This module has been particularly useful
for me in a wide-ranging ways. To start with, I had never developed a blog and
in this module I broke free from this ‘taboo’. Furthermore, during completing
my assignment i.e. developing the blog, even more learning has taken place,
which I am pretty happy about, let alone the content of the blog itself.
I have learnt not only basics of blogging
but also that how much potential this ‘art’ of e-communication has to quickly
reach your active peers and have their feedback on your professional thoughts.
This can also inform your lecturing, research, publications and even research
proposal applications with most up to date information i.e. in ‘real-time’. Information
which reaches via books and even peer review publications could still be about
at least a year old by the time a paper has been reviewed, corrections made,
accepted and then eventually published after a long waiting que time. Similarly,
me following blogs of peers can help the same way with an even wider outreach.
In this module not only my existing
knowledge and practice was refreshed and enhanced but also new skills and
software were learnt, which once practiced a little, can make substantial difference
in my current teaching practices. This experience has helped to realize that
like the world is talking about concepts of smart cities, smart phones, and smart
buildings; now is the time to embark on with ‘smart teaching’ and subsequently ‘smart
learning’; which is possible only via the smart and mobile technologies.
Finally, I strongly feel that the pace
with which smart and mobile technologies have taken over the teaching and
learning world, there is a considerable lack of research studies on how the old
– but still valid – concepts (such as Bloom’s Taxonomy; Kolb’s Cycle; and Honey
and Mumford’s four learning styles) can be innovated to fit in with the smart
and mobile technologies more effectively and efficiently for our ‘smart-era’
students. I have a few ideas to put a self-funded PhD research proposals
together, if the Education Department is interested. I believe if we advertise
3 to 4 such self-funded PhD proposals, we are highly likely to have at least
one success. The follow-on publications can also enhance chances of securing
some external research funds; and escalate the REF.
