I have studied a range of courses as a student over the years and when considering what modules lend themselves best to the development of an Open Textbook, co-created by staff and students I find myself with two conflicting options and I will discuss these now, identifying some strengths and weaknesses as I see them.
Psychology 101 This is the sometimes slightly derogatory name given an introductory module often studied first by students on a degree programme. In the case of psychology, it often includes much of the content covered in A-level Psychology, which is not typically required to gain entry to a psychology degree. The module would normally cover a wide range of topics, each in quite a shallow manner to give the new student a sense of the range of areas psychology plays a role in and a solid foundation of study later on. These kinds of modules are often assessed with standard assessment approaches like multiple choice questions and essays. Pros of creating an Open Textbook for Psy101:
Cons of creating an Open Textbook for Psy101:
Openness and Innovation in Elearning So this is, of course, the module I am currently studying. This module is aimed at post-graduate students studying for an MA in Online and Distance Education. The module has quite a specific focus and the assessments in place at the moment are quite open in the sense that there is some scope for learners to choose a specific context. Pros of creating an Open Textbook for H817:
Cons of creating an Open Textbook for H817
I think for any course there will be pros and cons and exactly how well it goes will depend on individual cohorts of students so it will always be a challenge. It also sounds as though it would be a lot of work so any attempt at this must be realised year on year.
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Last year I plotted my Personalised Learning Environment. This was the first time I had actually considered my learning environment in this way and I realised there was a large range of tools I used to support my learning. Here is what I produced: This time I have been attempting to represent my Personalised Learning Network, which we have defined in our teaching group as "A physical or virtual network of people through which a person learns in a self-regulated manner by collecting, communicating, collaborating and creating within a community of their choosing" and this is what I have produced: What I have tried to get across here is some of the ways I communicate, connect, collaborate and create with the people in my network. Those closer to the centre are more frequently contributing to my learning whilst those further away are less frequently involved but also contact with those in the outer circle is exclusively through technology of some kind. Whilst those in the inner circle include actual conversations in person! What I noticed when I displayed it in this way is that I learn an awful lot from my current students. The things I learn from students are often related to problem solving. As an example. today I was trying to update participation records for our online development programme and my records did not match the students in some cases because they had not accessed the programme via our VLE and had accidentally bypassed record-keeping. After some email exchanges I realised I was able to log in as the student and view what they could - this solved the problems almost immediately. So I have today learnt something about that particular programme. Interestingly, I was actually sitting with the student when we worked this out so it was face to face learning about a technology.
My online only network is largely through Twitter (@EllieJane1980). I came of Facebook around 5 years ago and so Twitter is my only contact with the social media world (I have a LinkedIn account but do not actively engage with the platform at this time). But I use Twitter daily to keep up to date on things - not necessarily to learn things. I probably post almost daily now but do not spend time on a daily basis reading posts from others. When I do I am normally looking for something quite targeted. This ranges from local information (trying to find out if my local Park & Ride was open) to following national news stories. As part of my studies this week I was asked to review and compare two different types of MOOC. Specifically I needed to compare DS106 from the University of Mary Washington to a MOOC on either FutureLearn or Coursera. I was already registered on FutureLearn but had never taken a MOOC so that seemed like the logical place to start. I looked brief at DS106 and discovered it was about digital storytelling so decided to find a digitally-focused course in FutureLearn to compare it with. I chose 'Digital Skills: Social Media' and started to work through this course.
Contrived but comfy The FutureLearn offering was just as I would have expected. Each page had a clean layout with learning outcomes at the start of key sections and a combination of videos and structured content with links to other materials not designed for teaching but related to the topic on each page. At the bottom of each page was a lovely button I could click to show I had read the material and when I did this, the progress bar edged across the top of the screen reassuringly showing me my progress. I could also make comments on each page if I wished and having viewed them people were certainly commenting but comments tended to be quite brief. About halfway through the week one material was a moodle quiz-style assessment, which I had to gain over 70% on if I wanted to the certificate of completion (aced it by the way!). Everything in the course was clear and I am confident I learnt something. But it felt a little bit instruction manual-like and slightly detached from the real world. I think if I wanted I could make it more relevant by dipping in and out as set up my own social media activities or drafted a plan to use social media for my business. Effectively, I had to bring the authenticity to the table myself. This is not necessarily a problem because in many cases, learners pick up MOOCs or similar activities in order to gain some 'just in time' learning but if this is not the case, I feel it can lead to a lack of high level participation and, if we want to use metaphors, a more acquisition-based approach. This was definitely an xMOOC so a case of taking standard pedagogy and putting it online. Authentic and Scary I then returned to DS106 and started to look around. Unlike FutureLearn I did not formally register for this but, even without doing so I was able to see quite a lot of structure and assessment options. The first thing to note was that I could not find any Learning Outcomes but there was two versions of the guide, a long version and a quick start guide. In both cases, there was a list of technologies that you needed to have an account with to participate fully including Flickr, Twitter and Gravatar as well as a gmail account. This is immediately very different to FutureLearn where there is no requirement for additional technologies or accounts. It gives a sense of creating more work to get started but at the same time it creates a real-world experience and something you can keep after the course. However, there are other, more exciting features of this MOOC that stand in direct contrast to FutureLearn. Firstly, there is no progress bar and in fact no pre-determined structure at all. Instead learners can create their own pathway. They can also create their own assignments and create really is the right word because these are highly creative activities such as creating an audio track for a story in a particular character. Now, of course, the topic of this course is by definition creative so you can expect some more imaginative activities but this should not detract from the authenticity in this experience. You become part of a community, creating and sharing your digital skills. So why the scary part then? Well this is very much out of my learning comfort zone and I found it quite petrifying - even the website was busy and daunting. Perhaps if I had some digital skills I would be happy to carve out my own pathway but as a complete novice, this cMOOC approach where key activities are co-constructed was overwhelming and scary to me. It is so different from traditional face to face teaching that I almost cannot tell that I am meant to be learning. I do, however, see that I could easily come to feel part of the online community. A tale of two learners (or at two different times): The final point I made above makes me believe that both types of MOOC have great value but perhaps for different stages of learners. Just as in my face to face teaching I offer a more structured, instructor -led approach to my first years and a more student-led approach to my third years, the same can be helpful in online learning. FutureLearn seems to offer a safe platform for learners to start their online learning journey. It gives guidance, structure and clarity throughout. Participation can be minimal or limited to invited comments - there is less pressure on the learner. By contrast DS106 offers an authentic space for more confident, experienced learners. This confidence and experience could be in the topic or in learning i.e. it could suit experience online learners with no digital skills or inexperienced online learners with good digital skills. Now when I talk about it suiting some and not others, implicit in that is the assumption that there is outcome I can measure this against. To be clear I am not assuming the outcome is completion of all activities or passing the quizzes or assessments with a certain grade. Instead I am thinking about whether the learner feels they have a) learnt something and b) learnt enough to justify (in however they wish - time, effort etc) the cost of the activity. Variety is the spice of learning: This exercise has reminded me that within our learning variety is a good thing. I think this because it staves off boredom and gives us a challenge from time to time. We need some level of challenge to learn effectively and that is not always in how we are taught or learn it can sometimes be in what we are learning but these two MOOCs certainly show that challenge can be given in the how we learn. The beauty of variety, of course, is that sometimes it is nice to have something predictable and comfy to work with, even if we are at the point where we could manage a challenge of sorts. |