The last week or two has been hell...gastric flu then laryngitis...I never get ill but this floored me. My boss was great and gave me an extension on my marking...even offered to send it out to another marker but that didn't seem fair on my students plus I like to follow their journey through the course. So today is the first time I've had a chance to see where I am with H800....way behind by the looks of things!!!!!
Now up to week 6 and that means TMA 01. So need to sort out my plan....luckily I'd looked at the TMA a while back and has decided on which activities to focus on. Still have to go through forum discussions...it's although a lengthy TMA.
One good thing this week....I passed H810!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I was convinced the ECA would need resubmitting after the hand in drama but it passed with a fairly respectable mark! I now have a Post Grad Diploma so feel pretty smug!
It's been a roller coaster day. The Internet connection has been sporadic all week. I've really struggled to complete this ECA....complete writer's block! This morning with a deadline of 12 midday the connection crashed again at 11.30am. I know I should have submitted before then but I just couldn't. Drove to McDonald's but couldn't connect to their wifi. Drove to the hotel nearby and ran in with my USB and begged the lady to let me use a computer....she said no as they were all in use! Finally found a hot-spot in a nearby car park. I submitted the ECA at 11.51am and the connection crashed at 11.53am....talk about a window of opportunity!!!! Arrived home to find the Internet up and running.....I swear it does this to me on purpose...it's watching me!! Also was awarded the Post Grad Certificate in Online and Distance Education which helped ease the stress of the day!! I know H810's ECA will need resubmitting but I'm now ok with that...as OU say it's better to submit 'something than nothing at all' and bless it but you could only really describe my ECA as 'something'!!!I'm now knackered...I've been studying on MAODE since September 2007 without a break. So I'm pleased to say I have 2 weeks off before the next and final course starts. Its H800 and Rick is also studying on it which is good to know! Also going to use the next 2 weeks to change the darn Internet provider.....bye bye Orange you won't be missed!!
Still writing the ECA...finding that the three issues are overlapping but half expected that. They also seem to flow from one to the other which I'd hoped they would as this should enable accessibility being developed more sucessfully.Have changed the title of this blog as I'm starting my final MAODE course...H800... in a couple of weeks time.Back to finishing the ECA...
Well after convincing myself that my ECA was basically crap I have only gone and passed the H804......hurray!!!!!!!!I now have H808 and H804 under my belt and it feels great! I'm up to the ECA on H810 and sill complete that at the end of July. I've just signed up for H800 which will be my final MAODE course so I'm looking to complete the MA at the end of this year.....yikes!!
Activity 3.1
4 hours
Read the introductory page of Benevolent Bill ,another JISC TechDis Staff Pack (JISC TechDis, undated).
Select Presentation 1 – In-built Accessibility Features of Microsoft Windows.
Some parts of the activity will ask you to write a postcard or similar to practise using an accessibility tool. You should write about how you feel as you are using the tool.
Is it straightforward?
No it isn't
How long is it taking?
There are not enough hours in the day to sit here and try and navigate this!! I must be doing something wrong. Why can't there be a simple click for the link? I struggle if there is more than one key to press as I can't remember the order...control and link may appear easy but believe me its not! Even my laptop was groaning as I opened yet another window!!
Do you have to remember the layout of the screen?
There is so much to remember that layout is the least of my worries. There was so much written info that I lost the will to go on....tried the powerpoint, less to read which helped!
How long do you think it would take you to become an expert user?
Infinity and beyond!
Did you need more help? If so, did you find help and was it useful?
Basically I need to go back and try again as I'm obviously missing something!
After desperately trying to catch up all I seem to have achieved is is a big fat nothing.......I can't catch up to the others who are too far ahead. So I've made the decision to not try! Instead I'm going to start the TMA and work backwards. This is a strategy that one of the other tutors proposed on her site and it seems it may work for me!
For Week 3 I have read Seale re legislation. And I agree with Seale that the legislation for most country's is confusing and open to misinterpretation. Having been on the receiving end of it in the past I am sceptical in its ability to be fair to all concerned but I need to get past this so it doesn't affect how I provide support for students with impairment.
With regard to disability awareness training I have received none both in my last workplace and in he past 21 months that I have worked for the OU. However I intend to ask my line manager if there is any training in the near future that I can participate in.
As for the TMA I have no students with disabilities that I'm aware of and past experiences are limited, so I'm looking at it from the OU's point of view e.g what they provide etc etc. Definitely focusing on online learning. My students don't actually have to be online but they will next year with the implementation of a VLE so I may attempt to address future challenges but as my tutor has stated.. I need to explain quite clearly that I'm projecting to a future situation and that I also manage to demonstrate a grasp of a wide range of the potential issues.....now I just have to fathom out what they are!!! The critical evaluation should be ok if its based on course materials.
