinion, requires a firmer and much more directed approach, its success lies in the first year experience. I believe Mahara could be the vehicle to inspire and drive the process forward.

What is it?

An electronic portfolio or ePortfolio is a generic term encompassing as wide a range of types and products as there are reasons for using them. The simplest starting point is to consider an ePortfolio as an extension of the paper based-portfolio, bringing with it the obvious benefit of making a portfolio of evidence portable and shareable anywhere that you have Internet access – “the new generation of the three ring binder” JISC My World Project Final Report, Roberts. 2006

In fact, an ePortfolio has a much broader scope as an online collection of reflections and digital Artefacts (such as documents, images, blogs, resumés, multimedia, hyperlinks and contact information). Learners and staff can use an ePortfolio to demonstrate their learning, skills and development and record their achievements over time to a selected audience.

“ePortfolios … are personal on-line spaces for students to access services and store work. They will become ever more useful as learners grow up and start moving between different types of learning and different institutions” Secretary of State for Education and Skills, UK, January 2006.

They have the potential to provide a central, linking role between the more rigid, institution-led learning management system and the learners’ social on-line spaces.

There are sound applications for the learner, the teacher, the institution – and sometimes combinations of the three. A teacher and learner for example can be one and the same person, with differing requirements from the same ePortfolio. It can be used to create collections of artefact’s to share with fellow students, peers, family and friends, to present to potential employers and to complement applications for research funding. In short, it is an on-line space from which to manage your life, learning and goals. Mahara (2007)

Although Mahara is built on the same modular system as Moodle (it can be stand alone or integrated, to an extent, with the VLE) it would appear to be fundamentally different to implement. Moodle has a very structured framework in which to operate, it has clearly set out activities and resources, which could be considered to be user-friendly. It is after all a course management system, where all content is defined in neat blocks of information, moderated and presented by educational facilitators. Mahara however, is primarily student centred. It can only evolve with a high level of student engagement. The students build their ‘views’ themselves and grant permissions to other users to participate in their self generated content.

Groups and Fora are generated by learners who wish to expand their learning beyond the curricula (though Mahara can be used for assessment purposes if required). Artifacts (user generated objects such as mp3’s, jpegs or documents) are uploaded onto a ‘view’ page, then access is opened to anyone that the students require to view them. Fora can be used for social purposes or as a vehicle for learning communities to thrive. All of these facilities, empower the student to explore and centre their own learning under their own volition.

Learning – Reflective learning, personalised learning, lifelong learning

An ePortfolio is an ideal tool for meeting the needs of established and emerging pedagogy and approaches to learning.

Reflective learning is “..a form of mental processing that we use to fulfil a purpose or to achieve some anticipated outcome. It is applied to gain a better understanding of relatively complicated or unstructured ideas” HE Academy Guides for busy academics, no 4, Moon 2005

An ePorfolio allows for building in reflective activities for learners and staff, through blog functions and the creation of ‘Critical incident diaries’ in which users reflect on their learning and experiences over a given period or activity. For example, this could be reflections on how a student dealt with a problem, or processed some new information on a given topic. This can become a two way process with a tutor or peer providing feedback via the same diary.

It works as a user-centred, personalised learning space allowing the user to shape the way they present themselves to the world. Content and layout can be personalised to create multiple Views which meet the specific, differing or changing requirements of the user. This ties in with one of the key tenets of personalised learning, that students become key partners in the design of learning to suit their needs.

“Personalising learning involves thinking about knowledge as an active process. Students get to be informed, active participants in their own learning, they contribute to decisions about what learning can work best for them, and they have a much better understanding of how they are progressing.” Minister of Education, NZ, 2007 (Mahara 2007)

Mahara (2007) About E-Portfolios [online] Available at: http://mahara.org/view/view.php?id=3 [Accessed 23rd March 2009]

Mahara (2007) Learning – Reflective learning, personalised learning, lifelong learning [online] Available at: http://mahara.org/view/view.php?id=3 [Accessed 23rd March 2009]

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Stage Management ICT

February 13, 2009 at 10:05 am (2nd Year Experience, Flexible Delivery, learning)
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This morning I had my first attempt at an ICT Class, specifically for Stage Managers. To be honest, I wasn’t happy with it and it is definitely and area that requires further development. I was guilty of under-planning, assuming that I could engage my class simply with the technology itself. I underestimated how difficult it was to engage the Facebook generation with specific online activities using Web 2.0. Give them a fast internet connection and they instantly take ownership of their own browsing and do not completely focus on the task at hand. However, a balance was reached as the class progressed, the time that we lost with ‘distractions’ such as Twitter and Facebook was regained almost instantly with the expertise and speed the class brought to completing the tasks I set out.

