'If you build it they will come' - engaging teachers with e-Content
1. ‘ If you build it they will come’ Engaging Teachers with e-Content? Kevin Burden: Qatar Lecture Saturday 16 th April 2011
2. Part 1: The Content Paradox There has never been so much content and resources available to teachers, and it continues to expand at an exponential rate, yet it is getting harder and harder to find precisely what you are looking for? Why?
Logos needed – UoH and Qatar Theme needed for presentations – consistency Make a sceencast of Google Earth to show my journey from Hull to Manchester (CAL conference) to Qatar (GoogleEarth and Screencasts)
Set the main theme for the lecture: why , if there is so much digital content available to teachers, don’t they use it effectively and find it difficult to locate. Two parts to the issue: Problems associated with locating just what teachers want Problems in know howing to use e-Content effectively.
Establish the scale of the issue facing teachers in finding and using digital content The exponential growth of digital content services and repositories covering all modalities of media (although I will focus primarily on video) – Moores Law The explosion of video service (show on timeline) – YouTube, Vimeo, etc (indicate some figures for uploads, etc) – concentrate on this as an example of growth (pre 2005) The same is true of images with services like Flickr; *see Bill Freiter page for other sources) – illustrate Congress of Library content Audio and music service following the same path See YouTube timeline for their own history – adapt ideas for Flickr, etc
Establish the scale of the issue facing teachers in finding and using digital content The exponential growth of digital content services and repositories covering all modalities of media (although I will focus primarily on video) – Moores Law The explosion of video service (show on timeline) – YouTube, Vimeo, etc (indicate some figures for uploads, etc) – concentrate on this as an example of growth (pre 2005) The same is true of images with services like Flickr; *see Bill Freiter page for other sources) – illustrate Congress of Library content Audio and music service following the same path See YouTube timeline for their own history – adapt ideas for Flickr, etc
Establish the scale of the issue facing teachers in finding and using digital content The exponential growth of digital content services and repositories covering all modalities of media (although I will focus primarily on video) – Moores Law The explosion of video service (show on timeline) – YouTube, Vimeo, etc (indicate some figures for uploads, etc) – concentrate on this as an example of growth (pre 2005) The same is true of images with services like Flickr; *see Bill Freiter page for other sources) – illustrate Congress of Library content Audio and music service following the same path See YouTube timeline for their own history – adapt ideas for Flickr, etc
What drives this exponential growth rate: (i.e. more than in the analogue era The digital nature of new media (easy to replicate and copy) – show an example of how to divide a long video clip/change sound track and add an easy sub-title+replicate and copy Easy to share – services like YouTube, blogs, FaceBook The emergence, through social media, of a framework (mechanism) and culture of sharing and distribution (show with YouTube) - No indication, therefore, that these trends will slow
Needle in a haystack picture – more content makes it more difficult to find what you want Because these resources were not usually produced for an educational purpose (therefore lacking suitable metadata or ontologies to locate them) – illustrate with searches in YouTube for topics and huge number of returns, etc Teachers do not have a mindset which works with metadata or even ontologies – they use other forms of inventory which do not translate so well to the digital world YouTube search – could be done live or with screenshots – show number – how do you know what quality they are? Image to illustrate how teachers file their precious resources (Trip advisor + comments) Amazon + comments and (people who bought this also bought this) Mindsets of teachers not based on ontologies or metadata – new approach is user-generated (e.g. compare to Booking a hotel room (trip advisor) or buying a book
Move away from complex ontologies (subject specific) and complex metadata towards simple, user-generated/commuity based ranking systems (starts, recommendations, etc) Encourage teachers to use and create metadat (see iTunes; eBay; Amazon – turn this to education) Address the underlying issue – subject silos So what is the solution? Develop more bespoke educational resources and services which recognise how teachers want to search (illustrate EduTubePlus here) Help teachers to create and use metadata more effectively (e.g. iTunes rating systems; eBay rating systems) But these are only remedial solutions. Not likely to address the underlying problem which is to do with epistemology and pedagogy 3 solutions: illustrate good educational repositories and finish with EduTubePlus (screenshows) Sceenshots for iTunes rating or eBays
Find some examples of resources defined for one subject but useful in another – e.g. Zeppelin explosion (current affairs history, but could be used in science, chemistry, engineering, etc) Teachers have traditionally come from subject backgrounds Teachers have a strong emotional bond to their ‘subject’ (although less so in primary) Teachers look for resources in a very epistemologically driven fashion (e.g. I want something for science) And the problem is…. (illustrate with a few examples of digital resources labeled only for certain subjects but useful across a range of disciplines
Find some examples of resources defined for one subject but useful in another – e.g. Zeppelin explosion (current affairs history, but could be used in science, chemistry, engineering, etc) Teachers have traditionally come from subject backgrounds Teachers have a strong emotional bond to their ‘subject’ (although less so in primary) Teachers look for resources in a very epistemologically driven fashion (e.g. I want something for science) And the problem is…. (illustrate with a few examples of digital resources labeled only for certain subjects but useful across a range of disciplines
NewsFilm Online shots ( see old presentations and Theo’s images) The scientist proxy This is the question we faced in Hull University three years ago when we were asked to develop take-up materials to encourage academics to use the NewsFilm online archive (illustrate in background Some subject areas clearly not covered by this kind of resource (not in subject terms) – e.g. biology; science? Became a challenge to think about how we might engage this kind of teacher with a media resource like this?
Switch the focus away from the teacher (subject focus) to the learner – not subject obsessed. Interested in engagement/ativity. What do they think is important? Focus on what learners need: what will they be undertaken if a resource like video is used Complete mindshift for teachers – leave their subject hats at the door when they come to our workshops (list) Methodology to validate – workshops and practical experiences ( quote DiAL-e papers and research)
Illustrate the designs first – starting with the most concrete and working through to most abstract (see David Plowright’s categorisation of media) Lesson starters – stimulate/motivate/capture attention Storytelling – narrative Collecting information – watching/observing Constrcut ideas and deal with concepts Work collaboratively and share ideas – author Start to think more metaphorically or analogically Look at how media can be used to represent the world
Ramsgate and images (+ Google Earth) Demonstrate live how images can be used to devlop problem solving and enquiry (higher order thinking skills) in combiation with a Web 2.0 application (Google Earth) – layering images
Demonstrate another conceptual learning design – hypothesizing. This time with an image of a block of flats being demolished. Traditionally used for engineering, perhaps science. Used here to support collaborative group work and decision-making (21 st century skills)
Jelly baby experiment in science Hellicopters in engineering (but applicable in other subjects)
Jelly baby experiment in science Hellicopters in engineering (but applicable in other subjects)
Then decided to look at how these activities or designs might need to be modified in different learning spaces List the spaces Realised it was not just the space that modified the design – so did the affordances of the media, etc This complex mixture becomes the principles guiding this approach to professional learning – workflow to engage with professionals Also mention ideas of prescriptive and emergent learning spaces (article from Elluminate)
