Fostering Collaboration is the focus of this year’s Dublin Region Higher Education Alliance (DRHEA) elearning summer school. The DRHEA consists of the four universities and four institutes of technology in the Dublin region, which have a total of almost 11,000 staff and about 75,000 students. An elearning newtork of excellence is being established, starting with a preliminary audit on elearning among its members. The audit focuses on the use of VLEs and among other things urges the expansion from course management to greater use of learning activities and the upgrading of skills to support this.
The role of educational technologists in the transforming of education was discussed in a lively presentation by Larry McNutt. He illustrated the growing role of collaboration and the declining importance of content by comparing the rise of Wikipedia with the decline of Microsoft’s Encarta encyclopedia. While noting that the Irish Learning Alliance is an umbrella group for Irish eLearning companies, he advised learning technologists to ‘reclaim the field’. Technology needs to be ‘put in its place’ with learning technologists and academics using technology to help broaden access to education.
Librarians from DIT and DCU introduced the role of Web 2.0 in higher education. This was followed by hands-on workshops in collaborative technologies, including my own on blogs and wikis. I found that there were 2 bloggers among a class of 15 – including Michael Seery. By the end of the class all participants had written blog posts and contributed to a group wiki. We used Campus Pack from Learning Objects which are available for both Blackboard & Moodle so that access can be restricted to class members.
Photos courtesy of DIT
June 22nd, 2010
James Clay of Gloucestershire College gave the opening keynote on “Cultural Shifts” at EdTech 2010, the annual conference of the Irish Learning Technology Association. James invited participants to use Twitter and other mobile technologies during his presentation. Indeed, participants both virtual and physically present tweeted extensively about the conference.
According to James, while society has changed, the way we think about change has not. Educational technology enthusiasts can be seen as nerds obsessed with the latest “shiny things”. New technologies are rarely either/or – television did not replace cinema, cinema did not replace theatre. We can have both books and eBooks serving different purposes in different situations. To change the culture of change educational technologists should present new technologies as choices which can have a positive impact for both the learner and teacher. Lecturers should experiment and encourage their students to experiment with new technologies. This is a natural part of learning.
In his presentation, Larry McNutt of the Institute of Technology Blanchardstown gave an update on his research into the role of Educational Technologists which he has submitted for his EdD thesis. (Previous posts on this subject can be found using the tag cloud). He has been interviewing educational technologists in Irish higher education to gain an understanding of their motivations, values and beliefs. In brief, his findings are that educational technologists are learner-centred with a belief that technology can improve learning and access to learning. Technology has the potential to become a transformative force in higher education but this has not and may never be realised. Educational technologists have a marginal role with little influence in higher education even in their area of expertise.
Photographs from the ILTA Photo Gallery
June 11th, 2010
Larry McNutt is Head of the Head of School of Informatics & Engineering in the Institute of Technology Blanchardstown (Dublin). A computer scientist with a long interest in educational technology he is currently exploring the beliefs and values of educational technologists and how they are shaped by their environment. What effect if any are technology and technologists having on education? His Moodle site Mo Sceál (My Story) investigates these questions.
May 29th, 2008
Larry McNutt gave a though-provoking presentation on Educational Technology and True Innovation or a Field of Dreams and Dreamers at the NDLR Symposium. Larry is Head Of School of Informatics & Engineering at the Institute of Technology Blanchardstown and has a long track record in multimedia and computer-based learning.
Many academics are enthusiasts for educational technology and are keen to try out new technologies in their teaching. Yet, many others remain unconvinced, preferring to stick with ‘tried and tested’ traditional methods. Computer usage has become widespread in the fifty years since the first computer was installed in Ireland. Yet, in 2003, Ron Paige, US Secretary for Education, was able to say, “Education is the only business still debating the usefulness of technology”. This statement raises a number of questions, is education a business? Should a business model apply to education? Why are educators still debating the usefulness of technology? Larry used the theory of ‘habitus’ ( loosely, a combination of their environment, education, professional practice and personal disposition) to show why many lecturers were disinclined to use educational technology and had yet to be convinced of its benefits.
December 19th, 2007
