starting the study activities

Here's my first posting on the forum too.

I thought I'd make a start and looked at activity 1.3 :-

Phew it’s a long time since I did my Cert Ed (1978 to be exact) and some people don’t even know what they were as they don’t exist anymore. However, my Dip Ed was more recent – 1996.

For this, I studied (with the OU) three modules:-
• Curriculum and Learning
• Managing Schools: challenge and response
• Educational management in action

In each case, I was expected to carry out a short piece of action research within my own school. I got better as I went on (like James Aczel’s point in podcast one about getting better at research). The main method I used at that stage was what I suppose you could call thematic analysis of qualitative data. I went on to do an MA and EdD with the OU, basing my work for the latter on a Grounded Theory framework.

Where am I from? I was born in East London but grew up in St Ives, Cornwall. I went to college in Oxfordshire and started teaching in Buckinghamshire and Northamptonshire. Later, I taught in Inner London, followed by a long stint in the outer London borough of Croydon – where I still am. I live on the junction of Kent, Surrey and Sussex.

My previous experience of technology enhanced learning, I taught for five years on the OU’s EZX836 – the global version of E836. This is the second year that I have taught on E891 which has a blended approach – using moodles and wikis. I have also recently introduced wikis for GCSE students and as a collaborative approach to teacher Continuing Professional Development (CPD).

What online courses, if any, I have previously studied. None.

What I hope to get out of this course:- A real appreciation of existing and developing research into technology enhanced learning for all ages. I am also hoping that it will enhance my pedagogy both at GCSE and MA level.
January 30, 2009 2:38 PM