H809 blog

What do students think of H809?

2012-01-29T18:37:00.000Z

We've been comparing the last few years of pass rates and survey feedback on H809 with other postgraduate courses, and have found some interesting things.

Firstly many students tell us that they expected the module to be particularly difficult. And it has to be said that although the workload per week is (since 2009) no more than average, it is challenging work: H809 involves critiquing published empirical research in detail. So that's why we recommend you take it only once you've got at least some experience of reading and understanding academic literature.

But it turns out that H809's completion rates and pass rates are as good as (and often better than!) other postgraduate courses.

It also turns out that - and we've probably been a bit shy in trumpeting this - satisfaction scores in relation to the teaching materials and the quality of the study experience are high. Even more humbling: we also get high scores in relation to the items “I enjoyed studying this module” and “I would recommend this module to other students".

So maybe we need to revise the title and the module description to stop the module appearing quite so daunting...?

Of course it's not perfect by any means: many students would like as much forum discussion in the second half of the module as the first. That's something we're working on. Some students would also like all the research papers studied to be of the highest quality. However I should probably admit that we include some papers that, ahem, allow the forum discussions to appreciate certain limitations that can be found in published research... In any case, we tend to replace 10-15% of the readings each year, to keep the module up-to-date, so truly hated papers don't tend to last long.

Many students are surprised how relevant H809 is to their own professional context, perhaps expecting a dry exposition of theories of measurement and philosophical angst about the validity of qualitative research (although we do have theories and angst, if that's your thing!). A few students have found that not all the research papers focus on topics that were directly relevant to their own particular educational contexts. This is perhaps understandable given the diverse range of jobs our students have; and in any case some papers are included to introduce innovative research methods that aren't yet widespread. In any case, over 90% of students who expressed a view last year indicated that they would be able to apply what they had learned on H809 to their own professional context. Nevertheless, we're adding a new survey activity that we think will be of direct use in very many educational settings.

We'll see if this year's improvements work for those who are starting the next presentation in a few days' time.

By the way, when we're planning the annual improvements to the module, we look back over not just the survey results and pass rates, but also the feedback that individual H809 alumni have sent me personally over the years. We don't always act on such feedback: what one may hate, another may love. But this kind of feedback is often particularly helpful in being specific about where we can make improvements.

So if you've not previously completed a survey or sent me feedback, please feel free to say in the comments below what you thought of the module, mentioning which year you did H809. (NB you can say nice things too!)

A couple of European conferences

2011-08-29T09:05:00.003Z

I'm about to set off in the direction of the leading European educational research conference EARLI, which is about to start in Exeter. I say "set off", but it's not too many paces away... Exeter is a wonderful city, by the way!

I've not come across too many conferences to which I want to return, but the biennial EARLI conference is an exception. It's too large, really, (5 days of 23 parallel sessions?! 4 parallel keynotes at a time?! A 2000 page book of abstracts?!); its submission deadlines are ridiculously long (10 months in advance, this year); and technology is not as strong a focus for EARLI as it is for several other European conferences. But in my experience the papers at EARLI tend to be of a higher quality and the discussions more thoughtful than elsewhere.

It may be a bit late now for you to get to the 2011 conference, but luckily this year the keynotes are being webcast, and anyone can join in the discussions. Here is the link to the EARLI Virtual Conference.

You might also be interested in its sister conference EAPRIL, which is the "European Association for Practitioner Research on Improving Learning". I've not attended EAPRIL, so I can't vouch for it, but it looks very relevant to those who are interested in practice-based research.

The 2011 EAPRIL conference is in Nijmegen, in the Netherlands, 23-25 November. There's still time to submit a paper: the deadline is 14 September. Details at http://www.eapril.org/EAPRIL2011

2 days left to sign up for H809's 2011 presentation

2011-01-19T17:44:00.000Z

I've always thought "presentation" was a peculiar word to use to talk about the running of an Open University course over a defined period of time. Unlike conventional universities we don't have "terms" or "semesters". And, if we want to distinguish the time periods when the course is running, we can't always use "years" either, since many course run more than once a year. Moreover, our students have great freedom over which courses they take and when; and so could never be fitted into neat "annual cohorts".

So we refer to "presentations". Which conjures up images either of a PowerPoint sales pitch or of the handing over of some kind of trophy. Neither of which images seems to fit with the active, personal and dynamic peer-to-peer, tutorial and assessment interactions that I associate with an OU course.

But I digress. (And I should now be referring to OU "modules" rather than OU "courses", it seems. Naughty James.)

H809's next presentation starts on Saturday 5 February 2011. The closing date for registration is in two days time, on 21 January. H809 only runs once a year, so this is your final chance for 2011!

This deadline is slightly earlier than usual, because we've found in the past that when students register later than this, course login details and tutor group allocations aren't always sorted out in time, which can end up being disorienting.

Comments from last year's students

If you're still undecided here, here are some comments from last year's students:

“The library was fantastic, and through the course I learnt a lot about searching, including citation searching & RefWorks.”

“H809 was a very interesting course for me. Most of the things we learned regarding new technologies and cutting edge research methods were new and unknown for me. That’s why I feel that I learned a lot of things from the course.”

“The course’s requirements were clear and comprehensive. [The assignments] were strongly related to the things we were taught.”

“This course gave me a real jump start in being much more aware of technology, its impact and possible applications in education.”

“Developing the theoretical skills [enabled] me to apply them to a real research proposal”

“The subject matter... [was] fascinating and [I] was quite disappointed when it came to an end.”

“Coming from a background in psychology I was concerned whether I would manage to do this course, but I enjoyed it more than I thought and got a lot from it including more confidence in my research capabilities.”

“I was able to put my research skills into practice and further develop my knowledge of Educational Technology.”

Reading List

I thought it might be useful to post this year's reading list:

Block 1
This block gives a flavour of the nature of the field, and provides a common grounding: a shared set of five main readings. These readings are intended to provide an introduction to common approaches and techniques that are often assumed to form a background to discussion of new methods. ... Which is why they tend to be older than the other readings!

