................................Really what it says in the heading. I will play with this from time to time. A mixture of education and domestic ...............................observations.
I'll be around for another flying visit to Bett23 - I wonder how much Artificial Intelligence will be on display ? Is that a pun?
I'll be around Thursday and Friday
At moment I am visiting and/or meeting and presenting
ThingLink
Genially
Intel ( presentation Thursday lunchtime)
Fujitsu
Click-View
Microsoft Education
Google Education
Advantis Systems/Class VR
Instructure Canvas
ALT Session ( Association of Learning Technology)
I am looking for innovative partners and potential sponsors for our next year's Learning and Teaching Conference potentially March 2024 . A great way to bring innovative solutions to the Scottish College Sector as well as interesting partners and projects I can bring to a large and ambitious College.
I think I have figured out way to bring AR/VR to the College in a cost effective way but always open to opinions and solutions.
Perhaps I don't need to write articles any more I can just use artificial intelligence https://chat.openai.com/ and I can add my own images created by Bing Image Creator.
Perhaps, I could just automate whole process. Scarily how the copy for lots of commercial blogs and internet postings are now created. It is what bots are doing in the background automatically producing content for other bots to produce and flood social media channels with including repetition of any errors.
I asked for current trends in Educational Technology.
"Here are some current trends in educational technology:
The increasing use of online and digital resources in education, including the use of learning management systems, virtual classrooms, and digital textbooks.
The use of adaptive learning technologies, which can personalize the learning experience for each student based on their needs and abilities.
The growing use of educational technology to facilitate collaborative and project-based learning.
The use of virtual and augmented reality in the classroom.
The use of artificial intelligence in education, including the development of personalized learning programs and the use of chatbots and other AI-powered tools to support student learning.
The increasing integration of technology in teacher professional development programs.
The growing use of educational technology to support blended and hybrid learning models, which combine online and in-person learning.
It is worth noting that the use of educational technology can raise important questions and challenges related to issues such as equity, accessibility, and data privacy. These issues are being addressed by educators, policymakers, and researchers in various ways. "
Or Perhaps Chat AI knows more about Open Scotland than many in the Scottish Educational establishment
"Open Scotland is a group or organization that promotes open education and open educational resources (OER) in Scotland. Open education refers to the practice of making educational resources and materials available online for free, and OER refers to these resources and materials. Open Scotland may work to raise awareness about the benefits of open education and OER, as well as support the development and use of open educational resources in Scotland. "
It's that time of year again for some quick reflections on 2022 and a look forward to 2023.
On the learning technology front it's been an incredibly busy and rewarding year.
The focus has been around delivering a whole College move from a self hosted version of Moodle to Canvas by Instructure. It was really gratifying to get student feedback from Class reps in November on a complete sea change on learners feedback on our virtual learning environment. You can get a tiny glimpse in at the first window we opened for learners pre-induction. Prior to procurement we polled and held focus groups around what learners wanted in an ideal learning environment. - Learner feedback is that we have met all of their requirements.
Along with Canvas we've enabled Blackboard Ally to support greater accessibility across the platform and later than planned added Panopto to our internal tool set to make it easier for teachers to embed recorded teaching content in their blended learning materials.
With a big internal focus on the technical roll out and the associated internal communications, I've had less space for outward looking activities and blogging. My quietest year ever. No Awards this year ;-) barring nice Fujitsu Ambassador Award for the College in April.
A big shout out to the learning technology, and IT teams , the faculty canvas champions and all of the staff at City of Glasgow College for overcoming the daunting challenge of moving our materials and refreshing the look and feel of blended learning at City of Glasgow College.
We are just on first chapter now of what will become a rewarding journey for staff and students.
Other highlights of year
Attending #BETT22 great to be out and among people and ideas again.
On going co-chairing of ALT Special interest group in Scotland and sharing challenges. Here is our "three stars and a wish" summary from December.
Chairing 'I Was Gonnae' charity and watching team grow business
Chairing Old Hall Scout Group and almost completing the hall refurbishment.
Watching my daughter thrive at first City of Glasgow College and now Dundee Art School and son enjoying his schooling and rugby.
