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Myself centre, with my sister and a friend in Hanoi, Vietnam last year

Group Project Reflection

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So, approaching the end of the module block on the project and it's mostly finished. Our group chose the medium of digital storytelling with the task of discussing, exploring and reflecting on radicalization.   


What worked well:


Groupwork: I think we certainly were lucky to get a very personable group of people. There appeared to be a range of skills and competencies related to the topic area and the more technical aspects of what had to be done. 
The offsite: We've used Google+ as a community to share our ideas, organise meetings and hangouts to have those meetings, all of which has been excellent. I'm thoroughly invested in using these in the future. It's also very good how these integrate so well with things like Googledrive. Google really does appear to be setting up a huge online working ecosystem in that regard and it's all free. You used to have to pay loads of cash for what is now offered gratis by them. 
The topic: The issue of radicalization is certainly a very interesting one and reading around the subject and considering it has been helpfully interesting. I am very much into exploring this and how the media influences it so it was somewhat of a busman's holiday for me.  

What didn't work well:
Groupwork: As this isn't a professional setting, there were a number of issues. As I said, my group were all very personable and helpful and quick to offer assistance and advice, but in a job, you'd have the clear definitions of who does what and the impetus to do so as you receive a salary based on those actions. In this kind of context where everyone is doing it around their professional, familial, and social obligations we couldn't always do everything in a concurrent and timely manner. Also, while a couple of members certainly took the lead, in this context we can't expect someone to be particularly forceful in telling others what to do and by when. This was also affected by our varied competencies. 
The site: Ultimately, due to the above, we have rather an uneven site perhaps and the learning object could have been approached in a clearer and more cohesive way. I think, individually, some good stuff has been done. 
The topic: This was a difficult field to approach as there were so many considerations related to definitions, being conscious of the sensitivity with which we'd have to approach these matters. In retrospect, possibly something simpler would have been more effective as we are, I think, more concerned with the process of the projects creation as opposed to the finished product itself. Exploring the activity of creating something as a team, communicating, evaluating it and so on could have been with a far more straightforward area of study. However, as I said, I have enjoyed it greatly. 

From a personal perspective, I think I could have been more attentive, interactive, and proactive in managing the site and resources such as Google Drive and the Communities page on Google+. However, we have been lucky enough to have someone that is excellent at doing all of the above and essentially my input wasn't really needed. On reflection, I shouldn't have been media manager. Actually, one of the subject matter experts in this area would have been more apt for me, I feel. Nevertheless, I have found it an invaluable experience with the dynamic of working with subject matter that, while an area of interest, is not one that I'm specialized in, and working with a geographically dispersed group of people and using digital means alone to communicate and plan. 

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Myself centre, with my sister and a friend in Hanoi, Vietnam last year

Week Activity 14 - Comparing MOOCs

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MOOC comparison DS106 v FutureLearn (or cMOOC v xMOOC)

Signup

DS106 has a very text-heavy sign-up page and there is immediately the necWeb 2.0 teaching tools to enhance education and learning — Edjudoessity for an existing blog page and a Twitter account for collaboration and communication purposes. I have both of these already, but the likelihood of learners in my professional context having both would be relatively low. 

FutureLearn's signup is far simpler and less text-heavy with pretty much just an email and a password, much like signing up to many online services, so it should be within the capabilities of most learners.  

Neither signup necessitated my opening my email to confirm. 

Menu system / navigation 

DS106 is text-heavy and once your blog and navigation seems based on previous experience of other sites. A much rougher looking Web 2.0 style aesthetic. 

FutureLearn's menu system is very clean and easy to follow. There are images and clear titles to find areas and courses. FutureLearn is far more professional in appearance. Very modern in terms of the web design style. 

A fundamental difference, however, is that FutureLearn just provides a platform for many institutions to hold what appear to be much smaller more focused courses of around 6 weeks work. DS106's whole site is more dedicated to one course or the main area of learning, digital storytelling. So much of the content immediately strikes you as learner-generated. 

I'd have to add that as DS106 focuses solely on one area of learning, or one collective pursuit, its website could be considered simpler in that regard. However, as a learner is also directed in the 'Quick Start' section to perform the following...

 

...there is so much learner autonomy required and a greater degree and variety of digital literacies. But they do give you all the necessary links and a clear list of tasks to achieve.

Nevertheless, you do get the immediate 'presence' of being a part of a community. Especially by adding your blog and Twitter at the beginning. That connection is immediate. 

Content and Schedule

FutureLearn

Joining the British Council's Understanding IELTS 6 week course, the schedule and the course progress is very clearly set out with activities numbered in order. The activities are readings, audio recordings, and videos with quizzes all rigidly connected to the topics. It's impersonal, and there isn't any collaborative spaces or anywhere where real communication is engendered other than a reflective comment area after each activity. However, with these areas being for all users and number of comments in the many thousands, it is unlikely that genuine interactions would be fostered in this fashion. 

