E-book

Hi everyone

Sorry - been really busy teaching abroad and then back into the groove here in the UK. A few things have happened in the last few weeks - my ACCA bid was not accepted but I received some encouraging feedback; so will apply elsewhere for some funds for the project. It is really difficult getting funding but I will keep trying.

I have been asked to provide a chapter for SCEPTrE on mobile work based learning for an e-book which they are publishing - so I need to find the time to do that (eek!)

I am meeting Dawn Wood from the TEL team on Friday to discuss the new PUPPS programme that I am rolling out this year - I have 5 students who are interested so far and am hoping to recruit another 15 if possible - I will be organising a discussion on e-portfolios in the next coming few weeks.

So - I am still keeping busy with things and although the knockbacks are disappointing, my enthusiasm for all things research is still gleaming and I am DETERMINED to get some funding!!!!!!!!!! - because everyone tells me these ideas I have are really good but I just have very little proven experience in delivering research in the form of papers/reports etc

Ok - so more updates to follow!!!

ALT -C 2010

I am sat in a session on e-certificate for validation of experience or a portfolio - a very interesting JISC project which may have implications for the work that I am seeking to do with ACCA. Interestingly the e-certificate will have three stakeholders, issuer - learner - reviewer and there is no storage and verification happens digitally.You can go in and check for validation adn an evidence file is kept behind the e-certificate.

There is opportunity for re-cetification if required - this model requires that the student retains ownership of the evidence file and it is not held centrally - the e-certificate validates existence of the evidence but there is no back up of the file itself.


I think that this is agood idea - however, there are some real pertitent issues associated with data management, storage, accountability, employer perceptions, data flow issues etc

I am not sure that employers will really be bothered about an e-certificate which validates experience because there is such as move towards lifelong learning, potential etc which really only comes over from the evidence itself rather than the validation - there are issues with quality, consistency etc and Ithink that this would be good for professional or regulatory vocations where validation is important.


I think that this is something that could be bolted onto the PREPARE - as part of the peer review - the e-certificate could be used as validation for the point of entry by potential students.

PUPPS Showcase and stuff

Hi all

Ben Cotton from socialweb thing came to the PUPPS showcase evening in June and presented a really interesting and thought provoking session on getting a jo in a digital age - he has written about this experience on his blog which can be found here:

http://socialwebthing.com/2010/06/27/landing-a-job-in-the-digital-world/

I am going to spend the next few weeks trying to promote the project to all students who are in work, volunteering etc and see whether I can try and inspire some students to look at the project as an opportunity to develop their employability skills in preparation for the challenges of work and graduate opportunities.

I met two lovely ladies, Janine and Nadine from Leeds College of Art at the IVERG conference and they are keen to do some collaborative work together on e-portfolios, blogging etc

I have written a bid for IAESB which incorporates a lot of the work of PUPPS and ideas for my PhD into a research project called PREPARE - I will post further details when I have finalised the project bid - suffice to say I have taken a collaborative approach and am working with Bob Croft, our excellent learning technologist, a former student now working as a graduate trainee , Lisa Walker and am getting help from the lovely Dr Junjie Wu who is an expert on all things research!

I have contacted Janine Sykes from Leeds College of Art who specialises in collaborative online learning spaces to see whether she would like to be involved.

The deadline on this is 1st September so whilst I should be working on my report for SCEPTrE and my poster for ALT-C 2010, I am working on another bid! Well, that is the life of an early career researcher I suppose.


I have had a few requests for examples of e-portfolios that have been created - students' work is hosted on a private gateway which you can only access through me, so if you are interested in viewing it, please get in touch.

Here is one of the portfolios I have created during the project

http://www.pebblepad.co.uk/pilot/viewasset.aspx?oid=60988&type=webfolio

I am on finally on leave!!!- but as ever, have lots to do - am definitely going to get some leisure time in!

Later!

CMALT

So I find out on Friday that I have been awarded CMALT which is great. I intend to use my portfolio for my PGCHE submission and I am in the process of applying for HEA Fellowship status.

Here is a link to my e-portfolio

http://www.pebblepad.co.uk/pilot/viewasset.aspx?oid=60988&type=webfolio

I am currently working on two things - e-portfolio review for HEA and also the poster for ALT-C 2010.

I really, really need a break and am soooooooo looking forward to taking off August - all though I have dissertation students booked in to see me.

Two ladies I met at the IVERG conference, Janine and Nadine from Leeds College of Art have expressed a wish to work with me in the area of e-portfolios and do some cross inter-discplinary work so I am currently looking for funding opportunities.

