Image: Exterior of building, Otago Polytechnic campus 2005In this topic you will explore and justify the strategies for the development of flexible learning environments.
Estimated time: one week - 14 to 20 September 2009.
To do
- 1. Listen to or read the article: Annand, D. (2007). Re-organizing Universities for the Information Age. The International Review of Research in Open and Distance Learning, Vol 8, (3), 1-9.
- 2. Locate your educational organisation's strategic plan, charter or profile (or equivalent). It is usually a public document with mission statements, aims and objectives, and performance indicators.
- 3. Highlight statements that refer to or relate to flexible learning.
- 4. Write to your blog a critique of the online presentation of Otago Polytechnic's Chief Executive, Phil Ker talking about how his organisation is approaching flexible learning development. Alternative audio files available here.
- 5. Interview a colleague you know who has experience in developing flexible learning, and find out from them how they have developed flexible learning options in their practice. Post that interview to your blog.
- 6. Watch these two TV adds for Kaplan University and consider their motivations for marketing themselves this way:
Image: The first daffodil 2009 by bronwynannh
The three weeks allocated for the recent topic - Examples of Flexible Learning - have flown by and spring is now with us. It has been great to see people managing to get to the class meetings both face-to-face and online. The online class discussion last Wednesday evening about examples of flexible learning was very interesting. We talked about different situations where flexible learning principles have been used to develop and enhance four areas of teaching and learning: content; communication; activities and assessment. You can watch and listen to the Elluminate recording about Examples of Flexible Learning, and read the summary about it on Bronwyn's blog - now available.
So who has been busy recording what they are thinking and doing on their blogs?
Everyone has got as far as the introduction, and some of you have added your responses to the orientation exercise about your teaching, and others have written a story about one of your students and their flexible learning needs. It is time to get moving, everyone or you wont make the end of November deadline. So to help you get going please have a look at what some of the others have done by clicking the links in my summary, and don't be shy to post your thoughts and responses to the tasks. If you feel you are lagging behind and need help to get back on track please get in touch with Bronwyn - 0800 762 786 ext 8360 or Jennifer - 0800100052.
Adain has written to his blog a very realistic and interesting account of the teaching and learning situation for him and his students. He has made some very good suggestions and I particularly like: "Perhaps getting students to help in locating and sharing more resources could lighten the load?" As Adain is looking for a survey for checking out students' level of skill with technology use, I have given access to an online survey which you can all potentially modify and use for your students to find out about their computer use, skills and confidence. Please let me know if you need editing access. It is good that Adain is planning to add in a bit of flexibility and to take it gradual rather than trying to do it all at once.
Katy has written about her teaching practice and her post got me very motivated to respond. I love the way she explained how she is sitting with her students and adding in "sprinkles of ..." from time to time. It conjures up a lovely picture of a delicious icecream cone with chocolate sprinkles or hundreds and thousands on top. Her goals are evident of a teacher/facilitator who is passionate about her vocation.
Hellie has written a wonderful story about Gertie which has some very salient aspects, particularly, as Jennifer mentions, whether G has the ability to be organised in her self-directed study. The theme in Helen's story also illustrates some of the issues with accessing online course material. It seems ironical that Gertie chose Dunedin so she could get the on-campus experience rather than stay in Hamilton and study online. And here she is having to do quite a bit of work online. I hope the online aspects of her study are also complemented in a balanced way with the f2f she wanted, otherwise she may end up taking to the "drink" for solace. :(
Do people think if Gertie had the skills to download materials for offline use - put them on a laptop or USB stick or CD, would this help, or is this something her course lecturers should be obliged to make available? What do you all think? Feel free to discuss on here by adding a comment or send your thoughts to the email forum. Remember to subscribe first at: http://flexible-learning-course.blogspot.com
email address: flexiblelearningpractice@googlegroups.com
Ella has written about Jack "whirling like a lonely cinder" in cyberspace. It looks like some form of online learning is the only option for Jack due to his geographical needs and also his professional role. Or is it? Some of the issues definitely come under the umbrella of access and equity. I love the bit about flexibility with assignments and how this could be demotivating. :)
Interesting that Ella mentions that "Jack has limited imagination". Possibly he has untapped potential so with the right approach this could be unlocked which could be very motivating. How could she do this I wonder? Also as Jennifer mentions Ella could investigate some multimodal resources as a way to offset the online access issues. What do people think about this? Adain has added some suggestions as well so see if you agree with his comments and add your own.
