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Distance Learning

Attempt 1

ANGLIA RUSKIN UNIVERSITY

Assignment Coversheet

Student Number: 1136857/1

FACULTY Faculty of Health, Social Care and Education

ASSIGNMENT DETAILS

Module Code / Occ / Year MOD001308 / DL1 / 2013/4

Module Title Technology in the Work Setting

Module Element 010 - ELECTRONIC PORTFOLIO 6000 WORDS OR

EQUIVALENT

To be marked by Submission date (by 5p.m.) 03/01/2014

Submission of this assignment agrees to the following: I understand that the piece of work submitted will be considered as the final and complete

version of my assignment of which I am otherwise the sole author. I understand both the

meaning and consequences of plagiarism and that my work has been appropriately attributed

unless otherwise stated. I have not knowingly allowed another to copy my work.

Mitigation – you have 5 working days after the deadline to submit a claim for mitigating

circumstances. If there are matters or circumstances which have had a serious adverse effect

on your performance in any assessment, you are advised to seek advice from a Student

Adviser. Forms are available from the iCentre.

WORD COUNT: 4,331 Disk included (tick)

ASSESSMENT FEEDBACK - LECTURER TO COMPLETE

Turnitin receipt number

Signature of Marker _______________________ Date ________________

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(Un-

moderated)

Table of Contents Technology in the work setting .............................................................................................. 3

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Data Collection .................................................................................................................. 3

Data Manipulation ............................................................................................................. 4

Data Analysis .................................................................................................................... 6

Shared Working Data ........................................................................................................ 6

Effectiveness and Value ........................................................................................................ 8

Learning a Skill ................................................................................................................... 10

Description. ..................................................................................................................... 10

Feelings & Thoughts. ....................................................................................................... 11

Evaluation ....................................................................................................................... 12

Analysis ........................................................................................................................... 12

Conclusion ...................................................................................................................... 13

Action Plan ...................................................................................................................... 13

Stitching .............................................................................................................................. 14

References ......................................................................................................................... 18

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Technology in the work setting There are varied ways to collect data from people, including interviews and online collection

methods. This information can be vitally important, including students’ future subject choices

and their expected grades. New technology, such as tablet computers, have changed the

dynamic of the collection of this data, now people can collect data whilst mobile as opposed

to adding this at a later stage. This shows a need to develop the collection methods to meet

the demands of the mobile user.

Data Collection Murray (2013) shows how important this information is, although his experience is based on

the American school system the same model applies. He shows the importance of

standardised quantitative testing and comparing this to qualitative reasons for the

differences of grades.

As well as the collection of data, there is a need to pass this throughout departments. For

assessing students’ progress, as well as showing other values within these data system

(Parke 2012). To achieve this the school utilises methods that have been well established;

using the VLE to make forms to collect information from students, staff and parents or the

Student Information System (SIS) to get their achievement grades or attitude to learning

grades from the teachers.

Student thoughts, information and ideas are also collected through many forms. These are

used to show what they want their GCSE and A Level choices to be, this is used for whole

school planning for the following years’ timetable.

More qualitative information is used to assess the home lives, reading preferences and IT

habits of different cohorts within the school. Spratling, Coke and Minick (2012) outline ways

to help qualitative data collection, some of the techniques are used currently but not all can

be applied when collecting data by computer. All of the perceived information from an

interview setting, or even a group discussion, are missed. This information is valuable

however the investment of both staff time and student time to gain the extra information is

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not viable in the current setting. Some students with particular needs or in exceptional

circumstances are spoken to individually when it comes to important decisions such as

subject choices.

Within this process of planning evaluation of the best tool to collect the data is key. For data

linking to the Student Information System (SIS), such as being dependant on classes and

teaching sets, then a form is designed using Web 2.0 technology and assigned to the

cohorts using the SQL databases that it runs on. Other data may be linked to the year group

or sent to the general public and students alike, therefore a system that supports this whilst

collecting all the information possible is key. This uses the VLE that the school has

purchased called Frog, within this there is a form function which allows multiple types of data

collection methods.

