A simple overview of social media and how it can be used #BYOD4L #ocTEL

This is my first attempt at creating an infographic. It aims to provide a simple overview of social media and how these tools can be used to connect, communicate, curate, collaborate and create (5 Cs model Nerantzi and Beckingham 2014). 

You can access the interactive version here.

A simple overview of social media and how it can be used | Create Infographics

If you are interested in finding out more then please follow #BYOD4L and visit http://byod4learning.wordpress.com/

Is time to think again about taking the T out of TEL? #ocTEL

Earlier last week I came across a post that Kathrine Jensen had written last year when taking #ocTEL for the first time. In the comments someone had referred to a conversation on Twitter where it was suggested we take the T out of TEL (Technology Enhanced Learning). 

It took a bit of detective work but I found the originator of this quote - Alejandro Armellini  also taking the course at the time. This was his big question: 







Image source: Public Domain CC

#ocTEL Week 0: big questions - How can we get rid of the 'T' in 'TEL'? http://t.co/A8b0tMQ7ZI
— Alejandro Armellini (@alejandroa) April 5, 2013

It left me thinking.....
Technology Enhanced Learning has in many areas replaced the term 
e-Learning where 'e' referred to electronic and is defined in Wikipedia as: 

'The use of electronic media and information and communication technologies'

The Higher Education Funding Council for England (HEFCE) in their revised e-learning strategy (2009) define TEL as:
‘Enhancing learning and teaching through the use of technology’

As educators and for all the right reasons we often say technology should not come first. Putting pedagogy before technology is now somewhat of a mantra. Steve Wheeler quotes Michael Fullan:

'Pedagogy is the driver, technology is the accelerator' 

Michael Fullan

When you look more closely and scrutinise the phrase 'technology enhanced learning' just doesn't quite sit right. It is not the technology directly that enhances the learning but the pedagogy and learning approach. We know that learning can be enhanced in many different ways. Is it right therefore to emphasise technology first? Alejandro argues that this should be transparent.

The call to remove the 'technology' or the T out of TEL and to focus on the enhancement of learning is therefore something to consider. This would actually brings us back again to e-learning, but this time placing the emphasis on a capital E for enhanced and therefore seen as Enhanced Learning. 

References

HEFCE (2009) Enhancing learning and teaching through the use of technology 
A revised approach to HEFCE’s strategy for e-learning.

Higher Education Academy (2009) Transforming higher education through technology enhanced learning.  

Kirkwood, A. and Price, L. (2014). Technology-enhanced learning and teaching in higher education: what is ‘enhanced’ and how do we know? A critical literature review. Learning, Media and Technology, 39(1) pp. 6–36.

Wheeler, S. (2014) Learning First, Technology Second

Information overload or filter failure? The value of learning in small groups. #ocTEL

Badges

So I got my first badge :-) I am down on the fourth row in the middle. This is the Check-In badge and allows me to now move on to earn my TEL One badge. For this I had to complete an activity which was to record my reflections. I did this in my previous blog post and have now submitted a link to it. I guess someone will now verify this at some point and I will then hear if it meets the grade!

Controlling the flow of email

I've added this video as a reminder to adjust my settings for email notifications. Big thanks to Martin Hawksey for doing this, it made the task much easier. Too much information can be de-motivating and unmanageable.

It also served to remind how useful short screencasts are to help someone though a new task. I must look at my own practice and see how they would add value. It's so useful to be able to play a short video on your phone whilst attending to the task in hand on your PC or laptop, as opposed to flipping back and forth between two screens. 

A second consideration is building your personal learning network. They will help to filter the noise and guide you to valuable learning resources. 

Learning in

Groups

Our task for #ocTEL Week 0 included 

With one or more fellow participants, organise a period of reflection and discussion over two or three days and see if you can arrive at a shared view of:

• What can we tell about the range of experiences and preferences among ocTEL participants?

• What challenges does this present for the course?

