#edu120

[pgche]

This assignment provides context for "professional practice" presentations delivered to the group. I found the distinction between the profession and the teaching awkward, if part of your role is to educate should that not form part of your profession? i think in this manner, this could be approached more holistically.

As of 27th August 2014, I still havent received a mark or feedback on this assignment, so can't reflect upon that.

[pgche]

Just Enough, Just In Time, Just For Me - An adaptive approach to learning through technology

An essay regarding creating an inclusive learning environment, with a focus on adaptive technologies.

Feedback suggested that we consider ‘commuter students’, who are not mentioned by the Act. Technology can also support them in learning at their own pace. We must also ensure that we aren't excluding students without access to technology and presuming a level of literacy.  Through the series of x.0 events, I am trying to develop a community around technology in teaching that will help support this. 

There is a concern that making learning accessible outside the physical environment encourages non-attendance by students. In designing learning, we can used approaches such as flipped classrooms to facilitate better use of face to face time and we should adapt our practices in this way to reflect external developments and greater student mobility.

[pgche]

Employability poster crit. and discussion

The group crit. is a difficult space to be in and I can certainly appreciate how a first year art student might feel when having to present work. As nerves build up, you often don't take in others feedback or your own which makes the learning activity somewhat redundant, but combined with other types of feedback, I can see this working well to help develop presentation skills. Blogging may be a really useful platform for taking the crit outside the classroom and continuing the discussion. Twitter/Pinterest/Tumblr may work well for this and would faciliate those learners that find presenting difficult and don;t appreciate the feedback at the time of the crit.

Having dissected the experience, I did receive wholly positive feedback from the group on the activity.

One post-it read that the poster had a broad audience, both staff and students. My intention as with a lot of Educational Technology projects is to educate students through staff, so I tried to make it readable to multiple audiences. Other positive comments were that the colours worked well. I tested the poster using an in browser plugin called Spectrum that simulated the experience for colourblind users. With accessibilty in mind, I also augmented the poster with embedded audio and links to the respective websites that I took data from. Others said it was  clear and well organised and might lend itself well to being a leaflet. Criticisms centred around the poster being too "info heavy" and containing too much text, which I can appreciate. Something I've realised through taking part in this course is that I am enjoying writing again and I prefer the written word above other forms of communication, which is probably why my visual work is text heavy.

Many of the posters dealt with the topic of transferable skills, those which aren't taught as part of your discipline but are those skills which employers often value most. This is where I find the discipline and employability led agenda of current Higher Education most problematic. These skills which employers value, such as collaboration, presentation skills and leadership are those which are fundamental to a liberal arts education, which may be multi or anti-disciplinary in nature and focussed on developing the student as an artist. The outcome of this type of course or education may be to encourage aspirations of great thinking and critical reflection, rather than paying for a certificate to help get a job. I'm not sure these things are mutually exclusive, but maybe we're trying to fix something that ain't all that broke.

[pgche]

A post I wrote about idea generation methods with regards to our workshop with Sustainable Product Design. I was trying out a different blogging tool, but have since returned to using Tumblr as it's simpler, more up to date and customisable.

[pgche]

PDF of my infographic to depict transferable skills for HE. The poster is also augmented, so you can view additional material with the layar app for mobile devices.

Through a "group crit" activity we described the process of creating the poster and solicited feedback. This is a daunting activity and we discussed how some students may not find it a useful learning experience if they are anxious about their own presentation. I am used to sharing my work and encouraging others to share as a lot of my background is in Open Source Technology which promotes this culture. All of my assignments including the poster creation are shared online throughout the creation process making my practice visible and accessible. However, I found sharing this in the physical context unnerving perhaps because it felt more connected to the PGCHE and immediate.

[pgche]

A wiki entry about transferable skills in the context of employability in Higher Ed. I think if this activity was used again it might be useful to demonstrate the use of the Wiki as the actual result was more of a single shared document and didnt make use of the functionality of connecting ideas offered by wikis. Employability as a driver within Higher Education, seems to be becomming more of priority as the cost of education increases. Whereas students once went to University with aspirations of becoming great thinkers, worthy citizens and contributing to their field of study, the emphasis is shifting to education as a commodity and a means to an end. A degree is simply a necessity for the job market, though more and more employers are looking for well developed soft skills and 21st Century skills as opposed to discipline specific ones, skills which form part of a liberal arts education. Some universities are returning to the liberal arts approach and both Labour and Liberal Democrat political parties are talking about filling a gap left in vocational education that was once served by FE and technical colleges. My PGCHE colleague, Joe Bouzaglo puts this best:

Universities, as protagonists in the labour market, are also in transition.  From originally offering a monastic alternative to work, to then educating the elites of public life, through to producing cultural and intellectual agitators, universities are now more closely connected to the commercial life of the country than ever before.   

Many of the WIki entries focussed on transferrable skills, but some also focussed on the role of placements and careers advice and that is important that the advice is well informed for Falmouth's arts context and more importantly impartial.

This article posits the case that music graduates develop many skills required by current employers through their coursework and as a music grad myself, I found this easy to identify with.