Presentation from SEDA Spring Conference, Newcastle, 16 May 2014

1. Real Engagement, Real Enrichment, Real
Experience:
Technology-facilitated Authentic
Groupwork Projects.
Gary C. Wood
School of English
University of Sheffield
g.c.wood@sheffield.ac.uk | @GC_Wood
Sarah Horrigan
Learning Technology Team
University of Derby
s.horrigan@derby.ac.uk | @sarahhorrigan
SEDA Spring Conference 2014 1

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Introduction…
 Employability skills
 Teamwork & Collaboration
 Negative evaluation
(Thorley & Gregory 1994)
 Focus on content over
skills.

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The issue…
 Learning by Doing
 Scaffolding and support is
required
 Key problems:
 Time and place
 Different
standards/expectations
 Motivation.

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Solutions…
 Teach students skills!
 Employer involvement
(Jamieson et al 2012)
 Authentic learning
through a real world
project – a more practical
alternative?

5. What
we did…
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 Lack of understanding of
what linguistics is
 Need to equip students
with digital literacy skills
 Groupwork problems.
Real-
world problems…

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 Assessment through
a real project
 Promote linguistics
to prospective
students
What
we did…

8. Overall Winner
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How we
did it…

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 Google Sites:
 Page-level permissions
 Integrated features
(YouTube, soundclips,
and others).
How we
did it…

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 Project Management:
 Google Docs
 Google+ Hangouts
How we
did it…

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 Launch Event &
Evaluation:
 Google Docs Forms
How we
did it…

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Authentic learning
 Consider
real stakeholders
 Work to
real deadlines
 Challenged with
project management

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Embedded enterprise
 Students demonstrated
a wide range of
enterprise skills
ambition
creativity
tenacity
initiative
making connections
confidence
teamwork
innovationleadership
adaptability
negotiation
owning actions
problem-solving
self-beliefstrategic thinking
networking
risk-taking

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 Increased student control = creativity & high motivation
 Doing a real project = enthusiasm from the students
 Groupwork is trouble-free – Google facilitates
 Collaboration within and between groups.
Some benefits…

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 Continuous feedback and assessment
 Students develop key skills for degree and employability
 End product is genuinely useful to its audience
 Apps are integrated and don’t need teaching.
Some benefits…

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Academic’s view…
 Very effective solution:
 Technology facilitated real-world project
 Motivated students (Fazey & Fazey et al 2001)
 Creative freedom increased students’ perceived control
 Google Tools increased perceived competence for the task
 Enhanced potential for autonomous learning

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What the
students think…

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 Wikipedia like – enhancement/expansion by future students:
 New topics in linguistics
 Expansion of accessibly-presented research
 Community to engage audience and provide interaction.
The future…

20. awesome
trust
freedomopportunity
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students with
, ,&
them,
and they’ll show you how
they can be.
Empower
tools
A final thought…

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 How might you use
Google Sites?
 Who would your
audience be?
Your turn…!

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 Work in small groups (3-5)
 Think of an area of your teaching in which you could use Google
Sites
 Create a page on the session site to share your ideas
 Google username and password provided
 Edit page with your group number
 Be creative – images, videos, etc.
 Some ideas are already available on the site if you need inspiration!
Your turn…!

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Review
& Questions…