Learning to Live http://kiwisteve.edublogs.org A place to share our growth Wed, 05 Mar 2008 00:20:19 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.8.2 en hourly 1 Visiting a PTE http://kiwisteve.edublogs.org/2008/03/05/visiting-a-pte/ http://kiwisteve.edublogs.org/2008/03/05/visiting-a-pte/#comments Tue, 04 Mar 2008 23:09:26 +0000 kiwisteve http://kiwisteve.edublogs.org/2008/03/05/visiting-a-pte/ I was lucky enough to be invited to participate in an accreditation panel for an Auckland PTE and spent yesterday meeting management, academic staff and students as well as looking at documentation.  It was good to gain the perspective from the other side of the fence, as previously my involvement has been as an educational provider seeking accreditation and responding to panel requests. It was encouraging to discover that the panel took the view that they should work with the provider in a partnership that allows the accreditation to be granted while ensuring quality of delivery and capability of the institute. Having the opportunity to look at another institute and see what they do well and discovering areas where things can be done better made me think about my own institution and compare how it measures up.

The PTE had excellent track record for retaining international students and they had some great ideas that could be considered at EIT. The staff were all positive about the institute and the students and the students were happy with the staff. So in that area I think both institutes do well. Where EIT appeared strong in comparison is curriculum development, quality management and professional development of staff.  

Perhaps it is the size of the institute and the number of administrative and academic staff that makes the difference. EIT has a greater number of people to call on when developing programmes and procedures and as a result is able to produce quality systems and procedures.

Thinking about the two institutes, we are very different and I was reminded how lucky I am to be at an institute that recognises and encourages quality and has sufficient numbers of staff who are willing to share their expertise to produce a quality product. I was also a little envious to see how well the staff at the PTE worked so closely together with a common focus on ensuring a memorable educational experience for students.Looking back I feel a little disappointed that the polytechnic and PTE sectors have to operate in such a competitive environment. We both have things that we could share that would improve the performance of both different sectors which would result in a better experience for students studying in New Zealand.

]]> http://kiwisteve.edublogs.org/2008/03/05/visiting-a-pte/feed/ 0 Now for something completely different? http://kiwisteve.edublogs.org/2008/03/03/home/ http://kiwisteve.edublogs.org/2008/03/03/home/#comments Mon, 03 Mar 2008 00:52:54 +0000 kiwisteve http://kiwisteve.edublogs.org/2008/03/03/now-for-something-completely-different/ As a new blog user, the first thing I wanted to know was “Why should I use a blog site?”, and like all techno junkies I jumped onto my trusty Google search engine and asked the question. The answers that came back had little to do with educational pedagogy and more to do with marketing. Luckily I was not put off by the apparent lack of educational support for blogging, and I refined my Google search to include “Educational reasons for using a blog” and discovered some excellent evidence in support of educational blogging at a blog site no less. The site suggested some reasons for both instructors and students:
Options for instructors using blogs:

  • Content-related blog as professional practice
  • Networking and personal knowledge sharing
  • Instructional tips for students
  • Course announcements and readings
  • Annotated links
  • Knowledge management

Options for students using blogs in your courses include:

  • Reflective or writing journals
  • Knowledge management
  • Assignment submission and review
  • Dialogue for groupwork
  • E-portfolios
  • Share course-related resources

Having been convinced I ventured to Edublogs to find a place to share my thoughts and ideas and here I discoved on the front page 10 reasons for Blogging in Education:

  1. Post materials and resources
  2. Host online discussions
  3. Create a class publication
  4. Replace your newsletter
  5. Get your students blogging
  6. Share your lesson plans
  7. Integrate multimedia of all descriptions
  8. Organise, organise, organise
  9. Get feedback
  10. Create a fully functional website

Needless to say with all this support for educational blogging I have decided to give it a try so here goes….

I hope that someone has a look at what I am up to otherwise I’ll have to reassess the the value of this blogging activity.

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