Depending on where you work you might use the title Learning Technologist, Education Technologist, Instructional Designer, or something else, but essentially these roles are the same.

• See the ‘related posts’ section below for links to the previous 4 posts in this series.

Here are a few excerpts from job descriptions for these roles that I found with a quick Google search, see for yourself:

• “Provides pedagogic advice, guidance, encouragement and support on the use of technology to staff involved in teaching. Such processes involves mutual learning, and frequently contrast with the clear division of labour that characterises Instructional Design.”
  Source: JISC – Recommendations for an accreditation scheme for learning technologists v. 4.6 (Consultation document 19/03/04)
• “Promoting and the appropriate pedagogical use of e-learning through resources,
  communication and assessment tools.”
  Source: Bournemouth University – Job Description & Person Specification (PDF 55.70kb)
• “Develop and institute logistical, instructional, and pedagogical policies for the creation and delivery of online courses.”
  Source: UTD – Job Description

While reading this post last night - Learning Technology Trends To Watch In 2012 – I found the section on “Expanded Instructional Designer’s Role” quite interesting, not least as the expanded role sounded an awful lot like the work I am already engaged in?

“Captured in Clive Shepherd’s book, The New Learning Architect, the idea that an instructional designer has one only one function – course creation – seems outdated. Although many will continue to develop courses, instructional designers will need to think in broad terms about how to close learning gaps. This means understanding the strategies that underlie diverse possibilities for learning, both formal and informal, traditional and nontraditional, online and print and face-to-face and virtual.”

Many of the people I converse with on Twitter, LinkedIn, Google+, Facebook, at work, at conferences, etc, are also of this opinion: that it is more than just the final result that the LT (Learning Technologist) is interested in, that the LT can be a vital part of the whole process in getting the learning materials researched, set up, assessed, etc. Convincing others of this is not always easy.

“For example, instructional designers are managing communities of practice, curating content, facilitating online discussion groups, organizing events and supporting of social media for learning. Instructional designers are often the proponents of innovation and the persuaders who convince upper management that interaction and collaboration will make for a smarter organization. As more instructional designers and educators see themselves as learning architects, the world will become a smarter place.”

Wow, this is me, am I now a Learning Architect?

Do you have a view or comment on this, or any other aspect of the role or industry you work in? If so then please leave a comment and open the discussion.

Related posts:

1. What is a Learning Technologist (part 2)?
2. What is a Learning Technologist? (part 3)
3. Learning Tools: what do you use?

Over the past few years I have been running this blog I have made numerous updates to my about page, but just how important is this page and the information it contains?

According to Evelyn Parham:

“If I cannot learn more about your blog and about you (author of blog), then I usually do not make a return visit or add your blog to my reader. I understand that some people want to remain anonymous, but if you really want people to follow you and connect with you, you must give them a reason to connect with you.”

If you want to maintain some form of control over the details you provide then I agree with you and support your decision. As Evelyn notes above I still need a reason to connect with you and the details you provide on the about page is what gives me an indication on your authority on the subject you write about.

Evelyn continues saying:

“Blogging is more than just writing articles about those topics that you are most passionate.  Blogging is about sharing and connecting with others. I am more likely to connect with you when I know more about you, your blog and can easily contact you.  It is almost impossible for me to connect with you if you don’t make connecting possible.”

While I do not provide a direct link to my email address you can still find it if you read my about page – the reason I and many more do not give a direct clickable link is to prevent unwanted contact from vendors who are peddling something I have no need or interest in.

“Your about page and contact page is a lot like an online business card.  If you are trying to remain anonymous or elusive, you are only hurting yourself and your blog’s potential.”

Even more than this, your about page can be seen by prospective employers as part of your online resume.

Brenda, writing on the workITgibraltar website, says that “statistics show that this is one of the most clicked on pages on a blog, so it is worth taking a little time to think about it and get it right.  It is one of those pages which should be on your review list every few months so that it is kept up to date at all times.”

Darren Rowse, the highly respected ProBlogger, suggests you consider transparency, engagement, and using the about page to highlight key pages or topics on your about page, as well as the basic facts on who you are and why you are blogging.

