Last week topic around design for online and blended learning is indeed very relevant for the time we are living in and also very interesting from a pedagogical perspective. I think that one of the key take aways for me is what Hodges (2020) describes as the difference between emergency remote teaching and online learning, i.e. that we need to change mindset when designing for online and not only reusing the setup from traditional education. The material and inspiration that we got from webinars, course links, group discussion, etc. have been overwhelming but exciting:) I believe that much of the theory will be useful when analyzing and designing a specific course, for example, the community of inquiry framework (Vaughan, et.al., 2013) or online learning design options (Hodges, 2020). On the last webinar we talked about Elmores learning modes (Meilleur, 2020) which could be another way of analyzing and designing a course.

I also attended a webinar with Niklas Laninge about behavioral design. I found this especially interesting to be used in education because behaviors (activities/things that we can observe) are more straightforward in a design setting compared to the more traditional need (which is much more abstract and fuzzy). As Laningen (2020) describes one must create understanding for behaviors in order to create change. An interesting framework which he used is called COM-B. COM-B focuses on people capabilities and opportunities that affect their motivation, and in turn, their behavior (Michie, et.al.,2011). I think this way of thinking can help to create better learning opportunities for students.

Lastly, I also attended a digital afterwork with Rangemaker.se. They invited me to virtual world in Mibo (getmibo.com) and showed us how they work with different tools to enhance digital communication. I like Mibo, which is a 3D virtual space which you could move around and interact very much like real world, because of the much richer interactions you get, compared to standard video conferencing tools. I have earlier talked about Gather.town (which is great) and Mibo is similar but more “advanced”. It would be fun to design an educational activity with Mibo. Another tool I will try is Topia.io, which also is similar to Gather.town. I think the metawerse-idea is something that is coming and that it is really beneficial for some type of online social learning.

Looking forward to introducing these things in my coming courses:)

References:
Hodges, C. et.al (2020), https://er.educause.edu/articles/2020/3/the-difference-between-emergency-remote-teaching-and-online-learning

Vaughan, N. D., Cleveland-Innes, M., & Garrison, D. R. (2013). Teaching in blended learning environments: Creating and sustaining communities of inquiry. Edmonton: AU Press

Meilleur, C., (2020), https://knowledgeone.ca/elmores-4-learning-modes/

Laninge, N., (2020). https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cJJk1YR07rw

Michie, S., Van Stralen, M. M., & West, R. (2011). The behaviour change wheel: a new method for characterising and designing behaviour change interventions. Implementation science, 6(1), 1-12.