Noticing Twitter windows hidden behind behind the ‘task’ windows (which became active when I returned to my own workstation) a realisation hit me, I had openly encouraged the use of these technologies in the past and had reflected about their use in classroom environments, now I was actually engaging in my reflections. Up until that point in the morning I had been ‘instructing’ and that left a bad taste in my mouth. I swiftly changed my tact and was thankful that I hadn’t commented on these ‘distractions’ yet. I started to encourage the students to openly Twitter about the class, which they had already been doing (I discovered later when viewing the tweet streams). Personally, the whole dynamic of the class changed for me, I didn’t mention it as I wanted to see where this openness would take us.

We had started working with Google Docs, for a long time I had been aware of it’s potential for Stage Management. One of my personal goals was to explore eDocumentation and how to distribute and share paperwork electronically. Google had supplied a fantastic tool for this purpose. We set up accounts and began to work on several files I had uploaded. After a brief discussion on the benefits for Stage Managers, it was clear that the students found it useful but only if everyone used it. Collaborations would be fruitless without participants. It was a brief introduction, but a useful one, awareness had been established but further self determined orientation and development was the next stage.

We moved onto to exploring the possibilities behind Scribd, an online publishing web facility that allowed participants to upload files for viewing and scrutiny. I had used this in the past for the purposes of research and wanted the students to glimpse it’s potential. Again, we set up accounts and began to explore the basic premise behind this powerful yet simple tool. I had uploaded our Deputy Stage Managers Handbook and, as with Google Docs earlier, we all linked our accounts in order to share resources. This Web 2.0 tool was more suited to learning and research than to Stage Management, but I wanted this morning to be for both learning and professional practice.

After a short break, we stepped into the world of Wiki. Using PAPERCLIP (Stephen Macluskie’s innovative site for technical theater collaborative solutions) we added our very own m-SM project and began to explore Wiki script. Covering the basic’s; uploading photo’s, hyperlinking and page layouts we build a page for the project. This should now give us a base to expand the m-SM project. Through our explorations we also discovered how to link directly to the iTunes applications store, opening iTunes on the host machine in the process. Creating Wiki’s in PAPERCLIP will become an assessable part of their learning in the near future. This tool will eventually replace the old ‘box file’ system which is traditionally used to archive production paperwork. Another example of RSAMD Stage Management attempt to modernise an industry that still uses archaic paper-based systems, which are less efficient and unsustainable.

The next tool we looked at was Diigo, a social bookmarking site. This is an excellent resource in which web pages can be centrally bookmarked, portions of text highlighted, commented on and finally shared. Highlights and comments are saved with the bookmark, drawing the attention of fellow collaborators to the relevant sections. In turn, comments can be returned and collaborations are built. All of this can be done ‘live’ while surfing, using a series of browser plug-ins, meaning that you only have to return to your profile to review your bookmarks at the end of a browsing session. Another important research tool.

We finished the session with 15 minutes on Moodle and the students filled in a couple of Critical Incident online reports that I had set up earlier. For those who finished (or had already completed the task prior to coming to the class) they were given time to ‘play’ online with any of the tools we had used today.

The general consensus was that, as an introduction to these facilities, the class was useful. Some were more engaged than others and each student had different opinions on the resources we had covered. Each student showed a level of individual expertise and I felt the issue of engagement drifted from student to student as they crossed into thier own comfort zones. This, of course was to be expected. We all agreed that a regular series of SM ICT classes should be in place throughout the course, allowing orientation to take place. I also want to stage similair classes were skills sharing through peer learning can take place i.e. a student with particular interest and expertise using a specific e-Tool or software solution can lead a session with their peers. This would open up a host of learning opportunities, as yet untried, within Stage Management.

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Technical Collaborations

February 9, 2009 at 8:58 pm (2nd Year Experience, assessment, learning)
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Today was the culmination in last weeks classes, a simulated technical rehearsal in which every SM student got a chance to be a Stage Manager, Deputy Stage Manager and an Actor. We also continued our collaboration with the 2nd Year PLX students, in effect their classes and our classes combined at key points. Up until this week, mainly due to the lack of a PLX Lecturer, their experience had been almost wholly production based and had lacked any form of real creativity. The last few days allowed them to design and experiment with Sound and Light. Over the next few days I’ll try and formulate a process to evaluate their experience in it’s own right, rather than how it helped my department.

As for Stage Management and from my point of view, the day was a great success. I was able to assess the potential strengths and weaknesses of the Stage Mangers today from within a controlled environment. More importantly, the students themselves now have time to reflect and evaluate their own performances, something which has been lacking in the past. There was much to reflect on today, a few key questions I shall ask them to reflect on are:

  • How did you feel you coped with the pressure?
  • Which area’s of the remit are you uncertain of?
  • Were you prepared enough?
  • Which elements of the acting experience did you find most difficult?
  • How did you feel your peers performed?

