Whole college CPD days pose a little bit of a challenge regarding eLearning training. With potentially up to 500 staff attending, a fixed number of sessions, normal capacity computer rooms, a mixture of abilities, needs, and experiences this can all have the ability to make large scale eLearning training a bit bland. However, it is really important that elearning has a presence at these events to ensure that it is seen as integrated to the College objectives.
So for March CPD day, our remit was to facilitate 8 tables of 10 staff from all curriculum areas every 45 minutes in 4 separate sessions. Staff were also atending the other sessions with a focus on the other core concepts of English, Maths and Equality, Diversity and Inclusion.
We had to think slightly differently but still start/continue the conversations with staff about what the impact of eLearning could be in their own specific areas. A big ask! So we used the right tool for the job….. paper! :o)
SNAP! We produced a whole series of playing cards which had both tools and impacts of eLearning. A member of the eLearning team facitilated each table. The rules given were as follows:
- On the table you will find a deck of cards that contain eLearning tools and impacts.
- The youngest person deals all the cards out face down to the players
- The objective of this game is to lose all of your cards.
- The person to the left of the dealer begins play by first reading out the contents of the card of their choice and then placing the card face up in the middle of the table.
- All of the other players consider their cards and decide if they have a tool or an impact that matches the face up card. Impacts can only be placed on tools and vice versa.
- The first person to find a match and place it on the table must justify their match providing examples of teaching and learning where possible from their own teaching practice.
- The rest of the players have the right to challenge the match if they feel that in this instance the cards do not really match. They must give reasons for their challenge. The two players can the briefly counter each other’s arguments before the rest of the player’s then vote for who they think is correct.
- If the challenge is upheld the matching player must take all the cards from the middle and it is now the challenger’s turn (see instruction 4). If the challenge isn’t supported then the challenger takes the cards and the player who matched cards takes their turn.
- If no challenge is issued the cards remain on the table and play continues with the Player who has matched the card taking another turn (see instruction 4).
- Play continues until one player has no cards left. (Winner)
Feedback from the activity:
The activity was seen as fun and engaging. The presence of rules helped the structure and keep focus by managing and directing the discussions. On tables, staff discussed examples where they had used the tools on the cards and gave each other explanations and examples using their own devices. The groups very quickly engaged in meaningful discussions about the impact of the various technologies. The tables weren’t subject based – this proved a major success in sharing eLearning practice and as a result, staff have asked for a monthly focus group to continue these discussions with each curriculum area represented.
All in all a raging success!
The cards we used, and that can be downloaded for your own event, can be found here.