Wednesday, May 30, 2012

Theoretical framework

Participants seem to be a bit confused around the theoretical framework that they should use in their final presentation.

A theoretical framework will help you guide you in the design of your prototype, by linking your prototype to a larger body of research, refering back to previous studies done on similar projects.

For example Kristian is trying to encourage reflection on pre-course readings using blogs, so his theoretical framework will link to the importance of reflection in students and maybe level of reflections.

An interesting article for him could be (for example):

Strampel, K., & Oliver, R. (2008). We ’ ve thrown away the pens , but are they learning ? Using blogs in higher education. Ascilite2008 Melbourne (pp. 991-1001). http://www.ascilite.org.au/conferences/melbourne08/procs/strampel.pdf

Aatika is looking at peer instruction, so a starting point for her research would be: 

Crouch, C. H., & Mazur, E. (2001). Peer instruction: ten years of experience and results. American Journal of Physics, 69, 970-977.

Mazur, E. (1997). Peer instruction: a user’s manual. N.J.: Prentice Hall.

If you are interested in peer review, such as Phadlie have a look at: 

Walker, R., & Barwell, G. (2009). Click or clique? Using educational technology to address students’ anxieties about peer evaluation. International Journal for the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning, 3(1). Retrieved from http://www.georgiasouthern.edu/ijsotl

From a different angle, this Andersen article  will help you frame at what stage of the elarning process your interaction is situated. And just give you a way to talk about it in relation to the rest of the teaching you are doing. http://cde.athabascau.ca/online_book/ch2.html

Two of the theoretical frameworks that have become quite popular around the use of emerging technologies is Connectivism and Authentic Learning

Siemens, G. (2004). Connectivism - A learning theory for the digital age. http://www.elearnspace.org/Articles/connectivism.htm

Lombardi, M. M., & Oblinger, D. G. (2007). Authentic Learning for the 21st Century : An Overview. EducauseLearningInitiative. http://net.educause.edu/ir/library/pdf/ELI3009.pdf


If you have some interesting resources that you would like to share, post a comment!

Monday, May 28, 2012

Week 5 of course

Dear all,
We are nearly done! 2 more weeks to go...

This week you will be continuing to work on your prototypes, planning formative feedback and hopefully engaging a bit more with theoretical frameworks and other important details for your presentation :)

This week's reflection (reflection 3) focuses on the feedback your received on your prototype and how it impacted on the design of your prototype, either during last week's online session, as a comment by the facilitators on your reflections or any other formative feedback that you have set up from colleagues or your students. You will present this during the online session. If you havent done so, please book your online session on the doodle http://www.doodle.com/hpbvgg67774bp5w6

We can also address any other open questions that you might have concerning your prototype.

Good luck!

The CHECET team

Friday, May 25, 2012

Reflection 3: formative feedback

This reflection will focus on the feedback you received during the last Adobe Connect session on your initial thoughts of the prototype you want to develop. Was it useful? Any changes, improvements you are going to implement based on the feedback?
Furthermore you will need to start organizing some form of formative feedback on your prototype from colleagues or your students. How will you go about it?
Deadline30th of May 2012. You will present on this during the online session.

Monday, May 21, 2012

Week 4...

Half of the course gone, time is passing by quickly! And the most exciting part of the course is starting: the development of your own prototype. We hope you got lot of good ideas from the show and tell sessions last week and are busy designing your own teaching intervention.

Activities for this week include

- Reflection 2, which is due on Wednesday, the 23rd of May. In this reflection you have started to design your own prototype answering initital questions: what pedagogical problem would you like to address? what technology have you selected? why?

-  You can present your initial ideas to get feedback in the online session on the 23rd of May. Please put down your name on our doodle to book your time slot! Link to doodle: http://www.doodle.com/hpbvgg67774bp5w6

If you are still experiencing problems posting on the blog, please create your own blog. Welcome to the world of blogging Kristian, Najwa, Juliana, Simone! JP posted a very nice introductory tutorial on blogger in our Facebook group. Alternatively you could post your reflections into the Facebook group, to get feedback.

You will receive feedback on your reflection 1 by Wednesday, either as a comment on your own blog entry, a reply to your comments on the CHECET blog or in the Facebook group, for those whose comments were not posted on the blog. You will be marked on your written reflections, not on your presentations in the Adobe Connect sessions. You can find the rubrics we are using for marking in the course outline.

Good luck!

The CHECET team





Thursday, May 17, 2012

Reflection 2

Dear all, It's time for our next reflection. Task 2 and reflection 2: Initial proof of concept

Prepare a preliminary piece on the intervention that you intend to present in your final session. Post this initial proof of concept on the blog.

What learning problem have you decided to address? What activity have you decided to develop? What tool have you selected and why? What are the affordances of this tool? How well do the affordances of this tool match your learning needs and the learning needs of your students.

In your final presentation on June 6th you will need to include the following:

Theoretical departure points of the research or teaching approach, Contexts in which it has been applied, Description of the context and modules in which you may apply the pedagogic intervention, How you may apply it in your own modules, What do you think the challenges may be in applying this approach in your own module?

So you could start reflecting on these topic ....