Hiltz, S.R. and Meinke, R. (1989) ‘Teaching sociology in a virtual classroom’, Teaching Sociology, vol. 17, no. 4, pp. 431–46
Wegerif, R. and Mercer, N. (1997) ‘Using computer-based text analysis to integrate qualitative and quantitative methods in research on collaborative learning’, Language and Education, vol. 11, no. 4, pp. 271–86
Laurillard, D. (1994) ‘How can learning technologies improve learning?’, Law Technology Journal, vol. 3, no. 2
Oliver, M., Roberts, G., Beetham, H., Ingraham, B. and Dyke, M. (2007) ‘Knowledge, society and perspectives on learning technology’ in Conole, G. and Oliver, M. (eds) Contemporary Perspectives on E-learning Research, London, RoutledgeFalmer
Roschelle, J. (1992) ‘Learning by collaborating: convergent conceptual change’, Journal of the Learning Sciences, vol. 2, no. 3, pp. 235–76

Block 2
Much of the focus of this block is on theoretical perspectives often met in research on educational technology, and it also considers the audiences for research and ethical aspects of research.

Conole, G., Dyke, M., Oliver, M. and Seale, J. (2004) ‘Mapping pedagogy and tools for effective learning design’, Computers & Education, vol. 43, nos. 1–2, pp. 17–33
Jones, A. and Preece, J. (2006) ‘Online communities for teachers and lifelong learners: a framework for comparing similarities and identifying differences in communities of practice and communities of interest’, International Journal of Learning Technology, vol. 2, no. 2–3, pp. 112–37
Tolmie, A. (2001) ‘Examining learning in relation to the contexts of use of ICT’, Journal of Computer Assisted Learning, vol. 17, no. 3, pp. 235–41
Crook, C. and Dymott, R. (2005) ‘ICT and the literacy practices of student writing’ in Monteith, M. (ed.) Teaching Secondary School Literacies with ICT, Maidenhead, Open University Press
To be confirmed. Last year's reading is being replaced: Jonassen, D. and Rohrer-Murphy, L. (1999) ‘Activity theory as a framework for designing constructivist learning environments’, Educational Technology Research and Development, vol. 47, no. 1, pp. 61–79

Block 3
The final block is all about cutting-edge research methods and cutting-edge research.

Bos, N., Olson, J., Gergle, D., Olson, G. and Wright, Z. (2002) ‘Effects of four computer-mediated communications channels on trust development’ in Proceedings of the SIGCHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems: Changing Our World, Changing Ourselves, Minneapolis, Minnesota, 2002, New York, NY, ACM
Ardalan,A., Ardalan, R., Coppage, S., and Crouch, W. (2007) 'A comparison of student feedback obtained through paper-based and web-based surveys of faculty teaching' British Journal of Educational Technology, vol. 38, no. 6, pp. 1085-1101
Davies, J. and Graff, M. (2005) ‘Performance in e-learning: online participation and student grades’, British Journal of Educational Technology, vol. 36, no. 4, pp. 657–63
Cox, R. (2007) ‘Technology-enhanced research: educational ICT systems as research instruments’, Technology, Pedagogy and Education, vol. 16, no. 3, pp. 337–56
Hammersley, M. (2006) ‘Ethnography: problems and prospects’, Ethnography and Education, vol. 1, no. 1, pp. 3–14
Gillen, J. (2009) "Literacy practices in Schome Park: a virtual literacy ethnography", Journal of Research in Reading, vol. 32, no. 1, pp 57–74
Lindroth, T. & Bergquist, M. (2010) "Laptopers in an educational practice: Promoting the personal learning situation", Computers & Education, Vol. 54, No. 2, pp. 311-320

Last minute questions?

Feel free to contact me on Twitter or via email.

openED course goes live

2010-12-08T10:10:00.000Z

Just a quick note to highlight the start of the academic modules for the new (and free!) openED 2.0 course on Business and management competencies in a Web 2.0 world.

Details of what openED is about are here. This is Round 1, and is very much work-in-progress. The idea is that - like wikis - the design of openED is open to change by volunteers. So it is hoped Rounds 2, 3 and beyond will show some improvements generated by people outside the initial course team.

Exciting new research project

2010-01-26T19:29:00.000Z

We've been lucky enough to win some EU funding for a project related to H809. openED 2.0 "Designing for participatory learning in open educational environments" starts from noticing that the Web 2.0 world shows that great things are possible when openness is a guiding philosophy. We want to find out to what extent open online collaboration can foster open online informal learning communities.

Building on the design and materials of H809, the project team aims to collaboratively generate a series of free and open pilot modules. That's "open" not just meaning "public", but also meaning "modifiable by others".

The Open University will be making the initial materials available and developing one of the pilots, but the pilots aren't "OU courses". The focus for the pilots will be more related to business and management than H809, and there won't be any accredited assessment or personal tutoring. If you want that, you'll need to pay to do H809!

In studying how the pilots develop, we're hoping to explore a number of research questions:

How do materials generated by such open initiatives and the designing communities develop over time? What pedagogical exchanges occur? What are the drivers of change?
What learning takes place? What are the drivers of learning? To what extent is the resulting learning determined by the designers, by the learning community or by the individual learner?
What issues arise associated with cross-cultural and multilingual settings?
How are differences between formal and informal education exhibited?
What are the factors affecting the speed, effectiveness and sustainability of such initiatives?

The Open University is one of six project partners. The other five are SPI, Portugal; IBM, Belgium; Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Greece; the Hellenic Management Association, Greece; and the University of Applied Sciences of Western Switzerland, Fribourg. Here are some introductory slides.

End of the second presentation

2009-11-02T23:37:00.001Z

The second presentation of H809 is over, and we're hard at work on updates to the course for next year.

There was a good haul of distinctions in 2009, and average results were up slightly. Well done to all H809'ers on these great results.

Survey

The course team has been through the outcomes of the student end-of-course survey in some detail now. Thanks to all those who gave us feedback. Here are some highlights...

Workload: It looks like the changes to the materials and assessments made for this presentation have turned out well. In particular, the level of student workload now seems just about right. This is great news, and suggests that in updating the course for 2010 there should be no net increase or decrease in the amount of reading and assessment required.

