To Blog ....... or not to Blog

You'd think having had a comment on my last posting in early March (thanks Joe), the third one ever, I should have approached my Blog with renewed enthusiasm. Someone out there is reading it! Yes you'd think so - however I seemed to have run out of steam there for a little while. I have, to be fair, been really busy particularly with the Collaborative Course Design Pilot we are running from the RSC right now and also working with colleagues designing another pilot project aimed at progressing the use of e-Assessment. But having said that I have allowed my Blog to slip down my list of priorities and I need to get back on track with it.

So I've coined a new phrase - Blog Fatigue! - well I thought I had however on closer inspection I discover that there is much written about this new phenomenon - so there you are Mrs Smug!

“Blog fatigue” is a common subject - and it's said that pretty much everyone comes down with it at one point or another. (see Jason Kaneshiro's blog about it). He suggests that it's routine that leads to it, something I was actually determined to keep to - hence the Friday Blog. No, no, no ..... he says "mix it up" to avoid BB (Blog Burnout.)

Another strategy suggested is to craft 52 one for each week and post date their publication - a bit too mercenary for me. I rather like to think that I provide an informative, responsive and up to date service - hmmmm.

I prefer Jason's solution so beware! I'm going to Blog as the inspiration takes me and it could be on any day of the week! In fact it's Wednesday today if I'm not mistaken.

Blog Fatigue: Is it fatal to your Blog ?

Suzanne senses Blog Fatigue - do you ?

Which comes first the Chicken or the Egg ?

This week saw the start of our new initiative aimed at supporting curriculum development in our region - we're calling it Collaborative Course Design (CCD) and beginning pilots in 3 of our supported institutions. My colleague and I spent 2 days this week working with a course team exploring technologies and how each can add value to the learning experiences both for the learners but also for the staff. It kind of brought home to me the chicken/egg nature of making decisions about how to exploit new technologies in general. In other words how do you know which technology to use unless you are exposed to them in an appropriate context.

Although I had a few concerns, the original plan for our sessions to explore and establish a common understanding of new technology was a good one. While individuals have ideas about the role of technology in the context of learning & teaching, ideas are constrained, quite naturally, by an individual's own experience and exposure to technology and software. I did wonder if spending time showing and explaining the scope and range of new learning technologies might be perceived as a waste of precious preparation time. However it became evident that a brief and concise demonstration provided enough of an insight for staff to quickly realise the potential of and application of new technologies for learning & teaching. The experience also supports our new 20 minute topic briefings aimed at senior & operational managers which we are offering and delivering to our supported institutions. These are also aimed at assisting the decision making process but in an institutional context rather than a course context.

Working with a course team meant that, as a group, ideas could be bandied about and the practicalities, suitability and local issues regarding the use of hardware and software could be considered as a group and introduced to a course in a more coherent way. The whole experience seemed to me to promote a very creative and positive experience with real commitment to making some changes and doing things a bit differently. Reservations about making what might be considered to be a significant departure from previous methods are understandable but I'm quite delighted that our Collaborative Course Design (CCD) initiative has got off to such a positive start.

Blogging Again - getting going for the new academic year

Out and about with our Roadshow this week reminded me how hectic it is in the FE colleges over the next couple of weeks with student induction underway. Wouldn't it be great if prior to starting new learners could login into the systems and prepare themselves for a new phase in their lifelong learning journey, hitting the ground running so that the excitement and motivation I could see in all the faces this week can be exploited.

I think most people would concede that, particularly young people (so called  Digital Natives), are well able to work their way around a system that has user friendly help. One of the attractions of coming into an FE institution is the perception that they will be treated like adults and technology, in particular some of the social software applications, I think can help in that respect. The ability to customise the interface, the opportunity to choose how other applications are integrated all add to the development of learner autonomy. Induction is a good place to start and I'd be interested to find out the views of my colleagues out in colleges.

Of course there is a need to follow through on this promise and ensure that the learning experiences meet the expectations set at induction time. I guess it all comes back round to taking a strategic approach to course development and delivery but in practice that's a tall order of course any strategy is dependent on a many variables. The team here at the RSC have been working out how to support colleagues in the learning providers we support to do this. Our Collaborative Course Design initiative aims to provide this, with the team working intensively with a whole course team over a couple of days and providing a mentoring role beyond that if appropriate. We'll be piloting this before Christmas and the focus will be on collaborative development of collaborative learning that exploits ICT to the full. Get in touch if you'd like to know more or feel free to comment here - ideas are always valuable and welcome.