This is not the only means of collecting data, staff perform progression interviews with

students and then enter these results to a form. This allows the emotional data to be

collected, as the staff member is able to add comments on this conversation to the form.

Simpler systems are also used to collect small amounts of data from a small cohort. For

example students who are arranging transport will tell an admin assistant their postcode

when they pay. This is communicated to the transport co-ordinator to add to their planning

system. As the transport fills there is a need for the admin assistant to know what spaces

there are left, showing information flowing both ways. Once this has happened the routes

are planned and information about these sent, via the admin assistant, to the students.

Data Manipulation Different methods are used to turn the data collected into useful information, this is achieved

by either automated electronic methods or by staff manipulating the data.

Student Information

Admin Assistants

Data Manipulation

(Creating Map)Transport Co-

ordinator

Data Analysis Creating RouteSite Manager

Returning Information to

StudentAdmin Assistant

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The existing methods are well known, especially with the teaching staff, who are content with

their part in the collection of student predictive grades. It is collected, using the established

methods, by my department then it is passed to the administration staff. The data is

manipulated, either to be readable or to have come comparison applied. They then pass this

on so that the SLT can assess the finding and report back with the results.

The amount of data is also of concern, not necessarily when talking in the relatively small

scale of a secondary school, but if the principle is applied to a larger environment the costs

to store and process the information would be considerable. Rans (2013) shows that,

depending of the redundancy level of the stored data, cost per terabyte, per year range from

£500 (for a single copy of the data with no backup) to £5,000. Therefore the choice of data to

store becomes more than a usefulness of that data, it becomes a budgetary issue.

Information is what an organisation runs on, if this is compromised through physical

destruction or corruption then there are major ramifications.

The way of sharing information is generally using established technology, Microsoft Office

products Outlook and Excel are well known to many. Using these produces many copies of

the information, as people get an email with the original data in, save this to their documents

to work on and then send this newly edited document on to the next step. This manipulation

of the data, turning it into useful information, is especially important Francisco (2011), as it

allows comparison between members of the cohort and between the current year group and

previous ones.

There are methods that can be put in place to decrease the workload of the data

manipulator, either when designing the collection method or creating automatic processes to

alter the information. Designing a system that produces the desired results, in the correct

Owner of Information

Data Collection IT Department

Data Manipiation

Administration

Data AnalysisSLT

Results

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format is possible. This just takes more time initially, but in the case of recurring events such

as collecting the student grades, it could save hours of work in the long run.

Data Analysis Shen and Cooley (2008) show that data must inform the decision making process, for

example the predicted grades could go on to inform where extra lessons could be added.

Thereby increasing the chances of students gaining qualifications in core subjects. They go

further saying that often this data is only used as a way to ratify the teaching and is not used

to improve the learning of the cohort as they move through the school, only being used after

the students have sat their exam and therefore too late.

Ofsted’s Guidance for the School Data Dashboard (2013) shows that the expected progress

between key stage 2 and their GCSE grades, using the assumption that a level 4 at KS2

should gain at least a C. If this is not the case then expected levels of progress have not

been met and the teaching and learning methods should be assessed. This collected

information allows strategies to be put in place to help these students, Francisco (2011)

shows how the analysis of information is the most important and often missed step in this

process.

Managing this information, although eased by the technologies employed, is still incredibly

difficult. Geri and Geri (2011) ask if collecting the data just because there is an ability to do

so is the correct way to approach the situation. The introduction of technologies such as

Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) tags, swipe cards and web technologies such as

forms mean that there is an ever growing amount of data to decode. Geri and Geri (2011)

show that the relevance and usefulness of the data collected needs to be evaluated, any

data that is deemed unnecessary should not be stored.

Shared Working Data Due to the nature of the transition between main school and 6th form, and the external

students joining this can only be finalised in the first week of the terms. Using an online

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collaboration tool would allow the admin assistants to see if there were spaces for the

different routes and advise the new students starting. This would reduce the amount of

emails the manager, who runs this receives, as he would only need to know the addition.

