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CC BY: Scaffold photo by IcegemI've been working in HE for a good 10 years now, and for a large part of that I've wondered about the structures in place to scaffold and develop Technology Enhanced Learning (TEL) - who does what, where and how. I guess to a large degree, this post links in with discussions around 'what is a learning technologist'.When I think about the 'structures', I think about a number of things:Who is leading TEL at a strategic level? Is this central in the University and/or within Faculties? Are they experienced in this (still relatively young) area? How might this impact on uptake?What shape do learning technologists take e.g. 'developer', 'administrative', and/or 'academic' angles, and what department do they sit in? Again, are they in a central team and/or based in Faculty?In my experience I've worked in a number of teams - I've been based in a central team (as part of a library service) as well as a broader department for learning technologies. I've also been (and am) employed by and within a faculty. Is it better to based within a library service, an IT department, or a centre for learning and teaching? I don't know! Who calls the shots? I've seen librarians, subject-based academics, and those in CETLs.I think there are tensions and challenges with all these scenarios. Whilst part of a central team it's often hard to break barriers to actually get embedded in schools/departments. Many academics/departments don't engage with central services a great deal (for a number of reasons I suspect). Although, when employed directly within a Faculty, it can still be tough. The flip side is that central teams generally know all about software/systems; when they're being updated; common problems, etc. This often doesn't trickle through quite as well when based in Faculty. Whilst this often doesn't matter if we hold an academic role, it's still nice to know!Here at Liverpool, there is a small central team of learning technologists (x4) in our eLearning Unit - part of the Centre for Lifelong Learning. The Faculty of Health & Life Sciences have invested in this area though. We have me and my equivalents - Lecturers in Learning Technology. We have one in each of our 6 schools, with my role working across each. This is supported by a TEL Support Team (x8). The view is that we work on high level, strategical issues which are supported by the TEL ST. This setup is a lot more than what many HEIs have, but at the same time, some Medical Schools have all of this just to themselves!What about the role - academic or non-academic? I think it depends on the individual actually. I certainly love teaching so have enjoyed the academic roles I've had, and it does give me the ability to talk about how I actually use tools/technologies in my teaching, rather than just how people 'could' use them. And it is useful if you want to engage in research as you have your own students! However, there's nothing to suggest non-academic learning technologists don't do an effective job, because they certainly do! I think the expectation level is different though.So with all of this, I'm sure it barely covers the range of setups that actually exist across the sector. But what is the most effective way to support and develop TEL? What strategies are best employed to develop things? If we were to start a new University and were looking at how we scaffold TEL, where do we start? Obviously there has to be strong leadership and structures to implement and support, but there are just so many options!Answers on a postcard...Peter@Reedyreedles$nbsp;The Reed Diaries by Peter Reed is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 3.0 Unported License

