Tapping into The Power of Collaboration

As educators, we know that collaboration is critical to the learning experience, especially in an online environment. By working together, students can develop necessary thinking skills, increase their creativity, and construct knowledge and meaning in a more inclusive and culturally sensitive way. However, there are potential resistances to collaboration, such as different working styles, competitiveness,…

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Harvesting maximum value from collaborative learning

This week’s ONL topic shed light on the essential elements required for effective collaborative learning. In my PBL Group meeting, one of the members asked these questions: “What’s so wrong with “divide and conquer”? I’ve always done it this way… Have I been doing collaboration wrong all this while?” This made me think more carefully […]

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Oh no. Group work…

www.pexels.com/sv-SE/license/Group work at University. Dreaded by some students and much appreciated by others. In my experience, students often question the value of having group work as part of a course. If they are graded on the group work, the…

Learning in and through communities

Promoting learning in communities is a multifaceted process that requires careful consideration of various factors, such as the learning environment, participants’ characteristics, learning goals, and facilitation strategies. During our discussions, we…

Collaborative learning for the win

Collaborative learning seems to provide significant benefits for learning as students can observe one another learning, ask questions from their peers, bring their own perspectives for other students, learn to work in groups and so forth. However, at the same time students can experience group work as tedious and needlessly complicated and just divide their […]

Topic 2: Open Learning – Sharing and Openness

Through my group discussions, course webinars, and literature readings, I have come to a better understanding of the role of open learning and the challenges that I need to be aware of. I have also learned about the concept of ‘open educational practices’ (OEP) in higher education and their benefits (Santos, 2019). To begin with, […]

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Topic 3: Learning in communities

Learning Communities in Theory From the start, this was always going to be an interesting topic to me! I am a strong believer in the power of collaborative learning (Smith & MacGregor 1992), and the thought of students coming together to share their varied experiences, germinate new ideas, and bring them to fruition fills me […]

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Topic 1: Online Participation and Digital Literacy

As a university researcher and teacher, I rely heavily on digital tools for my work, including communication, research, and teaching. I consider myself a digital resident when it comes to teaching and research activities, but a digital visitor when it comes to social media. Digital literacy is a crucial skill for researchers and educators in […]

A Closer Look at Sharing and Openness in Education

In today’s day and age, Open Learning and sharing have become more relevant than ever before. With the advent of the internet and advanced technologies, learning has undergone a major transformation. However, this transformation has given rise to some concerns and questions regarding the impact of Open Learning on traditional methods of learning. One such…