eLearning Blog // Don’t Waste Your Time …

Every now and then I look into the stats for my blog and think “blimey, how many!?!”. Since I started my ramblings back in October 2008 I’ve grown to nearly 160,000 hits and over 5,000 unique visitors a month.

How did this happen?

I started blogging in October 2008 with a single post. I read a few articles online about how to ‘advertise’ my blog, and started Googling different eLearning blogs and making comments on the various posts I found interesting. It was fun and traffic to my own blog was steadily creeping up.

That was all well and good, but it wasn’t until two very important things happened that my blog really took off;

• Tony Karrer at eLearning Learning: Tony listed my blog on his eLearning Learning portal, and the number of hits shot up (roughly the middle of February 2009).
• Twitter: Although I joined Twitter in January 2009 (as hopkinsdavid), it wasn’t until March that I installed the WordPress Plugin that sends my blog posts to Twitter. Since then I have jumped to over 670 followers.

Here are some graphs (made in Excel, but the figures came from the installation of Awstats I have on the server)

Webstats: Unique Visitors (November 2008 - June 2009)

• November 2008: 26 unique, individual visitors to the blog
• June 2009: 5,281 unique, individual visitors to the blog

Webstats: Number of page Page Impressions (November 2008 - June 2009)

• November 2008: 35
• June 2009: 12,077

Webstats: Number of Hits to the website (November 2008 - June 2009)

• November 2008: 2100 hits (pages + images)
• June 2009: 159,471 hits (pages + images)

I can also see, on a daily basis (if I look into  that much detail) the affect any particular blog post or piece of Twitter activity has. The fact that some of my posts have been re-tweeted so many times;

• Twitter Tips: for Teachers & Educators (96 RTs, so far)
• Presentation: Wikis in Education (10RTs, 670 views on SlideShare)
• Presentation: Twitter in Education (25 RTS, 1688 views on SlideShare, and embedded in 19 blogs around the world!!)
• Student Guide: Introduction to ‘Blogs’ in Blackboard

The days when I posted these, and other ’sucessful’ blog entries I can see the traffic rose quite dramatically. What can I take from this? Well, you guys like to read/watch presentations.

What I can also see, that is not easy to represent graphically, is that the top referring pages (you click a link on the referring page to be directed here) are nearly all Twitter related, and that some 8,000 visits a month are direct from the RSS feed!

So, what next. Well, I don’t really have a plan other than to continue blogging about my work and the little things I find interesting about eLearning. The practical applications, and implications, of eLearning is continually changing so there will always be something new to write about … see you soon!

Brilliant news, Tony Karrer over at eLearning Learning has updated the website to include some whizz-bang features, all intended to make it easier and faster to get the best of the eLearning Inter-web thingy!

These include:

• Hot-list posts in the new blog,
• New feed for ‘best of …’ eLearning Learning, and
• Email subscription option (finally!).

Read from the man himself here: Participating in eLearning Learning.

This walk-through guide has been produced as an introduction to submitting assignments online, in myBU (our VLE). Not all students are able to attend our workshops (especially our distant learning students) so this will show the students, in a working example, how they submit assignments online.

Many thanks to Jane Hart and the Centre for Learning & Performance Technologies for including me on their list of “100 Featured Learning Professionals Online’ (number 45, alphabeitcally).

An honour, to be sure.

So … no pressure then??

David Hopkins: Blackboard 8 / myBU: ‘Sign-Up’ Tool

This tool was made available in the upgrade to Blackboard vn.8 and is extremely useful; get the students to sign-up to seminar groups themselves (relieves the duty of collecting names on paper, then loosing the paper!) and create groups automatically from the sign-up tool with the students already enrolled in the group.

Use it to;

• get students (or staff) to express interest in guest lecture, when space/seats are at a premium,
• gauge interest in subject matter (using multiple sign-up lists, according to various titles),
• allow students to self-organise themselves into collaborative/working groups, and use sign-up list results to automatically create the myBU/Blackboard user Group,
• allow students to book into a one-to-one feedback session (multiple lists) based on time given as the title for the list.
• gauge interest in event and allow users to put themselves on a ‘reserve’ list, in case anyone drops out of the numbered places.

This, of course, is not an exhaustive list. Let me know if you’ve used it for any other scenario, or indeed can think of anything I haven’t. Share and share alike.

According to Derek Baird Teens Don’t Give a Twit About Twitter. Is this a surprise?

Facebook and other ‘friend-based’ social network tools are the preferred domain of choice for the discerning online teen, and Twitter has already been identified as having an audience with a Twitter average age in the thirties (whereas Facebook is most definitely a teen-orientated network; Facebook average age in the upper teens).

So, as Derek asks;

“If Gen Y (Generation Y/Millenials) really doesn’t give a Twit about Twitter, should educators be trying to integrate it into the curriculum?”

While Derek doesn’t go into any detail about whether we should be trying to integrate it or not, he does provide some good links to other online resources, urging us to read and make up our own minds.

