Staff skills for e-learning

1. Staff skills for e-learning Helen Beetham Institute for Learning and Research Technology, University of Bristol

2. Quick definition ‘learning with the assistance of interactive, electronic technology, whether offline or online’ Typical scenario Asynchronous text-based conferencing with access to web-based materials.

3. Outcomes for this workshop • To have decided what it means (to you) for learners to be ‘empowered’ by e-learning • To be able to describe a range of learning skills for the new learning paradigm • To have (at least one) model of the e-learning process • To have developed a list of skills needed to support students effectively • To have considered issues in effective support of staff (if we have time)…

4. Issues for this workshop • e- for empowered learners? • e-learning skills • e-learning processes • supporting students • supporting staff

5. A new learning paradigm • Distributed resources • New media • New modes of knowledge • Blurring of educational boundaries • between sectors, disciplines, roles • Continuous and discontinuous change • Lifelong learning and CPD (self-management, FOFO) • New forms of participation

6. empowered learners? The proliferation of transactive learning spaces in the age of computer-mediated education signifies that control of the content of curriculum must give place to an explosion of self-crafted, ad hoc, and customized learning modules, where the great historical divide between instructor and student can be found in a state of meltdown... Carl Raschke (1999) Beyond Education: The Age of Transaction and the ‘Scene’ of Digital Learning, Syllabus, Nov-Dec

7. empowered learners? [With e-learning environments] there will be no need for teachers as they are today...instead the focus will be on the employment of the best teachers to assist in the development of computer-based learning using the best curriculum and instructional strategies. Contributor to IFETS discussion list, July 1999

8. empowered learners? [the internet offers] a medium which has no centre podium and offers no privileged position for any messages... a medium which allows teacher and learner to share a common space in which there is no established authority but uses widely distributed knowledge resources to forge new levels of consciousness. Martin Ryder (1998), The world wide web and the dialectics of consciousness

9. empowered learners? Sometimes I can’t really find the things that I want because... it’s all words so I have to click, click, click and it’s so... frustrating sometimes. I can’t find the right one. Student R, March 2000

10. empowered learners? I reckon it’ll be direct one day. Mind to mind. There won’t be any technology then. Well, there’ll just be that one, the mental one. Student S, March 2000

11. empowered learners? It’s just mad now! It’s changing all the time. But it can only go so far, can’t it? What will stop it going any further? People, I guess. But... for every one like me there’s one like him! [Student S] Student A, July 2000

12. empowered learners? I haven’t got round to [writing a personal web page] yet, but I’ve got lots of ideas for how to do it. The biggest problem is I keep thinking ‘well what can I put on it that might interest other people?’... I could probably present it well but what do I put on it? You know. It’s got to interest somebody. Student T, March 2000

13. Key question What would it mean to you for your students to be ‘empowered’ e-learners? (i.e. what would they be able to do, or do better/differently, as a result of learning online?)

14. New learning issues • Access and inclusion • Information literacy • Motivation and participation • Flexibility and self-managed learning versus • Collaborative and group learning • Learner differences

15. Key question In any e-learning provision, how are these issues addressed?

16. New learning skills • Information seeking, analysis and management • Expressing ideas in different media • Communicating in different media • Participating in different learning groups and settings • Applying knowledge to real-world tasks • Self-direction, self-awareness, goal setting, time management • Valuing and evaluating different perspectives • Juggling roles and identities

17. Key question In any e-learning scenario, where and how are these skills • Acquired? • Practiced? • Supported? • Assessed?

18. technologies knowledges communities Learning processes acquiring skills new practices(ways of deploying knowledge and skills in specific social contexts) constructing knowledge and understanding developing values

19. technologies knowledges communities E-Learning processes using digital tools shared knowledge- or skills-based activities in online communities of practice participating in online communities accessing digital resources

20. Key question • How can staff support learners through these different processes?

21. technologies knowledges communities E-tutoring roles promoting skills designing and supporting activities facilitating participation scaffolding knowledge

22. Group activity • Four groups of 4-6 people • Consider one of the four e-tutoring roles • What skills are needed to carry out this role (i.e. staff need to be able to…)? • Refer to earlier exercise, hand-outs if necessary • Be prepared to feedback

23. Supporting staff • New roles and professional identities • New skills, knowledges and values

24. technologies knowledges communities Implementation and support roles ICT training staff Learning and Teaching Staff(planning, delivering, facilitating, assessing) Librarians/ resource managers Learning skills staff

25. technologies knowledges communities Development roles Technical and systems developers Institutional and strategic developers Educational developers Materials developers Change agents

26. technologies knowledges communities Management roles CS/ICT/MIS management Learning facilities management strategic e-learning management L&T management Library/resource/ content management HR management

27. Key skills for staff • pedagogic skills (learning and teaching) • development skills (self and others) • information and communication skills • project and person management skills • technical skills

28. Key issues in supporting staff • How to promote ‘peer-supported experimentation’ and critical reflection • How to develop collaborative learning within and across institutions • How to develop skills in authentic professional contexts • Short shelf-life of technology-related skills (continuous revolution = lifelong learning) • Accrediting and acknowledging expertise

29. Change of role ‘I’ve become increasingly involved with colleagues regarding the development of online materials’ ‘I’ve became a member of university PCLI steering group, have now been able to raise funding for a new project’ ‘I’m now considered the dept expert in LT’

30. Transforming practice Sometimes it requires confidence and support to change practice in the face of existing cultures – including the expectations of students: Student: “You mean the lecture is cancelled next week?” Lecturer: “No, it isn’t cancelled. I never planned to have one”

31. Professional development • L&T process rather than technical skills • acknowledging experience and values • collaborative development teams • reflective practice • disciplinary culture • action learning

32. Action learning ‘a continuous process of learning and reflection, supported by colleagues, with an intention of getting things done. Through action learning individuals learn with and from each other by working on real problems and reflecting on their experiences.’Beaty & McGill (1995)

33. Activity – needs analysis See hand-outs on carrying out a needs analysis for staff skills