Learning in Communities: Embracing our Social Nature

Humans are inherently social. We are accustomed to collaborating and learning from one another — to a narrower sense in small groups and to a broader sense in communities. Community of practice is formed when historical learning develops into an informal and dynamic social structure between participants who share a common interest and engage in […]

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Topic 4: Blended Learning – some thoughts

When thinking about a Blended Learning course I am a bit hesitant. I love the idea of blending synchronous and asynchronous phases as both offer a variety of opportunities and can encourage learning in different ways. The perfect mix can get the students to great learning outcomes. But why am I hesitant? Because there need […]

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Shaping Self-Directed Learners in Blended Learning Environments

Reflecting on self-directed learning within blended learning contexts, it’s clear that the key to its effectiveness lies in harmonizing students’ learning intentions with the established learning goals. Blended learning, a dynamic educational model that combines synchronous and asynchronous learning, requires a well-thought-out structure and transparent communication to be successful. The primary challenge lies in creating […]

Collaborative working exceeded my expectations

Learning communities are not an unknown concept. We basically start when we are students at school. Mostly, we do not see the advantages (except when you are the person who is free riding). Mostly it is more work and less efficient. BUT when I got older and started university I realised that there are some […]

Building Critical Learning Communities

Reflection on Topic 3: Learning in Communities Joanne Kuai joanne.kuai@kau.se The benefits of engaged pedagogy and learning in communities have been widely acknowledged, as human beings is a social person in a social world, and in relation to participation, the social and the individual constitutes each other (hooks, 2010; Wenger, 2010). In building a learning […]

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Paradox of Diversity and Dependence in the Learning Community

“When we are not dependent on each other, a learning community cannot exist.” This profound insight resonated with me as I navigated the complexities of online learning communities. It highlighted a fundamental truth: the success of these communities relies heavily on interdependence, underpinned by a sense of belonging and shared purpose. In my experiences building […]

My journey towards open learning – sharing and openness (Topic 2)

The facade of my open learning journey started with open access publishing. This is perhaps one common ground for researchers and educators to understand the importance of open learning and sharing. The basic principle that underpins innovation and knowledge is the availability of existing knowledge to be accessible to anyone who wishes to scrutinize it […]

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Knowledge Without Walls

The idea of learning being free always seemed like a utopian fantasy to me – something ideal but perhaps unattainable. Yet, we are witnessing a movement towards this dream in an era where knowledge begins to flow with a freedom similar to music on Spotify and YouTube. It’s a growing trend where the expertise of […]

Open Educational Practices in the Age of AI

Reflection on Topic 2: Open Learning – Sharing and Openness   Joanne Kuai joanne.kuai@kau.se   This work is licensed via CC BY 4.0   Open education practices (OEP) involve open education resources, open teaching and learning processes and open research and scholarly practices that incorporate some key principles such as accessibility, flexibility, shareability, affordability, innovation and […]

Navigating the online learning world

Reflection on Topic 1: Online Participation & Digital Literacies Joanne Kuai joanne.kaui@kau.se When I first started teaching as a first-year doctoral student, covid struck. I had envisioned myself as a teacher greeting those young and radiant faces of the Swedish and international youth in the classroom, walking around the lab, answering students’ questions on the […]

Long way towards residency

These two weeks of the course thinking about online participation and digital literacies I am now more aware of what it contains. I want to see the meta level where I am a student and on the other hand a teacher. Not so long ago I have been a student at the university, being thrown […]