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Before joining the SEDA session, the sessions were PowerPoint based with very little audience input.
The nature of the workshops I run have always meant interactivity isn't easy, but I was also limited to using only the software I was aware of. This course has opened up opportunity for new styles of learning to emerge.

Attached is the pre-course confidence audit to demonstrate my abilities prior to the SEDA course.

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For me as an educator, I believe the focus should always be about making learning interesting, engaging and accessible to all our students regardless of their style of learning or any other demographic... The content should always cover the foundations but lead to more challenging content in order to expand and develop minds. The factor I believe is overlooked and underestimated too often is that our teaching needs to be malleable – in style and content. This is particularly important in larger groups (i.e. lectures). It needs to be delivered at a level that everyone in the room can understand and then build on it. If you are teaching in styles that are not working, or at levels beyond the participants ability, you are not teaching, you are simply talking in front of a very disengaged and likely confused, anxious audience.

I feel strongly as an educator that my sessions have to be accessible to all our students – which includes online students and acknowledging the different types of learning styles (referring to the VARK model) (Alkhasawneh, Mrayyan, Docherty, Alashram & Yousef, 2008 p.573). Integrating technology into teaching can be extremely beneficial, boosting engagement, reinforcing learning and adding dimension to the classroom, even if that is a virtual classroom (Liljaniemi & Paavilainen, 2020). Equally, the downside is that some students can struggle with technology - whether that is down to skillset or affordance of the devices required for the technical elements. When incorporating technology into my sessions, I am always very conscious that it needs to be accessible.

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As a facilitator, it is important to be aware of which methods of learning work with the content and audience of your teaching. Each teachers audience varies based on many variables and here are some of the methods of learning I utilise for my psychology students:

Blended Learning
Blended learning of mixing online and in person elements of the classroom is beneficial for many reasons, mainly centred on accessibility and engagement. The courses I teach on have adapted this approach already, more so since the COVID-19 pandemic. By having two options for the teaching session, students are more likely able to access the learning regardless of personal situations and therefore engagement in the session. Giving a variation also supports all learners regardless of the type of learner they are. Main barriers to be aware of are around self-regulation and use of learning technology as it requires skill in the area (Rasheed, Kamsin & Abdullah, 2020). Challenges faced by teachers mainly centre around the ability to use the technologies, accessing required training and choosing suitable instructional technology. Being aware and mindful of these barriers means I can utilise this style of learning without compromising my students experience in my classroom.

Buzz Groups/Break Out Rooms
I try to build analytical skills using buzz groups or breakout rooms (virtually) (Richer, 2022). I use this method in order to get the students thinking about the benefits and limitations for each piece of equipment I am demonstrating. Typically, most students - irrespective of how uncomfortable they are with sharing - can contribute without the pressure of talking in front of large groups. Those that don’t want to verbally share at this point are still able to listen to the rest of the group and perhaps join in more when they feed their ideas back to the larger workshop group.

Snowballing/Debating (Rahayu, Sukaesih & Bodijanto, 2020)
When feeding back, we tend to see the snowballing method in action. The ideas being put forward tend to be pitched in either a positive or negative light (i.e. eye tracking gives us quantifiable data that we can analyse and determine as significant or otherwise). This can then be contradicted by another group (i.e. however, eye tracking can be influenced depending on the model used – fixed apparatus doesn’t allow for natural movements and so can the data be generalised?) which typically sparks a lot of conversation amongst the groups.

The snowballing debate method lends well to flipped learning as we can then ask them follow up questions such as “does the context around the eye tracker influence the generalisability? Would it matter if we are only looking at lab studies rather than trying to create ecological scenarios?” This usually naturally reverts back to the buzz groups where they are discussing it once again.

Having a Moodle base
Use of Moodle to update on new software, software changes and frequently asked questions. Students use Moodle throughout their university experience and therefore it is arguably the most familiar software to them. This means that all students will be able to access it, even if not on a personal device, and students can access support using this system is available throughout the institution rather than just via staff that have accessed it (as is the case with more niche software). Peer support within sessions can be vital but also the benefit of an online support portal is the benefit of self help (Rudestam and Newton, 2007; Walliman, 2014). Regularly recording sessions so they are readily available will support independent learning.

Framing new information using different methods such as sway is also very beneficial. Breaking up the information in an attractively different way can make it less intimidating and approachable (Wisker, 2008). I use this for large areas of my Moodle page to help with digesting of the large body of information. You can access my Moodle page by clicking here.

