FSW Distance Learning Second Programme May 2010

Having run the first consultants DL programme in October 2009, there are a number of improvements that I want to incorporate in the second version, which begins on 10th May 2010.

The overall purpose of the programme is to create an extra route to market for our consulting tool, the Excellence Audit. This means that our training programme has three important strands; firstly to introduce and explain the key features of our Future Shape of the Winner Model and Excellence Audit; then to help consultants to work out how the model connects with, and hopefully strengthens their existing consulting practice; finally to help them to identify the client situations in which the model can be of most use and to consider how they can promote its use to these prospects.

On the first programme, I was not clear enough in my own mind about these three different learning objectives.

In effect, this is a progression from articulating meaning right through to making new meaning. On our first programme, one consultant has most successfully made this transition, with another two who are making progress. We would like to improve that performance on the second programme.

In creating the learning plan for Programme number 2, I will encourage participants to create their own learning journal, hopefully on their own blog, and will set assignments that draw attention to these three different strands of the Programme.

It will be most interesting to see whether I can persuade this group of mature professionals to keep a blog record of their reflections, but of the seven participants, three already have their own blog, and two of these three are enthusiastic users of blogging. I am hoping that their example to the rest of the group will encourage others to join in. I have tried to replicate my H808 experience, where an e-portfolio was a required element of the ECA, by pointing out to participants that the blog can be evidence of learning which can be included in their submission for accreditation.

I also plan to use the Elluminate Web Platform for the first time on the Programme. This will be an improvement on the previous Webinar platform that we have used, as it has a number of useful educational features, such as a whiteboard, breakout rooms, a session planner, recording and polling. It also has an audio feature which allows group discussions during a session. The educational features offer us the change to shift from a largely transmission approach to include more interaction. An option we plan to experiment with on programme 2 is to provide some of the inputs in a podcast format, again freeing up web tutorial time for discussions and questions.

The use of this platform seems very 'lumpy' at the moment, but will doubtless get smoother as we become more familiar with the technology. In order to iron out any basic sound or technology issues, we have scheduled an introductory session for all participants to try out the web platform before our first full session.

I am very pleased that we maintained the discipline on Programme 1 of writing scripts for the four web tutorials. Although we will make changes to these, we can go back to a basic structure that has run smoothly. I see that the Elluminate platform has a Planner feature which enables you to set up your session including your script, slides and choreographed actions on the web platform. I plan to begin simply with mainly script, slides and audio discussions, but to experiment with the whiteboard and breakout rooms in later sessions, assuming all goes to plan;-)

Lots to think about, but it is most exciting to have the chance to go again with the benefit of H808 in the forefront of my thinking.

Notes from Video Arts Webinar: Put the Learning Back into E-Learning

Martin Addison, Martyn Sloman 7 years experience of e-learning

3 distinct waves in which e-learning has had an impact
1990s the huge availability of PC - promise of transforming training??? Stand alone cd roms did not have the promised impact
Next wave e-learning - incorporation of the internet (tom peters in ASTS Florida 2001) Very helpful
ASTD records what % is delivered through learning technology (10% plateau) progressively mover to 30% currently.
CIPD 2008 monitors progress of e-learning - latest 12% total training time delivered through e-learning. Roughly half of available e-learning is taken up.

Q e-learning = ? learning delivered or mediated through technology.

We are demanding something from the learner. It is about learning, not technology. Keep your eye on the skills that people need to learn.

Potential of e-learning is huge, but progress is patchy, a lot to learn.

Relevance drives out resistance. Good design engages the learner and embeds activity in the organisation. No good just providing product if it is not linked to what is going on in the organisation.

Good training managers will use good content (like video snippets) and incorporate into their own programmes.

"the second-generation of internet-based communities that encourage collaboration between users" Is this the killer app? I'm a sceptic.

Are learning preferences differences across the generations? Overwhelmingly the learning preferences are the same for all generations, but more comfortable sophistication with technology in younger gens.

Survey (Changing Skills at Work)
47% in the UK report computing is an essential part of their job. (three quarters of workforce use automated or computerised equipment)

What we have got now is that there are a whole series of different ways in which technology will affect learning at work; googlisation of learning, expert opinion, discussion threads, information repositiories, on-line assessment, electronic job aids, webinars, virtual worlds, online support.

EPSS (electronic performance support systems)
As people are using the pc at work, devices will pop up to help them to learn. This has not turned out to be popular (Moorfields Eye Hospital have a good example of this)

Learning is a self-directed work-based process, leading to increased adaptive processes.