I need to edit and amend the paper for IVERG which is to be considered for publication and write up the interviews from the PUPPS event - However, I am determined to have some time off and my week in September will be completely work free - I am not taking my phone or laptop in a bid to get in some real leisure time - Until then - still stuff to do, with more marking of the resit exams and assessments next week.

Working on the poster as we speak - need to change images etc as the resolution is not high enough and the picture quality is poor - technology - you have got to love it haven't you?

Update on the project so far

OK - so I am now trying to transcribe the interviews and will be using open coding to try and put them into a relational hierarchy - eek - the lovely Dr Junjie Wu has offered to help me with this and I feel I am going to learn a lot from this process - not least how to use Nvivo!

I have nearly completed the poster for the ALT-C 2010 which is fab - found out yesterday that the prize giving for the my winning module is when I am at the conference so I wont be able to receive it in person - I will have to ask someone to collect it on my behalf - a blessing really as I dont really like being visible at these things!

My report for SCEPTrE has to be in at the end of September sometime I think - it should be quite straightforward to do as the journal papers and conference papers I have submitted based on the project means I have done a lot of the leg work already - I just need to focus on the data analysis bit now.

The iVERG conference at Teeside University was really good - it was really interesting and everyone seemed really interested in my work with mobile and biographical learning - many had said that they had not come across biographical learning before (including a Professor) - so found it really interesting.

My work on virtualising a workplace has come to a bit of a standstill as I need to finalise the mod. spec for FOG (more revisions) and then I will need to pick up some momentum with businesses etc again

I was hoping the e-portfolio showcase would pull in some business contacts but bad timing on my part (I am still REALLY BUSY!!!) meant that not many attened - though as ever expressing what a great project it is etc

I feel the teaching fellowship may have helped open some doors on this - but I am a great believer in things happening for a reason, and though it may be more of a challenge without the contacts etc, I am sure that if I stay determined and focused I will achieve what I want to with this project and beyond.

So what is next? Well I need to finalise the report, submit a journal paper on the findings of the PUPPS project, develop the virtual workplace (lots of liaison with media services and placements needed!), finish the PUPPS ALT-C 2010 poster and of course work on next years modules - after this is all done I am going to take a break!!!

Ok - so I have a presentation for Friday on e-portfolios that I am giving in Headingley to prepare for - so as usual lots to do!!!!

Disappointment but onwards and upwards

So the first bit of bad news during the project really which is that I did not manage to get a teaching fellowship - was really disappointed but encouraged by the feedback...I will mull over whether I will apply for one next year..I am not sure at this stage

Well other things that are happening - I am giving a presentation at an e-portfolio meeting on 9th July about PUPPS. I am of course, really, really looking forward to doing my presentation for ALT conference in September.

I am having a showcase event on Friday for PUPPS and as usual only x2 participants are actively engaged and have produced something of note - the standard of the webfolios I have seen is brilliant and I am really pleased that we have something of genuine quality that can be showcased to graduate trainees and students going on placement.

I am not really sure how to promote the project further as I would like to encourage students who work to joing the project as well.

I have written my PhD proposal and am really excited about my proposed study which builds on the work of PUPPS.

I am presenting at IVERG conference on Mon/Tuesday about virtualisation of a workplace - the work based mobile learning module that I have written and hope this will be a good forum to sound out some ideas and raise the profile of the project.

OK - well over and out until the next post.

Progress so far

Hello everyone - it has been a while since I have been on - lots going on as usual. Some news - I am presenting a poster at the ALT-C in Nottingham in September which is great - it is a fantastic conference and I attended last year, so I am really pleased my poster has been accepted.


I am also presenting a paper at IVERG conference at University of Teeside which is on virtualisation of the workplace - but much of what I will talk about is linked to the PUPPS project. I watched an intersting debate - entitled, "the vle is dead" which has given me some things to think about; http://celtrecord.wordpress.com/2009/09/08/the-vle-is-dead-debate-at-alt-c-2009/


I have been interviewing participants on the project and some of the content that has emerged from the interviews has been very interesting. It has also given me an opportunity to adopt some of the Interpretative Phenomological Analysis which worked well, providing students had blogs and artefacts to use to recall memories. I have one more participant to interview and then I will be writing up the report.

I attend a TEL event on 26th May to disseminate information about the project - it was really interesting as there was some cross over with the findings of the ALPs project which focuses on digital storytelling.

I received a phone call today confirming that the project is going to be used as an exemplar case study for the STEEL project - so this is another form of dissemination which is great.