• In what ways is a MOOC like this one well or poorly suited to these challenges?

I have joined a group in the course site 'ocTEL CMALT' which aims to help those looking to complete certified membership of ALT by using the experience of #ocTEL as part of our evidence of learning. A discussion of the above questions is something I have contributed to. In addition I have set up a Yammer group and invited colleagues taking the course at my university to join. This will provide us a space to reflect and share our learning. 

I'm not sure how many are participating in #ocTEL but given the Twitter stream there are a lot! With so many voices it is not surprising that people start to feel lost in the noise. What is crucial is to make the best of this learning experience. This can be helped by making small sub groups where you can engage in a conversation and be heard. This can be determined by geographic location or by topic. This is something I would recommend for all online learning courses. Getting individuals to buddy up or form groups is a valuable element of the orientation process and an opportunity to build a support network.

Dare to be different: #ocTEL Activity 0.3 Exploring and experimenting

Image source CC Licence

Today was the first webinar. This took us through the expectations of the course,  a look around the course site and some advice from past participants and facilitators. At the end we were given a password to submit on the badges page to claim the first 'webinar badge'. What is really neat is that the badge shows on my personal page slightly grayed out, but once the code had been verified it changes to green and white. You can also see the other badges you can choose to work for. The TEL Explorer badge can be claimed 3 times in a week by completing the designated activities and evidencing this with a link to your blog post or by uploading a file. I will come back to the motivational factor of badges and the principles behind how you can collect them in another post. Suffice to say for now it is working for me!

Activity 0.3: Exploring and experimenting

During the webinar Martin Hawksey told us that #ocTEL was about curating opportunities to make connections to knowledge AND people. This he said could be done within the course site by joining a group or forum discussion, but he also encouraged us to find different spaces of our own, to explore and experiment. Dare to be different and try something new. 

Unlike some other #MOOcs learning is encouraged to take place in & outside of the course site ~ @mhawksey #ocTEL
— Sue Beckingham (@suebecks) April 30, 2014

Shortly after the webinar had finished a LinkedIn group had been set up, last year's Mendeley group signposted and an invite to join a small group to curate an #ocTEL Scoop.it page (all of which I joined)! I am interested to see how the interactions differ in these spaces or what is said about these spaces. I have not yet used Mendeley to its full potential so I look forward to experimenting there. 

I also set up a Yammer group as a space for my two Sheffield Hallam course buddies and myself to explore and use to engage in discussions about the course. I've been a member of Yammer since 2009 and set up a variety of groups but to date have had only limited engagement. As it happens the colleagues who did engage have now moved on to other jobs outside of SHU. Having a focus to use a new social networking space of course is important. Without, it just becomes a repository for the odd link or document shared. Perhaps the motivation to interact needs to be by starting with a question? An invitation to get people to share their views. The group is currently private and as access to Yammer is ring fenced to the institution (or company) you work for having an open group would not benefit other #ocTEL students. 

For now the main relationship forming and community building seems to be happening within Twitter. New blog posts links are being tweeted and there are discussions forming around these both as tweets and comments in the blog posts. I keep skimming down the list of tweets (saved as a search for #ocTEL on my phone) as I travel to and from work, over lunch and other windows of opportunity. For me this makes it a manageable space to keep abreast of. It allows me to quickly respond to a question or comment. I think if I left it until the end of the day the attempt to catch up it would be overwhelming. Twitter is a space I feel comfortable in. A space I would say I am resident in (Visitors and Residents, White and LeCornu 2011). 

It's possibly too early yet to say if things will develop in other spaces. I get the feeling that participants are still feeling their way around and orientating themselves to the course site and for some getting to grips with Twitter as a new communication tool itself. 

