Learning Summary
What are the most important lessons you gathered from the course?
-It was useful to reflect on the various reasons students engage in online courses (and in post-secondary generally), and to think through ways in which to boost engagement for those entering on a superficial level.
-Thinking through various elements of, and approaches to, learning and teaching through the community of inquiry framework provided an important meta-context, and an emphasis on dynamism and exchange.
-The use of video and media serves as one way to enhance relevance, interaction and ‘humanistic’ engagement. The course’s facilitation of learning in relation to media production tools was beneficial.
-Various facilitation strategies presented in the course point to an instructor’s role in animating the social context. These were useful to contemplate as mechanisms of learning engagement.
How has your thinking changed as a result of completing the course?
-Recognizing the unique potentials and limitations embedded within online learning contexts is, it seems, important. Rather than attempt to replicate an in-person classroom experience in an online environment, I was challenged to engaged with the media tools presented in ‘this’ context, and to make them work to the benefit of students and their learning outcomes.
-I am now more conscious of framing the learning journey in relation to the ultimate learning objectives. In developing course content, and in providing feedback to students, it seems important to point to the end-goals.
In what ways did the platform (WordPress) influence your interaction with the content and other people and what you learned?
-It was useful to run through some of the technical tips on animating a blog, including designing the look and feel, categorization of entries, etc. It was also useful to look at ways in which other academic blogs have functioned, and to glean ideas.
In addition to reflecting on your work, please include 2-3 ideas that you would like to implement in your own practice and how you might go about doing so.
-One of the key practices I look forward to implementing is the frequent use of video as a way to ‘frame’ and give context, or relevance, to the course content.
-I also look forward to engaging in a continuous assessment of learning outcomes in relation to course content and learning strategy.
-Finally, I look forward to embracing a strong facilitation agenda – creating a dynamic learning environment in which students are systemically and individually encouraged to interact as a way to achieve deep engagement with the content and learning objectives.