Creativity for learner voice

Creativity - a keyword coming out from last weeks’ FutureLab Conference (Seen & Heard – Young people creating digital media) on how different kinds of digital media can be used in to get learners’ voice heard. 

If we are to truly hear what our learners are experiencing and thinking, different speakers pointed out the essential steps for success: Enagagement.  Our learners are more likely to be engaged, if they find what they’re doing interesting and relevant.  Technology, without any doubts, has a key role to play here.  E.g. colleagues from imitating the dog have demostrated how simple video making and editing techniques can facilitate students’ expression of their ideas and emotions.  They even invited all participants to give it a go, so to see how “accessible” these creative technological tools can be in a school setting.

So what role does creativity play in other context?  Every so often we try to collect students’ “feedback” by methods such as survey and focus group, there is also a question of “why should I bother?” in the air!  While these methods are valid and very useful, a more communicative and ”cross-discipline” approach would be needed if we would like to shed light on what our learners really want to share with us.  By combining “consultation” with other activities (such as curriculum-based tasks), not only can learners be more naturally “engaged” in the process, they are also more likely to relate to the topic.  A good idea from Oaklands College demostrates it well - Combining learner voice activities with citizenship education. 

So is there a room to borrow this idea for ICT policy consultation?  Safety and well-being in the online environment are so crucial in our daily lives, but often learners are not well-equipped with the knowledge, or supported in reflecting their own habits and behaviours.  So why can’t we have some learning activities around these issues, so that students can acquire new skills on one hand, and we can listen to their voice on the other?  At the moment, it is not very common for currculum development, ICT professionals and student support services to work together.  Gathering effort and expertise up from all parties is definitely the way forward.  Are you ready?

Embedding learner voice

Throughout the last months, we have talked about how different technological tools can facilitate learner engagement and participation.  Today I’d like to take a step back and reflect on how we can embed learner voice in our institutional ICT development and implementation.

Why is learner voice important?

As the “navigator” of the learning journey, learners play a crucial role in the process – Sir Andrew Foster has spelt out the importance of learner voice  in the report Realising the Potential in 2005.  By having learners’ input in shaping the provision, their learning needs will be better met, hence education quality can be enhanced.  When learners have a say and truly get heard, they’d also feel a sense of ownership, which is beneficial for both the learners and the institutions.  This’s particularly relevant to technological development, as emerging technology is simply part of their lives.

Many might think learners would put forth demands which are not feasible or pragmatic.  From my personal observations, however, this doesn’t necessary be the case.  Learners, ranging from 17 year-old doing their A-Levels or apprenticeship, to adult learners doing their basic skills courses, do understand the dilemma institutions facing.  Embedding learner voice is about maintaining the ongoing dialogue, and having learners as co-partners in the process.

How to involve learners?

Traditionally, learners’ view is mainly collected through survey.  It’s an effective way to take stock of the current situation and generate ideas for improvement.  Lots of colleges now have the “you-say-we-do” response to learners’ feedback, which is a good practice to encourage continued participation (who want to see their opinions sinking into the deep ocean?).  At the national level, LSC has been collecting learner satisfaction, which briefly touches on technology access; Becta also conducts FE survey specifically looking at learner experience, and the last survey can be found here.  These surveys give us a good overview on what learners think about their ICT experience.  In the last four years, JISC has also carried a series of research studies on learner experience, covering 200 learners in FE and HE sector.  Their recent publication, Responding to Learners Pack, is a very informative package for those of you who are looking at learner voice development at your institution.  Some of the suggested research methods, such as Interview Plus and Technology Prompt Cards, are very helpful to mix with traditional focus group method.

What’s next? Empowering learners!

While it’s encouraging to see learners’ view is taken into consideration, our effort to embed learner voice can’t stop here.  For example, when you receive a figure saying “80% of our students think that they have sufficient access to computers”, what does the figure actually mean?  When you talk to your learners and they don’t come back with negative feedbacks, does it necessary mean the current experience is excellent? 

To truly embed learner voice and empower learners to shape their own learning experience, we’ve to go beyond feedback collection, dig deeper on various issues together with our learners.  This, however, doesn’t come easy.  Besides issues such as cultural change and resources limitation, we also need to put much effort in supporting our learners as co-partners!  Support with appropriate channels, information and training is essential for their participation in the process.  It is true that not every learner is interested in talking about technology, but it could also be the case where they’re not conscious about how much difference they can make with their participation.  If we believe learner voice is important, empowerment is the key to move forward!

