innovation

NetworkED – James Clay – 9th March 2016

LTI NetworkED seminar series to welcome James Clay (Jisc) to LSE 9th March at 2pm. CANCELLED

Mapping Teaching and Learning

Mapping exercises such as those used to explore the concept of Visitors and Residents are a useful tool to understand where you currently are and to think about where you would like to be and how you are going to get there. The mapping exercise for Visitors and Residents in the main covers digital communication, collaboration and participation and can be used to help individuals build their digital capabilities in these areas.

Tickets for this seminar can be found on Eventbrite.

Recently I have started to think about how we could use a similar concept to map teaching practices, learning environments and curriculum design. This lead onto thinking about mapping the “learning” of our learners. Where are they learning, is that learning scheduled and formalised? Is that learning ad-hoc? Is it individual, group, collaborative? Could we use mapping to help build capability in understanding how digital technologies can be used to enhance and enrich teaching, learning and assessment?

Mapping teaching and learning provides an insight into how the curriculum is designed and how learners interact and engage with the different spaces, tools and delivery mechanisms. It can also show how traditional methods of adding or blending learning technologies usually results in a bolt-on additional approach that results in a poor experience for learners and teachers.

The talk will reflect on how mapping the curriculum could result in a more coherent approach to the embedding of digital technologies and an approach that maximises the potential benefits of using digital over a scattergun approach of throwing technologies into a traditional mix of teaching and learning. This talk will discuss what we want to achieve through mapping teaching and learning, understanding that using digital is not necessarily a solution to every problem. It will also explore the potential enablers that will create new solutions, enable changes in behaviours and build digital capability.

References

White, David, and Alison Cornu. “Visitors And Residents: A New Typology For Online Engagement”. First Monday 16.9 (2011): n. pag. Web. 4 Feb. 2016.

Digital – Learning – Culture,. “Visitors & Residents”. N.p., 2014. Web. 4 Feb. 2016.

Donnalanclos.com,. “EDUCAUSE 2012, Part The Second | Donna Lanclos–The Anthropologist In The Stacks”. N.p., 2012. Web. 4 Feb. 2016.

Clay, James. “Mapping The Learning And Teaching”. e-Learning Stuff. N.p., 2016. Web. 4 Feb. 2016.

MacNeill, Shelia. “Some Reflections On “Mapping The Learning And Teaching”. howsheilaseesIT. N.p., 2016. Web. 4 Feb. 2016.

Biography

James Clay is currently on a 12 month contract with Jisc as their project manager for the building digital capability R&D project. James has worked in the further education (FE) sector since 1993 (as wells a short time in the museum sector) and has extensive experience in the use of technology to enhance and enrich learning. He has been a teacher, a project manager, a project director, an ILT manager, Learning Resources manager and an IT director. He has managed a range of projects over the years in various roles, including mobile learning, e-books, IT infrastructure, learner analytics, copyright, institutional resources, VLEs and student records

Book Tickets

As always the event is free to attend and places can be reserved via Eventbrite. All our talks are live streamed and recorded for those who can’t attend in person.

February 4th, 2016|Events & Workshops (LTI), innovation, NetworkED, Teaching & Learning, Tools & Technologies, Uncategorized|Comments Off|

Saving Bletchley Park by Dr Sue Black

Bletchley Park takes its place in history, such history that cannot be disputed by anyone. Without the codebreaking and the world’s first computer the outcome of the Second World War may have been very different and yet this historically signification site was at risk of destruction.

Dr Sue Black, a champion in computer science, a leading advocate for Women in Technology and the driving force behind the saving of Bletchley Park, started a social media campaign that has helped secure Bletchley’s future as a world class heritage site and education centre.

Saving Bletchley Park campaign, backed by thousands, built a community via social media to generate funds to enable Bletchley to continue its story for future generations.