Podcasts: The survey also found that the podcasts were a hit once again, and so I'm going to record a couple more to keep them refreshed.

Wiki: The wiki was a big success, unlike last year: I suspect the difference was that my seeding the wiki with slightly rubbish content at the start helped to give more people the confidence to edit pages. For next year, we might be trying a public wiki for the glossary as part of the openEd project (see below).

Blogging: There was about the same level of blogging as last year: Jo Iacovides is currently writing a report on our experiment of having a course blogger. Many thanks to Jo for her work in this role.

Topics: Some good ideas for new topics were suggested. In particular, more about research into social networking would be appreciated, so we'll consider possible readings on this topic for 2010.

TMAs: Late return of some assignments was an issue for some students this year, and we will need to seriously consider for 2011 whether - because it's a 20 week course - we need to move from three TMAs to two TMAs in order to allow sufficient time for feedback to be acted on.

Forums: There was less interaction in the forums than last year, so we'll need to have a think about what we can do about that for 2010.

Research

In other news, we've been lucky enough to win some funding from the EU Lifelong Learning Programme to support a three year project to make an 'open' version of the H809 materials that other project partners will be translating and reversioning. More on this news soon...

Au revoir

Finally, let me wish everyone who did H809 this year all the best for the future. Do let me know if it ends up helping you give a conference presentation, publish a journal paper, embark on a PhD, or simply develop your research interests.

Feel free to follow me on Twitter if you'd like to keep in touch. I promise a follow back if you mention H809! And well done once again on your result.

James

Highlights from the 2009 H809 blogs

2009-07-25T19:12:00.003Z

Once the course is in presentation, my habit has been to setup a blog aggregator here, so that H809 bloggers' voices take centre-stage. I then have to remove to aggregator at the end of the course, because those blogs might well be used for future courses or for professional reflections, or discontinued. So this post is to highlight some posts from the 2009 blogs that I found particularly valuable:

Virtual Learning on the Janshs blog

In which Jan reflects on the role of the tutor in virtual learning communities, noting the importance of trust and relationships. "When teaching algebra, I often take a rather Zen approach, asking students to imagine that they are the letter x. I am beginning to feel that the same is true of web 2.0..."

Week 7 roundup on Jo Iacovides' Digital games and learning blog

Which considers how learning theories might relate to researching game-based learning.

resistance is futile also on the Janshs blog

About the idea of wikis as stigmergic collaboration, and noting some interesting undercurrents of social norms in relation to editing etiquette.

Juliette Culver on Ethnography

Which considers, among other matters, where one should choose to locate one's research: "Do you take a very local micro-ethnographic approach or try to look at things more holistically taking wider society into account?" Some great visitor comments there too.

Activity theory rules the day on Sonja Tack's Practice-based research in educational technology blog

Which concludes with "Trying to take a social constructivist approach in an exam-based culture is like trying to walk across a ceiling. "

My affair with online learning on Katherine Pisana's Virtually Scholastic blog

Which notes that lifelong learning can sometimes feel like a love-hate relationship. "But as with all relationships, they’re only as good as you make them!"

Thanks to all H809 bloggers for their thoughtful and interesting posts.

Well done to 2009 H809'ers

2009-07-25T19:02:00.003Z

I've posted this message in the forums:

Well done on getting to the end of the course!

Through the forums, blogs and assignments I've been finding it really interesting discovering your various research interests, in many countries and in diverse settings.

Many thanks if you completed the end-of-course survey. We'll be updating the course for next year's presentation, and I'm sure this survey (once analysed!) will be of great help. We'll be refreshing the readings, and we'll also be giving some thought about why the level of participation in forums was lower than last year, and what we might be able to do about it.

It's been a bitter-sweet presentation for us. It's been wonderful seeing so many H809'ers progress in their thinking. But those of us working in the Institute of Educational Technology felt the death of Professor Robin Mason very sharply. Her obituary in the Guardian newspaper sums up her huge contribution to the OU and the wider online education world.

Whether you're going on to further postgraduate studies or applying new ideas to your practice, all best wishes for the future. In time, I hope to read more of your work in leading research journals!

Results are expected towards the end of September. The course website and forums are available until 19 December.

James

Dr James Aczel
H809 Course Team Chair

BERA/SAGE Practitioner Research Awards 2009

2009-06-08T17:46:00.002Z

The British Educational Research Association (BERA) has some awards open to practitioners who have used research to develop their practice in the UK within the past three years.

One category of award is for those working in 16+ settings, including higher education. The other is for those working with under-16s, including schools, early years and social care or health settings.

The research is not restricted to any particular methodology, and entries can be submitted by an individual, a team, or by a researcher on behalf of an organization or institution. Entrants do not have to be members of BERA.

The deadline is 17th July 2009.

The BERA website has full details.

Being "nice" about editing

2009-05-18T17:49:00.002Z

Janshs has an interesting post on wikis as stigmergic collaboration. I think she's noticed some interesting undercurrents of social norms in relation to editing etiquette:

With my GCSE students' wiki, a turning point seems to have been an idea which I adapted from Mike Wesch of putting 40 words and phrases on the wiki and giving the students a period of time to write something for each one. This was so much better than just asking them to use their wiki pages as a blog. By focusing their activity on a specific concept, they began to edit and comment upon, as well as add to each other's work. Of course, this is also what happens on the H809 student forums to a great extent. I think the nub of the difference is that we rarely actually edit each other's text. perhaps, as adults, this feels too discourteous? The truth is though, that my teenage students did this in a sensitive and supportive manner - for example, "I like that idea for solving a problem and this is another method that I sometimes use".

Last year's H809 wiki started completely blank... And pretty much stayed that way. This year I seeded it with some deliberately haphazard initial content, and there's been much more activity, leading to a valuable resource in progress.

Could be a random variation, of course, as happens from cohort to cohort (much less forum discussion this year, for example, but about the same amount of blogging). However, as per Janshs' observations, the "leavings" have typically been polite additions rather than edits that might be seen as a rude slight on a peer's contribution.

