Pedagogic Planning Tools

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Pedagogic Planning Tools

• Liz MastermanOxford University Computing
  Servicesliz.masterman_at_oucs.ox.ac.uk
• for World ORT, 8th Wingate Seminar15th May 2007

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Overview

• Planning the impact of technology
• Pedagogic planning tools
• What do we do when we plan?
• The design challenge
• Examples of tools
• Phoebe design rationale and quick tour

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Technology as a driver for (re-)planning

• E-learning is often talked about as a trojan
  mouse, which teachers let into their practice
  without realizing that it will require them to
  rethink not just how they use particular hardware
  or software, but all of what they do. (Sharpe
  Oliver, 2007, p. 49)
• It fundamentally made me think about what I
  actually do in the class. The VLE really made
  me think about how am I going to project what it
  is that I give to a lesson when Im face to face
  on this screen? Usually I dont have to plan
  my lessons, I just go in and do it What it
  brought me back to was the actual lesson plan,
  you know, like when you first started off it
  was like that all over again. (School teacher)

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Planning as a means to scaffold technology use

• Technology-reticent practitioners
• Lack of awareness or interest
• Technophobia
• Lack of time to explore (esp. if part-time or
  hourly paid)
• Aversion to risk inherent in experimentation
• Fear of being supplanted
• Incompatibility with institutional model of
  learning
• But pressure to engage with digital technology
• From above
• Implementation of VLE
• Use of technology as a criterion in performance
  assessment
• From below
• Student expectations
• How to engage the technology-reticent?
• Institutional staff-development initiatives
• mediated by pedagogic planning tools

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Enter the pedagogic planning tool

• Where the individual practitioner starts getting
  to grips with technology and exploring its
  implications
• An emergent genre
• JISC Design for Learning programme (2 projects),
  DialogPlus, ReMath, LAMS
• Guide teachers through the construction of plans
  for learning sessions that make appropriate, and
  effective, use of technology
• Pedagogic planning
• Concept of lesson alien to HE
• Pedagogy embraces an essential dialogue between
  teaching and learning (Beetham Sharpe, 2007,
  p. 2)

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What do we do when we plan? Over to you

• Think back to the last lesson that you planned
• What was the lesson about?
• Did you plan on your own or with someone else?
• Did you create your plan from scratch or did you
  adapt an existing plan?
• What was your starting-point? For example
• Learning outcomes (skills, concepts)
• Content (topic to be learnt)
• A particular activity or activities
• Students own interests
• What tools did you use?
• Paper and pencil, computer
• What sort of document did you produce?
• Rough notes or a structured document?
• Did your plan have to be approved by a more
  senior teacher?
• After the lesson, did you make reflective
  notes?

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The range of approaches

• The starting point would be the assessment
  criteria/expected learning outcomes. This would
  be balanced by the students needs and level of
  learning. I would also take into account the type
  of students The environment can affect what
  can be done in a session e.g. availability of
  breakout rooms, space for group work etc. Time of
  day can be important. Available resources
  would also be considered.
• I often go out for a run to clear my head to let
  the creative juices start to flow. depending
  on what course it is (some are looser than
  others), I usually start by thinking about the
  knowledge or skills learners need, whilst keeping
  a strong eye on the assessment. This then
  develops into aims and outcomes. I liken the
  process to painting a picture you dont start at
  one particular point but move from one part to
  another. Each development affects the other
  parts.

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Tools to mediate the design process

• I use pen and paper to collect ideas, Post-its
  to sort main headings. I like to lecture from a
  hand-written outline.
• 1. Pen and paper broad conceptual overview,
  key learning activities mapped as a
  storyboard/concept map. 2. Formalise this map in
  Word or PowerPoint. 3. Detailed matrix of
  learning outcomes, activities and assessment in
  Excel for detailed analysis etc.

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Tools to mediate the design process

• For me it is generally a case of getting the
  basic structure down and some notes into a
  word-processor, which I then usually replicate as
  a structure in the VLE. My classes tend to be
  based around PowerPoint slides with break-out
  activities so I mainly use PPT and scribble in
  the notes facility. For out of class online
  activities I generally sequence (i.e. list!)
  Web sites or activities in the VLE and then
  construct some prose around these to give the
  students some direction (e.g. step 1 go to this
  site, step 2 post up your comments etc.).

