onlinepivot
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It’s always about the biscuits
I was in a meeting the other day where we were considering some of the difficulties of recruiting student representatives to numerous panels. Someone commented that the shift online had removed one key element of appeal, which was a regular visit to the Milton Keynes campus. For students who aren’t inside the institution this provided more informal interactions with staff members, who they may have previously only come across in course materials. This kind of standing around the tea tray moment (I’m not calling it water cooler) perhaps then facilitated interaction in the more formal meetings that followed, which can otherwise seem quite intimidating. No matter how encouraging or welcoming…
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Education & the pandemic reflections from smart people
via GIPHY Now that we enter phase 19.3 of the pandemic, and higher ed is sort of, maybe, going back to campus based, hyflex, blended, online learning there have been a number of thoughtful pieces from commentators which I thought I’d wrap up here (if you’re confused by all those terms, Sue Beckingham has a neat summary diagram). Bonnie Stewart did what she so often does, and articulated some vague thoughts I think many of us were having in a clear manner in her piece on Hybrid learning in the Conversation. She highlights how this is the worst of both worlds, with no special provision for the online students, just…
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Why returning to the lecture only model is a bad idea
via GIPHY What follows is an extract from my forthcoming book, Metaphors of Ed Tech. I’ve published it here in response to some truly awful reporting and political posturing recently which is again promoting the notion that the lecture is the only way to conduct higher ed. Online ed is being chastised as inferior, often by the same people who decry that education hasn’t changed in 100 years. Given that it was online education that pretty much saved education last year when the precious lecture model failed so spectacularly, this rather has the sense of one of those horror films where the hero survives the monsters only to be shot…
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No, Mr University, I expect you to die
via GIPHY George Siemens tweeted a link to this report the other day from HolonIQ, about Online Program Managers (OPMs), Online Program Enablers (OPEs), MOOC-as-an-OPM which they’re collectively calling OPX. I think it’s fair to say Brian Lamb wasn’t enamoured of this take. It’s difficult when reading such reports to disentangle one’s own eye-rolling response to language such as “we connected some dots by identifying OPX as a new meta-category. Collectively defining the entire spectrum of tech-enabled services models,” from some of the useful data analysis contained within. Whilst it may seem that the authors love acquisitions and mergers far more than any family members, the uptake of third party digital…
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Virtual working as the new online learning
via GIPHY Now that everyone shifted to virtual working, we are seeing lots of the same queries raised about that as we have seen for the past 20 odd years regarding online working: Is it as good? Can it really work? Is it cheaper? Is it just the same thing but online? Can I do it in my pyjamas? Maren Deepwell (disclosure: my partner so what you’re getting in these posts are the off-cuts of ranty dog walking conversations) is writing a book on Virtual Teams, as she’s been doing it since before it was trendy, in the same way you liked that band before they were mainstream. She addresses…
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What the ALT survey tells us about the online pivot
The Association of Learning Technology conducts an annual survey. This is always a useful tool to track learning technologists (and their institutions) attitudes towards different technology. This year though they had a special section on Covid, and the results of that are worth noting. They provide an interesting historical snapshot, at the end of 2020. It will be informative to see how we feel about them this time next year. Here are the key findings: 87% of Members feel Learning Technology is more positively perceived. Infrastructure and technology has won most investment over recruitment and CPD (with 53% reporting a reduction in permanent posts funding) Learning tech budgets often increased…
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The post-lockdown springback & what it means for education
via GIPHY When we eventually limp out of lockdown, it will be interesting to see the range of reactions from everyone. I suspect there will be the full continuum of responses. Some people will have developed anxiety around others and operate largely in lockdown mode. Even if they feel ok about other people, more people will have had lifestyle revelations. The thought of commuting seems abhorrent, wearing anything but jeans and jogging bottoms feels extravagant and working in an office inefficient and constrictive. Working from home in a small-holding in Camarthenshire now seems like the dream. But at the other end of the spectrum will be individuals who are desperate…
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The tyranny of the timetable
Scheduling and the creation of timetables is a fantastically complex task in the world of increasing degree options. But it is also one of those things we take for granted, and don’t question its implications. James Clay wrote about creating more flexible, smart timetables that adapt to student needs, but even this has the lecture/class as an assumption. It has struck me during the pivot how much the lecture is still the default model, and the effort has largely gone in to shifting this online. This would seem to me a missed opportunity for a number of reasons (many pedagogic), one of which is that it recreates the tyranny of…
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Distance ed lite
via GIPHY Now that we are into the second semester of this academic year, with nearly all higher ed teaching taking place completely online, and many students studying from home, we are in effect seeing a nation of distance learners. I know educators are working very hard to keep the process going, and don’t want to criticise anyone, but from things I’ve heard, I thought ‘d suggest some things that can be done fairly easily which will help students enormously. It is unrealistic to expect face to face providers to pivot online and to be operating with the same distance ed provision of a specialised provider like the OU. What…
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Death Star vs Storm Trooper investment
Let us put aside the whole being evil and blowing up planets part of the Empire for now (although, admittedly that is a large part of their brand), and simply focus on the most efficient use of resources. Imagine you are Chief Imperial Budget Setter for the Empire. Over Christmas I rewatched the Star Wars movies. And boy, do those Empire guys not learn the lesson about centralisation of resources. Three times they create an epic planet destroyer only to have it blown up by someone pressing the ‘Destroy Death Star’ shiny button. There has been some good work on the economics of the Death Star and Rebel Alliance. But…
