Don’t Let the Technological Tail Wag the Pedagogical Dog

Don’t Let the Technological Tail Wag the Pedagogical Dog

Image courtesy of Federico Stevanin / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

The above quote is slowly becoming the unofficial mantra of the TEL team here at YSJ, as we try a establish ourselves as pedagogues, rather than just techies, in the eyes of our academic staff.

Last week I attended the Higher York eLearning Conference here at YSJ, and the standout session for me was Ian Glover, Sheffield Hallam University, talking about their menu/framework for enhancing teaching approaches through technology.

Their framework or ‘menu’ is designed to assist colleagues in identifying different teaching approaches and the technologies that can support and enhance those approaches. The ‘menu’ can be used to support both individual modules and entire courses, and aligns with the University’s process for the design and approval of its courses.

The ‘menu’ covers a number of approaches around the areas of independent learning (page 1), work-related learning (pages 2-3), information-focussed learning (page 4), and peer-learning (page 5). The benefits of using each approach are listed, along with indicative assessment types, technologies that can enhance them and the benefits of using that technology, as well as links to further information, specific examples and case studies.

[gview file=”http://blog.yorksj.ac.uk/moodle/files/2014/06/cll_menu_full_external3.pdf”]

This approach at SHU is a great example of how we’re aiming to work as a TEL team here at YSJ.

I was talking with Rebecca O’Loughlin (Educational Developer) recently to identify possible ways in which we can support Faculties & Programmes in curriculum design & development, and here are some of the workshop ideas we talked about:

• Technology Enhanced Learning Quality Framework
• eAssessment, Marking & Feedback
• Social Media For Teaching & Learning
• Mobile Learning for Collaboration & Active Learning
• Flipped Classroom
• Enhancing Student Engagement with Technology
• Enhancing Reflection with WordPress/Mahara
• Supporting Work-Based Learning & Placements with Technology
• Using Audio & Video in Teaching, Learning & Assessment
• Supporting Academic Integrity with TurnItIn
• Open Badges for Recognition & Motivation
• Blended Learning

Hopefully, using a more pedagogy-centred approach, over the coming academic year we can begin to change how staff engage with us from predominantly reactive to a more proactive approach.

Phil