JISC SIS Landscape Study

Manish Malik

What is your current job/role?
I am a Senior Lecturer in mobile and wireless computing/engineering area and university L&T fellow at the University of Portsmouth. I was a finalist in the Engineering Subject Centre Teaching Awards 2009 for outstanding learning and teaching practices. It was the use of two distinct “Web 2.0″ or “Social Networking” applications in teaching electronic and computer engineering that got me nominated as a finalist.

How did you first get into using Web 2.0?
Although I was aware of the various developments in web 2.0, it was through personal development that I was introduced to the pedagogic aspects of using web 2.0 for my practice. This happened when I enrolled for an MA in online and distance learning course with the Open University. Through various courses I realised that there were several possibilities for me to explore. Being innovative and used to some thinking on the spot resulted in some ideas that I implemented with success in my own practice at first and later which got taken up by others in my department and possibly elsewhere.

What are you using at the moment?
I do not use blogs in my teaching but I have a blog for my own use. I use the micro-blogging site Twitter in my teaching and learning besides using wikis for collaborative work. I think blogs are a great tool for personal reflection; micro-blogs on the other hand force you to share just the gist of your thoughts or reflections with others. For these reasons I think micro-blogs add greater value to a teaching and learning situation than proper blogs. Students may take time getting used to sharing byte size information about what they are doing but once they get going they realise its power.

I also use Google Reader, very cheeky as it claims to know what I may be interested in and quite often it knows

What is the most useful Web 2.0 tool you’re using at the moment?
Twitter – I’m just finding so many uses for it.

I use it as an open shared communication tool for students doing the final year project to create a community of interest. It’s a way of supporting the students while they are working on projects which last from three to four months. I started using Twitter in combination with a wiki for this purpose early in 2008. I wanted to create an informal environment in which I could communicate with students and they could communicate amongst themselves and with me. The wiki was used for formal, detailed exchanges and Twitter for informal, short and ephemeral communication. This combination, supplemented by occasional emails, has now replaced twice weekly face-to-face meetings.

Were there any problems with it?
I did feel it was important to give some guidance to students when first starting to use it, so I did a presentation showing how it could work in a number of scenarios. Early on we did experience some problems with availability of the service, meaning that sometimes messages could not be sent but that seems ok now (it’s an issue to keep in mind, though). There are also privacy and data protection issues since Twitter messages are available to any Twitter user, so this wouldn’t be the right medium for any message dealing with sensitive issues.

What other uses have you found for Twitter?
As this was so successful, I’ve recently begun using Twitter with another group of students – this time the ones for whom I am responsible for their pastoral care. So I post links to items on student life or point them to useful university services using Twitter. A project may last run for a few months but the pastoral care role can last several years. I feel using Twitter with my tutees I can have a discussion with them on current issues. I’ll have to see whether this is the right answer for the longer term relationship.

I also use it for my own continuing professional development (CPD) and managing any other projects I am working on with other people.

It’s great for connecting with people. I don’t see a need for Facebook as it’s too heavy (I do not get why people still use it – move to Twitter is my advice!)

I think Twitter is a good mash up of the web, where people do the mashing up instead of the algorithms developed by people. They share the links that they think might be of interest to others or even just to themselves. It’s a simple application where the people using it may add value to its use for themselves and for others.

What about sharing documents?
My institutional Wiki is open access (for outsiders too) so I do not feel the need to use Google Docs. I have tried it and even worked with it with colleagues outside my institution as their choice of platform but whenever I need to share text with colleagues outside my institution I use the institutional wiki. For example I went to a course recently and made notes about the sessions. Later I shared the wiki with others and sent them a link to register and start using it. If the wiki was not open I would have used Google Docs. I have GTalk on my wiki page and can use it to chat to visitors to my wiki if I am online.

I also use wikis as a repository for open and shared collaborative working. It’s useful for project students as well as project management. I also use wikis as a collaborative exam revision web site (I call my site as Examopedia) for students; this is used by the students to create and deposit answers to past exam papers collaboratively. I moderate and guide them to improve their answers and address conflicting answers/views etc.

Are you currently thinking of trying something else?
I am thinking of introducing some use of online search engines in live classrooms – a concept also known as “Google Jockeying”. I will add a spin to it and get people to share the links they find and think are relevant for their study to share it using Twitter with the rest of the class. This way the lectures can become more interactive and may even extend beyond the space, time and social boundaries that may exist in any learning and teaching situation.

How do you judge what’s good and what’s not in the Web 2.0 world?
I have a simple method to determine if something is going to work for me or not. Before I can use this method I normally have to fully understand what a particular tool will allow me to do and I do this by using the tool myself and also by reading various blogs and other material. Once I have a fair idea of what a tool can do then I ask myself ‘where can I use it?’ This is where I find myself closest to the pedagogical theories that underpin various teaching and learning situation, i.e. it becomes important to understand the demands of a particular learning and teaching situation. After that point it simply is mapping these needs to what the different tools allow me to do and choosing the best matched tool for the job.

Is there anything else you’d like to mention?
Technology has been a great enabler for me and my practice and Web 2.0 is just one example of this. I find that using Web 2.0 tools I can very easily implement constructivist or socio-constructivist ideas in my teaching and learning situations. I say it’s easy as I’ve tried doing the same things without the technology, when I have personally found it very hard to try and run sessions that are interactive and where students discuss and collaborate in the limited time that we may have.

And your final thoughts?
With online and web 2.0 tools the boundaries such as space, time and even social seem blurred and the activities that you want your students to do generally are carried on for much longer than they would have if only the face to face environment and infrastructure was used.

Reference

Minocha, Shailey A Study on the Effective Use of Social Software by Further and Higher Education in the UK to Support Student Learning and Engagement.
JISC, 2009
Case study report: (Case study 25)