Practice makes perfect

When I in September started the ONL172 journey, I knew it was not going to be a slow walk in the park. I knew it would require some hard work, spending a lot of time on reading, searching and finding information, trying out new tools and experiencing the frustration of technical problems with computers and networks. I knew it. Even so, it struck me with surprise that there was more of this than I expected! However, as I was expecting this, I was prepared and calmed myself down – and gave it another go, although, I only wanted to simply drop everything. Therefore, I can say that I did develop as a learner in many levels; I learnt new tings and reflected on my own behavior and growth.

Well what did I learn then, that will now show in my work, as changed behavior or new routines? Many things I would answer. But I will only concentrate on a couple of things that might be useful for others to consider as well. From the broad material, I have familiarized myself with during the course I have found my own “pearls”. Gilly Salmon’s “5 stage model” is definitely one, and the other is Biggs’ Model of Constructive Alignment. Combining the wisdoms in these two models and following the steps, then the course design cannot go wrong.

By following these steps, you start with putting some effort in the planning and the design from the very beginning. You start by asking, “What is the preferred outcome?” Another question could be “Where do we want to go, what is our goal?”

“Thursday practice” by Lenore Edman is licensed under CC BY 2.0

Moreover, if you focus on that all the way through the course, through the activities and assignments you will keep on track. Every minute you spend on planning and designing, by keeping your focus on the outcome will help you getting there faster. Also by putting effort in the technical details, e.g. always testing your assignments on somebody first, checking that your links work and that the technical support is easy to get – this will in the end save you so much time. In addition, maybe even more importantly, it will spare you from unnecessary fuzz, which in worst-case scenario makes students drop out from the course in pure frustration. That is something we want to avoid.

 

As Maria Forss summarizes it in her blog post, there are 5 things to consider when designing and running an online course. Actually, this applies to all courses. The course needs meet the following criteria:

• Does it have a clear structure
• Is the course content interesting and relevant
• Do participants have a feeling of belonging
• Do assignments challenge to think
• Is the course constantly developing

From now on, this “check list” will be very central in my planning. Also, one last thing to humbly remember, everybody needs feedback on the way. For a successful outcome, there has to be a course leader to guide the way, throughout the course. Someone who will see that all are on track, who will correct possible uprising misunderstandings and who will motivate with interesting challenges. This will easily be done by continuous feedback, encouraging comments and some surprising elements – maybe by posting a funny quiz occasionally. And keep the development going on by pointing out new voluntary reading (or videos or pod casts) on the way.

 

 
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Refrences:

Biggs J. (2003) Model of Constructive Alignment in Curriculum Design. Available from:  http://www.ucdoer.ie/index.php/Using_Biggs%27_Model_of_Constructive_Alignment_in_Curriculum_Design/Introduction Accessed 1.12.2017

Maria Forss (2017). Available from: http://www.eamk.fi/fi/digipolytys/5-saker Accessed 1.12.2017

Salmon G. Available from: https://www.gillysalmon.com/five-stage-model.html Accessed 1.12.2017

 

Building a scaffold, instructing and giving feedback

The past two weeks I have read a lot about how to design an online course. I have familiarized myself with Gilly Salmon’s 5 stage model, and I must say, this was a true eye opener for me. See now here I have the “recipe” for how to create a good online course. It’s so easy when you know which steps you need to take. Salmon talks about scaffolding – a word I actually had to look up in the dictionary, and the mostly the word is described as a temporary structure or platform for builders. But in the Merriam-Webster online dictionary I also found this definition: a supporting framework (https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/scaffold). Yes, that’s what I have been looking for, that’s what I need. A framework that supports my teaching.

Salmon G. “The 5 stage model” – https://www.gillysalmon.com/five-stage-model.html

So back to Salmon’s scaffold, as you can see in the picture above,  the first stage is to build a solid base, a place where every participants can feel safe in, a place where they are welcome to, a place they feel they want to be in. Instructions for the course outline and tasks are clear to all.

In the second stage the participants start their networking, they introduce themselves, learnt about the others and build their own identity in the community. In the third stage the interaction in the community is vivid. Information is being shared and all work together rather than alone. In the fourth stage the information exchange transforms into a higher level when the group starts to create and develop together. Finally, in the fifth and last stage the group is ready to collaborate and cooperate responsibly, sharing knowledge to others in a new setting.

This sounds so easy, but of course, there is a lot of work on the way. From the students who needs to grasp new information and learn it, and from the teacher how needs to be there, giving instructions and feedback on the way. The group cannot work it out all on its own. There needs to be a leader to show the way and point out the right direction if the going gets to “creative”. Maybe one could think of this as a monitoring leadership (Yukl, G. 2013). Where the monitor needs to follow what is done and give feedback on the way so the expected outcome will occur.

