Reflection on theme 2: ‘Open Learning – Sharing and Openness’.

OER is a great resource from the students’ perspective. However, it often requires extra working hours (sometimes unpaid) and can be challenging to manage from the teachers’ point of view. From the university’s perspective, OER developed by their educators may serve as part of a marketing strategy or help expand awareness of in-house practices. They […]

Online participation and digital literacies, a reflection on topic 1 of the ONL course.

As a part of the topic for the first two weeks during the ONL course, we discussed the idea of being a digital native and what it could mean for us. The workshop facilitators connected this term not necessarily with the personal age, but with the motivation and our need to engage with digital tools, […]

Motivation and Dropout Rates in Online Courses

In today’s society, our basic physiological and safety needs, as per Maslow’s hierarchy, are mostly satisfied. Consequently, it is challenging to argue that we are making decisions to attain a task or goal to fulfill our low-level needs. Instead, we seek to satisfy higher needs such as  (see, e.g., Uses and Gratification Theory ): Cognitive […]

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Understanding Collaborative Learning: Cognitive Mechanisms and Factors for Success

Rochelle and Tesley define collaborative learning as a “coordinated and synchronous activity that results from a continuous attempt to construct and maintain a shared conception of a problem.” This succinctly summarizes “two or more people’s attempts to learn something together.” Although these definitions are not conflicting, they shed light on different aspects of collaborative learning. […]

Towards an Ideal Blend

The onset of digitalization and information technologies has set a new stage for learners and educators alike. Today, addressing all learning preferences — on the spectrum of conventional in-person setting to digital online learning — remains a priority. Navigating this spectrum in a manner that takes advantage of both ends may be the ideal blended […]