Teamwork, TILE & TNE. A Collaborative Presentation Adventure.

The Teaching Innovation and Learning Enhancement (TILE) Hub at Staffordshire University organise a monthly two-hour webinar in an online capacity on Microsoft Teams. There are four presentations that last for 25 mins with 5 minutes for questions. A wide range of pedagogic themes is presented including escape rooms and podcasts. 

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Staffordshire University (2023)

The Learning Technology team presenting at the Teaching Innovation and Learning Enhancement (TILE) Hub webinar in March 2023. Earth rotating animation by Presenter Media, 2021.

“The TILE Hub is developing an academic community of practice and provides interdisciplinary collaboration between departments and work to develop collision pedagogy and synergies to push digital learning and teaching forward”

Staffordshire University, 2023). 

The TILE Hub has 4 primary objectives: 

• Delivery of Digital Pedagogical Training
• Delivery and Development of Catalyst Pedagogical Training 
• Staff Digital Diagnostic and Development
• Student Digital Diagnostic and Development (Staffordshire University, 2023).  

In March 2023, the Learning Technology team presented in an online capacity at the  Teaching Innovation and Learning Enhancement (TILE) Hub monthly webinar exploring Collaboration, Innovation & Expansion. Reflections on the Technology Enhanced Transnational Learning (TETL) Journey at the Royal Agricultural University (RAU).  The session plan can be accessed here. In order to prepare, team members attended TILE webinar 3 in February.

TNE is not just expanding at the Royal Agricultural University, it seems to be a sector trend.  How can we define TNE? How is it possible to define TNE? TNE is broadly defined as “…the delivery of an award in a country other than that in which the awarding body is based” (UUK, 2018: p2). How is TNE expanding? In 2022, it was identified that 162 higher education providers (HEPs) reported 510,835 students studying through TNE. This was a 12.7% increase from 2019–20 (UUK, 2022).  TNE can be categorised in different ways including branch campus, distance learning, online provision, joint and dual degree programmes, double awards, ‘fly-in’ faculty, mixed and blended models (UUK, 2022: p3).  

Husna presented a table to show the RAU’s TNE projects.

“Measuring the impact of TNE is crucial to gain a better understanding of the contribution of UK universities to tackling global challenges”

(Wilkinson, 2021) 

So how does the Learning Technology team support TNE expansion through collaborative and innovative approaches? We explored the international VLE, the use of Panopto for asynchronous pre recorded lectures, Zoom to deliver synchronous interactive sessions, Turnitin for assessment and feedback, Vevox, the popular Q&A and polling tool and our customer story here, the Learning Technology email inbox and delivery group meetings. Four core themes that run throughout TNE expansion and collaboration and innovation are, teaching, learning, assessment, training and collaboration, infrastructure, research and dissemination of findings. We explored international TEL Tips, Qingdao Agricultural University (QAU) in China, Shandong Agricultural University (SDAU) dual degree and contract teaching in China, International Agricultural University (IAU) in Uzbekistan, Sharjar University in United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Jiangnan University in China. 

Lisa’s Reflections

Since early 2022, the RAU’s Learning Technology team has been writing fortnightly TECH tips for all UK-based staff and students. We aim to support and develop the digital skills of our community – this is also an area regularly identified by employers and the Government to address a growing skills gap (Gov.UK, 2019; JISC, n.d.). With our hearts in pedagogy first, we never assume that our students and staff come with these skills, so we look for ways to support them.  

Lisa presented TEL and TECH tips.

By the start of this year (2023), there were clear reasons to extend tips to our international partners. Importantly to give a fair and equitable experience, but also because we could see a growing need for support amongst both staff and student groups – and we are now at the point where we are ready to launch tips on our international VLE.  

We split the job of writing tips between us – we come with different ideas, and 5 writers means that tips always feel varied and fresh. But what is becoming particularly exciting is collaboration beyond the team. We are going to ask our readers to send us feedback and ideas through Vevox Q&A. We already love Vevox for the insights that it brings during teaching sessions, and we shared a poll during our presentation too. Our audience didn’t disappoint, and we enjoyed looking through their favourite digital skills with them.

Lisa presented the responses to the Vevox activity.

Husna’s Reflections

The RAU opened a joint institute in 2020 with Qingdao Agricultural University (QAU) in China. Although relationships were building gradually since 2015. The notion to develop double degree programmes started in 2018. Four double degree programmes are currently being run with both institutions contributing to the teaching and learning and students gain double awards upon completion. Currently, we have 780 students with an expected addition of 280 by September 2023. There will be an additional four master’s programmes to start by September 2023 as well. 

The current Bachelor programmes are: 

• Environment food and society 
• Agriculture 
• Food production and supply management 
• Integrated Business management 

Husna explored Qingdao Agricultural University (QAU).

In 2022, The RAU was selected by the Ministry of Agriculture in Uzbekistan to be the lead partner in establishing the new International Agriculture University (IAU). This is a Franchise partnership currently running one RAU BSc Agriculture with Foundation year programme. As a lead partner, RAU holds a dual role, first as a partner and second as skills training provider delivering a continuous professional development (CPD) programme to aid the IAU academics build their academic professional practice. The student numbers are modest (155) in comparison to China, but we have new three bachelor’s degrees and three master’s to be launched in September 2023. 

Husna explores International Agriculture University (IAU)

What we did in terms of innovation and collaboration on the TNE front is more about the agility of what we did and how we did it, but the 4 themes depicted below always informed our decisions, actions, practice, and provision. 

TNE Model created by Husna using Canva (2021).

Being the first international collaborative partner to be provisioned on a Virtual Learning Environment (VLE), QAU presented us with an aspirational as well as challenging project. At that time in 2020, we only had one UK-facing VLE, capacity was a concern, as well as legal compliance responsibilities, which meant access to some of the e-resources our international students would need to be done differently.  In addition to that, the academic year was to start in a few months which did not leave us much time to go out to tender for a new VLE. We had to improvise significantly using a digital collaboration model we used successfully on the Catalyst project (link to blog post) of using SharePoint with our local international teams to disseminate resources we shared via SharePoint while delivering the synchronous sessions via Zoom. This was successfully delivered for the first semester and that allowed us to go out to tender and sign up a hosting company for our international VLE. Once the VLE was in place we did the following:  

1. Set up the dedicated VLE making sure the infrastructure was viable for our operating model and ensuring the digital student experience was optimised as best as possible, even with the China firewall presence. We separated content along partner lines, so bespoke content is only visible to the right partner. 

2. Designed and delivered academic staff training and on boarding using the TPACK model (Mishra & Koehler, 2006) while also including training with a particular focus on large class teaching and how to improve engagement among students using interactive tools and learner analytics such as activity completion, insights report, Vevox data). For IAU, we included the academic staff’s continuous professional development (CPD) built around the UK Professional Skills Framework. 

3. Student support was provided at key stages at the start of the year through live induction sessions with a dedicated induction course as reference material. This is in addition to the in-year support calls and emails triaged through local teams.

3. Collaboration there were so many opportunities for collaboration some of which we are still exploring but so far, we have done: 
    
   Qingdao Agricultural University (QAU)

1. Trained partner teams to support students at a local level mitigating challenges in time difference & amplifying support mechanisms. 

2. Worked with student representatives to collate feedback, providing the student voice in co-creation of learning content and activities. 

3. Support RAU & QAU Scientific Exchange Forum a showcase event of all academic achievements in the year by staff and students. 
    
   International Agricultural University (IAU)

1. Launched Collaborative Online International Learning     (COIL) pilot project in the 2^nd semester. Using a module that is being taught at both institutions. 

2. Set up an academic forum to promote research links and academic peer support for IAU staff.

Husna sharing reflections on IAU. TNE Model created by Hunsa using Canva (2021).

Pip’s Reflections

Pip explored both the dual degree and the longstanding contract teaching TNE projects with Shandong Agricultural University (SDAU) including the impact of action research, and external engagement with the support of JISC and the Digital Transformation blog. 

Pip exploring the contract teaching project at SDAU.

“While universities continue to learn about new ways of creating a welcoming intercultural learning space, they still struggle to address its many limits”

(Mittelmeier, Lomer, Lim, Cockayne & Ploner, 2022). 

The presentations and recorded and shared on the TILE Hub YouTube channel and you can watch a video recording of the presentation here. A certificate is provided for presenters and attendees. You can follow TILE on Twitter here and the hashtag for the event is #StaffsTILEc. 

Bibliography 

Ahmed, H., McDonald, P., & Mustoe, L. (2022) Royal Agricultural University Vevox Case Study (Online) Available at: https://www.vevox.com/stories/education-stories/royal-agricultural-university [Accessed 5 April 2023] 

Design Space. (n.d.). Soft Color Minimalist 3 Types of Empath Circle. Canva. (Online) Available at: https://www.canva.com/p/templates/EAFZrNVxtJQ-soft-color-minimalist-3-types-of-empath-circle-instagram-post/ Retrieved [Accessed 21 March 2023]  

Eclipse Digital Imaging, Inc. (2021) Globe Custom Banner (Online) Available at: https://www.presentermedia.com/powerpoint-clipart/globe-custom-banner-pid-15981 [Accessed 5 April 2023] 

Eclipse Digital Imaging Inc. (2021) Chalk Board Online) Available at: https://www.presentermedia.com/powerpoint-clipart/chalk-board-pid-28045 [Accessed 10 April] 

Eclipse Digital Imaging Inc. (2021) Earth Rotating (Online) Available at: https://www.presentermedia.com/powerpoint-animation/earth-rotating-PA-pid-4197 [Accessed 10 April] 

Eclipse Digital Imaging Inc. (2021) Globe Custom Banner (Online) Available at: https://www.presentermedia.com/powerpoint-clipart/globe-custom-banner-pid-15981 [Accessed 10 April] 

Eclipse Digital Imaging Inc. (2021) 3D Globe Geography PowerPoint Template (Online) Available at: https://www.presentermedia.com/powerpoint-template/3d-world-globe-pid-26943 [Accessed 10 April] 

Eclipse Digital Imaging Inc. (2021) Earth Rotating (Online) Available at: https://www.presentermedia.com/powerpoint-animation/sharing-thoughts-anim-pid-13979 Two Figures Sharing Thoughts [Accessed 10 April] 

Gov.UK. (2019). Current and future demand for digital skills – a call to action. (Online) Available at:  https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/current-and-future-demand-for-digital-skills-in-the-workplace [Accessed 5 April 2023] 

JISC (n.d.) Our reports. (Online) Available at: https://digitalinsights.jisc.ac.uk/reports-and-briefings/our-reports/ [Accessed 5 April 2023] 

Mittelmeier, J., Lomer, S., Lim, M, Cockayne., H & Ploner, J., (2022) How can practices with International Students be made more ethical? postpandemicuniversity.net Post Pandemic University blog [blog] 10 Jan Available at: https://postpandemicuniversity.net/2022/01/10/how-can-practices-with-international-students-be-made-more-ethical/ [Accessed 5 April 2023] 

Staffordshire University (2023) Teaching Innovation and Learning Enhancement Hub (Online) Available at:  https://www.staffs.ac.uk/research/projects/tile-teaching-innovation-and-learning-enhancement-hub [Accessed 5 April 2023] 

Staffordshire University (2023) #StaffsTILEc TILE Webinar Series Webinar – 4 (Season 1) 29th March 2023 [pdf] [Accessed 5 April 2023]  

Staff TILE Hub (2023) TILE Webinar 4 – Reflections on the Technology Enhanced Transnational Learning Journey at the RAU Available at: TILE Webinar 4 – Reflections on the Technology Enhanced Transnational Learning Journey at the RAU [Accessed 10 April 2023] 