Now if the wiki content is carried over to next year's presentation, will that cohort feel less nevous about editing what would be seen as "old" text? Or would the distinction be quickly lost?

Visible attribution to a particular cohort might help initially, but perhaps following the threads of changes might become increasingly tedious as edits grew, and so the nervousness might continue. Opening up the wiki to the world (probably a GOOD THING anyway, so long as it didn't inhibit those new to wikis from contributing) would decrease the chances of it being a peer that one's edits offend, but make it more likely that the edits would be seen by an original contributer.

A wiki that consists only of additions and not revisions would be missing the chance to improve readability when accuaracy, coverage and detail are improved. At the same time, losing the norm of respect for peers would also be undesirable. So does a wiki made by such a community need additional etiquette compared with, say, Wikipedia?

And if so, this wouldn't be the only community with such a tension between a desire to improve a shared resource and a desire not to offend. How might one delineate such communities? Hmm... lots to think about...

And we're underway!

2009-02-11T17:02:00.003Z

The first week of the course is an 'interesting' time. Some participants are newcomers to online learning; while some teach online extensively as part of their jobs. Some are newcomers to The Open University and its own particular (baffling? lovable?!) terminologies, technologies and processes; while others are old hands and have already completed postgraduate or undergraduate OU degrees.

Some are whizzing ahead through the Block 1 materials, knowing they've got to get ahead because of a holiday or job deadline in a month or two. Others are waiting impatiently for their login and password to arrive so that they can make a start. Some know a huge amount about the subject area already, others are self-declared novices.

This year there's been an unexpected last-minute rush of registrations that meant we looked, at one point, like needing an extra tutor. We normally try to keep the size of online tutor groups around 12-15. We're possibly ok, after all, but it was looking dicey for a while: a late-arriving student or two is manageable; a late-arriving tutor is much tougher for all concerned.

But the first week is also exciting, because we get to meet all sorts of new people, brought together for diverse reasons but with the common goal of making sense of this area of study. And I'm constantly impressed by how so many - old-timers and newcomers alike - go out of their way to help others to get going.

Who takes H809?

2009-01-23T12:43:00.002Z

Looking back at last year's cohort, there's a real mix of people from a variety of interesting backgrounds:

In terms of jobs, there are university professors, school teachers, college tutors, e-learning developers, headteachers, publishers, librarians, company directors, project managers, educational consultants... Several people also work as OU Associate Lecturers.

Specialist subjects include languages, science, mathematics, medicine, social care, teacher training, drama, music...

In terms of location, many are from the UK, but there are also quite a few from across Europe, including Spain, the Republic of Ireland, Switzerland (very well represented), Cyprus, Finland...

BTW The cost of the course is the same for North America, Australia, India, and Russia as it is in continental Europe, so I hope we get more of a contingent from these regions this year. We know from the Google Analytics statistics on this blog that the interest is there. Beyond that, we do understand that the course fee is often the stumbling block in some parts of the world. My personal hope is that governments will come to see the value of equipping education professionals with up-to-date research and evaluation skills.

Motivations for taking the course: about 60% indicate they're taking H809 to benefit their career, and about 40% to improve themselves. About two-thirds are aiming for a Masters degree in Education or considering a PhD (or other research degree). Some want to get formal accreditation for research and evaluation; some want to get into action research; and others simply want to hone their skills in evaluating new technologies for learning.

It was important to many that the course is fully online, that it explores the use of research tools, that the feedback from their tutor is of a high quality, and that they are able to apply what they've learned to their own professional context.

The Open University website has full details of the course. The official closing date for registration is 6th February, but it can take a few days to get sorted, so register as soon as possible to avoid a late start. Any queries: please feel free to email me directly.

Course Blogger

2009-01-19T00:25:00.002Z

A bit of an innovation for us this year on H809: We're experimenting with having a "Course Blogger".

Blogs are an increasingly important medium of academic discourse in the field of educational technology (see Martin Weller's view, for example) . And H809 is a course for those who want to learn about research in educational technology. So we encourage course participants to keep a personal reflective blog, as a way of exploring the potential of the blogging medium. And this year, we've decided to create a formal Course Blogger role.

What will our Course Blogger do?

Well, overall the aim is to maximise the value of the online experience for those taking the course.

This can include:

Synthesising, analysing and building on questions, points of interest, resources, links and references raised during the discussions within individual tutor groups and elsewhere on the web.

Commenting on the substance of course participants' blog posts: providing an incentive for newbie bloggers to get the posts out.Blogging about their own research, giving course participants an idea of how research happens in practice, an example of academic blogging, and insights into a particular topic.

Helping out with online discussions and activities.

Identifying and archiving stuff that might be useful for the course in subsequent years.

Oh, and of course reflecting on what a Course Blogger should do...

Will it work?

Not sure: it's an experiment, so the worst that can happen is that we get interesting recommendations for how not to do it in the future. But we'd be interested to hear of similar endeavours and how they fared.

Highlights from BETT 09

2009-01-16T14:45:00.013Z

I spent yesterday in London at the BETT Show, billed as the world's largest educational technology event. It was certainly extremely busy, in terms of both exhibitors and visitors. Goodness knows how busy it will be on Saturday, when teachers who weren't able to spare a weekday from school will attend...

It was impossible to see everything in one day. So here are my inevitably selective personal highlights:

Collaborative interactive Tables
The photo shows my research student Jo Iacovides making music with the just-launched Microsoft Surface. It's multi-touch, orientation-aware and web-connected. It can play video, interact with physical artefacts, and simulate physics beautifully. Some lovely ripple effects on the opening screen. Everything is resizable, and navigating maps is much more intuitive than with mouse or keyboard. "Like a massive ipod" says Jo. Microsoft has finally made something stylish.

We also looked at Smart Table, which looks similar to Microsoft Surface, but the applications so far are more focused on the primary school than on the wow factor. Like Microsoft Surface, Smart Table is multi-touch, Windows-based and relies on upward-pointing cameras embedded in the table, so it's not just an interactive whiteboard placed horizontally.