Fringe groups

Mendeley: http://www.mendeley.com/groups/3241271/octel/

LinkedIn: http://lnkd.in/bu3Jt_G

Scoop.it: sco.lt/7hbVmD

Yammer: 2014 ocTEL SHU Co-Learners Sub Group

Experimenting with new tools

Share your location map should have been a quick and easy task but it took me a little while to fiddle with it. Participants were invited to add their university and location to https://mapsengine.google.com/map/.  

Add your name and location to the ALT #ocTEL map! https://t.co/Z4hNDgBcne
— James Kerr (@Kerr63) April 30, 2014

Not to be beaten I then went back and took another look and discovered you can change the colour of your 'pin' and its shape! There is also an edit box so in addition to labeling Sheffield Hallam Uni, I also added my name and my two colleagues David Eddy and Kelly Snape who are also taking the course.  

The tool could be useful for a variety of activities, particularly if you have an international cohort of students, are going on a field trip or want to mark the locations of specific attractions.   

'Big and little questions about TEL' #ocTEL Activity Week 0

Image source: http://pixabay.com Public Domain CC0

Activity 0.1

My BIG question has to be:

"Why when there is now so much evidence that our future graduates need to develop a range of digital skills and understand how to use these alongside social media to communicate and collaborate, do we not see all courses embedding opportunities for students to learn how to confidently and effectively develop digital literacies?"

My next question is:

"Why is the supported upskilling and development of educators who are teaching our students not a priority?"

The biggest factor seems to be time. 

"How do we get to a point where staff development is something time planned in and achievements are recognised?"

Reflecting upon learning new skills

Despite my passionate interest in the use of social media and technology to enhance learning, I do not consider myself to be a 'techy'. I'll be honest, I've often struggled with new technology and will pour over instructions for ages, re-reading or re-playing a 'how to' video. Where others may listen to a few instructions or simply have a go and get it almost immediately, technology for me is often hard work! However I do get there in the end. What has helped me considerably is drawing upon the skills and expertise of others who have got there before me. Asking questions and looking for alternative ways to learn a new skill all help. We have all felt daft asking yet another question when learning something new, but unless we do progression is so much harder. Technology can be frustrating but it also brings rich rewards when used for learning. As Educators we are always learning and technology opens up new and exciting opportunities to continue this journey.  

I often draw upon these very feelings when I am working with colleagues, giving a workshop or a class with students. Those very words "It's easy to do x" are ones I try not to use. Very often it is not easy until you know how. Key things I have learnt as an educational developer introducing technology:

1. Don't make assumptions about the level people are starting from
2. Avoid using jargon
3. Start with exemplars of how it (the technology) could be used
4. Explain in bite sized chunks how to use it
5. Encourage questions
6. Let individuals practice what they have learnt

At this point we should encourage individuals to reflect on what they have learnt and to evaluate the impact on the learning experience of others once the new technology is introduced. This is where it starts to get messy... 

How do I know if the developmental session I gave was a success? Did it change practice? Were the outcomes positive? Could I enhance my development session? Do I need to? How was the teaching innovation received by students? Did it run smoothly? If there were issues, what where they?

Very often we don't have the opportunity to see the impact a TEL development workshop has. This is not because we are not interested but simply a lack of time and yet unless we take this opportunity how can we be sure what we are doing is effective? How can we make this process easier? How can we best share this information with others so we are not continually trying to reinvente the wheel?

CMALT

By taking this course I am already starting to reflect on my own practice and that of others. It will be a very useful opportunity to re-visit my CMALT application and see how I can align the two. This is the Certified Membership of the Association of Learning Technology. 

I am going to take this learning opportunity to learn with others and hope to both gain new ideas and approaches but also share with others things I have found useful. The reflective process will also help me to consider areas of my practice I can improve upon. It will help me to stop and question. 

Twitter

This course is using the hashtag #ocTEL and along with the very useful course reader that Martin Hawksey has set up, I will not be short of information to read! This is where the warning comes in for anyone new. Based on previous involvement with a variety of open courses similar to this one, you will not be able to read everything and that is ok! It takes a while to accept this. Instead come to enjoy the serendipity of happening upon tweets and look to join groups you take an interest in - these are beginning to form on the course site. Connect with new people on Twitter and use this forum to ask questions. Chances are someone else will have the same question. Look out for other people's questions and jump in if you can answer any. That's what makes the learning community.

