e-Mentors : Leveraging Digital Native Students
The introduction of Student eMentors to facilitate staff training and an enhanced use of technology in Oaklands College has been the focus of a concentrated enculturation process over the last two years. This case study will focus on both staff and student experiences of the eMentoring system and will outline the strategy for developing learning spaces within a new intelligent building to further enable and embed the process.
Welcome to the Oaklands College contribution to the Strathclyde University ‘Work -with- IT’ project.
Oaklands College is proud to retain its position at the forefront of using and supporting eLearning technology. The sector already benefits from the leadership and guidance on successful eLearning mechanisms that is provided by Oaklands - from case studies on eMentors and new buildings through to coherent eLearning visions/strategies and of course the 2nd year of production of an eLearning ‘pack of cards’. This sharing of good practice is based upon an unshakable belief in openness and collaboration that the college has built up over time. The college aims to build upon the strong foundations of a purpose-built eLearning and Technology Support (eLTS) team by pushing the boundaries of what can be achieved pedagogically utilising eLearning means. It is with this in mind that the college is forging links with partners such as Strathclyde University, Computacenter, LSN, Microsoft, JISC, the local University, LSIS, and many more, to enable forward thinking and innovative uses of eLearning. The contribution to the ‘Work with IT’ project is just one of those exciting ventures cementing Oaklands College at the forefront of the eLearning and Technology march allowing the shifting of perspectives in learning and teaching. The college’s aspirations of providing a technology experience for learners that is better than they can get at home – is moving forward with some speed and looks as though it really could become reality in the new building planned for opening in 2011.
It is testament to the ‘Work with IT’ project, the staff working on it, and the partners involved, that the vignettes show a positive outlook for the culture change taking place in the college. This bodes well for the future of the technologies explored and the improvement of the learning experience for our students. This is particularly true where those students are intimately involved in the design and support of the very learning experience they undertake – particularly encapsulated by the eMentors concept which is demonstrably improving the quality of the learning experience not only for students but also for staff. It is this programme that has gained so much interest in the sector as a whole and among other aspects of the new building strategies being employed promises, to take the JISC Innovating eLearning online conference by storm. eMentors, the new build, culture change, and innovation - form the central threads in the vignettes written for the project. The report and the vignettes that support them document a major part of the college’s journey to create an outstanding environment for the best learner experience and highest quality learning and teaching. I am proud for the college to have been involved in such a worthwhile project and I commend it to you.
Richard Everett, Director of eLearning, Oaklands College, October 31st 2008
eMentors
The eMentors scheme joins the pedagogical viewpoint of the teacher with the pragmatic approach and technical ability of the student. Using the students to support teachers in utilising technology appropriately in the classroom or workplace, the eMentors would support the staff using technology by mentoring them with methods and techniques that the students themselves take for granted. Based on the concept that the one in the household who knows how to use the DVD properly is the child –Oaklands’ eMentor students can be called on to help with everything from assisting lecturers with equipment such as laptops, projectors and electronic whiteboards, to encouraging fellow students to make use of the college’s VLE (Virtual Learning Environment) and reporting IT faults to the Helpdesk.