Steve publishes the Learning with E's blog. The articles are not only very thought-provoking, they often also include references so you can follow up the reading for yourself. At the moment, Steve is writing a great series on learning theories. I asked him to tell me about his current research.
What are you currently working on that has an ed tech focus?
At present we are working on integrating new media into the curriculum of teacher education. We have just migrated our content across to Moodle which is our new institutional Digital Learning Environment. I'm also incorporating several new components into our specialist Computing/ICT student modules in preparation for the new academic year. This includes programmable tools such as Makey Makey, Raspberry Pi and robotics.
Why is it important to ICT/Computing teachers?
These new components make sense to include because the new primary curriculum (for non academy schools at least) covers coding. It makes sense that our new teachers are as familiar with programmable tools as possible, so they can hit the ground running when they are in school experience.
Where can teachers find out more about it?
My own blog and those of my colleagues (Especially Clare Fenwick, Duncan Lloyd, Oliver Quinlan and Pete Yeomans) will undoubtedly carry content related to teaching these new areas of education development in the near future. Mine can be found at Learning with E's
What opportunities are there for teachers to become involved (eg pilot study, beta versions of an app, etc)
We often create tweet hashtags that represent the activities and conversations we are having in our module seminars. You can follow me on Twitter at @timbuckteeth and have conversations with our staff, students and others who participate in our teaching sessions remotely. Any education professional, regardless of their location, is welcome to participate in conversation with our students as they explore learning.
Anything else you'd like to add?
Learning with E's
(Disclosure: this is an affiliate link)
My new book, Learning with 'e's (see above) -- which is based on some of my more notorious or popular blog posts, and expanded to include new trends, technologies and pedagogy theories -- is published in January* through Crown House. To give you a teaser, some of the chapters have titles such as 'new learning architectures', and 'the shape of minds to come.' I wrote it with teachers and education students in mind, and the strap line is: educational theory and practice in the digital age.
About Steve Wheeler
Steve is Associate Professor of learning technology in the Plymouth Institute of Education at Plymouth University, where is also subject lead for Computing and ICT on the B.Ed (Hons) and Post-Graduate Certificate of Education programmes. He chairs the Professional Enhanced Learning Conference (Pelecon), and serves on the editorial boards of a dozen international journals, including the open access publications Research in Learning Technology (formerly ALT-J), Digital Culture and Education, European Journal of Open, Distance and E-Learning and The International Review of Research in Open and Distance Learning. In addition, he is a Fellow of the European Distance and E-learning Network (EDEN) and a member of EDEN's NAP steering group. His research interests include learning technology, cybercultures, creativity and social media.
*Steve’s book is out now. It’s very interesting to read, though I don’t agree with all of it. I’ll review it in due course. Non-disclosure: I was invited to write something for the back cover from a pre-publication edition of the book. This has not influenced my opinions.
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