Stemmed from email discussions ending with a letter to The Times, the disrepair of Bletchley was picked by the media, donations were made and a petition signed. This book by Black shares the significance of Bletchley Park focusing on the 10,000 people who worked there, half of those women, and how it has been saved by 20years of campaigning.

A Triumph … Dr Black writes with disarming modesty and great flair

STEPHEN FRY

LSE LTI recently hosted a panel of leading women in technology with Sue Black being one of the panelists. This topical discussion looked at encouraging women to work in technology through education as it gives you the ability to understand digital literacy. “For women a career in technology needs to mean something”. This can certainly be said for Black! The NetworkEDGE discussion is available on our Youtube page.

The Saving Bletchley Park book can currently be purchased from unbound until the end of March with 10% of all profits going to Bletchley Park. From April the book will be available on Amazon. Black will be doing a book tour across the UK this year with talks already planned for Oxford, Bath and other literacy festivals.

To see what events are coming up at LTI click here

January 21st, 2016|innovation, NetworkEDGE, Reports & Papers, Social Media, Tools & Technologies|Comments Off|

The LSE Language Centre Project Day

To celebrate the success of various teaching and research projects, the Language Centre hosted a Project Day on Friday 18th September. Several LSE Language Co-ordinators presented their experiences of experimenting with innovative technologies in language learning. The Day provided the opportunity to discuss the advantages and disadvantages of online learning systems, the merits of e-marking, and the ways in which video production can aid language learning.

Dr.Peter Skrandies: Reading for Academic Purposes with Annotated Texts

The Day started with Dr Peter Skrandies (Language Co-ordinator: German) offering his views on how the online annotation of texts can assist traditional teaching methods. The benefits of this online learning system were clear to many Project Day attendees. The online annotation of texts by language teachers can compensate for limited contact hours. It also complements the learning objectives of in class activities. The development and use of the Moodle-integrated annotation tool was made possible through an LTI innovation grant and that the software tool was developed by Steve Bond from LTI.

On the other hand, one attendee suggested that this teaching method may only be appropriate for higher ability students. Dr Skrandies’ presentation reminds us that the use of online learning systems is not a ‘one size fits all’ solution.

In the context of UK Higher Education, language teachers often find it difficult to develop students’ grammar skills. Limited class teaching time and the pressure to develop communicative skills are just two of the challenges which language teachers face. In order to overcome these obstacles, Dr Lijing Shi (Assistant Language Co-ordinator: Mandarin) introduced Chinese Online Self-assessment (COS). COS is defined as a dynamic assessment that aims to assess potential for learning. It does not provide a static indication of achievement. COS carries a particular advantage. It enables teachers to quickly pinpoint gaps in students’ learning:

‘From my experience with level 5, COS is the quickest way for me to identify the problems students have in grammar or common mistakes made. I can then focus on specific areas of teaching to sort out these problems.’ Hongyi Xin, Co-ordinating Language Teacher (Mandarin)

Dr. Catherine Xiang: From ‘Current Affairs in Mandarin’ to ‘Students as Producers’, Catherine Xiang

As was the case with Dr Skrandies’ project, COS has certain drawbacks. The potential for technical hitches is problematic. Instead of focusing on language learning, Mandarin teachers may attend to the technical maintenance of COS, or liaise with IT services, when they could otherwise be planning seminar activities.

Towards the end of the Project Day, Dr Catherine Xiang (Language Co-ordinator: Mandarin) presented her project, titled ‘From Current Affairs in Mandarin to Students as Producers’. Dr Xiang emphasised the specific benefits of video production. Past students of Mandarin have produced short videos which allow them to focus on a topic related to the social sciences. However, these shorts film, interviews and documentaries are all conducted in Mandarin. The production of a TV style interview or short film provided students with the opportunity to gain confidence. By listening to their interview responses, students determined how much progress they have made. They could highlight areas for improvement, including pronunciation and grammar. However, Project Day attendees noted that this non-traditional form of learning was time consuming.

