CMALT review: from now to 2020!

Thought for the day provided by random pen in my session room #eurocall2017 pic.twitter.com/jZUfzXIw6b

— Teresa MacKinnon (@WarwickLanguage) August 26, 2017

With thanks to @davidhopkins for prompting me to write this!

Last summer I was delighted to get confirmation that my CMALT status has been extended until 2020. With it came the suggestion that my submission could have included reflection on where my career will go next. Well, that really would have required greater powers of prediction than I have. We all know the question don't we: "Where do you see yourself in 5 years time?"

From when I first started out in teaching back in the 1980's I have always been very aware of the importance of setting career goals and I have had what some might call a successful career. I moved into teaching management early on, becoming a Head of French after just 2 years in the job. I have been very deliberate in managing a portfolio of my work in order to navigate my way through the many challenges of having a family, balancing their needs with my own. I took the risk of changing sectors - hence la modification , investing time and energy in professional development, learning and contributing to my communities, supporting and mentoring others. It has been this approach which more recently has shaped my goals, which have become less about my career and more about what I believe to be important: addressing social injustice and working for fairer access to education for all.

Perhaps this means as I have got older I am less interested in being driven and more interested in who is driving! That's not to say I have decelerated my career though. When I became a teacher I was very aware of the privilege of becoming a member of a professional community. I have been shocked by the drive to de-professionalise my profession, successive politicians have undermined the importance of real people working as communities of practitioners, focusing instead upon target setting and league tables. Forgetting the humans at the heart of human learning. As a result there is a huge recruitment crisis in education and a real risk that UK young people will not have access to the learning they deserve. Social inequality is greater in the UK than ever with 4 million young people growing up in poverty.

So my personal career progression seems rather unimportant by comparison. It would probably also rely on completing a PhD. This would mean diverting financial resources away from my family to achieve an ambition. That's a club too far. If I do get there it won't be through the UK system as the financial cost is too high.

I take greater pride in these developments:

• being part of the EVOLVE project a 3 year project to scale up virtual exchange
• continuing my commitments to the ALT and Eurocall communities on the Open Ed Sig and the CMC sig
• the creation and delivery of a new module for the School of Modern Languages and Cultures: LN306 will focus on Developing Language Teaching to provide a new generation of creative language teachers who will pick up the challenges of the digital realm. 

In 2020 I will be 60 years old. I doubt that I will grow old gracefully, never been my style!

Flexible pedagogies FOS4L

An invitation to join #FOS4L this week arrived just as I was coming to the end of a week's leave and returning to work to catch up on over 300 emails! (most were quickly deleted thankfully). As I catch up on open discussions taking place within the #fos4l spaces online and I see happily that it will involve interacting with some of my favourite folk in #edtech and making new friends I am instantly inspired to get involved. The suggestions for activities over the short 5 day course coupled with the fact it is already day 3 meant I decided to draw together my reflections together on the first 3 topics through this post. 

Digital literacies and identity:

My professional identity puts my role as a language educator before my learning technology role, although both are clearly very closely connected. I have reflected on this before for #ocTEL last year. My access to French language use afforded by the interenet feeds my language teaching identity, leading to an ongoing connection to the language as it continues to evolve - see this for example on authenticity. I also curate content to help other language teachers explore and manage their journey towards greater digital awareness. I very much welcome the inclusion of Wellbeing in Jisc's digital capability model as a recognition of the time it takes to acquire skills and knowlege necessary to be an effective digital practitioner. 

Flexible pedagogies: 

I am not sure I like this term as it implies a kind of fuzziness around how learning happens. Personally my learning since the arrival of the internet has been best described by the term heutagogy and I feel this is a useful learning theory, essentially reflecting the ease with which we can follow our own learning paths since the advent of ubiquitous access to information. As I have worked using this to inform my practice with students I have certainly found it to increase their autonomy and engagement. If we direct our own learning it follows however that we can refuse to learn should we choose to do so, no amount of teacher encouragement, threat or reward can force an individual to learn something that he doesn't wish to. I see this in my own refusal to learn that eating chocolate is fattening! However, I have to accept that heutagogy is a newcomer. The HEA have a very useful site on flexible pedagogies which I see as an umbrella term to encompass the sort of toolset I have always supported. Flexibility, willingness to adopt a learner-centred approach, devolve the locus of control to them and learn from them are all positive in my opinion. It is time to change our understanding of how learning happens but change stands little chance of success institutionally despite the helpful advice in this report unless they accompanied by a flexible approach to assessment. We get what we assess, our assessments also show what we value. 

Supporting learning:

I am going to reflect on this with respect to my leadership role in supporting digital engagement with my teaching colleagues. I have adopted the following principles:- autonomy, mutual support and connected, open practice.