We have to align organisational and individual needs.

There are lots of good practice examples.
Cable and Wireless; single portal for learners to access learning programmes. Partnered with Skill Soft. Not worried about how many people access the training - nuggets are available on demand. Search and Learn (iLearn). This assumes high degree of motivation and sophistication. Certain e-learning modules are compulsory (eg health and safety)
Learning technology interventions need to take account of the need for behaviour change.

CIPD website for more information about e-learning.

What next after H808?

Having hacked my way through my toughest ever OU Masters Module, H808, I was delighted with how much of my learning seems to be transferrable to our own Future Shape of the Winner Distance Learning Programme.


There are several different angles which I hope to apply.


Point One: the fact that our learners are so varied in their backgrounds and experience, and also have different reasons for wanting to do the Programme might seem to make the design of a generic programme very tricky. However, this ought to be where the 'distance learning' element comes into its own. If we can get the right structure and the right support material, the differences could be a strength not a weakness. I found the H808 focus on creating a Professional Development Plan (PDP) was a very useful way of encouraging students to set their own framework for their learning. Providing our students with a FSW skills/knowledge template to help them create a PDP structure for FSW is well worth considering. Not only will that focus the students, but it will also give tutors the chance to tailor their inputs/discussions to respond to the objectives of our students. The process of creating that template will be a good discipline for us, as it will make us consider the key dimensions we are aiming to communicate. The PDP discipline may also give us the scope to get academic accreditation for the programme, which would add to its attractiveness to potential students.


Point Two: the 'invisibility' of what learning was taking place on the programme seems to be a weakness. Three months after the end of the first programme, we find ourselves with only one student actively using the Excellence Audit, and we are not in a position to pinpoint what - if anything - is missing from the programme. In my TMA1 I wrote the following:


Moon (2001) outlines a hierarchy of stages of learning; “noticing; making sense; making meaning; working with meaning; transformative learning” (P6). The further up this hierarchy that learners progress, the deeper the learning and the more the learner is able to apply the new meaning creatively in their own situation. Citing the research of Marton, Hounsell and Entwhistle, (1997) Moon (2001) reports “A deep approach is where the intention of the learner is to understand the meaning of the material. She is willing to integrate it into her existing body of previous ideas, and understandings.” (p5). Moon (2001) recommends reflection skills as being key in generating this deep learning.


Being able to track our students' progression through noticing, making sense, making meaning, working with meaning, transformative learning, would give us a fantastic insight into how they were getting on with their learning. Therefore, I am considering two revisions. 1. Changing the accreditation conditions to include the requirement to submit a learning log of their reflections throughout the programme. 2. Encouraging/requiring? the learning log to be kept as a blog, which will allow all the students access to each others' reflections, but also will help tutors to track progress, and make adustments as needed to programme content etc.


Point Three: A major H808 insight was around the overall pedagogy of the programme, which I now recognise is heavily influenced by the face to face bias that all the tutors have. There is still a strong desire for us to tell the students what we think they need to know, rather than encouraging them to explore and make sense of the ideas, and to work out how they might use them. I believe it would be unwise to attempt to make a U turn in pedagogical thinking, not least because we have very limited experience in this more participative virtual approach. So I think a good step forwards would be to convert all of the presentations which we made during the web tutorials into podcasts. These will be incorporated in the pre-work ahead of web tutorials, and the telephone conference will be a chance to discuss and reflect collectively - a much more participative way of using the synchronous forum.


In summary, if I can convince my colleagues that these three modifications to our approach are worth trying, I believe we will have a great deal more insight into the extent to which students are getting to grips with the new knowledge, and this will hopefully enable us to support them more actively in becoming active users of the FSW model.

Core Activity 10.1 Wikis in Our Practice

Learning and Teaching Committee Report

By Madeleine McGrath, 15th January 2010 

Background
The Future Shape of the Winner™ is a new organisation model, designed by Tom Peters Company for use with our own clients. The model, and its accompanying audit instrument, the Excellence Audit, began in 2009 to attract the attention of independent consultants from all over the world, who requested the chance to be trained and accredited as users of the audit and the model. Having identified a group of 8 consultants who were willing to sign up for the pilot programme, we ran our first programme in October 2009. Since the participants came from five different countries, and had many differences in background, education, language etc, a distance learning format was not only the only affordable option, it was also the most effective learning approach.