This is an example of using the read-only functions within the online tools.

These are by no means the only instances of sharing data, but do highlight the different

types that my department. These methods are assessed when the project is conceived

within the office and the best solution is decided by the group.

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Effectiveness and Value The poster created, found in the folder, shows the analysis of each of the different tools that

would be acceptable to be used within the school to collect data from staff, students and

parents. When creating the poster many different tools were investigated, however

Piktochart seemed to allow the best ratio of icons and images to information on the page.

Having to limit the amount of text meant that I was focusing on the important parts of the

content, and evaluating the collection tools fully before beginning. Each of the different tools

were evaluated on a range of aspects, including cost and ease of use. These were

compared using a simple scoring method and a table was produced. This table rates each

aspect out of 10, with the exception of cost as lower cost is better.

Ease of Use Cost* Access Design Total

Google Forms 8 1 8 7 32

Frog VLE 6 7 2 5 16

HTML & SQL 4 1 5 7 25

SurveyMonkey 8 4 3 8 25

*Low values best. (Total calculated with cost – 10)

Graphics and icons were used in the design as this helps the reader to understand what

aspect of the tool they are evaluating at that point. There was a mix of icons that the tool

provides and logos of the different collection tools. I have used the document produced by

the Social Care Institute for Excellence (2011) to help me decide what images to include.

Their advice to stick to one type of image made me decide to use mainly the built in icons,

as these have a similar design throughout.

Lane & Vlcek (n.d.) also have shown several ways that imagery can be used to present

information, but remind the reader that the information is key. Therefore I focussed on the

content of the areas, adding the images at a later stage once this had been set. I mainly

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used the information provided on the different tools websites to evaluate them, also relying

on my own experiences with some of them such as Frog and Google Forms.

The best system was identified as Google Forms, as it performs all the function that the

other contenders do with the addition that it is free. This is a large aspect as the Department

for Education (2013) has shown. Therefore this was considered as the most vital aspect and

as this tool, as well as the rest of the Google Docs suit, are free to education it makes sense

to use this where possible.

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Learning a Skill I decided to investigate the adoption of Google Forms to use as data collection, as this is

one of the only technologies that the students and staff can share, others that were

investigated needed highly specialised knowledge and skills. However there needed to be

more information available to allow staff to teach this to students.

I decided to use Gibbs’ (1988) model of reflection to show my thought processes when

further investigating the different uses of Google Forms within the school.

Description.

To improve the use of Google Docs, which has been the focus of my work Performance

Management, I have investigated using Google Forms to collect data in the form of surveys

and questionnaires. Initially this was only to be completed from an admin area within the

school, but whilst investigating it use it was deemed that the resource could also be used to

fulfil a section within the ICT GCSE. Though my research within the module I was able to

assess other data resources, including SurveyMonkey, HTML & SQL and using the VLE that

the school purchased ‘Frog’. Though they all have their benefits, as detailed earlier, the

flexibility and ease of use of Google Forms is best suited to fulfil the need in the GCSE

course.

To that end I began to investigate all the possible options that could be used within Google

Forms, for information to be used by both the staff creating questionnaires and students in

their ICT course (or for further subjects).

After the first draft of this was created I submitted it to the lead ICT teacher who gave me

some guidance on differentiation, as I had not created many resources for student use I

investigated this more and found information on using images and diagram as Schwonke et

al. (2013) has spoken widely about. This meant that the second draft was far more visual

than the initial.

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After I had created this I was asked to cover a lesson as their ICT teacher was absent, they

were set work on creating a questionnaire as this was a very strong area of knowledge for

myself. I explained the different possible options available on Google Forms using the

projector to demonstrate. I also spoke about the difference between open and closed

questions, showing how best to use text boxes with open questions. I then sent the

document that I had created to the students for them to use as reference material whilst

creating the forms. This meant that Honey and Mumford’s (1992) different learning styles

(auditory, visual and kinaesthetic) would all be fulfilled within the lesson.

