339 LEARNING SUMMARY:
Learning Outcome #1:
Describe the potential of human-centered learning in distributed and open learning contexts.
Throughout this course, I read articles, wrote blog posts, and responded to other’s blog posts in order to meet this learning outcome.
The reading Teaching in Blended Learning Environments: Creating and Sustaining Communities of Inquiry by Vaughan N. D., Garrison D. R. and Cleveland-Innes M. discusses ways to create blended online and distributed learning environments. The authors explain that good learning environments possess social, cognitive, and teaching presence, all of which can be used together to create a human-centred learning experience in blended online and distributed environments (Vaughan N. D. et al, 2013).
Social Presence:
“Creates the environment for trust, open communication, and group cohesion”.
Cognitive Presence:
“Extent at which learners are able to construct and confirm meaning through sustained reflection and discourse in a critical community of inquiry”.
Teaching Presence:
“Unifying force brings together the social and cognitive processes directed to personally meaningful and educationally worthwhile outcomes”.
“Each participant in a community of inquiry must take responsibility for social, cognitive and teaching presences”
(Vaughan N. D. et al, 2013)
In my Blog Post #1: Linked Here, I discuss Learning Management Systems (LMS) from the reading An Urgency of Teachers: The Work of Digital Pedagogy by Morris, S.M and Stommel, J. In my post I mention that prior to reading the article, I thought that LMS was an “organized, efficient, and easy system to use for online learning”. I have now discovered that if not implemented in the correct way, these systems can be very teacher-center, helping teachers with grading and assessment, and not very student or human-centred. In my post, I quote the reading: “Imagine assessment mechanisms that encourage discovery, not designed for assessing learning but designed for learning through assessment” (Morris, S.M & Stommel, J, 2018). As teachers, this is the mindset that we need in order to move towards more human-centered learning in distributed and open learning contexts.
The following are screenshots of comments that I posted on my classmates’ blog posts, further discussing our thoughts on LMS and how it can limit the human-centred learning in online and distributed learning environments:
By completing these activities, I learned that I can establish human-centred learning experiences for my students by employing distributed and open learning contexts that utilize social, cognitive, and teaching presences to create a community of inquiry. I also learned that LMS can be limiting and can diminish teachers’ control as well as their ability to be creative and mindful with their teaching, making online learning more teacher-centred and focused on grades and assessment.
The information that I gained from this learning outcome is important to me because it will help me to create human-centred learning for my future students, both in the classroom, and in online, distributed, and open environments. I am now much more aware of LMS and how it can be limiting to both my teaching, and my students. It has me thinking of creative ways to teach students without limiting them, methods that are centered around them..
Learning Outcome #3:
Critically reflect on and articulate concepts around modality, pedagogy, and access, including distributed and open learning theory, online and open learning history, privacy laws, online learning communities, open research, and open data.
Throughout this course, I read articles, wrote blog posts, and contributed to my Digital Equity & Perspective POD Project in order to meet this learning outcome.
In week 1 of this course, I read about the online safety and privacy laws that go hand in hand with online, distributed, and open learning. My first reading was the FIPPA Legislation of BC (Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act) which includes privacy rights as well as individual’s rights to access information that is controlled by a public body, including individual’s access to their own personal information.
In my Blog Post #4: Link Here, I discuss the reading Defining OER-enabled Pedagogy and critically reflect upon my previous experiences with OER-enabled pedagogy and the many ways that I would like to use OER-enabled pedagogy in my future classrooms. In my blog post, I state: “as I read through the examples, I reflected upon my time as a student and thought about assignments, both in elementary and high school, that I have done that could qualify as OER-enabled pedagogy but I couldn’t think of any examples.” I then reflected upon my time in post secondary education where I discovered: “when I consider my post-secondary education prior to taking this course, the only time that an assignment would have met all four points of the test would be during a previous education technology course when the class would learn about a topic and then create a blog post or video to share openly, online, on our WordPress blogs.” My reflections show how OER’s, open, and distributed pedagogy are not being fully utilized in education and the classroom. In my blog post, I also state that: “I think the four point test is very interesting and I would love to create tasks for my future students that pass all four points. I specifically enjoyed the examples of students creating supplementary learning resources to facilitate learning for future students, and having students create summaries of key course concepts to assist future students with some of the difficult concepts. I like these examples because they facilitate educating others, so learning becomes more meaningful to the students”.This reflects upon the ways that I would like to use this kind of pedagogy in my future teaching.