Universities UK International (2018) Transnational Education: Global Location, Local Innovation. [pdf] Available at: https://www.universitiesuk.ac.uk/sites/default/files/uploads/UUKi%20reports/UUKi%20WECD%20WEB%20(1).pdf [Accessed 5 April 2023] 

Universities UK International (2022) The scale of UK higher education transnational education 2020–21 Trend analysis and regional highlights [pdf] Available at: https://www.universitiesuk.ac.uk/sites/default/files/field/downloads/2022-11/UUKi%20Scale%20of%20UK%20HE%20TNE%202020-21%20updated.pdf [Accessed 5 April 2023] 

Universities UK International (2022) Scale of UK Higher education transnational education 2019-20: Welsh Providers Trend analysis of HESA data. [pdf] Available at:  https://www.universitiesuk.ac.uk/sites/default/files/field/downloads/2022-01/Scale%20of%20UK%20HE%20TNE%20Welsh%20providers%202019-20_0.pdf [Accessed 5 April 2023] 

Wilkinson, E. (2021) Transforming UK transnational education through digital and data. jisc.ac.uk/blog. Digital Education blog, [blog] Nov 2021. Available at: https://www.jisc.ac.uk/blog/transforming-uk-transnational-education-through-digital-and-data-04-nov-2021 [Accessed 5 April 2023] 

Design Space. (n.d.). Soft Color Minimalist 3 Types of Empath Circle. Canva. Retrieved March 21, 2023, from https://www.canva.com/design/DAFd37ytVhg/nRc6t1boNjA-sKER88yKnA/edit [Accessed March 20, 2023] 

Mishra, P., & Koehler, M. J. (2006). Technological Pedagogical Content Knowledge: A new framework for teacher knowledge. TEACHERS COLLEGE RECORD 108 (6), 1017-1054. [Accessed March 20, 2023] 

Mishra, P., & Koehler, M. J. (1). Technology Integration Framework. from https://teachingcommons.stanford.edu/teaching-guides/foundations-course-design/theory-practice/technology-integration-framework#:~:text=The%20TPACK%20framework%20was%20first,Content%20Knowledge%20(CK) [Accessed March 20, 2023] 

‘My Research is like Digital Potato’. Exploring Technology-enhanced Transnational Learning (TETL) through the Plateau.

Rhizomatic Research

The Royal Agricultural University (RAU) hosts a series of online research seminars. Each seminar is an opportunity for two volunteers who can either be a staff member or a student to talk for approximately 15 minutes each about their research projects with 10 minutes for questions. Sessions are recorded, edited using Panopto and are made available on Gateway.

On Wednesday 26th January 2022, I presented on the topic of technology-enhanced Transnational Learning (TETL). At the RAU, international activity is expanding.

“Growth in international student numbers has coincided with other forms of educational mobility, including internationally mobile staff”

(Mittelmeier & yang, 2022: p750

The overarching theme of the seminar explored technology. David Main and Lisa van Dijk presented first exploring the use of online collaboration tools including Miro, Mural, Klaxoon, Wonder and Mentimeter. Professor Louise Manning shared a link to an article she had contributed to exploring the ethical implications of collaboration within the food sector in a digital capacity (Jacobs, Brewer, Craigon, Frey, Gutierrez, Kanza, Manning, Munday, Pearson & Sacks, 2021).

Exploring online collaboration tools

The structure of the presentation I delivered used the idea of chapters or ‘plateau’ (Deleuze & Guattari, 1987). Brent Adkins in his book and critical introduction to Deleuze and Guattari asks “ How is it possible to create something new?” (Adkins, 2015: p22). When we carry out research, perhaps it is imperative to be commitment to creating new and original contributions to knowledge. In the presentation, I suggested that it is important to acknowledge that online learning has never been new. Distance learning has never been new. Transnational learning has never been new. So what’s new then?

the first chapter or plateau, Deleuze and Guatarri introduce the idea of rhizome:

“Rhizomes do not propagate by way of clearly delineated hierarchies but by underground stems in which any part may send additional shoots upward, downward, or laterally. There is no hierarchy…beginning or end”.

(Adkins, 2015: p23)

Perhaps, the technology-enhanced transnational learning (TETL) research journey emulated the rhizomatic trajectory, particularly as each episode, chapter or component could be understood in itself or in relation to another part:

“each plateau can be read starting anywhere and can be related to any other plateau”

(Deleuze & guattari: p22 in adkins 2015: p23)

An example of a rhizome is a potato.

“All that is required to grow potatoes is burying the discarded skin of a potato. They simply begin again wherever they are”

(adkins, p15: p23)

Brent Adkins asks “ How is it possible to create something new?” (Adkins, 2015: p22). This is a critical question. My perception of research is that there is an imperative that there is a component of originality. But, truthfully, it is important to acknowledge that online learning has never been new. Distance learning has never been new. Transnational learning has never been new. So what’s new then?

Deleuze and Guatarri explore the notion of the assemblage. Assemblage can be understood asa group things. As opposed to fiiting “…into pre-existing forms” the assemblage provides us with the oportunity to create new ideas (Adkins, 2015: p22). Could Zoom be understood as an digital assemblage?

“As an assemblage, a book has only itself, in connection with other assemblages and in relation to other bodies without organs”

(deleuze & guattari, 1987: p4)

(Not yet) A Thousand Research (Plateau) Projects

Being part of this technology-enhanced transnational learning (TETL) research journey was an oppertunity to reflect on what “digital scholarship” might mean in the future (Weller, 2011). Perhaps technology-enhanced transnational futures are part of what the “…promise of the University” might be (Mahon, 2022).

In the presentation, I briefly made reference to the idea of technology to transgress drawing on bell hook’s famous book Teaching to Transgress: Education as the Practice of Freedom (hooks, 1994)

“The classroom remains the most radical space of possibility in the academy”

(Hooks, 1994)

The recording of the presentations can be accessed here here (29:37).

Exploring TNE

For more information about the research seminars, please contact the RAU Knowledge Exchange Team:

Name	Job Role	Email Address
Rebecca Atterbury-Thomas	Knowledge Exchange Events Coordinator	rebecca.atterbury-thomas@rau.ac.uk
Lisa van Dijk	Head of Knowledge Exchange and Research Support	lisa.williamsvandijk@rau.ac.uk

A recent online event hosted by HudCRES (Huddersfield Centre for Research in Education & Society) explored international students & UK universities: research and practice. Dr. Sylvie Lomer (@SE_Lomer) from Manchester Institute of Education presented on International students in the UK: Deficit narratives and research approaches. Professor Bee Bond (@BeeBond1) from the University of Leeds presented on language as a barrier and an enabler. Prof. Bond wrote an interesting paper exploring the “performance of identity” (Bond, 2019). Language and visibility are important (Bond, 2020). Dr. Manuel Madriaga (@mannymadgriaga) presented at the event. One slide explored benefits of the use of composite characters (Patton & Catching, 2009 in Madriaga, 2022). Rachel Brooks (@_rachel_brooks) is both Professor of Sociology and Associate Dean at the Research and Innovation at the University of Surrey. A number of relevant resources were shared including the Advance HE blog exploring pedagogies of internationalisation and an article mapping pedagogic practices here.

Bibliography

Adkins, B., (2015) Deleuze and Guattari’s A Thousand Plateaus A Critical Intoduction and Guide (Edinburgh: Edimburgh University Press)

AdvanceHE (n.d.) Pedagoagies of Interationalisation https://internationalpedagogies.home.blog/ International Pedagogy Blog [blog] (Online) Available at: [Accessed 2 February 2022]

Bond, B., (2019) International students: language, culture and the ‘performance of identity’, Teaching in Higher Education, 24:5, 649-665, DOI: 10.1080/13562517.2019.1593129

Bond, B., (2020) Making Language Visible in the University English for Academic Purposes and Internationalisation (Bristol: Blue Ridge Matters, Multlingual Matters

Bond, B., (2022) ‘Language as a Barrier and an Enabler’ International students & UK universities: research and practice. Microsoft Teams. January 2022.

Brooks, R (2022) No Title. International students & UK universities: research and practice. Microsoft Teams. January 2022.

Deleuze, G., & Guattari, F., (1987) A Thousand Plateaus: Capitalism & Schizophrenia (London & New York: Continuum)

Gather Presence Inc. (2021) Gather Town (Online) Available at: https://www.gather.town/ [Accessed: 27 January 2022]

hooks, b (1994) Teaching to Transgress: Education as the Practice of Freedom (New York: Routledge)

Jacobs, N., Brewer, S., Craigon, P, J., Frey, J., Gutierrez, A., Kanza, S, Manning, L., Munday, S., Pearson, S., & Sacks, J., (2021) Considering the ethical implications of digital collaboration in the Food Sector in Perspective Perspective| Volume 2, Issue 11, 100335, November 12 (Online) Available at: 2021https://www.cell.com/patterns/fulltext/S2666-3899(21)00183-5?_returnURL=https%3A%2F%2Flinkinghub.elsevier.com%2Fretrieve%2Fpii%2FS2666389921001835%3Fshowall%3Dtrue [Accessed 27 January 2022]

Klaxoon (2022) Klaxoon (Online) Available at: https://klaxoon.com/ [Accessed 27 January 2022]

Lomer, S., (2022) ‘International Students in the UK: Deficit Narratives and Research Approaches’ [Google Document] International students & UK universities: research and practice. Microsoft Teams. January 2022. (Online) Available at: https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1F5pbF5s5w_SlFfKmqIzk0RK_YFCLfHbGB0gYC0YcsVg/edit#slide=id.g10e8cb7bfde_0_10 [Accessed 2 February 2022]

Lomer, S., Mittelmeier, J., & Carmichael-Murphy, P., (2021) Cash cows or pedagogic partners? Mapping pedagogic practices for and with international students [pdf]. (Online) Available at: at: https://srhe.ac.uk/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/Lomer-Mittelmeier-CarmichaelMurphy-FinalReport-SRHE.pdf [Accessed 2 February 2022]

Madraiga, M., (2022) No Title. International students & UK universities: research and practice. Microsoft Teams. January 2022.

Mahon, Á., (ed) (2022) Reclaiming Humanity, Humility, and Hope (Singapore: Springer)

Mentimetre (n.d.) Mentimeter (Online) Available at: https://www.mentimeter.com/ [Accessed 27 January 2022]

Mittelmeier, J., & Yang, Y., (2022) The role of internationalisation in 40 years of higher education research: major themes from Higher Education Research & Development (1982–2020) Higher Education Research & Development Vol. 41. Issue 1: 40 Years of Research and Development in Higher Education: Responding to Complexity and Ambiguity (Online) Available at: https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/07294360.2021.2002272 [Accessed 7 August 2022]

Miro (2022) Miro (Online) Available at: https://miro.com/ [Accessed 27 January 2022]

Tactivos Inc. (2022) Mural Available at: https://www.mural.co/ [Accessed 27 January 2022]

van Dijk, L., & Main, D., (2021) Online Collaboration Tools, Royal Agricultural University (RAU) Online Research Seminars. Zoom. January 2022.

Weller, M., (2011) The Digital Scholar. How Technology is Transforming Scholarly Practice (London & New York: Bloomsbury)

Wonder Me (2021) (Online) Available at: https://wonder.me/ [Accessed 27 January 2022]

Arvorum Cultus Pecorumque. Caring for the (Digital) Fields and the Beasts.

‘Look after the (Digital) land, and it will look after You’

The Royal Agricultural University’s Latin motto is from Virgil’s Georgics. The recent move to online learning due to the impact of the global pandemic and with the implications for a potential future hybrid pedagogical model, could mean that we can conceptualise the possibility of care in a digital context.