Neither product is available to buy yet. Smart Table is expected to be available in about six months at £5,500. Microsoft Surface is currently in excess of $10,000 and won't be available in a consumer version for about a year. But the potential for the hospitality, entertainment and military sectors will bring the price down quickly. Robust open source alternatives will follow.

The challenge now for collaborative interactive tables is killer educational applications.

Netbooks
Jo: "want one".

The netbook form-factor, originally introduced by Asus, is much more education-friendly than traditional laptops. A selection of new models were displayed on the "Wall of Cool", which was an actually plausible claim.

Intel chose BETT for the launch of its new Classmate, which can operate as a tablet PC. I shared many of the reservations about the development assumptions underlying both this and the One Laptop Per Child initiative; but I admire the diverse educational usability advances that Intel and OLPC have achieved in recent years.

2Do It Yourself

2simple were demoing software that enables children (and teachers!) to make flash games. It looked good, although couldn't get a proper understanding of its potential because Jo and I kept being accosted by a steady succession of slightly over-enthusiastic
salesfolk from the company!

CapturaTalk v2
I was seriously impressed by this software for Windows Mobiles from Iansyst. You take a photo of some text, and CapturaTalk converts it into speech. Brilliant. I'm going to download the demo to check it out properly, but as a regular screen-reader user myself, I'm very excited by this product.

In the past I've tried several text-to-speech products for my mobile, and of course I use both Optical Character Recognition and speech-output packages on my PC. To go directly from printed text to speech on-the-move would be terrific. CapturaTalk also reads from Word Mobile, emails and Pocket Internet Explorer.

The main limitations at the moment are the price (£350), the small range of supported mobiles, and the fact that the Windows Mobile touch-screen platform is lousy for many varieties of visual impairment. But it looks good for me!

Mantra Lingua RecorderPen

Like similar products, this device reads hotspots in specially-formatted books; but the interesting thing about the RecorderPen is that it allows children to record their own narrations to those books. Lots of potential for language learning. And by using special stickers, children can give voices to physical objects. Lots of potential for the creation of educational games.

MirandaNet
All the expected professional associations, government agencies and interest groups were represented at BETT, but I want to single out MirandaNet for mention. Not just because it's an international organisation promoting the use of ICT in education (it's one of many). And not just because they seem like a decent bunch of people promoting practice-based research in educational technology (although that's a pretty good reason, given that H809 can directly help with that agenda). No, it's because amidst all the hustle, bustle and noise of BETT, MirandaNet were managing to record a number of podcast discussions. A lot more interesting than the usual glossy leaflets and free pens!

Kudlian I Can Animate

Kudlian were demoing this good value, easy-to-use animation kit. I can imagine a good many future film directors getting a start with this!

Finally, I want to repeat a thought I raised a while back. Worldwide there's a lot going on relating to ICT in education: products, publications, conferences, seminars, companies, agencies, associations, and so on. They are often a rich source of enthusiasm, case studies, and issues.

But teachers who want to pursue their interests more deeply might want to take a step back and ask questions such as...

How strong is the evidence for claims?
Are alternative explanations possible?
How could the claims be tested more strongly?
How can we use theory to help us do things better?

This is where the international accredited online course H809 can help. If you're interested in taking things further, you've got until the end of January to register.

Action research as professional development

2009-01-12T17:41:00.002Z

What makes effective professional development for teachers?

Last year, many of the participants on our course 'Practice-based research in educational technology' were using it as a way in to action research. And I think they did so not necessarily because they wanted to end up as educational researchers (although some will), but because they see action research as able to play a key role in their own professional development.

That teachers can be researchers was not always accepted. I remember years ago, as an eager PhD student, being told quite firmly by an eminent professor of education (who didn't know I'd been a schoolteacher) that he didn't object to teachers trying out new strategies and reflecting on them, but that teachers shouldn't be reading the research literature and they certainly shouldn't attempt to do anything called "research".

Luckily times have moved on, and professionals working in schools and universities in many countries are increasingly being actively encouraged to get involved in research as a way of developing practice and moving careers onward.

For example, huge numbers of teachers attend the annual meeting of the American Educational Research Association (AERA). And in the UK, support for teacher research is evident at the Training and Development Agency for Schools (TDA) and in the government sponsored National Teacher Research Panel. There is now also a Special Interest Group in the British Educational Research Association devoted to promoting Practitioner Research.

I'd be interested to hear of the situation in other countries. I hope the view that teachers can't be also be researchers is dying out everywhere.

P.S. Only a couple of weeks to go before registration closes for the 2009 presentation of our course. Full details here.

H809 for 2009

2008-12-09T10:00:00.000Z

Advert alert! If you've just arrived at this blog, you'll want to know what the course is all about. Apologies to existing readers: you already know what's in this post. But tell your friends!

What do we really know about technology enhanced learning? There's lots of hype about Second Life, interactive whiteboards, games, video-conferencing, e-portfolios, integrated learning systems, mobile devices… But just how valuable are the latest technologies for education? What usefully engages the Facebook generation in learning? Where’s the evidence?

There's an online postgraduate course that aims to help: Practice-based research in educational technology (H809). It's run by The Open University, one of the world's leading distance learning universities.

We can't provide all the answers, especially as new technologies and initiatives are burgeoning all the time. But we can point to what is already known. And we can equip you with the skills to be able to critically evaluate new research that might apply to your own practice.

H809 is all about locating, understanding and evaluating original empirical research into technology enhanced learning. We plan to update the readings regularly, to keep at the cutting-edge. The course draws attention to the latest methods of data collection and analysis. It considers the links between research, policy and practice. And at the end of the course, there's an opportunity to apply what you've learned to a topic of your choice in the field of technology enhanced learning.

All the materials and discussions are online, making the course accessible from anywhere in the world, with the bonus of being part of a lively international community able to learn from one another’s experiences in different cultural contexts.

Registration is now open for February 2009. The course lasts 20 weeks part-time. It's suitable for teachers, lecturers and other education professionals. You should have some experience of reading and understanding academic literature.

H809 can contribute to a number of Masters degrees, including the OU's Masters in Education and its MA in Online and Distance Education. It can also be a stepping-stone to a PhD or EdD.

