Helen Caldwell

The interdisciplinary use of blogs and online communities in teacher education

Purpose – Online learning is developing rapidly in higher education. As a result, in the Initial Teacher Education Division at The University of Northampton, UK, academics have experimented with methods to embed blogs and online communities into courses to enhance learning for staff and students. The paper aims to discuss this issue. Design/methodology/approach – This paper critically analyses the approach used to examine media-rich multimodal content that was shared through these tools. Findings – The paper models how blogs and communities have enhanced interdisciplinary subject teaching, staff development and student engagement. This is achieved by sharing case studies from the courses which model the strengths and limitations of practices adopted. Originality/value – Focused discussion demonstrates how reflexivity, communities of practice and experimentation with technological teaching strategies fuel the learning that occurred.

A comparison of MOOC development and delivery approaches

We present a comparison of two ways of developing and delivering MOOCs. One was developed by the Open University in collaboration with FutureLearn; the other was developed independently by a small team at Northampton University. The different approaches had very different profiles of pedagogic flexibility, cost, development processes, institutional support, and participant numbers. This comparison shows that, even several years after MOOCs came to prominence, there is a range of viable approaches for MOOCs. MOOCs on existing large platforms can reach many thousands of people, but constrain pedagogical choice. Smaller, self-made MOOCs have smaller audiences but can target them more effectively.

Master Teachers in Computing: What have we achieved?

Recent changes to the teaching of Computing in all schools in England have been profound and wide-ranging, changing the subject from one focussed on the use of ICT products to one focussed on the understanding and creation of computing systems. This change in the curriculum has created a strong demand for professional development of in-service teachers, to develop their skills and expertise to deliver this new curriculum. One approach to developing in-service teachers to deliver the new computing curriculum has been through the Computing At School Master Teacher programme, appointing and training experienced in-service teachers to deliver continual professional development (CPD) peer-to-peer. However, many potential Master Teachers require additional training before they can take up this role. In this paper, we describe how we have trained two cohorts of Master Teachers in two successive years. Evaluation of the first cohort informed revisions to the second cohorts training. The diverse needs of the individual trainees, identified through semi-structured interviews and analysis of completed tasks, led to a variety of CPD being delivered, but almost all required training and practice with programming. Before and during the programme, the trainers shared resources and had online meetings to discuss their work. This was useful in terms of establishing and maintaining consistency between different providers. The use of many teaching strategies that provided collaborative working and discussion opportunities were highly rated by the trainees. The first cohort of teachers has already delivered a significant amount of CPD in their first year after training. The second cohort are well placed to start their CPD delivery, with a better appreciation of where they need to develop their own skills.