OLTD 502 - Digital Learning Continuum
OLTD Learning Outcome: Understand, design and commit to student success in online learning environments
- Design inclusive learning environments
- Share engagement strategies and tips
Evidence: Blog post, "Connectedness is the Revolution in Education"
Context of Evidence in Relation to the Outcome: Most of this evidence refers to the "Share engagement strategies and tips" portion of the outcome. It relates to Connectivism in that the connections that an instructor makes is the learning that will change his/her teaching practice. In the evidence I describe how my Community of Inquiry has influenced my practice.
Context of Outcome in Relation to my Practice: When I wrote this blog post in December, 2014, I described my community of practice as my OLTD cohort members and my NIC colleagues. In my second year of OLTD, I became part of a new cohort since I had taken a year off the program. I would say that this caused my community of inquiry to change. My community within the OLTD program decreased, and my community in my workplace grew. In the fall of 2016 I began to "[S}hare engagement strategies and tips" with my work colleagues. Partially it had to do with content in the OLTD courses in the fall of 2016 (Social Media and Blended Learning) which were topics that my colleagues have been willing to explore in their practice. I shared several of my assignment findings with colleagues and within my department we now have a working group on blended learning.
Connectedness is the Revolution in Education: December 18, 2014
No one is saying that technology is not changing education. Clearly it is. There is debate, however, as to whether educational technology is revolutionizing education or evolving education. It is inspiring revolution, I believe. And it is doing so by expanding, what on-line educator Derek Muller of Veritasium ( https://www.youtube.com/user/1veritasium ) calls, "the foundation of social interaction between teachers and students" that is the essence of teaching and learning. I would add that the foundation of social interaction between teachers and other teachers and between learners and other learners is radically expanding as well.
Muller says that technology is not revolutionizing education. But he's referring to forms of media - people in the past claimed that other inventions such as moving pictures, radio, television and even videodiscs, would revolutionize education. They didn't. And they didn't primarily because they are not interactive. While they might have expanded the learners' access to content, they did not expand the social interaction between teachers, and between students, and between teachers and students.
Laptops, smartphones, smart boards, tablets and other gadgets are not revolutionizing education; however, the current (and presumably) future connectedness facilitated by the internet does allow access to infinite opportunities for social interaction that can be harnessed for the purpose of learning.
When I began teaching 25 years ago, I was hired to teach a grade 5/6 class. I had a few content resources and strategies for grade 6 from a practicum I’d done a year previous. I had the provincial ministry guidelines and objectives. But, essentially when I walked into the school for the first time early that August, I had very little in the way of resources, and, therefore, began to create plans and materials and began to search the filing cabinets at the school district office. I was worried that I would not have enough prepared to get through even the first couple of weeks of school.
About mid-August, my new colleagues, the experienced teachers, began to arrive at the school to begin their preparations. That is when my worries were alleviated. They took time to share resources and strategies with me, and they made suggestions as to how we might collaborate on special projects and, even, team teach. When those teachers began to arrive at the school that summer, my community of practice began to grow.
Today, my on-site colleagues at North Island College are the core of my community of practice – the primary practice being that of teaching first and second year English. The faculty in my department are highly collaborative. It feels like we are a team on a joint enterprise. Increasingly, the IT department members are included in the community of practice as the department offers more on-line courses and more on-line supplementing of the face-to-face courses.
Since enrolling in the OLTD, my community of practice/inquiry has expanded to the peers and instructors in the program. The program facilitates more opportunities to connect and share with fellow practitioners. Ironically, however, in OLTD 502, I have been less connected, especially with my peers. Out of necessity, I have given more time to other life priorities, and it has meant that I have had less of a social presence in the course and that has likely diminished my cognitive presence as well. Despite my lessened presence in OLTD recently, my belief in Connectivism and Communities of Inquiry has grown.
I viewed the pages of several of the links provided in the weekly readings including Tony Bates’ “Outlook for Online Learning in 2013” and Lev Gonick’s “12 tech trends higher education cannot afford to ignore”, which included the growth of mobile learning, social networking replacing email, the growth of the flipped classroom model and, increasingly, the questionable value of a post-secondary degree.
