When I started this ONL202 course I would never have imagined I would get this involved in this course. I wanted some tips and trix to use at work. Maybe learn about a new tool or two. Now, when I summarizes the whole 12 weeks I´ve gotten so much more. Not only several tools but also how to build pedagogical learning processes online and I´ve met a lot of new friends from all over the world, my loved PBL-group 7.
Things to remember for future
As a teacher it is extremely important to let the student have time in the beginning to get familiarized to the platform you´re using in the course. You have to make exercises in the beginning forcing them to use the platform and the different tools used in the course. It is also extremely important to let the group members to get to know each other and to make sure everyone is talking and taking place. One important thing to do in this process is to make every student group create a working agreement together and also to set a date when it is supposed to be revised.
In an online course it is effective to build up collaborative work where the others appreciate your knowledge and input. If you succeed in building this atmosphere in the learning group it is more likely you will see everyone starting the course also finishing it. As a student, you don´t want to miss any occasion together with the group since it is so uplifting and that leads to great learning experiences.
When a safe atmosphere is starting to land in the group you can start to present content from the course for the students to deal with. When coming to designing the course I think it is important that the structure of the course look the same throughout the different topics. Then the students don´t have to put energy in understanding the process but can only concentrate on the content and the collaboration with other students.
As a teacher I have noticed the power of a collaborative separate tool to work in. If you divide your group into smaller groups but let them reflect in the same document or digital tool you can see what the other groups are discussing at the same time. If you get stuck in your own group you can get inspired of the discussions in the other groups.
This about designing a course. What about the OPEN online learning. Our PBL-group leader inspired us all to try at least one MOOC-course to see how it works. That was interesting. I joined a course that I could have done myself to see how they build up the knowledge and presented the material. It was interesting to see 50 000 participants in this course and still the teachers have tried to build a community through making you write comments to their questions and to answer other students comments. Interesting move.
To continue on the topic OPEN I wonder for how long the MOOCs will be needed. The new generation is already using Youtube as a big MOOC. The big difference though is the fact that on Youtube you have to lead yourself to new knowledge whilst in a MOOC you are led in a pedagogical way. It will make it easier to learn when the material is presented in a scaffolding way which might be difficult build up for yourself on Youtube. The benefit with learning on Youtube is that you can learn exactly what you are interested in, not what the teacher think you need to know. But then, the MOOCs can give you credits if you pay and that is good on your CV.
It has been interesting following this course because the learning material is what we experience at the same time. This was especially clear when we reached topic 3 “Learning in communities – networked collaborative learning” when the literature was discussing exactly the process we as a PBL-group has been thru. It became even more clear in topic 4 “Design for online and blended learning” that ONL use your own course as an excellent example of how to design for open online learning.
Thank you ONL for giving me many insights on open online learning and thank you PBL 7 for being such a smart and reflective group of people who has challenged me in many ways.