The final project was presented by Dr Xiang and Lourdes Hernandez-Martin Language Co-ordinator (Arabic) and Co-ordinator for Spanish Projects. They discussed their experimentation with e-marking. Approximately 60 participants (students and teachers) contributed to a pilot scheme. Programmes such as ‘iAnnotate’ and ‘Snagit’ were used. The benefits of using e-marking software were manifold. Students noted that having video and audio evaluation added clarity.

Assessed pieces of work could even be used for revision purposes:

“Video – it’s much better to hear something directly rather than having to try and work things out from comments or notes written down. Also allows things to be explained much more easily – you can learn from home, rather than having to come in for office hours.”

“The video feedback is very helpful especially for language courses because often ‘word’ feedback is not enough to understand grammatical mistakes. Besides, you can replay it for revision”.

On the other hand, e-marking carries certain complications. The ability to readily edit and review comments may incentivise teachers to add unnecessary advice which, ironically enough, may confuse students.

As the four projects discussed above demonstrate, use of language learning technology is not always a move in the right direction. Nevertheless, teaching staff at the LSE Language Centre continue to experiment with technology which can provide a diversified learning experience. Tailored according to individual teacher needs, technological innovations can significantly improve the teaching of Modern Foreign Languages in higher education.

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For more information on how LTI Grants can help your projects or to see what projects we have helped visit our Grants page on the blog.

LTI have just closed the first Grants call of the year however a second call will be announced in the near future.

January 19th, 2016|Assessment, Events & Workshops (LTI), innovation, LTI Grant Winners, LTI Grants, Student projects|Comments Off|

LTI and the IPA short-listed for the Wharton-QS Stars Re-imagine Education Awards

The collaborative project between LTI and the Institute of Public Affairs ‘Constitution UK’ was short-listed for the prestigious QS Stars-Wharton Reimagine Education Awards in the E-Learning category.

Being short-listed for the 2015 Reimagine Education Awards represents a great achievement for the LSE, given the fierce competition that the panel of distinguished international judges presided over this year. Our project was received favourably by the panel across all of the judging criteria, and the panel recognized the outstanding potential of the project to improve pedagogy and employability in a higher education environment. This is a great honour for the LSE and recognises the innovative and exciting work being done at the School in the on-line learning space, developing internationally recognised and globally innovative approaches to massive, open and on-line learning.

‘This project was seeking to do something fresh and different for a university, use our academic knowledge to talk with rather than to the general public, to work with this community of everybody on a substantive subject about which we all cared deeply: the creation of a new British constitution. I am delighted it went so well. The future of education surely lies in this sort of collaboration and knowledge co-production. All of us in the ivory tower surely gain from being prepared to muck about in the market place of ideas.’ Professor Conor Gearty, Director – Institute of Public Affairs (LSE)

We are looking forward to leveraging this project into further projects in this space, giving LSE the opportunity to lead in this market, which will be critical for the future of higher education institutions. For more information about the project, click here

January 11th, 2016|Constitution UK, innovation, Open Education, Projects, Teaching & Learning|Comments Off|

papercraft for LTI by Helen Page

As part of our LSE2020 series which looks at what teaching and learning could look like in 2020, Peter Bryant (Head of Learning Technology and Innovation) has published three thought-provoking posts on his personal blog (http://www.peterbryant.org) that make the case for how technology can facilitate and transform the experiences of learning and teaching in a post-digital age.

Re-imagining learning for a post-digital world (part 1) – Solutions not problems
‘Re-imagining learning for a post-digital world (part 2) – Introducing Post-Digital Learning Experiences’
Re-imagining learning for a post-digital world (part 3) – A design for learning?

December 8th, 2015|Blogging, innovation, LSE 2020, Projects, Teaching & Learning|Comments Off|

LTI meet Maggie Philbin earlier this year

Next week, Thursday 12th November we have Maggie Philbin, CEO of TeenTech and former TV presenter, coming to LSE to give a NetworkED Seminar: Tea, Tech and Teens at 3pm. We still have a few tickets available for this event, but it is proving extremely popular, so hurry if you wish to attend.