You will present your initial ideas on your prototype on 23 May 2012 in the online session using Adobe Connect. To select the slot you want to present in, please add your name to the doodle: http://www.doodle.com/hpbvgg67774bp5w6

You can post your reflection by repyling to this post or start your own blog, as some you have already done! Ther is a short video posted on the Facebook group on how to create a blogger blog.

Wednesday, May 16, 2012

2nd Face to face workshop...

This day was filled with show and tells by lecturers from all the four Western Cape Higher Education institutions... so many different technologies, different disciplines...fascinating stuff!

The backchannel for this can be found at #checet on Twitter.

We will update this blog entry as we get PowerPoints and recordings of the presentations.

Programme of the day

Mobile learning
  • Vodcasting with social work students - Neil Henderson, UWC
  • The use of mobile clickers at SU - JP Bosman
Social media / PLEs
  • Setting up your own PLE - Michael Rowe, UWC
  • Blogging about fishes - Richard Knight, UWC
  • Students create an Anatomy wiki - Roisin Kelly-Laubscher, UCT
Use of MultiMedia
  • Creating C-maps - Gavin Maneveldt & Judy Jurgens, UWC
  • Digital storytelling in Industrial Design - Veronica Barnes, CPUT
  • Students' reflections and ePortfolios on blogs - Jolanda Morkel, CPUT 

Podcasts of the sessions


 Presentations and screencasts

1. JP's screencast on mobile clickers at Stellenbosch






2. Michael Rowe's presentation on PLEs

Michael's blog: http://mrowe.co.za/blog
Twitter: @michael_rowe
Personal learning environments

View more PowerPoint from Michael Rowe

3. Roisin Kelly-Laubscher's presentation




6. Jolanda Morkel's presentation on ePortfolios

Course blog and links to students' individual blogs: http://2ndyearclassof2011.blogspot.com/

Monday, May 14, 2012

Week 3...

Week 3 of our course has started!

After a week of busy online communication and collaboration we are meeting again face to face!

  • 2nd Face to Face meeting: Wednesday, the 16th of May 2012, 8.30-13.30, CPUT IT Centre, Bellville

Before the meeting, please complete your first online reflection on your own teaching and learning context. You can either do this by replying to the post below or set up your own blog !

One of the technologies we are going to explore during the face to face workshop, is Twitter. It would be great if you could create a Twitter account before the workshop and - if you have a smartphone - install Twitter on your phone. If you encounter any problems, we can sort those out on Wednesday.

In case you are looking for people to follow, have a look at our blog team page to find some of our own twitter names. LSE has published a very useful Twitter guide on "Using Twitter in university research, teaching and impact activities".

See you soon!

The CHECET course team

Wednesday, May 9, 2012

Emerging Technologies to improve Teaching and Learning in Higher Education: Reflection 1: teaching and learning context

Emerging Technologies to improve Teaching and Learning in Higher Education: Reflection 1: teaching and learning context:

Wow! Great video in response to that of Michael Wesch - what lecturers are saying to their students.

Reflection 1: teaching and learning context

It's time for your first reflection!
This reflection will focus on your teaching and learning context. The two areas we would like you to reflect on, are:
  • What are your initial ideas about your learners’ and your own needs? How could you address these needs using technology?
  • What don’t you know about your learners as yet, that you would need to know to design your intervention / prototype? What do you intend to do, to establish what your learners needs are?
Please post your reflections by replying to this post. Each reflection should not exceed 500 words. Deadline: 16th of May 2012.


Good luck!

And if you need some inspiration, have a look at this video :)

Sunday, May 6, 2012

Start of week 2

Week 2 of our the CHECET course is about to begin!

Activities for this week include

  1. Completing the wiki assignment on Emerging Technologies
  2. Presenting this assignment during an online session on Adobe Connect on Wednesday the 9th of May between 13.00 and 17.00. Please dont forget to book your slot on http://www.doodle.com/i4uytxhhympntiax
  3. And writing your first reflective blog post! We will start an new post for this reflection.
In case you havent joined the google group yet, please do! Google groups are very helpful in facilitating group communication. We will use the group’s “mailing list” function to communicate, as well as the discussion forum function for debate and sharing. 

Do this by: going to web address http://groups.google.com/group/checet-practitioners?lnk=gcimh and joining the group (make sure you are signed in with your Google account). To send an email to all your course colleagues use the following email address: checet-practitioners@googlegroups.com

Have a wonderful Sunday!

The CHECET team

Wednesday, May 2, 2012

Day 1 (face to face)

The first day of the "CHEC Emerging Technologies to improve Teaching and Learning in HE" is here!

And what a packed programme...

After a round of introduction, JP Bosman and Sonja Strydom From Stellenbosch started with an ice breaker exercise called "ParticiPlan", which went straight to the core of this course: "How can Emerging Technologies be used to enhance teaching and learning?"

JP explaining the participlan


Viv Bozalek from UWC continued with an introduction to the course.



Daniela Gachago from CPUT presented a brief analysis of the pre-course survey

And then it was time for tea ;)

 Cheryl Brown from UCT started with the vision of students today
     CHECET students today
View more PowerPoint from cheryb

And then Dick Ng'ambi (also from UCT) took over to discuss
visions of lecturers today.






Eunice Ivala from CPUT concluded this session with an overview of applying an Instructional Design model to design your teaching intervention.