• provision of self-service, just in time rescoures for skills acquisition e.g how to tutorials sandbox course spaces on our VLE and a central sharing community for all tutors to build a community of practice.
• show and tell sessions every term for dissemination and celebration of the best teaching and tool use. (see slides below)
• encouragement of PLN development through social media tools and open networks

Seems to be working for those who are prepared to accept that you have to make time in order to avoid reinventing square wheels.  A shift away from silos and towards a more open mindset are also required to value connecting for professional development. 

Celebrating the digital in HE at #digifest15

Last year I watched Jisc's digital festival #digifest from behind my desk. I could see from the website that the venue was imaginatively laid out and according to the twittersphere there were many interesting things to see and do, all at the bleeding edge of technology in education. This year, with attendance free to HE staff, I decided to go along and see for myself. The short train ride to Birmingham followed by a brisk walk across town taking in the Cathedral and the new Library was a welcome break from sitting behind a screen. The International Conference Centre in Birmingham is easy to find and well staffed and soon I was exploring the hub under the multi-coloured circus tent decor which gives the event an enticing atmosphere. Using the event app and twitter I was able to connect with other participants too. 

#digifest15 kicks off pic.twitter.com/CL2uH1IKDf
— christine sexton (@cloggingchris) March 9, 2015

Soon I was getting the latest on Jisc Open Access services, giving me helpful insights into the issues and the technical challenges that Jisc can help HEIs to confront.  I made a mental note to share with colleagues in our library.

I was interested to hear about Jisc's support for publishing:

Institution as eBook publisher #jisc project. Support for heis to take on a publishing role #digifest15
— Teresa MacKinnon (@WarwickLanguage) March 9, 2015

and participated in a lively, well attended session on using apps which included a good hands-on demo of Socrative. A session on 3D tech gave me insights into the technical aspects of this immersive way of curating and interacting with valuable artefacts and extended my understanding in an area I don't usually come across. 

My twitter feed brought more interesting observations from attendees:

It may be our institutions that are not fit for purpose, not our #edtech #digifest15
— Elizabeth Ellis (@liz_isabella) March 9, 2015

The combination of the physical (an unusually genteel, calm conference) and the virtual (through social media) brought me space to think. Add to that the encounters with tweeps I had not really had a chance to chat with before as well as meet ups with old friends and this was a better than average conference experience. The highlights were yet to come though! The Google presentation was comprehensive and enthusiastic, well caputred by Martin Hamilton but by far the highlight, and well worth waiting for was the no-nonsense delivery on FE and Feltag by Bob Harrison, seen here getting a selfie to show the wife :) He reminded us that we have a responsibility to future generations to make best use of our assets, to think differently and to engage together in agile evolution. 

So thanks Jisc for a memorable day, my batteries were recharged and I felt ready for the rest of my week knowing that the sector lead is up for embracing the challenges of digital education. Inspired by Bob's words I am ready to shift some paradigms :)

Video in teaching and learning

Recently I was involved in facilitating a workshop for H.E. language educators on using video. The session took place at Southampton University and my plan was very technically demanding. I had just one hour to bring a self selecting group with varying roles and computer experience to the point where they would create and upload a video they had made through an unfamiliar online portal in order to earn an open badge. No pressure! 

Digital video can be enormously challenging, different devices using different encoding and having different playback needs. From a professional development context I felt a need to tackle video with my colleagues. My experience within our Languages@Warwick VLE research was that 100% of our teachers use video in their courses. The nature of this use was largely playback, and in my session I wanted to extend this to show that in fact we can use video in many other ways and so we decided to play on!
Here are the slides from the session.



 Future #highered students want to be able to create and contribute media to the virtual learning environment #Bett2015

— Helena Gillespie (@helenauea) January 21, 2015

We used Languages@Warwick's inbuilt video tools provided by Kaltura which include:

• screen capture
• webcam capture
• video assignment submission
• media upload

Almost all the participants in the session completed the video creation and submission and earned their #openbadge. They inspired me with their excitement. The technical headaches were managed by the system, the interface is easy to understand so the creativity can thrive. Here's one colleague discovering the joys of screen capture. 

going global

Post inspired by @mrkempnz a fellow tweep and inspiring edtech educator.

From Lone Wolf to Hunting with the Pack - becoming a globally connected educator http://t.co/LlB2Uz9tZq what’s your story?
— Craig Kemp (@mrkempnz) August 9, 2014

Working as a teacher can be a lonely and somewhat insular occupation if you are not careful.  Whether you work in a school, a university, full time, part time or freelance you are assuming a role that puts you under the spotlight and your learners have expectations of you. Over a 30 year career I have worked in a variety of contexts with different age groups from under 10's to over 50's, one to one to one to many, responsible at some periods for the language learning of over 1,000 learners a year. I think I have a reasonable understanding of a range of learner expectations. I have definitely not "seen it all" and I learn more each year from my learners who now tend to be international students following an accelerated learning pathway to French in Higher Education. I am a co-learner with them as we explore the world of resources available to us thanks to the internet and computer-mediated communication (CMC). I try to contribute to my communities, both local and global. 

