Using Elluminate to develop Open University Associate Lecturers

Using Elluminate® to develop Open University Associate Lecturers at a distance (the OU in the North West) Annie Eardley, Elke St John

Content of session • Background information • Our project • Benefits of delivering training online & traps to avoid • How to devise an effective session

Aims of Session • Understand the benefits & traps of online training • Identify pedagogical and technical aspects of online training • Recognise key aspects of successful online training

Staff Development for Associate Lecturers at the Open University • • Induction Central briefings Regional events (generic and faculty-based) Online material

The OU in the North West • 1000 Associate Lecturers • 15 000 students

Media of delivery • Face-to-face • Elluminate • Combined face-to-face & Elluminate

example

Previous events • Training on and about Elluminate ØFamiliarisation ØImprover ØRole of teacher ØLearning Styles ØTeaching activities • Generic training ØExploring Tutor. Home ØMove to Outlook ØALs as role models for reflective practice (dual mode)

Planned events for 2011 -12 Title of event Venue How to apply for a job f 2 f & Elluminate Library training Elluminate Tutor. Home workshop Elluminate Handling expectations & conflicts F 2 f & Elluminate Students with mental health issues Elluminate training Familiarisation with Elluminate Improver: Learning more tools in Elluminate Teaching ideas with Elluminate Ethics on social networking F 2 f & Elluminate Challenges and opportunities of tutoring offender learners Elluminate How to quickly adapt OU Open Learning resources for your students. F 2 f & Elluminate

Planned events for Languages ALs workshop title Meet the Ho. D 'Projet Aquitaine: the OU's involvement in an international distance language learning project' Teaching cultural competence in language learning Supporting Language students within the Autism spectrum Blended teaching and the changing role of the language tutor Establishing and maintaining a relationship with your students VLE 2. 0 – what is in it for the language tutors? Teaching through assessment Giving audio-visual feedback to your students with Jing Differentiation project Teaching Pronunciation Mobile Learning Project Using assignment feedback to good effect “Where did I save that file? – organising your electronic documents and resources”.

Benefits of online SD events • Improve performance of tutors when teaching on Elluminate • Reach a bigger cohort of ALs • Make ALs more confident with technology • Can be run simultaneously with a face-to-face session

Traps to avoid before session • Send out pre-training information, e. g. podcasts Top tips ; Audio set-up ; Accessing room • Set-up forum for questions R 08 -TRAINING • Stress that it is online training • Emphasise that headset is necessary

How to devise an effective session Pedagogical Issues 1. adapting the f 2 f teaching skills 2. non-verbal communication 3. raising hands 4. time issue 5. silence (especially with smaller groups) 6. class room management 7. follow-up with forum discussion 8. participant workspace necessary

How to devise an effective session Technical Issues 1. multitasking technical aspects necessary 2. text chat 3. keep training simple 4. create a safe learning environment

Reflection on our experience • Laughter in sessions/humour • Not making assumptions • Recording of training Ødo we need an Elluminetiquette? Øcertain classroom ethics can be developed

Our experience within existing research • Situated learning (e. g. Lave et al. ) : i. e. training is not useful if not carried out on Elluminate • Learning by doing (e. g. Brown et al. ) • Participatory approach (e. g. C Mc. Loughlin builds confidence)

Conclusion: lessons learnt • Initial reluctance needs to be overcome therefore: extended programme ALs have to move through • Training not useful as a one-off, Als need workspace to follow up