Talking Technology at ALT-C

September is a month of conferences in many spheres of academic life  including educational technology. Perhaps the main UK conference for those who use, support, or promote technology for learning, teaching and assessment is held annually by the Association of Learning Technologists (ALT), and this year the ALT Conference (ALT-C) was held at a very blustery University of Leeds. The theme of the event was ‘Thriving in a colder and more challenging climate’, and four of us from CELT (Haydn Blackey, Trevor Price, Steve Woodward and myself) travelled up to the icy north to participate along with over 400 other delegates.
Given how cold and challenging the climate currently is in HE, it is important to feel that attending events like ALT-C is worthwhile, and with around 250 different presentations it was good value for money (all abstracts can be viewed online on the ALT website). Here are some highlights from the sessions I attended:
The first keynote on Tuesday, 6th September featured Miguel Brechner outlining Uruguay’s ‘Plan Ceibal’ – their variant of the ‘One laptop per child’ (OLPC) initiative which has involved every primary-age child being issued with a basic (XO1) lap-top and thereby getting access to the internet (broadband coverage and electricity supply had to be extended to cope ). This initiative has not only given access to information but has stimulated a more interactive and student-centred approach to education. It seems to have been very successful in Uruguay, yet a similar pilot project in Wales was scrapped earlier this year because – apparently – the lap-tops purchased were too expensive – approx £700 each (the Uruguay lap-tops cost £150 each). Mortifying.

The XO1 Lap-top

A keynote presentation on 7th September gave another national perspective with Karin Cator outlining  the U.S. Department of Education’s National Education Technology Plan covering Learning, Assessment, Teaching, Infrastructure, and Productivity. Karin said that technology is a ‘force multiplier’ in education, but pointed out that there is a need for basic research to evaluate how technology is helping tutors. She also posed an interesting question: how can teachers become as engaging as video games? We don’t necessarily want our teachers to be action-packed and multi-coloured, but they do need to be able to engage learners. Technology is not essential for this, but extra tools and resources can certainly help to enrich the curriculum and enhance the learning process. But for teachers and lecturers to get the best out of the technologies available we have to put significant resource into appropriate teacher training and continuous professional development (cpd).

My own presentation on 8th September focussed on cpd issues, specifically on the use of dialogue as a means of engaging academic staff with technology. This ‘talking to teachers’ approach was one of three aspects of this important topic covered in the 9-10am session on that day, with contributions from Brunel University on the importance of school-based strategies, and from Aston University on the role of ‘infection’ ie. the spread of technology usage in an infectious way, generally between lecturers within schools/faculties. We still have a lot more to say and do about this topic!

As you might imagine, there was also a fair amount of talk about actual technologies. Firstly, an example of Second Life used in the context of a virtual laboratory: the SWIFT project at Leicester University, which has a lot of potential to help students understand the complex procedures and theory often associated with practical classes. Secondly, ‘digital posters’ as outlined by Malone et al from Aston: these are basically a meld of video (often screen-casts) and other resources that students produce to summarise projects, lectures etc. Using ‘digital posters’ as a form of assignment/assessment can be very helpful for students with poor language skills, and can help develop digital skills in both students and tutors.

Mobile phones were also mentioned several times,  for example in the context of  texting to support trainee teachers at Anglia Ruskin University. But if we are to advocate the use of mobile devices, particularly for online activities, it’s important to gauge the extent of mobile phone usage amongst students. Claire Bradley at London Metropolitan University carried out a survey indicating that 87% of students sampled possessed smartphones (ie. Internet-enabled) – however, I estimated the figure for Glamorgan  to be around 60% (however, survey methodology was not necessarily the same). This is a reminder that not all institutions are the same, and that learners are not always digitally skilled or equipped – something we definitely need to bear in mind when talking about technology for learning and teaching.