DS106

DS106's 'About' section features the blurb.. 

Digital Storytelling (also affectionately known as ds106) is an open, online course that happens at various times throughout the year at the University of Mary Washington… but you can join in whenever you like and leave whenever you need. This course is free to anyone who wants to take it, and the only requirements are a real computer, a hardy internet connection, preferably a domain of your own and some commodity web hosting, and all the creativity you can muster. 

Also there is a funny learner created video  - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Twc51r300Q

This really supports the friendly, informal, personalized and learner generated spirit of everything within this community. It doesn't take itself too seriously. 

Nevertheless, as the video details, the task based freer approach tied in with feedback and help from other members had the learner learning by doing and within weeks was accomplishing things they had never undertaken before. This guided community of practice was generating real practical artefacts. For example, the learner created video that incorporates and is generated with the skills learnt in the course is an excellent illustration of a course that produces results which themselves serve as the means of production of future courses. This sustainable and dynamic model is very attractive and pulls the learner in so much more than the staid and boring xMOOC style of FutureLearn. 

Pedagogy

Clearly the pedagogies differ greatly between the two MOOCs.

The BC's IELTS MOOC on FutureLearn takes a far more objectivist and behaviorist approach. Essentially, if we were to use Sfard's two metaphors of acquisition and participation, the FutureLearn MOOC is overwhelmingly that of acquisition with no utilization of the content past some cursory reflection posts. 

In contrast, the DS106 MOOC takes a far more connectivist and constructivist approach, where Sfard's participation is key to the learning. The participation is the learning as are the connections that produce the help and advice that engender the production of artefacts through the facilitating activities. The DS106 supplies no real content save a place for likeminded learners to cluster, make connections and a structure with which those clusters of likeminded learners can achieve their goals and learn by becoming a part of a community of practice. 

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Myself centre, with my sister and a friend in Hanoi, Vietnam last year

Flipped Learning Solution Presentation

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Have fallen behind somewhat in relation to interacting on the forums as I've been working on this proposal for my department. It's a flipped learning solution proposal for the corporate training / business English department as a response to a low volume of sales related to a prohibitively expensive product and a lack of differentiation from cheaper alternative providers. Here's a slideshare. 

http://www.slideshare.net/GarethDavies1927/flipped-learning-solution-for-british-councils-ptc?ref=http://www.slideshare.net/GarethDavies1927/slideshelf

 

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Myself centre, with my sister and a friend in Hanoi, Vietnam last year

Week 7 Activity 1 - My experience with open education

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Edited by Gareth Davies, Friday, 27 Mar 2015, 09:48

I was first introduced to the concept of open education studying with the OU. SInce that initial introduction regarding the concept and some of the theory behind it, it's become something I'm very much interested in and drives a great deal of my engagement with the MAODE's materials.

I very much respond to the democritization of education, the tearing down of barriers to learning that have been in place for so long based on culture, financial considerations, even nepotism. The freedom for all to engage in education, I think, could be one of the greatest paradigm shifts in how we as a species might move forward in the future. 

However, I do also have reservations as to how content is made available and how, without scrutiny of subject matter and delivery, many people may end up lost in a sea of material that has no structure, resulting in learners that find it difficult to as Siemens (2004) discusses in his theory of Connectivism. identify what information is important and learn the core skill of being able 'to see connections between fields, ideas, and concepts'. 

Outside of the framework of the OU and as directed by it, I've taken advantage of a great deal of open educational materials. I particularly like how in this field of study that a lot of the authorities in it make their work freely accessible like Martin Weller (2014) whose book 'The Digital Scholar' is available online via Bloomsbury Open Access under a Creative Commons licence. 

I've also signed up to a few different MOOCs, primarily to see how they are run and structured with EdX and Coursera. Though I've never completed any of them, I feel that once I've completed the MAODE later this year, I'll continue my learning through making use of them.

I'm even in the process of setting up a MOOC for English language learners who want to take the English standardized IELTS test. We're using LearnDash LMS as it integrates with the Wordpress theme we've bought though we started with Moodle and as a result I took part in a Moodle MOOC as well and will possibly be using Moodle further in my 9-5 work later this year. 

We're making our course a MOOC as opposed to a paid course to see if we can't take advantage of this possible new trend in the way education is provided and undertaken with advertising being the source of revenue in the business model. However, we'll need a good product to engender that potential revenue which is why, even though it's free, we're working hard to make it a pedagogically sound, engaging, and user-friendly learning experience. 

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Connectivism Summary

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Edited by Gareth Davies, Saturday, 14 Mar 2015, 10:45

Not so much a summary actually but a mainly paraphrased and often copied and pasted exploration of the document. 