There are many websites and bloggers offering tips on what to write on this page, but what you include on this page is entirely up to you, but you should consider (based on what I look for when I read one of these pages);

• Photo (and/or avatar),
• Background: why you speak/write on authority on the topic of your blog,
• Links to where I can find out more about you, either posts on your own blog or to your other locations and websites on the web,
• How to get in contact with you, either as an email link, comment or feedback form, or through a social network like Twitter or Linked In.

The below is from Six Revisions and is a good starting point until you develop your own style and figure out what you want to include or exclude:

• Who are you?
• What do you do?
• When did you start doing what you’re doing?
• Where are you?
• How are you accomplishing what you claim to do?

What do you think? What do you include or exclude on your own about page, and why? Please leave your comment below.

Image from Anna Hirsch

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Last year I was lucky enough to obtain one of the few tickets that were available for the 2010 Future of Technology in Education Conference organised by ULCC: http://www.fote-conference.com

Since the time is rapidly approaching when this year’s tickets will be made available I was interested in seeing this infographic on details and statistics from the 2009 and 2010 conferences.

Enjoy, and I hope to see you there again this year (October 7th).

(Click to view on Flickr)

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David Hopkins, Learning Technologist

Those of you who follow my blog, or follow me on Twitter (@hopkinsdavid), Academia.edu or LinkedIn, will know I continue to explore the role of Learning Technologists, and the discipline that is learning technology. Below are two links to my previous efforts in defining some of my thoughts:

• What is a Learning Technologist (Aug 2009)
• What is a Learning Technologist (part 2)? (Oct 2010)

In October 2010 I started studying the PG Cert Education Practice at Bournemouth University with a view to gaining valuable insight into the world in which I inhabit, support, and advise. I will post on the first two assignments at some time, but the final assignment is an ePortfolio of work (at the time of writing, June 2011, the marks are not back yet) and supporting evidence over the past year or so that fits the three themes, which are:

1. Self-awareness and Self-evaluation: Evaluating Development Needs
2. Managing Change: Response to Context
3. Evidence-based Practice in Relation to Discipline Needs

It is not possible to replicate the whole ePortfolio here, nor do I want to (yet), but I wanted to share a few sections that reinforce my ‘journey’ as a Learning Technologist. These come from the final section of ‘evidence-based practice in relation to discipline needs’ (and associated references):

“The discipline of Learning Technology is changing and growing as new ideas for existing tools and systems are developed or as new systems are introduced – the advances in mobile computing and geo-location is introducing a new world of ‘tagging’ yourself and your ‘updates’ (Facebook), your ‘tweets’ (Twitter), and your photos (TwitPic, Flickr, Instagram, etc). Being a Learning Technologist also means we are not limited to just playing a supporting role, but we involved in the “broad range of communication, information and related technologies that can be used to support learning, teaching, and assessment” (Browne & Beetham, 2010, p6). This is our discipline and covers all aspects of subject areas from Health Care and Archaeology to Marketing or Computer Systems Designs.”

Browne, T. and Beetham, H. 2010. The positioning of educational technologists in enhancing the student experience. Project Report. Association of Learning Technology and The Higher Education Academy. Available from:http://repository.alt.ac.uk/id/eprint/831. [Accessed May 25, 2011].

“One aspect of my role that I have found invaluable is that I am able to bring my commercial background in web design and Internet technologies, as well as time as an employee and owner/manager of a small business, to the varied subject areas I support in the School; accounting, management, finance, law, contract, marketing, etc. It is this background that has given me the time to develop a professionalism that I pride myself with that has enabled invitations from different teams within the School, and other Schools, to be involved in teaching, research and projects. The concluding statements in the work by Neurmann et all (2002) state that a steady growth in staff development “has typically involved the central provision of short-courses … divorced from the specificities of the everyday academic context” but a “faculty-based [or] departmentally based provision could give promise of enhancing reflective practice, drawing on a recognition of specific cognitive and cultural factors rather than concentrating on generic teaching skills and presentational techniques.” I have found a School (departmentally)-based approach is able to factor a growth of a closer personal relationship with an academic or team and their subject area to be more valuable than a ‘point-and-click’ approach to the introduction of new tools and systems.”