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Our workshops are open to the entire department, meaning we often have a variety of levels (from level 3 foundation years to level 8 PhD students and even staff members). As our courses are mixed - some taught on campus, some entirely based online - we have to be mindful that the workshops are accessible to all.

To be inclusive, using the 10 competencies (Thatch and Murphy, 1995): we regularly produce/update videos for online-only students and students that work at a slower pace (how to guides) with follow up meetings offered in person or via teams.

Teams (formerly skype) also helps us work effectively with international students who may not be able to join us set times in the day due to time difference, or those that are not around on campus during reading weeks etc. (Wisker, 2000)

Interactive software such as flipgrid requires the learner to engage in use of - and access to - a camera/webcam which many do not have. Research during the COVID-19 pandemic revealed the shift to remote learning displayed conflicting preferences; despite requesting more interactive lectures, only 50% of students were comfortable using video cameras (Bashir et al., 2021). Some of the students in this study reported issues with designated home working space/environment and many of them without vital items such as a desk. This highlights that online learning can intensify social and digital inequality - especially students from more deprived communities. Although the majority of the students in this study experienced no technical issues, including good internet connectivity, we have to ensure the classroom is inclusive and accommodates all our students.

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Please click the headings of the software names to understand more about them.

Quizziz
As I previously would utilise the 'Kahoot' software for in session questionnaires, quizziz was a simple change to make with benefits of being able to add new features to the quiz element of the session. For example, I enjoy being able to include plain slides in between the questions so that it can flow better within the session instead of having to use back to back questions like in Kahoot. Sadly one of the downsides to this software, as with many free-to-use software pieces, is that it still has restrictions unless you can pay for the subscription.

Mentimeter
As a student on the SEDA course, I really enjoyed the use of mentimeter. The aesthetics are very easy on the eye, it is very engaging and the variety is great. It is similar to Quizizz but offers more variety and additional options. These additional options (that I really liked as a student) however, didn't work well in my teaching. Why is this? On reflection, I believe this is due to the session type. As aforementioned, my main teaching is via our software workshops. This is not theory based at all and requires no previous knowledge so the options of 'check ins' or word maps just didn't work in the way I'd hoped. Instead, they made the workshops feel broken and jolted which is detrimental to how they previously worked. I am glad I experienced mentimeter and in a lecture, I would consider trying it again - particularly if it is online. Sadly, on the free version, you can only use 2 questions before they request you to upgrade. This is a rather large negative as it of course limits what we can do with this software.

Padlet
I previously used padlet for a project that required engagement which was less successful. I have used this project as the link for demonstrating the changes in my approach from the last project to this padlet, today. When using it previously, I was hoping for short term engagement. I wanted my audience to engage quickly and for their involvement to massively change the padlet, which was an unrealistic of the software. I believe if I was to use this again, I would use it as a module-long page as an addition to Moodle. It can be embedded into a Moodle page and the anonymous feature could be useful for students less confident with contributions. I also think it is an elegant, attractive way of displaying information, similarly to sway, as a great alternative to blocks of text on Moodle. This gives the students variety and impacts how that information is received (Deni & Zainal, 2018).

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Due to implementing these changes in my semester 3 teaching, feedback is limited. The student numbers are always lower due to only including our masters students, but also feedback responses are also much lower this time of year.

Generally students were positive on the anonymous, online feedback form. There were no comments for improvement but unfortunately the newer technological aspects of the sessions were not commented on. Although this is initially disappointing, I believe this may be because they worked well. I feel that the students were focussed on commenting on me delivering the session and the content itself, rather than the way it is delivered.

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The post-course confidence audit is here to demonstrate how the course has directly impacted my abilities to use learning technologies in my teaching.

My teaching techniques include reflective notes to my ‘future self’. At the end of each session, irrespective of whether it is a one-off lecture or one of our regular workshops, I summarise the positive points that I feel worked and also write some notes to consider changing for next time. For example, this may be that a particular part of the content didn’t seem to work well, or I make a note that I need to have an alternative exercise dependent upon the group on the day. I have found that if the group is well established and has already gelled in other modules, certain exercises work well, such as group work and competition-based challenges. For quieter groups, however, this can be counterproductive and pair work is far more beneficial. By preparing alternative content, I am able to gauge the group morale before choosing which task to implement and get the best out of the group.

When implementing the new technologies, I was able to deliver content, reflect on how the session went and then make changes before the next one. I teach the same session a total of 4 times due to timetable availability of our students. Whereas this can be frustrating and repetitive, when trying new methods, it was really useful and informative.

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You can access to my reference list, here.