Connectivism

Summary by me

Before learning had felt the impact of technology, the three learning theories that shaped instructional environments were Behaviorism, Constructivism, and Cognitism. As learning needs and theories that describe learning principles and processes should reflect the social environments in which they exist, a new theory is needed. 

Knowledge has changed. Nowadays, the time from which it is gained until it is of no use by virtue of being superceded, disproven, found superfluous, has shortened and the amount of knowledge in the world is, according to the American Society of Training and Documentation (ASTD), doubling every 18 months. 

As a result, new methods of instruction are being developed, adopted, and deployed. Important trends to consider now are that learners often move into many sometimes unrelated fields over the course of their careers; formal learning now is no longer the primary source of learning with informal learning such as that which occurs through communities of practice, personal networks, and through completion of work-related tasks. 

Learning is also now a continual process throughout our lives. Learning and work are no longer separate, they are connected and are very often one and the same. Our brains, the tools with which we use to think and perceive the world, learn and shape our realities are changing. 

The increased focus on knowledge management proves there is a link that needs to be made between organizational and individual learning. 

The process and location of acquiring learning have changed and a theory is required to analyse how and where learning is performed in the modern age. 

Encompassing many of the traditional learning theories of Behaviorism, Cognitism, and Constructivism, Driscoll (2000) defines learning as “a persisting change in human performance or performance potential…[which] must come about as a result of the learner’s experience and interaction with the world” (p.11). Learning relates to changes in our emotional, mental, and physiological states.

In defining the complexities of learning, debate revolves around: 

  • Valid sources of knowledge (through experiences, we possess it innately, or through thinking and reasoning).
    • Content of knowledge – Is it knowable and is it directly knowable through human experience?
    • Objectivism (like Behaviorism) which states that reality is external and knowledge is acquired via experiences
    • Pragmatism (like Cognitivism) which states that reality is interpreted and knowledge is negotiated through experiences and thinking
    • Interpretivism (like Constructivism) which states that reality is internal and knowledge is constructed

All of these theories relate to how knowledge is an objective and attainable or innate via reasoning or experiences. To summarise the three traditional learning theories:

‘Behaviorism states that learning is largely unknowable, that is, we can’t possibly understand what goes on inside a person (the “black box theory”). Gredler (2001) expresses behaviorism as being comprised of several theories that make three assumptions about learning:

  1. Observable behaviour is more important than understanding internal activities
  2. Behaviour should be focused on simple elements: specific stimuli and responses
  3. Learning is about behaviour change

Cognitivism often takes a computer information processing model. Learning is viewed as a process of inputs, managed in short term memory, and coded for long-term recall. Cindy Buell details this process: “In cognitive theories, knowledge is viewed as symbolic mental constructs in the learner's mind, and the learning process is the means by which these symbolic representations are committed to memory.”

Constructivism suggests that learners create knowledge as they attempt to understand their experiences (Driscoll, 2000, p. 376). Behaviorism and cognitivism view knowledge as external to the learner and the learning process as the act of internalizing knowledge. Constructivism assumes that learners are not empty vessels to be filled with knowledge. Instead, learners are actively attempting to create meaning. Learners often select and pursue their own learning. Constructivist principles acknowledge that real-life learning is messy and complex. Classrooms which emulate the “fuzziness” of this learning will be more effective in preparing learners for life-long learning.’

However these, according to George Siemens, have a number of limitations.

These theories do not account for learning that is stored externally to a person as facilitated by technology as well as how learning is stored within an organization.

Learning theories are also more focused on the process as opposed to the learning’s value. ‘The need to evaluate the worthiness of learning something is a meta-skill that is applied before learning itself begins. When knowledge is subject to paucity, the process of assessing worthiness is assumed to be intrinsic to learning. When knowledge is abundant, the rapid evaluation of knowledge is important. Additional concerns arise from the rapid increase in information. In today’s environment, action is often needed without personal learning – that is, we need to act by drawing information outside of our primary knowledge. The ability to synthesize and recognize connections and patterns is a valuable skill.’ 

As opposed to the continual revision and evolution of existing theories, perhaps a new theory was needed. Questions that could be addressed would relate to: 

  • The impact of learning theories when learning takes place now in a non-linear manner.
  • The necessary adjustments to learning theory resulting from how cognitive operations are now often performed by technology
  • How to stay current as information technology evolves so quickly
  • How learning theories might address instances where performance is required without full understanding
  • The impact of networks and complexity theory on learning
  • The impact of chaos as a complex      pattern recognition process on learning
  • How systems and ecology theories are understood in learning tasks with a greater understanding of how differing fields of knowledge are interconnected 

Learning theories need to consider technology and connections. As we can no longer experience everything that we want to learn, we look at the experiences of others ‘I store my knowledge in my friends’ is an axiom for collecting knowledge through collecting people (undated).” ‘Meaning-making and forming connections between specialized communities are important activities.’