My Digital Equity & Perspective POD Project group researched the distributed and open learning theory and determined which medium of learning was best for our student’s persona:
By completing these activities, I learned about the privacy rights of students and teachers, in particular, information, and access to information, on the internet. I have also been able to reflect upon OER-enabled pedagogy, recognize it’s limited utilization in our education system, and think of ways that I can bring it into my classroom one day. I want to utilize it to its full potential so that my students can have meaning behind their learning. Through my POD project, I have also been able to examine the distributed and open learning theory and how it can be applied in a practical way to improve students’ learning experiences.
The information that I learned from this learning outcome matters to me because, as a future teacher, it is important for me to be aware of privacy laws that directly affect both my students, and myself. It is also important for me to be aware of different pedagogies that can be used to improve my students’ learning and create learning that has meaning. Through my POD project, I have been able to view how the distributed and opening learning theories that we have been learning can be applied to students. I also found ways to use these theories to improve my students’ learning which is so important as a future teacher.
Learning Outcome #4:
Examine and reflect upon the potential for equitable access for all learners in online and open learning contexts.
Throughout this course, I read articles, wrote blog posts, responded to other’s blog posts and contributed to my Digital Equity & Perspective POD Project in order to meet this learning outcome.
In week 1, I read Ethical Challenges of Edtech, Big Data and Personalized Learning: 21st Century Student Sorting and Tracking. In this reading, the author discusses how online softwares, often used by schools for personalized learning, student centred learning or adaptive learning, are run by big data corporations that use students’ data and information. Although it is meant to be used to categorize and direct appropriate learning to students, it can often be discriminatory and information that is collected about students can create inequity or unequal access to students.
“Predictive analysis involves issues of profiling and discrimination due to old prejudices and subtle signs may be difficult to discern” (Regan P. & Jesse J. 2019)
From the reading A Guide to Making Open Textbooks with Students Chapter 1: Open Pedagogy by Mays E., I learned that “the likelihood of earning a college degree is tied to family income” and that “54% of those in BC cannot afford to purchase textbooks” (Mays E. 2017). Professors directly affect a student’s ability “to enroll in, persist through and successfully complete a course” which is why teachers need to rethink their pedagogies “to ways that centre around access” (Mays E. 2017).
From this reading, I learned about OER’s (Online Educational Resources) which are “free alternatives to high priced commercial textbooks”. They are openly licensed which allows students “to contribute to the knowledge commons, not just consume from it” (Mays E. 2017).
These kinds of resources are a “necessary step in enabling widespread institutional open learning” (Mays E. 2017).
From this reading, I also learned about OEP’s (Open Educational Practices) which are a set of “practices that accompany either the use of OER’s or the adoption of open pedagogy” (Mays E. 2017).
Both OER’s and OEP’s make learning more obtainable for students.
In my Blog Post #3: Link Here, I discuss the reading Digital Redlining, Access and Privacy by C. Gilliard & H. Culik., and Digital Redlining which is when marginalized groups are affected by inequities created by digitally filtering content and information. Before reading this article I had never heard of Digital Redlining and had no idea that this was happening.
In my blog I state:
“These groups are provided with less knowledge due to constraints with accessing the internet or content filtering on school or library computers, lessening their competitiveness as a candidate when searching for jobs, affecting their opportunities and financial statuses, and ultimately, keeping them marginalized.”
I also reflected upon my past understanding and stated:
“Before reading this article, I thought that filtering content for students was always done with good intent, to keep young people safe, and was only done at younger grade levels. I never thought that filtering content could lead to equity and privacy issues. I was unaware that filtering and limited access were occuring at a college level, directly limiting the futures of community college students and marginalized groups.”
I also commented on many of my classmates’ blog posts, discussing redlining, inequities, and access.
My group members and I also discussed equity and access in our Digital Equity & Perspective POD Project:
Completing these activities taught me about the dangers of predictive analysis in the classroom and how it causes discrimination. I also learned how to make learning more accessible to students through OER’s and OEP’s. I have also been made aware of the dangers of digital redlining, how it marginalizes students, and how it may affect my students in the future. I have had the opportunity to discuss equity and access with my Digital Equity & Perspective POD Project group, and have learned to apply what I learned about equity and access with a more practical perspective.
