Study better in cyberspace |
Log on and you can learn in a much more flexible and collaborative way |
Universities are fast becoming receptive to the new horizons and opportunities the internet offers. Of course, distance learning is an established concept, but modern online learning is a far cry from old-style correspondence courses. |
“We are playing to the strengths of the technology – the real time aspect doesn’t add anything online,” says Southern. “In this format, a student can go away and do some more reading or have a harder think about the subject before coming back and rejoining the discussion. |
“We’ve avoided transferring what we think as the ‘classroom on campus’ experience into the online environment, so you won’t see conventional-style lectures taking place.” |
| “There are pros and cons to all technologies,” he says. “To do away with
traditional methods does not work – but you do have to use new techniques for
what they’re good for. |
| The OU is taking a much higher-tech attitude with its content than many, and is
using all sorts of media, like wikis, videos, audio, animations and virtual
whiteboards. It also holds scheduled learning activities, when a class logs on
at the same time to use video- and audio-conferencing and collaborative
applications.Read more at www.independent.co.uk |
The universities that do well in Times Higher Education’s Student Experience poll put students first, but as Rebecca Attwood learns, there is more than one way to do that |
Bradford is one of many universities that is harnessing the power of technology to help. |
It operates an online social network where young people can begin making links with peers and sharing their hopes and fears before they even apply to the university. |
The results of the poll were used to decide the 2009 Times Higher Education Award for Most Improved Student Experience, which went to Queen Mary, University of London. There, as at Bradford, building a sense of community has been a key aim. |
The biggest increases were in students’ ratings for facilities and for the students’ union. This coincides with the £6 million revamp of the union building at the college’s Mile End campus in September 2008. Read more at www.timeshighereducation.co.uk |
A clip from an article in the Guardian I was interviewed for - over 3 years ago!. Apart from the Leeds Elgg evaluation project, now complete (LeedsBlogs ) there are comments from Ben Werdmuller and David Tosh, the creators of Elgg and Miles Berry who has used Elgg very successfully in a secondary education context. A space on the web that we control |
At Leeds University, Dr Terry Wassall is part of an informal research group that has been running a pilot of Elgg. “As well as exploring Elgg’s potential to support teaching, academic staff are interested in how the software can be used to support research and project groups, communities of interest, and individuals’ research and career development,” he says. |
Elgg encourages students “to develop an online presence” and writing for and commenting on blogs “requires a style of writing that is reflective, clear and concise. It helps students to find and develop a particular type of public ‘voice’ as well as communication and presentational skills.” |
“Different levels of access can be set for individual blog entries, so some posts can be fully public and others only readable by a particular group or individual, such a private post to a dissertation student or their supervisor,” says Wassall. Read more at www.guardian.co.uk |
Leader: Go public to prevent extinction |
Knockabout popular debate appeals to few scholars, but if intellectuals disappear from the public eye, academia may suffer |
Public intellectual, Fish says, is not a status but a job description, and it is a job for which scholars are not “particularly well qualified”. It is not achieved by extending one’s own professional skills but by learning those of another, entirely different profession. |
These web intellectuals can speak directly to the public, communicating in a way that can be understood by any intelligent person willing to make the effort to understand. They need no platform and are unconstrained by the publishing tyranny of the research assessment exercise, ridiculous academic protocols and the narrow focus of a core specialisation beyond which few academics ever dare to venture. Read more at www.timeshighereducation.co.uk |
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