Whilst there has been much enthusiasm from the students of the first programme, we find ourselves, some two months after the training has finished, with only one student having been able to convince a customer to commission an Excellence Audit. Whilst others may yet have success in this endeavour, the absence of any structured evidence of their learning has emerged as a weakness in the design of this course. As we look ahead to the next course, this paper proposes the incorporation of technologies that will encourage the more public articulation of learning, and will generate deeper learning amongst all participants. 

Current practice

The FSW Distance Learning Programme has been designed and facilitated by a team of tutors whose grounding in teaching took place before the digital era. As a result, the bias of the delivery has tended towards what Ferris & Wilder (2006) would describe as the Print Model of education, with the teacher as expert from whom the students learn. They observed, "instructors continue to equate the authority and ownership of knowledge with the teacher, who controls the text, whether print or electronic, rather than with the learners" Unfortunately in this case, once the classroom training is completed, the success of the programme is dependent on the learners taking ownership of the knowledge and applying it in their own context. So far the evidence is that this transfer has not yet taken place in all but one of the students. 

The existing programme has a substantial written Practitioners Guide, a blog-site on which students are encouraged to contribute to blog threads on the various subjects covered during the programme, four two hour synchronous web tutorials, and pre and post tutorial activities. The final step in the training process is for trainees to participate actively in their first Excellence Audit having sold it to a client of their own. During the course of the audit they will be mentored by one of the course tutors. 

On the first programme, the eight students all attended and participated fully in all four web tutorials, and completed their assignments as requested. All professed themselves very pleased with the training, and had few suggestions for improvement of any substance. However, we are not aware of how well students are able to articulate their learning at this critical half way point in the training. Articulation of their learning is critical for two reasons; firstly, of course, because this is an essential step in making the progression through to deep learning, but secondly, and more importantly, because unless they can convincingly articulate their learning, they will be unable to sell this approach to their own clients.

As we consider ways to make the training more effective in future iterations of the programme, my recommendation is to experiment with a number of design and technology modifications that encourage students to articulate their learning on a more frequent basis, and to document their discoveries throughout the entire course of the training programme. This will enrich their learning, but equally importantly will provide tutors with much greater visibility of how learners are progressing. Shifting more strongly into the digital domain also provides us with the opportunity to encourage greater learner ownership of the material, and to encourage learners to shape the learning activities to suit their own situations.

Greater use of blogging as a domain for individual reflective commentary is one obvious way to shift the focus of the training. Requiring all students to create and keep a reflective commentary on their learning throughout the programme would be a straightforward modification to make, and one which immediately makes more visible the learning that is taking place. This is likely to be uncontroversial for both learners and tutors.

The use of a Wiki or some kind of shared workspace is a second, maybe less obvious option to consider. In the next section I will describe the potential benefits of this technology, and how its use can be piloted in the next programme. The potential issues that are may arise will also be considered.

Recommendation

Ferris & Wilder (2006) describe the wiki as "collaborative Web-based sites with "open editing"." The collaborative activity that is enabled in the wiki-type environment generates interaction and can lead to the creation of strong communities that share a common interest. 

The structure of the wiki is relatively simple, and it can be used in many different ways. Lamb (2004) suggests using them for creating agendas, note taking in group sessions, informal bulletin boards. Ferris & Wilder (2006) see enormous potential for collaborative learning, and suggest joint problem solving, brainstorming and group tasks. Duffy et al (2006) recommend their use for collaborative authorship and writing and point out that the feature of being able to trace the contributions of all participants encourages participation.

Lamb (2004) observes that whilst the lack of structure in a wiki can make it feel disorganised, it also leaves space for learners to make their own links and to organise it for themselves. As well as learning about the subject matter, this also requires groups to work out processes that will enable them to work together. In the longer term, this experience can build a community of users who continue to network as they become experienced users of this approach.

In this programme, we have found significant variability in the technology skills of students. I am therefore recommending that we introduce the use of the wiki progressively, beginning with some simpler tasks, such as generating questions or agenda items for the next meeting, or perhaps by inviting students to add comments to an existing wiki page. We should then re-locate one or two of the existing private study activities to the wiki area, providing us with the chance to discover who is engaging actively in their study. One such activity would be the analysis of the audit results. Rather than just being given a real set of results to study, those results could be posted on some wiki pages, and the group challenged to discuss and agree the main issues uncovered by the audit results. Ideally, as their competence and confidence improves, it would be good to be able to set a final collaborative task for the whole group to pull together their individual and collective learning. The creation of their own slide presentation to explain the approach in their words and terms is one such possibility.