An aspect of learning now is how it is centred on organization of openness to information. As Luis Mateus Rocha (1998) puts it, self-organization as the “spontaneous formation of well organized structures, patterns, or behaviors, from random initial conditions.” 

‘Wiley and Edwards acknowledge the importance of self-organization as a learning process: “Jacobs argues that communities self-organize is a manner similar to social insects: instead of thousands of ants crossing each other’s pheromone trails and changing their behavior accordingly, thousands of humans pass each other on the sidewalk and change their behavior accordingly.”. Self-organization on a personal level is a micro-process of the larger self-organizing knowledge constructs created within corporate or institutional environments. The capacity to form connections between sources of information, and thereby create useful information patterns, is required to learn in our knowledge economy. 

What is a network?

It is the connections between entities. ‘Computer networks, power grids, and social networks all function on the simple principle that people, groups, systems, nodes, entities can be connected to create an integrated whole. Alterations within the network have ripple effects on the whole.’

Connectivism

An integration of the aforementioned principles of chaos, network, and complexity and self-organisation theories. According to Connectivism, learning now happens within nebulous environments of changing and moving elements that are not solely under the control of the learner. Learning no longer necessarily requires what is learnt to culminate with it within ourselves, just that is actionable knowledge. It is more

Focused on the connection of nodes of specialized information, and how we can enable more knowing than we already possess.

Decisions, according to Connectivism, are now based on fast-changing information which is continually being acquired and there is a great import in recognizing what information is important and what is unimportant. The ability of appreciating when new information alters the landscape based on previous decisions is critical.

Principles of Connectivism

  • Learning and knowledge equates to diversity of opinions
  • Learning is the process of connecting specialized nodes or info sources
  • Learning can reside outside of humans
  • The ability to increase one’s knowledge has greater import than what is currently known
  • Creating and retaining connections is required for continual learning
  • The ability to see those connections between fields, ideas and concepts is a core skill
  • Being up to date and accurate in regards to knowledge is the objective of connectivist learning activities
  • Making decisions is a learning process as the choices in what we learn and the meaning of new information is perceived through a lens of shifting reality. What may be right today, may not be tomorrow as a result of the shifting environment of information.

As traditional learning theories do not explore knowledge management activities, Connectivism attempts to plug that hole. Knowledge may well reside in a database but the right people in the right context need to be able to access it for its collection and retention to be considered learning.

Information flow needs to be focused on and maintained to ensure organizational effectiveness. 

‘Within social networks, hubs are well-connected people who are able to foster and maintain knowledge flow. Their interdependence results in effective knowledge flow, enabling the personal understanding of the state of activities organizationally.’

The starting point of connectivism is the individual. Personal knowledge is comprised of a network, which feeds into organizations and institutions, which in turn feed back into the network, and then continue to provide learning to individual. This cycle of knowledge development (personal to network to organization) allows learners to remain current in their field through the connections they have formed.’

Landauer and Dumais (1997): “people have much more knowledge than appears to be present in the information to which they have been exposed”….“the simple notion that some domains of knowledge contain vast numbers of weak interrelations that, if properly exploited, can greatly amplify learning by a process of inference”. The value of pattern recognition and connecting our own “small worlds of knowledge” are apparent in the exponential impact provided to our personal learning. 

We all create these networks in maintaining relationships and speaking with one another but the Internet provides voice for a few to reach more people.

http://www.itdl.org/journal/jan_05/article01.htm

 

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Myself centre, with my sister and a friend in Hanoi, Vietnam last year

OLnet tools

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Reference and link dump for OLnet tools:

 

http://www.olnet.org/content/resources/cloudworks

In Cloudworks you can create entries describing any object as a "cloud". You can then collect them into "cloudscapes", comment on them, link them together and share. This allows us to work together to create items about events, resources or ideas.

 

 

http://www.olnet.org/content/resources/evidence-hub

The Evidence Hub for Open Education is a Collective Intelligence tool developed as part of the OLnet project. It aims to provide an environment to systematically interrogate the Open Education movement to represent and map the collective knowledge and memory of the Open Education community. Join us in building a living map of the OER world. Help us gather, distill, connect and map what is known - and what we don't yet know...

 

http://www.olnet.org/content/resources/cohere

Cohere is the place to develop big ideas. In OLnet we want to find out what the issues are and to work with them. Cohere is a tool that helps you work with ideas by annotating them, linking them with other information on the web, and making meaningful connection between them. Cohere is a freely hosted web application that anyone can use, not just those working on Open Educational Resources.

 

 

http://www.olnet.org/content/resources/compendium

Compendium is a knowledge map software tool for visual thinking. Knowledge Mapping is a key skill in 21st century lifelong learning. Fragments of information are linked in a map to make information easier to access. Compendium is based on many years research on the use of such tools in educational and workplace settings.

