Learning and teaching rhizomatically?

These are notes taken from the BETT show talk - 22 Jan 2015) by Dave Cormier (www.davecormier.com; @davecormier; davcormier@upei.ca; #rhizo15).

This is the guy that coined the term MOOC (?). Discusses 'communities of practice'. 

Learning is like weeds? Weeds follow their own paths. Learning especially in Internet age follows this pattern.

Teaching rhizomatically... Opening the curriculum.  Messy networks. Real networks are messy. They are not tidy.

(Learning on MAPP is like this. Assessment via reflective journals, etc. attempt to assess this type of learning.)

Dave talks about using a Learner Contract. Sounds like he negotiates work with the student

Measuring learning? The fact that you need to do it, doesn't make it possible. Does everything we do need to be measurable? Things that we care about aren't things that we can measure. 

Question by Steve Wheeler, Plymouth Uni. This doesn't suit all learners? Suited to certain types of learning. Very relevant for Masters level learning, and applicable to MAPP.

I put together a short presentation relfecting on my experiences at BETT, and this talk in particular, that can be viewed here.

Knowledge construction : Stage four of the five stage model

At this stage, learners are more confident, more active in their learning and interaction, and require less and less technical support. They are therefore more actively involved in knowledge construction than at earlier stages and may be more involved in creating opportunities to explore and challenge the topics they are encountering on the course.

It seems to me that the boundaries between stage 3 and 4 are quite blurred, and maybe that is intentional and understandale. I suspect the boundaries between all stages are to be somewhat fuzzy.

In terms of the Intro to Positive Psychology distance learning module I have been running, this aspect seems to have developed quite naturally. On reflection, I think my support has paralleled that which the 5 stage model suggests an e-moderator might do at these stages to support learners as they progress. There is more I could have done, such as more active encouragement of co-coaching between students, though I am feeling reassured that my actions seem to have been in line with this model of good practice!

Information exchange: Stage three of the five stage model

If learners have successfully passed through stages 1 and 2, then at stage 3 they are building on these and beginning to share more information, interacting with each other, and developing strategies to engage with the course content.

On the Intro to Pos Psych distance learning module this has been happening. Students are engaging well with the discussion boards, and have been spontaneously building discussions, responding to each other. Some of these I have tried to stimulate and play a part in to encourage others to post comments. In retrospect, and now being more familiar with this model of e-learning and the thinking behind e-tivities, I could have been even more mindful of this. That is, rather than encouraging or inviting students to post thoughts to the discussion board, I could have made this a 'required' e-tivity, by having students post at least one comment for each discussion thread and commenting on at least one other's post. I might have also asked a different student each week to be a 'facilitator' for the discussion that week and have them take responsibility for beginning the discussion.

UPDATE (2 Feb 2015): I related these ideas to one of the summative assignments for the Intro to Pos Psych distance learning course. This is a poster presentation that students submit via turnitin for assessement. In the attendance version of this module, students give either an oral presentation or a poster presentation to the group as part of the final teaching weekend. They are then encouraged to look at other students' posters and to ask questions to the person whose poster it is. The idea is that this feels like a poster session that you would get at an academic conference, and it gives the students some experience of disseminating and discussing their work in this way.

To replicate this online, I asked students to post their posters on the discussion board and then to look at others' posters and to post questions for at least 2 other students. This built some good in-depth discussion between students that needed little input from me (I did make sure I asked at least one question to each student). The depth of the discussion was in some ways greater than the discussions that we sometimes see at the attendance weekends. Added to this, we have the record of the discussions automatically archived in the discussion board, which may be useful for the external examiner. Result! [I will attempt to copy this discussion across to my PGCert Bb organisation, but if this i snot possible I will aim to add the PGCert T-eL Course Team to the PS726 module shell.]

The magic of Skype!

This evening was a nice lesson in how we (or at least I) have become increasingly comfortable with
what technology allows us to do! Over this past semester I have been a visiting lecturer at Regent's University London (RUL) and whilst there today I was due to have a tutorial over Skype with a student on the distance learning Intro to Pos Psych course (the course delivered through here at Bucks) who happens to be based in Vancouver on the West Coast of Canada. As it turned out the internet connection at RUL was down so we couldn't do the tutorial.