In the true spirit of the wiki, however, learners should be encouraged to create learning projects and activities of their own as they grow in confidence with the subject, with each other, and with the wiki environment.

Issues

Several issues with the use of wikis have been referred to already; the reluctance of Print Paradigm professionals to engage with technology and the lack of structure being the most notable.

Duffy et al (2006) warn that those grounded in the print paradigm have an instinctive distrust of the wiki concept. They also advise that the maximum benefit is gained from wikis when students are allowed complete control of the environment. Both of these issues point to the need for a shift in the approach that tutors have been taking and for the careful application of appropriate pedagogy to exploit the benefits of the wiki environment.

The fact that the wiki is in a constant state of flux may frustrate both learners and tutors, and some may be offended by the interference from others in their text, or may run into disputes about the ownership of written material. However, the reality of the subject matter about which they are learning is that it is not a prescribed and defined model, but one that requires judgement, adaptation and flexibility. All of these features are modeled in the wiki environment.

Another frequent criticism of the wiki environment is the questionable acccuracy or truthfulness of the information presented. Ferris & Wilder (2006) point out that skills to judge the accuracy and reliability of sources of information are becoming critical for any users of the world wide web for data. Learning to operate successfully in a wiki environment could be seen as the chance to develop such skills. 

ConclusionThe ability to convert trainees from all parts of the globe into successful users of our Company’s Excellence Audit has massive potential as a completely new stream of business for our company. This makes the creation of a successful training programme an important priority. In the next iteration of this programme, one of the most important priorities has to be the surfacing of the learning of individual consultants. Increased use of blogs is one way to record and publish this individual learning.

Whilst the gradual introduction of the use of wikis is also a way of showcasing each students’ ability to articulate their learning, it is also a place in which we can introduce more complex group discussions and tasks, and through that, not only enhance individual learning, but also begin to create the extended learning community that we envisage as important for the future.

We need to be conscious of the potential reluctance of colleagues to embrace the new technology, but must remind them of the enormous payoff for us all if we are able to make a radical improvement in the learning performance of students.

References:
Duffy, Peter D. and Bruns, Axel (2006) The Use of Blogs, Wikis and RSS in Education: A Conversation of Possibilities. In: Online Learning and Teaching Conference 2006, 26 Sep. 2006, Brisbane.
Ferris, S. and Wilder, H. (2006) ‘Uses and potentials of wikis in the classroom’, Innovate, vol. 2, no. 5. Available from: http://www.innovateonline.info/pdf/vol2_issue5/ (accessed 12th January 2010)
Lamb, B. (2004) ‘Wide open space: wikis, ready or not’, Educause Review, vol. 39, no. 5 (September/October), pp. 36–48. Available from: http://www.educause.edu/pub/er/erm04/erm0452.asp (accessed 11th January 2010)

Core Activity 9.1 Desktop Research into Blogs

In this activity, I studied several papers, visited Warwick University's Website and Blog listings, reviewed a number of Blog accounts on Blogger.com, and considered the Zoe Corbyn Times HE article. Several educational uses of blogging are:

Student
1.Reflection:
Individual maintenance of a blog to enhance reflective thinking. Students at universities like Warwick and the Open Univerisity are encouraged to keep a blog. These can be used to encourage reflective thinking, and to develop skills of self expression and articulation. "A blog offers interaction with reflective comments and also the ability to interlink to related ideas." (Duffy et al, 2006)

2.Organisation of Learning:

Some students find that the structure of blogs provides them with helpful functionality to organise their ideas. Brady (2005   ) reports "For some bloggers their blog is a way of keeping notes and useful URLs in an organised way." These functions are supported by the capability of tagging of blogs, as well as being able to hyperlink to other web based documents and blogs.

Issues:
In both of the above cases there are a number of potential pitfalls;

• the public nature of the blog raises issues of confidentiality and privacy
• learners may be reluctant/nervous to publish their thoughts
• the learner must be able to cope with the technology/software
• the learner must develop skills of self expression and articulation

Group
3. Collect/Give Feedback:
Where blogging is added as part of the course structure, as it is in the OU, students can be encouraged to comment on each others' work and to provide feedback. This enables them to learn critical review skills, and also to experience the use of peer review.