For both SDAU and QAU, RAU teaching staff deliver 45-minute interactive sessions to approximately 150 students. An ongoing pedagogical challenge is to encourage as much interaction as possible. Often students are reluctant to turn their cameras on and unmute to speak during these sessions. It could be argued that students are ‘lurking’ in online envirnonments.

“Lurking is often seen as a problem in online education, particularly in fully online,

distance/distributed learning contexts”

Kuhn, Havemann, Kogeoglu & Bozkurt, 2021: p2

During an interactive session on Zoom, verbal communication is relied on for example if a student is delivering a presentation and sharing their screen. A majority of functions in Zoom are concerned with the development and practice of the verbal mode, for example mute/unmute. What if there was a different way to communicate that does not involve using the camera or microphone? This is where non-verbal feedback came in. Whilst meeting reactions have been used in the past, non-verbal feedback provides a new layer of communication and an opportunity to interact effectively.

Non-verbal Feedback Panel in Zoom

In October 2021, SDAU students were shown how to use non-verbal feedback and meeting reactions in Zoom. “…Meeting participants can place an icon in their video panel and beside their name in the participants panel to communicate with the host and other participants without disrupting the flow of the meeting. For example, selecting the Slow down icon places the icon in your video panel and beside your name to indicate you would like the host or presenter to go slower” (Zoom Video Communications, 2021).

Exploring Non-verbal Feedback

Providing students with an opportunity for non-verbal communication can help to provide the Lecturer with a confirmation that students are listening and/or have understood. Students can use non-verbal feedback as a way to build confidence in developing verbal feedback skills.

Perhaps non-verbal feedback is connected to dual coding:

“Human cognition is unique in that it has become specialised for dealing simultaneously with language and non-verbal objects and events”

(Paivio, 1986 in Kirschner in Caviglioli, 2019

Exploring Zoom

Agile stationary was demonstrated to the students in the form of a deck of video conferencing cards. Showing the cards on the screen with the camera on can help with communication in a live meeting. I also suggested that students could create their own cards. This could enable students to create a personalised learning experience. It is also possible to suggest improvements and there is an Agile Games Workshop Meetup.

Exploring Agile Stationary

“We believe that physical products support embodied cognition without becoming distracting and provide the fastest feedback loop in the simplest possible setting” (Agile Stationery, 2021).

(Agile Stationery, 2021)

Having reflected on Zoom literacies as part of the #ukfechat here, the extent to which breakout rooms could improve student engagement in a blog post here and here, artifactual literacy has been explored (Pahl & Rowsell, 2010). How can we use found objects to improve the interactive experience of the Zoom sessions. When does an object become an artifact and vice versa?

“A found object is a natural or man-made object, or fragment of an object, that is found (or sometimes bought) by an artist and kept because of some intrinsic interest the artist sees in it”

(Tate Modern, n.d.).

What could students create in a Zoom session that could relate to agriculture? I explored the range of creative packs in a local shop.

Found Objects

A Microsoft Form was used to evaluate what students thought about non-verbal feedback, meeting reactions, agile stationary:

1. The majority of students thought that found objects improved engagement

2. The majority of students thought that non-verbal feedback tool and meeting reactions were a positive way to interact in the session?

3. For the question “How can the non-verbal feedback tool and meeting reactions be improved?” one answer was “The teacher can initiate a vote during the lecture and ask the students to answer. Through the data analysis, the students can grasp the situation and infer the points of doubt“,

4. For the question “How did the agile stationary help with interaction in the session?” one answer was “In some way, it can help teacher know about how much knowledge students has masterd,and adjust the process of class.”.

Bibliography

Agile Stationary (2021) Agile Stationary (Online) Available at: https://agilestationery.com/ [Accessed 26 October 2021]

Caviglioli, O., (2019) Dual Coding for Teachers (Woodbridge: John Catt Educational Ltd)

Kuhn H., C., Havemann, L., Koseoglu, S., & Bozkurt, A. (2021). Three lenses on lurking:
Making sense of digital silence. In J. Hoffman & P. Blessinger (Eds.), International
perspectives in online instruction (p. 83-93). Emerald Publishing Limited. (Online) Available at: https://www.emerald.com/insight/content/doi/10.1108/S2055-364120210000040006/full/html [Accessed 3 November 2021]

Pahl, J & Rowsell J (2010) Artifactual Literacies: Every Object Tells a Story (Language and Literacy Series) (Amsterdam & New York: Teachers College Press)

Maro, P.V., (29 BCE). Virgil: Eclogues, Georgics, Aeneid. Translated by H.R. Fairclough. Loeb Classical Library. Harvard University Press: Cambridge, MA. 1916.

Meetup LLC (2021) Agile Games Workshop Meetup in London (Online) Available at: https://www.meetup.com/Agile-Games-Workshop/ [Accessed 26 October 2021]

McDonald, P., (2021) Technology to Transgress. Spinoza, Energy & Expeditions of Joy. Exploring Critical Zoom Literacies with #ukfechat https://digitalrau.wordpress.com blog, [blog] 21 Oct. Available at: https://digitalrau.wordpress.com/2021/10/05/technology-to-transgress-spinoza-energy-expeditions-of-joy-exploring-critical-zoom-literacies-with-ukfechat/ [Accessed 26 October 2021]

McDonald, P., (2021) Indiana Jones & the Breakout Tombs. Exploring Student Zoom Literacy https://digitalrau.wordpress.com blog, [blog] 9 Oct. Available at: https://digitalrau.wordpress.com/2021/10/09/indiana-jones-the-breakout-tombs-exploring-student-zoom-literacy/ [Accessed 26 October 2021]

Tate Modern (n.d.) Found Objects (Online) Available at: https://www.tate.org.uk/art/art-terms/f/found-object [Accessed 26 October 2021]

Taylorson, L., (2021) ukfechat curation: 30/09/2021 – Technology to Transgress: Critical Zoom Literacies hosted by @PipMac6 Wakelet Collection (Online) Available at: https://wakelet.com/wake/A5H5cVpqqNamjw5nsy6Wk [Accessed 26 October 2021]

Zoom Video Communications (2021) Nonverbal feedback and meeting reactions(Online) Available at: https://support.zoom.us/hc/en-us/articles/115001286183-Nonverbal-feedback-during-meetings [Accessed 26 October 2021]

Indiana Jones & the Breakout Tombs. Exploring Student Zoom Literacy

Indiana Jones & the Breakout Rooms

As part of a transnational partnership between the Royal Agricultural University (RAU) and Shandong Agriculture University (SDAU) that pivoted to online elarning due to the global plandmeic, Lecturers delivered 45-minute interactive sessions to students using Zoom, the well-known video conferencing tool. Since June 2020, three successful online cohorts have taken place. It is fundamental to acknowledge the differences between teaching in a face-to-face and online capacity, that distance learning “…cannot be the same as teaching in a walled classroom” (Morris, 2021). A significant part of the transnational online pivot involved training staff on how to use Zoom effectiely for pedagogy. What about the students? In September 2021, a Lecturer reported that a student had disrupted the class by not putting the microphone on mute. Initially, this ‘pedagogical incident’ could be explained as showing a need for greater online classroom management and/or student behaviour. However, I asked myself, “Have we created an opportunity to support students on how to behave in an online classroom, have we assumed they know how to use Zoom?“. Perhaps the teacher-centrered approach needed to be transformed into a student-centred approach. As a result, four critical questions were asked

1.How can we support students to make the most of their interactive sessions in Zoom?

2. How do students know how to behave in an online classroom setting?

3. How do students know how to use Zoom?

4. How can we support students whose first language may not be English with technology-enhanced transnational learning (TETL?)

Asking the four questions above, led to three further questions:

1.What is literacy?

2. What is Zoom Literacy?

3. When does knowing how do use a tool become literacy?

Perhaps literacy “…has become a process of commodification in which literate learning is entangled with commodities” (Mills, 2015: p2).

A strategy we explored was the use of breakout rooms in Zoom to facilitate an escape room. What is an escape room? Escape rooms (ERs) can be defined as “…live-action team-based games in which players encounter challenges in order to complete a mission in a limited amount of time” (Veldkamp, van de Grint, Knippels & van Jooingen, 2020). Escape rooms are nothing new. They are popular in education Sanchez & Plumettaz-Sieber, 2019 in Veldkamp, van de Grint, Knippels & van Jooingen, 2020). One of the core benefits of breakout rooms is that the “allow[s] groups of one or more participants to break out into any number of smaller Zoom meetings from within the initial Zoom meeting (Stanford University Teaching Commons, n.d.). It can be argued that an escape room is a type of game. Embedding gamification is also nothing new in education. There are a number of advantages to using games, for example, games can provide an opportunity to “increase both engagement and motivation” (Kim, Song, Lockee & Burton, 2018: p5).

Can an escape room help to engage students with Zoom Literacy?

In 2021, a presentation was delivered at the University of Kent Digitally Enhanced Education Webinars entitled Indiana Jones and the Temple of Zoom. A Transnational Online Pivot Adventure which explored the idea of online classrooms being like ‘digital temples’ and Learning Technologists like ‘Digital Archaeologists’. This blog post is a development of this as the next transnational adventure. In the film Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom, Indiana Jones faces a series of ‘tombs’ that he needs to break out of by solving problems. From the ‘Temple of Zoom’ to the ‘Breakout Tomb’.

Exploring the use of a digital badge

In our escape room, students are faced with different situations that they may face in an interactive session in Zoom. A PowerPoint file with animated content was shared to created a multimodal experience. Students need to answer the questions correctly using chat and find the code to ‘escape’. A password-protected blog post was created. Once students escaped, they could download a digital badge and had an opportunity to access a Microsoft Form to evaluate their escape room experience.

Student names are not shown

In October 2021, a presentation was delivered at CARNival, an event entitled Raised Voices: Collaborative Action Research Network (CARN) Online Conference, 2021 to discuss the escape room approach in the transnational context.

Reflections

In terms of what Zoom Literacy could be, perhaps it could be made up of different dimensions of practice. For example, using non-verbal feedback or agile stationary could be a form of artifactual literacy which can be defined as an approach that “…examines objects and their meanings in everyday life and also acknowledges the situated nature of texts in places and communities” (Pahl & Rowsell, 2011: p130). What is important to note is that “Some stories are more powerful than others in that they are more visible” (Pahl & Rowsell, 2011: p129).

Create your own Bayeux Tapestry here

Zoom is not immune from digital inequalities. From Teaching to Transgress to Technology to Transgress & Progress (hooks, 1994). It is important that we must not view the online classroom as a digital “mini-kingdom” with unequal power relationships, particularly if the online classroom is designed to be an interactive environment (hooks,1994: p17). If it is true that “every object tells a story”, then every online classroom has a narrative too (Pahl & Rowsell, 2010).

Using non-verbal feedback in Zoom. Artifactual Literacy?

Perhaps one aspect of the narrative was the Chinese character transforming the escape room into an opportunity for into digital storytelling.

奕辰 (Yìchén)

Key Points

Curating the virtual support presence – It is a good idea to adopt a team teaching approach. The notion of “lone lecturers” may not work in the online classroom which needs to be a “team sport” (Mosley, 2021).

More than one Lecturer/Learning Technologist provides the students with more support and workload can be shared e.g. one person shares screen while the other monitors the chat.

Planning for breakout rooms or ‘tombs‘ – Breakout rooms need to be planned in advance either by pre-assignment with student emails or in a manual capacity. If the group has a large number of students, then manual breakout rooms can be the best approach in a synchronous capacity.

Second language awareness – creating a document with core vocabulary and phrases to support students with understanding, particularly if the topic involves specialist terms of reference.

Involve students in the development of their own Zoom Literacies – create an ice breaker activity proving students an opportunity to decide their on ground rules and expected behaviours in online settings.