Neumann, R., Parry, S., and Becher, T. 2002 Teaching and Learning in their Disciplinary Contexts: a conceptual analysis. Studies in Higher Education. 27(4). p405-417. Available from: http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=a9h&AN=7362300&site=eds-live&scope=site. [Accessed May 25, 2011].

“Work by Browne & Beetham (2010, p6) highlights the impact technology enhanced learning has as a “major driver for enhancing the student experience”, but they acknowledge that literature is “relatively silent” on the role and impact Learning Technologist’s have on such objectives. Through my own day-to-day experiences I have found myself being invited to be involved in research, projects, presentations, workshops, conferences, etc that I would not normally expect to be asked to; I attribute this to my open and willing attitude and cultural change within the Business School that has improved relationships between myself and framework teams, and the understanding of the role a Learning Technologist. Questions on where a Learning Technologist should be “positioned” is a difficult one, say Browne & Beetham (2010, p13) which received mixed responses when they asked, and one I can see both sides to the argument; are we positioned in the School so we can maximise the relationships and knowledge of the disciplines of those we support, or are we a central resource that are shared among many different subject disciplines and School, but get the benefit of being kept up to date with system changes/updates? In my view there are positives and negatives to both arguments, but a School-based Learning Technologist has the best of the ‘local’ knowledge and the best of the collaborative environment a central position can offer, if working in a collaborative environment. The discipline of learning technology and the individuals who are part of this growing professional ‘group’, according to Peacock et al (2009), can have a valuable influence on all aspects of, for example, eResearch as we can demonstrate the role of support to help researchers “make informed decisions about whether and how to use e-learning tools to conduct qualitative e-research” and that a “more inclusive model of the Learning Technologist’s role in academia could help address the potential polarisation of the profession into researchers and practitioners”.”

Browne, T. and Beetham, H. 2010. The positioning of educational technologists in enhancing the student experience. Project Report. Association of Learning Technology and The Higher Education Academy. Available from:http://repository.alt.ac.uk/id/eprint/831. [Accessed May 25, 2011].

Peacock, S., Robertson, A., Williams, S, and Clausen, M. 2009. The Role of Learning Technologists in Supporting E-Research, ALT-J: Research in Learning Technology, 17(2). pp115-129. Available from: http://www.informaworld.com/openurl?genre=article&id=doi:10.1080/09687760903033041 [Accessed May 25, 2011].

I conclude the portfolio saying that:

“the opportunity to reflect on the past year(s) has given me greater insight into my role within the Business School and wider Bournemouth University community, but also how I am able to shape the discipline of learning technology from workshops, research, and conversations I am involved in, and by engaging with like-minded professionals through social networks like Twitter and LinkedIn. From this reflection I am able to concentrate my work and reading with a view to develop my professional practice.”

My journey
I have been on a journey during this PG Cert course,. Not all of it has been pleasant but I have enjoyed it and realised that I don’t like the ‘getting by’ mentality: when I do something I like to do it properly and see it through to the end. The struggle has been finding a balance between work and home life AND being a student again. There were times when one had to be sacrificed, and it was always my studies and assignments that suffered. I am not sorry for this, just disappointed that, at times, I wasn’t able to put the effort and dedication I know I am capable of into my studies.

What next?
Well, I don’t know where I am going to go now, assuming I get the grades to pass (finger’s crossed) but there are many avenues open to me: further studies, CMALT application and accreditation (definitely), etc. One thing is certain: I have started something here I want to see grow and to see where it can take me, my work, and my job/discipline. As they say “watch this space …  !”

Please feel free to leave a comment about the above or about your experience as a Learning Technologist, or your experience of working with us.

Related posts:

1. What is a Learning Technologist (part 2)?
2. What is a Learning Technologist (part 5)?
3. What is a Learning Technologist?

Note: In this series I’ll delve into some of the better plugins available for WordPress that I am already using, or about to start using. I’m aiming to highlight 30 of the better plugins.