The information that I learned from this learning outcome matters to me because, as a future teacher, it is important for me to be knowledgeable and aware of inequities that might affect my students. I need to help them gain access to a more accessible education where they can learn and grow freely without constraints and fears of being marginalized. It is also important that I learn about OER’s and OEP’s so that my teaching methods can be more accessible to all students so they don’t ever feel the effects of marginalization.
Learning Outcome #5:
Conduct research into and critically reflect upon emerging and future educational technologies
During this course, I wrote a blog post, and a Showcase Blog, in order to meet this learning outcome.
In my Blog Post #2: Link Here, I discuss the reading Teaching Online-A Guide to Theory, Research and Practice by C.H. Major and the open and distributed education courses that have been offered online at different universities. I connected this reading to another class that I took earlier this summer called Literacy in the Digital Age. During this class, we learned that the 21st century skills of innovation, critical thinking, creativity, problem solving, and communication need to be taught in order for students to be literate in the digital age. In many of the open and distributed education courses that were listed in Teaching Online-A Guide to Theory, Research and Practice by C.H Major, the professors used an array of multimodal technologies including visual, design, audio, web, and video to aid students in becoming literate in the 21st century. For my Showcase Blog, I thought it would be interesting to do more research into how I would use the multimodal technologies of visual, design, audio, web and video to teach literacy in the 21st century.
In my Showcase Blog: Link Here, I research educational technologies that I can use to teach elementary school literacy, incorporating the multimodal technologies of visual, design, audio, web and video. Here are some of my favourite projects and assignments that utilize educational technology like iMovie, Moviemaker, Animoto, and Powerpoint:
“All three of these assignments develop speaking, listening, reading, and writing skills as well as planning, storyboarding, and scripting skills, all of which are very important literacy skills that students need to learn. However, in these scenarios, students are learning these skills in a creative and innovative way, utilizing different technologies that promote 21st century skills.”
By completing these activities, I learned how to utilize educational technology in order to teach literacy and 21st century skills and how to develop assignments that teach students to be creative and innovative.
This information is important to me because, as a future teacher, it is important for me to develop assignments and projects that support my students’ learning and growth in the 21st century and prepare them for the digital world we live in. It is important that I research educational and multimodal technologies as they are important tools to achieve the creative and innovative learning that is needed in the 21st century.
Showcase Blog:
Link to Original Post:
Link to Revised Post:
Rationale For Changes:
In a response to my original Blog #2: History and Context of Distributed and Open Learning, Ryan asked “​​You mention “visual, design, audio, web and video”. Would you envision your students doing all of these? If not, which ones feel best for elementary? Would you start with one and progress through them one by one? If yes, what order do you think? Why?”. After contemplating these questions, I decided to respond by expanding my blog post with research on ways that I can utilize visuals, design, audio, web, and video to teach literacy and 21st century skills like innovation, critical thinking, creativity, problem solving, and communication in my future elementary school classrooms.
I also decided to link this learning to OER-enabled pedagogy and explain how I would use visuals, design, audio, web, video, and OER-enabled pedagogy to help teach and inspire students in the 21st century.Â
References:
Digital Redlining, Access, and Privacy. (2019, November 06). Retrieved from https://www.commonsense.org/education/articles/digital-redlining-access-and-privacy
Gura, M. (2014). Teaching literacy in the digital age : Inspiration for all levels and literacies. ProQuest Ebook Central https://ebookcentral-proquest-com.ezproxy.library.uvic.ca
Major, C. H. (2015). Teaching online : A guide to theory, research, and practice. ProQuest
Ebook Central https://ebookcentral-proquest-com.ezproxy.library.uvic.ca
Morris, S. M., & Stommel, J. (2018). An urgency of teachers: The work of critical digital pedagogy. United States: Hybrid Pedagogy.
(n.d.). Retrieved from https://www.bclaws.gov.bc.ca/civix/document/id/complete/statreg/155_2012
Regan, P.M., Jesse, J. Ethical challenges of edtech, big data and personalized learning: twenty-first century student sorting and tracking. Ethics Inf Technol 21, 167–179 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10676-018-9492-2
Vaughan, N. D., Cleveland-Innes, M., & Garrison, D. R. (2013). Teaching in blended learning environments: Creating and sustaining communities of inquiry. Edmonton: AU Press.
Wiley, D., & Hilton III, J. L. (2018). Defining OER-Enabled Pedagogy. The International Review of Research in Open and Distributed Learning, 19(4). https://doi.org/10.19173/irrodl.v19i4.3601
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