However, when talking about people and learning, the outcome might be very different from what was expected, and this is fine, if the outcome is something we can think of as a good and positive outcome.

Artwork “Light Pipes” by artists Rölli Ridanpää & Tero Laine at the LUX Helsinki 2017 exhibition, picture taken by myself in Helsinki 08.01.2017.

I like to see this piece of art as the unexpected scaffold one might come across while studying and developing as a human being.

 

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Refrences:
Salmon G. https://www.gillysalmon.com/five-stage-model.html

Yukl G. (2013). Leadership in Organizations. Pearson Education Limited.

 

To be open, sharing and collaborative

The ONL172 course has reached half way now. But I must admit, that even if I have learnt a lot, I really feel like I have not myself come half way yet. I’m still confused and struggling with some basic stuff. For instance, I still feel insecure about sharing – because of all the security reasons that the online world comes with. Rules linked to creative commons and such feel clearer and I know where to turn to get more information if needed. From time to time, I do feel lost in my websites and passwords. But I have given up the feeling of frustration. It only takes energy from me. I do not have the extra energy to spill.
During this last week, when we have been working with topic 3 (Learning in communities – networked & collaborative learning) I have taken the time to reflect on the hardship on getting people to work together. For some people it comes easier to start sharing and working on a task together with others. But some persons like to proceed in their own solitude. Is it okay that learners are allowed to choose their own learning path, or should one always be encouraged to work together?

Benefits of collaborative learning are several and should therefore be encouraged (Brindley, J., Blaschke, L. M. & Walti, C. 2009). At least these benefits have been found:
– development of critical thinking skills;
– Co-creation of knowledge and meaning;
– Reflection;
– Transformative learning
Earlier online studying was looked upon as “a lonely experience where students watch videos on their own” (van Oostveen, R., Childs, E., Clarkson, J. & Flynn, K. 2016). But this has of course changed during the past years with all the digital tools, combined with better and faster connections.

This might come as a surprise to those who think of themselves as introverts and rather work alone than participate in groups. That taking part of an online course will, after all, not “save” you from the agony of group work. It will just be organized in another way.

In topic 1 we discussed the opposite poles “resident vs. visitor” and in topic 2 the discussion was about “open vs. closed”. In this topic we now have the opposite poles “collaborative vs. solitary”. It is easy to see how closed, visitor and solitary bind together whereas open, resident and collaborative form another party.
For me this is a little like the “extrovert vs. introvert” discussion. People are different and for some people collaboration takes a lot effort. It does not come easy to all. For many being able to co-operate is the same as collaboration. For many there is no difference between co-operation and collaboration. If we gather and start work side by side, is that collaboration?

President Sauli Niinistö inspecting the troops on Flag Day of the Finnish Defence Forces. Picture taken by myself in Senate Square, Helsinki on June 4^th 2017.

For some sharing is simple and quick, they tweet several times a day for their 500 followers. For some this is not easy. And as educators we need to understand that students and learners are different. And also understand, that this diversity is what makes it interesting.

So if we take the time to following some simple rules for online learning we can achieve a successful course. If a (online) course can provide this aspects the learning will almost come by itself:

• Clear structure
• Interesting and relevant course content
• Feeling of belonging
• Challenge to think
• The course is constantly developing

These conclusions from a blog by Maria Forss (2017)http://www.eamk.fi/fi/digipolytys/5-saker/).

 

—
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).
http://www.irrodl.org/index.php/irrodl/article/view/675/1271

Forss M (2017). 5 saker studenter behöver i digitala kurser.
http://www.eamk.fi/fi/digipolytys/5-saker/

vanOostveen, R.; Childs, E.; Clarkson, J. & Flynn, K. (2016) Becoming Close with Others Online: Distributed Community Building in Online PBL Courses. College Quarterly, v19 n1 2016
http://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/EJ1121402.pdf

From excited back to hesitant

I do remember my joy when I with one tweet got a new follower and someone new to follow as well. Being all excited and brave I wanted to be more active of Twitter. A colleague of mine had written a blog I thought was worth sharing. To be able to share this article on Twitter I had to log in to my account. And that was when it happened again; “access denied, your password and login name do not match”! Why? I was quite sure I had the right “combo”. But apparently not. So, I clicked the “have you forgotten your password” link and typed in my email address. Just seconds later I received an email from password@twitter.com just like I expected. But what, wait, the mail reply was in Portuguese! I don’t understand Portuguese at all.

