Keynote 1: Distant & Present: Rethinking online teaching to foster engagement
Social presence is foremost in our minds each year as we meet new cohort of students. However, the gulf between the academic’s ideal of a functioning learning community and the expectations and experience of new students can be daunting. This presentation briefly sets out some key theories for engaging students as learners and then applies them to a near-future vision of education. The scenarios used position the learner at a distance, thereby establishing a problem that all academics recognise: how to foster a self-motivated community of practice when time together is limited. In finding answers to this, five technological approaches are considered and, while our intended learning outcomes remain constant, creative thinking in this presentation is enabled by viewing the challenge through the lens of disruptive innovation.
Short biography
Andrew Middleton is Head of Innovation & Professional Development at Sheffield Hallam University. He has worked in educational development in higher education since 1993. In that time the constant driver in his work has been the innovative use of media and technology to enhance learning. Andrew chairs the UK Media-Enhanced Learning Special Interest Group which, since 2008, has considered opportunities including educational podcasting, audio feedback, and smartphones and tablets as disruptive technologies. He edited the Digital Voices book for MELSIG, published in 2013.
Keynote 2: Changing Your Learning Landscape Through Technology
Professor Stephen Gomez, Higher Education Academy: Academic lead for online learning
Digital and internet technologies have changed the nature of our social and work activities. One area where it has had less of an impact is in the delivery of higher education (HE). HEFCE has supported a number of initiatives to promote technology enhanced learning and one of its most recent programmes has been Changing the Learning Landscape (CLL). CLL aims to encourage and support the embedding of learning technology in HE through strategic and operational activities. This presentation will give a brief background to CLL and then focus upon the academic professional development aspect the HEA has led and draw upon examples which are relevant to all practitioners.
Short biography
Professor Stephen Gomez is currently on secondment to the Higher Education Academy as Academic Lead for Online Learning across the UK HE Sector. In his former role at Plymouth University, Stephen was Head of Work Based and Placement Learning with a university-wide remit to promote the professional development of staff in order to enhance the student experience.
Previously to working at Plymouth University, Stephen was a lecturer in human neurophysiology at UWE, Bristol where he developed a host of innovative e-learning approaches to help his students learn in lectures, practical work and on placement.
E-learning forms a significant theme throughout Stephen’s work as he sees it as an invaluable tool that supports his academic teaching, enables his work-based learning activities and enhances student learning and assessment, both traditional and distance. Professor Gomez uses e-learning extensively and has a track record of pioneering e-learning methods such as web-tutorials, audio and video feedback, e-portfolio development, OERs for CPD and mobile app tutorials. He received a National Teaching Fellowship in 2003 for his pioneering work.
Professor Gomez was also Project Director of a Higher Education Academy/JISC-funded project producing open education resources (OERs), mainly e-learning materials to support traditional (ie full time) and non-traditional (ie distance learners in the workplace) learners. Stephen also won first place in a national e-learning competition in 2006.