We began the day with a thorough going over of their prompt copies, marking deficiencies and points for improvement. I chose to do this in the cafe bar over breakfast, which set the pace for the day. After this we set up the venue, preparing it for the lighting plot later on.

The lighting plot was an ideal session in which to test the blocking notation the students had taken down last week. It also finalised any cues that we were uncertain of. The most important factor was how the SMs collaborated with the PLX students and on the whole they were receptive and respective of each others work. I felt that thier was still a few area’s to be worked on in the near future, such as separating social relationships with professional relationships. There was a bit too much over-familiarity which lead to sometimes uncontrolled camaradare.

I invited two 3rd Year Students to the session to peer support the 2nd Years. Both had DSM’d and SM’d productions at the Academy and were well placed to develop their own learning and that of their 2nd Year peers. They attached themselves to both roles which were being tested today and were amazing in their mentoring. One thing that struck me about peer support was how pastoral it is, the students were at ease with their mentors. It felt much less like an assessment and more like a pleasant coaching session. The atmosphere was tangibly lighter and conducive to learning. It also gave me a chance to observe from a distance the students performance and how they positioned themselves within the whole event, rather than focusing on specific microcosm’s of the session. Small details were discussed and demonstrated by the mentors. After the session was over both Gillian and Susan (3rd Year) agreed that this type of learning was beneficial and should be done more. It affirmed their own learning and how far they had progressed themselves. The act of relating skills to others had given their own practice a firm grounding through self analysis. They had to draw on their own learning and communicate clearly in order for others to learn.

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Paperwork, Sound & Light

February 6, 2009 at 7:14 pm (2nd Year Experience, assessment, learning)
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As has been the case every morning this week, the students had score reading classes. Today was their last day and they all came back with the usual enthusiasm for the sessions. I must see if I can get the go-ahead to schedule more in. While they were attending the class I set up (on Moodle) a Critical Incident form and notified them that they should fill it in. The nice thing about doing one of these forms online is that Moodle collates al of the answers onto one sheet, making it easier to evaluate group responses. Hopefully I will get a better response than last years paper-based attempt.

I began the class (again in the Chandler) by introducing an old friend of mine from my theater days, Ruth Alexander. She is currently the Company Stage Manager at Pitlochry Festival Theater, the only repertoire venue in the UK. Pitlochry have always been good employers of RSAMD graduates and are a leading voice in FST. The combination of this and it being a repertoire system made getting Ruth involved with my students all the more interesting for them. The PLX students came along to sit in and contribute.

After the complaints of over work and long hours during the Opera from this same group of students, this actually turned our to be timely. Ruth’s talk made it clear that professional theater and the style in which Pitlochry works is not for the work shy or those adverse to working long hours. She brought around a raft of paperwork examples and had a series of supporting Powerpoint slides. This was much more than any other guest lecturer had ever turned up with to one of my classes. The students didn’t have to write anything down as notes were also provided. I was really pleased with the way the session went and on leaving I arranged a venue visit with Ruth for both myself and my students.

After lunch we sat around a table and discussed the paperwork they had produced so far. We discussed corporate layouts and I gave a series of tips and tricks to help them to produce professional looking documentation. We also touched on eDocuments and how we would be exploring this at a later date. This is an area that, if used appropriately could modernise Stage Management. I have never attempted to teach this area before and it is one I am looking forward to immensely.

Later on (after a few minor technical hic-cups) we were joined by the PLX students and ran a Sound Plot for both shows. We agreed on a cue order and added some new cues. We then briefed them on all the LX cues that were required, leaving them with a free reign to design any extra cues themselves.

In all it was a slow and relaxed day. I left the students to rig lighting and continue designing the sound, the SMs were briefed on getting thier Prompt Copies ready for Monday, when they were to cue thier shows, leaving an hour on Monday morning to go over thier weekend homework and make corrections. Another day full of simulations of actual production sessions, but slowed to a crawl.  I wish I could use an actual production in this way as a learning environment, but the pressures placed on TPA by other departments agenda’s always makes this next to impossible. My aim is to use 2nd Year productions, such as the A2 Shakespeares as on such purely ‘learning production’ where the schedule is drawn out to accomodate both learning and reflection. A production where sessions can be paused for educational purposes and less emphasis is placed on simpley ‘gettin the show on’. That would leave 3rd Year as a purely production based forum for practise and the honing of skills.