....Let the learning begin (or continue)!

The lure of the #ocTEL badge

ocTEL is the Open Course in Technology Enhanced Learning led by ALT, the Association for Learning Technology. This is the second year it has run. 

What drew me in

Below is the opening invite on the enrolment page. What struck me immediately was the clear message that it was ok to drop in and learn when I can and focus on my choice of topic. Having been involved in a number of MOOCs I know from experience that life and work have a habit of getting in the way and best laid plans for dedicated participation have for me gone out the window. The message below is both reassuring and inviting. 

ocTEL doesn't follow a traditional format and whilst we'd love everyone to complete 'the course' you can drop-in for the material and events most useful to you (currently outline of weeks below). Ultimately our aim is to help you make connections between people and knowledge to aid your personal development. ocTEL is an ideal opportunity to consider the connection with your existing skills and experience and Certified Membership of ALT (CMALT).

I then took a look at the course hashtag #ocTEL to see who talking about it. A few tweets later and I already felt part of the start of this new community.

@suebecks @yvetteinmb Nice one!! We're all #ocTEL ready!!
— Helen Crump (@crumphelen) April 28, 2014

For me this is what it is all about. An opportunity to learn more about technology enhanced learning with other like minded people in bite sized nuggets, but also to discuss and debate, make new connections and expand the rich and valuable personal learning network I have. Opportunities like this would not be possible on such scale without such free and open courses. 

The lure of the badge is an incentive! Why? Because it requires me to reflect on my learning and evidence this as blog posts. I have written before that this particular aspect does not come easily, but have discovered that short posts are manageable and you find that once you get in to the flow words start to tumble out. This isn't polished report writing and you have 'permission' to write as much or little as you wish. This is writing for you. If others read your posts and find it useful, well that's a bonus. 

I look forward to this new MOOC, the conversations I will have and the opportunity to continue my learning with a community of educators who I am sure will open my mind to new ideas and approaches. 

Maha sums this up with her tweet:

Love the #octel emphasis "help u make connections between people and knowledge to aid your personal development" https://t.co/0dxsJrnyYr
— Maha Bali (@Bali_Maha) April 28, 2014

The ocTEL course information page further inspires with its intro

the open course you cannot fail......unless you fail to find something interesting

Somehow I doubt that very much!
   

Programme

Week 0: TEL & the future (induction) - 28 Apr 2014 
Week 1: Concepts and approaches - 5 May 2014
Week 2: Learners and learning - 12 May 2014
Week 3: Materials, platforms and technologies - 19 May 2014
Week 4: Support, feedback and assessment - 2 Jun 2014
Week 5: Leadership, management and keeping on track - 9 Jun 2014
Week 6: Enhancement, review and evaluation - 16 Jun 2014

Key links

Website: http://octel.alt.ac.uk/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/ALTocTEL

Hashtag: #ocTEL

Spreading the word: The ripple effect of Slideshare

Last week I led a Twitter Mini Masterclass at Sheffield Hallam University with my colleague Joe Field and posted my presentation slides on to Slideshare. I was thrilled to receive an email from Slideshare to say it had been selected to be featured on their home page.

   

Slideshare Tweets

Slideshare also tweeted a link to my presentation via @SlideShareToday and @SlideShare. At this point in time my slideshare had 196 views. 

'Twitter Mini Masterclass' by @suebecks is featured on our homepage. slidesha.re/101jRwE
— SlideShare Today (@SlideShareToday) May 15, 2013

Best practices for using Twitter hashtags, search, lists, analytics and dashboards: slidesha.re/10zGZRL via @suebecks
— SlideShare (@SlideShare) May 16, 2013

IMPACT

In the space of five days my slideshare has had over 3.5k views and 29 downloads, 14 shares on Facebook, 36 via Twitter and 15 via LinkedIn. 

