Pontydysgu – Bridge to Learning

I have spent many years living in Pontypridd, in the South Wales Valleys. During this time I also spent several years living in social housing on a housing estate where many people were unemployed. Nealy everyone I knew who was unemployed wanted to work. True, some of them suffered from chronic illness or disability – all too often caused by depression. But most simply couldn’t get work. Many had few qualifications.There were also a considerable number of single parents, unable to work due to childcare responsibilities.

People were reliant on social benefits to feed and cloth their children – and yes to go on an occasional night out. But then as now it was very hard to survive on benefits. however families helped out plus there was generally (not always) a sense of solidarity and community support. Many people also worked on what we called ‘hobbles’ – off the cards (illegal work) – mostly for a local Christmas decoration company paying little more than £1 an hour.

But some, like me had degrees. And for two years I was unemployed. I admit I took to lying in my job applications. After endlessly being told I was overqualified I forgot to tell people about my degree. And at the same time no-one was looking for history graduates in the valleys.

None of these people were lazy. None were afraid of hard work – quite the reverse. Few people would choose to live on benefits. It is simply that within the limits of their qualifications and responsibilities there was no work.

And so I get angry when I hear ideologically driven nonsense from people like UK prime minster Cameron – who wouldn’t even last half a day on one weeks social benefits – that poor people are “culturally” unique, dependent on welfare by their own design and workshy.

And such nonsense is shamelessly peddled by the popular press who produce all kinds of spurious and inaccurate statistics to back it up. Even the Department of Work and Pensions has got in on the act, this week being forced to admit that its false its claim that there had been a 30% rise in people on disability living allowance over eight years was in fact “distorted”.

All the more welcome then that the UK Higher Education Economic and Social Data Service has released a new web page entitled “Understanding the riots: Data that can inform new research”.

The article states:

The recent street violence that erupted in parts of London and other English cities is sparking heated debates about the underlying causes.

Policy makers and the public want to know more. For researchers, there is a wealth of data to consult.

In August 2011, areas of London and towns and cities across England experienced outbreaks of rioting, looting, crime and arson unseen since the riots in Brixton and Toxteth of 1981.

While the situation has calmed for the moment, media coverage has raised many questions, for example:

• How has socio-economic discontent and the rise of consumer culture contributed to the unrest?
• How do young people see their lives and opportunities in an uncertain world?
• How do the police use their powers and resources during civil disturbances and in the wider policing of communities, especially with regard to race, and how does the presence of gangs affect community life?
• Given the role of technological and social media as an agent of communication in the riots, how has the rise of the internet and mobile technology changed society, especially among young people?

ESDS provides access to a range of qualitative and quantitative data resources that can give researchers contextual information to make analytical sense of these issues.

The article goes on to provide access to a number of relevant studies. But the ESDS also provides access to a wide range of statistical resources. And the sooner social science and education researchers start making use of these statistics the better. The problem, I suspect, is that analysing such statistics takes some skill and time.

Even more is the problem that academic researchers are not used to telling their story in a way that connects with people. Whilst I would not want to see research presented ‘Daily Mail’ style, I think there is much we can do to think of new ways of connecting with the wider world outside academia and making considered research and analysis available to counter blind prejudice and ideology (more to follow in next few days).

Having spent much time in Germany working as a researcher around vocational educatio0n and training I am a big fan of apprenticeships. True, the German dual system of apprenticeships has its weaknesses, but in general if offers a respected and high quality training to over half the age cohort. As Wikipedia explains,  there are some 342 recognized trades (Ausbildungsberufe) where an apprenticeship can be completed. They include for example doctor’s assistant, banker, dispensing optician, plumber or oven builder. The dual system means that apprentices spend about 50-70% of their time in companies and the rest in formal education. Depending on the profession, they may work for three to four days a week in the company and then spend one or two days at a vocational school (Berufsschule). This is usually the case for trade and craftspeople. For other professions, usually which require more theoretical learning, the working and school times take place blockwise e.g. in a 12–18 weeks interval.

