The first week on ONL241 encompassed us introducing ourselves numerous times and being in sheer awe of what educators, creators, experiment-ors, researchers and one airport engineer passionately showing us a Singaporean airport. Mind blowing stuff I tell you!
With a slight existential limp, I trudge heavy footed along.
As part of PBL241 group 2, we were tasked with preliminary selecting a topic we would be interested in exploring.
Topic 1: Online participation and digital literacies
Topic 2: Open Learning – Sharing and Openness
Topic 3: Learning in communities
Topic 4: Design for online and blended learning
Topic 5: Lessons learnt – future practice
I selected Topic 2: Open Learning – Sharing and Openness
A bit of “on the surface research” brought about MOOC – Massive Open Online Courses.
These are “are free online courses available for anyone to enroll. MOOCs provide an affordable and flexible way to learn new skills, advance your career and deliver quality educational experiences at scale” (MOOC.org, 2023).
A few initial thoughts
- MOOC is brilliant in that it gives the learner access to courses not available in their country of origin.
- Some of these courses are on an introductory level – allows one to submerge in the topic then make an informed decision for further studies, exploration and or specialisation.
- These courses should form part of high school curriculum, so students get a “taste” of their course interest before selecting it = less money and year/s wasted.
- The option to get a certificate makes them valuable.
Reading some of the comments and questions from previous ONL iterations on this topic I found:
- COVID – 19 propelled the movement to online learning.
- There are mental health issues exacerbated by online learning (social isolation)
- course developers are not often paid to develop these courses.
I will expand and or add to the above once I officially start the research.
A term I found most interesting while floating was Scholarship of Teaching and Learning (SoTL), defined as “the systematic study of teaching and learning; it involves identifying a problem, asking a question, gathering evidence, drawing conclusions based on that evidence, and making those findings public for the benefit of others” (Learning, n.d.).
I am slowly harvesting this topic.
For me? The beauty of research is discovery and reflection.
Works Cited
Learning, C. o. (n.d.). Scholarship of Teaching and Learning. Retrieved February 27, 2024, from Centre of Teaching and Learning: https://ctl.uga.edu/faculty/sotl/
MOOC.org. (2023). Retrieved February 27, 2024, from About MOOCs: https://www.mooc.org/
