Getting things rolling...

OK, let's get this blog moving. The course is now 3 weeks in and I am very aware of the challenge it presents in terms of prioritising my own reading and reflection in relation to the course.

Richard made the comment in week 1 that we as lecturers tend to put others first and I think I am guilty of that in this context. I need to find ways of ring fencing time to devote to the programme.

I have been able to listen to presentations and I have only dipped into the readings. So far I am sensitive that the work of Biggs (1999) and Salmon (2000) are key in these early stages of exploring frameworks of learning around which we can build our learning programmes (I was going to write courses there, but then felt learning programmes may be a better phrase?).

Biggs' notion of constructive alignment at first glance seems obvious to me. Though perhaps I am being a little naive? In listening to the presentation from Aarhus University and the epilogue from Biggs at the end, I was taken with the phrase 'intended learning outcome' as a more suitable phrase for referring to our intentions for the learner as opposed to a 'learning objective'. I think this phrase is now embedded in our practice and is the term used on module descriptors at BNU?

References

Biggs, J. B. (1999). What the student does: Teaching for enhanced learning. Higher Education Research & Development, 18, 57-75. DOI: 10.1080/0729436990180105

Salmon, G. (2000). E-moderating: the key to teaching and learning online. London: Kogan Page.

CO710 (week 1 notes) Developing an approach to t-eL

'Putting people in a safe place to learn'. A key aspect of learning in general and applied here in the context of e-learning where uncertainties and anxieties may be higher than normal. The phrase also resonates with comments made by Piers (Piers Worth, colleague, mentor, friend, and Psychology Head of Department) where he discusses good teaching in the context of attachment theory and the important of allowing students to explore by giving them a secure and safe base from which to explore.

Is there a 'precise' definition of blended learning?

Thinking about domains of learning... e.g., affective, psychomotor, cognitive (in relation to what I teach?)

How people learn - joint, social activity.

People often see a course as an opportunity to be assessed rather than an opportunity to learn. Big challenge for distance learning?

Learning styles. Constructive alignment (Biggs, 1999). Learning activities and assessment aligned to learning outcomes.

Salmon (2000) (updated 2006?). Five stage framework. Online learning, needs to be a pleasurable and successful experience.