Below is a preliminary overview of the topics, dates, and some of the common course activities scheduled so far. More activities might be added for some topics. In addition to common course activities, you will have regular online meetings in your study groups (PBL groups). The group members will decide these meeting times at the start of the course.
During this first week, the focus is to familiarize yourself with the ONL learning spaces. You will be encouraged to share expectations, background knowledge, experience, and practice and begin to build relationships.
ONL help desk - drop-in video meeting times where one of the course team members will be waiting to help you in case you have questions about how to get started. All times CEST and meeting link is https://kau-se.zoom.us/my/onlhelpdesk. You will need to enter ONL251 for admittance.
Introductory meetings for institutional groups - organised by each institution
Introductory meetings for Open learners - registered open learners are invited to an optional session
During this important week, the focus is to connect with peers and facilitators and to form groups.
Connecting webinar: Monday 10 Marsch, 11:00-12:30 (CEST) Course welcoming and brief introduction - an opportunity to meet and connect with your PBL group and facilitators. Please use a headset and your webcam!
During this topic, we will explore together important literacies to survive and thrive in the digital age as learners and educators. We will also discuss online participation and your digital footprints. You will be encouraged to reflect on your digital presence and identity as well as your experience of digital consumption, communication, collaboration, and creation.
In this topic, we will explore the benefits and challenges of openness in education. We will look at issues around copyright and in particular the open licensing of content (Creative Commons) and how this opens up new opportunities for collaborative learning and development. Sharing and reusing OER (Open Educational Resources) and the consequent development of OEP (Open Educational Practices) will also be examined.
In this third topic, we will explore aspects of collaborative learning in relation to networked online spaces for learning. Interacting and learning together with peers in different formats has become an integral part of student-centered education. Technology offers new possibilities for interaction and forming new kinds of social networks, including learners as well as facilitators and experts - but also offers challenges, such as keeping focus on learning processes, not tools, in online environments. You will be encouraged to reflect on the meaning of networked collaborative learning and the development of learning communities in relation to PBL and building personal learning networks and environments for peer support and your informal learning.
For this topic, we turn the focus from participation to design for learning, including scaffolding and facilitation. You will look at aspects of Learning Design and discuss different pedagogical aspects to be considered when creating good learning environments using the Community of Inquiry and other frameworks. You will also be able to discuss the concept of blended learning and how to achieve the right balance for your course.
During our concluding weeks, peers and facilitators will share and reflect on learning experiences from ONL and look ahead to how this feeds into our present and future practice. What effect has the learning experience from this course had on your development of personal learning networks and your own professional practice? What were the benefits and what were the challenges? What are the next steps?