Tools for digital pedagogy Both face to face

Tools for digital pedagogy • Both face to face and distance learning institutions make use of virtual learning environments • OU uses them to deliver: content, assessment information, module information • Traditional institutions as an adjunct to face: lecture notes, journal articles, wikis for collaborative work • Facebook popular with all students • Creation of own online space beyond our control (for our students the equivalent of hanging out in a university refectory? )

But what other tools are at our disposal…. • Social media (that’s not Facebook) • Twitter • Many of us may use it already through posting links to articles, highlighting important events or news stories, dialogue with other academics • Students use it to contact each other • When do people usually receive their course materials for #k 101 @ou_hsc starting in Feb? #OUstudent #Newto. OU • #K 101 mailing came today and although it's a pile of print books I'm glad to find no DVD ROMs. Looking forward to module 2 now @Oustudents • 200 words of TMA to go #K 101 #OUStudents #Student. Problems • #openuniversity #k 101 #study #costa brain ache https: //www. instagram. com/p/83 Eshcw_W 0/ • But have you used it to contact them?

How can we use Twitter? • Give the module team (or lead) a human face • Show we’re engaged with what is going on in their module • Post links they may be interested in • Have a Twitter chat…. • …synchronous contact with students • Provide a hashtag, date and time and off you go • Lively, frenetic, confusing and fun • https: //twitter. com/Dr. Sam. Murphy/with_replies • Tweetdeck a must for the facilitator! • https: //tweetdeck. twitter. com/

Other social media(among many) • Reddit • • Public, online bulletin board (need to register to post) You can link out to news stories, video and audio Or simply have a discussion https: //www. reddit. com/ • Hypothesis • Open-annotation of web pages that allows for discussion • https: //hypothes. is/

Tools for collaboration • Google docs • Tagline: ‘Wordprocessing for teams’ • Widely used • Can create documents, share, edit and collaborate • Others include: • Drop. Box • Ether. Pad • Pen. Flip

Blogging and other types of tools • Multiple platforms to blog on (including the OU platform) • Millions of blogs written per day and Word. Press has 60 million sites • People can follow a blog • Respond to the blog and discuss it with the author and others • Do any of you blog? • Curation tools such as Storify • Pinterest • Voicethread (discussion around a single image)

Online tools… • Can offer powerful new ways of interacting with students • Can also be ways of collaborating with them or for students to collaborate with each other • Require us to think creatively about how to use them • E. g. imagine a task where students work together on a Mind. Map of a concept rather than a long forum thread • Or write all over a webpage to critique it • Or discuss ideas on Twitter • Or respond to one of our blogs • Require us to practice with them

But we can’t? or can we (with care)? • There will be obstacles • • • Systems Price of building tools in (or building similar tools for our own use) Need for tech-savvy students (and staff!) Some forums are public – do they need to be private? Need for confident students to post – the internet is exposing Handle with caution • Teaching spaces need to be safe places • Need for ground rules? • Need for moderation