Feel free to contact me if you've got a query.

Reflections on the first presentation

2008-11-07T19:08:00.005Z

On balance, the first presentation of the course went really well. We had a bunch of great students from a diverse range of countries and occupations, some terrific tutors, and better-than-average course results.

There were hiccups, of course. Firstly, I was off sick for many months, which meant that the course team had to collectively pick up the many crucial tasks of the course chair. My deep thanks to them.

Secondly we had some really bad luck that led to unfortunate chopping and changing of tutor groups for some students. My apologies to them. But everyone pulled together, ably supported by our experienced tutors, and some really interesting projects were produced.

We've also learned a great deal from our students, through the forums, blogs and the end-of-course survey. And thanks to them we've been able to cut down substantially on the reading required, we've made the assessment more straightforward, and we're re-balancing how the various online discussion tools are used. The 2009 cohort will see the direct benefits of this excellent feedback.

I know it's probably really bad form in a blog to blow your own trumpet too much, but when you're creating an innovative course like H809, you never quite know how it's going to work out. And we know, in any case, that research courses are hard work for students. So we were delighted that so many of our students had such positive experiences...

"What I really needed was THIS course. A very innovative course in methods and contents, truly inspiring, full of ideas, new solutions, readings from all over the field and the world, and so on. I am very happy indeed that this course was opened!"

"... a key ingredient, having started the course feeling like others apprehensive and intimidated, way out of my comfort zone, what has enabled me to face my fears much better is the positive and supportive environment that is evident in this course."

"I enjoyed it very much. It's a great course, great staff and great students, too."

Some H809 posts from 2008

2008-10-01T22:27:00.000Z

Actor Network Theory and Learning Contexts

This text divides approaches to context into positivist and constructivist. It was suggested today (by its author) in the Yahoo group for discussion of Actor Network Theory.

The text references Charlie Chaplin and Leonardo Da Vinci (not to mention Aristotle, Hegel and Wittgenstein) so I suppose that just about wraps it up for reality.

It proposes ANT as a way of interpreting, designing, and managing learning contexts.

John Kuti, 1 April 2008

Reconsidering Tolmie and Crook & Dymott

It was a pleasure reading Laurillard after Tolmie. Studies like Tolmie’s and Roschelle’s leave me wondering why would anyone bother. Looking at what Laurillard et al call the micro-level interactions, but without a broader frame to place it in, seemed of limited use. On reflection, though, I realised that as a teacher I do sometimes interrogate learning events at such a level if they don’t seem to be working. The wider view isn’t always necessary. What Laurillard et al offer, though, is the wider picture into which the micro-level works, including the students’ personal filters.

Jonassen and Rohrer-Murphy also address questions raised by the Crook and Dymott study. When thinking about how I would assess the students’ writing I would want to know first why they were doing it. Did they feel it relevant for them; did they have any interest in it; how did they understand the instructor's purpose and could they negotiate it in some way to meet their own purposes. What’s the point of writing without a purpose? And perhaps this might inform the use of the technology. These issues weren’t problematic for Crook and Dymott, but could be part of the analysis done with an Activity Theory approach.

Barbara Roberts, 8 April 2008

Thoughts on Reading 19 Egan et al (2006)

This was an interesting paper - not least because it indicates a context where an online research methodology could actually be more valid (giving direct access to the responses of survivors of TBI) than face to face interview methods - removing some of the barriers this group encounters as a result of cognitive-linguistic impairments when interviewed in face to face situations. The ‘richness’ of responses form the participants who had the time to reflect using this asynchronous method, was an unexpected outcome of the research.

Rosemary, 11 May 2008

Amazing Free Web Things Part 127: Wordle

Wordle allows you to create a very gorgeous word cloud from pasted text, blogs, feeds or del.ici.ous users’ stuff.

To hail Wordle, and to mark the submission of the H809 ECA, I fed my 4,000 word opus (minus bibliography) into Wordle and this very groovy cloud came out.

Nice (if unsurprising) to see that ’students’, ‘technology’ and ‘learning’ were the most prominent words.

Now, what’s next….?

eguinan, 24 Jul 2008

Hurrah!

The final posting in this Blog is to say that my result is in and I have passed the course!!!!!

So - what do I do now?
I guess I'll have to make sure I archive this off somewhere so that I have a copy and then look for another course to do... I think it's going to be H807 - Postgrad: 'Innovations in elearning'

I would definitely recommend this Open University course (H809). Check out the course link on the main OU student website. Lots of intensive hard work, but it is well worth it. Great course team, excellent resources and the most helpful and knowledgeable Tutor (Dr. Rhona Sharpe).

Col, 19 September 2008

20 days left to sign up!

2008-01-11T14:13:00.000Z

We've been delighted with the registrations for the course.

Those who've not studied with The Open University before might not realize that we recruit as many tutors as needed to keep the tutor groups small and friendly. And in our global online courses we often have student registrations close to the start date, so we're never 100% sure of the exact number of tutors we'll need until the course is underway. We've therefore got a talented pool of tutors on stand-by, ready and eager to guide course participants to a critical understanding of research in educational technology.

If you've been mulling over signing up for the course, you've got until 31st January to register. Here are the details. If you've got questions, there's help with registration here.

Open journals

2007-11-02T11:31:00.000Z

Well everything was going swimmingly with Block 2: A great selection of readings relating to theory, with carefully crafted materials and integrated online activities to support them. But then... one of the readings on Activity Theory turned out not to be available through the (very expensive) journal subscriptions we already have. Recent issues of the journal yes, but not the particular issue with that reading in it.

Our Rights department dutifully trotted off to ask the publisher how much it would cost us to include this paper in the course, and they came back with a figure of £1,791 (about €2600 or US$3700)

Hmm... that's more than our rights budget for the whole course, so no thank you. Less law-abiding organisations would simply scan or photocopy the paper for their students. But we don't do that. So we've gone back to ask the publisher (who shall be nameless at this stage) to reconsider, otherwise we shall have to replace the paper and rewrite Week 9 of the course.