What better way than to get (almost) immediate feedback on something than with a question or poll? This is yet another easy thing to do with WordPress and the ‘WP-Polls‘ plugin can handle everything you need, including:

• multiple polls
• side-bar widget for latest and closed polls
• choice of how your polls are dislpayed (default or CSS driven)
• logging of responses
• time-out / close polls after specificed time, or leave open

You can put the poll anywhere in a post, or have it all on it’s own, the choice is yours – all you need to do is click the image in the blog post tool bar and assign the poll ID, you can get this from the Admin panel (see image below).

Here are a few screenshots of the admin panel and how the polls are displayed (click to enlarge):

Admin Panel images:

Poll Admin Options

Add Poll and Poll answers

Active Poll and Poll Widget:

Active Poll (inc. results) in blog post

Active Poll (inc. results) in side-bar (Widget)

Related posts:

1. WordPress Plugin #13: WordBooker (WordPress and Facebook integration)
2. WordPress Plugin #18: Popular Posts
3. Poll: What blogging software do you use?

Note: In this series I’ll delve into some of the better plugins available for WordPress that I am already using, or about to start using. I’m aiming to highlight 30 of the better plugins.

Some blogs get more traffic than most, and I am confident when I say I get a fair amount of page views and visitors (yes, I check my Google Analytics about twice a month). When was the last time you looked at your OWN blog with a fresh pair of eyes, and thought about how you would find more about the author and/or subjects?

One way is the About page, where you ought to have some background information about you and why you are an authority on the subject you blog about (for me it’s eLearning, blogging, Social Media, etc, etc). Another great way to direct visitors to content is through a ‘Related Links‘ list of posts – which I wrote about last year.

Another way is to publish a list of ‘popular posts’ in the sidebar and, yes you guessed it, there’s a plugin for that.

Installation of the ‘WordPress Popular Posts‘ plugin is, as always, simple and quick to do. once installed and activated you head on over to the Widget section of the’Appearance’ admin panels and drag the widget into your sidebar.

The settings are fairly self-explanatory (click on the image below to enlarge and see the full widget option list) like what details to show on the post (number of comments, views, excerpt, etc), how many posts to show and over what date/time scale, and may more:

Click to enlarge

Unfortunately the stats and numbers only start once you’ve installed the plugin, as you can see from the screenshot below, the posts have only had a couple of views each, but that’s not too bad since I only installed it about 10 minutes ago:

Click to enlarge

Watch this plugin grow!

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I have changed how I write and title my blog posts recently.

Those of you who have followed me for a while on Twitter, Facebook, or just on my blog (thank you for subscribing) will know that I used to write the post, put a Twitter hashtag in the title, publish the post then change the title so it read properly afterwards.

Now, however, I find I get more traffic and re-tweets if I leave the original title with hashtags in place.

Example in point – my last post on QR Codes has been retweeted a few times by some kind folks who have found it on my blog, and if the retweet button is pressed on my blog then the title, hashtag, and credit (@hopkinsdavid) is sent with the link.

RT @hopkinsdavid QR Codes: The nuts and bolts #QRCode #edtech #ukedchat http://is.gd/iw9qyx

February 10, 2011 11:50 am via webReplyRetweetFavorite

@youscanme

YouScan.me

Without the hashtags this would have been any other tweet – with the hashtag the profile of this post is raised to new searches in the hashtag. I have seen an increased traffic to me site for old (6 months and older) posts, along with comments and emails coming on the back of them.

So, while it may not ‘look’ nice on the blog, the funny #hashtag in the title has it’s purpose. Sorry!

PS. I used the Blackbird Pie WordPress plugin to put the tweet above in the post; it’s not an image but the actual live tweet!

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It is really hard to keep up with the new ‘must-have’ websites and social networks you ought to be involved with at the moment, and 2011 is going to see a whole heap of new ones, as well as existing ones really take off.

The first I just can’t get away from (this week) is called ‘Quora‘, and is effectively a simple question-and-answer site.

“Whatever your question, type it in the search box and, if there isn’t already an answer there, users will pile in and attempt to answer it. Information is organised more like Wikipedia than Google, with answers prioritised by how useful they are, but the site uses Twitter-style following to track the best contributors.”
From the Guardian UK website.

