Earlier this week I spent two days in Cardiff at the #oer15 conference on Mainstreaming Open Education. I was able to ask one of the keynote speakers, Sheila MacNeill, a question and I asked about what she would like to see happen next to help further openness. Her response was ‘getting senior decision makers engaged’ – and that got me thinking. What would I like to see happen, what would I want, not in my…
Maren Deepwell Posts
…”In a recent post by Stephen Downes, MOOC pioneer and a proponent of connectivist learning (see for example hiskeynote speech at the 2013 ALT Annual Conference), I came across a discussion of different skills and values, professional literacies, that have been shaped by digital technology and the internet. These include not only the now more commonly known digital literacy (see Jisc’s guide for example), or web literacy (Mozilla’s recent work comes to mind here), but…
…”We face a lot of uncertainty at present. At times when funding cuts, reform, a General Election and other factors put additional pressure on all providers, the first instinct is often to focus inwards. Intelligent use of Learning Technology has become a greater factor in many ways over the past year or two, with recommendations such as those proposed in the Government’s response to the FELTAG report highlighting the changing needs of employers and learners…
In my role as chief executive of the Association for Learning Technology, I write regular reports on the work we do with and for our members. You can read all of the recent reports in ALT’s online newsletter. In my most recent report I mentioned ALT’s new Annual Survey, findings from which have been published at the end of February 2015. The report and the related data are now openly accessible via ALT’s Open Access…
…”At the Bett show we heard from two Ministers, who each shared their vision for the future of technology in education. In my work for the Association I have been involved in Education Technology Action Group (ETAG), as well as the Further Education Learning Technology Action Group (FELTAG), and I listened with interest to find out which ideas and recommendations would be included in their speeches. Both Ministers duly acknowledged the role of Learning Technology,…
…”In recent months there has been much talk of the implications of FELTAG, the Further Education Learning Technology Action Group. Much of this has been focused on understanding what constitutes online delivery and what the implications of having to achieve a certain percentage of online delivery are. One clear implication is that more teachers, technicians, managers and support staff will be using technology for learning, teaching and assessment. This means that more of us will…
…”With policy and commercial developments firmly focused on ‘big data’ and all that entails, I was interested to come across quite a few sessions and speakers talking about how we use data in learning, particularly formal education at ALT’s Annual Conference earlier this month. Earlier in the year, as part of ALT’s work for ETAG, the Education Technology Action Group, we had invited contributions from a range of individuals and organisations and received what I…
With September nearly here I am getting ready for conferences starting with ALT’s annual conference from 1-3 September at the University of Warwick. If you are curious to find out more you can read my preview of the conference in FE News or visit the online conference platform. While I don’t lead any sessions, I am really looking forward to the programme, including many member-led events, which is great to see. You can watch keynotes…