  • People are able to see what they are thinking.
  • Helps people to manage large amounts of information – e.g. in government, education, business and research.

 

http://www.olnet.org/content/resources/compendiumld

 

Compendium LD is a knowledge mapping software tool to design learning activities.

 

 

http://www.olnet.org/content/resources/open-learning-initiative

 

The Open Learning Initiative is Carnegie Mellon University's open educational website.

Using intelligent tutoring systems, virtual laboratories, simulations, and frequent opportunities for assessment and feedback, OLI builds courses that are intended to enact instruction – or, more precisely, to enact the kind of dynamic, flexible, and responsive instruction that fosters learning.

 

http://www.olnet.org/content/resources/openlearn

 

OpenLearn is the Open University's initiative to share some of its content and tools as Open Educational Resources. OpenLearn gives access to two key tools that researchers (and anybody else) can use:

  • The Compendium knowledge mapping software to download and use, 
  • FM live flashmeeting for free to use video conferencing

OpenLearn is also a good resource for looking at a range of OER materials in use by learners and educators.

 

http://www.olnet.org/content/openlearn-labspace

 

The OpenLearn website gives free access to learning materials from higher education courses.

OpenLearn’s LabSpace makes many different open educational resources (OER) available to you from a wider OER community associated with The Open University.

Edit the materials in the LabSpace. Collaborate with others and publish new versions of the learning materials to share with the world.

 

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Week 2 - Activity 5: Are OER both open and innovative?

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A week late myself, but here we go and excuse me if this appears more of a summation than a collection of my own thoughts as, while I had been introduced to the concept of OER a couple of years ago now, I hadn’t done much reading into them in greater depth. 

1. How would you judge OpenLearn in terms of your definition of innovation?

I suppose that prior to reading this, I’d never actually considered the definition of innovation. In the past, I’d have considered innovation to be something new with a specific use or something old applied in a different context that had a positive result. Wiki’s definition of ‘innovation’ is ‘‘Innovation is the creation of better or more effective products, processes, services, technologies, or ideas that are readily available to markets, governments, and society. Innovation refers to the notion of doing something different (Lat. innovare: “to change”)’. I suppose that definition covers my initial thoughts in so much as it mentions new things and new ways of doing things and ideas. The module materials state that ‘The important point to take from this definition is the notion of change’ which I’d agree is at the heart of the matter. So does OpenLearn fit the notion of something new having been created or a new method of participation in an existing activity and ultimately does it change something?

I suppose if we look at the six stage description of possible work, we can perhaps look at what innovation would have been necessary against what had already been achieved in OER elsewhere:

1. Legal

2. Practical

3. Technical

4. Pedagogic

5. Economic

6. Transformative

As stated in the chapter, OpenLearn ‘built on’ existing work in adopting the Creative Commons licence and had been preceded in establishing a recognizable practice and identity for OER. Therefore, for the first two stages, I see little ‘innovation’ on the part of OpenLearn.

From a technical perspective, OpenLearn had again been superceded in the use of an open source platform in Moodle to provide an environment where the materials could be made available and learning and sense-making around them could take place. Pedagogically, OpenLearn followed the well-trodden path of distance learning as a basis initially though that developed subsequently into the materials being considered as ‘Learning Objects’ offered via structured authoring and learning design, as a result of the work of Rehak and Mason (2003) and McAndrew and Weller (2005). Therefore, again, this does not constitute my definition of innovation.

Neither did it in economic terms, potential sources of revenue in which to foster sustainability were identified but, as the text discusses, there is nothing new in a product becoming financially viable. 

However, can innovation be reflected in the coming together of those constituent parts in the context that it was applied? As a part of the Open University’s existing practices, it has been an agent of change and therefore, while the preceding five constituent parts of what made up OpenLearn were not innovations, perhaps their use, together, in the OU’s context mad its transformational aspect innovative.

2. What key challenges facing the OER movement can be dealt with more quickly than others?

I think gauging this from what is essentially a layman’s perspective in relation to a number of the challenges, I would be making assumptions on a number of them. However, a few of the comments above have been invaluable in my making sense of what is being done and what has been done, particularly in relation to copyright and licensing which has apparently been overcome to some degree. Institutional policy also appears to be something that could, in an admittedly ideal world, be affected in a day, though I’d imagine the cumulative concerns of all the other factors would come to play as well as factors of resistance to change from advocates of more traditional instruction or simply those that just don’t like change. We’ve all experienced that.