So, here’s my two-penny’s worth … yes, we should make the effort. If we make the effort now, with Twitter, then we are in a position to start to understand what is happening with the Internet, and starting to modify the way we think and how we think we can incorporate new technologies and ideas into our teaching.

If we can do this with Twitter, or SlideShare, or games, or Diigo, or Delicious, or anything, then we are better placed to meet the next fad or craze head-on. We, as we considered the ‘older’ generation, will be capable of being proactive with changes (instead of reactive) and this can only benefit the learning environment we set for the students.

We are the ones who set the goals for the learning, but it is the students who set the expectations for their learning, which we must meet. If we can’t do it now, then we have little hope of bridging the divide next year, or the year after, when it will be even wider.

This walk-through guide has been produced as an introduction to Tests in myBU (our VLE) for our online learners. Designed to show Tests in action (Blackboard vn.8) the students will be familiar with the environment when they come to use tests during their study.

This example questions the learners on who to contact in the event they need to contact the Programme Team (Library, Unit tutor, Technician, Programme Leader, etc).

We also use tests for reflective learning, just before assessment or exam, as well as creating our own (subject specific) and use Testbanks from publishers - these can typically contain 600+ questions relating to the specific book, split into 40+ MCQ  and short-answer questions per chapter;

Example: “E-Business and E-Commerce Management with Companion Website with GradeTracker Student Access Card, 3/E” - Testbank” - TestGen Testbank file.

Using TestGen to create the test, these can be quickly and easily loaded into myBU/Blackboard for deployment to the students. It has taken less than 20 minutes from finding the TestGen file to having the test ready in myBU .. far easier than sitting typing the questions in by hand!

I was reading Steve Wheeler’s latest blog entry this morning thinking “huh?”

So, a JISC report on “Edgeless University: why higher education must embrace technology” has said that;

“British universities will lose their leading international standing unless they become much more radical in their use of new technology” (to quote Steve).

I hadn’t thought it was that bad, but perhaps it is. I’ll not bleat on about the report, I’ll let you read it for yourself, but the biggest issue that it raises for me (and perhaps you too) is simply … dont’ blame the University, or even the students, if you can’t get the staff engaged!

I’ve written here before about getting tutors/educators engaged in using Web 2.0 tools and techniques, but the reason they don’t are not always easy to define;

• Willing: Are they willing to try something new?
• Able: They may be willing, but are they able to try it?
• Time: Irrespective of ability or willingness, do they have the time to sit and learn something new … even if you can demonstrate that it will save them time in the long run?
• Blinkered: Are they just burying their heads in the sand hoping you’ll go away and bother someone else instead?
• Blind: Are they just point-blank ignoring you.

Not everyone will fit so easily in the stereotypes above; I know of one example where the tutor was enthusiastic about trying something new, didn’t have the time to work it out until the students requested discussion boards and a wiki to support their face-to-face seminars.

Only time will tell and, if the JISC report is to be believed, time is running out. The report says:

“Through their institutional capital, universities can use technology to offer more flexible provision and open more equal routes to higher education and learning … this will take strategic leadership from within.”

and Steve says;

“… online and social media could help universities meet these demands by reaching a greater number of students and improving the quality of research and teaching. Online and DIY learning can create ‘edgeless universities’ where information, skills and research are accessible far beyond the campus walls.”

Thanks to Chris Thomson and Aaron Bowler from the Sheffield East City Learning Centre. The video has a good finish;

“… by itself the Learning Platform isn’t going to transform anything. It will all be down to how the staff and students choose to use it!”

Wise words. Although this is aimed at primary and secondary schools (children & parents) there is nothing to say that the ideas and methods cannot (and should not) be applied to further and higher education.

I’ve written about VLEs and PLEs previously; please view the appropriate archive.

For a while now I’ve been happily RT’ing (re-twetting) resources and links in Twitter and then it suddenly struck me. “Bugger, where was that really good link about something that was really good but I can’t remember what-it-was or where-I-found-it now?”.

So, here is a series of links to websites that have made a difference over the last few weeks:

Twitter:

• FOLLOW FAIL: The Top 10 Reasons I Will Not Follow You in Return on Twitter
• Confused on Twitter terminology? Check out the “Twictionary”
• Great list of tools to publish screenshot images on Twitter

eLearning:

• Announcing Learning and Skills 2010 in London
• New study shows iPhone users to be in a class by themselves
• You are not the centre of the Universe!
• Coventry University launches iTunes U site with over 150 lectures, talks and debates
• 21 century teaching - mixing the new culture of learning with the traditional means of teaching
• Dealing with student blogs at the end of the school year!

Educators & the Internet:

• 5 Reasons Why Educators Need To Embrace Internet Technologies
• 10 Big Differences Between MBAs and Entrepreneurs
• Ten Commandments of eLearning
• 100 Educators to consider following
• Online book: New technologies, new pedagogies: Mobile learning in higher education

Social Media:

• Clay Shirky TED talk on the power of social media