Issues:
However, the same learner reluctance that was mentioned in 1 and 2 above may well come into play. The use of blogs as part of a course requires an understanding on the teacher's part of the underlying pedagogical needs of the case. Duffy et al (2006) explain "Which tools are used by learners and teachers, and whether such tools will be used at all, will always depend on the specific pedagogical needs of a teaching situation."

Teacher
4. Additional Resources

Some teachers use their blog to post additional information and references that emerge as being of interest from class or online discussions. In blogs such as Peter Smith's Logic Matters blog http://www.logicmatters.net/, lecturers share their latest research and engage in discussions with readers. As well as providing a forum for academic expression, this application of blogging enables teachers to model good practice in blogging to their students.

Issues:
One potential issue with this use of blogs is that a teacher may be concerned about falling foul of the politics of their academic institution, by expressing ideas that are judged inappropriate
Other academics are anxious that original research will be plagiarised by others.
In order to be willing to engage in this practice, academics require technology skills

5. Supervision
In courses in which students use blogs to record their learning, teachers are in a position to conduct formative assessment of students' work. I have myself experienced the benefit of timely and focused tutor comments on my published work, enabling much swifter lessons to be learned.

Issues:
Students who sense that their work is being checked may be more reluctant to express opinions

And in conclusion.....

The explosion in the use of blogs in every aspect of life (personal, corporate, political, journalistic etc) makes their use in education increasingly compelling. "It could be argued that it is the connective and contributive attributes of blogging that has caused it to spread so virally throughout the web" (Brady, 2005) The speed of their take up seems to be turning them increasingly into an everyday tool of reflection, and as educators, we are likely to miss a trick if we do not wrestle with the incorporation of blogging into our pedagogy.

Brady, M. (2005) 'Blogging: Personal participation in public knowledge-building on the web.' In 'Participating in the knowledge society: Researchers beyond the university walls'. R. Finnegan. London, Palgrave Macmillan.

Duffy, Peter D. and Bruns, Axel (2006) The Use of Blogs, Wikis and RSS in Education: A Conversation of Possibilities. In: Online Learning and Teaching Conference 2006, 26 Sep. 2006, Brisbane.

Farmer,J. and Bartlett-Bragg, A. (2005) Blogs at anywhere: High fidelity online communication, ASCILITE, www.ascilite.org.au/conferences/brisbane05/blogs/proceedings/22_Farmer.pdf (accessed 10th January 2010)

Times Higher Education - By the blog: academics tread carefully

http://www.timeshighereducation.co.uk/story.asp?sectioncode=26&storycode=403827 Zoe Zoe Corbyn, 9 October 2008, Accessed 7th January 2010.

Evidencing Technology Related Competencies: MMM

Notes from H808 briefing documents:

• The evidence of technology-related competency you produce needs to demonstrate the ability to: learn about using a new piece of software or a new technology
• appreciate some key features as they relate to your own educational practice or context
• identify potential issues for other users

During the course of H808, I have experimented with several new technological applications which I intend to incorporate into my professional practice; the most important of these are podcasting, collaboration on Google Docs and Eluminate VLE.

Podcasting

In Block 8, part 1, I decided to experiment with creating and uploading a podcast. This is a technology that I have not used professionally before, and looks very promising as a contribution to my PDP goal of increasing the range of technology used on my own Distance Learning Programme.

Method

I created the podcast very simply on a portable digital recorder, and then uploaded the file to my pc, tidying up the audio quality by using WavePad Sound Editor. I then converted the file from a WMA file to an MP3 file using switch pad sound converter.

The next step was to upload the mp3 file to my own website storage file, and I was then able to create a link to this file from the Technology page of my e-portfolio.

I subsequently discovered that I may have been better supported in this effort by the podbean platform, which many of my fellow H808 students used for this exercise. I certainly intend to continue to explore the podcast options after H808.

Lessons for my own practice

Reviewing the work of others and my experience of creating a podcast, I have made a number of resolutions which I am keen to apply when I incorporate their use into future Distance Learning Programmes.