At the other end of the spectrum, I would say that ‘Technologies and Infrastructure’ and improving ‘Access’ to OER are to some degree beyond the scope, remit, and influence of educators themselves and would be tied into matters globally of such complex and intricate technological, political, cultural, and any number of other ‘als’ as to be impossible to fathom. This inability for advocates of OER to influence these areas would indicate that these could potentially be the greatest challenges to overcome as we would have to wait on the necessary set of circumstances to transpire independently. However, one could apply ‘Universal Design’ principles http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Universal_Design_for_Learning to content creation, adaptation, and the facilitation of its provision as to at least make it as accessible as possible to those with issues based on factors such as disabilities, low-bandwidths, and unsophisticated hardware.

3. How do open educational resources challenge conventional assumptions about paying for higher education modules?

Finally, here I’ll talk about this from a personal perspective, it challenges my assumptions, or rather what my assumptions previously were, in regards to how someone might acquire the necessary knowledge, skills, and expertise in a field of study to master it. I had always considered the acquisition of these resultant in a qualification as strictly the purview of educational institutions such as colleges and universities. However, the (potential) accessibility now of all materials necessary to acquire specialism in a field is available to all that have the necessary hardware, bandwidth, and requisite understanding of the methods of accessing them. I think this has the dual effects of taking learning out of the hands of providers and putting it into the hands of the learners, to in effect, democratize the learning process that could lead to, increasing people’s job prospects and effectiveness in their chosen fields. 

Would it be there is also perhaps the possibility that this would have an effect on the provision and import of actually gaining the qualifications themselves? Isn’t a qualification generally simply proof that you have undergone the process of study. With such things as a radically changing world economy and austerity in many places, might not the simple demonstration of knowledge and skills be sufficient for more and more employers? However, many would need greater and more decisive proof so the existing models of MOOCs followed by paid examinable components might come to prevalence. Also, as mentioned, it seems that there needs to be some structure as guidance and quality assurance to ensure an effective use of these potentially disparate learning objects and that what is being used is of the requisite academic level and accuracy. 

For me, it’s the most fascinating aspect of the result of digitization on education. 

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Terra Incognita and using Secnd Life as a space for learning

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As a part of Week 1 Activity 4, we were asked to read John Seely Brown and Richard P. Adler’s Minds of Fire open education, the long tail and learning 2.0. We were asked to pick one of the innovative projects and research it. I was interested in the Terra Incognita project.

For me there are two reasons why it interested me; first, because virtual worlds where learners can come together offers a potential avenue for collaboration and communication with what I hope to do with my own work.

In 2013 while I was studying the H818 module and looking into Personal Learning Environments which I envisaged my project would be based around I read an article I found on www.lheadacademy.ac.uk (Boyle and Jackson, 2009). Here I’m going to shamelessly copy and paste from one of my assignments:

‘I read that the tools a VLE could include would include communication tools, interactive content delivery, assessment tools, and interactive collaboration tools. Since the inception of the so called Web 2.0 which allows people with access to the internet and the necessary hardware to facilitate their use to interact and collaborate within social media settings to create user-generated output in virtual communities, users at large have become far more tuned into how the internet is no longer a passive static medium. In addition, while researching VLEs I came across a blog set up by Bath Spa University for Web 2.0 tools in teaching and learning with a video of an ALT-C conference from 2009 featuring speakers talking on the subject of whether ‘the VLE is dead’ http://bathspaweb2.edublogs.org/tag/vle/

A speaker asked a series of questions as follows:

“How many of you have a VLE?” (all hands go up)

“How many of you go to your VLE when you want to learn something?” (one hand goes up)

“How many of you go to Google when you want to learn something?” (all hands go up)

Also, in the video Steve Wheeler Associate Professor at University of Plymouth argued that a VLE is not a learning environment but a content management system and that VLEs homogenised content and that content was owned by the company/institution as opposed to the learner and that learners prized personalization highly and in personalizing their learning environments they could engage with them better and be more interested in it.

I was introduced through the video and the offshoot blogs of some of the speakers involved, for the first time, to the concept of PLEs (Personal learning environment) and how their flexibility and accessibility made learning less commodified and more democratized and it overcomes the divide between the environment and learning through shaping personal learning environments through software that is available to everyone.

I was also reminded of Robert Capps’s The Good Enough Revolution article in Wired (2009) which I had come across while writing H818 TMA1 in regards to how the digital tools we now use don’t have to be sophisticated, but simply do what they need to do.’

Therefore, Second Life or similar virtual worlds, being customizable, easily accessible, and potentially fit for my purpose could serve a function in what I want to do, provide a space for learners to work together in a learning Engish as a foreign language context.

First I looked up info on the Second Life Terra Incognita project on Google. Very much in-keeping with the benefits we’d already discussed regarding openness and the benefits of blogs one of the first and things I found was a very good blog post by a previous  H817 student, Patricia Daniels in 2013. In it, she did a lot of my work for me, discussing the dissertation written by Terra Incognita virtual island’s founder Lindy McKeown Orwin 'Affordances of Virtual Worlds for Professional Development conducted using Action Learning'  (2011) and even visiting the island in the Second Life virtual world.