You can track this data on Slideshare each time you upload a presentation. (More in depth analytics are available via the Pro version). There is also space for viewers to leave comments; a very useful opportunity to receive feedback on your presentations. 

Once you have uploaded your presentation slides you can choose to share your work through your own social channels and grab the embed code to display the slide deck within your blog or website.

Steve Wheeler, Associate Professor at the University of Plymouth uses SlideShare to share his keynote presentations that he gives all over the world.  One of his most popular slideshares to date was an invited speech given at the Learning Technologies event in 2012, which has currently had over 54k views. (I would recommend following Steve on Twitter as @timbuckteeth). 


I've often thought it is a shame that conference presentations are not shared beyond the event and conference website. Using SlideShare enables access to a far wider audience and good use of tags will help viewers to find your presentations via the search facility within Slideshare. Accompanying or subsequent papers and documents can also be added as PDFs. 

I give all of my work a Creative Commons licence which means viewers can download and share with accreditation but cannot use commercially. 

I think it is suffice to say that sharing your work in this way is undoubtedly an additional and very effective way of disseminating your work. Whilst I can't expect every presentation to be featured the possibility that it might is a bonus!

The best blogs on MOOCs, cloud computing, mobile learning, social media, digital pedagogy and more.

The EdTech online magazine has recently released a list of 50 must-read higher education and IT focussed blogs covering the likes of MOOCs, cloud computing, mobile learning, social media, digital pedagogy and more. The list was chosen not by the magazine but by the readers who were asked to submit thier favourite blogs and then vote on the submissions. I recommend you take a look!

I was pleased to see a number of bloggers I follow, but especially so when I saw David Hopkins who blogs from Technology Enhanced Learning Blog and tweets as @hopkinsdavid. 

Congratulations David!

This is someone I have had both the privilege to learn from and with. His blog is both informative and inspiring, but it was through Twitter that we first developed conversations on topics of shared interest. He encouraged me to write my own blog on social media, one I had initially set up just to demo blogging to my students. 

Our paths have continued to cross and through Twitter and blogging I continue to learn from David and many other educators who are freely sharing resources and thoughts (often provoking and inviting to be challenged). Through our mutual interest of digital identity and the use of social media by students, David and I went on to plan and prepare a presentation on Digital Footprints for the annual PELeCON elearning conference in Plymouth in 2011 (an event I would recommend you keep an eye open for - Led by Steve Wheeler @timbuckteeth). 

What has become clear is that it is through social channels such as Twitter, that have enabled our learning communities to grow. Because of the sheer volume of information passing through on a daily basis, I often come upon gems that interest me via those I consider as essential members of my personal learning network. It is these signposts that help to bring posts and tweets to my attention, alongside the serendipity of simply dipping in and out of the social channels. The use of re-tweeting and sharing tools to post links of interesting and valuable information, is one of the amazing positives of social media; creating a ripple effect that reaches far beyond your immediate connections. The use of comments within blogs enable rich discussions to both learn from and debate. Very often these have introduced me to new educators, increasing my network of connections. This in turn has highlighted opportunities to join webinars and MOOCs such as #ocTEL the Open Course in Technology Enhanced Learning led by ALT the Association for Learning Technology.

Within the comments of the EdTech blog post sharing the top 50 list of higher education IT bloggers, recipients of the award paid their thanks. David Hopkins went one step further adding this in his comment:

I was thrilled to be included as one of the people David values as part of his personal learning network. I can also agree 100% with the other names he mentions, as they too are valued by myself. I have also over time had the pleasure of meeting each of these people face to face. Prior to I have followed their posts having been introduced to them virtually through my own connections. Developing conversations online meant that we had already gone though the intro stages of meeting new people, so on meeting face to face for the first time, our conversations simply continued. 

