Shirley Pickford :: Blog

http://shirley.blogdrive.com/archive/524.html

It is not that life has been boring or empty in the last few weeks, but that circumstances have forced me to strip my work to its essentials - and that left no surprises, no critical incidents. Despite calamities at home, I have mostly continued working - but at normal instead of hyper rate. I have ignored anything that was not a core part of my job, and the world has not stopped. I haven't followed inviting trails, or thought very deeply. Just got on with things, delegating a little more than usual. It wasn't really delegation as colleagues have offered help wherever possible - and that is not a surprise because it is what we have always done.



It has helped that I work from home, so I didn't need to avoid passing a nasty flu virus round the office. I work fairly flexible hours, so when I have needed to be away from my desk for the afternoon, I could make up the hours needed to complete jobs at other times. Nearly all my work communications are asynchronous, fitting well with flexible hours.



I haven't made much progress on the pathway review, but at the moment there is still time to complete the paperwork for what is a successful degree course. I've had to set my own studies aside - but presenting similar themes at undergraduate level has given me plenty of background and if I take an unambitious stance I can still meet the deadlines.



Am I being too optimistic? It is too early to tell. I should look back over the past few weeks to see what I've covered, then I can make some better plans.

http://ultraversity.blogdrive.com/archive/174.html

http://ultraversity.blogdrive.com/archive/173.html

http://ultraversity.blogdrive.com/archive/103.html

Most spelling and keyboard errors are easily dealt with using automated spell checkers and I'm always a bit surprised when undergraduates haven't used them. Faculty guidance suggests that at Level 1 every error in a student's written work should be pointed out but by level 3 undergraduates are expected to deal with errors independently.



Assessment takes into account the standard of written English and although the BA Learning, Technology and Research degree promotes the exploration of audio and visual media, despite all encouragement most undergraduates fall back on Word documents to present text-based reports. A few still do not use the integrated grammar and spelling check, perhaps because they have left no time to check their work before the deadline. More serious is the problem for those who have checked, but failed to recognise some commonly mis-spelt words which would not be automatically detected.




effect/affect fare/fair their/there cited/sited where/were



Looking for online advice from universities, I was surprised not to see more as its a very common problem. There's a good site called Spelling Tips from Students and others, from Middlesex University. I'm not surprised that this is a lively area, and a good example of user-generated study support.



The FirstClass client spell check options can be set via the Preferences menu.

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The Working Life task asks students to select about 6 highlights of a typical working day. Looking at what you actually do on most days will help to provide a basis for future modules, as well as explaining your work role. If you choose to do a 500 word essay, rather than the suggested photo story, then the structure could be a paragraph each for:
An introduction - your job title and context
One paragraph for each of about 6 highlights
A conclusion, revisiting how the six highlights relate to your job title.

If you are drafting a photo story, keep the explanations down to captions, rather than paragraphs.

http://ultraversity.blogdrive.com/archive/172.html

The first visit to a university library can be a challenge - perhaps even more so for an online student. In the first module it is important for students to show that they have used the university library to find a work-related article (or book). At this stage, it is acceptable to interpret this widely. The facilitators know that early visits to the library may be challenging for many reasons, and it is enough to show that you have:
a) found the library
b) found one work-related item

Campus students have parallel experiences - I can remember my first visits to a university library (huge!), getting used to a new and complex system, locating the shelves where the most relevant books would be found, taking out my first book.

The Anglia Ruskin library can be accessed at http://libweb.anglia.ac.uk/digitallibrary/digital_library.htm



It has not been clear to students that the Library barcode is available from their e-vision accounts. For any problems, there is an online query form. I had to use it last week to renew my account, and within five minutes I had a reply.




Lydia made a movie about using Google Scholar in conjunction with the university library, available at http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=PZH8NWvQ3Ig

http://ultraversity.blogdrive.com/archive/171.html

YouTube contains an amazing assortment of videos, but as with any large collection it takes time and expertise to find the good stuff. Intelligent Life at YouTube: 75 Educational Video Collections does a great job in identifying some of the key contributors.

http://ultraversity.blogdrive.com/archive/170.html

The Individual Learning Plan (ILP) form for Investigating the Work Setting includes some ideas from a discussion with Ian about plans and contracts. Ian tends towards the view that the plan is also a contract between student and tutor, whereas my view is that the plan is a personal tool for managing study time, checked by a tutor to ensure that the essential dates are appropriate and that there is a basic understanding of the required assignments. However, I agreed with Ian that some "contract" elements would be very useful, and included them in the design of the form.

As the form is new, there has been some discussion with students about what is expected in the section on consideration of issues, and I have provided the following example:

---

Workplace advocate / Line manager
My workplace advocate is the Programme Leader for the Learning, Technology and Research degree course. He fully supports my study and is prepared to arrange a meeting this semester to discuss any work-related issues. My line manager is the Director of Education Studies and has encouraged me to undertake the course.

Ethics
As a university employee, I will need to comply with both the policies on research ethics, and the Dignity at Work policy.

Resources and support in the workplace
My colleagues will be a key source of support.

Support for specific student learning needs
none

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Some students will specify dyslexia in the last section, or other learning needs that need to be taken into account.

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Resources for schools are often better for introducing ideas than texts for university students. The British Library introduction to research offers a straightforward yet interesting approach to creative research.

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It's getting late, but I've dropped in to the Opening Up Education conference, - international, online, free and easily accessible. Tomorrow I'll catch up with the introductory video, read the first part of the (free) book and try to make a sensible contribution. For now, I need to escape from the computer after a rather long day.



Before I go, a quick note on stuff this week that is connected with open education: I made a quick web page with information for students, shared an interesting YouTube video with a colleague that may be relevant to the degree course, took part in a course at another university that is being held in a blog as the academics wait for the institution to issue accounts, downloaded Orwell's 1984 (not course-related for me, but it probably would be for a student of literature), subscribed to some serious podcasts on Philosophy via iTunes, encouraged lots of undergraduates to try blogging as a tool for learning journals. No wonder I need to get away from the computer :-)