Saturday, 12 April 2014
Friday, 11 April 2014
Experiencing MOOCs - 50 shades of learning!
This is a simple comparison of two vastly different MOOCs:
DS106
"Start any time, it never ends. Design it your way"
and
Gamification (iversity)
"Let's take the campus experience online!" and "learn the basics of Gamification with a highly practical approach."
|
|
DS106 |
Iversity.org (Gamification) |
|
Technology |
Encourages use of a number of technologies:
Gravitar Gmail/Youtube Soundcloud Flickr Posting on website Contributing to forums |
All learning takes place on website using multi-media:
Instructional videos (mainly) with quizzes, encourages contributions to online forum and to general forums on: F/Bk. LinkedIn, Google+, and instructors' Blogs |
|
Pedagogy |
Collaborative, connectivist, constructivist, learners
contribute to evolution of the course - prosumers |
This is a 'taught' course. Instructional: videos, reading materials. Constructivist: Live G+ 'hangouts'
and f2f 'meet ups'
|
|
General approach and philosopy |
Organic evolving course, changes daily, created by both
'experts' and participants. Peer2Peer assessment and feedback." Has 2 courses – non-timebound open course and formal timebound course. The course can be reused, remixed and made available by other organisations, individuals. |
Structured linear programme with emphasis on collaboration and
interaction amongst learners. Not simply contact during course but
beyond its completion, building up a network of like-minded
participants Peer2peer evaluation of assignments. |
Saturday, 5 April 2014
OER a game of two halves!
A slightly sea-sick provoking prezi!
http://prezi.com/bxblk-dcqoal/?utm_campaign=share&utm_medium=copy
Enjoy!
Thursday, 3 April 2014
OER - Excesses and Limitations
My chosen resources were generally easy
to access (although they may not be suitable for people with
additional needs) and of reasonable quality in terms of
presentation and content.
Issues:
Target audience are addressed in resources
as 'students' – not a term used very often in the workplace and
might alienate learners
Lack of standardisation in presentation
might lead to some confusion or at least a feeling of
'amateurishness' and loss of credibility for learners
Not all of the sessions were exact
fits, some were also 'contextualised' or 'situated' and referred to
previous modules which could cause confusion
Impact on overall learning outcomes
Some adjustments
made due to lack of appropriate materials available (targetted
audience too young, materials too theoretical or topics simply not
available.
Time saving?
Certainly the
effort searching for materials was less than that required to create from
scratch. Some time was wasted reviewing irrelevant resources, but that aside, I am certain that OER has a great deal of potential in the world of corporate training.
*******
Since we were not given the task of providing scaffolding or e-activities to use alongside these materials, in line with a designated pedagogy, I do feel that it's difficult to give a proper appraisal of OER in this context.
Three key issues in OER and how these are being addressed
McGill
et. al.(2013) identify four key issues in the UK that greatly impact
on the effectiveness of OER: stakeholder needs,
sustainability, policies and practice and finally:
practical issues relating to skills and understanding. In
reality, they are interdependent having both similar and differing
needs. The following resume, unless otherwise stated highights some
of the issues as identified by McGill et al. (2013).
1. Stakeholder Needs
These
are not homogenous groups, their diversity results in 'multiple
approaches to address multiple needs'
- how they respond to change – blockers or enablers
- varying roles both as producers, consumers and re-workers of OER materials
- confidence, knowledge and skills relating to digital learning
- Practitioner's 'best practice' re: pedagogies conflicting with learner's demands
2. Sustainablility
The
key to sustainability lies in the acceptance of OER, other issues
include:
- cost, where new materials may be cheaper to produce than re-working existing resources
- lack of confidence by institutional stakeholders in the long term value of OER against ROI
- Guaranteed funding through an effective open business model
- Recognition by all stakeholders including the professional bodies that can accredit or legitimise a subject area
- incompatibility with existing cultures and technology platforms
- lack of commitment by senior level staff
3. Practical issues
There
are many practical issues, some generic and some idiosyncratic
- Lack of time to build up skills set in designing, overseeing and supporting OER
- Lack of appropriate tools for sharing and customising, reworking resources
- Lack of policies and procedures to support use of OER in instiutions
- Lack of integration with current materials and resources
- Lack of national accreditation
There
are no quick fixes or simple solutions. The JISC report considers a
range of approaches to ameliorate some of the above obstacles to
long-term take up of OER. These include:-
Stakeholder needs
- OERs are being used as a marketing tool to encourage potential learners to 'try before they buy' through taster sessions.