So that's the plan for now.....
Off to read Seale so I can attempt to answer the following question..........
Think about the following questions:
1. According to Seale, all the players in accessible elearning have their own perspectives and their own stories to tell.
- What is your perspective or story? Acessibility is similar to inclusion in that not everyone can be treated equally but in the case of courses they may be adapted to meet learners needs. I say 'may' as some courses cannot.
- What events, people or objects have influenced your current perspective regarding accessibility? My Early Years courses (E123/E124) are vocational courses that require that the learners are working with children (0-8 years). This immedialtely rules out anyone with a criminal record. It can also rule out certain disabilities as there is a duty of care to the children. In the past I have had to exclude a learner due to her criminal record at age 16. In an FE college I have also placed a student in a nursery school (under pressure from learning support)... who used an electric wheelchair with limited movement below the neck and had limited speech. Nursery adapted well but the learner became a health and safety risk when the children realised they could make the wheelchair move and she was unable to prevent this. The learner also was only able to complete one or two units and would not have been able to attain a qualification as the examining body required learners to complete all units which included toileting children, working with babies, nappy changing and so on.
- How conscious are you of these factors when you are reading and thinking about accessibility issues? I'm very concious of being politically correct and not discriminating but also not wanting to set the learner up for a fall by not being honest with them. In life there are often limitations that cannot be overcome.
2. If you were to conduct an analysis at this point in time, of the costs and benefits for you personally as a learner in studying this course online, what would the analysis look like?
- Would there be more costs than benefits? More benefits as OU are paying for the course
- Are they evenly matched?
- What factor helped you to decide you could cope with studying this course online? I work online and this is my 3rd online course. I'm driven by wanting to achieve an MA but I'm sacrificing a lot (family time) to achieve this.
3. Seale uses the imagery of a magic fairy to make the point that many of us are waiting desperately in the hope that we don’t have to take responsibility for accessibility because somehow or other it has ‘miraculously’ been done for us.
- What metaphor, analogy or imagery would you use to describe your or your co-workers’ current attitude or expectations regarding finding solutions to accessibility ‘problems’? Bring it on....if this wasn't my attitude why would I be on this course?
4. If you attended a conference where the main theme was making online learning accessible, what kind of information or evidence would you wish to hear from the presenters that would help to inform or change your practice? What can be done, how it can be done, when it can be done
5. Thinking about accessibility:
- Why do you think some students do not declare their disability to the institutions in which they are studying? Wanting to be accepted on their own merits rather than be treated as disabled
- Does it matter if an institution does not know the exact numbers of disabled students registered on its courses and the exact nature of their learning needs? Yes, without such data improvement cannot happen
- How necessary do you think this information is, in helping institutions develop accessible learning? It's necessary
- In what way might such information help an institution improve the accessibility of its online learning material? identify the types of accessibility required but more likely to be lnumber of disabled learners and the cost of accessibility....I know I'm sooo cynical!
6. In our working lives we are all constantly managing our identities – both public and private.
- What aspects of your identity do you openly reveal to your work colleagues or students? Very little if any personal detail to students. More to colleagues once I get to know them.
- What aspects do you reveal in a more selective manner (if at all)? Where I live, husbands job, children's school
- Are there any aspects of your identity or information about yourself that you would feel uncomfortable revealing to work colleagues or students? Yes
Activity 1
- Already familiar with StudentHome page
- and familiar with MAODE Programme website
- Have checked out the website and course-specific online tools e.g. blog, wiki's
- Have created pesonal blog....posted Autumn pics as it feels like Autumn outside and as the course progresses it will hopefully remind me how many weeks have passed since I started and how nearer I am to completing!!!
Activitiy 1.2
- Have now read course guide and Assignment guide
Activity 1.3
I work for the Open University tutoring two level one courses fro the Early Years degree. I'm based in the northeast of England so my learners are both from the northeast but also from anywhere in Europe. This can mean that often English is not their first language. They are 'vocational' students in that they must be working in an Early Years setting in order to comply with the requirements of the course. They are of varying ages, anywhere from 18 years onwards. For many this is their first form of study since leaving school and for some their first experience of OU. At the present time my courses are quite 'traditional' in that the learners have course materials posted to them, they must post me their assignments and I also carry out face to face tutorials. However this is changing with the introduction of eTMA's and more online activities. I have already created wiki's for both my courses since studying on H808 and H804.
I would like to have more awareness and understanding of learners with disabilities especially in relation to online course design as well as being their tutor. At the present time I have no learners with disabilities.
Activity 1.4
- I've added my name to the list of students in my tutor group wiki
- I've made a link there to my blog
- I've introduced myself in my tutor group forum
- I've posted a reply to a member of my tutor group
So far I've ticked off all of the Part 1 activities....yeah!
