Phoebe: a pedagogical planner tool

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Phoebe a pedagogical planner tool

• Marion Manton
• David Balch
• TALL, University of Oxford

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Phoebe as a proof of concept

• Basic concept An online planning tool to guide
  practitioners working in post-16 and higher
  education in designing effective and
  pedagogically sound learning activities.
• Instantiation of concept A tool that propagates
  the principles of effective practice to as wide
  an audience as possible, by allowing them to
  develop new pedagogical approaches while still
  using the planning tools with which they are
  familiar.
• Rationale We believe that successful innovations
  in IT reflect, and build on, the ways in which
  users actually work, rather than requiring them
  to adapt their practices.

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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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Design philosophy

• Principles
• Flexible routes through tool
• Option to use familiar planning tools
• Simple text output
• Rationale
• IMS Learning Design tools in limited use output
  XML
• Phoebe focus on people not systems

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The Phoebe prototype

• Phase 1 proof-of-concept tool
• Open source, built on wiki technology
• Now available for download
• Supports planning for individual learning
  sessions
• Functions
• Guidance, advice and examples
• Planning a learning session (not a course)

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• 2 modes of engagement with Phoebe
• Reference only optional note-taking (i.e. use
  own tool for planning)
• Creating all or part of a lesson plan (learning
  design)
• http//phoebe-app.conted.ox.ac.uk

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Tagging

• http//phoebe-app.conted.ox.ac.uk/cgi-bin/trac.cgi
  /wiki/PhoebeTagCloud
• Currently tagged against links in content
• Possibility of user tagged content and user
  tagged designs
• Appealing to researchers, but less so
  practitioners

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Evaluation conclusions

• 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

• Resources in Phase 2 concentrate on making Phoebe
  more usable as a planning tool
• Must be a place to see and work on Learning
  design as a whole
• although considerable effort is still needed to
  develop the content

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First ideas for Phase 2

• Very much first pass
• Trying to find an elegant reconciliation between
  the content and functionality
• Please let us know what you think

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Phoebe home
A practitioner-focused environment to support
design for learning Phoebe is a prototype
online tool designed to encourage teachers in
colleges and universities to explore new
approaches and tools in their pedagogy. Why
design for learning?Design for learning is
an alternative perspective on practices
traditionally referred to as course and lesson
planning. It lays emphasis not only on the role
of technology in learning, but also on
effectiveness creating designs for experiences
that are motivating, enjoyable and productive for
students and teaching staff alike. Phoebe brings
together the key components of a learning design,
prompts your thinking, allows you to record ideas
and requirements, and makes it easy to
cross-reference components as you design the
activities that make up an individual learning
experience, or session.
Start a new design Edit an existing
design Explore the guidance
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Phoebe guidance
Start or edit a design
Contextual Information The what, who, when and
where of this learning session.gtgt Title and
author Course Timetabling Staff Location
Health and Safety Curriculum Aspects What is
the purpose of this learning session?gtgt Aims and
objectives Learning outcomes Typical
misconceptions Assessment Prerequisites
Preparation by students Teaching resources
Curriculum documentation The Students How
many? What are their particular
characteristics?gtgt Numbers Learning styles
Independence Differentiation Linguistic
competence Accessibility Social skills ICT
skills Transferable experience Your Teaching
Approach What approach(es) are you going to take
in this session? Learning Activities What are
the students going to do?gtgt Find out about
learning activities and sequences.gtgt Design the
activities Preparation by students Main
sequence Assessment activities Follow-up
activities Additional/alternative activities
The E-learning Advantage Find out how
technology can enhance different forms of
learning activity.gtgt What technology can I use
for a particular activity?gtgt What can I do with
a particular tool? Contingency Plan What will
you do if things dont go as expected?
Reflections on the Learning Session What went
well? How did the students react? What do you
want to change?gtgt Personal impressions Outcome
for students Quality of learning design Links
to Resources A glossary of terms, links to the
Phoebe user documentation, a gallery of further
examples and case studies, and a portal to a
number of e-learning repositories and resource
sites that you can search for yourself.
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New design
Add new section
Title edit/delete/help
Author edit/delete/help
Location edit/delete/help
edit/delete/help
Save
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New design
Clicked edit
Title edit/delete/help
Author edit/delete/help
Location edit/delete/help Tags