The moral of this post? Value your learning community and share their contributions with others.

Had the likes of David and many others not shared information about their own networks, mine may still have been a very much smaller community to learn with than it is now.

Standing out in the #ocTEL crowd

Two weeks into the #ocTEL MOOC the mass of emails, tweets, Forum entries and now posts in the Google Community have grown like wild fire. I think the key advice I have taken on is that there is no way you can engage with all of it, let alone read it. Some of the messages are repeated in the different channels, so picking your favoured channel or two seems the best coping strategy. Simply reading other people's posts however is fine to start with but to really engage then you also need to join in the conversation to get the most out of it. Last week I joined the first webinar of the course which commenced with a poll asking how many people had engaged with the tasks set. The majority hadn't. My advice would be to give blogging a go. It is a useful way to collate information and reflect upon it. If you don't feel you are ready for publishing publicly, then create a private reflective blog. (You can select this option from settings).


Getting your voice heard 

For me I have found that Twitter is a great way to engage with a learning community and where a hashtag is used you can quickly see who is tweeting. For this course #ocTEL is being used. By searching for this hashtag in Twitter you can bring together all of the tweets in one stream. Start by listening to what others are saying and then jump in and reply to comments made, raise questions or simply retweet a useful tweet so that your followers can also read it.  

Other tools to view who is tweeting include Martin Hawksey's TAGSExplorer which visualises the tweets that include #ocTEL.

Another example is the twitwheel which shows interactions between tweeters.

I recently read an article in Inc titled 'Self Promotion: 6 Ways to get Noticed'. The caption below made me think back about my initial steps interacting online. Worried I would say something that others thought was daft, irrelevant or uninteresting. Say nothing at all and you are the wallflower; talk just about yourself can quickly sound like me, me, me.   

Effective self-promotion lies somewhere 

between being a wallflower and a flaming narcissist. 

The author's suggestions can be applied to the way we communicate using social media. 

Let your results speak for you

Promote others

Talk about what you believe

Admit your failures

Decide what you want to be known for

Put yourself out there

I know I have enjoyed reading both tweets and blog posts where I have felt I have seen the personal side of the author. This can still be done in a professional way - many worry that the personal and professional blurring of our online interactions is a bad thing, but this depends upon what you share. One rule of thumb I tend to follow is that if you wouldn't want your boss or your Mum to read it than don't broadcast it.  

#ocTEL - An open course in Technology Enhanced Learning

Well here I am with great intentions of slicing off enough time to engage with a new MOOC. I must confess right from the start that despite great intentions I have never been able to sustain the commitment needed to complete a MOOC. This in no way reflected on any of the courses; it was simply at those times life took over - home, work, formal MSc study and the unexpected...

The MOOC I am starting this week is being run by the Association of Learning Technologists and is titled the Open Course in Technology Enhanced Learning or for short ocTEL. Further details can be found on the website and there's still time to join in! Having learnt an awful lot from people in the ALT community I'm really looking forward to getting my teeth into this learning opportunity. I think what I realise now is that I'm not alone in  not being able to keep up with all that is presented within a MOOC, in fact in this one it is actually pointed out that it is practically impossible to do so!



Week 0: Induction Activities


Introducing myself

I work at Sheffield Hallam University in the Faculty of Arts, Computing, Engineering and Sciences as an Educational Developer and Associate Lecturer. I have to say that despite not being a learning technologist I have loved taking the opportunities to play with new tech and where appropriate include this both in my own personal learning and in teaching. The recent advances in technology have meant that it is so much more accessible. You don't have to know how to code to be able to create a website or blog, or a techy to take a photo or record video or audio and post this on your blog. I've found this empowerment of becoming a producer not simply a consumer of resources really exciting. I am also studying for a second Masters degree - MSc Technology Enhanced Learning Innovation and Change so am looking at both innovation and barriers to implementation. My research interest is in the use of social media with a focus on higher education, digital identity and online presence. 

