Topic 5 - Lessons learnt – future practice

In topic five we were able to reflect on the entire course and our own learning. I guess we are at stage five in the five-stage model (Salmon 2013), in the review mood. I have learned a lot since I started this course and I am very grateful for the learning experience I have had. I am one my way to becoming a true resident online, not only a scared visitor.

Our group’s journey is presented at pathbrite: https://pathbrite.com/ONL171PBL1/tdHu

We managed to try a lot of digital tools, learned a lot by reading the course material and we learned how to work well in an online group environment. We even reached the community level of group collaboration (Brindley et al 2009). I got to experience an online course before I had to introduce one to my students. This gave me the student perspective and it will be a valuable contribution to my own course development.

I will have plenty of future practice since I am designing a blended master program together with my colleges. We will use much of the design features of this ONL-course I have just attended, but we will also keep some aspects of the old structure and add some new ideas from the ONL-course literature.  I really look forward to transforming the knowledge I have received and constructed in the ONL-course into practice. Slowly (as a snail) I am moving towards a more modern digital way of teaching. The important thing is that I want to get there and I now have the tools needed to get started.

Creative Commons CC0

 

References:

Brindley, J., Blaschke, L. M. & Walti, C. (2009). Creating effective collaborative learning groups in an online environment. The International Review of Research in Open and Distance Learning, 10(3).

 

Salmon, G (2013) The Five Stage Model. [Homepage] http://www.gillysalmon.com/five-stage-model.html

The tree of knowledge

Topic 4: the tree of knowledge,

Design for online and blended learning is a complicated and massive topic. It is important to start at the roots with Social presence, cognitive presence and teaching presence. Together they form the Educational experience (Vaughan et al 2013). You then need to add scaffolding and pedagogical support and you will have made your own online course. In our groups presentation we formed our thoughts into a three. Our three of knowledge: https://prezi.com/xinnbjo4gctf (and se picture below)

I think this was the first time we worked together at community level right from the start, producing the tree of knowledge together both synchronously and asynchronously.  I am proud of what we achieved and I hope to support a similar group-work experience with my own students.

 

There are many models for designing online-courses. One of them is the five-stage-model (Salmon 2013) another one is Addie (jclarkgardner 2011). The models help incorporate the theory into practice and can be a comfort for teachers designing the first online course. It can be a massive task, but in the end it is important to start up with what would you like the students to learn, before you plan the activities involving the specific learning outcomes. In blended learning you have learning activities both online and on campus and it’s important to plan carefully so that they interact in a fruitful way. If you then follow the five stage model (Salmon 2013) you first make sure that your students can access everything and keep them motivated. At this stage you can give them access to the teaching-platform, you send a welcome message, you have clear instructions on how to connect and get access to everything. You also need to motivate them. In the second stage it is time to add teambuilding activities. You should not try to teach them anything course specific yet, it is more important that they introduce themselves; you discuss the structure and the rules of conduct for group work and for participating in the course. At stage three it is time to start with the learning activities and the focus is more on information exchange, this gradually moves up to stage four where the students work actively to construct new knowledge and stage five when it’s time to reflect on your own learning. This model is simple but you can add a lot of activities in to it to be sure that you provide the educational experience you want to your students.

 

References:

Vaughan, N. D., Cleveland-Innes, M., & Garrison, D. R. (2013). Teaching in blended learning environments: Creating and sustaining communities of inquiry. Edmonton: AU Press. Chapter 1 “Conceptual framework”.

Salmon, G (2013) The Five Stage Model. [Homepage] http://www.gillysalmon.com/five-stage-model.html

jclarkgardner (2011, June 11) ADDIE Model Instructional Strategies  [YouTube videos playlist] (2011, June 11) ADDIE Model Instructional Strategies [YouTube videos playlist]