To reinforce and refresh my own learning I’ve started to roll out sessions with my colleagues especially in Retail, Community Pharmacy & Personal services.
This year I have had demand from colleagues who previously weren’t engaged are now asking me for help. Which is fantastic because they knew where to go to for help.
Adobe Connect has been engaging my Community Pharmacy colleagues who are looking at viable ways to deliver workplace training especially in distance locations.
In Retail my colleagues are asking for help with: online resources, wikis, how to do powerpoint and use a data projector for face to face delivery to engage their students.
Personal services have asked me to help them establish units on Moodle.
This year has certainly started off to be a year of action!
Supporting Industry
Another exciting moment I had recently was being approached by a pharmacy. The business wanted to establish how they could learn to use technology because they would like to run instore health promotions in store.
After assessing their needs I was able to match a unit of competency to the desired training and incorporate it into Cert IV in Community Pharmacy traineeship for the senior staff member. The unit is called ‘Select an eBusiness Model’. Initially, I put together a presentation of how they could use moviemaker as a stepping stone and to build their confidence in this area. Last week they were so impressed, they can’t wait for me to show the trainee how to do this and then apply her learning to the pharmacy, they believe that both the business and the community will benefit from this.
It is so rewarding to share my learning from The Learning Technologies Team to our customers.
Being apart of this amazing team has given me so much knowledge which now I can share confidently with my colleagues and customers.
I got my hands on an e-beam for the Gen Ed section at Great Lakes – how great are they! Teachers who where very ambivalent about technology were immediately engage, especially when shown all the fantastic Activstudio flipcharts that are out there that they can use.
One of the stumbling blocks for a lot of Gen Ed teachers is the literacy level of a lot of our students. Teachers don’t feel that giving computer activities to students helps when they are reluctant readers and writers. Flipcharts are colourful, interactive resources that you can use with the whole class. And if you have an e-beam you can direct everything from the whiteboard. Check out the Activstudio flipchart resources at http://www.prometheanplanet.com/ (You need a flipchart reader – download from TaLE www.tale.edu.au)
notes from the Moodle Moot 08 e-Learning Conference…
Another interesting presentation I attended was from Dr Danial Woo – University of New South Wales.
This session presented the outcomes of Moodle usability evaluation sessions using the eye-tracking software. The sessions were to determine ease of process and use of Moodle and a teaching and learning tool.
This software showed us (via Infrared) exactly where teachers were looking for information and buttons to click when creating a course in Moodle. This provided me with a valuable insight into how teachers use Moodle and gave us some ideas on how we can incorporate the results into our own training at NCTAFE.
Moodle usability evaluation session
The Moodle founders and developers were also present in this session and keen to collaborate about some of the user results, some of which are listed below.
Tendency to focus on the big blue headings in the middle of the screen, which didn’t look click-able, wandering eyes indicated confusion as to where to go next, so user became engaged with the search box
Users unaware that they were logged in
Much confusion for teachers on the course setting page about what ‘Roles’ are
After course creation, you are directed to assign people to a ‘role’. Once you do this, there is no submit or ok button, so users get confused, finally realising they need to use the breadcrumb links to go back to the course
The link to/attach files dialogue is confusing, where does it actually upload the files? Note: this feature will be improved in the new version
Limited to choosing one file at a time to upload
Some confusion about how to add participants to a course
No explanation of adding a hidden ‘teacher’ when you Assign Roles
Some confusion of the editing icons, e.g. indenting a resource icon not that clear
There were also some great tips for Usability Testing;
Use a quiet space to conduct usability testing
To create true user-centered design, work with your users, get them involved early (it expensive to make the changes later)
test early, test often (this will result in cost saving)
Start designs on paper
Treat it like a science experiment
Start simple and then build on your course
Don’t give instructions to users by using the exact language e.g. “click this button”. Give users a more generic goal, e.g. “Here are some files, upload them to the course”
Track trends, not just one lot of results
Analyze findings and create solutions
Use a note taker, don’t be distracted by taking notes yourself
Develop Moodle – we can all contribute to the Moodle community. Vote for issues that as teachers, we would like to see fixed first (you can do that here).
Train more effectively, incorporate these issues into our training
Continuous Improvement results in happier users, increased performance
I have used my iPOD to record conversations I have with trainees when I visit their workplace. The trainees love it because I send them the audio file later and they can listen to the conversation and it reminds them of what theyneed to do before the next time I visit. Really cool!!!
Using the iPod for Interviews
I have also used the iPOD to interview a teacher about her experience with technology in the classroom. Just by showing her what’s possible. She went on to try using a video camera when assessing students. First, she made the recording, then created a little movie which she forwarded to her students for self assessment. The teacher loved it and said she would use it again.
2009 is the year of Action for me