- Providing learners with opportunities to be both consumers and producers of content.
- Enabling academics to co-create materials with 'strangers' both across the globe and across subject areas
- Ensuring that there is easier access to materials by world-wide market of 'learners'
- Encouraging stakeholders to develop digital skills
- Encourage practitioners to explore new pedagogies to enhance OER learning opportunities
- Provide awareness raising activities focussing on the development, accessibility and scope of OER
Sustainability and
Practical needs
- Promoting an institutional-wide vision incorporating the use of OER (Murphy, 2013)
- Developing policies in tandem with commercial publishers to create 'open' publications in line with new business models
- Identify quality standards and processes to build trust and confidence in the creation and reworking of materials
- Review policies and practicies that might conflict with learning pathways of OERu, to enable appropriate accreditation (Murphy, 2013)
As
with most major changes there is likely to be a gradual evolution
that will surge ahead once the tipping point has been reached.
(495
words)
References:
Kozinska, K.;
Kursun, E.; Wilson, T.; McAndrew, P.; Scanlon, E. and Jones, A.
(2010). Are open educational resources the future of e-learning? In:
3rd International Future-Learning Conference: Innovations in
Learning
for the Future, 10-14 May 2010, Istanbul, Turkey.
McGill,
L., Falconer, I., Dempster, J.A., Littlejohn, A. and Beetham, H.
(2013) Journeys to Open Educational Practice: UKOER/SCORE
Review Final Report, London, JISC. Also available online
at https://oersynth.pbworks.com/w/page/60338879/HEFCE-OER-Review-Final-Report
(Accessed 31 March, 2014).
Murphy,
A. (2013) Open Educational Practices in Higher Education:
Institutional adoption and challenges, ODLAA, Distance Education
Summit
February
[Online] Available from:
http://www.researchgate.net/publication/235356176_Open_educational_practices_in_higher_education_Institutional_adoption_and_challenges
(Accessed 2 April, 2014)
Wikieducator
(2013) OERu,
[Online] Available from:
http://wikieducator.org/OERu/Home
(Accessed April 3rd 2014)
Wednesday, 2 April 2014
OER lessons providing useful digital skills to employees who are new to online learning
|
Week
|
Topic
|
Resources
|
suitability
|
|
1
|
Search engine skills and web site verification
|
|
M – This is aimed at students and not employees
|
|
2
|
Capturing, recording and organising work
|
|
G – Straightforward overview of functions of two bookmarks
M – Content good but linked to an existing course with dates for
assessed work to be submitted
M – A little old (2008) a good general overview of cloud computing.
Provides arguments for and against use of cloud computing.
|
|
3
|
Sharing, collaborating and setting up polls and surveys
|
to-teach-online/ltto-episodes?view=video&video=267
|
G – Overview of online netiquette
G - Intro to Google docs and Wikis
M - Issues with forum bias
M - Link to Survey Monkey’s tutorial…not impartial
M - Overview on online collaboration and ‘teamwork’, from provider’s
pov.
|
|
4
|
Creating an online presence with blogs
|
|
G – Blogging basics
G – Further info on setting up a blog
M – Constructing a website, similar to blog
G - PDF on Creating a blog with wordpress
|
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5
|
Creating an online presence through social networking sites
(LinkedIn, Twitter, Pintrest)
|
|
M - What not to share on social networking sites
M- Introduction to Twitter
G – Video and pdf on making practical use of Twitter
M - 10 basic tips for using LinkedIn
M - LinkedIn and its potential
G – Social networks and interest maps
|
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