Screenshot from my email

I had no idea what it said. Quick translation in Google translate gives the result “reset your password” for “Redefinir sua senha”. Yes, that’s what I want – but why is this reply in a strange language…?
Another colleague of mine walks past my workstation, and I showed her the mail. “Be very careful, this doesn’t look right to me. It should not come in a strange language”, she said.

So I take a more thorough examination, put all the text in Google translate. All makes sense. Then I detect the error, my account name.
The email says I wanted to reset the password for @monicalov_367
But my account is @monicalov8
That’s when I understand, I had tried to log in with my private email account. But my Twitter account is connected to my work account (see, I don’t know where I am on the “visitor <-> resident” scale! For more on this topic, read my earlier blog). 

And now, with the right email address and password combination I could log in to my account without clicking the “Redefinir senha” button.

If this false email had been in any of the languages I master – Swedish, Finnish or English – I would not for a second had hesitated, just happily clicked on the link.
I will be so much more alert in matters like this in the future. But now I have to gain back my digital self-confidence again.

p.s. For those who understand Swedish and notice that the mail had gone to my trash box (Skräppost) this is correct, but it is how I have put my settings. All mail from an unknown recipient goes directly to my spam box. I have set the spam filter to only let in mails from addresses I already have in my “contacts”. I try to be very careful, and I hate spam. So, I always have to go and dig out important stuff from the trash. So this was not “the alarm”, but business as usual.

 

From frustration to excitement

The beginning of this online course has been a tiresome fight with access to sites, network problems and difficulties finding to the right place. I took some screen shots from my “digital journey” last week.

I almost gave up, I got so tired of seeing “Hmmm…can’t reach this page” and “An error occured”. But then I realized, it is mostly technical problems that needs to be solved. I simply need to get them fixed. And also learn to be better finding my way in the digital jungle. That’s digital literacy, right.

 

The past week I have reflected a lot on my digital presence and identity. It was clearly something that needed to be updated. I taught I had it all figured out. But after seeing David White’s videos “Visitors and residents” (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sPOG3iThmRI&feature=youtu.be & https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kO569eknM6U&feature=youtu.be) I knew life was not as simple as I had explained it to myself. Earlier I had said to myself, it is just a matter of keeping your working me separate from your private me. In your personal life you interact with friends and family, and share private matters. But while working you interact with other professionals, and you don’t share private matters. But where do I put myself on this axis visitor vs resident? And when is it a personal matter, and when is it an institutional matter? I realized I was not so sure. If I share personal opinions on Facebook, but also repost news from my university, am I then in the middle of the axis?

Like most of us, I move in the different spaces, up and down on the y-axis and from left to right on the x-axis. And this is how it should be. I call it agility. I am only being agile. But then, when it comes to sharing professionally, I have always felt uncomfortable. I do not like to share my slides and lecture notes. Why? They are mine, and they might not be “good enough”. I am shy. I do not want them spread all over the world.
But then something happened. While I was taking part in the webinar with Sara Mörtsell, I got all inspired about Wikipedia and how it can be used. It was a new angle, to use it for editing instead of source of information. And to understand that this already is used in education made me rethink my stiff opinion on Wikipedia (not reliable, can’t be used). I decided to share my new excitement on Twitter, and simply tweeted very briefly that “Wikipedia is useful after all.”

My tweet was retweeted by people I did not know. This caught me by surprise, because I only have a handful of followers. I mostly follow on Twitter, I usually do not post. But now some unfamiliar people had found it. I got a bit curious of course, and had to go and find out who had been retweeting my tweet. When I saw that it had been retweeted by someone who uses Wikipedia in education I got even more excited. And started to feel that sharing really is a good thing. I noticed this felt good. And now I want to share again.
Maybe even more importantly, I will start using Wikipedia in my teaching and recommend it to others.

My ONL172 map

To help myself navigate in the different communities, google drives and blog sites I created a simple map. Looks like this:

 

Lost, maybe found…

Oh boy, what a journey so far. First the excitment of a new course. Meeting new people and learning new things. But, oh dear, I just must say, it has been so difficult for me to understand all the different websites I have to go to. To find them, to remember them, to bookmark them. And when I tought I had it all covered, my laptop was no longer willing to work with me. I was not able to find my bookmarks all of a sudden. So I had to do it all again. But (!) I think it was good. Yes. Because now I think I’ve learnt how to find all the places and sites. And I have made my self a map. A map of all the online spaces I need to be in contact with for the next 10 weeks.

I recognize that I’m slowly starting to enjoy myself. Not there yet. But getting closer. And not giving up! No never!

First blog post

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