1. Roots, (para)chutes and ladders: on growing and nurturing teachers and learners in the digital age. Julie Hughes [email_address] The University of Wolverhampton Head of Department (Post-Compulsory Education) ESCalate Academic Consultant HEA National Teaching Fellow 2005 Plymouth Tutor Conference 2010

2. E-portfolio teacher and teacher educator – FD, PGCE and M level with teaching mentors - 2004 to now. Started with 15 students (2004) now working across teams, partners, stakeholders and professional bodies. 2010 - 1400 students and 55 staff this year. E-portfolio mentor – supporting individuals and teams at local, regional and national levels - across disciplines. E-portfolio learner – used ep for appraisal and CPD –attained QTLS in 2009 with an e-portfolio application. E-portfolio embedding. Curriculum development – revalidation and pedagogy shift. E-portfolio researcher – using e-portfolio to mentor and data-gather- using e-portfolio as a writing frame with both students and colleagues. INCEPR III – 10 US and Canadian HEIs and 2 UK HEIs E-portfolio consultant JISC & ESCalate Intro to me

3. Two parts to this morning’s workshop Theory and context for the use of e-portfolios and blogs in the School of Education at UoW Show and tell – how I’ve used PebblePad with students and colleagues to support dialogic learning A taster – PGCE pre-course webfolio and blog

4. A New Approach to University Teaching? Rethinking teaching in 2001 (t)here has to be a common understanding of the nature of learning at the university level, an acceptance that teachers must become reflective practitioners, and an intention by university management to create the conditions that foster and reward this rather different approach. Without a change in approach, new technology will not serve universities in meeting the challenge of mass higher education and lifelong learning for the knowledge society. The digital age will find its own ways of managing without us. Laurillard (2002 p.22) developed from 2001 presentation

5. What digital age? Update (2009) to Shift Happens ( Fisch 2007 ) Where are you in the landscape? Where are your students?

6. In teaching and learning currently, we tend to use technology to support traditional modes of teaching... We scarcely have the infrastructure , the training , the habits , or the access to new technology to be optimising its use just yet. (Laurillard 2007) Are you using technology for telling (information push) or for talking?

7. Starting with the teachers to shift from telling to talking My teaching has completely and utterly changed, totally from how I was taught on the Cert Ed – paper based ...Sometimes I walk in and there’s just images on the screen (on the blog) and that is the teaching and learning of the day. Students don’t cope well now with other formats, “we were talked at for an hour and a half – we go off and do our own learning or you talk to us in a different way.” Annie (Foundation Degree Teacher for 2 years) Pebbler since September 2009 I needed the space to do it for myself really. Caroline (Foundation Degree Teacher for 3 years) Pebbler since February 2008

8. Moksha – Patamu, the 2nd Century BC Indian origin of the race game Snakes and Ladders , rewarded Nirvana to the player who successfully negotiated the vices and virtues of the board. Colonised by Victorian England, who approved of its moral punishment and rewards, it was adopted in the United States in the 20th century as the game of Chutes and Ladders. The morals of the game remained reward for good deeds (upwardly climbing ladders) and consequences (sliding down chutes) for mischievous behaviour.

10. Pedagogic bungee jumping – being a student/teacher in an age of uncertainty Learning (and teaching – my addition) in higher education calls for a courage on the part of the learner/ teacher and a will to leap into a kind of void. There is bound to be uncertainty. A pedagogy of air opens up spaces and calls for a will to learn on the part of the student/ teacher ; to learn even amid uncertainty. In the process, it is just possible that the student/ teacher may come into a new mode of being (Barnett 2007, p.1). Teachers and the taught teach each other. Their roles are interwoven, such that their boundaries become indistinct to some extent (Barnett 2007, p.132). Pedagogical bungee jumping may be catching (Barnett 2007, p.133).

11. So, was it all a blind alley? No. Was it worth it? Yes, yes, yes! From my own perspective, I have seen students become engaged with a reflective, dialogic process in a far more real and meaningful way than I have previously experienced. I have also seen deep learning take place both in relation to technological and pedagogical matters. And finally, this has happened in a truly democratic manner. Staff and students have learned much, together, and have moved forward, together. Now if that’s not liberating and worthwhile, I don’t what is. David 2008 (Hughes, Lacey and Wise 2008) Cathie – on letting go But, and this is a big but for me, I have felt some loss of control. Cathie Teacher Educator in 2008 in her 2 nd year as an e-portfolio teacher

13. Unpredictable rhizomatic growth Rhizome as model/map for unpredictability Lateral, multi-forked root system Connectivity Not Western tree-like (ladder) It’s ok (and sometimes very necessary) to grow and stretch below the surface to establish good roots – your roots. I think what I’ve noticed most is that they sort of carry on without us more if you know what I mean – whereas traditional teaching and learning is very much teacher at the centre, all information coming out through me but what often is seen to happen when using PP is that they can talk to each other, they answer each other’s questions, they take threads of each other’s arguments – really oblivious to the fact that I might be there or might not be there and this for Teacher Education is fantastic because what we see is reflection – it’s reflection in practice, reflection on action in action and it’s going on all the time – it’s crucial. (Maggie)

14. It’s not a race for nirvana – on playing the game and negotiating the risks Nov 2007 – on the road to nowhere? Then, around November, the students were introduced to the webfolio, shown a template and given some instructions for populating it. This was a low point. Having sensed that we had come to terms with a new teaching and learning tool, I think we all felt – staff and students on the generic route alike – that it was back to square one. In future, I think we all agree that it would be better to just start with the webfolio from the outset. Anyway, the skill and expertise of Julie, Paul and others – notably Cathie our knowledgeable and informed Skills specialist – helped us through this road block. David 2008 (Hughes, Lacey and Wise 2008)

15. What might a blended learning community look/feel like? What the FD students say – and not surprisingly what the teachers say too

16. Rollercoaster – the pedagogical being is fragile...it is brittle, liable to shatter suddenly’ (Barnett, 2007 p.29) – the ‘teacher’ being.

18. The PGCE blog lifeboat – HMS Hardwork. Being an eportfolio learner gave me the opportunity not only to explore new ways of learning , but to become part of a community that has supported and encouraged each other throughout our journey to becoming new teachers. The blog ...allowed us the safe space to share thoughts, feelings, anxieties, laughter and tears and because it was a shared space we could see the value in the perception of thoughts and opinions of others in the group. (It)... provided a reassuring glow of a nightlight that was always there. (Hughes and Purnell 2008)

20. E-learning theory – nascent discipline We must acknowledge that pedagogy needs to be ‘ re-done’ at the same time as it needs to be ‘ re-thought.’ (Beetham and Sharpe, 2007) Learners cannot therefore be treated as bundle of disparate needs: they are actors not factors, in the learning situation. (Beetham, 2007) We need ‘a dialogue between theory and practice, as well as between learning and teaching’ (Beetham & Sharpe, 2007, p.3)

21. E-learning is often talked about as a ‘trojan mouse’, which teachers let into their practice without realizing that it will require them to rethink not just how they use the particular hardware or software, but all of what they do. (Sharpe and Oliver 2007) We are witnessing ‘ a new model of education , rather than a new model of learning’ as ‘our understanding of e-learning matures, so our appreciation of the importance of theory deepens…we see how learning can be socially situated in a way never previously possible’. (Mayes and de Freitas 2007, p.13) Give pedagogy back to the teachers . (Laurillard 2008)

25. JISC 2008, p.11 A dialogue-based pedagogy and model of/for reflective learning. Talking not telling.