In the Open Networked Learning course, I have learned to understand and appreciate the social aspects of learning, the need for building networks and communities around what people learn or teach. I have always been part of various groups, both online and IRL, for fun, for help with solving practical problems, for achieving tasks that no one can do on his own and sometimes for making the world a better place, but I haven’t connected it to so much to learning before. That also means that I got an understanding that just making the lectures on zoom or record them isn’t by far enough to make a proper online course. You have to facilitate networking and social interaction even more in an online context.
I already use a forum in one course and found it even more used and useful in an online context, but I will probably expand further on that, maybe make some exercises more group oriented.
Digital literacy
But from the beginning we were discussing digital literacy. Smashing the Natives – Immigrants dichotomy makes sense out of my experience. I myself met digital technology at an age of about 25. After that I have spent much of my working life and some of my spare time teaching and helping younger people handle digital stuff. During the course I have been more convinced that many “digital” skills are not so uniquely digital. Social skills, writing, drawing, explaining, talking, acting, storytelling in pictures or movies are ancient “analog” skills becoming even more important in a digital context.
Open Educational Resources
I have also learned that some teachers are sceptical to making their learning resources open. As an open-source advocate, I think this is sad. At least in Sweden the material is made with taxpayers’ money and should in a much higher degree be available to the taxpayers. Much of my stuff is available on the local Kaltura instance (play.lnu.se) for what I do at work and YouTube, Instagram etc for the private works.
To do list
In IRL contexts I will make more movies instead of lecturing and save the precious time together for more interactive discussions and also practical training.
In my
IT-support role I already have begun recommending opening Zoom-rooms 15 min
before the actual lecture or meeting begins and welcome all participants. That
gives time for “sound check” and technical problem-solving and hopefully also
for some social chat or some questions. The actual lecture or meeting can start
at the scheduled time, sharp.
I will add to this list and maybe fail some more …
Hi, really like the Yoda meme. And I share the idea about arriving to classes 15 minutes early. Now I only have the teach the participants that I'm there for them...
ReplyDeleteI recognise so much of what you are saying here. You really improve learning when you add interactive discussions. Great idea with the open zoom room before the class starts, I think I will try it out myself next time.
ReplyDeleteHi Urban,
ReplyDeleteI totally LOVE these memes. They're awesome. One of the things I struggle with though is the fact that many of my students may have other classes right before mine, which means that opening the Zoom classroom way early could create situations of inequitable access. Is that a concern for you ?
Thanks, Joanna
Some students arrive "just in time" or too late even IRL. Sometimes of good reasons sometimes out of laziness or bad planning. There is no "one size fits all" solution.
DeleteYoda is so quotable these days! I'm glad you found the course useful and hope you can nudge colleagues into exploring the potential of collaborative online learning.
ReplyDeleteI can see myself in your reflection too. Great learning points to take back ^^
ReplyDeleteI completely agree with your statement about how "digital" skills are not uniquely digital and how so many of the traditional "analog" skills are increasingly important in the digital context. For me, this reminds me of two things 1) digital, online learning is so much more than just the use of fancy online tools 2) emotional presence is vital in the digital context.
ReplyDelete