I have submitted a HEA bid requesting a grant to fund a project to develop an avatar of a 21st century accounting and finance graduate - I dont think I will be successful but it would be great if I could get some more funds to develop my ideas.

Last but not least - it looks like I will be starting my PhD (finally) at Leeds University in September - I am going to look at the use of mobile technologies to evidence workplace learning and use ACCA affiliates collecting evidence for their Personal Evidence Records as my research population. This may involve developing an e-portfolio system modelled on ALPs e-portfolio system which is to be underpinned by the competency matrix developed by ACCA- I am VERY excited about this project and really hope that I will be able to make the contacts - so I will be meeting with the ALPS team again (!) and ACCA programme director (John Taylor) to get the ball rolling.

In terms of this project - the showcase event is penciled in for 25th June 2010. I am inviting the Placements office, employability office , PUPPS participants (though not all will attend), Business centurions and graduate trainees. Ben Cotton (http://socialwebthing.com/) is a confirmed panelist for the event - I have invited Charlotte Britton (http://www.charlottebritton.co.uk/) and Martin Edmonson (http://www.graduatesyorkshire.co.uk/about/people) to also be panelists and guest speakers.

I really hope participants are going to attend because it will be important to the credibility of the project moving forward that they do - already had some interest in the event so it will be hopefully well attended.

Ok -I am STILL marking - so thats it from me for now!

Update on the project

Hello - its been a while hasnt it - I am insanely busy at the moment with assessments, marking, dissertation meetings etc

The project is bubbling away in the background and things are advancing nicely.

I have x3 meetings with students booked for interviews in May (I keep badgering them, so hopefully this will get sorted soon) and I have submitted a bid to HEA to fund a project with similiar methodology of IPA as I am using for PUPPS and my proposed PhD, so this will enable me to fine tune my approach and attempt to make this methodology work for me, in terms of establishing what I am trying to research.

Talking of PhDs I have now formally applied to Leeds University (eek), so watch this space!

Student content populated to the Gateway is very interesting and students have been very reflective in their discussions of their learning experiences on the project. It is interesting to note that students like to use technologies with which they are familiar and this is something I will explore more when I interview. Some students have not engaged with the process and I will be interested to see to what extent there is a flurry of activity towards the end of the project when their webfolios should be disseminated and showcased.

I am starting to see more multi-media outputs being populated and I dont know whether this is because students are now starting to put their webfolios together - we shall see

I have been putting my webfolio together for my TF interview on Friday (eek!) and it has been really good being involved in the project as both a participator and researcher.

One thing I need to do with urgency is follow up Becky Baldaro-Booth's offer of finding someone to judge the webfolio competition - I would like a comibation of graduate (thinking Ben Cotton - who expressed that his webfolio helped him enormously with his employability) and someone from industry.

Well watch this space!

PUPPS Update

OK - so following the activity day a few weeks ago - more assets have been populated and published to the Gateway which is good. I will review the text poll next week, which I have not had time to do because I am very busy at the moment with assessments, revision sessions and marking.

I sent an email to PUPPS participants last week, wanting to pencil in dates and times for inteviews and only two respondents have come back to me! So I will be chasing students via Facebook next week.

I am still waiting for M and M'sind map to be published to the Gateway. M has still not published anything to the Gatway but I have since discovered extenuating circumstances contributing to this ; he still wants to be involved, so I aim to be as flexible as possible.

Review of the mindmaps will be triangulated with the text poll and analysed to determine a few themes. Early discussions with participants indicate that PebblePad is great and the PDA is very useful, but can be problematic.

It is clear that in general participants use the technology with which they are most familar and this seems to be more important to them. Participants will create assets on these technologies and upload them to PebblePad on their laptop or PC. I will be exploring this in the interviews.

I have been creating my owned-portfolio which is nearly finished and I have to say that I found PebblePad to be intuitive. I have used multi-media outputs to create my portfolio and have to say that my husband was quite impressed with it, so I figure that it must be OK.

In terms of the project - The lovely BBB is going to investigate using a former student; Ben Cotton and a lady from industry to judge the webfolios. I am also going to invite Business Centurions and employers from the employer network to come along and showcase the webfolios to them and employers of the PUPPS participants - this is due to happen in May/June - so as usual I have to get my skates on!