If any students had questions, on both what to ask and which tool to use I could provide

assistance. Some students were asking more about the validation tools that were available

on some tools within Google Forms and spent some time looking into this. I decided that this

should then be included in the document so that the more able students were able to

progress further.

Feelings & Thoughts. I have created lots of ‘help sheets’ for use with regard to IT Support however this would be

the first ‘teaching’ style sheet that I have produced so I was a little more nervous. This is why

the document was sent to the lead teacher before it was published to student, so that I could

have some feedback on writing in this style. He replied with some sensible additions to the

document and this helped me by allowing the correct content to be included. Once this had

been altered I was happier for it to be used within the lesson.

I have previously helped cover ICT lessons, but mainly whilst they have been continuing with

already started work. The difference with this instance is that it would be the start of a new

section for the students so I would be delivering content as opposed to helping refine work

already done. This obviously made me a little apprehensive as I have not completed any

official training in classroom or behaviour control. However I was pleased to discover that I

would not be alone in the lesson, a cover teacher would also be there as a way to help with

behaviour. I would still be taking the lead within the lesson but there would be assistance.

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It also helped that I had covered the same group before, so I know a little more about the

students than I would have done previously. I also found out after the lesson that there

should have been Teaching Assistant support in the lesson, however they were on the same

trip as the class teacher. This made me feel better about how the lesson went as there

would have been support even for the full time teacher.

Evaluation I think that the classroom experience has helped me refine the document, as I now have

more knowledge on how it would be used in this setting. The range of abilities demands an

option to progress further, so the option to link to another page could be investigated, as

some of the students saw this option on the system. However having no guidance within

school on this function would increase the students’ independent learning skills. Having to

use the internet to research what this function could be used for would improve their skills for

all their subjects and not simply handing the information to them at that point.

The actual lesson was without major incident, with the cover teacher having to intervene only

once. This gave me confidence and so will allow me to advise the other ICT teachers on how

best to deliver this section in the future. I also feel more confident with volunteering to cover

lessons such as this in the future, however I know that to do this on a regular basis I would

need teacher training.

The document that was created also had minor sections altered as the information and

instant feedback that I gained within the lesson meant that I could refine this almost instantly.

Analysis The whole incident is mainly positive, as I have created a resource that can be used in the

future. However if Google Forms changes dramatically in the near future this will have to be

updated as it would no longer make sense. Therefore I have given a little more work to the

ICT department. However, I feel, that the benefit of this document outweighs the possible

negative that may occur.

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Conclusion The experience that I have gained within the classroom have provided me with more

subjective knowledge that can be put to use when creating other content for the whole of the

VLE. This, along with skills created and developed within the course, allows me to be a far

better creator for this learning site. The skills acquisition alone is useful, but to see this

applied to the real world situation is brilliant as I have gained feedback that I would have not

had without this opportunity.

Action Plan For future occasions, where subject resources are created, I should ensure that I am able to

see how these will be used. As this situation has shown, it is best to view how something is

used before alterations are made as to make the best possible use of that resource. There is

no point fixing something that is working effectively, as this might make it not work as well or

at all.

Therefore in the future I will investigate how each resource or subject area use the item that I

am working on both before I start and throughout the creation process. At the moment I am

really only creating the product on the staff members request and information that they have

provided, then returning it to them once finished. In the future I should take more ownership

of these products, and review their effectiveness once implemented. This will improve the

teaching and learning within the school, as if it is not initially working I can then make further

adjustments and create a product that works for that situation.

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Stitching The data collection methods within the school have changed since I started investigating

Google Forms. No longer is the collection document just processed to a version with the

VLE system, Frog. Now each collection is evaluated to see how it would be best collected,

with the available tools. Some times this is stationary, but if the data is needed to be shared

with more than one member of staff, or no processing is needed, then Google Forms is

used. This evaluation has proved effective over the last few months, new types of collection

have been used whilst completing the module, one of which has a focus on staff using

mobile technology to assess lessons whilst on ‘learning walks’ throughout their department.

