Design is more than it seems

One more surprise during the ONL course, because “design” only partially means what comes to mind when we think about design. Obviously, a properly designed interface and tool is very important, but this is just one aspect of designing (for and of) online and blended learning.

I am strongly inspired by the film and the webinar of Dr. Marti Cleveland-Innes, Professor and Chair of Centre for Distance Education at Athabasca University (Canada), specializing in online education. There are some quotes she mentioned and some reflections of her, I would like to make a comment on. I supposed that here there is also the possibility to find more about: Guide to Blended Learning.

As quoted by Dr. Cleveland-Innes, “neither the purpose, the methods, nor the population for whom education is intended today bear any resemblance to those on which formal education is historically based” (Pond, 2002). World is changing so fast, especially during last few decades. We, teachers, are challenged to prepare students to work and to live in the world of the present and of the future. So we are suppose to prepare them to something we had not been prepare to ourselves by the education system.

Another point is that “the expanding role of teacher for faculty in higher education can be managed by sharing some pieces of the role with instructional learning designers, web-analysts and learning technology experts”, which seems to be ideal situation. But it implies the awareness of such a need at the level of various departments, from IT to the highest structures of the university (rector, deans). There is now much to be done in this regard, even on such a basic level as awareness of that need by university decision makers.

Community of Inquiry is characterized as a framework with three types of presences: the social, the cognitive and the teaching one. I found it interesting that they are very similar, actually corresponding, to three types of  learning outcomes in syllabuses in the form of knowledge, skills and social competences. And I really like the tips related to those types of presences, like to dedicate few minutes at the beginning of the class to make an informal conversation (“it is ok to be personal, but not private”) with the purpose to strengthen the feeling of belonging to a community. Or to let the students clear instructions about our presence’s hours in the online environment, just to avoid the pression of being available 24/7. A small thing, but it can change a lot.

I realised that my job as teacher is also to learn and even to become an expert in as previously abstract issue, as collaborative learning. And, just to conclude, Dr. Marti Cleveland-Innes again: “the better I’m prepared, the better student will be prepared”. I understand this very broadly and by attending this ONL course, I feel that I am in the preparation process.

Am I ready to open up?

Before we started working on Topic 2: Open Learning – Sharing and Openness, I thought that for me the problem of openness and sharing of resources is associated almost exclusively with technical issues and with copywrite and creative commons knowledge. After two weeks of working on this topic, however, I came to the conclusion that the key issue is whether I am ready to open up? Would I be ready to share my lectures on, for example, Youtube?

The characteristics of each type of teacher turned out to be inspiring: How open am I? – am I traditional, engaging or open teacher? (Nascimbeni, Burgos 2016) It is an attempt to look at yourself and your own activity from the side. It is also the first step to answer the question: is it satisfying what kind of teacher I am, or whether I want to change something and whether I am ready for it.

Thanks to the sources we share in the group while working on the topic, I found information about the flipped classroom model. It turned out that I intuitively organize my distance learning in this way, not knowing that it has a name and is basically a well-established teaching methodology. This model consists in providing students with materials before the class. I use the padlet (where students can immediately comment on the content and add their own), or simply the university’s educational platform. Thanks to this, we have more time during the lecture for sharing insights and for substantive discussion. As a result, the entire process of transferring and assimilating a given material is extended and, at the same time, flexibly matching the students’ individual work rhythm. Or, in other words, as the appeal mentioned in the presentation of our group says: „Encourage students to prepare previously before (!) online teaching session to get the most out of it”.

I liked the two metaphors introduced by the tutors of this topic, Kiruthika Ragupathi and Alastair Creelman, regarding openness and knowledge. The photo of a large green meadow in the park is delightful with its spaciousness and openness, but maybe I really wouldn’t want to be there at dusk. Only under certain conditions it is pleasant and safe to be there. The second metaphor concerns knowledge as a flame which does not disappear when it is divided, on the contrary, it multiplies.

I was also inspired by the statement by David Wiley, who directly says that without openness (sharing, generosity) there is no education and that more open we are, the better education will be (Wiley, 2010). I like his comparison of two great milestones in human development, namely the printing press (very expensive, slow sharing of knowledge) to the Internet (relatively cheap, quick sharing). „Education is on the Edge of its own Reformation,” says Wiley, pointing out that it is time for a change in the approach to education. Even if, I think, it is difficult to indicate any clear moment when it began, as was the case with the Reformation and the October 1517 Luther’s theses nailed to door of the church in Wittenberg.