In the long-run of course, this kind of behaviour is likely to increase the attractiveness of open access journals, or some variant. At the same time, the OU already makes as many of its researchers' publications as it can freely available online. But the general public might not be aware that often academics have to sign away the copyright of their own work to the publishers of the journal in which it's published. And so academics might be unable to make their work freely available, even after some years have elapsed.

We'll see what happens...

Update 7 Nov: A happy resolution. A current subscription covering that particular journal issue has now been found.

New links

2007-10-11T18:07:00.000Z

I've updated the links on this page. One of the additions is to a set of slides showing the various pathways to a Masters degree involving H809. Of course it can be taken as a standalone course, but we get asked about pathways quite a bit, so I hope this helps.

Another new link is to Gráinne Conole's new blog. Gráinne is a member of the H809 Course Team and always makes terrific contributions to our discussions. So I think her blog is well worth a look.

Conference news

2007-09-17T23:50:00.000Z

I know I said there were too many relevant conferences worldwide to be posting them all here, but there are a few coming up that might be of interest.

Next month is E-Learn 2007 in Quebec, Canada.
In November is the 2007 European Practice-Based and Practitioner Research conference on learning and instruction in Maastricht in The Netherlands.
A few days later is the annual conference of the Australian Association for Research in Education (AARE 2007), in Fremantle, Western Australia.
In December is the annual conference of the Australasian Society for Computers in Learning in Tertiary Education (ascilite 2007) in Singapore.

Finally, the conference is not until March, but I couldn't resist linking to the "Computer and Internet Applications in Education" Special Interest Group of the American Educational Research Association (AERA). Did someone mutter the word "usability"? My screen-reader sees nothing...

A busy summer

2007-09-15T16:20:00.000Z

Production of the course is now well advanced. Personally, I've been on my holidays, and then the conference of the European Association for Research on Learning and Instruction (EARLI), held this year in Budapest.

But while I've been away the rest of the course team have been busy finalising the Block 2 materials and firming up Block 3. We're also busy planning the podcasts, about which I'll say more in a future post.

We've now had useful feedback from our Critical Readers: these are the folks outside the course team who go through the materials and online activities in detail and suggest improvements. Our Critical Readers seem genuinely as excited by the course as we are, which is great!

We've had a gratifying number of applications from people wanting to be tutors on the course (see the advert). We'll be shortlisting soon. We'll continue to accept applications even after the first tutors are appointed, because we won't know until February how many students we'll have and so how many tutors are needed.

Now that students are registering on the course, the February start date suddenly seems very close!

Block 1 readings

2007-07-27T19:36:00.001Z

As promised, some early readings. And they are not just "early" in the course. Several are early in the sense of being older in the field. That's because they're part of the "scene-setting" that goes on in Block 1 ("Contextualising the field"). The cutting-edge stuff comes later!

Further caveats: Firstly, most of the readings are not freely available online. H809 students will get access through OU subscriptions. Secondly, you haven't got the course materials or tutorial activities that "scaffold" the readings. Again, H809 students get these during the course.

Hiltz, S. R. and Meinke, R. (1989) ‘Teaching Sociology in a Virtual Classroom’, Teaching Sociology, vol. 17, no. 4. pp. 431-446.
Wegerif, R. and Mercer, N. (1997) ‘Using computer-based text analysis to integrate qualitative and quantitative methods in research on collaborative learning’, Language and Education, vol. 11, no. 4, pp. 271-286
OECD (2005) E-learning in Tertiary Education: Where do we stand?, Paris, OECD
Laurillard, D. (1994) ‘How Can Learning Technologies Improve Learning?’ Law Technology Journal, vol. 3, no. 2
Oliver, M., Roberts, G., Beetham, H., Ingraham, B. and Dyke, M. (2007) ‘Knowledge, society and perspectives on learning technology’, in G. Conole and M. Oliver (eds) Contemporary Perspectives on E-learning Research, London, RoutledgeFalmer
Hewer, S. and Mogey, N. (eds) (1997) LTDI Case Studies, Edinburgh, Heriot-Watt University, ISBN: 0 9528731 3 3; also available online (Accessed 22 June 2007)
Roschelle, J. (1992) ‘Learning by Collaborating: Convergent Conceptual Change’, Journal of the Learning Sciences, vol. 2, no. 3, pp. 235-276

Now recruiting...

2007-07-24T15:21:00.000Z

We are looking for tutors who are interested in being part of this. If you've experience of researching the use of technology for learning, or even if you have a more general broad educational research background, please see the employment advert.

e-learning publications and conferences

2007-05-23T11:11:00.000Z

If you work in the school sector, you might be interested in a new publication by the UK's agency BECTa: Emerging technologies for learning (volume 2)

If you work in a university or college, another UK agency JISC is holding an online conference on e-learning in June.

Worldwide there are many such publications and conferences relating to ICT in education - too many to publicise here systematically - and they are often a rich source of enthusiasm, case studies, and issues.

However prospective H809'ers might also be wanting to take a step back to ask questions such as...

How strong is the evidence for claims?
Are alternative explanations possible?
How could the claims be tested more strongly?
What theoretical explanations are offered, what do they buy us, and what are their weaknesses?

We'd be interested to hear to what extent each of the e-learning gurus is engaging in these questions.

Show 'n Tell

2007-05-10T17:51:00.001Z

One of the bright ideas we had earlier in the year was a research Show 'n Tell. Each of the course team brought along three examples of original research with which H809'ers might usefully engage and that could illustrate a cutting edge methodology. To discourage bashfulness, one of these examples had to be local (either one's own work or a colleague's). We then talked about each piece of research, and what it had to offer. The discussion proved so enjoyable we had two more of them.

The readings were about...

research into technologies such as social websites, games consoles, podcasting, Google Maps, Second Life, robotics...
research using technologies such as ChatBot, eye-tracking, remote observation, audio logs...
analytical frameworks such as Activity Theory, discourse analysis, network analysis, content analysis...
issues such as effectiveness, informal learning, interactivity, economics, privacy, personalisation, capacity building...

Of course we can't promise to fit all of this into the course, but the selection of readings for the first presentation of the course does draw heavily on these happy discussions. And the plan is to update the readings annually to keep them at the cutting-edge. We're happy to receive further suggestions.