Next time I’d like to share some initial thoughts on how learners can contribute to the institutional ICT development and implementation.  As for now, it’s your turn for sharing:  Do you have experience, ideas or tips on engaging your learners at your institutions?  If so please do let us know, your comments are welcomed, as always.

Virtual Learning Environment

Throughout the last weeks, we’ve been looking at how various technological tools can help us engage and communicate with learners.  While external tools such as social networking sites, blog, independent websites are effective and mostly free-of-charge, your organisation might wish to use something with can sit within the institutional infrastructure.  If that’s the case, what can you do?  The answer is Virtual Learning Environment (VLE)!

Virtual Learning Environment?

JISC defines a VLE as “a collection of integrated tools enabling the management of online learning, providing a delivery mechanism, student tracking, assessment and access to resources” (Quoted from JISC infoNet – Effective Use of Virtual Learning Environments).  Majority of colleges, and many learning providers, now have a VLE in place to support learning and teaching.  VLE can be a single platform (such as Blackboard and Moodle) or an integrated set of tools.  Many institutions are now looking at, if not already, connecting the VLE together with intranet and library catalogue, so staff members and students can use all the facilities with a single-login, anytime and anywhere.

When using effectively, VLE is a powerful tool to make learning more flexible, interactive and personalised.  There’re a lot of discussion on the role VLE can play in learning, and we’re not going to repeat it here.  Have a look around in the internet if you’re interested, sure you’d be able to acquire lots of insight.

Why VLE?

One of the reasons for VLE’s popularity is its security.  Your institution has control on who can access to the platform, which means your staff members and students can conduct activities and exchange ideas in a safe environment.  This is particular useful when safeguarding issues are taken into consideration.  Most VLEs support a wide range of functions, which is also a strength.  You don’t need to use site A for blog, download software B for instant messaging, and register page C for an online forum – You can have all the functions together in one place.  VLEs allow you to upload and store files, so you can have podcasts and videos, without using external host such as YouTube.  As you can probably imagine, if enough traffic can be driven into the VLE, it can serve as an information hub, as well as a starting point to establish a strong online community.

How to use VLE to strengthen learner voice?

Using Moodle as an example, the basic functions you need to create dynamic and interactions are all in place.  For example instant messaging, survey, forum, blog and wiki (Wiki is very useful if you wish to have collaborative writing with a group):

To use VLE effectively in engaging your students, it’s important to:

• Be interactive: a lot of students find their VLE systems “boring”, like a “warehouse” which stores materials only. To attract students to actively log-on and use the system, it’s essential to make it interactive, so they can participate and feel being part of it.  Online forum and “user-generated” content are always good points to start.
• Have a presence: most institutions use their VLEs with a discipline-based approach (it’s natural, as VLE primarily supports learning). While as sudents’ union or student support unit you can’t control how others use the system, but it’s definitely helpful to establish a presence in the system.  Having a quick link or a pop-up box right after students login the system can definitely catch their eyes!
• Link up: Even if you’ve an independent website, a Facebook group, etc. it’s still worth to link them up with the VLE, so as to maximise your chances to reach out to your students.

Remember to work closely with your colleagues at the IT department, they’ll be able to give you advice and support that you need!

FEstival

Two days ago, NUS hosted the first annual networking event for FE student officers and learner voice professionals.  We had altogether 80 participants joining us to share experience and ideas on various campaigns and issues in the FE sector.  Becta is also very pleased to support the event as sole sponsor.

As this blog is about using technology to strengthen learner voice, I’m sure you already expected something about technology!  Yes technology played an important role in facilitating the whole event - We’ve built a social networking site using Ning, for delegates to check out agenda, discuss different issues and share thoughts before, during and after events (Ning is a good platform if you wish to have more customised and secure environment for a specific target community).  Some delegates volunteered to use flip cameras to record their fellows’ actions and feedbacks throughout the day.  We also had a breakout area with laptops, so delegate could comment, blog or upload files onto the Ning website real time.  Besides, we also had a Twitter hashtag (#nusfestival), and invited delegates to text us feedbacks at the end of the day.  As some delegates mentioned, technology was everywhere and it proved to be very effective in creating and facilitating the dynamic!

