The Learning Technologies Unit website

This article is based on the Mini Course "Inspirations for Online Learning Activities", 14 February 2012, 11am, at the IOE Media Centre.

As a part of IOE Computing's mini courses, we ran a live web conference demonstration using Elluminate, which is freely available at the IOE on every computer.

Personal Learning Space is an area currently hidden in the depths of our Virtual Learning Environment Blackboard. The session gave a preview of this area, which can be accessed by any BLE user.

Recordings 

Both recordings are available from the link below, starting with the Elluminate Demo session in the first 30 minutes, followed by the Personal Learning Space session in the second half of the recording.

Please note that the link will download a small file, which you might need to approve, depending on your browser's security settings. Look out for a yellow bar at the top of the browser window when clicking the link.

From Action to Abstraction, via Conversation:

Using Google Apps to Facilitate Dialectical Education in an MA Course

LTU Seminar from 09 February 2011
Speaker: Dr Yishay Mor, University of Haifa

Review
At this seminar, we took a holistic look at teaching an MA module with technology. The presentation included a demonstration of a custom-made Hybrid Learning Environment based on Google Apps and used both in a face to face classroom as well as in between sessions. In a stimulating discussion, we tackled a variety of issues, including learning theory, practicalities of teaching, teaching approaches, discussion-based learning, the role of technology as a facilitator of interaction, the importance of social interaction, institutional issues with technology, and many more.

The slides from this session are available below, or by follwing this link to the slideset.

Session Overview
In the last term I have taught a course on "games and learning" as part of an MA programme for in-service teachers. My pedagogical approach led students from personal experiences to abstract ideas through on-line and face-to-face discussions. In search for a technological platform which would support such an approach, I decided to try Google Apps - combining a course web site with a discussion list and shared documents. The rationale for this choice was the flexibility which was afforded by the platform, allowing me to shape it to my needs. Using this platform, I was able to provide my students with an intense and rewarding learning experience.

In this talk, I will share some fresh experiences from this experiment and the insights and questions that they raise. We will also have room to discuss how tutors can adopt and transfer some of the elements to their own courses.

Seminar Leader
Dr Yishay Mor is a Teaching Fellow at the Technologies in Education unit, the Faculty of Education, University of Haifa, where he leads the Digital Cities MA programme in Technology, Leadership, and Education. He is also an honorary research fellow at the London Knowledge Lab. Yishay's interests include methodologies for design-based research in education, the use of social and mobile technologies to foster collaborative learning, and positioning educational practitioners as learning designers.

More information about Dr Yishay Mor at http://www.yishaymor.org

On 20th January 2011, we ran a Mini Course on the topic Getting Started with Flexible or Online Courses, summarising the current situation at the IOE.

The course covered

• initial prompts on how to think about flexible or online courses,
• the strategic efforts of the IOE and the processes to get started,
• pedagogic course templates derived from IOE practice, and
• the support sources available at the IOE.

Below are the slides from the session, and slides from a related presentation on Pedagogic Templates for E-Learning.
For further information, please contact the LTU.