July 2016 – howsheilaseesIT

I know we all probably have a bit of election fatigue just now. However outside the crazy world of politics, in the slightly less crazy world of learning technology, there is one election that is worth your consideration and vote – the ALT Trustee elections.

There are three fantastic nominees this year – Bella Abrams, Lorna Campbell and Chris Rowell. You can read their statements here, they all bring a tremendous range of experience and expertise. But they need your votes. Being a membership organisation, ALT relies on members to support and guide its direction. In these afore mentioned crazy times, the need for a strong, non commercial, voice for supporting the effective use of technology for learning and teaching is more important than ever. So if you are a member of ALT make sure you vote, this year for the first time we’re using an electronic voting system. And if you’re not a member, why not think about joining? I know from experience that receiving peer support and validation from being voted in as a Trustee of ALT makes the role even more special. The results of the election will be announced at this year’s ALT conference.

I’m always looking out for ways to share and collaborate effective practice and use of technology in learning and teaching. The other week I came across @LearningWheel “a model of digital pedagogy” created by Deborah Kellsey (@DebMillar24).

Over the past year so I have been using and encouraging colleagues to try Blendspace and the Learning Wheel “Blendspace in 8 steps” was a fantastic resource to be able to share.

Exploring the site I was struck by how the learning wheel closely mirrored the model for blended learning we use here at GCU .

I was also really encouraged to see the strong community building and sharing ethos the site is fostering, as well as the simple but effective approach to sharing practice through a series of resource wheels.

“A Resource LearningWheel focuses on a ‘single’ digital resource e.g. Moodle or QR-Codes or Twitter. They offer numerous practical suggestions for using the resource which are aligned to each of the four modes of engagement.”

If you have an idea, a resource, a system that you use or want to develop and share practice then you are encouraged to “captain a resource spoke”. Just get in touch and a few days later a collaborative google doc will be created and the collaboration can begin. The step by step guide to writing the guide helps to keep things clear and simple too.

So I’ve taken the plunge and decided to captain a spoke based on Sway. I’ve been using Sway for a while now and again encouraging colleagues to “have a go” with it too. I’ve been pleasantly surprised by the positive response it is getting too. So, if you use Sway at all then why not come on board and add your suggestions/uses and help to generate another open, shareable resource.

Month: July 2016

An election worth your vote #altc Trustees

Come Sway with me