Be open to exploring a range of tools and approaches – another interesting tool is Twine “…an open-source tool for telling interactive, nonlinear stories” (Interactive Fiction Technology Foundation, n.d. ). Could students co-create collaborative and interactive fiction?

How has the global pandemic enabled us to reimagine the pedagogical possibilities of what a classroom has been, is currently and could be? It is possible to reflect on the “Brave New Digital Classroom” of the future (Blake & Guillén, 2013).

“Digital tech has permeated classrooms, homes and social spaces, and so on campus or classroom education is, to a significant extent, digital and online”

(Fawns, 2019)

What if we left the classroom behind? (Spinney, 2021). What could replace the classroom? To what extent could Zoom Literacy could be part of a wider, and potentially platform agnostic Brave New Digital Literacy?

“We can’t just choose a pedagogy and then a technology. In fact, technology is part of pedagogy: “pedagogy is the thoughtful combination of methods, technologies, social and physical designs and on-the-fly interactions”

FAWNS, 2021

Perhaps when we think about student Zoom Literacy, we always need to think about the student and question how to support our international students as much as possible prioritising an ethical approach (Mittelmeier, Lomer, Lim, Cockayne & Ploner, 2021).

Perhaps an escape room could be seen as a way to adopt a playful approach. Play and its value has been explored in education (Alison, 2022).

A conference reflection entitled ‘An (Escape) Room with a (Transnational) View’ is available in the CARN Bulletin 24 here.

Bibliography

Agile Stationary (2021) (Online) Available at: https://agilestationery.com/ [Accessed 11 September 2021]

Alison, J (2022): The Value of Play in Higher Education. National Teaching Repository. Educational resource. https://doi.org/10.25416/NTR.20905276.v1 %5BAccessed 8 September 2022]

Veldkamp, A., van de Grint, L., Knippels, P, J, M, C., & van Joolingen, W., (2020) Escape education: A systematic review on escape rooms in education in Educational Research Review, Volume 31, 100364 (Online) Available at: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1747938X20300531 [Accessed 11 September 2021]

Blake, R., J & Guillén, G., (eds) (2013) Brave New Digital Classroom: Technology and Foreign Language Learning. 2nd ed. (Washington DC: Georgetown University Press)

Dundee & Angus Convention Bureau (n.d.) Raised Voices: Collaborative Action Research Network (CARN) Online Conference, 2021 (Online) Available at: https://www.conventiondundeeandangus.co.uk/attending/conferences/carnival–raised-voices-collaborative-action-research-network-carn-online-conference-2021 [Accessed 11 September 2021]

Fawns, T., (2021) Postdigital Education http://timfawns.com Education Blog [blog] June 19 (online) Available at: http://timfawns.com/postdigital-education/ [Accessed 10 November 2021]

hooks, B., (1994) Teaching to Transgress Education as the Practice of Freedom (Oxon & New York: Routledge)

Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom. 1984 [film]. Steven Spielberg. dir. Paramount Pictures & Lucasfilm

Interactive Fiction Technology Foundation (n.d.) Twine (Online) Available at: https://twinery.org/ [Accessed 24 September 2021]

Kim, S., Song, K., Lockee, B., & Burton, J., (2018) Gamification in Learning and Education Enjoy Learning Like Gaming? (Switzerland: Springer International Education)

Mills, K, A., (2015) Literacy Theories for the Digital Age: Social, Critical, Multimodal, Spatial, Material and Sensory Lenses (New Perspectives on Language and Education (Bristol, Buffalo & Toronto: Multilingual Matters)

Mittelmeier, J., Lomer, S., Lim, M., Cockayne, H., & Ploner, J., (2022) How can practices with international students be made more ethical? https://postpandemicuniversity.net/ Post Pandemic University blog [blog] Jan 10th (Online) Available at: https://postpandemicuniversity.net/2022/01/10/how-can-practices-with-international-students-be-made-more-ethical/ [Accessed 13 January 2022]

McDonald, P., (2022) An (Escape) Room with a (Transnational) View. In: McArdle, K & Wilby, C. eds. 2022. CARN Bulletin 24. Virtual International Conference 2nd – 10th October2021 Online Raised Voices. [pdf] Ch.2. Available at:  https://www.carn.org.uk/site/assets/files/6633/carn_bulletin_24.pdf [Accessed 27 July 2022]. 

Morris, S., (2021) Humanizing Digital Pedagogy: the Role of Imagination in Distance Teaching. https://www.seanmichaelmorris.com/. Digital Pedagogy Blog [blog] Available at:  https://www.seanmichaelmorris.com/humanizing-digital-pedagogy-the-role-of-imagination-in-distance-teaching/amp/ [Accessed 3 March 2021]

Mosley, N., (2021) Forget lone lecturers – pandemic shows teaching must be a team sport. http://www.timeshighereducation.com. Higher Education Blog [blog] 6 Jan. Available at: https://www.timeshighereducation.com/blog/forget-lone-lecturers-pandemic-shows-teaching-must-be-team-sport [Accessed 23 March]

Pahl, J., & Rowsell J., (2010) Artifactual Literacies: Every Object Tells a Story (Language and Literacy Series) (Amsterdam & New York: Teachers College Press)

Pahl, K., & Rowsell, J., (2011) Artifactual Critical Literacy: A New Perspective for Literacy in Berkeley Review of Education, 2(2) (Online) Available at: Education https://escholarship.org/uc/item/6s0491j5

Spinney, L (2021) The big idea: Should we leave the classroom behind? The Guardian, [online] (Last updated 08th November 20210. (Online) Available at: https://www.theguardian.com/books/2021/nov/08/the-big-idea-should-we-leave-the-classroom-behind?

Stanford University Teaching Commons (n.d.) Successful Breakout Rooms in Zoom (Online) Available at: https://teachingcommons.stanford.edu/news/successful-breakout-rooms-zoom [Accessed 10 November 2021]

Stanford University Teaching Commons (n.d.) Successful Breakout Rooms in Zoom (Online) Available at: https://teachingcommons.stanford.edu/news/successful-breakout-rooms-zoom [Accessed 11 September 2021]

Thoretton, M., Leonard A-L., Mathieu., Maria., (2015) Historic Tale Construction Kit (Online) Available at: https://htck.github.io/bayeux/#!/ [Accessed 30 September 2021]

Zoom Video Communications (2021) Non verbal feedback and meeting reactions (Online) Available at:https://support.zoom.us/hc/en-us/articles/115001286183-Nonverbal-Feedback-During-Meetings [Accessed 11 September 2021]

Technology to Transgress. Spinoza, Energy & Expeditions of Joy. Exploring Critical Zoom Literacies with #ukfechat

“The [online] classroom remains the most radical [online] space of possibility in the academy”

(hooks, 1994)

What about the online classroom? Is the online classroom the most radical virtual space? what is (techno) trangression?

Every Thursday at 9pm, a series of questions, ideas, and provocations in the form of tweets are curated on Twitter with the hashtag #ukfechat to prompt discussion. Tweetchats have become increasingly more popular and one of the core benefits of using this approach is that discussions can take place without the need for face-to-face or location-based restriction.

The format is a question followed by a number. Twitter users who want to respond to a particular question are able to respond by typing ‘A’ and the number of the question. Whilst there is an explicit focus on further education, the majority of ideas, topics and themes explored are relevant to all educational settings. This was the case with using Zoom, particularly during the pandemic as a pivot approach and also as post-pandemic hybrid tool.

In addition to #ukfechat, there are a number of weekly Twitter accounts and hashtags used a tool to prompt online discussion about education. For example #APConnect, #CreativeHE and LTHE Tweetchat which is “a collaborative project to discuss learning & teaching in HE with the wider community vie tweetchats…” (@LTHEchat). LTHEChat takes place every Wednesday 8pm-9pm and the WordPress conference (#PressEDconf21) “…on all things education, pedagogy and research” (@pressedconf). Two blog posts have been published about tweetchats here and here:

EduTwitter as Rhizome. An Online Athenaeum? Tweeting on the Shoulders of (Digital) Giants

Unpacking the PressEd Twitter Conference Experience. A Digital Assemblage?

In 1994, bell hooks wrote a pivotal book entitled ‘Teaching to Transgress Education as the Practice of Freedom‘ (hooks, 1994). What is transgression? Can technology as a platform for transgression? Can technology be used as a platform for freedom? What about “The Public and their Platforms?” (Carrigan & Fatsis, 2021). What is literacy anyway? What is Critical Digital Literacy?

“Defining what is meant by digital literacy however has proven complicated, as the spaces, texts and tools which contextualise such practices are continually changing”

(Pangrazio, 2016: p163)

Perhaps literacy is a “commodity?” (Elsasser & Irvine, 1992). On Twitter, there is an account that asks what “if bell hooks made an LMS” which is “A bot that mashes up marketing statements from Learning Management Systems and passges from Teaching to Transgress ” (@bellhooksLSM).

Created using Presenter Media

As part of both the SDAU and QAU projects, the RAU delivers 45-minute interactive sessions using Zoom. Therefore, the topic of Zoom Literacy became relevant for both staff and students. The first tweet asked ‘What would bell hooks say?’

https://twitter.com/PipMac6/status/1443667094013419526

What would bell hooks say about Zoom? A video tweet.

A range of questions was asked for example:

1. Have you heard of artifactual literacy? Does every object tell a story? (Rowsell & Pahl, 2010). How can we use objects in Zoom online classrooms effectively?
2. To what extent are non-verbal feedback & agile literacy an important part of Zoom literacy? I have used before.
3. How have you used Zoom to create an opportunity for collaborative learning?
4. How can we carry out digital differentiation using Zoom e.g. sending a message to an individual student & the whole group using the chat
5. Camera or off? That IS the Zoom question. Or is it?
6. Since the return to face-to-face teaching in some contexts, how can Zoom support a hybrid pedagogical approach?
7. To what extent can Zoom be used to create multimodal learning opportunities or for dual coding?
8. What do you think about a Zoom literacy certificate or formal qualification? Could there be a Zoom college or university?
9. How did you support teaching staff & students on how to use Zoom? Can you share any practical examples or links? One suggestion I have is to adopt a team-teaching approach in Zoom. Students get more energy!
10. Is it more about joy not literacy or can we have both?
11. What is critical digital literacy anyway? What makes it critical? Who decides? Can a tool-specific literacy exist? Would it be helpful and for who? To what extent is literacy transgressive?
12. How are you currently using Zoom for pedagogy? What features do you use e.g. polling, breakout rooms and/or whiteboard. How can we improve these features?

A good place to start would be to ask what critical digital literacy is anyway? In 2019, I presented Association for Learning Technology (ALT) West Midlands Group at Warwick University exploring Digital Champions and Critical Digital Literacy. Can critical digital literacy evolve over time? To what extent have the global pandemic and pivot to online learning had on our definition? One response from the #ukfechat was that it is about “making a difference” and being “boundary-less of what is possible…” which could link to transgression (Scattergood, 2021). Perhaps bell hooks would agree!

Well, critical literacy is about making a difference, using literacy to challenge the status quo, improve systems/communities, etc, so I think critical digital literacy must be boundary-less in what is possible 🤔 #ukfechat

— Kerry Scattergood (@KMScattergood) September 30, 2021

(KMScattergood, 2021)

Another question concerned how objects can be used during Zoom meetings with respect to artifactual literacy. Does this add a new socio-material dimension to using Zoom?. “Does every object tell a story[?]” (Rowsell & Pahl, 2010). A helpful suggestion was made by @tessmaths:

A13: ask students to run off and find something – a cuboid, something with a right angle in it, something with a square number on it, a package to unfold to show the net of a shape #ukfechat

— Tessmaths (@tessmaths) September 30, 2021

Embedding Numeracy in Zoom classrooms

A13: ask students to run off and find something – a cuboid, something with a right angle in it, something with a square number on it, a package to unfold to show the net of a shape #ukfechat

— Tessmaths (@tessmaths) September 30, 2021

Embedding numeracy into Zoom meetings using found objects

The use of agile stationery (@agilestationary) can be used in Zoom classrooms as a paper-based solution – “We believe that physical products support embodied cognition without becoming distracting and provide the fastest feedback loop in the simplest possible setting” (Agile Stationary, 2021).