I have also long bemoaned the poor apprenticeship system in the UK, which was largely abolished with the demise of the Training Boards in the 1970s. Many young people are forced into inappropriate university courses which provide poor training for their career and result in large personal debts. So in theory I should be happy with today’s House of Commons library research, as reported in the Guardian newspaper, which shows that the coalition exceeded its target of creating 203,200 apprenticeships for people over 19 in the 2010-11 financial year, creating 257,000 new apprentices. And I am sure that the headline will be seized on by apprenticeship advocates in Germany and other parts of the world as welcome news that the UK has indeed at last re-established a reputable apprenticeship training system.

Sadly this is not so. The research shows that the biggest increases in apprenticeships are in health and social care and retail; indeed one of the most dramatic increases was in the “cleaning and support service industry”, where 1,930 apprentices were created in the academic year 2010-11, compared with 360 in the previous academic year. In other words the majority of the apprenticeships have been created in low skills service industries.

One of the major problems for comparative researchers is how apprenticeship is defined in the UK. Apprentices are defined as paid employees who gain practical skills in the workplace as well as receiving training outside work. In other words any programme which provides external training for employees as well as some form of practical skills training can be counted as an apprentice and therefore employers are able to draw down subsidies for the training. This goes some way towards explaining why the largest increases were for ‘apprentices’ aged over 25 where numbers nearly quadrupled, from 36,300 to 121,100. And perhaps the most telling figure is in the average length of the so called apprenticeships. In Germany most apprenticeships take three years to complete. But in the UK, apprenticeships lasting longer than a year rose by under 2% while those lasting less than a year increased by over 30% on 2009-10.Overall, the proportion of apprenticeships lasting longer than a year dropped from 47% to 41%. Indeed many appear to have been shorter than 12 weeks!

Whilst any increase in work based training is welcome, the new programmes being introduced in the UK are a parody of the idea of apprenticeship. And sadly the credibility of apprenticeship training as a whole is likely to be reduced, both in the eyes of young people and from the viewpoint of employers.

Despite all the thousands of words written about the riots in England it is hard to find many considered ideas or indeed undertanding or just sense. This video interview by the Guardian newspaper with Chavez Campbell who had  predicted riots in London – six days before they actually occurred  stands out – and provides a realistic, depressing and chilling message that is being ignored by main stream politicans and media.

Last week we traveled to San Marino to organise a workshop on internet radio at the San Marino Arts Festival (SMIAF) and to broadcast the festival.
The SMIAF web site says:

100 music events, theater, circus, photo, art, culture and appetizers-meetings, the event gives voice to young artists of Knowledge, professionals and creators of San Marino, Europe and the World. The Festival creates a “social network” real and human in the ancient Land of Liberty to meet, interact, learn and create new knowledge. SMIAF Project aims to promote, also throughout the year, a new and more valuable visibility for the country both locally and internationally.

But this fails to convey the real excitement. The festival is run by volunteers – young people from San Marino. They have only a small budget and much of that is money raised by them. And there is a real buzz about it – enhanced by the venue. The old city of San Marino is perched 800 meters up on a mountain with small winding streets. There are ten festival stages with steep climbs between them.

We met for the workshop at about four in the afternoon on the Friday. The workshop, held outside in one of the main squares, was a little complicated in that we did not speak Italian and most of the volunteers spoke only limited English. But with help from Anthony, our Maltese translator we got by.
This is the fourth internet radio workshop we have run this summer and although they vary a little according to time and numbers, the format and content is much the same. We introduce them to the equipment and to how internet radio works, then we run a storyboarding workshop to get ideas for content and formats for the broadcasts. This is usually followed by a session where participants decide what roles they will take responsibility for – producers, floor managers, technicians, music, journalists etc.

Then it is down to the hard work of preparing content and getting out publicity through social networks whilst at the same time practicing interview techniques and how to use the microphones. The workshops are always pretty chaotic but a lot of fun. With previous workshops teh aim has been to produce a 30 minute programme. In this case we ended up broadcasting from four in the afternoon until ten o’clock on the Saturday and on the Sunday we ran on to well past midnight.

What is particularly satisfying is the enthusiasm and speed of learning which happens when participants have a real and authentic task – to broadcast live radio. And the live element provides an adrenaline rush which a participant at a previous workshop described as being “better than drugs”. It is also great to watch how participants fuse together as a team and take on different roles and responsibilities in the process.