I caught up with Maggie earlier this week at the TeenTech Awards at Buckingham Palace, where the winning student projects got to meet the patron of TeenTech, HRH the Duke of York. I was attended as a sponsor of the Research and Information Literacy Award, which was launched this year to recognise good practice in finding, evaluating and using information to underpin the project. I asked Maggie a few questions ahead of next week’s seminar at LSE.

Jane: Can you tell me a bit about what inspired you to set up TeenTech and why you think it matters?

Maggie: We set up TeenTech back in 2008 because I was aware of a yawning gulf between companies who were crying out for people with the right skills and a generation who had never had so much access to technology but hadn’t realised they could be building and innovating rather than simply using it. Setting TeenTech up as a collaborative organisation was very important as I’d seen so many initiatives working in silos and unwittingly undermining good work done by others. So TeenTech is all about bringing together companies and organisations who share the same aim of helping young people understand they very much belong in the world of technology and the skills that will help them take advantage of more opportunities. We work with some very brilliant people who make TeenTech very special.

Jane: What are some of the most inspiring products or innovations that young people have developed as part of TeenTech?

November 5th, 2015|innovation, NetworkED, Research Skills, Teaching & Learning|Comments Off|

‘Assessment and Feedback with technology’ project 2014/15

Over the academic year 2014/15 LTI have led several projects in order to try and improve assessment practices with technology at LSE.

The following are the outcomes of the work carried out as part of the assessment and feedback with technology project:

Research

Read e-Assessment Practice at Russell Group Universities report

A survey distributed to Russell Group universities to identify level of engagement with e-Assessment practice and factors conductive and critical to e-Assessment engagement.

Read Assessment and Feedback with Technology at LSE report – please request a copy of the report.
Interviews with LSE Departments were carried out to identify the level of engagement with e-Assessment practice and understand the factors that encourage participation as well as barriers involved in this regard.

Pilots

A series of pilots with various departments to explore pedagogical benefits of assessment and feedback with technology

	Read GV100 e-Assessment pilot study Government (GV100) Characteristics: Timed, on-campus invigilated and typed formative exam, followed by online Self/Peer review and face-to-face Student-Teacher feedback Technologies used: Exam4, Bring Your Own Device (BYOD), Moodle-TurnItIn (TII) PeerMark
	Read Law e-assessment pilot study Law (LL205 & LL4K9) Characteristics: Timed, take-home and typed formative mock exam Technologies used: ExamSoft
	Read LSE100 portfolio assessment pilot study LSE100 Characteristics: e-portfolio for summative assessment Technologies used: Moodle assignment
	Read Moodle-TII integration pilots report Moodle – TurnItIn integration Statistics (ST327) Characteristics: Originality checking Technologies used: Moodle-TII integration Philosophy (PH400 & PH201) Characteristics: Originality checking, TII GradeMark Technologies used: Moodle-TII integration, ipads Media and Communications (MC425 & MC419) Characteristics: Originality checking, TII GradeMark Technologies used: Moodle-TII integration Government (GV100) Characteristics: TII PeerMark Technologies used: Moodle-TII integration DECISIONS MADE for Moodle-TII integration: Where the Moodle-TII integration worked, the feedback was largely positive. In the instances where the integration did not fully work, the issues identified were significant and cannot be ignored. In most cases, workarounds provided solutions; however as a result of the relative uncertainty associated with the functionality of the plug-in, LTI will not scale Moodle-TII integration but continue supporting the integration in the form of pilots. As such, the plug-in will be made available upon request to those who want to use it (i.e. teachers will have an opportunity of requesting the plug-in from LTI for any given Moddle course(s)). If you want to take part in Phase 2 of Moodle-TII integration (i.e. use the plug-in for your Moodle course(s)) please email us on lti.support@lse.ac.uk Visit our Moodle site for details of the Moodle-TII integratin phase 2, database of issues identifies and participating pilot users

LTI Grants

The following LTI Grant projects are related to e-Assessment. Find out more about the LTI Grants (e-Assessment innovation strand) and LTI Grant winners or apply for an LTI Grant.

