Presentation at Solent Learning and Teaching Community Conference

1. “Technology is a vital ingredient
in enhancing learning. Discuss”
Or: Phil vs Tansy – Who Won?
Dr Stephen Webb
Head of Technology Enhanced Learning
University of Portsmouth
@stephenswebb

2.  20 June 2016: all-day event – The Digital Classroom
 British Academy of Management Knowledge & Learning SIG
 Debate: This house believes that:
Technology is a vital ingredient for the enhancement of
learning
 For: Dr Phil Richards, Chief Innovation Officer @ JISC
 Against: Prof Tansy Jessop @ SSU
Debate at Portsmouth Business School

3. Phil looked at the impact of business
intelligence and learning analytics on Higher
Education Institutions
Tansy argued that technology is not as vital for the
enhancement of learning as the proper and consistent
construction of assessment and feedback
Two debate streams chaired by Steve Wheeler of Plymouth University
(for the motion) and James Johnston of the University of the West of
Scotland (against)

4. Result...
(Triple) dead heat, 3 October 1953, Gooreen Collection; Public Domain

5.  This talk: observations from someone whose job it is to
promote the use of technology in teaching and learning
(bias?!)
 Would like to focus on just one aspect
Debate at Portsmouth Business School

6. Forthcoming:
Glyph Riches (tentative title)
– December 2016 delivery
The Past That’s Yet To Be
– August 2016 delivery

7. Written on iMacs (Intel Core 2 Duo/Snow
Leopard and Intel Core i5/Mavericks)

8. Written on iMacs (Intel Core 2 Duo/Snow
Leopard and Intel Core i5/Mavericks)
Written on PC/Win98

9.  Could go from PC to Mac, OS to OS, without pause...
 ... because I used TEX
 Its main aim is “to produce beautifully typeset
documents, especially documents containing
mathematics” (Knuth)
 It is a free, sophisticated, extremely robust platform
 Same output on all computers, at any point in time
A platform for writing

10. Blog, updated on
various devices

11. Blog, updated on
various devices
Written on a PC/Win95

12. Unusual
Effects
In
Particle
Diffraction
Thesis, 1988
Written on a DEC VAX 8600 using manroff
Computer is long obsolete
Company is defunct
Editor is discontinued
But I could still use the content and get
identical output ...

13. TEX gave me a stable platform – something I could rely upon

14. A platform for teaching?
 Consortium of 14 UK Physics depts
 1993-95; worked with Phil on this
 Self-paced learning
 Assessment engine
 Superb simulations! Deep learning!
 Pre-web (Microcosm-based)

15. A platform for teaching?
 1993-95; worked with Phil on this
 Consortium of 14 UK Physics depts
 Self-paced learning
 Assessment engine
 Superb simulations! Deep learning!
 Pre-web (Microcosm-based)
 Distributed on CDs for Windows PCs only
 Big migration costs (“If I wanted to go there I wouldn’t start from here”)
 Diversity of OS and security concerns  SToMP is no longer supported
 Embedding SToMP in the curriculum led to costs (financial & time)!

16.  I joined the University of Portsmouth in 2006
 VLE when I joined was WebCT
 VLE soon migrated to Vista-based “Victory”
 VLE then migrated to Moodle
 Opportunity costs involved with each migration!
 Webconferencing tech has moved from:
 Live Classroom to
 BBB to
 WebEx
 Numerous classroom response systems in place. And so on...
A platform for teaching?

17.  April 2016, Portsmouth was part of JISC “Student Digital
Experience Tracker”
 We surveyed L4 students; had 678 responses
 74.4% of students agreed that “when technology is used by
teaching staff, it helps my learning experience”
 However, a common complaint [free text field] was that many
teaching staff struggled to use technology – even basic
technology
 Teachers are highly inconsistent in the use of tech!
A platform for teaching?

18. A platform for teaching?
How can we ensure sustainable, equitable, institution-wide provision when...
Research
QA
TEF
REF
Recruiting
Admin
Exam boards
Contact time
Pastoral work

19. Technology can enhance learning!
Students themselves say that technology enhances their learning (JISC)
Richard Noss (UCL): Tech can make some things learnable!

20. For example, flocking of birds is difficult to describe analytically

21. For example, flocking of birds is difficult to describe analytically
But children can investigate and understand the behaviour with eg Scratch

22. Simulations can engage students in deep learning (SERC, in US)
Used in u/g science, engineering, politics, economics courses...
Deep learning means that students learn methods including:
the importance of model building
relationships among variables
data issues, probability and sampling
Deep learning means that students reflect on and extend knowledge by:
transferring knowledge to new problems and situations
understanding and refining their own thought processes
seeing social processes and interactions in action

23. So should teachers use more tech?