Today I am attending Holyrood Connect’s Learning Through Technology event in Glasgow. This is Day Two of the event and I plan to liveblog talks etc. that I attend today.

Welcome and introduction by the Chair – Mark Stephen, Journalist and Broadcaster

Session 1: Planning and leading the digitisation of learning and teaching

University Digital Education Comes of Age – Professor Sir Timothy O’Shea, Principal & Vice-Chancellor, University of Edinburgh

I want to start with an iconic image for us at the University of Edinburgh – an image on the Masters that we give in Digital Education, and this is a student graduating. It is an online masters, in how to teach online. The students who graduate from that programme can either come along in person in McEwan Hall, or they can graduate virtually in real time – graduating electronically. Last year in the graduation season something very interesting happened – a student graduated in person with his iPad so that he graduated in person and electronically… So those online could see him graduate twice. If you have a serious interest in this area do look at our Online Masters in Digital Education or the MOOC that derives from it…

It is always good to remind ourselves of the history here. Computers really came about in the 1940s as part of code breaking. Vannevar Bush wrote the essay “As we may think” which is really the first essay to pose how we might use computing. We see Crowder’s Branching theory in the 1950s (which still powers modern tools like Scholar), Pask’s Conversation Theory work in the 1950s. Then in the 1960s Smallwood wrote the first self-improving computers; Papert looked at self-expression and the visual language Scratch very much came out of that – and is very much going strong, in fact we have a MOOC on Scratch at Edinburgh University, and worked on the first Spanish version of that MOOC; and Alan Kay came up with the idea of the Dynabook – effectively the netbook/tablet idea – at Xerox PARC; then in the 1970s Kimbell and I worked on computer based learning and Open University came up with CAL. The 1980s saw home computing coming into the Open University, 90’s brought collaborative learning and indeed mobile and “speckled computing” – wearables, internet of things type technologies. Open Educational Resources came about in 2000, and indeed MIT used OER to make courses freely available… didn’t seem to go anyway but in 2012 those resources became MOOCs and that really has changed things. I would also point out that, if you have interest in educational computing, go to Uraguay. For a long time Nicolas Negroponte tried the One Laptop Per Child programme… tried in various places but Uraguay it really took off (see Plan Ceibal) – and that’s part of why the University of Edinburgh is working with Scratch and MOOCs in Spanish. And recently the University of Arizona has announced a discount on first year of conventional undergraduate degrees for those completing their MOOCs…

So… We are seeing a move from Blackboard/Learn etc. to those sorts of systems sitting alongside other softwares, including search, social networks, blogs, video content – a rich world of content that the university does not necessarily build/support but which benefits and sits alongside central University resources and tools. There is no single technology platform anymore.

At Edinburgh our MOOCs cover a range of topics – from Andy Warhol – collaborating with the National Galleries – to chickens! Our most popular course has been philosophy – leading to new masters programmes, books, all sorts of things. And we see many pre-entry students taking that MOOC to find out what philosophy is all about.

We have run 24 MOOCs built, 7 under constructions, 12 MOOCs under consideration; 4 platforms (mostly Coursera and Futurelean) over 1.7m enrolements and we had the first ever real time MOOC last year on the Scottish Referendum – it changed every day in response to the polls and developments. So, why do we do that? Well it’s about reputation – we are early adopters of educational technology. MOOCs allow us to explore a new pedagogical space to inform practice. And we wish to reach as widely as we can with our courses. We also run 64 online masters programmes so it is not unhelpful that some of our MOOCs give some taste of those areas of teaching.

Our MOOC students particularly come from the US and UK, China very much unrepresented. Lots of age ranges – including some very motivated under-18 year olds. Few are motivated by certificates. And in terms of prior academic study we have a highly educated population – these are Edinburgh figures but this is seen across the board in MOOCs – many learners in these spaces have a degree (or several) already.

