Review of the 'Theoretical Rationale for Interaction'
Monday, 3 Aug 2015, 10:50
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In terms of my experience on H800 there is in the background quite a tight and robust model and framework. However, as we as learners are encouraged and motivated to drive forward the discussions on the forums, and in the later half of the course left to create the forums and drive forward the discussions, I feel that I do have a certain level of control (in partnership with other learners). In interest I went and explored other H800 groups and some of the tutors even at this late stage create the forums and are certainly holding that 'hot-seat' place. I think I would feel like I have far less control with that process so am pleased that Terri has allowed us the space to explore.
For H800 I feel that there has been high levels of Student to Student activity and Student to Content activity but limited Student to teacher activity (this comes more within assessment feedback). This has been achieved by keeping to a standardised and simple model throughout the weeks with clear expectations listed from the very start. It was clear from the outset that the deep learning would come from the student to student work, exploring the theories and features within articles. The model was the same: a set list of activities; a forum to asynchronously discuss; a OU live room available for synchronous discussions, a blog to explore further and widen the dicussion community.
For my area of provision, I have no cohorts but a constant stream of roll-on, roll-off learning. Therefore this makes Student to Student interaction difficult. I have focused on student to content interaction but ensured that the content has significant teacher developed resources such as videos/audio notes where there is a perception of teacher input. Additionally, the teacher role is there to form a sequence and direction for that individual learning using the VLE as the key component.
From my experience with OU study and in particular H800, I would like to explore the student to student interaction far more and as I use moodle I intend to start by encouraging forum use through set activities. The community will be small but even if there are 3 or 4 learners discussing at any one time this will offer added value and support to the high interaction partnerships. From the list provided on the activity, the most appropriate example of interactive learning for the provision I am involved with would be: Stuctured Learning Resources; Independent Study.
In many ways the first reason why I looked at technology and how it was used for our provision was due to the heavy cuts in funding. Our achievements and evaluation surveys were good (but not excellent) and national competition was making the landscape really competitive (in apprenticeships only 30% are delivered by colleges with the remaining 70% by private training providers. So with the focus on high student to content interaction with structured learning resources we have achieved above national benchmark for 3 years, raised our satisfaction survey results but with reducing course length and workplace tutor workshop visits. One example is with a reduction of 24 months to 18 months and 24 visits to 11 visits. That offers significant savings in terms of travel expenses and time and has also allowed us to upscale in terms of geographical spread and learner numbers. From here though I acknowledge that we need to raise and increase our student to student interaction and also offer alternatives to student to teacher interaction. At the moment it is heavy on mobiles and emails but I can see the benefits of alternatives to OU Live (skype etc.)
Reference:
Terry Anderson. (2003). Getting the Mix Right. An updated and theoretical rationale for interaction. 4 (2), 1-14.
Review of the 'Theoretical Rationale for Interaction'
In terms of my experience on H800 there is in the background quite a tight and robust model and framework. However, as we as learners are encouraged and motivated to drive forward the discussions on the forums, and in the later half of the course left to create the forums and drive forward the discussions, I feel that I do have a certain level of control (in partnership with other learners). In interest I went and explored other H800 groups and some of the tutors even at this late stage create the forums and are certainly holding that 'hot-seat' place. I think I would feel like I have far less control with that process so am pleased that Terri has allowed us the space to explore.
For H800 I feel that there has been high levels of Student to Student activity and Student to Content activity but limited Student to teacher activity (this comes more within assessment feedback). This has been achieved by keeping to a standardised and simple model throughout the weeks with clear expectations listed from the very start. It was clear from the outset that the deep learning would come from the student to student work, exploring the theories and features within articles. The model was the same: a set list of activities; a forum to asynchronously discuss; a OU live room available for synchronous discussions, a blog to explore further and widen the dicussion community.
For my area of provision, I have no cohorts but a constant stream of roll-on, roll-off learning. Therefore this makes Student to Student interaction difficult. I have focused on student to content interaction but ensured that the content has significant teacher developed resources such as videos/audio notes where there is a perception of teacher input. Additionally, the teacher role is there to form a sequence and direction for that individual learning using the VLE as the key component.
From my experience with OU study and in particular H800, I would like to explore the student to student interaction far more and as I use moodle I intend to start by encouraging forum use through set activities. The community will be small but even if there are 3 or 4 learners discussing at any one time this will offer added value and support to the high interaction partnerships. From the list provided on the activity, the most appropriate example of interactive learning for the provision I am involved with would be: Stuctured Learning Resources; Independent Study.
In many ways the first reason why I looked at technology and how it was used for our provision was due to the heavy cuts in funding. Our achievements and evaluation surveys were good (but not excellent) and national competition was making the landscape really competitive (in apprenticeships only 30% are delivered by colleges with the remaining 70% by private training providers. So with the focus on high student to content interaction with structured learning resources we have achieved above national benchmark for 3 years, raised our satisfaction survey results but with reducing course length and workplace tutor workshop visits. One example is with a reduction of 24 months to 18 months and 24 visits to 11 visits. That offers significant savings in terms of travel expenses and time and has also allowed us to upscale in terms of geographical spread and learner numbers. From here though I acknowledge that we need to raise and increase our student to student interaction and also offer alternatives to student to teacher interaction. At the moment it is heavy on mobiles and emails but I can see the benefits of alternatives to OU Live (skype etc.)
Reference:
Terry Anderson. (2003). Getting the Mix Right. An updated and theoretical rationale for interaction. 4 (2), 1-14.