The SMIAF radio programme has a longer term aim than the festival. San Marino has only one radio station and that is government controlled. To the best of our knowledge the festival marked the first internet radio broadcast from San Marino. And our intention is to develop internet radio in San Marino starting with a podcast serie4s from the autumn and leading to the launch of live internet radio next year.

It was a great weekend. Thanks to all who helped us – the SMIAF organizers, the technical support but above all all those who joined the SMIAF radio team over the weekend. We hope to see you all again soon.

We have been organising a series of internet radio workshops over the summer. And having great fun in the process. But this week we are breaking new ground. This afternoon (Friday 5 August) we will be running a workshop with young people from the Republic of San Marino. And tomorrow (Saturday 6 August) and Sunday we will be broadcasting live from the San Marino Arts and Music Festival (SMIAF) in an internet radio marathon starting at 1600 Central European Time and running until at least midnight each day. The programmes will feature music and events from the festival. We also hope to broadcast a discussion between Graham Attwell and the San Marino Minister of Labour on education, training and new skills for young people in the Republic.

Whilst the main langauge for the programmes will be Italian, Graham Attwell will try to provide a commentary for English lanaguge listeners. It is going to be mad, summer fun.

Try to drop in on the programmes. Just point your internet browser at http://is.gd/5O3xjR and the radio stream will open in the MP3 player of your choice. Or go to the SMIAF web site where we will provide an inline radio player.

Jakiś czas temu rozmawiałam z Martą Eichstaedt na temat webinarów. Marta Eichstaedt jest trenerem szkoleń online, trenerką biznesu i konsultantką. Od kilku lat zajmuje się profesjonalnie webinarami, m.in. wykorzystaniem webinarów i warsztatów online w firmach, prowadzeniem webinarów i warsztatów online w celach marketingowych, komunikacji oraz sprzedaży oraz zarządzania personelem.

Do nagrania naszej rozmowy użyłyśmy systemu Spreed, za pomocą którego organizować można spotkania online.

Oto bezposredni link do naszego nagrania https://eu42.spreed.com/c/709985636/spreed/154/recorder?recording=1

Ponieważ istnieje wiele róznych określeń, takich jak webinar, webcast, virtual classroom, web meeting, web event czy web conference, spróbuje poniżej rozróżnić je od siebie w ramach krótkiego wprowadzenie do tematu.

Zacznę od webinarów i webcastów, bo o nich głównie rozmawiamy z Martą w powyższym nagraniu. Wyrazy „webinar“ i „webcast“ to neologismy, które powstały przez przez połączenie słów „web“ i „seminar“ > webinar i „web“ i „broadcast“ > webcast.

Webcasting odnosi się do takich form przekazu, w których informacje rozpraszane są do dużej publiczności. Webcasting oznacza zwykle jednokierunkowy przepływ informacji, gdzie publiczność nie może przyczynić się zmiany przebiegu lub treści. Webcast może przybrać formę ścieżki audio, połączenia audio i przekazu wizualnego, oraz połączenia z innymi elementami, takimi jak slajdy PowerPoint. Webcasting stosowany jest zarówno przez firmy (np. do prezentacji produktów,  do przeglądu wyników finansowych – przykład SAP), jak i placówki edukacyjne (np. do rozpowszechniana wykładów – przykład UC Berkeley). Webcasting stosowany jest też do przekazu wydarzeń sportowych, wiadomości, pokazów mody itp. Webcasts określane są też, szczególnie w angielskojęzycznych krajach, jako „live streaming”, czyli przekaz wiadomości na żywo. Live streaming obejmuje zarówno audio streaming jak i video streaming.

Webinar rozwija ideę webcastingu w formacie bardziej interaktywnym, wykorzystując zalety uczestniczenia na żywo. Webinary, w przeciwieństwie do webcastów, umożliwiają komunikaję obustronną, tzn. słuchacz lub grupa słuchaczy może aktywnie uczestniczyć w rozmowie. W porównaniu do webcastingu, webinary przeznaczone są do mniejszej grupy odbiorców, którzy często są w tym celu specjalnie zapraszani. Publiczność może zadawać pytania, prezenter przeprowadza ankietę wśród publiczności i uzyskuje doack. Webinary stosowane są zarówno przez firmy (np. do interaktywnej prezentacji produktów – przykład – Microsoft), jak i placówki edukacyjne (np. do przekazu wykładów w szenariach e-learningowych – przykład  Beuth Hochschule, gdzie pracuję). Szczególnie w kontekstach edukacyjnych używa sie określenia „virtual classroom”  (po niemiecku „virtuelles Klassenzimmer”) do opisu zastosowania webinarów w ramach kursów, szkoleń itp.

