I enjoyed this course and feel that I have gained a great deal of knowledge regarding open and distributed online learning. My biggest takeaway from the course is thinking of ways to incorporate the different topics of inclusive learning, accessibility, UDL principles, identity, values, and personalized learning into my classroom, whether it is online or not. I want to create a safe and inclusive environment that encourages participation among my students when I become a teacher. This course has taught me different ways of participating and communicating through blog posts, with peers, and with professors, as well as how I will create a safe space for my students by protecting their privacy and allowing participation in ways they feel most comfortable.
Thank you all for following along with my blog posts and engaging with them!!
This week’s material has prompted me to reflect on what meaningful engagement through online learning platforms entails in comparison to traditional educational roles and learning.
Barnes (2016)Barnes (2016)Â highlights instructor presence as a key factor in cultivating students’ learning. He creates an engaging and authentic community.Through interactions, teachers provide feedback and communication to their students, encouraging open communication and a setting that provides a secure and welcoming space for people to work together and express who they are.Â
Similarly, Stewart’s (2016) Podcast promotes networked pedagogy, where students’ roles are to build knowledge through participation in digital networks, which, through student participation and collaboration, creates a sense of autonomy over their learning. It is important to understand that the idea of “network pedagogy” seeks to design for equity, discourse, and student representation, making sure that all students feel at ease, even when some platforms may establish hierarchies and divisions.
Within the readings, Martin Weller’s (2020) Chapter explores the idea of connectivism, which can be explained as learning as a process of forming connections between people, ideas, resources, or platforms.Â
All of these resources expand my understanding of digital education and how it necessitates rethinking and creating new identities, communities, and spaces where students feel comfortable and connected, thereby better supporting their digital learning, which may be something they aren’t accustomed to. This is a dynamic process where teachers must be present, and the learning space should be a co-constructed environment where students feel safe to collaborate and connect within relationships, technologies, and commitments. I have personally had great experiences with online instructors and horrible ones. The ones who provided feedback and communication were the ones that I felt supported my overall learning and learning space. For me personally, the instructors who put in the most effort getting to know the students were the ones I felt more comfortable talking to; having said that, the classes that I felt comfortable with and where my learning was supported were the classes I did the best in as well, I saw the results, through the teacher’s involvement as well as my participation, the co-construction is what worked in achieving the goal in the end.Â
Resources:
Curating Episodes that Have Most Impacted My Teaching – Teaching in Higher Ed says:, Networked Pedagogy with Bonnie Stewart | totallyrewired says:, & Group Work Task: Networked Learning : | debsphdblog says: (2019, August 3). Networked pedagogy. Teaching in Higher Ed. https://teachinginhighered.com/podcast/networked-pedagogy/
DeWaard, H., Barnes, C., Taleo, W., Nerantzi, C., Mitchell-Holder, S., Spellman-Cann, S., Hendricks, C., Roberts, V., Luong, E., Krasheninnikova, L., Grant, K., Al-Freih, M., Bartoletti, R., Bali, M., & Whitney Kilgore. (2016, November 14). Where’s the teacher? defining the role of instructor presence in social presence and cognition in online education. Humanizing Online Teaching and Learning. https://pressbooks.pub/humanmooc/chapter/wheres-the-teacher-defining-the-role-of-instructor-presence-in-social-presence-and-cognition-in-online-education/
Weller, M. (2020). “Chapter 17 – 2010 Connectivism.” 25 Years of Edtech. AUPress. https://read.aupress.ca/read/25-years-of-ed-tech/section/198057f5-1a3e-4436-a4b8-c6e1a3e0bd69#ch17
In the article What’s next for Ed Tech? (2019) by Selwyn et al., the idea of educational technologies is explored, more specifically, how these technologies are shaping the future of learning; this article takes a deep dive into the hope for a more inclusive aspect to learning and highlights some potential concerns about ed techs inclusivity including concerns around inequities in access, and language as well as the overall increasing of automation of learning, taking away from traditional education, along with the datafication and surveillance of students.Â
This article prompted me to think more critically about how, often in society, we assume that more technological advances and tools are equivalent and lead to better learning. Still, in reality, there is a more complex way to discuss and analyze this. Some of these platforms, where learning is moved to, can feel unmotivating for students, and they may feel as if their learning is being digitized and constantly tracked without being fully supported in their learning process of the material. As a society and users of new technology, we must confront the inequalities and ecological instability. We also tend to view digital education as “clean” when, in reality, Ed-tech comes with a significant environmental footprint.Â
After analyzing the content this week, let’s consider alternatives that better impact students, reduce the ecological footprint of edtech, and contribute to mitigating climate change. We need to make it a priority to consider the costs and innovate ways that create more sustainable and ecological upgrades rather than focusing solely on speed. I have attended many online schools and universities, and now, more than ever, I have entirely transitioned to online learning. Yet, we students aren’t aware of the ecological costs of the technologies we use every day, and it seems the institutions aren’t either. There must be a way to implement digital technology in a manner that minimizes its ecological impact while also raising awareness about the effects of technology on climate change.
