The ICT Bill of Rights

I've been thinking, well scratch that the team has been working flat out on the finishing touches to c_space, our staff and student vle/intranet.

If you're a regular reader of this blog you'll know I've been working on a section (once known as seeSpace), called c_live which is a brand new concept for the College. c_live is a new area on our vle that is the first step in changing how our students view what a vle really is and gives educators an idea of what can be created in browser.

For those who don't follow this blog (shame on you!), c_live gives all students persistent, pervasive access to a range of tools and services they have not had available to them before.

For too long the answer to many of educations problems has been to grab a box off the shelf and make it fit the need, this is not only a self defeating exercise but it also makes it harder for the learner to use. I say this as that more often than not the user will have to click through to find the system, log on and only then get to do what they aimed to do in the first place!

So what should we be doing?

Make the system easier to use and ensure that its provides the information that students want.

Simple eh?

To this end, when our new VLE seeNet launches the VLE will be broken into four main areas:

myInformation:

• The current week view of their scheme of work
• A weekly view of their tutorial
• Upcoming assessments reminders
• Up to date attendance data
• Timetables
• Email with 25 gigabytes of storage
• Most recently set targets in their ILPs

Learning Resources:

• Online databases of curriculum resources
• Library catalogue and resources
• Key skills and functional skills materials
• Study skills, literacy and numeracy resources
• Interactive learning resources
• The Learning Resources Pool, which currently contains over 3000 staff authored curriculum resources

Student Information:

• Student policies and procedures
• Equality and diversity resources
• Health and safety information
• JobShop vacancies

C_space:

• Online forums, (in which last year students and staff posted over 25000 messages in 1023 topics in 24 forums)
• Student Blogs, that can be shared with all student and staff with a click of a button.
• A student noticeboard that allows students to inform students and staff of events
• A feature to allow Student Council members to publish their own content that is shown direct to all students via c_live
• seeLinks - a pervasive bookmark creator that will enable students to bookmark key websites and have them available where ever they are
• seeK - a tool modeled on Twitter which will allow students to share updates regarding their work and collaborate both with staff and students
• seeNotes - an in browser notepad providing students with a personal space for them to post notes, reminders or even a shopping list to seeSpace
• An RSS feed aggregator allowing students access to the latest news and information
• Weather updates! (one of the largest requests from students)

All that from just a browser, available inside and outside of College.

So how does the ICT Bill of rights come into it? (Apart from being a rather catchy title...)

VLE's have in one form or another been around since the early nineties and yet they're still finding their feet, I suppose, you could say that they're running to stay still. I feel that this is in part to do with how they came to be and the damaged that caused, the hyperbole created inflated user expectations and the resultant dismay has had lasting repercussions.

And the fact that application and service development within education was in its nascent form.

It's not been possible with the available technology to give students what they need.

The ideas have been there, blogs, wiki's, collaboration, sharing, giving students the ability to talk back; but the technology has always been the millstone dragging the system down.

Until now...

With c_space we can guarantee the following:

• Students can know what is happening with their College life at any time, day or night
• That every student will be able to have a blog, just by opening the browser
• That students can have bookmarks, and take them with them
• That students can share links with their friends and peers
• That Teachers can share important documents without having to use email
• That students can get to the information and resources quickly and easily
• That students can access all of this via a single sign on process

It sounds simple, but think about it, this isn't miriad of different applications, this is one system.

And this is just the beginning.

Vive La Revolution!

Writing in a Digital world

In the world of today is still important to write?

When I say write I mean the actual process of drawing the typography that represents our language on paper, not the ability to construct meaningful sentences.

Heresy I know but hear me out, how often do you actually write these days? My sum total of writing is in this order:

• Shopping lists,
• Random development notes scribbled in a notebook,
• Birthday Cards

And that's about it; the rest I do on a computer and print out or email: Letters, forms etc. All are word processed and printed out, I rarely actually write anything of length using a pen.

Perhaps I have a skewed perspective as I'm Dyslexic which means my writing is pretty scrappy if I don't really concentrate on it; this means that If I can, I type.

I doubted that I was alone in my abandonment of the written word, so I tweeted:

Is handwriting important in a digital world?3:35 PM May 7th from web SeecTom

and got the following response:

Lizthebiz@SeecTom I hope not... my handwriting is positively dire but I can type 63 words per minute!

@Lizthebiz Do you type because handwriting was poor or did your handwriting suffer as a result of you typing?

Lizthebiz@SeecTom Chicken or egg... I've never been any good at writing but learned to type at 14yrs old. Now I avoid writing so I don't practice it

So there were people out there with a similar outlook to writing, in fact you could argue that the concept of the written word is actually holding us back. Just because I can't spell a word or fail to use the correct grammar does not mean that my sentence has any less importance. Once written a word cannot be changed, which is a lovely dramatic statement but hardly helpful to someone with a learning difficulty.

What I mean by this is that why should we engage with a medium that more often than not makes it harder to communicate by not offering tools to support and aid the user?

I remember writing essays on paper during school before computers were wide spread and I've lost count of the number of times I had to start it again because of making too many mistakes (thus making the content harder to read) .

Word processing makes it easier for both the writer and the reader, the written word is just a barrier that only hinders and is just as much a tool of separation as when it was the tool of the religious and intelligentsia.

A word processor aids formatting, spelling & grammar, ensures that the writer is able to make adjustments and corrections without having to start again.