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Simulated Environments

February 5, 2009 at 11:16 pm (2nd Year Experience, Flexible Delivery, learning)
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This morning we tackled blocking the first play. It was called “A Growing Problem” and had a cast of two. Vicky and Kieron had chosen it out of several 10 minute plays I had found and had gotten permission to work with. I felt it was important for the students to have a say in every part of this process, including choosing the script. It is unlikely that they will get to do so in the profession, so i felt it important that they felt this ‘Micro-production’ was their own. As a result of this move, I could do little pre-planning for my part in the process i.e. that of Director. I found this blind approach, exhilarating. Having to draw on my experiences as a DSM in rehearsals, and the observations I had made of Directors, made the process thoroughly engaging for me. I had to force myself back into ‘teaching mode’ regularly in order to observe the students work and comment accordingly.

Kieron and Vicky also had to step out of their perceived comfort zones and perform in the play. I had chosen 10 minute scripts as I found using extracts of larger pieces wholly unsatisfying as they gave no sense of completion. Of course, an entire play would be out of the question due to obvious time constraints.

The outcome of both performances was astonishing, Kieron had all but memorised the entire script and Vicky threw herself into the role wholeheartedly. I moved them around the set and gave them direction, while the real focus of the session (Emma and Anne – the DSMs) were busy notating the moves as blocking beside me. This simulation of a rehearsal allowed me to control the pace and in turn, the learning of the team. As the morning progressed, I layered detail onto the students remit.

In the afternoon, we swapped performers and Anne and Emma took on the roles of the characters in their own chosen script ‘Traces of Memories’ with Kieron and Vicky being DSMs. Again, the enthusiasm for performing was evident and the two girls took their roles seriously. There is always a danger of these kind of simulations turning farcical and the whole activity collapsing into hilarity. These situations are difficult to refocus and the learning can be lost, regardless of the perceived fun. I am glad to report that this was not the case and we progressed through the afternoon in a steady fashion.

We had scheduled for the 2nd Year production electricians to attend a run of both plays, at which they took notes for lighting and sound purposes. We then sat down to a meeting with them to discuss sound and lighting provision. I had wanted to include these students all along as it was a great opportunity for both, rekindling collaborations between the disciplines and allowing the PLX students a free reign at designing. There are few opportunities for this type of collaborative learning outside the highly pressurised production process. The students appeared to thrive in this assessment free learning environment.

The classes were supplemented with a handbook I had written for the student DSM, detailing all we had covered in the class (and much more). I had also produced two animations which the students could use to practice their blocking notation, I plan to make a series of animated scenarios which can be downloaded as podcasts. It is hoped the students will download them directly onto their iPod Touch devices that they received last November, allowing them to practice ubiquitously.

With the blocking done, rehearsal notes and call sheets completed, we shall move forward on the production time line, our next learning simulation being tomorrow where we shall deal with cues and advanced paperwork.

I am thoroughly satisfied with this session, considering what it evloved from five years ago and feel that it requires only a few minor alterations in the future.

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Reflections on Reflections

February 4, 2009 at 9:32 pm (1st Year Experience, 2nd Year Experience, Flexible Delivery, learning)
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“Life has evolved not in terms of the ways the past has an impact on the present, but in terms of the ways the past is present in the present.”

-Edwin Friedman

One of my goals was to lay the foundations of reflection within my teaching practice. I feel that I have taken the first steps towards this goal, not only by committing to my own reflections (which I felt I would have to do regardless, as I wouldn’t ask my students to engage in a process that I didn’t), but also encouraging reflection within the student cohort. Building a reflective, learning community was always going to be a slow and long process, I have tried to lead by example on this. Committing myself to blog regularly and to commenting on each student blog as they are posted has proved to be time consuming but at the same time greatly rewarding. The sense of empowerment I get when a reflection leads to positive action cannot be over emphasised. Not only do I feel a sense of progression, but is also a stimulating invigorant to do more.

Judging from some of the early reflections by the 1st Year cohort, they share my enthusiasm. If I have been guilty of anything during this inititiation process then it has been that of zealousness. I have often had to pull back and apply ‘brakes’ to my encouragement.

I have nurtured a small group of analytical thinkers from within the student cohort that seem to be natural reflectors. Everything I read and learn about reflective practice gets passed on to them as they blog. I try to make the language palatable in my comments, formatively feeding back on the reflective process itself, as well as the subject matter they are using as a foundation to their analysis. This form of gentle scaffolding seems to be having an effect as I am beginning to see traces of self  and peer evaluation in their posts.

In addition to my own encouragments, I have asked the students themselves to nurture and comment on each others posts. It is hoped that this will embed a culture of ‘linked thinking’ and true collaboration. Empowering the students to center thier learning through both self and peer reflection.

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