My big question about TEL

I think this has to be how can we evidence the value of technology enhanced learning most effectively. Does it have to be measured in a certain way? What would that entail? 

Given the many excellent examples of good practice I am coming across there are clear indicators it is working and yet there seems to be a minority rather than the majority who are embracing new innovations. Is this because there is not enough time or support to introduce these new ideas?  

Secondly I'm looking forward to sharing new ideas about how people are engaging students in distance learning - what new activities are they using to get students to interact and participate with each other.

Exploring and experimenting

I've tidied up my inbox and organised a weekly digest of emails via the jisc-list. I can skim these but won't get to all of them. A regular user of Twitter as @suebecks I have contributed to the conversation and find the succinct messages there are more appealing. The forum discussions are where I think we will be dipping in and out of, with some having more personal appeal than others. It's good to see a variety of ways people can communicate.

What I am hearing:

The introductions by email have been fascinating and it's clear we all have different skills to bring to the table. It's going to be a busy and noisy environment to learn in but already we can see people reaching out to answer questions, suggest useful resources and also challenge ideas. 

Reasons people say they are joining the MOOC

• want to enhance learner and tutor engagement using new technologies
• keen to learn about best practice in TEL
• interested in student perspective when embracing new technology
• also involved with other MOOCs
• looking for a more effective medium for teaching
• I remain extremely interested in distributed learning (distance, online, notes taped to a rock and left by the third fence post to the south of the duck pond, mobile etc) and the idea of a Learning Society. 
• I'm far more interested (especially in research terms) in the pedagogy of online learning and particularly how meaning is socially constructed in the classroom. However, I've decided that I need to to know more about the technology and that's why I'm here ... 

This is the value a learning community will bring - sharing ideas and trying to solve issues

Concerns people are sharing

• my use of TEL is basic - we have a VLE and use video and podcasts
• steep learning curve
• concern through previous experience of MOOCs it will be overwhelming
• information overload - number of emails as JISC filters not been set
• students wary of online posting through fear of public exposure
• Am sort of overwhelmed by all the emails I've been getting this afternoon

People usually know more than they think, and where they are stuck this is the place to reach out and ask. It's all part of the learning experience.

Tech speak, jargon and acronyms!

• I try to keep technical terms to an absolute minimum in order to encourage teaching staff that they need not fear TEL. You don't after all need to be a mechanic to drive the car.
• E-learning is inclusive of, and broadly synonymous with technology-enhanced learning (TEL), computer-based training (CBT), computer-assisted instruction (CAI), internet-based training (IBT), web-based training (WBT), online education, virtual education, virtual learning environments (VLE), and digital educational collaboration. 
• TEL - What do I mean by enhanced?  How do I measure it - qualitatively or quantitatively?  

There are some interesting questions coming up which may not be answered immediately but as we grow as a group this collective body of people will no doubt get around to each one in time. 


Acronyms

As a starter here is a list of acronyms used in higher education I've been collating in Google Docs. Feel free to add to this open list.

Links

To aid my memory (which is currently overloaded!) these are some links I think I'll find useful to refer back to:

• ocTEL site: http://octel.alt.ac.uk/
  
  
• Course outline and dates: http://octel.alt.ac.uk/new-course-outline-and-confirmed-dates/
  
  
• Forums: http://octel.alt.ac.uk/forums/
  
• Participant Blogs: http://octel.alt.ac.uk/course-discussions/participant-blogs-discussion-spaces/
  
  
• Diigo: https://groups.diigo.com/group/alt-octel
• 
  
• Google+ Community
  
  
• Mendeley: http://www.mendeley.com/groups/3241271/octel/
  
  
• Twitter hashtag: #ocTEL
• Twitter name: @ALTocTEL
• Twitter visualisation: http://octel.alt.ac.uk/course-discussions/twitter-conversation-visualised/