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Drafts and completed plans

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The design challenge

• Maybe its going to be difficult to develop a
  single software tool kit that suits everybodys
  preferences for planning learning (paper based,
  software or a mixture of both!) and maybe it
  could be useful to develop flexible software
  tools that support teachers through the process
  and stages of designing for learning (Teacher
  in HE)

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Some pedagogic planning tools

• DialogPlus
• London Knowledge Lab
• ReMath
• LAMS
• Phoebe

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DialogPlus Planning using structured vocabularies
http//www.nettle.soton.ac.uk/toolkit Conole
Fill (2005)
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London Pedagogy Planner Tool guided form-filling
http//www.wle.org.uk/d4l/
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ReMath flexible form-filling for hierarchical
plans

• We do not have permission to make publicly
  available the screenshot which appeared in the
  original presentation.
• For information about this project, see Earp
  Pozzi (2006).

http//remath.itd.cnr.it/
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LAMS Template sequences
http//lamsinternational.com
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Phoebe Focus on guidance flexibility in choice
of tool

• JISC Design for Learning programme
• May 2006-February 2008
• Builds on research-based investigation of
  generic tools used for planning
• Aim
• Enable teachers in post-compulsory education to
  develop their confidence and skills in designing
  technology-mediated learning experiences

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Design philosophy

• Principles
• Propagate effective practice to a wide audience
• Allow option to use familiar planning tools
• Rationale
• Learning Design tools and LAMS in limited use
  output XML
• Successful IT projects build on the way users
  work, dont force them to adapt

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The Phoebe prototype

• Phase 1 proof-of-concept tool
• Open source, built on wiki technology
• Supports planning for individual learning
  sessions made up of learning activities
• Envisaged context of use
• Initial teacher training
• Staff development
• Functions
• Reference tool guidance, advice and examples
• Planning a learning session
• http//phoebe-app.conted.ox.ac.uk

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Phoebe Evaluation of Phase 1 prototype

• Very positive response from practitioners to
  overall vision
• Saw applicability in context of initial teacher
  training and staff development programmes
• Not sure if it would work as a self-teaching aid
  for lone practitioners who wish to explore D4L.
  
• The guidance and examples appear to meet
  practitioners needs
• In its present form it functions better as a
  resource with a note-taking facility than as a
  usable and useful tool for creating lesson plans
• There is considerable interest in the potential
  of Phoebe as a customisable community-owned tool

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Future directions Phoebe phase 2

• Make Phoebe more usable as a planning tool
• Tool needs a place to see and work on a learning
  design as a whole
• Considerable effort is still needed to develop
  the content
• Test Phoebe in teacher-training and
  staff-development contexts
• Explore Phoebe as a community-owned tool
• Ensure relevance to users through customisation
• A way to tackle long-term sustainability

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Bibliography

• Beetham, H. Sharpe, R. (Eds.), Rethinking
  Pedagogy for a Digital Age Designing and
  delivering e-learning (pp. 5263). London
  Routledge.
• Conole, G., Fill, K. (2005). A learning design
  toolkit to create pedagogically effective
  learning activities. Journal of Interactive Media
  in Education (JIME), 2005(08). http//jime.open.ac
  .uk/2005/08.
• Earp, J., Pozzi, F. (2006). Fostering
  reflection in ICT-based pedagogical planning. In
  R. Philip, A. Voerman J. Dalziel (Eds.),
  Proceedings of the First International LAMS
  Conference 2006 Designing the Future of Learning
  (pp. 3544). Sydney LAMS Foundation.
• Masterman, L., Manton, M. (2007, March).
  Disrupt or co-opt? The role of a pedagogic
  planning tool in promoting effective design for
  learning. Paper presented at the CAL 07
  Conference Development, Disruption Debate
  D3 Trinity College, Dublin, Ireland.
• Phoebe project wiki http//phoebe-project.conted.
  ox.ac.uk