a) An understanding of teaching, learning and/or assessment processes

I think it is vital for learning technologists to have an understanding of the learning/teaching/assessment processes if they are to appropriately support learning technologies, for me the vital word is learning , not technology. My current job title is 'eLearning advisor', is open to interpretation by staff, as the term eLearning is not clearly defined. As I am based in the Information Services department there is often an assumption that I am a 'techie' and have no interest or expertise in education. I think that the term 'eLearning' can be very unhelpful and that talking about learning first and then appropriate learning technologies is more appropriate. Often people discuss 'elearning' as if it is fundamentally different from any other type of learning, for example at U of E colleges have discussed having both a 'learning and Teaching Strategy' and an 'eLearning strategy' but I find this distinction unhelpful and misleading. Also I find that people sometimes seem to define elearning as distance learning, however at U of E usage of the VLE is most often a 'blended' model with online and F-2-F elements. The definition of elearning as online does not cover technologies such as Electronic Voting Systems (EVS) which are a valuable enhancement to F-2-F sessions.

While employed to QMU I completed a part time PG Certificate in Professional Education and on completion became a fellow of the HEA. It was really useful to be studying for the qualification as staff at the University where much more open to me when they realised I was interested in teaching, learning and assesesment. It was also useful to have a students perspective on the institution I worked in and gave me an understanding of the issues students faced around matriculation, communication with Registry, IT and the Library. I think that anyone who works in education should always be trying to learn something new, so you can always maintain a current link to the student perspective.

For the first module of this course was 'Education in Action' a double module was assessed by portfolio (Here is a link to one section of my portfolio Section 4: Development of Learning Environments and Student Support Activities). It included theory and practice of education, to complete this I needed to be teaching frequently, which I was doing as part of my role at QM. As part of this module I had my teaching assessed (link to teaching assessment feedback sheet). Creating the portfolio was a stimulating experience, while daunting at first it became a satisfying deep learning experience. I submitted my portfolio on paper after writing and compiling it in Microsoft word. Later students used the PebblePad eportfolio system and that is why I have chosen to use this system for my CMALT application. I find the best way to learn anything is through doing, so this has given me a valuable experience of using the PebblePad system 'in anger'. Producing my portfolio deepened my understanding of the processes students go through when creating a portfolio and of the benefits of sustained reflection on your own practice. These has been very valuable for me when supporting these systems.

I next completed a module in 'Curriculum Development, which had less of a connection with my day-to-day activities but has given me a good understanding of the activities that lecturers are engaged in during course planning. This has given me confidence to discuss these aspects in relation to technology when working with academic staff.

The last module was 'Introduction to Education Research'. I was really inspired by this module and after completing this have been considering applying to do a PhD.

While at QMU I was involved in two extended training courses for staff, WebCT Summer School and Advanced Summer School. These courses ran over 5 weeks with a half day F-2-F workshop session per week and online activities between meetings. WebCT Summer school was designed to allow staff to develop a new WebCT module from scratch. The idea was to allow staff time to develop there own projects in between the F-2-F sessions and also to encourage them to support their peers. Each session began with a talk and demonstration from an Academic from within QM talking about their use of WebCT. Advanced Summer School was developed a couple of years after this had been developed to allow staff to explore elearning further. It was based around extending possibilities and each week started with a talk from an invited external speaker. You can see detail's of thesetwo traing courses within portfolio sample Section 4: Development of Learning Environments and Student Support Activities.

At the U of E I have recently organised and tutored on a six week online course course called 'An Introduction to eTutoring'. This course is delivered in WebCT, it is designed to give staff at the U of E an authentic 'student' experience and eTutoring practice. The idea is to give the participants relevant experience and then to discuss relevant theories so that students combine practical and theoretical knowledge. The course in fully online and runs for 6 weeks. We aim to exemplify good practice within this course, setting clear objectives and using relevant activities to develop student's understanding. We supply minimal content in the course and instead structure it around activities. This gives an experiential learning experience and encourages participants to think beyond using WebCT to deliver content. We invited guest tutors from across the University to run the activities for a week at a time. This is an interesting course because all of the students are professionals from different areas of the University so we get a range of perspectives and experiences to discuss. I found this a valuable experience to learn from other approaches and to see a variety of techniques in action and feedback from the students suggests that they found this too.

b) An understanding of your target learners

At the U of E my target learners as academic, support and administrative staff at the University. Ultimately I am also thinking about the end users of our systems, the students of the university, though I don't directly interact with them. When I am discussing courses with staff we discuss the students requirements and expected outcomes and design activities to achieve these. Through my discussions with staff I maintain my awareness of the particular requirements of each student group. It has also been very valuable to me that I have studied recently while at QM as it helps me to relate to the needs of students.

The U of E has a very strong research emphasis and academic staff can be reluctant to devote time to learning and teaching activities. The often want 'just-in-time' support, for example phoning or emailing for help when preparing a WebCT sections the day before students will access them. Often academic staff employ administrative staff to help them maintain their WebCT sections. Administrative staff are often more confident with technology than academic staff however this means that academic avoid engaging directly with the technology and so never fully integrate it into their teaching activities.

Working on the 'An Introduction to eTutoring' course has been very useful as it give me an chance to get to know a group of staff more deeply and to gain a better understanding of their experiences and needs.

When we develop training sessions for staff I have found a useful approach is to invite academic staff to show their projects to each other. At QM we found this 'show and tell' approach was very successful, academic like to hear about what other academics are doing. They do not give what learning technologists say as much credence as they see us as technology biased and do not believe that we understand their context fully. QM places an emphasis on it's learning and teaching excellence and staff were rewarded for taking part in these types of activities. So here the approach was very successful.

At U of E I have invited staff to come and talk about the work they are doing, for example a colleague recently came to talk to us about work he was doing with Wikis in a DL Psychology programme. However, we have found this has been helpful for deseminating good practice between eLearning staff but that Academics have been less keen to take part. I think this is because the U of E has a far greater emphasis in research and that learning and teaching activities are not valued as greatly, unless they are part of a research project.

At U of E time is a big consideration for staff. We run half day training session for WebCT and TurnitinUK but feedback from staff suggested this was too long to take from the working day. In response to this I have developed two short taster sessions (see the handouts below for an overview of the contents) for WebCT and Turnitin. These 45min sessions take place at lunchtime and cover all the basics required for people to start using these systems on their own.

WebCT Taster Handout

TurnitinUK Taster Handout

Currently we are reviewing the way we deliver WebCT training. For the last year we have run a course called 'WebCT Vista Fundamentals' which is a half day taught course with hands-on activities. After each session attendees are asked to submit a feedback sheet. I have collated the feedback into a spreadsheet and try to look for similar themes. This has provided a good basis for discussion about the shape and content of the re-designed training. I am now working with colleagues to redesign our training offerings based on this feedback. The current course is a half day session with demonstration and hands-on activity which is supported by a workbook participants can take away afterwards. There have been a few problems with is model, if we get a mixed group of participants it was impossible to get through all the materials in the half day. There is too much information in the session for a novice user, but some information that is not included is frequently requested by participants. Also, as we only see participants once there is little opportunity to form a relationship with them and to encourage them to approach the department for further support.

We are still in the planning stages but the revised model will probably consist of a collection of shorter focused session (1 and a half hours). This will allow staff to pick from a greater range of skills, and also to take time to consolidate skills between session. We hope that, as has happened with the TurnitinUK taster sessions, staff will find the shorter sessions easier to find the time to attend.