Save
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Design A
Clicked Help Option 1
Title edit/delete/help
Author edit/delete/help
Location edit/delete/help Tags

Context Location The environment can affect
what can be done in a session e.g. availability
of breakout rooms, space for group work etc. (FE
teacher) Possible locations include
Face-to-face Class/seminar room, laboratory,
lecture theatre, field trip, workplace
Online/distance Audio, video, computer,
simulator Mobile Anywhere! (e.g. train,
stationary car, airport lounge, in the field) If
face-to-face meetings are involved (i.e. in a
classroom, lab etc.) Where is the class to
meet for the face-to-face sessions? Does the
room need to be booked? Do you need any
particular technology in that room? (See
Resources in the Curriculum section for a list of
technologies.) Does the technology need to be
booked (and, if so, how long in advance)? Do you
need to carry out a risk assessment? If
online/distance or mobile learning is involved
What technology do students need? Do you need
to inform them of these requirements? When? How?
Do you need to make equipment available to
students who dont have their own? What is the
procedure for doing this? Title and author
Course Timetabling Staff Health and Safety
Contents page
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Clicked Help Option 2
Context Location The environment can affect
what can be done in a session e.g. availability
of breakout rooms, space for group work etc. (FE
teacher) Possible locations include
Face-to-face Class/seminar room, laboratory,
lecture theatre, field trip, workplace
Online/distance Audio, video, computer,
simulator Mobile Anywhere! (e.g. train,
stationary car, airport lounge, in the field) If
face-to-face meetings are involved (i.e. in a
classroom, lab etc.) Where is the class to
meet for the face-to-face sessions? Does the
room need to be booked? Do you need any
particular technology in that room? (See
Resources in the Curriculum section for a list of
technologies.) Does the technology need to be
booked (and, if so, how long in advance)? Do you
need to carry out a risk assessment? If
online/distance or mobile learning is involved
What technology do students need? Do you need
to inform them of these requirements? When? How?
Do you need to make equipment available to
students who dont have their own? What is the
procedure for doing this? Title and author
Course Timetabling Staff Health and Safety
Contents page
Title edit/delete/help
Author edit/delete/help
Location edit/delete/help Tags

Full screen
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Development options

• Continue using Trac for both content and
  functionality.
• Continue to use Trac for content, but use another
  system for functionality
• A custom application using HTML, embedding Trac
  content via frames, or
• A Firefox plugin.
• Content and functionality in new system(s)

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Questions and comments please
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• Contextual Information The what, who, when and
  where of this learning session.
• CO1 Title and author
• CO2 Course CU4,CU5
• CO3 Timetabling
• CO4 Staff
• CO5 Location S1,CU6
• CO6 Health and Safety
• Curriculum Aspects What is the purpose of this
  learning session?
• CU1 Aims and objectives CU2
• CU2 Learning outcomes S5
• CU3 Assessment A3
• CU4 Prerequisites S5
• CU5 Preparation by students A1
• CU6 Teaching resources CO5
• CU7 Curriculum documentation
• The Students How many? What are their particular
  characteristics?
• S1 Numbers CO5

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• Learning Activities What are the students going
  to do?
• A1 Preparation by students CU2 CU5 CU6 S5
• A2 Main sequence CU2 CU6 S5 A5
• A3 Assessment activities CU2 CU3 CU6 S5
• A4 Follow-up activities CU2 CU6 S5
• A5 Additional/alternative activities
  CU2 CU6 S5 CP1
• Contingency Plan What will you do if things
  dont go as expected?
• CP1 Contingency Plan A5
• Reflections on the Learning Session What went
  well? How did the students react? What do you
  want to change?
• R1 Personal impressions
• R2 Outcome for students
• R3 Quality of learning design
• The following components form part of the
  guidance system only
• The E-learning Advantage Find out how technology
  can enhance different forms of learning activity.
• What technology can I use for a particular
  activity?