Exploring the Agile Stationary card deck

Perhaps embedding gamification approaches can increase student engagement?

We have had great success bringing physical cards into a gamified intellectual process. The cards don’t end up being displayed on screen. Each card is a prompt which is considered by the individual participant. When gameplay dictates the participant reads the card aloud.

— Agile Stationery (@agilestationery) September 30, 2021

(@agilestationary, 2021)

One of the tweets connected literacy to joy. Joy has been a positive narrative, particularly throughout the pandemic and beyond. Joyful Education “…was founded by Stefanie Wilkinson and Lou Mycroft in the summer of 2020, following the momentum experienced in Covid-lockdown around the need for change in education” (Joyful Education, n.d.). It is possible to follow the #JoyFE hashtag on Twitter.

It was useful to find out how other educators are using Zoom and also what other tools they are using to enhance the student experience, for example the HUE camera:

A1: also love love love my @HUEcameras visualiser with 50 mini-whiteboards used with https://t.co/20GInFtl02 @StudyMaths camera function – looks great in Zoom and generally connects in seconds #ukfechat

— Tessmaths (@tessmaths) September 30, 2021

(@tessmaths, 2021)

Two tweets really stood out in terms of reflective responses to the questions from @LouMycroft. The first tweet explored how Zoom can be used as a platform to build relationships. The second tweet explored the idea of energy from Spinoza and the idea of a joyful expedition. The metaphor of the journey/expedition was powerful.

Tweet 1:

Evening Pip! Zoom is all about building relationships for me (context professional learning) so nothing fancy. Cameras on, #ThinkingEnvironments and if there’s work to be done get away from the screen. Have even pulled back from slides #ukfechat

— Dr Lou Mycroft (@LouMycroft) September 30, 2021

Tweet 2:

I love the idea of expeditions of joy. Spinoza believed Joy was found in the energy we share, a sort of collective life energy. The best teaching has that and brings the outside in #UKFEChat

— Dr Lou Mycroft (@LouMycroft) September 30, 2021

What would Spinoza say about Zoom? Does energy create energy?

Does a journey imply a destination? The discussion about journey raised some further ideas:

Not a journey- I hate journey as it implies there's a destination. Can we have joy is the adventure or joy is the expedition instead? #ukfechat

— Kerry Scattergood (@KMScattergood) September 30, 2021

(@KMSCattergood, 2021)

One of the tweets explored the idea of a Zoom University. Zoom Academy offer both training and certifications for example for Educators here.

https://twitter.com/PipMac6/status/1443676220634324992

The tweets from tweetchat exploring Zoom Literacy can be accessed here organised as a Wakelet collection.

The collections of curated tweets for #ukfechat have been organised as a Wakelet collection here:

If you would like to curate a topic of #ukfechat, it is possible to sign up using Padlet here:

Let us end on an amusing Tweet from Eric Yuan, Founder & CEO of Zoom:

“I try to tell jokes over my Zoom meetings. They aren’t even remotely funny.” – @ericsyuan 🥁

— Zoom (@Zoom) September 27, 2021

Dr. Rikke Toft Nørgård, Associate professor, Aarhus University & Center for Higher Education Futures presented at the Philosophy and Theory of Higher Education Society (PaTHES) Thematic Webinar Series 2021: Foresight, speculative design and preferable higher education futures in September 2021. In this presentation, the idea of ‘hopepunk’ was identified. What if we had ‘Zoompunk?’.

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Carrigan. M., & Fatsis, L., (2021) The Public and their Platforms Public Sociology in an Era of Social Media (Bristol: Bristol University Press)

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McDonald, P., [@PipMac6] (2021, 30th Sept) HELLO #UKFECHAT. IT’S 9PM. LET’S EXPLORE ‘TECHNOLOGY TO TRANSGRESS. EXPLORING CRITICAL @ZOOM LITERACIES’. REMEMBER TO REPLY USING ‘A1’. WHAT WOULD BELL HOOKS SAY? [Tweet]. Twitter. Available at: https://twitter.com/PipMac6/status/1443682169881341956

McDonald, P., [@PipMac6] (2021, 30th Sept) Q7. WHAT DO YOU THINK ABOUT A @ZOOM LITERACY CERTIFICATE OR FORMAL QUALIFICATION? COULD THERE BE AN @ZOOM COLLEGE OR UNIVERSITY? #UKFECHAT [Tweet]. Twitter. Available at: https://twitter.com/PipMac6/status/1443676220634324992

McDonald, P., (2021) Unpacking the PressEd Twitter Conference Experience. A Digital Assemblage? https://digitalrau.wordpress.com/ Digital Transformation blog [blog] (Online) Available at:https://digitalrau.wordpress.com/2021/03/25/unpacking-the-pressed-twitter-conference-experience-a-digital-assemblage/ [Accessed 5 October 2021]

McDonald, P., (2021) EduTwitter as Rhizome. An Online Athenaeum? Tweeting on the Shoulders of (Digital) Giants cDonald, P (2020) When a Learning Technologist became a DJ – For One Night Only. https://digitalrau.wordpress.com/ Digital Transformation blog [blog] (Online) Available at: https://digitalrau.wordpress.com/2021/04/29/edutwitter-as-rhizome-an-online-athenaeum-tweeting-on-the-shoulders-of-digital-giants/ [Accessed 5 October 2021]

Mycroft, L., [@LouMycroft] (2021, 30th September) EVENING PIP! ZOOM IS ALL ABOUT BUILDING RELATIONSHIPS FOR ME CONTEXT PROFESSIONAL LEARNING SO NOTHING FANCY. CAMERAS ON, #THINKING ENVIRONMENTS AND IF THERE’S WORK TO BE DONE GET AWAY FROM THE SCREEN. HAVE EVEN PULLED BACK FROM SLIDES #UKFECHAT [Tweet]. Twitter. Available at: https://twitter.com/LouMycroft/status/1443672769300926470

Mycroft, L., [@LouMycroft] (2021, 30th September) I LOVE THE IDEA OF EXPEDITIONS OF JOB, SPINOZA BELIEVED JOY WAS FOUND IN THE ENERGY WE SHARE, A SORT OF COLLECTIVE LIFE ENERGY. THE BEST TEACHING HAS THAT AND BRINGS THE OUTSIDE IN #UKFECHAT [Tweet]. Twitter. https://twitter.com/LouMycroft/status/1443675202618003465

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Scattergood, K., [@KMScattergood] (2021, 30th September) NOT A JOURNEY-I HATE JOURNEY AS IT IMPLIES THERE’S A DESTINATION. CAN WE HAVE JOY IS THE ADVENTURE OR JOY IS THE EXPEDITION INSTEAD? #UKFECHAT [Tweet]. Twitter. Available at: https://twitter.com/KMScattergood/status/1443673584891797526 [Accessed 7 October 2021]

Scattergood, K., [@KMScattergood] (2021, 30th September) WELL, CRITICAL LITERACY IS ABOUT MAKING A DIFFERENCE, USING LITERACY TO CHALLENGE THE STATUS QUO, IMPROVE SYSTEMS/COMMUNITIES, ETC, SO I THINK CRITICAL DIGITAL LITERACY MUST BE BOUNDARY-LESS IN WHAT IS POSSIBLE. Thinking emoji. #UKFECHAT [Tweet]. Twitter. Available at: https://twitter.com/KMScattergood/status/1443669662655516683 [Accessed 7 October 2021]

Taylerson, L., [@LyneeTaylorson)] (2021) ukfechat curation: 30/09/2021 – Technology to Transgress: Critical Zoom Literacies hosted by @PipMac6 (Online) Available at: https://wakelet.com/wake/A5H5cVpqqNamjw5nsy6Wk [Accessed 5 October 2021]

Taylerson, L .,[@LyneTaylorson)] (2021) ukfechat curated archive https://wakelet.com (Online) Available at:/wake/n0OovqWy5sLeNx_2cpHIO [Accessed 5 October 2021]

Taylerson, L., Pinny, K., & McDonald, P., (2019) West Midlands Group Meeting: Critical Digital Literacies West Midlands Association of Learning technologists [blog] (Online) Available at: https://bit.ly/2P8qTRI [Accessed 5 October 2021]

Tessmaths [@tessmaths] (2021, 30th September) A13: ASK STUDENTS TO RUN OFF AND FIND SOMETHING – A CUBOID WITH A RIGHT ANGLE IN IT, SOMETHING WITH A SQUARE NUMBER ON IT, A PACKAGE TO UNFOLD TO SHOW THE NET OF SHAPE #UKFECHAT [Tweet]. Twitter. Available at: https://twitter.com/tessmaths/status/1443683051456942080 [Accessed 7 October 2021]

Tessmaths [@tessmaths] (2021, 30th September) A1: ALSO LOVE LOVE LOVE MY @HUECAMERAS VISUALISER WITH 50 MINI-WHITEBOARDS USED WITH http://MATHSBOT.COM@STUDYMATHS CAMERA FUNCTION – LOOKS GREAT IN ZOOM AND GENERALLY CONNECTS IN SECOND #UKFECHAT [Tweet]. Twitter. Available at: https://twitter.com/tessmaths/status/1443670993072005120 [Accessed 7 October 2021]

the bell hooks LMS [@bellhooksLMS] (n.d.) Twitter. [Twitter] Available at: https://twitter.com/bellhooksLMS [Accessed 7 October 2021]

Zoom Video Communications (2021) Zoom Certifications (Online) Available at: https://academylearn.zoom.us/certifications [Accessed 14 October 2021]

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Thoroughly Modern Technology: Zoom & the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance

“Covid-19 hit universities hard”

Jones, 2022: pix

Zoom has played a significant role in the pivot to online learning and the emergent ‘pandemagogy‘.

‘The Pandemic will not be on Zoom’

(Costello, Brown, Donlon & Girme, 2020)

Zoomtopia took place on 13th-14th September 2021. A part of Zoomtopia was the opportunity to explore the Imaginarium. It was possible to customise the Imaginarium and download the creation. This involved an interactive map including Global Stage, Pavilion of Progress, Product and Industry Showcase, World of Creation, Hall of Sponsors and the Gallery of Stars.

Exploring the (Zoo)m Imaginarium: Incursion or Innovation?

Zoom identify the following capabilities of its platform for education:

1. Manage your classes
2. Increase engagement
3. Customise the learning experience
4. Ensure accessibility
5. Enable security and compliance
6. Support flexible learning environments (Zoom Video Communications Inc, 2021)

Eric Yuan, CEO of Zoom delivered a keynote.

It might be a surprise to find out that Zoom is celebrating its ten-year anniversary (Zoom Video Communications Inc, 2021). For many of us, our perception is that it was a tool that was heavily used in 2020. Before that, Zoom was used but perhaps not as widely known. Since 2020, Zoom has been used as a core tool on which interactive sessions for both the SDAU and QAU projects to take place. Reflecting on the tools we have used to adapt face-to-face teaching to online contexts is important. A presentation was delivered at the University of Kent’s Digitally Enhanced Webinars in February 2021 exploring the use of zoom entitled Indiana Jones & the Temple of Zoom. Learning Technologists as ‘Digital Archaeologists’ & Online Classrooms as ‘Digital Temples’. If a metaphor for an online classroom can be a ‘digital temple’, could we ask when does video conferencing meeting become an online classroom and vice versa?