1. Be absolutely clear the intended audience of the podcast, and how the subject matter contributes to the DL programme
2. Target the content at that audience, taking account of their existing level of knowledge and any communication or understanding issues that may exist
3. Have a clear structure for the podcast, and let the listener know this
4. It is preferable to have more than one speaker, and for the speakers to engage with each other using a conversational style
5. Restrict the length of each podcast to no more than around 20 minutes
6. Adopt and engaging and enthusiastic tone of speaking
7. Offer some kind of backup notes, or document for collecting thoughts

I am left feeling that podcasts could be an extremely valuable technology which will upgrade our current Distance Learning Programme. My colleagues, who tend to lean towards a transmission approach to teaching, will find that an acceptable way to ensure that the key messages are conveyed to students. This will free up live Webinar sessions for discussion and question and answer sessions, which I believe is a more appropriate use of this dynamic medium. We can also easily update, and add to the podcast library based on student demand.

Collaboration on Google Docs

Google Docs has been used on several occasions in H808 by my colleagues. Alice Kearly created one to help the group when we attempted to collaborate around a group discussion in Block 3, but my most successful application was when Adelaida and Eugene set up a grid to help us assess our case studies against e-learning principles.

As a result of these experiences, I have attempted to use Google Docs with my own colleagues, with varying degrees of success. My most successful was with my Distance Learning Students, who are learning about our company's organisation diagnostic model. This will need to be translated into Spanish, and the translator will require a glossary of terms to help them do a good job. I therefore posted the full diagnostic on Google Docs, and invited all the students to identify phrases that they think require greater explanation. Four students joined in, including one who was not a Spanish speaker.

Having identified the phrases to be included in the glossary, I have now invited all the students to have a go at articulating short descriptions of these phrases so that we can create a much richer glossary than I would have been able to create alone. It has also occurred to me that this is actually an exercise which all students would benefit from - it will surface just how much of what they have learned they really understand!!

Eluminate

This is a VLE, which enables synchronous as well as asynchronous communication, and which operates using VoiP. Having heard about its use from my H808 Tutor, I signed up to attend a webinar that was hosted by CMALT. Not only does this seem to be a seriously viable and less costly platform for our DL Programme, it also has additional features, such a the virtual whiteboard which offer us extra functionality. I am optimistic that the cost benefit argument will make it attractive to my (reluctant to change!) colleagues, and having made the switch, I can gradually take advantage of the extra functionality for teaching and learning purposes.

Caroline Leung Podcast on Collaboration

This was a most enjoyable podcast, that took a rather hackneyed topic and made it very interesting.

The sound quality on this podcast was generally good, although towards the end there was some interference which interrupted the concentration.

The structure of the podcast was very sound - nicely introduced and structured, with a good summary at the end. The signposting on this podcast was far superior to the two 'official' files that I reviewed, and encouraged me in my conclusions that a clear structure is very helpful for the listener.

Several points of view were considered, with arguments for and against a number of approaches to engendering student collaboration. Several academic sources were referenced, as well as making good connections to H808. This gave the content good authority.

The length of just under 5 minutes was excellent, and meant that attention was held very well.

I found my interest held by the subject matter, which surprised me a little, as Caroline's voice was rather restful, as opposed to being dynamic. However, although restful, she herself conveyed her own curiosity in the subject matter, which made the delivery compelling for the listener.

This has given me pause for thought on my previous conclusions about the best style of delivery for a podcast. I had begun to conclude that the speaker needs an engaging tone of voice and needs to convey dynamism. I think Caroline's example shows that this dynamism can come from the interest of the speaker not just their tone of voice.

The only suggestion I have for improvement would be to double check the quality of recording before publishing the podcast. Otherwise, I think it was very good.

I would advertise this podcast as a critique of the use of collaboration as part of student learning, including suggestions about how to structure and support collaborative activities to generate more and more meaningful participation from students. 

 

 

 

 

H808 Core Activity 8.1 Learning about Technology

Becoming familiar with technology and its potential always feels rather lumpy when the application is new. So in this exercise, the awkwardness was not so much around the initial creation of material (an audio file and a video file), but in conversion of the files into a format that makes it acceptable for uploading to the internet.

In the case of the audio file the OU recommended Wave pad sound editor provided a cleaning up function, and the Switch sound file gives a number of different audio file options. The file was then suitable for uploading to my own website for broadcasting.

The video was more problematic as the original .mov file was very large, and needed to be converted into a web friendly size and format. The conversion was done on the Mac software, and could then be exported in a couple of m4 file options. It was also possible to take the Mac exported file and upload to You Tube.

I'm sure the next time around, it will be a lot easier, and it certainly makes me keen to incorporate some multi media files on our website. It also encourages me to consider creating a number of podcast files that can be used on our Distance Learning programme, leaving the tutorial sessions for discussions, rather than presentations.