Hi all,
I have put a few notes together from the conference that I attended with Madeleine Brown in Stirling on Friday June 5th.
The theme was ‘Excellence’, something we aren’t short of in all our respective teams at Stevenson College I must say!
The presenters were all very good for different reasons I thought. The first presentation was from an HMIe reviewer who discussed the fact that the contribution of Scotland's Colleges is central to the achievement of the Scottish Government's vision, of a smarter Scotland, that is wealthier and fairer. To succeed, Scotland needs excellent colleges which are able to unlock the full potential of learners, in order to maximise our economic success and to create a safer, stronger, healthier and greener society. Clearly we are ahead of the game there in the College in many curriculum areas and I could think of a number of examples of these soft skills that are happening in my own team, Communication and English.
The reviewer, John Laird, also talked about SLIP submissions (Sector Leading Innovative Practice). In his experience of performing inspections in Colleges, he noted that a lot of SLIPs were recommended by inspectors for inclusion and not necessarily from the Colleges. Many lecturers believe that what they do on a daily basis is the norm. Like the inspector, I disagree. I think that we should always formalise and talk up the great work we do. I know it isn’t something that we particularly like doing, but I think we should!
He pointed to the fact that the HMIe website has examples of SLIPs and College reviews, and suggested that lecturers should make contact with representatives of Colleges that have been awarded a SLIP should you need clarification etc. The phrase ‘adopt, adapt and improve’ springs to mind.
The following link could be useful for reference - http://www.hmie.gov.uk/GoodPractice/Default.aspx
Presentations were delivered on College achievement in receiving an external review, excellence or SLIP commendation and the impact of their practice on the learner experience. It was interesting to note that the Flip camera popped (or should that be flipped) up in many of the presentations in terms of good practice. This is something that we are using in the Comm and English curriculum and the following link provides a handy how to use presentation - http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=AxAIAqM5TVk
Two colleagues from Central College, Glasgow showed us how they integrated learning and assessment within the Sports Coaching (ski-ing instruction) and Digital Photography curriculum areas to good effects. Their results were recorded using a Wiki. I was glad that this simple, yet effective technology was highlighted as being a boon to the learning process.
Another presentation from an English and Media lecturer from Cardonald College highlighted the importance of extra curricular benefits to the learning process. The presenter communicated the success she has had running lunchtime sessions of a book club, recycling books and organising theatre trips. She gave the choice of novel over to the students and they unanimously picked War and Peace would you believe, unprompted by the way! She also noted how local radio (Govan FM) prompted a positive response by the local community to enter the Burns Homecoming Festival competition. An 83 year old lady called Gwen Silvers won, and here is her winning poem and reflective comments - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eDK0GIJP6yg
The final presentation was on Web 2.0 technologies, which is the phrase that runs through everything to do with ICT and Learning and Teaching at present. This session highlighted how some of the Web 2.0 tools can support excellence in learning and teaching and reflected upon how these tools can be used to enhance the learner experience through learner activity and increased engagement.
There were a few new sites discussed that I wasn’t aware of, and you may wish to have a look at these at your leisure. They are all free.
Video Jug – this is like the How Stuff Works website that some of use at the moment - http://www.videojug.com/
Flickr – this is one of the best online photo management and sharing applications around - http://www.flickr.com/
JORUM – a free online service providing access to teaching and learning resources, for teaching and support staff in UK Further and Higher Education - http://www.jorum.ac.uk/
Scotland’s College Repository – http://www.coleg.org.uk/coleg/CCC_FirstPage.jsp
GLOW – Glow is the world's first national intranet for education - http://www.ltscotland.org.uk/glowscotland/
JING – this is screen capture software http://www.jingproject.com/
I hope that this covers the main points anyway.
Yours in blog, Mark
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