Patricia’s blog post was made on the 10th of February. In September of that year, McKeown Orwin posted  that the island was to be closed down as, while there had apparently been a number of other studies conducted there, there were none at that time and unless someone else wanted to rent the island, it would disappear in October of 2013. A quick search now for the virtual island in Second Life http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Terra%20incognita/156/99/33 and http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Terra%20incognita/156/99/33?q=Terra+Incognita&s=Places appears to show that is the case.

An unexpected benefit of finding Patricia’s blog is that she actually discusses language learning in virtual worlds, my personal context, ‘Using virtual worlds for language learning is an ongoing and seemingly popular practice. Speaking from personal experience, it is a teaching practice that I can recommend, especially for language teachers like myself who provide instruction via Skype or a similar web-conferencing tool. This immersive environment enables me to engage in authentic activities with my students that would otherwise be impossible in our usual language learning context. They respond emotionally to their surroundings   and much more spontaneity comes into play. It does require taking  time  to develop  your electronic literacy skills. However, I found this learning phase quite humorous i.e. bumping into walls, falling off buildings, walking through oceans and all without an injury, not even a bad hairdo or smeared makeup to complain about.' 

She cites a couple of studies and in searching the Open University library I found a few more relevant to my context which I’ll list below as much for myself to find them again later as for anyone else that my have any interest in using Second Life or any other virtual world environment in facilitating language learning or perhaps any other learning for that matter.

Using Second Life to Assist EFL Teaching: We Do not Have to Sign in to the Program. Wang, Feihong, Shao, Enming TechTrends: Linking Research & Practice to Improve Learning. Jul 2012, Vol. 56 Issue 4, p15-18. 4p.

Pedagogical challenges of spoken English learning in the Second Life virtual world: A case study. Haisen Zhang1 haisenzhang@uibe.edu.cn British Journal of Educational Technology. Mar 2013, Vol. 44 Issue 2, p243-254. 12p.

Collaboration and knowledge sharing using 3D virtual world on Second Life. Rahim, Noor Faridah Education for Information. 2013, Vol. 30 Issue 1, p1-40. 40p.

Learning effects of an experimental EFL program in Second Life. Wang, Charles, Calandra, Brendan, Hibbard, Susan, McDowell Lefaiver, Mary Educational Technology Research & Development. Oct2012, Vol. 60 Issue 5, p943-961. 19p. 1 Illustration, 8 Charts.

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Myself centre, with my sister and a friend in Hanoi, Vietnam last year

Interesting question on incentivization for my MOOC learners

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I was asked me in the H817 forum as to how I was planning on practicing skills for the IELTS speaking section which led me to reflect further on how I could incentivise people to engage with my course:

 

Well promoting that kind of interaction is one of the bigger challenges in any context, but when you're dealing with non-native speakers from a variety of cultures with varying levels of technological aptitude it can be even greater. 

In relation to how it can be done from a functional perspective, of course, there are options for learners to upload videos  or audio recordings. However, the learners have to be incentivised to do so and often might simply not have the knowledge or the motivation to learn how to, especially if instructions on how to will be provided in English as opposed to their native language. 

The incentives we're probably working with is that feedback from ESL professionals such as myself and my colleague will be offered at the completion of a particular theme with their posting some writing or speaking. If we don't structure it as such (as we have found on the Facebook group), users will simply come in and upload stuff for free feedback. This will mean that they won't benefit from the preparatory work such as language input in the preceding classes, and we as administrators may become overloaded with work to provide feedback on, and not be able to invest sufficient time in developing the remainder of the course. We want to incentivise participation in the course itself while in the full knowledge that like most other MOOC courses, many people will fall away.

However, if it's something modular that has no specific deadlines as we are structuring it, users can take their time and dip in and out. Ultimately, if they have completed sufficient amounts of the course, they'll get various levels of interaction with ESL professionals. Possibly some written feedback on an uploaded video or recording of a speaking section 2 task, for example. Ultimately, we may explore an incentive of providing someone with a full mock IELTS speaking test via Skype, or Facetime, or within Moodle itself as well as a reading and listening mock test and feedback on their writing to give learners a good idea as to whether they're ready to spend the 120 odd pound on the real test. 

However, as mentioned there is this issue of differing levels of competence from a tech savvy perspective. I feel that a lot of work will have to be expended on simplifying controls and providing multiple sources of instruction, which in an IELTS context can actually provide language input, so when, for example we approach the process description writing task, maybe that could be a description in writing and an audio with captions/transcript/slideshare of certain processes that form a part of interaction with the course. 

I haven't done anything with podcasting to be honest. I listen to podcasts every day so in the past I suppose I've always felt it lends itself to longer recordings that would be cognitively too challenging for some learners. What is it you do with them? 

