Topic 3 for Open Network Learning was about Learning in Communities. To say the least, I was very excited to learn more about this topic. To learn more about what the group produced please check out our group website, https://www.opennetworkedlearning.se/onl212/ . This blog post will not be about what we did but my reflection of what it is like to work in a community.

First, let me tell you about working in a community such as ONL. Working in a group with others with different backgrounds and expieriences has been truly engaging and fulfilling! As an elementary teacher, listening to others discuss what they see works or doesn’t work in higher education has made me see how some of our problems are the same regardless of the students age. For us, I think we have all worked together well by listening to each other and meeting deadlines. By changing the moderators for each topic, everyone has taken responsibility and we all understand the time and effort a successful group meeting demands. Even though I heard about ONL only a few weeks before the start of the group, I am so thankful that I could be apart of this group and the learning we have shared!

As for Topic 3, our moderators gave us a task to create a presentation as a group. Given the complexity of the task and the time alottment , they also suggested we take on roles to help with the process. As an elementary educator, I have expierence with group work with students that have been successful and have failed. One factor that helps with the success of student groups is giving all participants a clear role in the group. However, for our presentation, this didn’t really work as we had hoped. We had the roles but we didn’t have the opportunity to really work within the roles.

This process was definitely an ”A-ha” moment for me. As a group we had a difficult time understanding the task and what we were to present. We asked questions and tried to wrap our heads around the task. Unfortunately, given the situation we had only short spurts of time together. Perhaps, if we had a longer meeting we could have gotten through our initial questions and started on the presentation and collaboration. As with all group work the students must understand what is being asked of them. Simply put, clear expectations are the A-Z of group work.

When the time came to produce something, our group worked together to do so. Perhaps we didn’t follow our assigned roles but did work together. However, my question of best practices of how to work cooperatively in a digital setting with adults lingers on. This is an area that I am truly interested in as I have seen the benefits of coopeartive learning for students IRL. If you have any tips, ideas or recommendations please leave them in the comment section!

Topic 3 for Open Network Learning was about Learning in Communities. To say the least, I was very excited to learn more about this topic. To learn more about what the group produced please check out our group website, https://www.opennetworkedlearning.se/onl212/ . This blog post will not be about what we did but my reflection of what it is like to work in a community.

First, let me tell you about working in a community such as ONL. Working in a group with others with different backgrounds and expieriences has been truly engaging and fulfilling! As an elementary teacher, listening to others discuss what they see works or doesn’t work in higher education has made me see how some of our problems are the same regardless of the students age. For us, I think we have all worked together well by listening to each other and meeting deadlines. By changing the moderators for each topic, everyone has taken responsibility and we all understand the time and effort a successful group meeting demands. Even though I heard about ONL only a few weeks before the start of the group, I am so thankful that I could be apart of this group and the learning we have shared!

As for Topic 3, our moderators gave us a task to create a presentation as a group. Given the complexity of the task and the time alottment , they also suggested we take on roles to help with the process. As an elementary educator, I have expierence with group work with students that have been successful and have failed. One factor that helps with the success of student groups is giving all participants a clear role in the group. However, for our presentation, this didn’t really work as we had hoped. We had the roles but we didn’t have the opportunity to really work within the roles.

This process was definitely an ”A-ha” moment for me. As a group we had a difficult time understanding the task and what we were to present. We asked questions and tried to wrap our heads around the task. Unfortunately, given the situation we had only short spurts of time together. Perhaps, if we had a longer meeting we could have gotten through our initial questions and started on the presentation and collaboration. As with all group work the students must understand what is being asked of them. Simply put, clear expectations are the A-Z of group work.

When the time came to produce something, our group worked together to do so. Perhaps we didn’t follow our assigned roles but did work together. However, my question of best practices of how to work cooperatively in a digital setting with adults lingers on. This is an area that I am truly interested in as I have seen the benefits of coopeartive learning for students IRL. If you have any tips, ideas or recommendations please leave them in the comment section!