In case you are wondering, it's not that we have given up on the great Scale Up experiment, it's that we are having a little break from teaching. At the moment the first year students are having 5 weeks input on research from a colleague. This is in preparation for the final assignment which is a group research project.
Since Christmas we have also divided the group into two once again, in response to students' complaints about space and noise (too little of the former and far too much of the latter). The research sessions are more traditionally teacher led although each week there are on line search activities for them to carry out and worksheets to be completed on the laptops.
Because the groups are smaller there is no longer the need to use the microphone, which makes communication actually a bit easier (once the class quietens down). Continuing problems with the audio system still make it difficult to play videos at a reasonable volume. Input from technical staff (and interest from the centre) seems to have waned but there is a meeting coming up this month when I am sure there will be an opportunity to voice these concerns and ask for some solutions to be found at least before the next academic year.
Students complain less about the Macs but still struggle with the continuous Pop Up messages and find it nigh on impossible to complete work, save it and or email it to themselves, so this is not a useful way of working. Delays in linking to Apple TV have also caused that to be abandoned as a teaching technique. It is something I may return to next year when I have smaller classes and 2 hour workshops.
I am overall though still happy with the tables and seating plan as it facilitates group work and when I return to take over leading the group again in 2 weeks' time it will be far easier to support their project work in this environment, and far easier for them to do their research and present their work with the macs or their own devices on hand.
The final project has two options: the first, to design a survey questionnaire using Google Forms OR to curate web based resources on a health and social care theme, using Pinterest, Storify, a Facebook Page, Tumblr or something similar.
The first option is what the students did last year and it was fairly successful. The second option is a bit of an experiment but relates well to the themes of the module and particularly to digital literacy competencies.
The teaching team, together with student mentors, library and CADQ partners are going to be presenting our work at the Annual Learning and Teaching Conference. The particular focus will be on how we have used this module and this new teaching environment to explore ways of enhancing students' digital literacies. Together with the "before and after" surveys previously discussed, we will be anlaysing the observation logs made by our student mentors and also conducting some small focus groups amongst the first year students to find out what they make of all this.
In tandem with the classroom work, the student mentors have also been observing the support work that happens in the library to see whether changes need to be made there to support student transition and digital skills. This is moving us towards thinking about having digital skills mentors permanently on hand and about how we can use students as change agents in embedding digital literacies into the curriculum.