My PLN, (here's a Top Trumps I did a while back) gathered gradually over more than 5 years through interaction online, lots or reading and great networks of professionals, have broadened my outlook, inspired me to examine my assumptions more closely, to engage with debates central to my chosen career path, and to grow as an educator. Blogging and micro-blogging have helped make explicit the ruminations and half thought through ideas, reflecting and connecting in order to better understand where I stand (split infinitives are OK BTW) . Participating in synchronous and asynchronous CMC has taken me beyond the boundaries of my classroom experiences and those of my immediate colleagues into global interactions and contexts, beyond the UK and Europe. I collaborate with teachers in Australia,the US and around the world in #globalclassroom chats, extend my student connections through the #clavier virtual exchange, and explore the potential for language learning CPD through informal online networks. I have developed my use of technology for teaching, gaining a professional qualification in learning technology through the ALT CMALT scheme and now I research and publish in CMC for language learning and the emerging area of Online Intercultural Exchange (#OIE). 

I had no idea where my early tweets would lead. I followed my head and my heart and found a world of inspiration digitally enabled just a keyboard away. My students and I are the richer for it, my CPD is constant and relevant, my learning lifelong and lifewide. Connecting globally allows us to rise above the immediate, often political nature of our national context and focus on the real issues in education. We need to support the next generation as they discover the realities of sharing the planet and meeting the needs of humanity in challenging times. We promote mutual understanding, communication skills, empathy, openness and creativity. Going global has helped to reignite my passion for education.  

The e word.

I chose to look at enhancement and watched the video about xMOOC models. There are several viewpoints shown in the clip but the main focus is on the Stamford experience of Udacity co founder Sebastian Thrun and his stated aim was to democratise access to learning arising from his belief that "education is a basic human right". Whilst I fully support this premise (who wouldn't ?) I felt that some of the statements made rather simplified the success of this model and at times tried to compare it to a way of teaching that would be recognised by most teachers as failing learners . Traditional teaching was presented as students sitting in ranks, not allowed to talk to each other, lecturers transmitting knowledge from the front - surely these are clichés and any institution who maintains them is already on the road to obsolescence? Sadly in HE old habits (and business plans) die hard.

The elements of the MOOC model applicable in my context:
(I prefer cMooc to xMooc personally, as I see the latter more as an institutional marketing model to support business as usual) were:

• online delivery makes learning more accessible especially to those unable to take time away from work/life in order to study
• greater availability of content for replay/review
• more problem based learning, explanations afterwards, "flipped" delivery
• increased emphasis on interaction, making best use of technology, use of quiz 
• more economical, reach more students, make teaching a first class discipline again
• education a lifelong issue - more relevant to modern world, flexible and continuous 

Of course all these things also apply to good blended learning. The question here is how does one scale up the tutor time in order to deliver a personalised experience to thousands of participants? It would seem from the participants interviewed that they expected to get that interaction from each other. Possibly accepted as a trade off for not having to pay to learn? One interviewee commented that we "underestimate how powerful interaction can be online". I believe that to be the case having experienced several cMoocs now since 2011. If you invest the time in online learning, getting to know your fellow learners, if the course is aligned with your personal learning needs you can indeed make useful and productive connections which can foster deep learning. Thrun's experience must be quite chilling for the established order, as it questions whether the "best" universities really select the best potential graduates, his online students outperformed those turning up on campus according to his analysis. So as I have long suspected, there is much wasted potential as a result of our industrial schooling model. 

• problems anticipated

the business model: as soon as money is exchanged for learning a set of expectations arise which have to be met. Thrun's model implies that business as usual is required in order to fund this open free course model. Clearly new costing models would have to be established, I am sure the technology used isn't free and I guess he also expects payment for his work? This is at the heart of the issue and we need some suggestions more creative than simply trying to sell videos of experts in order to raise funds and draw attention to the institution. 

Ultimately, what is judged by learners to be "enhanced" learning opportunities will depend upon their experience of learning, not simply the content they have had access to. Interaction lies at the heart of that. Quality has never really been about institutional reputation, it is more personal than that.

Informing the debate.

Everyone has an opinion about education. Usually based upon their own experience and a collection of anecdotes which support their beliefs. This means that every time journalists raise questions about the purpose of our education system we get the regurgitation of half thought through debate and very little informed insight. Quite depressing if your whole life has been dedicated to service in teaching. Someone who, in my opinion, has made a real contribution to informing the debate is Donald Clarke with his recent collection of blog posts summarising the thoughts and influence of those who have spent many years thinking about human learning and have influenced teaching through the ages. Donald's concise style makes the posts very readable and should be shared with a wide network thanks to his huge twitter following. They also make a handy resource for teacher trainers and those professionals who have long forgotten the theories that underpin their craft. Here is one of my favourite on Bruner For me there is nothing in life as important as the ability to learn, therefore it is worth investing time in reflection and informed discussion to improve educational experiences for our young people.