WCELfest 2010

Last updated by: Ruth Peterson on 5 February 2010 - 1:03pm

This e-learning event is rapidly becoming a significant annual "fest" for tertiary teachers.  Over 100 teachers gathered at the University of Waikato yesterday to be "wowed" by new digital technologies to enhance teaching and learning, and to listen to top educators like Professor Lorraine Stefani from the University of Auckland,  who spoke about how to ensure that digital technologies engage students to develop desirable skills such as

Critical and creative thinkingLorraine Stefani
Literacy skills
Commununication – at different levels, using different media
Team learning, individual learning
Leadership skills
Inter-cultural competence
Personal growth
 
Some challenges were posed by Lorraine -
What sort of pedagogies should be applied in a digital environment?
Do students understand the concept of engagement in the learning process?
Do staff assume that students understand engagement?
Do staff cultivate an engaging learning environment? – a big philosophical question
Learning is a challenge – skills can be acquired without any critical reflection, knowledge can be acquired without much understanding, but students need to feel that their learning is worthwhile
What are we trying to achieve?

Another excellent session was conducted by Stephen Bright from Bethlehem Tertiary Institute, who began with a quote from J. John Loughran: The heart and soul of teaching begins with relationships. Without building relationships, the purpose of teaching is diminished. Stephen provided some ideas of ways to build relationships with online students, including:

- pictures of people plus email links and description of roles

- orientation to tertiary study courses that are free online and are facilitated for 10-14 days

- video clips, short topic introductions

- assignment design that encourages personal formation

- skype and telephone one-on-one conversations

John Clayton of Wintec gave an overview of the use of Quick Response (QR) codes in education.  He emphasised that it is most important to have authentic and relevant experiences for students.

The day was sponsored by Ako Aotearoa's Northern Hub (along with Lightwire and Telecom) and for us it was gratifying to be part of an event that clearly pointed to students.  During one of the breaks a student stopped to view our materials, and offered a brief commentary on his experience - "the professors need to reply to your emails or be available to meet with you, because when you are doing a project and you don't get the help you need, you are stuck."  The student was engaged all right, but it seems that engagement has to be a two-way street!

Parent group: 
Ako Aotearoa Northern Hub