Digital Teaching and Technology Enhanced Learning in HE

Conclusion I offered reflections on technology-enhanced learning throughout my digital collection entries. For example, in the section on MS Word and supervision , I introduce the discourse around the use of technology as being either a neutral tool (deterministic position) or instrumental, where we as actors have choices in how we use the technology (instrumental position). I further point to the fact that a dualistic perspective is too narrow to discuss our use of technology in learning and that terminology and use need to be constantly critically reviewed. This critical stance is especially important with the rise of AI technology, such as ChatGPT , which can potentially be a paradigm shift in how we engage with the written word and knowledge.  In my section on MS teams , I reviewed the benefits and drawbacks of in-person and online educational encounters. I feel in congruence with Fovet 2023’s observations on learners not yet reaching for the full potential of online tools to ...

Microsoft Word (MS Word) is the most common software used for written assignments. In fact, in all my supervision experiences the students used MS Word.  In my supervision activities for example with the MSc Global Health, I work together with the student to ensure that she/he submits a dissertation, which firstly should pass, but ideally achieves more, and this is a co-constructed process ( Schreiber & Valle 2013) . The latter depends on what the student can input (e.g. time) and wants to get out of their studies. For example, I had one student who was very keen on learning more about academic research and writing, and she considered publishing her dissertation as a journal article. Knowing her aims I worked with her slightly differently by giving her additional feedback on where she would be cutting words (for when she will be writing a journal article), yet I worked with her overall the same way as with all my postgrad students, which is rooted in social constructivism and r...

Chat Generative Pre-trained Transformer (ChatGPT) ChatGPT causes a lot of worries and also excitement with people. As an educator I can see AI being used in teaching, learning and assessment in positive, yet also problematic ways.  Jimmy Lo presented in our course in May 2023 the discussions held on ChatGPT. He presented HEI’s policies around the use of AI tools and how the generation of content by e.g. ChatGPT is considered between academic malpractice and plagiarism. He further carried out a swot analysis, in my view mainly from the student's perspective. For me as an educator, the greatest worry is that students are simply using ChatGPT to generate written work rather than engaging with writing themselves. The latter I consider a key aspect of learning as writing is a reflective and creative process, through which deep insights and understanding can emerge (Adler-Kassner & Wardle, 2015). In the following video, I present what I recently learned from a colleague and how C...

In my lecture to the BA Digital Game Design students around usability / user experience and qualitative research methods for interface design I invited via teams Professor Priti Chopra to speak about the design intentions of the pro-social game Danielle. Danielle is a game, which allows players to experience the life of a female teenager, who experiences signs of an abusive relationship. The aim of the game was to create awareness around gender issues and teach about the prevention of gender-based violence. In this video, Prof Chopra introduces the pro-social games she was involved in to prevent gender-based violence against women.  To role model an activity that I do when working in the UX industry I gave Priti three questions to answer: What are the organisational goals for the Danielle game? Who are the target users for the Danielle game? What do you think are the users’ main goals when playing the game? Students had later the opportunity to review the game for its user ex...

  I have not used Padlet in my supervision activities or teaching yet, but I have used it in collaboration with other researchers and participants in workshops. I enjoy the simplicity of the interface and how we can view each other's entries like on flip charts when workshops are held in person. Padlet brings some further advances – it can be used asynchronously – and later still easily viewed or added to it. It takes away worries about any spelling or illegible handwriting as the entries are all digital and can be easily corrected. One disadvantage is that the discussions around the entries cannot be as easily facilitated due to the asynchronous nature of digital media. Even if the Padlet activity is carefully planned, and participants are asked to explain their contributions but because it’s not in person it is harder to gauge the reactions by participants or collaborative develop an entry.  Below is an example where we collaborated using Padlet in the social enterprise co...

Modular Object-Oriented Dynamic Learning Environment MOODLE In my educator role, I use Moodle only sparingly as I am not leading a module or course, although I'm added to the Moodle sites of the courses I'm involved in, so I can see what the students have access to. Now having been enrolled in the PGcert course as a student I was able to experience a few more functions of Moodle, that I had not used before or was not aware of. For example, I enjoyed using the small group forum function and I appreciated that our educator Suzan Koseoglu had posted a video there to show how to embed video into the forum posts.  Before I returned to Academia, I worked in User Experience Design, and I have to admit Moodle's user interface presents many issues that I would have flagged up as counter-intuitive design if I were employed to critique it. The layout and the order of information can be confusing, with certain sections not clearly enough delineated. The submission link(s) appeared as t...

  “ Microsoft Teams allows individual teams to self-organize and collaborate across business scenarios." ( Microsoft learn  2003)  I became aware that MS Teams was adopted in our institution during spring 2020 (when Lockdown started in the UK) to facilitate online video calls and course content delivery, which was much needed to reduce the spread of the COVID 19 virus.  Although there are a number of other video conferencing platforms such as Zoom or Googlemeet or Gotomeetings, our institution, which uses mainly Microsoft Office products decided to include MS Teams. The benefit of using the whole MS Office Suite means that MS Teams is smoothly integrated with Microsoft Outlook to set up and schedule meetings. It was in Summer 2021 I started supervising postgraduate students, so meeting them online rather than face-to-face has been the norm for me since.  In this respect, MS Teams is very instrumental as an online space to learn and collaborate. Apart from face-t...

I’m Dr Marianne Markowski and I work as a Research Fellow for the Institute for Lifecourse Development (ILD) at the University of Greenwich. Most of my work time I’m involved in research or research-related activities, but a considerable amount of my time is also spent with the supervision of postgraduate students in Health and Public Health. I further teach some lectures on the BA Digital Games Design Course, and I support the research skills module for undergraduate nurses with online and face-to-face seminars. The courses I support with my teaching and supervision skills are: RESE-1178 Research Methods for Games and Digital Media COMP-1287 Games Design and Development OMED-1416 Dissertation OMED-1357, OMED-1386 & OMED-1413  Healthcare Practice Dissertation RESE-1163 Project Preparation Skills and Research RESE-1173 Understanding Research in Evidence Based Practice My digital collection for “technology-enhanced learning” (TEL) is still emerging, therefore my collection is li...