We’ve also held a workshop on how technology could help engage students.  Delegates shared how they currently used technology at their colleges, and what more they would like to see in the coming year.  Many students’ unions are now looking at setting up their own websites, using online registration for their activities and events, introducing online forum and blogs, installing video conferencing and texting system, as well as improving the use of their virtual learning environment.  It’s encouraging to see more and more officers seeking technological solutions to better support their students in multiple campuses, with various engagement alongside their learning journey.

The best quote I heard about technology during the day was – It’s about finding a solution, even simple things like a phone call can be very useful! - It’s not about making life fancy, but making good use of technology to get the right things done!

Blog – Online presence with a voice

In the last few blog entries, we have discussed how an online presence can be established through social networking sites and independent websites; while these tools are powerful and can effectively disseminate information and maintain a searchable platform, there is one single tool I’d highly recommend on top of them – Blog.

Why blogging?

Unlike other formal communications, blogging enables a mixture of formal and informal communication approaches: Company CEOs talking about their ambition, travellers sharing their experience, students’ union presidents expressing their ideas and thoughts… the unqiue “voice” in between the lines is more engaging and reflective, just like our old friends telling their stories.  At the same time, blog is also a very good tool to provide information and collect feedbacks.  It’s therefore a very popular tool in this social media era.

If you don’t want to spend a lot of time maintain an independent website, and you don’t want to use social networking tools such as Facebook and MySpace, blogging tools can also help you establish an online presence quickly.  For more information on how blog can be used as an alternative to a website, check out information 1 and 2.

What to blog?

The essence of a blog is its update – so you can keep your audience informed anything that you think they’d be be interested in.  For example:

• Event information
• Call for campaign support
• Policy updates
• Meeing highlight
• Discussion of learning issues

Want some ideas on the content and the tone of communication?  Why not checking out some excellent examples from various government and political organisations?

 

 

 

How to blog?

Exisiting blogging tools are pretty user-friendly, so you won’t need a long time to pick the skills up.  However, there’re other issues you need to consider.  Resource planning is very important:

• How often do you plan to blog? (If it’s left in the cold for too long, your audience might lose interest!)
• How many people are involving? (Bringing in different voices is brilliant, but that needs a bit of coordination.)
• Who is responsible for what?
• What kind of tone of language would you adopt?
• Do you have other tools to help you create content? (E.g. Camcorders, audio recorders, etc.)
• Should your blog be hosted externally (E.g. with WordPress or Blogger)? Within your organisation’s website? Or within VLE (Most VLE supports blogging function)?
• How would you integrate your blog to your wider communication strategy?

Need more ideas?  Check them out:
Imperial College Union Blog
Your Lewisham College (This blog is establised by college members, but open for individual students to submit entries for publication. This idea is quite interesting and has made good use of the “collaborative power” in the social media era.)

Engaging students by videos

A while ago, we have discussed how videos can spice up your communication with your students.  Lancaster and Morecambe College Students’ Union has just finished their new promotion video, which is really informative and with a great sense of humour!  Here is the video:

We have invited their Student Liaison Officer (SLO), Adele Burrow, and Film & TV Tutor, Janine Bebbington, to share their experience:

What are you planning to use this video for?
The film was primarily made to be used in the Induction Talks to new students this September so it will be seen by all new students to the college. It is also on Facebook and U-tube, and was shown on a TV by Main Reception throughout the Summer Term 2009.

How did you start the planning and preparation?
The SLO contacted the tutor on the Film and TV course and asked if it was possible for her students to put together a promotional film for the SU. This fitted in well with one of the modules on the course so she asked the SU to put together a brief for her students (first year National Diploma Film and TV). The SLO presented the brief to the students as ‘an external client’ to give them real-life experience.

How much did it cost?
The SU decided that they would contribute £200 towards the film so that the students could purchase a new group tripod and individual mini-disks.

Who decided the content and presentation of ideas?
The students on the course split into groups and came up with ideas, which were then pitched to the SLO over an afternoon (unfortunately the SU officers couldn’t make the time of this session – hopefully they will be able to do the judging next year). The winning group was selected and the other groups then fed their ideas into the idea for “SU TV”. None of us was too prescriptive – that way everyone was allowed to gain from the project – the SLO and tutor were open to suggestions from students and willing to trust their ideas. Projects like this could become unstuck if too many “directors” emerge

How was the production process?  Did you encounter any difficulties?
The filming was made over just a few weeks and there were a few challenges along the way – e.g. the module fell in the Autumn Term and thus the SU volunteers were new in their roles – some didn’t want to be filmed and some couldn’t meet at the times the film students were available.  In spite of the challenges and the short turn around, the students put together a fantastic film with the support of their tutor. We also had a fairly tight structure that the students operated within, so that things did not run away with themselves. 

