Is this fraud? Are CPW trying dirty tricks to move me off UpFront tariff to O2 50?

I renewed my UpFront 50 (don’t ask – you can’t get it any more – which is probably why I’m having this problem) with Car Phone Warehouse around October 2008. They subsequently start texting me, saying they would change my tariff to O2 50 and charge me £18.60 per month (which is about what I pay for the whole year – no wonder they want to get me off it).

So, I rang, complained, they said they’d sorted it, and then next month … you guessed it … etc, and continued into November and December. Ended with a chat with two people from CPW, one male, and a separate conversation with one female, swearing blind that I’d not have the same problem, and it’d finally been sorted.

So I ignored more messages from CPW until tonight I noticed that they’ve changed my tarrif to O2 50, for Jan, Feb & March.

I’ve emailed them this … and will post the reply, if / when they do.

Keep your RSS’s peeled …

Pedagogy of e-learning – a tutor’s perspective.

The advantages and disadvantages of on-line learning are commonly understood – examples include “any time, anywhere” learning and a lack of secondary channels of feedback (e.g. non verbal communication) respectively.  Thus it follows that we need to modify our pedagogy of teaching and learning to better fit the new tools and techniques that ICT affords us.

Edge Hill’s own SOLSTICE project runs many sessions focussing on different aspects of on-line pedagogy; two of the most important areas perhaps being “content” and asynchronous discussion:

Content: We cannot simply upload the PowerPoint we used in class – it lacks your verbal contributions, and any enrichment from the rest of the group.  We must create content which creates a similar learning experience as if the session were delivered traditionally.  One downside of this approach is that it can result in large amounts of text over many pages.  However, we can break up monolithic text with attractive multimedia content such as images, video and audio.  Also you can embed student contributions from previous courses (perhaps even including anticipated student contributions).

Discussion: On-line asynchronous discussions are a great tool for enabling students to discuss and reflect on topics being covered by the course.  However, we need to be cautious in how we set these up and must formulate our initial “invitation” carefully to encourage rich contributions which maximise the learning process for all those involved.  Some of the best discussions have been instigated with a contentious proposal designed to encourage those less likely to contribute due to concerns such as a lack of confidence with the technology or the permanence of their contributions.