PUPPS Activity Evening 9th March 2010

The evening went really, really well. We started off with a text poll in which students described their feelings about the project and whether they felt that they had experienced any value from participating. It is clear that all students agreed that PebblePad is great and has been a really useful tool for creating reflections etc - mixed views about the use of the PDA ranging from brilliant to frustrating.. It is clear that when the technology works it is an invaluable mediating tool, but it causes a lot of problems when not.

The students posted and published some mind maps from the session which are very interested and will be showcased in my webfolio of the project. Webfolio training went well and from the assets populated in PebblePad it is clear that there are going to be some really good webfolios.I intend to showcase the webfolios at the launch for the work based mobile module event, where I hope there will be some business centurions and local businesses who have expressed an interest in being involved in the module, so things are going well..I am still waiting to hear from Dr Jill Taylor about the PDAS but fingers crossed and wood touched that this is going to happen.

On a personal note, I have been invited to interview for a teaching fellow position so I am really made up - I have to prepare a 10 minute demonstration of my approach to supporting student learning so I am going to use my own webfolio, so I am starting that now! Will be good to experience what students will be experiencing!Which is what the project is all about biographical, lifelong learning!

PUPPS Project, FCCA and PGCHE update

So, I have been on the gateway and have been looking at content that has been populated which is very interesting - the content ranges in depth and breadth from participant to participant and I am sure that this is going to be reflected in the webfolios that are created.

My next challenge is to find a business contact who will be willing to judge the webfolio competition in June/July. I am going to use this showcasing event as a means to show the Level 2 students who choose the work based mobile learning module what e-portfolios created in PebblePad can look like.

The next event for the PUPPS participants will be on 9th March when I return from teaching in Hong Kong. For this reason, I have quite a lot to organise and make sure is in place on my return to ensure that there are few problems in the lead up to it as I come back on the evening of 4th March.

One of the remaining PUPPS participants is not engaged - there have been no blogs, no assets populated etc which is very surprising as he seemed very enthusiastic at the start of the project - it will be important to identify what these issues are as these will feed into framing the work based mobile learning project that I am piloting in September 2010.

The activity evening on 9th March will involve students creating assets using their PDAs and uploading them into a repository (the Gateway) for me to tag and use as research evidence. I aim to use their assets to recall memories of their progression in the project and to establish their views, change in skills etc in reflective practice and biographical learning. I aim to make it interactive and interesting and am looking into how to create a text poll to gather some data.

Lots to do as usual - I also need to crack on with my teacher fellowship application! Talking of fellowships... I was confirmed as a Fellow of ACCA this week which is a huge personal achievement for me and something that I am very proud of!I believe that recording evidence of learning is hugely important and is a requirement of fellowship of ACCA, as part of my CPD obligations, so pertinent given my objectives for this project.

Still dont know when I will hear about my PGCHE but can use my evidence for my teacher fellowship application and CMALT....so evidence of learning is good and useful!

Over and out.

The story so far

So I have submitted a paper to ALT-J on the use of mobile technologies for lifelong and life-wide learning and also a proposal for a poster to 2010 ALT conference relating to the PUPPS project - so watch this space

Last week I contacted all participants about the project and it seems that generally things are going well - Students have been populating content onto the Gateway which looks very interesting - there is a breadth of artefacts which are deeply reflective and interesting and I really believe that the scaffolding of PebblePad has contributed to this level of reflection..

However, I intended to use Interpretative Phenomological Analysis (IPA) to recall students experiences during the project using their portfolios as triggers for memories etc It will be interesting to determine whether the use of the PDA added any value and whether this was restricted to administrative/diary support only.

A discussion with one of the participants indicated that this wasnt the case as she said she always carried it around with her so that she could reflect on incidents straight away as she did not want to forget by the time she got home.

I am surprised that there are not more audio files and photos (there are some) and that students have used traditional artefacts of reflection - written reflections, with some written in word and uploaded into PebblePad.

The next stage is our activity day in March for webfolio training and informal interviews to discuss the project. I am also going to ask some of the participants to speak with Level 2 students who will be piloting my new work based mobile learning module.

I need to get busy with my e-portfolio as I am going to apply for a teacher fellowship - however, I really wanted to use my PGCHE portfolio to try and showcase some activities I have undertaken but that is not going to happen as I cannot receive any feedback..

I am also conscious that I need to submit my CMALT portfolio - this will have to go on the back burner for a little while as I need to crack on with Semester 2 assessments (I am module leader for 4 modules this Semester and on my own for 3 - so have lots of assessments to write and am off to HK in just over a week to teach) - busy as per but I love it!!!