However, as I had Skype on my phone I was at least able to IM the student via 3G. So the lack of a wifi or cabled link to the web didn't stop us and eventually as I was walking down Baker Street towards the tube, I was able to have a real-time 'tutorial' via the Skype IM facility with a student in Vancouver! I was able to give concise answers to specific questions she had regarding her assignment which allowed her to move forward. I am still utterly amazed at what communications technology now allows us to do. A great example of this supporting learning and teaching in a subtle yet helpful way. :-)

This is just the latest example in how Skype (and related communication tools) are becoming increasingly integrated as tools that allow us to support students in different ways. For example, I am increasingly holding one-to-one tutorials with students over Skype, even those who could visit the University campus relatively easily. This is because it is reliable, convenient and time-effective for both students and myself. Also, as I work in a shared office environment, it is often not practical to hold tutorials in my office space if one is not wanting to disturb others as well as feeling less constrained to talk freely. Using Skype in this way also makes it possible to have tutorials with MAPP students outside of the monthly teaching weekends (as these weekends are often very full as it is!) especially with students who live some distance away.

This year we have also attempted to support MAPP students via the use of Skype when they have been unable to attend a scheduled teaching session in person. For example, as we have students who travel internationally to attend the teaching weekends, we have allowed students on a small number of occasions to 'Skype in' so they could follow and be part of the sessions. Whilst this was appreciated by the student Skyping in (one was based in Qatar; another, on a different occasion, was based in Austria), it did create an extra challenge for the tutor and also created a small disruption for some of the students when trying to engage with the 'Skyped in' student in small-group discussion.

I am now looking back over these experiences and seeing how they relate to Salmon's (2000) model. It is hard to place them at any one stage of the model... perhaps there are elements here for stages 1 to 3 here, from online socialisation, through information exchange, to knowledge construction?

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

Online socialisation: Stage two of the five stage model

Stage two is when students are beginning to engage with the materials, the tutor (or are we to refer to the tutor as the e-moderator?), and with other students.

One of my first attempts to begin bringing students 'into' the course on the Intro to Positive Psychology distance learning module has been to direct students to the discussion forum on Bb and write a post to 'say hello!' to show they made it there, knew how to post a comment, and to say a little about themselves and what brought them to this course. I feel now this was a little one-dimensional and could have been just one of some more in-depth attempts to begin interactivity between students. The attendance version of this module has students introduce themselves to the group and this can be quite an uplifting exercise as students begin to quickly share information about themselves. This is harder to support and encourage online when students feel more distant (literally and figuratively) from each other.

However, mindful of Salmon's (2000) five stage model, I will consider ways in which I can give greater emphasis to this important element of online socialisation for students. For example, I can encourage students to say more about their background, their interest in positive psychology, what has brought them to the course, and what they hope to gain from the course. The next time this module runs it will likely form part of a fully 'distance' MAPP and so the module will be part of a longer programme. That said, there will still be some students who are on the module as a stand-alone short course.

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

Access and motivation: Stage one of the five stage model

Salmon (2000) outlined a five stage model for e-learning that has become an established model
around which online courses are developed. This model is a central theme throughout the Certificate Stage of the MSc t-eL. The intention is that this will be the first of five blog posts to relate to each of the five stages of Salmon's model.

Stage one relates to access and motivation, and emphasises that learners at this early stage will be focused on the practical tasks of accessing materials, getting online, negotiating usernames and passwords, and so on. At this early stage they are likely to be motivated though this motivation may be fragile if technology, course structure, and tutor support do not make then entry to the course as welcoming, easy, and stress-free as possible!

The distance learning module I am running this semester is now 4-5 weeks in, and this is probably something I may have taken somewhat for granted! I did try to consider the likely issues facing learners such as usernames, IT induction, access to Blackboard, and so on. I realise now this is especially important and something I want to pay even more attention to the next time we run the module (by which time it may be part of a fully distance MAPP programme!).

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

CO711: (week 1 notes) Designing Effective Resources in t-eL

Beginning of the second module (!)

Demo of j2e.com. A fairly new VLE that is mainly aimed at schools. Not something I am likely to use, though it did illustrate the fact that there are new VLE platforms being developed and made available all the time and much cheaper than many of the existing mainstream platforms. For example, I now realise how much we as a University pay for the use of Blackboard (Bb) when there may be cheaper, more suitable, alternatives.