What is most important in education is not the content, but the context. A good example is the fact that in the week we started working on topic 2, I signed up for a MOOC. I was delighted to discover that the course, the program of which I designed myself, is carried out also there by the staff of a prominent university, using the same key issues that I also emphasized. Unfortunately, for two weeks I looked there maybe once. Why, when it’s fascinating and presented in the best possible way? Is it only due to lack of time and accumulation of other activities? Or maybe because nobody is waiting for me there, does not verify my knowledge, does not ask for reflections. Maybe I’ll be back in a few weeks when I have more time, but at the moment this kind of education doesn’t work for me.

I think Topic 2: Open Learning – Sharing and Openness is very practical in terms of improving the level of ones distance learning.

Online participation & digital literacies or two weeks of surprises.

The webinar opening the topic devoted to “online participation & digital literacies” suggested creating a map in the form of intersecting axes. We could mark on it how we use the Internet, divided into private and professional spheres. On opposite poles of the horizontal axis there were the markings „visitor” and „resident”, depending on how many traces we leave on the Internet. I really liked the comment that came up when we discussed it in the group: „the more I know about the consequences of online presence, the less I feel like being resident.” I feel very much the same.

When the first results of our research on this issue began to appear in the form of links to content dealing with this topic, I was amazed, surprised and grateful. Amazed that there is so much! Surprised that most of them are sources that arose many years ago, not because of the pandemic and the shift to distance learning! And grateful, because some of them are ready-made recipes for what and how to do to improve the quality of online learning.

Of course, reading long scientific articles from an area of ​​research that I do not know (for my own use, perhaps I would call it the psychosociology of digital education) in a language that I’m not native (English) was a bit tiring. But what surprised me the most was that the topic of „online participation & digital literacies” may be about more than just the technical skills of the teacher or mastering the tool!

So, what can it be about then? For example, about the sense of security (teacher and student), trust, or so-called supportive competences being part of teacher digital competences, „more holisitc and broader-based understandings that recognize ethical, safety and productivity aspects”). I had no idea that such competences even existed.

This is obviously very developing for me as an individual, but this level of awareness in distance learning seems abstract and purely theoretical when confronted with hard reality. And the reality is that for months my requests to organize training on the tools of the basic platform used at the university remain unanswered. I have such a reflection that if, on such a basic level, the teacher cannot count on the support of the institution, she/he will also not be able to count on it in acquiring more advanced competences. This is, again, surprising and a bit sad, because the level of the teacher corresponds to the level of the institution he represents.

My position is that the teacher should get encouragement and all support to improve their qualifications in this area. I even think that she/he should be held accountable for it, and the online work methods she/he uses should be evaluated. But of course there is a systemic problem here, because who would do this evaluation, if (as a professional group) we are just learning everything? It’s good that we learn. It is a pity that it is so slowly and that it is a matter of free will of teachers, not the requirements and commitment of the institution.

One more surprise, completely personal and very nice. I consider myself a person quite hard to learn the new Internet tool. To my surprise, however, I was selected in our workgroup as the person who is most skilled at bringing our mind map to the desired state using the Coggle (arrows, colours, boxes: freestyle) tool. [At this point, I take my hat off to Lena, who was the first to challenge Coggle alone, and to Michael for moderating the first topic. Great job, I’m impressed!].

Quite a lot of surprises, on just one topic and two weeks of the course.

Let’s get started

Considering all the misfortunes of Covid-19, which took over almost the entire world within a few months, it is a bit indecent to talk about its benefits. However, one of them is the transfer of a large part of the initiatives to the internet and thus wider access to them.

For people involved in education, this situation caused, or maybe accelerated (?), a number of questions about distance learning and related tools, methods, forms of communication and effects.

This blog is created to share my reflections on my participation in the Open Network Learning course . I found myself there thanks to my participation in the International Training Week in May 2020, which – as a result of the pandemic situation turned into virtual – was focused on issues related to distance learning. The Training made such an impression on me that after the first day (and for a while) I was able to admit that online learning is better than traditional. There is still a need to deepen reflection on this issue.

The last six months have shown that the use of online tools for teaching to a greater extent is possible and even necessary. The school changes, the university changes. Some of these changes will surely stay with us for longer. It depends on us, the teachers, and on our openness how effective the new teaching will be. And this requires us to be open and work on our own workshop. Open Network Learning course makes this possible.

ONL – the Community of Experience (CoE)

For me the ONL was the opportunity to know different manners of learning and (a little bit) of teaching tradition across countries and geographies. I appreciate this aspect a lot, because it can be one of the few chance to gain such experience. As for the very sources we used and referred to, it surprised me that they contain a lot of abbreviations, as does the ONL course itself (FISH, PBL, PNL, CoI, CsCL, CMC, LEEP…). I also read it as part of a certain tradition of scientific writing, which differs from the one I am based in.