The social construction of human rights violations: e-Bricolage project,
Pete Manning, Department of Sociology
Use of peer assessment for an e-bricolage project, using resources produced for exam preparation and essay preparation.
From E-marking to E-feedback: training, applying and evaluation,
Catherine Xiang & Lourdes Hernández-Martín, Language Centre
Exploring new ways of marking and giving feedback (Moodle, iPads+annotation apps, Snagit).
Integrating offline marking and online moodle feedback using iPads,
Ellen Helsper, Media & Communication
Teachers using iPads and the Moodle-Turnitin integration to mark and give feedback on formative coursework (uploaded by students on Moodle).
Global perspectives via documentary and peer-assessment,
Catherine Xiang, Language Centre
Use of videos in continuous assessment with peer review of the documentaries created – fully embedded in the continuous assessment.
Using film in urban planning analysis,
Nancy Holman, Geography
Creations of short interpretative films along with written work and presentation following fieldwork. The student produced films are formatively assessed by a panel of staff in the department. The films are part of the presentation students make at the end of the course.
Moodle-based group assessment for regression analysis using the R software,
Sarah Geneletti, Statistics
A project looking into replacing written report with a three part assessment: i)R Script ii) stats Moodle quiz iii)Moodle quiz report based on the analyses.
Electronic marking and feedback with iPads (Phase II)
Lourdes Hernandez-Martin & Mercedes Coca, Language Centre
Explore iPad apps to improve assessment and feedback

Guidelines

The following guidelines were produced to cover needs of innovative practic:

Guidelines for delivering student feedback in non-traditional ways (i.e. audio, video)

Testing and evaluation of technologies and tools

October 30th, 2015|Assessment, eAssessment Events, eAssessment News, innovation, LTI Grants, Reports & Papers, Teaching & Learning, Tools & Technologies|Comments Off|

LTI meets…. Maggie Philbin

LTI have started regular lunch time catch ups with inspiring people who are working in the field of innovation and technology. The first of our talks was with Maggie Philbin, co-founder and CEO of an initiative in schools called TeenTech, an award winning organisation helping young people understand the opportunities available in Science and Technology. Some of you may also recognise Maggie from her presenting work on Swap Shop, Tomorrow’s World and more recently Bang Goes the Theory. Maggie is also Chair of of the UK Digital Skills Taskforce which published a report last July on the digital skills gap.

Maggie talked to us about why she started TeenTech; the programme aims to inspire young people, particularly those who might not have traditionally thought of a career in science and technology. She is passionate about encouraging girls and children from lower income backgrounds to widen their career options. TeenTech run events around the UK to bring in young people from schools to be inspired by those from industry, commerce and the HE sector. The TeenTech event in London which is held at the Olympic Park in December, is open to Year 8 and 9 students from schools across London and they have a chance to meet 200 scientists, engineers and technologists and engage in fun but highly participatory learning.

July 29th, 2015|Announcements, innovation, Research Skills, Teaching & Learning|Comments Off|

TeenTech Awards 2015: celebrating science, technology and innovation

On Monday I attended the TeenTech finals at the Royal Society to judge a new award launched this year as part of this exciting science, technology and innovation initiative open to all UK schools. TeenTech is led by Maggie Philbin, star of the popular BBC TV show from the 1980s Tomorrow’s World and we met back in January to discuss a report she had written on digital skills.