“Is the university education model forever changed?”

(Mosley, 2021)

Over the past year, it is possible to see how it has improved and evolved in a variety of ways. It is possible to acknowledge new vocabulary entering popular culture. Who has not heard of “You’re on mute”, “zoom fatigue” and “zoombombing?”. Critically, the “Zoom gaze” has become entrenched into everyday work practices (Caines, 2020). Autumn Caines, an Instructional Designer from University of Michigan (@Autumm), led a webinar exploring Zoom in terms of digital power hierarchies (Caines, 2021). A great deal has been discussed about how to avoid “algorithmic bias” (Rankin & MacDowell, n.d.). Are digital inequalities ‘baked in’?. Check out @ZoomGaze a Twitter account that tweets instances where “Video conferencing offers an illusory sense of unilateral control over conversations” (@ZoomGaze, n.d.).

“Students’ enrollment in distance-learning classes and programs has been rising significantly over the past several years, bolstered by the growth of online education”

(joyner & isbell 2021: p1)

Perhaps it is important to avoid any “Illusions of online readiness” as a “counter-intuitive”: with respect to the online pivot (Power, Conway, Ó. Gallchóir, Young & Hayes, 2022). What impact could “Zoom picketing” have? (Cassidy, 2020).

I Know What You Taught On Last Summer – Zoom.
Image created by Presenter Media, 2021

Some of the most innovative product developments included the Zoom Phone with bring your own carrier, the hot desking tool to support hybrid working, a Smart Gallery with artifical intelligence, and the use of virtual reality with the Oculus headset to create an immersive experience. There was an emphasis supporting remote workers in terms of an inclusive approach to hybrid collaboration. Some of the key words and phrases from the presentations were ‘frictionless’, ‘seamless”putting the video back in videogame’ and ‘Zoom fidelity’. Additionally, I attended an education specific session ‘From Classroom to Computer Screen: Redesign In-Person Training for Virtual Audiences’ which was really useful in terms of improving the interactive RAU delivers using Zoom. For example, the presenter, Sandy Masters identified the ‘90 20 4‘ model: provide a break every 90 minutes, activity or assessment very 20 minutes and finally provide an interactive opportunity every 4 minutes (Masters, 2021).

Sandy Masters delivering ‘From Classroom to Computer Screen: Redesign In-Person Training for Virtual Audiences’

Zoom Literacy has almost become a fundamental 21st-century skill for the modern workplace including working from home. How has a video conferencing tool been transformed into an educational tool we do not seem to able to live without? From Zoom, doom and gloom to Zoom, boom and Bloom?

Zoom: the Modern Sceance? (Reddit, 2021)

During the Association for Learning Technologists (ALT) Winter Conference in 2020, one of the sessions entitled ‘To Be And Not To Be: Physical Absence and Virtual Presence in Online Learning’ led by Dr. Stuart Taylor, University Tutor at University of Glasgow (@SJamesTaylor), and Dr. Ingeborg van Knippenberg, Lecturer at Edinburgh Napier University (@icvk) explored the idea of of “hauntology”, “spectral presence” and the “haunted subject” (Henriksen, 2016: p37). To what extent is the Zoom experience haunting? Are hosts digital ghosts? What are digital monsters? (Henriksen, 2016: p37). We are familiar with the idea of the ghost in the digital machine. But what if the machine is the ghost? We need to be more concerned with the machine in the ghost (Kirwan, 2021). Is Zoom a digital zoo? If it is a haunting experience, then is it like a night at a digital museum? To what extent is digital dysmorphia a real threat? (Dalva, 2021). Are we experiencing zoom nihilism? Perhaps we need to ‘curb our digital enthusiasm’ of using video conferencing platforms. If Sartre re-wrote Being & Nothingness for the 21st century, would the “phenomenological ontology” concern Being & Digital Nothingness (Sartre we do we dissolve into Zoom? If we stare too long, do no the ‘Zoom abyss’? – “He who fights with [digital] monsters should be careful lest he thereby becomes a monster. And if thou gaze long into an abyss, the abyss will also gaze into thee.” (Friedrich Nietzsche, Beyond Good and Evil. Aphorism 146).

My mother has truly produced the pumpkin of our era. pic.twitter.com/P6V4ixMRw7

— Alex Barnard 🇺🇦 (@avb_soc) October 19, 2020

(@avb_soc, 2020)

One of fundamental debates about using Zoom is whether the camera should be on or off or camera normativity. Does using the camera improve the digital student experience? What is impact of the camera on teaching and learning? Is it best for students to be able to ‘see’ their teacher and for the teacher to ‘see’ their students?. What is ‘seeing’ anyway? Is it possible to experience “camera fatigue?” (Turner, 2022).

Tim O’Riordan presented at the Association of Learning Technologists (ALT) annual conference in 2021 exploring cameras on or off?

Having trained staff and supported students on how to use Zoom effectively, I was keen to find out the latest product developments at Zoomtopia such as On Zoom (Beta) and Zoom Rooms. Over the past year, we have seen some significant improvements to the platform itself. For example, security improvements and immersive view which provides a visual reimagination of a meeting for participants. Truthfully, Zoom is a multimodal platform with a range of pedagogical affordances that can be used successfully in an interdisciplinary capacity.

(Zoom Video Communications, 2021)

It is important to acknowledge that Zoom can be used in conjunction with other tools to provide a positive digital student experience. Perhaps an over reliance on Zoom exclusively might not be sufficient. For example, we used Panopto as a platform to allow lecturers to pre-record their lectures and Zoom for interactive sessions for the SDAU project. Comparing tools and approaches may not help us in the way that, we may need to both combine and curate the use of tools to meet the unique needs of our students as a commitment to digital differentiation (Islam, Kim & Kwon, 2012). In the same way that we might be concerned by the term “technology determinism”, perhaps we are experiencing ‘Zoom determinism’ (Edwards, 2012: p8).

Zoom and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance. Image adapted from: https://bit.ly/3Efxgf8 (Abe Books, 2021)

The blog post title draws explicitly on the well-known book by Robert Pirsig Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance. In the Afterward, Pirsig asks “Who really can face the future? All you can is do is project from the past” (Pirsig, 2004: p393).This is a powerful question when we frame it in terms of the future of teaching, learning and working. Is the art of hosting a Zoom meeting a bit like the art of motorcycle maintenance. Perhaps it is. Here’s to the “hybrid workforce” (Zoom Video Communications Inc, 2021). Zoom is undoubtedly bound up in our pedagogical consciousness “The phenomenon of being and the being of phenomenon (Sartre, 2003: p4). Perhaps the online classroom has become a form of the academic conference in that it “…materializes neoliberal academic life”. To what extent can online classrooms be “neo-liberal material discursive space[s]…” (Fairchild, Taylor, Benozzo, Carey, Koro & Elmenhorst, 2022: p3-4). The If can ‘disturb’ the academic conference, can we disrupt the online classroom? (Fairchild, Taylor, Benozzo, Carey, Koro & Elmenhorst, 2022).

The architecture of the Zoom meeting in terms of the structure of the host, alternate host, co-host and meeting participants could relate to Derrida’s idea of hospitality (Campbell, 2021). Perhaps Zoom meeting hosts provide a type of digital hospitality.

“For Derrida the hospitality given to the ‘other’ is an ethical marker, both for an individual and a country…being open and accepting the ‘other’ on their terms…opens the host to new experiences—the possibility of ‘crossing thresholds of hope”

(O’Gorman, 2006: p55)

Moving forward and reflecting on post-pandemic pedagogic realities, Zoom will still play an important role in the “brave new digital classroom” (Blake, Guillén, & Thorne 2013). Perhaps now really is the time to be brave (Hardwick 2021). For example, in their dedicated Zoom for Education website, they refer to hybrid learning and talk about an “education ecosystem” (Zoom Video Communications Inc, 2021). Zoom sent me a an official Zoomtopia mug, pin badges and stickers which was a nice touch!

“Online education, better, worse or different?”

Mosley, 2020

Perhaps we need to think about the art of “placemaking” (White, 2021). Zoom classrooms are a bit the digital non-places (Augé in White, 2021). Zoom acknowledged the creative ways the Zoom has been used. Zoom provide the tools and the platform, and it is up to us to bring the agency to Zoom.

“What’s next..[?]”

Global Education Monitoring Report Team (GEM Report), 2020

Zoom seem to have acknowledged the difference between “…emergency remote teaching and online learning” (Hodges, Moore, Lockee, Trust and Bond, 2020). Here’s to the hybrid ecosystem! Perhaps it will important to create “conceptual clarity” of hybrid possibilities (Raes, 2021).

Is hybrid a desirable ‘new normal’ for academic events?

Carrigan, 2021

Zoom has played a significant role in the emergency pivot to online learning. What next? Perhaps a helpful way to explore “possible futures” of online learning could be to carry out a “helicopter analysis” which include convergence, massification, openness, interactivity and diversification (Brown, n.d.). Will the use of Zoom change in future? What types of pivots will we encounter? Perhaps it is useful to differentiate between “Emergency Remote Teaching and Online Learning” when we think about how to make the most of using Zoom for education. (Hodges, Moore, Lockee, Trust & Bond, 2020). Teaching beyond the pandemic or the “post COVID-19 era” will be a critical for Zoom (Fayad & Cummings, 2021).

“Rule 1: A temporary pivot is not the same as emergency remote teaching or online distance learning”

Horlin, Hutchison, Murray, Robson, Seery & MacKay, 2020

A report by JISC entitled ‘Learning and teaching reimagined A new dawn for higher education?’ explored making sense of 2020, how to preapre for 2021 and being inspired by the opportunities that 2030 can bring (JISC, 2020).

“Education is one of the last major sectors yet to be radically transformed by the digital revolution, but change is coming”

(Chair’s opening Remarks, Learning and teaching reimagined A new dawn for higher education, 2020)

What role can Zoom play if universities are fined for not teaching in a face to face capacity? (Woolcock, 2022). Are we teaching in “Nowhere” online classrooms, from the “Nowhere Office…” to “Nowhere classrooms?” (Hobsbawm, 2023). Perhaps there can be new pedagogical opportunities for “Brave New Digital Classroom[s]” (Blake, Guillén, & Thorne: 2013).

“…seemingly small (and sometimes unconscious) choices about the technologies we use can have a big impact on how inclusive and effective our teaching is”

(STanford, 2020)

Perhaps it will be important to capture reflections of those involved with the £digital classroom” of the pandemic (Abegglen, Neuhaus & Wilson, 2022)

Check out the Tips & Tricks: Teachers Educating on Zoom. An interesting blog post can be found here entitled Let’s Reimagine Education Together. Could we speculate on what life will be like after Zoom, a post-Zoom pedagogical reality?

Zoom Academy offer both training and qualifications including for Educators (Zoom Video Communications, 2021).

The Zoomtopia sessions have been recorded and are available in the On-Demand Library here.

Zoom sent a Zoomtopia beach ball, badges and mug. Thank you

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Indiana Jones & the Temple of Zoom. Learning Technologists as ‘Digital Archaeologists’ & Online Classrooms as ‘Digital Temples’.

The University of Kent host monthly Digitally Enhanced Learning Webinars organised by Dr. Phil Anthony. The purpose of the webinars is to provide “…an opportunity to share examples amongst our colleagues when using digital technologies for teaching” (University of Kent, 2020).

In 2020, I attended a a Zoom 101 online session led by Eden Project Communities. One of the outputs was that participants could contribute to a document to explore approaches that work in an online capacity. A recording of the session is available on YouTube here (Eden Project Communities, 2020).