I’m wonder why there were such a small amount of the participants from Eastern Europe, taking into account that those ONL topics are equal important in every single point of the globe. The Eastern I understand not as geography but rather as the belonging to particular cultural circle, economic zone, political system, worldview and, last but not least, a community of experience. Maybe someone knows and share her/his thoughts in respect? As a researcher I’m based in the topics of the former (?) East/West, so this dominates my perspective somehow. My myself feel Central European and I was taking into account this self-identity aspect during the course and the following PBL group meetings.

Of course a lot of practical tips will help me with my teaching. I have already introduce some changes and I hope to introduce more with the beggining of the courses next semester/next year. However what was really important for me regarding ONL course was the experience of being student again and of being challenged in respect of all those assumptions of the course like strict rules, discipline (but also the possibility of asynchronous participation in some cases) or FISH structure. It made us feel what feelings our students are (will be) also facing.

There is much to do as regards to implement what I have learnt and experienced during those 3 months. I will come back to some issues, maybe even systematize them in the form of specific files / documents to remind tips and concepts that are crucial for me to improve my online learning. I recommend the ONL experience to every teacher.

Learning in communities – one step back, two steps forward

In the beginning there was the word. I realized that I had never asked myself before, what is the difference between collaboration and cooperation in English, and whether at all. I already know that the two meanings differ in a very practical sense, especially in the context of collaborative learning.

In the PBL group we focused on the practical aspects of collaborative learning, i.e. what we care most as teachers, what we would like to read the most.

I have the impression that I stopped in my reflection a step earlier. I was wondering what conditions must be met for the creation of a collaborative learning community to be possible at all. Research already carried out, including Building trust in e-learning (Wang, 2013), comes to the rescue. It identifies those social, design and technical factors that are a prerequisite for a good preparation of the base for the creation of effective teaching in this way. They are e.g. institution’s reputation, design, socio-communicative style instructor, and a sense of privacy and security in the e-learning course. The research shows that this is a multi-stage process, requiring preparation and support from the part of the university, and the teacher himself, with his good intentions, is only an element of the entire undertaking. After reading this research, I felt better because I understood that I was not fully responsible for the effect of trying to introduce collaborative learning in my classes, that it was a more complex and long-term process. Despite the sense of agency as the main designer of my courses, I keep coming back to the policy of the whole university. And – contrary to what the IT support department at my university thinks – I believe that an introductory course for students and teachers on both tools and effective teaching and learning would be very useful.

We are almost in the middle of semester and it’s too late to set the rules for the classes we conduct. But I’m still learning and trying to introduce them with each course that starts little bit later, during the semester. At the same time, I can see that I have focused so much on trying to build a community, I care so much about encouraging students to join this process that I have neglected the question of grading a little. However, keeping focus on learning processes is certainly a very engaging attitude, also in terms of time: adjusting your materials to online education (padlet), reading comments and writing them (padlet, MS Teams).

ONL’s PBL is my first collaborative learning experience. I get the impression that the structure is so clearly defined that it makes my learning easier. I follow the course and follow the content. I feel mobilized both to work regularly on subsequent issues and to reflect on my perception of the topic, group activities, and sometimes going beyond my own comfort zone. I try to look at it from the sidelines as well, like a researcher.

And something else: I noticed effects that I did not come for and that I did not expect. Well, I started to intuitively translate the idea of ​​receiving / giving instructions more clearly into the organization of work in a small team at my university, which I was assigned to lead. The procedure I introduced surprised not only its members, but also myself, because I did not plan to use this organizational aspect of the ONL shape (elements of the FISH model), it was completely spontaneous. Suddenly became obvious what and how to do it to feel that we have firmer ground under our feet. It gave us more peace and a sense of security.

A separate issue for me is to create Personal Learning Networks (PLN). This is crucial when you are in a completely different field than your colleagues, or when you are dealing with an issue that generally only few people do. It is worth reaching them for the benefit of oneself and science.

For what and for whom?

This blog is a record of reflections related to participation in the Open Network Learning course on new tools and a new form of communication to improve online education.
Due to the threat of Covid-19, many teachers of all levels of education have faced the need to use online tools. We deal with it better or worse. However, there is no doubt that this is the future of education.
If something really changes irreversibly at the end of the pandemic, is thinking about virtual education in the context of organization, optimization and effectiveness.
I encourage you to follow the blog and comment on entries. If you are a teacher, you will surely find many points in common with your experiences, doubts and reflections.