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Using the Virtual Training Suite (VTS) in teacher training / staff development in ICT

Ideas from Reading College that might be adapted for use by other college staff responsible for the delivery of teacher training or staff development in ICT

Institutional setting: a case study from Reading College and School of Art and Design http://www.reading-college.ac.uk/ written by Mark Williams, Lecturer (2003) and Sam Brown, Lecturer in Basic and Key Skills..

Why did we use the VTS? The VTS FE tutorials are ideal for both trainee teachers as well any other general staff requiring Internet skills development.

How did we use the VTS? A full lesson plan is given, with the following learning objectives:

An example of student's coursework resulting from this lesson is also given

Conclusion and recommendations The VTS tutorials were successful in fulfilling the main aims of the lesson.

Institutional setting

This case study is based on experience of lecturing students studying for the Certificate of Education and Post Graduate Certificate in Education at Reading College and School of Art and Design.

Why did we use the VTS?

VTS FE tutorials are ideal for both FE students and trainee teachers as well any other general staff requiring Internet skills development.

The VTS tutorials can be used in a teacher training / staff development context to:

  1. Up-skill tutors and facilitators in their own Internet skills
  2. Provide a basis for tutors to develop their own skills in assessing and critically evaluating the effectiveness of online learning resources.
  3. Support tutors in development of their own strategies for enabling their learners in the blended-learning environment.

How did we use VTS?

The following is a generic lesson plan, with some real world case study notes on our experiences of using it with Reading students.

Needs:

  1. Web based self study, Internet skills learning object
  2. Example of a multimedia learning object for trainee reflective evaluation

Timing

Two input session separated by a week or more in order to reflect on the dynamics present in an online self study environment.

Target audience of lesson

Teacher training trainees or staff on teacher development courses

Activity

The activity is best carried out spread over two input sessions separated by a week or more. This is less to do with time required for delivery and more based on reflecting the dynamics present in a online self study environment.

First Session

Class of 16 Cert Ed students were gathered in a networked IT suite with 1 PC per student.

Task 1.1

A teacher led, white board brain storming activity was conducted first, with the aim of:

a) Raising student awareness of the Internet and appropriate lexicon

b) Demonstrating issues associated with the classroom dynamic of delivering lessons

This was done in an IT room.

Comment: An IT room is an ideal place for actual online activity- but a poor place for initial input as Teacher – student relationship and student –student relationship is sublimated by the student - computer relationship!

Hoped for elicitation responses would cover:

Task 1.2

Students were directed to the VTS home page, and encouraged to choose a training tutorial most suited to the subject area that they were delivering in teaching practice.

At the time of the study only 11 VTS tutorial existed specifically for further education level / subject range. This has since been expanded to 15. Lack of a full range and the obvious bias of the HE tutorials to a higher academic level did cause some problems explored later.

Students progressed through relevant Internet tutorials at own pace.

Comment: Even with a high quality resource like the VTS and a cohort with an assumed high level of commitment (teacher trainees), maintaining the activity was very difficult. Once engaged with a PC / Internet the students rapidly stayed off topic. This was in part due to poor basic computing skills which led to demands for basic 1-1 tuition in word etc.

Task 1.3

Students were given the urls of a number of online software training tools for package such as Word, excel and PowerPoint. They were asked to select one and use it in their own time sometime before the next lesson. (Essentially this was a homework task).

Comment: In the case of the choices I provided for the group in question most of the materials were relatively poor. This was because I wanted to highlight the differences in quality standards however depending on the agenda of the class any resources could be used.

Second Session

Task 2.1

Whiteboard brainstorming session to review student experiences using the material and which one they preferred.(AND WHY???)

Task 2.2

Students were given a pre-prepared questionnaire to establish their own learning styles and asked to complete.

Image: reading_final-1.jpg

Task 2.3

The class were then to discuss in groups which learning styles in general online resources suit and how they could be adapted to suit others.

Task 2.4

Students were encouraged to revisit the VTS tutorial and now complete the attached feedback form.

Task 3.1

The suggestion was made to the students that they may like to incorporate the VTS into their teaching as part of their IT competencies.

Optional task:

If individual students wished, they could submit as part of their portfolio case study, an essay on how they used it with a class. [an example of a student essay that resulted from this is given below]

Resources:

Example of a student essay that resulted from the above lesson

As a Certificate of Education student, I was introduced to the VTS and found it be a potentially invaluable teaching tool. I trailed it with an Adult Basic IT Skills group and then with an NVQ hairdressing group.

The Basic Skills group were my focus group for the Cert Ed module "Teaching Practice". I was teaching Basic IT Skills as well as gradually introducing the students (mainly educationally disaffected adults) back into mainstream education.

I used the whole of the VTS to demonstrate Basic Internet Skills and asked the students to choose a subject in which they had an interest.

The students were then given the opportunity to work through the tutorial and attempt some of the activities. The class dynamic lent itself to this task, as each student was able to select their preferred subject (thus being involved in their own learning process) whilst working within the model set by the VTS. This gave me the opportunity to focus on the weaker students.

Many of the students in the group had more advanced IT skills than others and found this to be a stimulating task. The Basic Skills IT class was the only one of its kind to run at the college and therefore some students enrolled on it for 2 or more years. Although the teaching was differentiated, my concern was for the students who had no IT skills at all so that I could provide them with a sheltered and secure environment to encourage them back to mainstream education.

The VTS gave the other more advanced students an achievable target they could work towards without feeling reliant on the weaker students to "catch up" or that they were dependent on me for constant input. In the same way, weaker students could work through the tutorial without feeling pressure to work at the same pace as the rest of the group.

The feedback from the students was very positive: the VTS provided a simple, interactive learning environment where they could learn at their own pace and repeat or reread any task as needed. The experience improved their confidence in their IT skills (in that they were using an actual online resource rather than a contrived Basic Skills one!) as well as in tertiary education.

The second group of students I introduced to the VTS were Level 1 NVQ Hairdressing students. I used the tutorial in conjunction with Level 1 Key Skills IT and Communication. This provided the girls with visual stimulus as well as a broad range of topics for discussion (portfolio requirement C1.1 and C1.2). They were able to use the research element of the VTS to complete requirements in the IT portfolio and to practise using Search Engines.

Again, the advantage of the VTS manifested itself in that the students were able to practise skills within a subject area written especially for them rather than a contrived generic one. The students enjoyed the interactive element of the course: the websites chosen for this VTS were such that even the weakest student was engaged in the learning process.

Every student was able to find something interesting.

Conclusion and Recommendations