It is the single most important e-learning tool of our time.

In writing this article I made over 27 spelling and probably quite a few grammatical errors.

The Chairman of the Board

Lights, camera, action…cut!

In an attempt to promote the use of the interactive whiteboards we decided to film a training session with 2 members of staff, both keen to incorporate the resources available into their ESOL sessions. We could use the video for further training and as a resource for staff to access when required…easy…NOT!

Things got off to a bad start almost immediately after firing up the projector and PC. To my horror the dreading red x was clearly visible over the Promethean software icon in the system tray…a sign that something is wrong!

I played it cool of course, pretending I had deliberately sabotaged the equipment so that I could demonstrate to my two eager trainees how to troubleshoot if problems should arise! After 5 minutes of desperately tugging on leads and searching for software drivers I had no choice but to shout “Cut!” to my camera man.

It turns out the whiteboard had been unplugged at the socket…it’s always the simplest of things but nevertheless the two tutors had learnt their first lesson, if there’s a problem stay calm and check the obvious first. Just because the technology is more complex it doesn’t mean the problem is too!

Thankfully the remainder of the session went smoothly but on playback of our first feature length film it became apparent that the session was too rambling and disjointed to act as a training video.

Take 2

Our second attempt at filming would be conducted without trainees, just me, my whiteboard and my trusty Promethean pen!

We decided to film very short segments focusing on easily digestible chunks and things were going very well until we decided to check some of the footage after about an hour and a half of filming.

Unfortunately we had positioned the camera directly underneath the projector and the inbuilt microphone had done a fantastic job of recording the incessant dirge of the fan, largely obliterating the dulcet tones of my voice and rendering the whole batch of vignettes utterly useless!

Take 3

Lessons learnt, for our third attempt at filming we placed the camera well away from the projector and set about re-shooting. Filled with confidence after our ‘practice’ sessions we ploughed through the basics of using the board capturing another hours worth of tips, tricks and techniques with aplomb. Tired and a little dry throated after our marathon filming session my cameraman and I returned to our desks to start the video editing process using Windows Movie Maker. On firing up the film we watched in anticipation of our first training clip only to discover that the camera had been set at an angle and it looked like I was standing in a cabin on the Titanic just before it took its final lunge into the North Atlantic!

• So, what have we learnt from our dismal attempts at filming?
  Technology can let us down but generally the problem is a simple one and is easily solved.


• Alas, human error is often at fault when technology doesn’t work as expected but it’s the technology that can get the blame.


• Practice makes perfect, if things don’t work out the first time don’t give up, try and try again!

We are currently planning our next filming session…watch this space for an update!

The Chairman of the Board

First Impressions

Part of my role as ILT Liaison Officer at South East Essex College is to train tutors in the use of interactive whiteboards. Across our campuses in Southend and Thurrock we have over 50 boards including Promethean and Smart interactive units and training can be arranged at any time via an online booking form on seeNet (our VLE) for both groups and interested individuals.

Are ordinary whiteboards in our learning centres obsolete?

Alas, the short answer is no. Our first boards were Promethean and early versions of the software proved to be unreliable and unstable, often crashing unexpectedly and fatally without warning. Unsurprisingly, many tutors found this ‘seat of the pants’ experience unacceptable when trying to do something as simple as writing on a board in front of their class. This is a ‘bread and butter’ aspect of teaching and learning but suddenly it became a complex, nerve wracking task accomplished only by the bravest, most IT literate members of our teaching teams.

Fortunately, things have improved with progressive software updates but there can be no denying the damage that has been done. First impressions of any new technology are vital. If users can’t see the benefits of new systems immediately why should we expect them to use them at all? As innovators, pushing the use of technology, we continually skate along a thin knife edge, being first to pioneer technology and systems while continually running the risk of alienating and ‘putting off’ the very people we want to be using that technology when things don’t work as expected. Three questions spring from this which can be applied to ILT in general and not just to the use of interactive whiteboards:

1. Should we wait for ILT systems to be 100% reliable before we push for their use?
2. Can IT based systems ever be 100% reliable?
3. Is there any point in over-complicating something which is relatively simple by using state of the art technology?

Firstly, IT based systems can never be 100% reliable. If we were to wait until they were we’d never get to use them. This is why Microsoft often gets blamed for releasing ‘unfinished’ or ‘buggy’ products which they later patch with updates. It’s impossible to find all the bugs in a complex piece of software and often fixing relatively small bugs leads to the creation of new, more serious ones. We need to test and use software and systems in the real world to discover problems and issues which may not surface until they are used on mass in the environments they were created for.

The risk of alienating or ‘putting off’ users through using technology which may not be 100% reliable is a risk we have to take. If we didn’t take this risk we’d never make advancements. There’s no doubt that undoing the ‘damage’ caused by the whiteboards early unreliability and rebuilding faith in their use is one of the largest barriers I have to face in increasing their use across the College but this can be achieved.

As for over-complicating something as simple as writing on a board through the use of technology, the benefits of the interactive software are huge and tutors receiving training are amazed at the potential the software offers. Importantly, interactive boards haven’t replaced the existing dry wipe boards; they co-exist in the same room, tutors have the choice to use either depending on the needs of the session. We’re not replacing the ‘bog standard’ board but merely offering a system with huge flexibility and scope that can transform the dullest ‘bread and butter’ element of teaching and learning into something far more stimulating.

Ultimately, first impressions do matter but they can be changed.