The theme for March 2021 was pedagogy and practice when teaching online. For the SDAU project, we used Zoom to deliver the interactive sessions. I submitted a talk entitled ‘Indiana Jones & the Temple of Zoom. A Transnational Online Pivot Adventure‘. The talk explored Technology Enhanced Transnational Learning (TETL). Using metaphors as way to understand what we do as Learning Technologists seemed to be a creative approach. Can an online classrooom be understood as a digital temple? Could a Learning technologist be a Digital Archaeologist? If this is the case, perhaps we would take digital field notes such as those discussed by Rapport (1991) or Remsen (1977). In the temple of doom itself in the film, the main character Indiana Jones faced a range of different challenges including spiders, bugs and traps. As Learning Technologists we also face a range of challenges that we must overcome. This seems like a universal metaphor.

Zoom, Doom & Gloom to Zoom, Boom & Bloom!

The fundamental question is the extent to which using metapors can help us improve what we do? It is possible to observe that metaphors in learning technology were becoming widely used, for example the EdTech Metaphor Generator. One of the most compelling examples of using metaphors in learning technology was the article entitled VLEs: A Metaphorical History from Sharks to Limpets by Tom Farrelly, Eamon Costello and Enda Donlon. If the VLE was “dead“, then perhaps using metaphors can bring it back to life (The Ed Techie, 2007). Thinking about the VLE as a “digital car park” challenges us the use our imagination in different ways (Farrelly, Costello & Donlon, 2020).It is important to acknowledge that “Metaphor is pervasive in everyday life, not just in language but in thought and action. Our ordinary conceptual system, in terms of which we both think and act, is fundamentally metaphorical in nature” (Lakoff & Johnson, 2003: p3). To what extent can we use metaphors successful in a technology-enhanced transnational context with respect to “cultural coherence” (Lakoff and Johnson, 2003: p22).

The Microsoft Teams Live Experience

What was interesting about the webinars was that Microsoft Teams Live was used due to the high numbers of attendees. There are some key differences between a normal Microsoft Teams meeting and a webinar for example uisng the Q&A feature and automatic muting. Lots of the presenters, including me, had not used Microsoft Teams Live before, so it was very helpful to participate in the test session before the live event.

Could ‘Zoom Capital’ be a thing?

One of the points I was keen to make is the importance of capturing the voices of Learning Technologists particularly in research contexts. This formed the basis of a techno-autobiographic or techno-autoethnographic approach in order to capture the reflections of a Learning Technologist. In a previous collaborative blog post, I had explored this approach with an academic here. Can we improve the future by exploring the past? Back to the future?

One of my problems with the proliferation of institutions "re-imagining" things is that I'm not convinced any imagination went into the first version. #HE

— Penny Wheeler (@pennyjw) March 2, 2021

(Wheeler, 2021)

Imagination is crucial in Education. Metaphors can be part of the imaginative process.

Attending a webinar exploring the use of Zoom delivered by Autumn Caines, an Instructional Designer from University of Michigan (@Autumm) was really compelling and informed many of the ideas I shared during the talk. She talked about the importance of exploring power and digital hierarchies in Zoom, for example being a host or a co-host and how it is possible to view different versions of meeting participants. Her article exploring the “Zoom Gaze” can be found here (Caines, 2020).

Perhaps the role of both the imagination and metaphor can be a platform to think and re-think what we do as Learning Technologists, particularly in transnational distance learning and online pivot contexts. Have educational institutions written off creativity in a systematic capacity? (Nelson, 2018). It can be argued that there are two critical points about imagination. Firstly, that imagination is “…a powerful, meaningful prize of a capacity” and secondly that imagination can be lost (Morris, 2021). Finding creative opportunities as Learning Technologists becomes important. Could the next adventure be ‘Indiana Jones & the Breakout Tombs?’. If this is just pseudo-archaelology, it has still been useful to use metaphor.

Check out the #CreativeHE group and the blog post about the February 2021 meetup, the hashtag #DigiEduWebinars to find out what people are saying about the webinars on Twitter. It is possible to submit an idea for a talk here. A video recording of the presentation is available here.

“Imagination is the beginning of creation”

George Bernard Shaw in Jackson, 2006 in Jackson, Oliver, Shaw & Wisom, 2006

Bibliography

Caines, A., (2020) The Zoom Gaze Video conferencing offers an illusory sense of unilateral control over conversations (Online) Available at: https://reallifemag.com/t [Accessed 3 March 2021]

Caines, A., (2021) The Zoom Gaze w/Autumn Caines [Zoom] (Online)

#CreativeHE (n.d.) Creative HE Community (Online) Available at: https://creativehecommunity.wordpress.com/ [Accessed 5 March 2021]

Eden Project Communities. 2020. Zoom 101. Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mAilPSqHZYs [Accessed: 20 June 2022)

Eden Project Communities (n.d.) Activities, Ideas & Games that work well on Zoom/Online. [pdf] Eden Project Communities https://www.edenprojectcommunities.com/sites/default/files/catalogue_of_ideas_2.pdf [Accessed 20 June 2022]

Fhaidy (2018) Animation – Indiana Jones Cartoon Clip Art PNG in FAVPNG (Online) Available at: https://favpng.com/png_view/animation-indiana-jones-cartoon-clip-art-png/287wNsWu [Accessed 5 March 2021]

Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom, 1984. [film] Directed by Steven Spielberg. Available through Amazon Prime [Accessed 16 December 2020]

Indy in the classroom (2021) Indiana Jones Fonts (Online) Available at: http://www.indyintheclassroom.com/projects/fonts.asp [Accessed 5 March 2021]

Jackon, N., (2006) Imagining a Different World in Jackson, N., Oliver, M., Shaw, M. and Wisdom, J. (Eds) (2006) Developing Creativity in Higher Education: An imaginative curriculum pp1-10 (London, Oxon & New York: Routledge)

Lakoff, G., & Johnson, M., (2003) Metaphors We Live By (Chicago & London: University of Chicago Press)

Leschallas, W., & McDonald, P., (2020) Techno-autobiography & the Transnational Online Pivot: Exploring a Lecturer’s Experience of Teaching Online.Digitalrau.wordpress.com Digital Transformation Blog [blog] 12th Dec. Available at: https://digitalrau.wordpress.com/2021/01/12/techno-autobiography-the-transnational-online-pivot-exploring-a-lecturers-experience-of-teaching-online/ [Accessed 3 March 2021]

Morris, S., (2021) Humanizing Digital Pedagogy: the Role of Imagination in Distance Teaching. https://www.seanmichaelmorris.com/. Digital Pedagogy Blog [blog] Available at:  https://www.seanmichaelmorris.com/humanizing-digital-pedagogy-the-role-of-imagination-in-distance-teaching/amp/ [Accessed 3 March 2021]

McDonald, P., (2021) The Creative Empire Strikes Back. Exploring Creative Approaches to Building and Fostering Community with #CreativeHE. Digitalrau.wordpress.com Digital Transformation Blog [blog] Available at:  https://digitalrau.wordpress.com/2021/03/05/the-creative-empire-strikes-back-exploring-creative-approaches-to-building-and-fostering-community-with-creativehe/ [Accessed 3 March 2021]

McDonald, P., (2021) Indiana Jones & the Temple of Zoom. A Transational Online Pivot Adventure, University of Kent Digitally Enhanced Webinars. Online. 5 March 2021.

Nelson, R., (2018) Creativity crisis. Towards a post-constructivist educational future. (Clayton: Monash University Publishing)

Oxford Reference [Online]. 2021. Archaeology. Pseudo-archaeology Available at: https://www.oxfordreference.com/view/10.1093/oi/authority.20110803100351993 [Accessed 7 September 2021]

Rapport, N., (1991). Writing Fieldnotes: The Conventionalities of Note-Taking and Taking Note in the Field. Anthropology Today, 7(1), (Online) Available at: https://www.jstor.org/stable/3032670?seq=1 [Accessed 2 February 2021] 

Remsen, J, V., Jr (1977) On taking field notes [pdf] (Online) Available at: https://sora.unm.edu/sites/default/files/journals/nab/v031n05/p00946-p00953.pdf [Accessed 2 February 2021]

The Ed Techie (2007) The VLE/LMS is Dead. https://nogoodreason.typepad.co.uk. Educational Technology Blog. [blog] Available at: https://nogoodreason.typepad.co.uk/no_good_reason/2007/11/the-vlelms-is-d.html [Accessed 3 March 2021]

Wheeler, P., [@Pennyjw]. (2021, 2 March) ONE OF MY PROBLEMS WITH THE PROLIFERATION OF INSTITUTIONS “RE-IMAGINING” THINGS IS THAT I’M NOT CONVINCED ANY IMAGINATION WENT INTO THE FIRST VERSION [Tweet]. Twitter. Available at:  https://twitter.com/pennyjw/status/1366864197611524103

Back to the Future. A Learning Technologist’s Reflection on a Victorian Lesson on Zoom

What can a Learning Technologist learn from the Victorian Lesson?

Recently, I have been listening to the podcast version of 25 Years of Ed Tech by Martin Weller. It reminded me that perhpas the past is a good place to explore the future.

It is Thursday 11^th February 1897. We are practising our handwriting, writing our names and the date.

In February 2021, I attended a Victorian lesson from the Pit Village School at Beamish Museum streamed live on Zoom and delivered by a teacher in authentic Victorian clothes. In this blog post I reflect on the Victorian lesson experience. To what extent have our approaches to pedagogy and technology-enhanced learning (TEL) changed since then?

The Revival of the Sandbox

Live Victorian Lesson on Zoom at The Pit Village School at Beamish Museum

The teacher talked us through the learning objects or ‘technology’ in the Victorian classroom. In addition to the abacus and the blackboard, one of the objects that really stood out was the mini sandboxes for each student. The teacher explained that students would practise making shapes in the sand and when they made a mistake they could start again by shaking the box. This is a powerful approach. This struck me as being familiar in virtue of the fact that in learning technology, we often make use of a sandpit or sandbox approach. For example, when we train staff, we create a copy of the tool and call it the sandbox platform in which staff can be trained and feel free to make mistakes without being concerned about having an impact in a live site. This seems to be a valuable approach that exists in both Victorian and present pedagogical realities. Perhaps there are no mistakes, only learning!

The teacher showed a board with a range of writing frames and sentence builders with an image to reinforce the content for example exploring the use of the definite and indefinite articles “hat, a hat and the hat”. Perhaps this could be an early example of dual coding potentially paving the way for multimodal instruction from the “monomodal world” modes (Kress, Jewitt, Ogborn & Tsatsarelis, 2001: p8). Studies have been carried out to explore the impact of embedding visual content in the pedagogic process (Clark & Lyons, 2004 in Caviglioli, 2019: p13). Multimodal learning can be argued to be teaching with “the multiplicity of modes (Kress, Jewitt, Ogborn & Tsatsarelis, 2001: p8).

Manners maketh…the Pedagogy?

Manners maketh…the Pedagogy?

The teacher identified some of the famous sayings that could be heard in the Victorian classroom such as ‘Children should be seen and not heard’. It seemed that there was an overarching teacher-centered approach. Conversely, nowadays it could be argued that there has been a significant pedagogical shift to embracing student-centeredness. Furthermore, educational institutions have celebrating increasing their opportunities to celebrate student voice. Students are both seen and heard.

Chalk & Talk, Sage on the Stage

Chalk & Talk and Sage on the Stage

The approach to teaching was explicitly ‘chalk and talk’ and ‘sage on the stage’. The teacher explained that the teacher would stay at the front of the class and students would come to the front to show the teacher their work and the teacher would rarely walk around the classroom. The classroom itself seemed to be in a linear and traditional with desks facing the front. The teacher informed the lesson participants that the days at school would be long with not a great deal pedagogical variety. Students also attended Saturday and Sunday schools too. In contrast, modern classrooms are often designed in circles and a dynamic structure.