References
Ferreira, G. (2024, November 28). Learning, media and technology what’s next for Ed-Tech? critical hopes and concerns for the 2020s. Learning, Media and Technology. https://www.academia.edu/41047564/Learning_Media_and_Technology_Whats_next_for_Ed_Tech_Critical_hopes_and_concerns_for_the_2020s
After exploring the concepts of open and distance learning, specifically the benefits and challenges of both Open Educational Resources (OER) and Open Educational Practices (OEP) through the readings, and how these aspects can contribute to open and distance learning in ways that benefit students’ learning while also posing challenges, OER aims to provide educational content that is available and easily accessible to students, as well as reusable content. OEP, on the other hand, aims to go beyond the content and directly focus on the openness to pedagogy, which aims to allow the learners to go beyond the content and provide students with the opportunity to foster their agency, creativity and openness in understanding how the learning happens using open approaches.
These articles made me question and rethink what open education is and what it means for something to be “open.” Looking into the differences between OERs and OEPs, I am interested in uncovering if these OERs are considered open due to the implication of who gets to contribute to the knowledge students learn through these resources. What information is it? And who is producing the information? After looking into OEP, as a future educator, I am interested in the active participation part of the students learning and, as a teacher, how I can, rather than deliver content using notes and textbooks, how I can better provide an open learning space where students can have a level of agency regarding what they are learning and how they are learning it. When I am a teacher, I want to incorporate OEPs. Due to the demand for specific learning requirements and curriculum in education, entire classes would be challenging to implement entirely OEP. Still, there are many opportunities to incorporate OEP into classrooms where students can express their voices and work through open learning. Doing so, especially in the elementary classroom where I specifically want to teach, can teach students at a younger age to express their voices and learn that they have agency in their education. This can spark curiosity and creativity in students at a young age, as well as how I can implement the 5 Rs in open learning.
After understanding and reviewing the readings this week, it made me think more about online learning and online pedagogy. I then began to relate to my personal experience within online learning, specifically the time we were all forced into online learning during Covid.
Covid forced online learning and it was imposed on students, they were forced to adapt to the changes, there were no strategies for learning that were taught, or time management skills with this adjustment. In the reading (Marr, L 2018) it is highlighted how students need to be equipped with the pedagogical strategies in order to succeed and for the online learning to be effective. My personal experience with the online learning in the pandemic was a rather successful one, but it was a learning curve that a lot of people close to me unfortunately never learned, because students weren’t given the tools for them to succeed, and likewise the teachers were also forced into a realm of teaching that for a lot was foreign to them, but they had to learn to adapt to these teaching changes and learning opportunities for their students.
I struggled with online learning at the beginning of the rapid switch to online that the pandemic caused, I struggled with being immersed into the technological adaptations of zoom calls, discussion boards, etc.
And I wasn’t the only one…
The article “Effects of Self-Efficacy and Online Learning Mind States on Learning Ineffectiveness during the COVID-19 Lockdown” highlights a study that was done discussing the importance of enhancing students’ self-efficacy when it comes to the use of technology in learning content on online platforms and the relation this has on cognitive fatigue and overall focus in online learning. The study focuses on improvements that can be made to have a lasting impact on the effectiveness of online learning.
This relates to how in my experience school going online was a stressful and mentally demanding time, it was a very hard adjustment because there was so much stress and uncertainty of what we were to expect in the online learning platforms. This left students feeling disconnected due to the lack of resources and understanding that was given to students at this time.
References
Hong, J.-C., Liu, X., Cao, W., Tai, K.-H., & Zhao, L. (2022). Effects of Self-Efficacy and Online Learning Mind States on Learning Ineffectiveness during the COVID-19 Lockdown. Educational Technology & Society, 25(1), 142–154. https://www.jstor.org/stable/48647036
Marr, L. (2018). “Chapter 1: The transformation of distance learning at Open University: the need for a new pedagogy for online learning?”. In Higher Education in the Digital Age. Cheltenham, UK: Edward Elgar Publishing
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