Lowlights of year
On going uncertainties around national awarding , SQA and Education Scotland - no longer directly in my ambit but so awful to see press and general idiotic feeding frenzy. I hope in the end it's a good news story for Scottish Education - but I still see little sign of progressive thinking and all the signs that the system is seriously destabilised. I think many of my initial concerns are still live and no sign of any progressive solutions.
I usually just blog about education. I worked internationally for years - I am a great believer in education as a force for good. Thoroughly sickened by Russian imperial aggression in Ukraine. I still remember a senior Russian civil servant telling me that there should have been no plebiscite in Scotland, apparently in Russia they would just have sent the tanks in to deal with the separatists. As my jaw dropped a Polish Civil servant quietly explained I had just met the Russian bear. Peacefully I will do all I can to support Ukraine.
The state of public finances will have a long and sustained impact on education at all levels.
I am a fan of the idea of the Scottish Learning Festival and have chipped in many times over the years on how it might be improved.
I looked at the advice and like me it has aged - but some of the principles are still just as valid and have not really ever been picked up. I guess just the changing guard in the Education Department and Education Scotland and tight budgets keep it sticking to one formula or another.
If you follow my blog you will know I've been attending since the last century and before there was SLF, there were more modest gatherings of Learning Techs at the Scottish Council for Educational Technology.
I think this years regional and blended approach was a great idea. Will be interested to see if it converted into true national participation.
To truly be a Scottish Learning Festival it has to include pathways for more than schools. So let's see Colleges , Work based learning providers , Universities , Community and Adult learning in the programme. For our economy to work we need life long learning.
It has to be accessible to grass roots educators - my original proposals were around having workshops and events on Saturday morning. BETT does this in London and teachers and pupils ( pupils mainly London based ) travel in for sessions. But now this should include on-line sessions that teachers and learners can engage in all across Scotland - perhaps the new blended sessions achieved this ?
Support dissenting and grassroots voices - help Teachmeet and teachmeeters - Was there a blended equivalent of teachmeet and if not why not ?
If you are going to use any central venue- have workshops and use the space around the SEC -
Unpopular in some quarters but have an exhibition area - either real of virtual. It is important that there is a platform for Scottish education to talk to those who wish to sell things to education. Better and easier for all if it's in the one place once a year. I'm not sure that bit was managed correctly this year. I attended SECC and was embarrassed for the vendors who had supported https://www.scottisheducationexpo.com/
Main thing that was missing from proceedings - though it may have been there and I missed it. Was an overview of digital learning initiatives across Scotland. How 1-1 device roll outs are moving and being sustained in these tough economic times and what is on the horizon for learner and teaching staff digital literacy.
You can access recordings of all of the proceedings. Key sessions to look out for are around 'The National Discussion' this was launched at this year’s Scottish Learning Festival. The discussion around the future of qualifications and assessment in Scotland. You’ll be able to watch the launch recordings on the SLF online portal if you register at http://SLF2022.com.
Last week in the splendid surroundings of the Glass House Hotel in Edinburgh I outlined what we had intended to do and what we will actually do with our new Fujitsu learning Hub.
It's a none technical presentation and does not cover the systems we use in learning technology nor our current journey to Canvas by Instructure. You can find these in more detail on the Learning and Teaching Academy site.
It was great to meet my fellow ambassadors and hear about developments across the Scottish College sector. I am looking forward to the next chapter as we deepen our relationship with Fujitsu and industry partners.
I'll be around for another flying visit to Bett22 . I think there will be lots of good things to share and I am sure the educational community will be excited to be back together again.
I'll be around Thursday and Friday - as usual heading home as #Teachmeet Bett stars
At moment I am visiting and/or meeting
ThingLink
Intel
Fujitsu
Click-View
Microsoft Education
Google Education
Advantis Systems/Class VR
Instructure Canvas
I am looking for innovative partners and potential sponsors for our annual Learning and Teaching Conference scheduled for Tuesday 28th June 2022. A great way to bring innovative solutions to the Scottish College Sector.