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I see my role as a quite unique - I'm based within Faculty (within the Institute for Learning & Teaching), but have equivalents in each of the schools within the Faculty (we have schools of Medicine, Life Sciences, Health Sciences, Dentistry, Vet Sciences and Psychology).Given the position of my colleagues, it's not particularly common that I work on the ground with academic staff in these schools because that's what they're there to do! Whilst I do play a role in our range of CPD offerings, one of my difficult tasks is getting to grips with what's actually going on across the different schools and open up the silos. My job is to know! As such, I conducted a pretty wide audit since I started (and have blogged some of it) but things constantly evolve. So now I'm getting to grips with what's happening currently with e-Assessment, with a view of looking strategically how we can advance this going forwards. Of course there are lots of traditional (and potentially outdated) views, like only setting exams (because any other type of coursework enables learners to cheat, buy essays, etc). Those type of views exist in every HEI I've worked in (unfortunately) but thankfully it's not a majority view, and I'm really pleased that there's so much good stuff happening. For example:In Life Sciences all first year students have a license for a McGraw Hill text book which is integrated within Blackboard, and the package we have includes a whole suite of e-Assessments (quizzes) which are used quite effectively. One colleague, Susanne Voelkel, is responsible for some great work on two-stage testing (combining the formative with the summative) which has sprouted across a few modules now. I'd recommend you have a flick through her article in Research in Learning Technology. There is also a little bit of online submission, marking and feedback going on.In Medicine things have probably been a bit behind the times, but my equivalent Paul Duvall is certainly doing something about that! It looks like the good practice from the McGraw Hill work in Life Sciences will roll over to Medicine, as well as a new implementation of PebblePad for ePortfolios. Special Study Modules (SSMs) have also started using Turnitin and Grademark, including using the super-helpful rubrics features.In Health Sciences there is a much stronger focus on online submission and feedback using Turnitin and Grademark. In Semester 1 this year, 13 modules have gone through the processes successfully, with another 11 this semester. The feedback seems to be consistent with earlier experiences I've had, but some of the Grademark features really are improving, especially the iPad app. I just hope the perennial server problems they seem to have get sorted, because I think this is one area we really should move forward with. I know Psychology have also been piloting this and Vet Sciences started on using Apps to assess skills. Of course we have the increasingly popular LiftUpp app in Dentistry which all other Dentist schools in the UK have signed up to (as well as some Medical Schools I believe).Of course there are some useful resources out there for those looking to engage in e-Assessment more, for example JISC's 'Effective Assessment in the Digital Age' or the 'e-Assessment Toolkit' from the e-Assessment Association.So, there you have it. Any comments on either the work that's going on, or my role in all of this? You know what to do...Peter@ReedyreedlesThe Reed Diaries by Peter Reed is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 3.0 Unported License

Simple online school is an India-based non-governmental organization and a good online educational project. The NGO recently started using the e-learning platform Eliademy so as to spread knowledge in schools, institutions, organizations and among individuals. It aims for the holistic growth … Continue reading →

Creative commons licensed (BY-NC-SA) flickr photo by University of Denver When I was researching the use of Twitter with my students at MMU, I acknowledged the blurring of boundaries between what is classed as formal learning and informal learning (settings, technologies, etc). Me arl' mucker @hallymk1 has long discussed the need to balance the two - typically we see the formal, or Institutionally-provided technologies such as the VLE, against the more open technologies such as Twitter and Facebook that sit outside of the institution's control.Furthermore, there is an imbalance in the view of this range of technologies, because academics tend to view the formal and informal technologies separately, whereas learners view eLearning from a more holistic perspective, so it's not a) separate, or b) special (Roblyer et al, 2010; Hall, 2009).This holistic view was evident in my own study when a high percentage of students were active on Facebook, and they all had used Facebook to discuss University work. Now that's not supposed to fuel a debate over whether we should be in Facebook or to question whether the VLE is Dead (again), but just to acknowledge that learners will engage in different ways.For me this all raises a number of questions:What happens when these worlds collide and how do learners traverse these spaces? How can we facilitate informal opportunities?How do academic staff digital literacies inhibit the development of student digital literacies?When we start to integrate such informal opportunities into our curriculum, does that inherently make them formal? How are Universities approaching learner generated personal learning environments (now there's a term we haven't heard for a while)?I don't have the answers here, so if you do (or even if you have an opinion), I'd love to hear it in the comments!For those interested, my study on Twitter was published in Research in Learning Technology last year. This, and a couple of other recommended references are below.Reed, P (2013) 'Hashtags and retweets: using Twitter to aid Community, Communication and Casual (informal) learning', Research In Learning Technology, Vol. 21. Available online at http://www.researchinlearningtechnology.net/index.php/rlt/article/view/19692Hall, R. (2009) ‘Towards a fusion of formal and informal learning environments: the impact of the read/write web’, Learning, vol. 7, no. 1, pp. 29-40 Junco, R., Heiberger, G. & Loken, E. (2011) ‘The effect of Twitter on college student engagement and grades’, Journal of Computer Assisted Learning, vol. 27, no. 2, pp. 119-132. Roblyer, M. D., et al., (2010) ‘Findings on Facebook in higher education: a comparison of college faculty and student uses and perceptions of social networking sites.’ The Internet and Higher Education, vol. 13, no 3, pp. 134-140. Available at: http://linkinghub.elsevier. com/retrieve/pii/S1096751610000278Peter@ReedyreedlesThe Reed Diaries by Peter Reed is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 3.0 Unported License

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