Contacting students

Tried to contact students via their PDAs yesterday - interestingly only x2 were switched on during office hours - will be following this up to see whether they are actually being used regularly

Have spoken with x3 of the participants who are starting to see real value in what they have been creating - PebblePad has been a really useful system of use, interestingly the units have been used more of a communication and diary device rather than to create artefacts of learning (in the main) - I anticipated more use of photos, video, audio - some participants have tried to video presentations which is good.

Operational issues with the PDA seem few and far between which is good to see.

I am going to host a webfolio training day in March with participants as I think it is time for participants to start organising artefacts.

The next thing to do is to organise the showcase event with a local employer to judge the webfolio competition.

Really pleased with some of the content populated on PebblePad - frustratingly some blogs have still not been created - let alone updated. However, a core set of about 4 students who are really engaged and doing everything that is asked of them.

ESRC - Imagie timing the university of the future seminar

Today - I attended a CHEER seminar called "Who can Inhabit the New ACademic Identities of a Digital Age. It was very interesting and raised some key themes about the research project. It is clear that there is much debate about the motivations and drivers pushing the use of technology and the governments agenda and role of corporations. Despite these interplays- I think that my role is not to get caught up in the complexities of rhetoric of policy, but to take a microlevel approach and think about whether it adds value in terms of my practice and what I believe its use can enable me to do as a practioner.

There was some very interesting discussion about space and time compression, simultaneity of place, the transformative impact that technologies can have on spatial relations, visualisation of knowledge etc

The work of Professor Huw Morris outlining the vested interest of theorists of technology use in education such as Prensky, really opened my eyes to the clouding of pedagogical impact and value that technologies have in people's eyes because of the capitalist rewards associated with buyin. However, I firmly believe that the capabilities of technology can enhance learning and help students learn how they learn. They are without doubt in my mind effective mediating tools, when selected properly - issues of equity, access, participation etc are important in the wider context but in terms of informing my practice and this project - I will continue to evaluate things in relation to my context and the impact that the use of these technologies have on students on this project - this will be used to inform the design and delivery of the work based mobile learning module I have written

I was supposed to call students yesterday but absolutely snowed under - will make time tomorrow to call and see how everyone is doing.

I havent created any personal assets recently, so this is something to do - need to do a reflection on the work based mobile learning module.


I have submitted a short paper for our ALT journal - so will have to see how that goes, waiting to hear about my PGCHE files (we wouldnt get away with not providing feedack within 3 weeks let me tell you!) and submitted the revised version of my book chapter (dont think it will be accepted based on the revisions that I had to make, but a very worthwhile process to have gone through nonetheless)

OK -well off to bed and up early to wade through the mountain of marking!

Progress so far

Back from the festive period this week and some of the participants have responded to the emails that I circulated just before Christmas to ensure that everyone is OK...

Participants have promised to publish some of their assets onto the Gateway this week - I am going to contact participants via Skype which is installed on the PDAs.

Good news - the HEA synthesis bid was successful - this is a TEL project for employability and will consist of structured case studies to inform evidence based good practice across the sector. I think I will be quite involved given the work that I have been doing in relation to SCEPTrE and my proposal for my DProf..I will be submitting PUPPS as a case study for the HEA project.

Speaking of which, despite acceptance in principle from Leeds University of a PhD place, I have decided that I would like to do a DProf at Middlesex Uni- the main reason is that this doctorate is based on a work based issue/project but to Doctorate standard - the work based project will be based on the work based mobile learning module that I am developing over the next 9 months with a pilot start date of September 2010 - an immediate problem is that of funding - I need to purchase 40 or so PDAs and have yet to decide on the best mobile device to use given the pedagogic ALT goals associated with the module..

I received some advice from the qualitative analysis group on ELESIG (another network that I have joined!) on IPA - Intepretitative Phenomological Analysis which is a research method that I have been adopting in a piecemeal way in relation to PUPPS without being aware of the method. Consequently, I will be adopting a framework for my DProf research based on IPA and can use lessons learned from the methodology of PUPPS for this project. I will be using the e-portfolios as artefacts of stimulus to evoke memories of their experiences during their workplacement as part of the interview plus method...

Anyway, PUPPS has provided some sound evidence that PebblePad PDA is a really good e-portfolio system that can capture evidence of learning experiences in formal and informal learning settings, so I will definitely be using this for the pilot despite the current institutional e-portfolio system being campus pack fusion..

So - I will contact students at the end of the week - we have some training for webfolio construction next month and webfolios will be showcased at an employer event in June/July which will coincide with the launch event for employers in relation to the work based mobile learning module.