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Myself centre, with my sister and a friend in Hanoi, Vietnam last year

New intro post for H817

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Been a while since I've used this so I think I'll add a blog post as an intro and a summary of who I am and where I am today. H818 feels like a long time ago now. 

Hi, I’m Gareth. I’m from Caerphilly near Cardiff in the South Wales but I now live and work in Bangkok for the British Council’s corporate training team. We essentially help local businesses do business in English, so that will involve general business English teaching, E-Mail writing, presentation, and negotiation courses and so on.

However, I am keen on moving more into e-learning facilitation. This is my fourth and final MAODE module having already completed H818 in 2013, H800 in 2014, and just a few weeks ago I submitted the EMA for H810. I’ve actually been studying with the OU now for around 5 years, so I feel very much at home learning online, and now I want to be someone that can help others do that too. As a result, I’ve been setting up a MOOC for people wanting to take the IELTS English language competence test which candidates generally take in order to study at international universities. With the British Council and Education UK, I’ve done a lot of work regarding the promotion of UK universities and worked with Thai students in pre-departure courses to help with their enculturation and in preparation for the expectations of studying in British universities.

I’m also anticipating being tasked with setting up some Moodle courses to provide my department with the scope to offer blended learning packages for corporate clients like the Thai Ministry of Labour. The LCMS I’ve been using for the MOOC is also Moodle, so 2015 for me will very much revolve around actually practicing instructional design while learning to set up courses with Moodle, so it's very encouraging that Deneka is a specialist in that area.

While this course will hopefully provide me with the module that completes my MA and I’ve got the qualification, as in all the modules thus far, I’m hoping that it will provide a vital component to my professional practice. I’m hoping that a lot of what is covered can, if appropriate and beneficial, be incorporated into what I’m doing to create more effective e-learning activities. Due to it featuring innovations, this has been the MAODE module I've looked forward to the most.  

Outside of work and study, like Simon, I enjoy (though 'enjoy' shouldn't be the right word for most football fans) watch football. I’ve been a Cardiff City supporter since I was a kid though I am rather a lapsed fan at the moment because of ‘philosophical differences’ with the club’s owners. I’ve also been attending and travelling with a local Bangkok team named Thai Port FC (though they’ve changed their name a few times in the last few years) which I very much enjoy. I generally unwind by playing computer games. I’ve lived abroad and travelled a lot off and on since I was in my early twenties, so I naturally love to travel with people-watching over a beer amongst my favourite ways to relax bar one. And that one is sitting on trains looking at the world go by (with a beer). Here’s a picture of me on the Trans-Manchurian express travelling from Beijing to Ulan Bator in Mongolia as part of a train trip from the Chinese capital to London through Mongolia, Russia, Finland, Sweden, Denmark, Germany, Belgium, to London to attend my OU graduation ceremony in 2013. I hardly spoke to anyone for two and a half weeks and at the end of it I had decided to do the MAODE. 

 

Myself on a train between China and Mongolia in 2013

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Myself centre, with my sister and a friend in Hanoi, Vietnam last year

Artefact Idea / Theme / Format

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The majority of my EFL work and therefore what I feel most comfortable in working my artefact around is exam preperation, specifically the IELTS test. I too would like to produce something where collaboration is a key aspect of the learning experience. 

So as to keep the focus narrow, I wanted to focus on one aspect of the test which potential users of the artefact might enjoy/find attractive approaching in a collaborative manner. Task 1 in the writing section involves the description of a set of data, often represented in a chart, table, graph etc. I'd like to provide a learning environment where people could work together to create a text description of the data as required in the test. 

This environment would be replete, naturally, with the data representation and the rubric as generally set out in the IELTS test and some key vocabulary that could be used in its description. Their task would be to look up the vocab if necessary in order to use it appropriately, decide on the structure, tense, information to be included together and together typing out a 2-3 paragraph piece of text. In addition to this I felt that this could be recorded as a video and made available to future students via YouTube etc. The data could be changed on a weekly basis with the videos of previous attempts then made available. 

My fears and concerns mainly revolve around the software that I'd have to use to create this environment and then make it user-friendly/intuitive and considerations of whether this is already available. In relation to the software, this is part of what drew my to this module as I thought I would be forced to become au fait with the kind of applications I'd like to use in the future professionally. 

The theme for this I'm rather unsure of. It's possibly Inclusive as the online environment makes this kind of study available to people that can't physically get together in a classroom. This type of collaborative approach to writing a Task 1 answer is no new approach in a bricks and mortar establishment but people in more rural areas or are housebound don't have the option. However, if it is a new online approach to studying IELTS it could also be Innovation. The format would be Activity/Workshop. 

I have no title as yet. Thoughts, suggestions, ridicule would be welcomed. 

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