Designs on eLearning #DEL12: Student Showcase -‘My Digital Life’

How brilliant that students have a voice at a conference, something I first encountered at FOTE last year and again at PELC earlier this year.

Alice Macchi:
Important issues to consider between the student / institution relationship and online students include aspects of communication as well as integration, engagement, and alienation due to distance. If institution want to invest in more online courses then these issues must be addressed before the students enrol/start and not once they are here.

Online communities are created with or without the institution but the institution should consider these communities and work to bring everyone together (student services or student union to have dedicated post to support this?). The student portal does not reflect or address this: should it or should this be dealt with elsewhere? These students use Ning and Wimba … all external tools to the institution website and/or systems – breaking relationship between students and the institution.

Artemis Evloginenou:
Coming from an engaged and encouraged environment at High School the experience at university is very different and daunting. Despite dedicated buildings designed for the students the spaces were actually more restrictive than not, all coming for the actual construction and structure – the student made this video to explain, artistically, the problems with barriers, blank walls, and barriers to the toilets! “This is an arts school”

Shilpi Tomar:
“Creativity through mobile devices”: Mobile devices have brought new processes and procedures into our daily routine, and Shilpi talks about ‘iPhone Obsessed‘ book and how Dan has had to change his routine that he used to have for his DSLR work to now concentrate on the iPhone apps. Mobile devices enable instant results – take the photo or video, edit it in situ and upload it for wider consumption (and mixing / mash-up)?

Tatiana Alisova:
Experiences of ‘my digital life’: showing illustrations of work developed alone and through collaboration on iPhones and iPads. While some of this is obviously based around coursework there is clearly a passion that drove the students to experiment and continue outside of required work (excellent) – Owl and Pussycat interactive book (Aurasma?)

Artmenis showcased so many excellent pieces of artwork that by the time I got the camera readyshe’d skipped another few slides – I hope to find her work on post links here later

Jessica Barr:
Online studies while travelling through Cambodia! From teacher to student, from London to Cambodia. Remote access enabled unique cultural learning experience from both geographical and technological perspective with peers, from Asia to South America, gained close bonds and relationships long before actually meeting in person. Without mobile devices and (limited) available 3G or wifi hotspots this would not have been possible.

It’s not necessary to be in the classroom to study, but online and learning at a distance is not for everyone.

At no point has anyone talked about the VLE today, isn’t that strange!

There was such a maturity and confidence from these students that I can see why their proposals were chosen for the showcase, and the work they talked about should be seen as an inspiration to their peers and to the tutors – a whole-hearted ‘well done’, and the best applause was definitely saved just for them!