Time to get started
Exams over, exam boards over. Time to get moving. I now have a few short weeks to dedicate to this project. Closely supported by Margaret Kendall I have finally started to get hands on experience with WebCT Vista.
Following Margaret's recommendation we convened a departmental meeting that gave us a chance to bring staff up to date, to introduce Vista and to give staff the chance to ask questions and voice concerns. The morning session followed the following programme:
Because of this dilemma Margaret kindly recreated part of one of our existing Level one units, Learning and Communications Technologies into the Vista environment using a files and folders structure. This unit also has some Learning Modules such as Time Management or Academic Writing which were also moved to Vista. Margaret demonstrated how these can be linked to and used within the files/folders structure.
Staff reaction to the demonstration and the 'idea' of moving to the Vista environment was mixed. In one camp was the very sensible opinion that our approach should be very systematic, with a small trial on a very limited number of units for the first year. A second camp raised the whole issue of the use of a VLE and its impact on current teaching practices. Because of the expandability of Vista in comparison to Courseware, is it in fact a slippery route to less face to face teaching and more pressures to develop units online? The third camp was satisfied with what they saw, and responded with a 'just do it' attitude.
All the above points are very valid. It does make sense to avoid the big bang approach (which we didn't with Courseware) and to trial a number of units. That being said, on a practical level, moving all of Level One to Vista would provide a smoother transition. There are also individual staff who are keen to 'just move now' with their units (including myself). Inevitability the coming year is going to mean mixed access for many students (WebCT Vista, WebCT Campus, Courseware), but this will be for one year only. The sensible side also means we should be wary of investing in a system that may be flakey for that first year.
Some decisions need to be made over the coming weeks. I am preparing to launch two demonstration modules, both looking the same but one delivering each weeks entry as a Folder and the other delivering the entry as a Learning Module. To be discussed next.
Exams over, exam boards over. Time to get moving. I now have a few short weeks to dedicate to this project. Closely supported by Margaret Kendall I have finally started to get hands on experience with WebCT Vista.
Following Margaret's recommendation we convened a departmental meeting that gave us a chance to bring staff up to date, to introduce Vista and to give staff the chance to ask questions and voice concerns. The morning session followed the following programme:
- Introduction to the InfoComms Stage 1 Vista project (Richard Eskins)
- Overview of MMU Vista implementation project (Margaret Kendall)
- Demonstration of
- Needs analysis and design of
- Discussion of ways forward and plans for future training sessions
Because of this dilemma Margaret kindly recreated part of one of our existing Level one units, Learning and Communications Technologies into the Vista environment using a files and folders structure. This unit also has some Learning Modules such as Time Management or Academic Writing which were also moved to Vista. Margaret demonstrated how these can be linked to and used within the files/folders structure.
Staff reaction to the demonstration and the 'idea' of moving to the Vista environment was mixed. In one camp was the very sensible opinion that our approach should be very systematic, with a small trial on a very limited number of units for the first year. A second camp raised the whole issue of the use of a VLE and its impact on current teaching practices. Because of the expandability of Vista in comparison to Courseware, is it in fact a slippery route to less face to face teaching and more pressures to develop units online? The third camp was satisfied with what they saw, and responded with a 'just do it' attitude.
All the above points are very valid. It does make sense to avoid the big bang approach (which we didn't with Courseware) and to trial a number of units. That being said, on a practical level, moving all of Level One to Vista would provide a smoother transition. There are also individual staff who are keen to 'just move now' with their units (including myself). Inevitability the coming year is going to mean mixed access for many students (WebCT Vista, WebCT Campus, Courseware), but this will be for one year only. The sensible side also means we should be wary of investing in a system that may be flakey for that first year.
Some decisions need to be made over the coming weeks. I am preparing to launch two demonstration modules, both looking the same but one delivering each weeks entry as a Folder and the other delivering the entry as a Learning Module. To be discussed next.
posted by Richard E @ 1:11 pm
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home