During our discussion I talked about the work I do at LSE, for example on projects such as Student Ambassadors for Digital Literacy (SADL) and through my professional involvement as Chair of the CILIP Information Literacy Group. Consequently Maggie and I came up with the idea of a new TeenTech award to recognise the Research and Information Literacy skills of the students work, building on the idea of Isaac Newton that all good science is built by ‘standing on the shoulders of giants.’ I have read a lot recently about the digital skills gap and I think becoming overly focused on technical skills such as computer programming is only part of the story. It’s information literacy skills that are also needed to enable young people to be critical and discerning about the information they trust. And they need to understand about the ways to use and share information ethically to avoid plagiarism or infringing copyright.

I was one of four judges for the new TeenTech award and was joined by Dr Geoff Walton from Northumbria University, Dr Rebecca Jones, school librarian from Malvern St James and Darren Flynn the school librarian from Dixons Academy in Bradford. We had to review all 40 of the finalist projects and had 12 stands to visit on the day. It was a tough decision as this year schools had not yet benefited from much guidance from our group of the expectations. In the end we had a stand-out winner in the form of Birkdale School from Sheffield for their wearable technology project. I joined comedian Katy Brand on the stage to present the award to the students. You can read the full list of award winners here and we were joined at the awards by HRH the Duke of York and various celebrities such as Martha Lane Fox, Dr Christian Jenssen, James May and Caroline Criado-Perez. I really liked how many girls were through to the finals too and was really impressed with the team from Alton Convent School who won the People’s Choice award for their military medical shuttle.

I took away from the day that with a bit of guidance and encouragement its relatively easy to develop information and digital literacy skills in project based work at school level, but it should become standard to expect students to list their sources from an early age. It was also clear that we still have a digital divide, not in terms of technology but in access to high quality research. Two of the projects we spoke to mentioned they got access to journals only because they have a parent who worked at a university who could give them access. That is unfair and I hope next year through a network of collaboration between librarians we can work to address that imbalance, so all the schools who participate in TeenTech might be able to get access to high quality resources to underpin their work.

I’m inspired by my day at the TeenTech awards and also hopeful for the future of UK science and technology. I am also so pleased to be involved in such a fabulous initiative! And all hats off to Maggie for trying to make tomorrow’s world a better place.

June 26th, 2015|Announcements, innovation, Teaching & Learning|Comments Off|

Catherine Hua Xiang

There are numerous methods and tools to mark and provide feedback using technology. Catherine Hua Xiang and Lourdes Hernandez-Martin from LSE’s Language Centre run an LTI-funded project* aimed at ‘exploring and comparing three distinctive e-marking methods and e-feedback as a result of three marking tools’

Lourdes Hernandez-Martin

More than 20 members of staff at the Language Centre were offered training on using Moodle, iPads with e-pens and Snagit to mark and provide feedback on students’ written work. They applied the three different marking methods to the same group of students throughout the academic year on different pieces of work (usually long essays).

They were then asked to write a reflective diary on the impact of these methods on the way they mark while students answered a survey to explore their perception of video and written feedback. The findings demonstrated a clear preference for video feedback using Snagit, which Catherine and Lourdes explained by providing the following reasons:

Linguistic enhancement – Students have found being able to listen to teacher’s correct helps both pronunciation as well as overall listening skills.
Personal approach – Students preferred the personal approach of a video feedback as it creates the style which is most similar to a face to face interaction. The teacher’s voice helps engage the students.
Quality of the feedback – Students have commented on the details that verbal feedback could offer as opposed to the written feedback.
Others – Students also commented on the usefulness of having both – the fact that they can come back and listen to the feedback at any time they wishes. It offers great materials for revision purposes.

“It is very helpful having the teacher guide me through the corrections as it is more personal and can allow me to see not just what is wrong but why it is wrong”

“It’s much better to hear something directly rather than having to try and work things out from comments or notes written down”

“you can learn from home, rather than having to come in for office hours”

Snagit Features

* From e-Marking to e-Feedback: Training, Applying and Evaluation, project funded by a Learning Technology and Innovation Grant. You can also find some information and updates on this project in the LSE Language Centre website.