1.a An understanding of the constraints and benefits of different technologies

Evidence

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Biography

When I first obtained CMALT qualification I submitted around these three videos to evidence my appraisal of the benefits and constraints in certain technologies in achieving a technical or teaching aim. The videos are as follows:

Firstly, how to make a ‘Narrated PowerPoint’. How to achieve a technical finish. This video outlined the options available at the time:

Open Note taking videos ‘So you want a ‘Narrated PowerPoint’

This thinking evolved and the field for creating content is now more developed / cluttered than ever at UWE. I summarised the different approaches in 2019 here –

Secondly, I submitted a video I had made outlining how we would address a teaching need using the technologies available at the University.

Open note taking videos ‘Digitizing the OSCE processes’

I do still try and use my more in depth knowledge of systems to plot cool work arounds or workflows that combine the different elements of our technology ecology. Things such as this summary of a more up to date digitization of OSCEs event face to face event –

Thirdly, systems in use for multi-modal feedback on assessments. By this we explored the practice associated with giving audio and video feedback.

Open note taking videos ‘Viable options for multi-modal feedback’

Towards the end of my time at I down sourced a lot of the product research to those that I manages. It is an excellent personal development exercise for people new to being a learning technologist. Within my portfolio I managed three positions that were designed as entry level jobs into this part of the industry. The have reviewed the following:

The evidence above is not meant to be super high quality. They are summations of the work we did year in and year out. We had a policy of open note taking. So that when we learn we shared the output so others could learn. Being open comes with less emphasis on high end production and more on getting ideas out there quickly.

The Pandemic – Substitution at speed

In the throws of the pivot to digital learning in March 2020 I was instrumental in supporting the substitution of assessment and teaching methods. Working through my contacts and networks at the University I pushed conversations into appropriate directions and using the work outlined above and relying on the work of other colleagues, particularly Oliver Haslam, we got everything to where we needed to be to survive the remainder of the academic year. This work was corralled in to a support site that, if you would believe this, we had been banned from having for the previous 5 years. The pandemic era emergency support site is available with a surprising amount of processes still their from my time at the helm.

In terms of evidence alongside this site I would like to share a couple of the articles I co-created with my staff during 2020 as we kicked our heels waiting to be allowed out of our houses. These show further comparisons of different technologies and their contraints and benefits:

Balancing affordances of technology also meant we were well aware of ‘gaps’ in our toolsets. During my stint heading central digital learning committees in the aftermath of the pivot I decided to orientate the work of the University teams to fill a gap we already knew existed. Namely the assessment workflow of group presentations on supported webinar tools. I commissioned this work and it was available for the next academic year. It was sector leading at this time and I think may have been adopted by other institutions since. This is what deep understanding of the constraints and benefits or tools look like in an institution.

Since UWE the toolsets I have been given to work with have been locked down. Chosen long before my tenure at the NHS. However, old habits die hard and here is my appreciation of how to do certain tasks within my toolset at, time of writing, my current role at the NIHR. It has been super useful to have and has informed a few conversations where people have looked to me for advice.

west-of-england-affordancesDownload

Reflection

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Biography

For the period of 2016 – 2020 delegating actually left very little for me to do in the way of research on my own terms, merely I acted to set the parameters for the assessment of constraints and benefits. The more senior I got, the less decisions I got to take about this other than suggesting what needs to be in the mix, the larger decisions where I would need to be involved sporadically stalled at my institution for long periods. So big decisions about the institutional tool kit etc. Part of being a manager is guiding people to be the best they can be but part of it is also giving away all the fun projects.

Because HE.

What did change was what needs to be considered when assessing the benefits of systems. There are wide scale legislative changes that have came in across the 2018 – 2019 period which pushed more socially responsible aspects of systems used in digital learning higher up the chain in terms of evaluation. This will be explored later in this portfolio but it is heartening that we now have informed conversations about accessibility and data protection that we were mumbling our ways through less than a decade ago. Knowledge around copyright legislation is still woefully behind in this regard.

For a long time I worked in a large HEI where the digital learning support services were very dislocated. With a post code lottery on support services per Faculty. So the big piece of work for myself and other senior stakeholders in digital learning was to make an environment that is more sustainable for technology commissioning with a larger centrally support tool set that allow for innovations with these new higher priority risks managed better. By this I mean guidance for those going off piste to analyse not just the constraints and benefits or certain technologically enhanced approaches to their teaching but also how they comply / exceed the expectations of the institution form a legal / socially progressive stand point.

It is a certainly less fun than the previous policy light and system support light environment but it is a necessary step. In 2019 we commissioned and decided about a new polling tool for the university. This helped us manage the risks of the previous wild west collection of ‘whatever we had seen at a conference’ product selection for in class polling. We had limited choice and functionality BUT we at least know our practitioners will not be sending who know what data here, there and everywhere.

What will I do differently in the future? As discussed in 2.b I have been reborn into seeking out the student/service user voice recently. Until this summer I have always treated people who say ‘we need the student voice’ as people who really wanted to say something but didn’t have anything to say. A lot of the decisions we make are functional and don’t need too much discussion they just need agreement and work. However, too often we have never focused on analysis after commissioning or brought students into conversations over tool selection. Part of my new outlook is more open to this and I will endeavor to make space for the student / stakeholder voice in these decisions.

The pandemic era

When the pandemic hit there was period of calm where were at home and I could be more involved in co-creation of resources with my staff. These are outlined in the evidence above. Part of the rationale for this was ensure we retained institutional knowledge if the ‘great resignation’ ever came to our doorstep but also to get people to write down their thoughts into cogent arguments. It was a development activity within itself. Part of the issue with not being allowed our own online space as a unit, and the much promised central space never materialising, was the lack of real estate for me staff to write and create content for external stakeholders. Which was incredibly underrated by staff at the time but appreciated afterwards when they came to look for evidence for their CMALT portfolios.

Continue on to 1b