The teacher discussed how poor children may not have gone to school, how factory work after school would be common, how some students were required to pay the teacher, and how there was not a great deal of homework due to the need for students to work and the lack of daylight.

The teacher brought to our attention the use of slate that students would use to write on using chalk. It was interesting to reflect on how the slate is similar to the tablets we use today. I recall visiting Beamish Museum with English for Academic Purposes (EAP) students and reflecting on how an iPad is similar to the slate tablets. The blackboard was a key feature in the Victorian classroom. The teacher used a stick or pointer to draw the students’ attention to content on the board. Learning by repetition and or by rote was commonplace. We took part in a live poem reding where the teacher recited a poem and we all copied. The teacher tested one student to see if they could remember the whole poem. Copying from the board was expected. Perhaps the blackboard was like a form of collaborative Google document. It was interesting when we participated in a timetables activity that the teacher asked us to keep off the chat function in Zoom. The teacher also led a money task exploring shillings, farthings. The teacher talked us through how students could use ink and that could be an ‘Ink Monitor’ who mixed the ink powder with water and distributed the ink to the individual desks. Modern learning environments appear to be curated in dynamic circles. According to the teacher who led the session, there were 70 students in the Victorian classroom. Nowadays, perhaps there is a trend towards smaller class sizes. However, the lecture format does emulate Victorian pedagogic features such as a large number of students facing forward with a static Lecturer delivering content. If it is not broken, don’t fix it?

The teacher explained that students were instructed to write in a right-handed capacity only and that if a student did not do this then they would have their hand tied behind their back. There seemed to be a need to make every student the same. This reminded me of the famous blue eyes and brown eyes experiment. In 2019, I delivered a TED style talk exploring this experiment where I placed printed out images of blue and brown eyes under the seats of the audience and emulated the experiment live followed by a reflection.

To some extent, perhaps the Victorian classroom was still a “political place” (hooks, 1994: p4). The teacher discussed how the curriculum was constructed of “God, Queen & Country” (Teacher, Victorian Lesson at Beamish, Thursday 11^th February 2021). In the Victoria classroom, there was a picture of Queen Victoria on the wall and an image of Grace Darling who rescued survivors from a shipwreck in 1838 (Grace Darling.co.uk, 2020). Perhaps “The classroom remains the most radical space of possibility in the academy” (hooks, 1994: p12). The experience was a ‘radical’ experience bringing up issues of equality, pedagogy, and social justice.

Pedagogic Neostalgia

Pedagogic Neostalgia?

A few weeks after the lesson, digital certificates were emailed to lesson participants. This could remind us of open badges. It was possible to download the certificate and personalise the content.

A Certificate of Attendance for the Victorian Lesson

Attending a live Victorian lesson on Zoom was a radical experience bringing up issues of equality, pedagogy, and social justice. It was almost an experience of ‘pedagogic neostalgia’. Neostalgia can be defined as “the combined emotions of nostalgia and newness at the same time. Often feels like rediscovery and has more of a positive connotation than nostalgia” (DangerousMuteLunatic, 2013)Perhaps attending a Victorian lesson and reflecting on the experience was a useful activity in terms of exploring how it has led to the modern experience and to help us speculate in the “Brave New Digital Classroom” of the future (Blake, 2013).

It is possible to book the Victorian lesson experience here.

Bibliography

Beamish Museum (2021) Victorian Lesson at The Pit Village School on Zoom [live performance] Performed by Beamish Museum. (Beamish Museum, Country Durham,  11^th February

Beamish Museum (2021) Live Victorian Lesson (Online) Available at: http://www.beamish.org.uk/live-victorian-lesson/ [Accessed 14 February 2021]

Blake, R, J., (2013). Brave New Digital Classroom: Technology and Foreign Language Learning. United States: Georgetown University Press.

Caviglioli, O., (2019) Dual Coding with Teachers (Woodbridge: John Catt Educational Ltd)

DangerousMuteLunatic, 2013 ‘Neostalgia’, Urban Dictionary (Online) Available at: https://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=Neostalgia [Accessed 5 February 2021]

Grace Darling.co.uk (2020) Grace Darling Website (Online) Available at: http://www.gracedarling.co.uk/ [Accessed 14 February 2021]

hooks, b., (1994) Teaching to Transgress Education as a Practice of Freedom (Abingdon: Routledge)

Kress, G., Jewitt, C., Ogborn, J., Tsatsarelis., C (2001) Multimodal Teaching and Learning The Rhetorics of the Science Classroom (London & New York: Bloomsbury Academic)

Mark Heckroth, 2018. Brown eyes and blue eyes Racism experiment Children Session – Jane Elliott Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oGvoXeXCoUY [Accessed 14 February 2021]

McDonald, P., (2019) CollecTED, ‘Education: A Memory of the Future’, TED style event, The Collective, London, June 2019

Weller, M., (2000) 25 Years of EdTech (Online) [pdf] Edmonton: AU Press. Available at: https://www.aupress.ca/app/uploads/120290_99Z_Weller_2020-25_Years_of_Ed_Tech.pdf [Accessed 14 February 2021]

Qiānlǐ zhī xíng, shǐyú zú xià. Laozi: Delivering online teaching in China

In the next in our series of blog posts on delivery of online teaching to Shandong Agriculture University (SDAU) Pip takes over and shares highs and lows from the first week of interactive teaching.

And remember each 10,000 mile journey begins with just 1 step (千里之行，始於足下 Qiānlǐ zhī xíng, shǐyú zú xià. Laozi.

I started working at RAU in May 2020 and immediately started on the online teaching project at SDAU in June 2020. Early in June it was acknowledged that students would not be able to return to campus and so all pre-recorded content was passed over to the SDAU team, they would take responsibility for delivering it to students. When teaching officially began on 15th June our biggest concern was the interactive sessions.

Interactive sessions using Zoom

We had changed from using WeChat to using Zoom a short time before teaching was planned to go ahead. It was time to ‘deep dive’ into exploring how to use Zoom as a platform on which interactive sessions would take place. Zoom had become used widely as a platform for remote and online learning and working throughout the pandemic. I had heard a great deal about new phrases such as ’Zoom bombing’ (O’Flaherty, 2020). Additionally, there was a great deal of discussion of ‘Zoom fatigue’ (Fosslien & Duffy, 2020). Whilst I had some experience of using Zoom before for example as a platform for delivering presentations using the chat and sharing screen features but I was not a Zoom expert and did not have experience being a ‘host’ so I felt that I needed to rapidly upskill if I was to support our lecturing staff using Zoom.

To support use of Zoom I offered ‘Zoom Drop In’ sessions to our lecturers who wanted to try out some the features before teaching went live. I was committed to exploring what ‘Zoom Literacy’ would be. When you have to teach someone else something, it is a good way of making sure you know how to use to first. I created approximately one hundred meetings so experienced my own version of ‘Pre-Zoom fatigue’. What we discovered during the first week was that it was not possible for the same host with the same account to host simultaneous meetings which prevented some of the interactive sessions from taking place on time or altogether. The error message ’The host has another meeting in progress’ became very familiar. This meant that we rapidly developed a workaround to solve the problems. For example, Chantal and Husna, the other RAU Learning Technologists created meetings. When it became clear that there were just too many parallel sessions required our IT Service Desk created some additional accounts for me to use. As a result, the timetabling process became very complex. Some of the interactive capabilities were restricted as the lecturers were not ‘hosts’. As a result, one of the Lecturers, Deepak Pathak and I decided to test out polling and break rooms in an exploratory longer case study interactive session. The two hour session involved exploring Starbucks. Deepak shared screens to reinforce the correct answers for example showing a Google Map of the location of RAU.

Exploring screensharing, maps and polls in Zoom

It was positive when the lecturing staff emailed me after their session to reflect on how it went. This helped identify ways to improve what we do for subsequent iterations of online teaching. I dropped into the majority of interactive sessions to see how teachers were using Zoom to engage students for example one of our lecturers, Nicola Cannon used a quiz format effectively.

Later on in the week I set up an online community of practice on Gateway, RAU’s Moodle VLE as part of a forum to share best practice.

Interactive Sessions Forum in Gateway

“We all belong to communities of practice”

(Wenger, 1998, p6)

An additional idea I had was to create a ‘sandbox’ approach on Zoom where all the Lecturers could share ideas of how to create interactive sessions without worrying about making a mistake during a live session.

I shared a Zoom webinar led by Eden Project Communities which was a ‘testpad’ for Zoom practices with Lecturers. I attended and it was great to see one of RAU’s Lecturers participate too. The session involved taking part in a breakout room as a student which was helpful to understand what the Zoom experience is like from the perspective of the student. One of the most helpful activities was a collaborative whiteboard led by host Samantha Evans where we explored games, collaborative activities, Zoom and other tools.

Exploring what tools work well online with Eden Project Communities

At this point in time we are currently starting the third and final week of teaching. My reflections are concerned with moving towards an evaluation of the project, I’ve recently created a problem-solution spreadsheet where I identified areas of development and potential strategies to overcome the problems.

Exploring Assessment

Throughout the three weeks of teaching, it was intended that assessments would take place every Friday. Accordingly, I tried to develop a workflow for assessment which involved the Lecturers creating the tests with the answers and articulating what invigilation might look like with Bonnie Wang and Lola Huo from SDAU. Early on in the process we found out that 30% of the marks were for attendance. We explored how Zoom can provide attendance monitoring reports and discovered that this was possible. Another challenge we experienced was that during week two of teaching, the Department of Education of Shandong informed SDAU that examinations need to be postponed. As a result, we responded by identifying alternative dates and ways of carrying out assessment.

The SDAU project journey began with one step. We learned a great deal in a short space of time and developed ways to overcome challenges rapidly. I’m looking forward to the next steps. In future, we would like to work with JISC to explore how their transnational expertise can help us improve what we do. We attended a webinar led by UCISA on the topic of Improving online access in China and had a positive meeting with Dr. Esther Wilkinson, Baoyu Wang and Anne Prior from JISC about how we can work together in a constructive capacity. JISC have recently launched a pilot to explore what quality online education looks like for Chinese students (JISC, 2020).

A huge thank you to Marieke Guy, Xianmin Chang, Steve Finch, Bonnie Wang and Lola Huo for their hard work and support to make the project happen.

In the next post we’ll look the final week of teaching delivery and lessons learnt.

By Falling We Learn to Go Safely, Chī yī qiàn, zhǎng yī zhì,吃一堑,长一智

Bibliography

Fosslien, L., & Duffy, M, W., (2020) How to Combat Zoom Fatigue in Harvard Business Review (Online) Available at: https://hbr.org/2020/04/how-to-combat-zoom-fatigue [Accessed 29 June 2020]

JISC (2020) Jisc launches pilot to give Chinese students quality access to online education at home (Online) Available at: https://www.jisc.ac.uk/news/jisc-launches-pilot-to-give-chinese-students-quality-access-to-online-education-at-home-10-jun-2020 [Accessed 29 June 2020]

O’Flaherty, K., (2020) Beware Zoom Users: Here’s How People Can ‘Zoom-Bomb’ Your Chat in Forbes (Online) Available at: https://www.forbes.com/sites/kateoflahertyuk/2020/03/27/beware-zoom-users-heres-how-people-can-zoom-bomb-your-chat/#95e3df2618e2 [Accessed 29 June 2020]

Wenger, E., (1998) Communities of Practice Learning, and Meaning Identity (Cambridge: CUP)