Do opisu innych form interakcji na żywo używane są też pojęcia “web event”, czyli „wydarzenie internetowe” lub „web meeting”, czyli „spotkanie internetowe”. Czasami są one stosowane wymiennie i mogą oznaczać jedną z dwóch wyżej opisanych form. W powszechnym użyciu „web event” najczęściej odnosi się do interaktywnych prezentacji, takich jak publiczny webinar. „Web meeting” natomiast najczęściej odnosi się do spotkań online w mniejstym gronie. Tutaj, szczególnie w niemieckojęzychnych krajach używa sie nazwy „web conference” w odniesieniu do interaktywnej sesji w mniejszeh grupie.

Istnieje wiele systemów umożliwiających takie formy przekazu jak webinar, webcast, web event, web meeting czy web conference  (przykłady poniżej). Większość z tych systemów posiada takie dodatkowe funkcje ja czat, ankiety, biała tablica czy możliwość nagrania. Wiele pakietów oprogramowania posiada również harmonogram wydarzeń z automatyczną rejestracją dla uczestników.

Oto przykłady oprogramowań w kolejności alfabetycznej. Moje zestawienie oparte jest na znanym zestawieniu różnych narzędzi internetowych autorstwa Jane Hart (polecam tę stronę, bo jest ona skarbnicą informacji dotyczących wielu innych narzędzi internetowych) oraz na liście Mashable, która obejmuje również narzędzia do mobile live streaming):

Mam nadzieję, że powyższa lista jest przydatna i cieszę się oczywiście na uzupełnienia!

Badges seem to be the coming thing on the tech developers horizon. Soon we will have badges for everything. Cynical as I might be I am very interested in this Mozilla project to develop badges to recognise learning. It is really a very simple idea. The Open Badges framework, say the project developers, is designed to allow any learner to collect badges from multiple sites, tied to a single identity, and then share them out across various sites -- from their personal blog or web site to social networking profiles. The infrastructure needs to be open to allow anyone to issue badges, and for each learner to carry the badges with them across the web and other contexts.

I think the project is interesti9ng in that it recognises the increasing diversirty of learning pathways and contexts. It also recognises that in the future it is on line web presence which will for4m the primary iddentioty for a job seeker, ratehr than teh now old fashioned CV.

But rthere are still potential issues. The credibility fo the badges swil depend on the credibity of the organisationw hich issues them. And attempting to classify differents orts of badges holds many perils. I don't agree with teh distinction between badges for 'skills' and 'community /peer' badges.

but i would love to see this project rolled out - possibly linked to Open Education Resources - anyone ideas for a trial around it?

Late last year Jenny Hughes made a keynote presentation on Evaluation 2.0 for the UK Evaluation society. And pretty quickly we were getting requests for the paper of the presentation and the presentation slides. The problem is that we have not yet got round to writing the paper. And Jen, like me uses most of her canvas space for pictures not bullet points on her slides. This makes the presentation much more attractive but it is difficult sometimes to gleam the meaning from the pictures alone.

So we decided we would make a slidecast of the presentation. But, half way through, we realised it wasn’t working. Lacking an audience and just speaking to the slides, it was coming over as stilted and horribly dry. So we started again and changed the format. rather than seeing it as a straightforward presentation, Jen and I just chatted about the central ideas. I think it works pretty well.

We started from the question of what is Web2.0.Jen says “At its simplest, it’s about using social software at all stages of the evaluation process in order to make it more open, more transparent and more accessible to a wider range of stakeholder.” But editing the slidecast I realised we had talked a lot more than about evaluation. This chat really deals with Web 2.0 and the different ways we are developing and sharing knowledge, the differences between expert knowledge and crows sourced knowledge and new roles for teachers, trainers and evaluators resulting from the changing uses of social media.