Conference on practice-based research

2007-05-10T17:17:00.000Z

There's a call for contributions to the second European Conference on Practice-based and Practitioner Research on Learning and Instruction. It's being held in Maastricht, the Netherlands, 14-16 November 2007.

According to the organisers, the conference "will offer opportunities to discuss educational innovations and developments based on evidence emerging from different forms of inquiry into educational practice. Interactive formats are intended to promote interaction between practitioners and researchers."

The deadline for the submission of proposals is 20 June 2007.

Registration now open

2007-05-01T19:01:00.000Z

Worldwide approval has just been granted. You can now register for the course online.

It can count towards one of four different Masters degrees:

Do you like your learning in lumps or as a journey?

2007-04-19T17:47:00.000Z

We've spent a lot of time discussing the structure of the course. We want students to engage in the questions How is ICT in education researched? And How is technology changing the way educational research is conducted? But what is the best way into these questions?

The "learning object" approach has been fashionable in online courses in recent years. For research methods courses, meanwhile, a "foundations - paradigms - techniques" kind of narrative approach has become fairly traditional.

But this is a practice-based course, and the "practice" is that of researching with and about ICT. So we think an approach based on the critical study of original empirical research might offer a refreshing alternative pedagogy.

In this "spiral structure" (inspired by Bruner), you journey through a sequence of readings and activities, with key themes being revisited at a progressively higher level of sophistication each time.

The course themes are:

epistemological issues
theoretical frameworks
the changing nature of research
ethics and unintended consequences
relationships between research, policy & practice

Perhaps this spiral approach makes it a harder job all round: you have to read original research papers rather than a finely sieved narrative; and we need to create materials and activities to help you to read each research paper critically, while simultaneously drawing out these themes.

But we think it's worth it for the benefits of getting you engaged in the reality of actual research literature from the start, set in their original context, without the predefined filters of an artificially-generated "grand narrative". Of course such narratives have their place...

And the winner is...

2007-03-23T17:52:00.000Z

We asked the OU's educational research students to vote on our final shortlist of three titles. Their overwhelming recommendation was for "Practice-based research in educational technology".

Many of them also provided very useful comments and additional suggestions. The new ones that most caught my attention were:
"New technologies for educational research" and "Technology-rich methodologies for educational research".

We had been worried that "practice" was too academic-y a word, but this wasn't a concern expressed by our respondents. One commented:

'Practice' and 'practice-based' are very powerful words for people working outside academia: it provides reassurance that what you find is going to be some practical use – eventually. Also helps with employers, e.g. getting funding or at least time off from work or co-operation in access to data."

Some noted that the title doesn't mention the cutting-edge technologies that the course will draw on. This is a fair point, and perhaps indicates something to be highlighted in the blurb.

Title suggestions

2007-03-16T18:14:00.000Z

Thanks for all the suggestions. Here's a selection of them, in no particular order:

Researching technology enhanced learning
Researching elearning [suggested three times!]
Researching ICT
Researching Practice in e-learning
e-learning: Researching Practice
Research and Practice in e-learning
Researching and Studying eLearning
New directions in practitioner inquiry using e-research
Practitioner Inquiry using e-research methodologies
Researching technology-rich practice
Technology enhanced research
Practitioner Research and technologically supported methodologies
Practice-based research in educational technology
Researching in eLearning
Foundations in eLearning Research
eLearning Research - a practitioner’s course
Using e-Research in e-Learning
The eLearning researcher
Prepare for research in eLearning
Thinking beyond the boundaries: eLearning research and evaluation
Methods of Practice-Based Research for Distance and E-Learning

The ubiquity of "e-learning" is quite a surprise, because it's not a word we've used in relation to the course very much. It's probably because the word appeared in a departmental email inviting suggestions. Friends with fingers on the pulse of the zeitgeist tell me that its days as a fashionable buzzword are numbered, so we'd be interested in views on this.

A rose by any other name?

2007-03-02T16:14:00.000Z

We've been mulling over titles.

Our working title is accurate but not catchy: "Practice-based research and evaluation in technology-rich environments".

We know that titles matter: some of our older course titles have been said to be too wordy, or to tell you very little about the content of the course.

Some colleagues have suggested we put "eLearning" in the title, and that "practice" is a off-putting "academic-y" word. Others like the word "practice" because of its connotations of practitioner enquiry, practical reasoning, and social practices, and because it doesn't restrict the audience to teachers and lecturers.

Another issue for the title is that the course is supposed to be not just about researching technology-enhanced learning but also about the use of technology for educational research.

What would you call it? There's a small prize for the suggestion we like the best.

Permission to shout "Woo Woo Woooh!!" incredibly loudly, sir?

2007-02-16T12:14:00.000Z

After months of work on the business appraisal, H809 has been approved. :-) Full steam ahead!

Did you think this was going to be one of those infamous one-post blogs? Well, I was discouraged from posting during the appraisal. And I still need to keep flagging up that details contained herein are subject to change before the course goes live.

Mind you, if the blog posts reach double figures I'll be surprised...

What's this blog about?

2006-11-07T03:54:00.000Z

At a time of high demand for “evidence-based” policy and practice, some of us believe that technology is dramatically changing educational research processes.

A small team at The Open University is planning a 20-week online postgraduate course on educational research and evaluation in technology-rich environments.

The course isn't approved yet, so anything you read in this blog is tentative and subject to change. If approved, the course would be part of the OU's MA in Online and Distance Education (MAODE). But until then, this blog is unofficial. ;-)

The idea of the course is that students get to learn about cutting-edge methods of data collection and analysis by engaging in the critical study of original empirical research. There'd also be a look at philosophical assumptions underlying educational enquiry, and ethical debates. The course would draw on the loads of excellent educational research resources out there on the web. Instead of an exam, a short project.

There's no title yet (suggestions welcome!), but a provisional code - H809. Hence the name of the blog.

If you're interested, there are three immediate ways you can help us:

Let us know what you'd want from such a course.
Point us to web resources that might be useful.
Subscribe to the blog - it'll encourage us to post our progress.