At the start of lockdown, other than the fact I hadn’t really thought I’d still be working from home (and now planning a garden room to help me feel like I was “going” to work – the Guardian had some other handy suggestions last weekend, too) – I re-started to blog. It worked well for the first few weeks, then it became so much of a case of Ground hog day, that it slightly dried up. If I’m entirely honest, one reason for today’s blog post is an avoidance tactic. There’s a lot to do, yet a sunny Friday afternoon just isn’t the best time to start something. I want to be outside!
On the work front, I’d mentioned in a previous post that we had created a “Blend Your Module” set of blog posts to help staff look at blended learning. The intention had been to follow up with a “Create Your Module” incorporating ideas from staff around the university, while helping them ensure their modules met with the framework we’ve got. However, as always, other pressures took over. That’s still on the cards, and hopefully will be finished soon – and give staff ideas for Semester 2 …
While preparing content for that I’d found some really good resources – which I’ll share a few of here:
- Mary Washington’s Refocus, which was invaluable – their 5 weeks more or less matched up to the posts we’ve planned for Create your Module.
- Rhona Sharpe’s “53 Interesting Ways to Support Online Learning” – we’re lucky to have access to the digital version at work, so that’s a useful pointer for them.
- Team Collaboration I’ve only just found this, but it’s going to be included. Some really good ideas from Bruce Sharlau for getting students to really collaborate, not just working on the same project …
Of course, the last few weeks haven’t just been “not creating Create your Module“, we’ve been doing workshops, individual support – and so on. There are always a lot of balls to keep in the air!
And finally – one of the photos I took while on leave last week 🙂