What do you think are the advantages of using videos?
It’s a fantastic medium that reaches a wider audience. Student feedback is always to cut down text on flyers and that many don’t read lots of text information. Creating a vibrant and amusing short film captures the imagination and represents the opportunities much more clearly.

If you were to give one advice to others who are interested to use videos, what would you say to them?
Make links with departments with the expertise e.g. Film/ TV courses! The tutors can then look at where it could fit into the curriculum and choose motivated groups who are interested and up for the project.

Texting

At the beginning of this year, technologists around the world have predicted that Mobile Technology would be the next huge development.  As individuals, I’m sure you can also feel this leap – not only do we have more advanced mobiles and applications available, text messaging also becomes one of our major ways to keep in touch with family and friends, colleagues and other fellows.  According to the Mobile Data Association, we have sent a total of 78.9 billion sms in 2008!!  With this striking figure in our mind, we might wish to think about ways we can better engage our students, through a device we all carry around everyday.

Why texting?

Contacting students through texting service is not a new idea: Schools use that to keep parents informed, libraries message users about their loans and release of new books, colleges give out information and events to perspective students… Texting provides an efficient way to reach a large group of students, quickly and directly, anytime anywhere.  By deploying it effectively, it is particularly powerful in reaching work-based learners (such as apprentices), adult learners, part-time learners, etc. who are not on campus (or in front of a computer) all the time and cannot participate as much as they would wish to.

According to the feedbacks from front-line practitioners, texting is a means to uphold retention and give timely support for students!  It is not only efficient, but also easy to use.  More and more colleges now have their own texting system in place.  Service providers usually allow users to send messages out from their virtual learning environment (VLE, e.g. Moodle and Blackboard), via desktop software, linkage with existing email systems, or using website facilities (remote access is therefore possible). 

What to do with texting?

Primarily, texting allows us to disseminate information quickly.   So anything you wish your students to know can be passed on via text messages, or draw their attention to find out further details online:

• Information, Advice and Guidance (IAG)
• Social events
• Study tips
• Examination reminders
• Learner Rep meeting info
• Career information
• Call for campaign support
• Call for nomination and election

Student participation is by no means a one-way street, texting can also facilitate interaction as such.  Nowadays most service providers support two-way communication – students can send their questions, comments or other things back to designated “mobile numbers”, staff members can then check them out in their email/text inbox.  This not only opens one more channel to collect students’ feedback throughout the year, one can also send out simple questions on certain issues to students, when necessary.  By the same token, this interactive approach of engagement is becoming increasingly common in large meetings and conferences, through the support of “text walls” (with which one can see participants’ feedbacks quickly, all on one page).  Maybe we can also consider allowing polling through texting as well?

How to start texting?

It might sound obvious, but I have heard of situations in which people needed to send sms to students through their own mobiles (!), typing in a list of numbers one by one.  By seeking technical support from service providers, we can send out messages more efficiently; we can also manage and target particular groups of students with information relevant to them (e.g. apprentice induction day, change of evening class venue, etc.). 

If your college/organisation has already commissioned a texting service, you might wish to make use of the exisiting service by requesting for additional user accounts (so that you can have independent right to send/receive text messages) and purchasing extra credits through your budget.  By doing so, you can save up the start-up cost of putting the system in place.  If not, there are a number of large providers in the sector which can offer you technical support.  For instance, JANET txt provides services for colleges/organisations in the sector by waving the start-up fee.  Other companies such as edutxt and fastsms  also provide different packages you can choose from.

So what are you waiting for?  Let’s get your text going!

Vision 2020

It has been a while since I blogged last time. We were busy preparing for a series of Becta/NUS two-day events around England during the last few weeks. The first one in London just finished today, and we had 27 delegates from different Students’ Unions coming to share with us their experience and expectation about technology and learning. Wonderful two days together!