While the comparison to WikiAnswers and Yahoo Answers is not unkind or unfounded,  the possible advantage of Quora is that you are expected to use your real name and even link it to Facebook or Twitter accounts (which is really easy to do as you can sign in with your Facebook or Twitter user accounts, which will need authorising through the respective API methods) and Quora is also benefiting from the fact that its rivals have largely abandoned people-based question-and-answer systems.

You want to see it in action, here is a short video explaining it better than I can …

The interface is clean, uncluttered (at the moment), and easy to find your way around:

Click to enlarge

Quora is also being touted as a scene-stealing platform that will mean the end to blogging and the like (according to TechCrunch anyway) … but we’ll wait and see on that, I’m sure many will have something to say about that (on their blogs no doubt!).

But what of using Quora in learning and teaching? In an effort to find out about this I asked Google “quora in education” and … low and behold, I got a result of the same question posted to Quora – “Would Quora be a good learning tool for middle- and high-school students?” which has the following (edited) items that the author of the question/post thinks are good for education:

• Quora promotes the creation and access of knowledge beyond the classroom. Quora allows students and researchers to access an entire community of “teachers” for different interests (like other social networks, but perhaps more directly)
• Quora can connect students with different communities of mentors and knowledge-owners.
• Quora is currently very intellectual and thoughtful, and also fairly prompt – curious students can post questions and receive good answers very quickly.

But we must also recognise any potential pitfalls in such a system; can we trust the authors not to ‘mess’ with each other and post stupid questions … ? One author that commented on the question said how his 6 year old had him post a question on Quora and the “excitement of seeing other people post great answers quickly … makes learning and curiosity feel like a game.”

Quora is still very new and very small (in comparison) and has yet to reach the critical mass that will really see how well it could be used in education, but it’s potential is certainly there. It’s one I’ll keep an eye on .. what about you?

PS.  Here is a resource list for you in my Delicious bookmarks on, or about, Quora (while Delicious still works and I still use it!)

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I’m not a big fan of ‘Top …’ lists, but I do like to organise my thoughts and have something to look back over to help me think and reflect on what I’ve done,  why I did it, and sometimes what I can do better next time.

Here are my top 12 posts from the past 12 months.

• January, 2010: Be a better online educator by thinking like an online student
• February, 2010: Netiquette: a handy guide for online students
• March, 2010: iTunesU: Another success story (UCL)
• April, 2010: The Art of Blogging (in Education)
• May,2010: QR Codes: In the Classroom
• June, 2010: Policies for Staff use of Social Media and Social Networks
• July, 2010: Augmented Reality on campus
• August, 2010: Who takes responsibility for online or digital communications?
• September, 2010: Presentation: “Twitter in Education, what next?”
• October, 2010: What is a Learning Technologist (part 2)?
• November, 2010: Presentation: Social Media & how (students) can survive online
• December, 2010: [ongoing ... !]

Here’s to a safe and warm New Year for everyone. Happy Christmas.

Image Source

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Note: In this series I’ll delve into some of the better plugins available for WordPress that I am already using, or about to start using. I’m aiming to highlight 30 of the better plugins.

If, like me, you use Twitter on a mobile device then you’ll be aware of Twitpic – you can share photos you take on the move quickly and easily as they are published with your tweet, as you tweet; “You can post photos to TwitPic from your phone, from the site, or through email.”

Great, but now what? The only time you or anyone else can see those wonderful sunsets or conference photos is when they find your old tweet from last year. But not any more – here are two great WordPress plugins that can bring your twitpics to your blog.

Firstly I want to introduce TwitPic for WordPress. This plugin enables a widget for your sidebar and displays your latest pictures. The plugin is widget ready and has many different options for configuration so install it, play with it, and see what is best for you and your blog.

This is how my sidebar looks, today, with TwitPic;

The second plugin I want you to hear about is called WP-Twitpic which allows you to insert an image from  TwitPic into your blog posts. Once the plugin in installed you insert any image from TwitPic into your post using the unique hash provided by TwitPic. You can then change its size, URL, alignment etc, as you can with any other image. Just activate the plugin and use [ twitpic id = hash ] (without the spaces!).

Here’s a photo from the FOTE2010 conference a month or so back using the code [ twitpic id = 2tlr0v ] (without the spaces);

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