This using the technologies from both Google, with the use of Google Forms, and Apple as

the iPad is the mobile technology used to collect. This teaming of technological giants should

prove to be effective in the new venture of data collection in the school.

The inclusion of the initial assessment to the needs of the collection shows a real impact of

my investigations into the different data collection tools, especially the information that is

contained within the effectiveness and value document. The image created in this section

highlights the benefits of online editing and sharing that Google Docs brings.

The tool has also been included in the curriculum, as the year 9 students need to create a

survey within their GCSE coursework. This has been implemented this term and I have been

heavily involved in the background to this section, having created an overview of Google

Forms document for the students and staff to use. At one point I was also asked to deliver

an introduction to data collection to a class and to help them to begin their own surveys

when their teacher was absent. This experience was not only beneficial in improving that

document but also helped me gain confidence to be in front of a class and let me see, first

hand, how the documents and sites that I create on the VLE impact the learning of the

students.

This realisation that the items that I create online are actually used in the real world has

given me renewed drive to strive for more online content so that students can learn

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anywhere and at their own pace. Being in the lesson made me realise just how diverse the

learning speeds of a class can be, and both how taxing and frustrating it can be for staff and

students when some are not able to progress further until others in the class have ‘caught

up’. The push to add online content could allow the high achieving students to carry on,

using methods such as flipping the lesson.

Berrett (2012) shows how this can improve the organic styles of learning. With the traditional

lecture suited to only 25% of the students, who are auditory learners. The increase of

consumer technology has allowed items such as video cameras to be widely available.

These, and other devices, can be used to record information that would normally be

delivered in a lesson and send it to the student to review at their own pace before the lesson.

This would utilise the functions of the VLE to deliver online content throughout the course,

allowing the students to progress at their own rates. Whilst also allowing the teacher to give

more focus to the less able students and not worry that they may be hindering the more

able.

Therefore I have started to develop and area online to deliver the Google Forms section of

the syllabus. This will be used by the staff member and contains the document that was

produced initially within the new skill section. The discussion on differentiation with the head

of ICT was extremely valuable whilst producing this. It allowed me to add in different levels

of each section so that students work on their surveys further and make these more

complex. Being in the lesson demonstrated this idea so much more than a conversation

This will be developed further, adding about other areas of Google Docs and using different

mediums, such as video, to appeal to the visual learners. This system will also be applied to

the other areas within the schools’ VLE.

I initially uploaded my draft to the shared area so that others could look at the introduction. It

was at this point when it was suggested that the focus of the module should be finer than

data use within schools. I realise now just how broad this subject would have been if I had

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continued on this path, as just the collection methods is still a very broad subject to consider.

Other suggestions including some rewording of the initial content was also suggested, to

make it clear to readers who do not work within my field. This was incredibly important to

receive as it reminded me that I needed to keep an open audience in mind when completing

the writing for the module. This can be seen in the extract from the module discussion page

below.

The research on the different collection methods was especially useful when I had to setup

an event for the users of the VLE from multiple schools. This meant that I had a section that

we could set up as a discussion event. However I decided that for the event I would ask my

colleague to present this area with some help to setup the presentation. This allowed me to

keep the whole day in focus whilst utilising the knowledge that I have developed over the

beginning of the module. I also built on our professional relationship, passing the knowledge

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gained on to others, he appreciated the help that I gave and also had a very successful

presentation to other schools and our manager.

In this and other modules I have mentioned the use of Google Docs with tablet computers.

Focus on using these to collect information could reduce the strain of the computer room

booking, especially on weeks where Attitude to Learning (ATL) grades and other data

collection is needed. This is a result of poor planning however the use of the class iPads that

the school has purchased could be used to help with the IT provision at these times.

Students may also be more interested in what is being asked of them if they are using a

newer technology, such as the iPad, as opposed to the older style computer rooms. This

could be investigated further to provide more insight as to how people best respond.

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