3. Enabling the use of
technology in teaching
“When asked what they would find most
helpful to enable them to use technologies
more in their teaching, most teachers say
'give me examples, in my subject area' and
'point me to relevant people I can discuss
these issues with”. Conole (2010)
From sharing to participating (passive to
active) O’Reilly 2005
4. What are the barriers to E-
portfolios being taken up more
widely in L&T?
ISSUES Responses
Too many tools Replaced Pebblepad with MyFolio
Time to learn the new technology Established a digital retreat
before using it with students
Need local examples of use Established a Community of
Practice for Kent staff
Lack of sharing among disciplines Emphasised that it’s for all
& between academics & services disciplines and support staff
5. Methodology: Principles of our
approach
Used Clegg and Bradley’s (2006) 3 approaches to
PDP to arrange the case studies:
Professional
Academic
Employability
We aimed for our community of practice to be:
User centred
Experiential
Shared
Evolving
6. MyFolio Community of
Practice
What we did:
Set-up a group in MyFolio for any member
of staff using MyFolio
Emphasised that the group is for all staff
(academics and services) this reflects
how we expect students to use it i.e. to
record their academic and other activity
Currently has 33 members and 14 pages
which share practice
8. Three elements of a CoP
(Wenger,1998)
Showcase day
Own pages Employability
within the group strategy
9. Evaluation of the folio
Students’ views Staff views
Gathered via Gathered via
questionnaire telephone
interviews and
feedback on the
group page
10. Questions
What new technology has led you to do
things differently in your
teaching/interactions with students?
How have you been able to
communicate your use of new
technology to colleagues?
11. References
Clegg & Bradley (2006)
Conole (2010)
O’Reilly (2005)
Wenger, E. (1998) Communities of
Practice: learning, meaning and identity.
Cambridge University Press.
Notes de l'éditeur
Little bit on the introduction of MyFolio:Piloted 2010/11Introduced campus-wide 2011/12To date 3,500 users
This sentiment was echoed at Kent. Academics felt that : They wanted some evidence that MyFolio worked before they used it. They wanted other people to make mistakes before they introduced it to a group of students.They are less ‘techy’ than their students so are weary of introducing something that they are not completely comfortable with. They wanted case studies of use which were from people that they knew in a familiar context i.e. situated case studies
Digital retreat: explain the idea behind this and how it will work. Mention team approach and a day away from other pressures to focus on the technologyReplaced Pebblepad with MyFolio which has less tools: This was done in 2011 based on feedback from staff and students that there were too many toolsOur idea to establish a Community of Practice based on Conole’sCloudworks but much smaller scale on one piece of technology and just for Kent staffFor all disciplines and support staff to try to break down barriers between people which are endemic in all big institutions and to cut down on duplication of work this is the project which is currently supported by the HEA/CRA initiative
We tried to use a Pedagogical approach to embedding PDPrather than putting the technology first using other approaches such as Engestrom’s (2005)’object centred’ approach used in Cloudworks or an ‘ego centred approach’ described by Dron & Anderson (2007)
Show MyFolio CoP
The three essential elements of a CoP which Wenger (1998) identifies; are all present within our group. Each member of staff is mutually engaged through their own PDP/employability project which they support by using the e‐portfolio. There is a shared repertoire of skills development which has been set out in the University’s Employability Strategy (2010) and a sense of joint enterprise has been created by organising a showcase day to present a range of the e‐portfolio projects at a staff conference.
Evaluation of MyFolio is currently in the early stages. We are gathering feedback from students via questionnaires (200 approx. responses). Evaluation from staff gathered via telephone interviews we are seeking information on MyFolio and on the support provided to help staff to use it
Alternative qusWhat barriers have you faced when introducing new technologies?How have you been able to over come those barriers?