In response to the Vision 2020, we asked our delegates to tell us what they would like their learning to be in 2020. And here are some of their interesting ideas:

• My dream 2020 college includes interactive mirrors for sports students where competitiona held without travel. Art has 3D gallery where people can go strait to resource interactive tables, laptop chairs, and PDAs for all students on request. Home learning possible through online class. Everything connected to each other.
• My college would be located on a floating barge city, its insides would be completely technological with thumbscan ID and equipment given to every student. It will be located underwater.
• In 2020 I want my college to give each student its own personal laptop and have it liked to the college website which have all the lessons posted. Teacher to have a touch screen board like to her computer to demostrate the lesson. All work to be handed in via internet and all students in education To have a personal laptop which they can take anywhere and have wireless access.
• The ideal college would be to have three different ICT blocks for different types of students. For them to have the choice and the chance to learn and achieve their aims.
• Indreased funding for student liasion. State of art facilities.
• Everything in the college has to be control by computers and all students should have PDAs.
• My vision consists of up-to-date technology, upgraded books, happy staff, wide open spaces with plenty of light and a tranquil atmosphere.
• Be able to access my classes at any time any place by touch and surf! Enter my college by voice or fingerprint recognition!
• Welcome to 2020, where computers are a thing of the past. There will be sensor dectecor based computers. Advanced visual and auditory libraries simplicity is the objective technology at its finest.
• Bluetooth voice activated memory card with touch screen. Issued wide laptops at the date of the year.

Snapshot of students brainstorming and drawing their 2020 vision:

Looking forward to hearing more from students in Southwest, Midlands and the North!

JISC Annual Conference: Sharing from Leicester College

As the JISC Annual Conference closed its curtain in Edinburgh, the question on how ICT can truly support learners still gives us food for thought. In the workshop “Every Learner Counts: can technology help improve student motivation and retention?”, Lucy Stone from Leicester College was invited to share their experience in using technology to support a group of work-based learners who undertook teaching assistant training. Despite being away from campus most of the time, they were supported by handheld device and the use of Moodle. According to the group, two features were particularly useful:

• Reflective journals on Moodle, which enabled them to receive timely feedbacks and support from tutors and fellow students
• An hour of chat-room time one evening a week, for tutor and learners to gather up and discuss various issues online

Having support from other enthusiastic staff members, they are now in the process of expanding this project to a wider college context. (Click here more information of the project) Looking at the success from Leicester College’s success, it is protinent to echo the emphasis of having “champion” staff members who are innovative and engaging.

Cultural change takes time, as Lucy duly mentioned; it is crucial to have successful cases as model, so as to convince others the benefit of technology to learners and the group dynamic. While cultural change is consistently named as a major obstacle for ICT development in our sector, what can we do to gradually bring about changes? The tips from Lucy for having user-friendly, not time-consuming tools and platforms might be a good start. What do you think? Do you have related experience you wish to share? We look forward to hearing from you!

LSIS Personalising the Learner Journey Conference

Earlier this week, we participated in the “LSIS Personlising the Learner Journey: Supporting Learners to Succeed” Conference in London.  To echo the overall aim of the conference, our “Harnessing Learner Voice” workshop also provided an opportunity for practitioners and managers to learn from each others’ experiences, reflect their current position in terms of learner voice development, as well as the role of technology in facilitating the process. 

We are delighted to receive positive feedback from our participants. There are a number of interesting points emerging from our discussion:

1. Technology is the journey, not the destination.  For example, a participant felt that their newsletter was very good for keeping students well-informed. While this is a means to engage learners, it is suggested that the newsletter can be converted into pdf format, so students who prefer reading it online or who are not always on campus can get access to it. Technology does not need to be fancy, but it does offers us a wider range of options to reach more learners.
2. Harnessing technology and developing learner voice involve wider cultural change within the organisation. That requires commitment from senior management, to staff members as well as learners.  For example, due to technical capacity and other reasons, Acceptable Use Policy (AUP) might influence learners’ access to some websites, hence might have a knock-on effect on using technology for learner voice. It is therefore essential for all parties to communicate and discuss, so as to formulate the best policy which suits the organisational context and needs.
3. Training and support are also essential.  They are important for both staff members and learners, not just on the technical usage of various tools, but also on how to engage learners and encourage them to participate. At the end of the day, it is not having a facebook group or an online forum in VLE that matters, but the active participation from learners that truly creates the impact.
4. The Stage of Learner Participation (see below, a model from Future Lab) provides a good reference to the direction of learner voice development.  While the “ideal” initiatives should involve both “staff-led” and “learner-led”, empowering our learners is crucial.

At the outset of the conference, participants were asked to express their opinions real-time about personlisation. One of the upbeat findings was that over 80% of the participants in the room agreed that “Personalisation requires a change of the way we do things, and not just about resource”. When technology is right on our doorstep, it is time for us to maximise its potential to support our learners to succeed!