Finding a focus

Today is the submission day for our APBOT learning agreements and unfortunately I have had a small problem finding a focus. I read recently that online moderators were needed for the annual conference of IATEFL (the International Association of Teachers of English as a Foreign Language) so sent an email to the organizers offering my services. The role involved moderating discussions and presentations and generally keeping people not physically at the conference involved and up-to-date. Sadly my initial email application must have got lost because I got no reply. I sent a second mail only to be informed that they now had enough people but that I was first reserve. This message came through just a couple of days ago so it has not given me much time to think of an alternative. Waiting to see if I do actually get called up at the last minute is not really compatible with using this experience for my module.

There may however now be a light at the end of the tunnel. As luck would have it my classmate Nicky from the University of Westminster is involved in a new JISC project on m-learning which I may be able to make a contribution to as a guest speaker. M-learning was the subject of my previous project in the module Customised Study for Blended and Online Education so I have some ideas about what is going on in that area as well as data about my own students' attitudes and opinions on m-learning. This all still has to be claried with both Westminster and my tutor at Napier but if it all works out I will be using that as the "Practical Student Support Activity" part of my project. Supporting my own students is not really possible at the moment because they now have their semester break and won't be back until the beginning of April.

The other part of this module is an optional "Developmental Element". As I am always very keen to play around with new software this could be a good chance to play around with some programs I have recently found; Snap!, Snap! Empower and GLOmaker2. I might even produce a series of podcasts for my main course next semester, Professional English: Engineering. Luckily my tutor is aware of the above problems but it would still be nice to submit a rough outline today to at least have something to discuss.

Let's wait and see how the rest of the day goes and whether I am actually able to find a focus.

Neil