There are some real competing models of MOOCs… The xMOOC and the cMOOC model. Our #edcmooc kind of breaks these models – with open platforms and collaboration on cMOOC model, but also xMOOC characteristics.

The changing role of IT leaders – Paul Saunders, Chief Technology Officer and Director of Information Technology, University of Dundee

Analytics – creating a student’s “digital ecosystemâ€� – Terry Trundley, Head of IT, Edinburgh College

 

Questions and discussion

10:55

Refreshments, exhibition and networking

Session 2: Innovative teaching and learning in colleges and universities

This session will offer delegates the opportunity to hear and see during a number of how innovative teaching and learning is already being delivered in universities and colleges in Scotland and beyond and discover the future trends for learning through technology. Find inspiration for your own work, discuss with experts and colleagues and have your questions answered.

11:15 Workshop session 1
11:45 Transition
11:50 Workshop session 2

Workshop A

Building Your Online Professional Learning Network

Jaye Richards Hill, Managing Director, Tablet Academy Africa @JayeRHil

Professional Learning Networks are becoming more and more important for those working in education as the ability to connect has allowed increased collaboration with both professional development and research. However, with the proliferation of online platforms and social media, the choice of which tools and services to use is becoming increasingly challenging for busy professionals. This workshop will guide delegates through the principles and practice of setting up, maintaining and growing a professional learning network in a way which is manageable and productive. It will also help them avoid common mistakes and highlight examples of good practice across all education sectors.

Workshop B

Virtual Classroom: Observe the student experience in a virtual classroom environment

Become the student in this session and observe how lecturers teaching in FE & HE in WHC UHI are using Blackboard Collaborate to interact with their learners. See the tools available to promote independent learning and group discussion while involving each student on an individual level. The use of application sharing allows the lecturer to share their desktop and applications allowing learners to participate in visually observing the lecturer perform tasks before undertaking them. There is a whiteboard for questions and a chat facility for learners to type questions. This innovative classroom enhances the use of a VLE like Moodle or Blackboard by incorporating interaction between lecturer/learner and peer interaction using breakout rooms.

Tracy Matheson, Curriculum Manager (Business, IT and Tourism), West Highland College @WHC_UHI

12:20

Lunch, exhibition and networking

Session 3: Using technology to improve learning, teaching and student support

Especially digital technology offers exiting new opportunities to adapt teaching and learning to the needs and preferences of smaller student groups and individual students. Delegates will learn how to seize these opportunities which could improve learning, teaching and student support significantly.

13:20

Exploring the use of data to support student engagement: learning analytics at the University of Edinburgh

Students typically want to know “how am I doing�
Exam results tell only a some of the story
We are exploring the use of students activity data to give them an overview within each course
Wilma Alexander, Educational Design and Engagement Team, Information Services, University of Edinburgh

@Rwamalam

13:40

Digital technology for students with additional support needs

Craig Mill, Assistive Technology Advisor, CALL Scotland and Edinburgh Napier University

@CALLScotland

14:00

Questions and discussion

14:20

Refreshments, exhibition and networking

Session 4: Can technology help widening access to further and higher education?

Increasing the number of young people from disadvantaged backgrounds accessing further and higher education is one of the main priorities in terms of education policy that Nicola Sturgeon included in her Government’s Programme for 2014 and 2015. Scotland’s colleges and universities will have to step up their efforts to meet these expectations. During this final session, delegates and experts will discuss what role technology could play in widening access to higher and further education.

14:40

Panel debate

Panellists:

Dr Muir Houston, Lecturer, School of Education, University of Glasgow @GlasgowUni
Lucy MacLeod – Depute Director (Students), Open University in Scotland @OUScotland
Tracy Matheson, Curriculum Manager (Business, IT and Tourism), West Highland College @WHC_UHI
Dr Graeme Thomson, Access Academy Co-ordinator, FOCUS West @focus_west
15:30

Summary and conclusions by the Chair

15:35

Close of the conference

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