They are noteworthy reads, but the most valuable links for me during this portion of the course were the Google + communities of OLTD Shared Learning Community and EdTech Mentorship Network where I found the Veritasium link and a useful article titled, “How to Start Engaging Students Through Online Discussions”. My community of practice and inquiry spreads beyond the connections within North Island College, and recently, additionally, within VIU out to online communities of educators with whom I can share strategies and resources. For me, this is both an educational revolution and a revelation.
OLTD Learning Outcome: Understand how to build rapport and manage groups
- engage in building learning communities and communities of practice
Evidence: An OLTD Google+ post related to Community of Inquiry.
Context of Evidence in Relation to the Outcome: In this post I discuss how a teacher can set up and facilitate a community of inquiry for students within a course. I discuss how a teacher engages with students to build rapport and manage groups.
Context of Outcome in Relation to my Practice: Students will engage in collaborative learning if the instructor has a strong teacher presence in online learning through prompting, guiding and questioning - paying attention and being available. I would say that in f2f courses I have had a strong teacher presence. This reflection reminds me that I need to be highly present and available in the online learning environment.
Community of Inquiry Discussion
Effective facilitation is what an artful teacher does.
To be honest, there are some people whom I would love to be taught by, and I would only want them to lecture because they are so rich with stories and experiences - Wade Davis comes to mind, as does the Saulteaux elder, Stanley Cut Hand (I'd rather listen to them in person than on audio or video, though). But most of us are not National Geographic Explorers-in-Residence or the ones designated to tell the stories from the countless generations of our people. So, to be good teachers, we need to share what we know, yes, and make that part of our artful facilitation. We must give students enough - information, skills, strategies - so that they feel confident to lead and collaborate in small groups. They will walk through the doors of collaborative learning opportunities if they think they will be successful in the learning. But the art of the facilitator also comes in the form of prompts, guidance and the use of thought-provoking questions. The students will be more engaged in their collaborative learning if they see that their teacher is also highly engaged with and interested in the student to student learning exeperiences they are having. This part is the same with online. Within the social presence and teacher presence of online learning (at least from my very limited experience), students want to feel free to interact with their classmates and learn from and teach each other, but they also want to know that their teacher is paying attention and is available for any needed guidance.
- engage in building learning communities and communities of practice
Evidence: An OLTD Google+ post related to Community of Inquiry.
Context of Evidence in Relation to the Outcome: In this post I discuss how a teacher can set up and facilitate a community of inquiry for students within a course. I discuss how a teacher engages with students to build rapport and manage groups.
Context of Outcome in Relation to my Practice: Students will engage in collaborative learning if the instructor has a strong teacher presence in online learning through prompting, guiding and questioning - paying attention and being available. I would say that in f2f courses I have had a strong teacher presence. This reflection reminds me that I need to be highly present and available in the online learning environment.
Community of Inquiry Discussion
Effective facilitation is what an artful teacher does.
To be honest, there are some people whom I would love to be taught by, and I would only want them to lecture because they are so rich with stories and experiences - Wade Davis comes to mind, as does the Saulteaux elder, Stanley Cut Hand (I'd rather listen to them in person than on audio or video, though). But most of us are not National Geographic Explorers-in-Residence or the ones designated to tell the stories from the countless generations of our people. So, to be good teachers, we need to share what we know, yes, and make that part of our artful facilitation. We must give students enough - information, skills, strategies - so that they feel confident to lead and collaborate in small groups. They will walk through the doors of collaborative learning opportunities if they think they will be successful in the learning. But the art of the facilitator also comes in the form of prompts, guidance and the use of thought-provoking questions. The students will be more engaged in their collaborative learning if they see that their teacher is also highly engaged with and interested in the student to student learning exeperiences they are having. This part is the same with online. Within the social presence and teacher presence of online learning (at least from my very limited experience), students want to feel free to interact with their classmates and learn from and teach each other, but they also want to know that their teacher is paying attention and is available for any needed guidance.