Spotlight

You can now follow JISC infoNet on Twitter.

As mentioned in a previous post, many of the team now actively use Twitter and have found it a useful communication tool.

Twitter has been successfully used to create communities and networks within both JISC and the education community, providing access to great discussions and resources, giving instant feedback and proving useful at conferences and events.

Link: http://twitter.com/jiscinfonet

Challenging the assumptions about ‘Digital Natives’

This week I attended the Blended Learning Conference (organised by the Blended Learning Unit) at the University of Hertfordshire. An excellent 2 days with a good range of keynote speakers, paper presentations that informed and challenged. Sarah Knight, JISC programme Manager, and myself enjoyed discussions with many of the conference delegates (new and old friends).

Randy Garrison, University of Calgary, opened the conference with a presentation that really set the scene for the conference, discussing a Community of Inquiry Framework together with 7 Principles of Blended Learning that can be used to shape the implementation of a blended learning programme.

I particularly enjoyed the keynote by Gregor Kennedy, University of Melbourne that was transmitted live using Elluminate (more about this use later). Gregor presented some of the findings from a project funded by The Australian Learning and Teaching Council that challenged some of the assumptions made about the Net Generation. We are constantly being told by Ed Tech researchers and managers, and the press that the ‘Net Gen’ demands that ICT play a BIG role in their college and university learning. Also the press uses headlines that make some lecturers feel totally incompetent if they cannot use these ‘easy-to-use’ Web 2.0 technologies. But do the Digital Natives want to use Web 2.0 as part of their learning experience? Gregor’s project findings would seem not to support the usual digital divide rhetoric. The results from the project can be found in the Handbook of Findings for Practice and Policy available from the project website.

Also take a look at the blog Net Gen Skeptic which is of the same view.

There are, of course, projects that demonstrate that learners do enjoy using Web 2.0 tools to support their learning in informal and formal contexts and recommend further use.

So where does this leave us? Perhaps we should listen to the learner voice - the JISC publication gives us a wonderful insight. The students in the Melbourne Study were first years - I suggest that some were not yet mature learners and still coming to terms with university study. The course team are to be commended on their approach to the design and support available but perhaps without the social bonding and networking that takes time to develop, the collaborative functionality of a Wiki was not fully exploited. We may see a very different result from the same set of students on their second or third year of their course.

Conclusion? Strange as it may seem (!) - utilise technology in a way that is appropriate to the task, will support and enhance the learning experience, is appropriate to the learners’ maturity and the tutors’ expertise. Anything that I’ve missed? I suppose - don’t let the hype rule or in Gregor’s words More Understanding, Less Seduction!

The conference team are to be congratulated on once again using Elluminate throughout the conference. The link with the University of Queensland worked very well, with only minor hiccups.

Twitter seems to be the next big craze to have won over the mainstream media, according to an article in yesterdays Times (Twitter: we all need to be in the loop). It pointed to the idea that Twitters rise in popularity and cultural impact was down to people just wanting to stay ‘in the loop’.

Twitter has really taken off in the mainstream media with a number of celebrities, including Stephen Fry and Jonathon Ross, starting to use the service. Even The Sun and the Daily Mail have joined in, writing articles about celebs picked up from celebrity ‘tweets’.

Whether you think Twitter is a good or bad thing, the JISC Advisory Services will be looking at the potential of Twitter by trying out the micro-blogging technology at its awayday next week.

For those who don’t know, Twitter is a messaging service that allows people to post short (140 character) messages of their thoughts and opinions. A number of people in the JISC Services have already been using Twitter for a while so it will be interesting to see how successful it is next week.

If you wish to follow our ‘tweets’ the hashtag being used for the event is #ASaway09. (PDF - Further information about using Twitter)

You can follow some of the JISC infoNet team who are already on twitter:

Steve Bailey
David Cornforth
Jacquie Kelly
Andrew Stewart

Some other interesting twitter feeds you might also be interested in:

BBC Technology
Guardian Technology
mStonerBlog