Steve has written an excellent critique about his Reading around Flexible Learning, and brought some more resources to the table for us to consider about design and development of flexible learning. I really like the way he has compared information from them with one of the course readings - Flexible learning: it’s not just about distance (Collis & Moonen, 2001). Steve makes an excellent point that constraints at the grass roots, when you are introducing flexibility into the classroom, are very closely linked to organisational structures. For example, the time which people have available to develop innovative ways of teaching and learning, the reward systems and support for lecturers with educational design and introducing new technologies etc. If organisational support is not readily available for staff, it can make the whole process even more challenging. See if you agree with what Steve has written about this topic of organisational structure and see what he has found.
Concept mapping
I have suggested concept mapping for both Katy and Hellie to try with students, if they are not already doing this. It is a useful tool for students to use as it helps them connect the dots and encourages deeper learning and reflection. I love concept mapping or mindmapping because it is practical and you can get a better sense of where you are going. You can also get really creative with colour and shapes.
Here is an excellent article - CONCEPT MAPPING AND THE RESEARCH PROCESS - helping students research information and get to a deeper level of learning. It has practical examples to explain the process. If people want to take paper-based concept mapping to a digital level - CMAP is easy to use and a free download: http://cmap.ihmc.us/download/
It is excellent to see some people's blogs up and running. Chocolate fish to John and Katy who have activated their blogs. Julie and Vili are joining this class and will be corresponding on email rather than on a blog. Nigel is going to be studying from Tonga using mainly email and is taking resources on a CDROM. Connection to the Internet is expensive and unreliable. A good example of how we need to consider Access and equity - a topic coming up later on in the course.
So it would be great if everyone could join the Flexible Learning email Group - just add your email to the subscribe box on the Flexible learning Blog participate section - you will need to scroll down. That way Nigel can communicate with you all and send out his work on email; he will not be recording his learning using a blog.
What is on over the next while?
Library sessions - effective use of online databases and Google Scholar - Monday 10 August 11-12 and Thursday 13 August 9-10 - BG1 (back room ground floor) at the Bill Robertson library - 135 Union Street East, Dunedin.
Over the next two weeks we are looking at: What is flexible learning
The full To Do list is on the blog. In summary:
- 1. Reading - book chapter: Collis, B. & Moonen, J. (2001). Flexible learning: it's not just about distance. Let me know if this has not arrived.
- 2. Writing - On your blog, write a short story about a day in the life of someone who is considering doing your course. This person has a range of flexible learning needs. ...
- 3. Supporting - Leave a comment and/or suggestion on another participant's blog.
- 4. Attending - Attend workshops (optional): Face-to-face - weekly on Wednesdays 1200-1300 in H208A - an meeting link online web-conference link will be set up as well. Online fortnightly - 21 August 1930-2030 using the web conference (Elluminate) meeting link.
- An experiential session on how to write effectively for a blog in this course - will be the subject for the face-to-face (19 August) and online meetings (21 August). This was previously offered in an online session in semester one and here is the recording.
Welcome everyone to the next iteration of the Flexible Learning course. I will be the main facilitator this time round (Bronwyn Hegarty), and hopefully Leigh Blackall will chip in from time to time. Jennifer Hamlin (Teaching Enhancement team, EDC) will be joining us as a co-teacher learning the ropes for this particular method of teaching online. I will let Jennifer introduce herself later on.
In the course, I intend to dispel the myth: flexible learning is online learning. Or flexible learning is all about technology. I like to see this subject as described in the book called: flexible learning in a digital world. This is available at Google Books in limited preview and also at the Bill Robertson library.
We start off with a relaxed two weeks of orientation to the course and each other, and I have posted an orientation exercise where you start to take a closer look at the type of teacher you are at the moment. I believe we need flexible teaching for flexible learning. Once you get the flexible teaching right the rest falls into place. The course schedule is on the wiki, so have a look through it and familiarise yourself with the topics and the two assignments.
The first workshop is on Wednesday 29 July 2009 - 1100-1300 - on-campus in H612 (changed from H514) or online via Elluminate web conferencing. More details about web-conferencing are on the wiki.
So do you think there is a magic bullet for flexible learning?
Although there are theoretical and practical principles around flexible learning, there is no one answer. Flexible learning is a bit like finding the perfect partner, we all have different tastes and experiences in our relationships with others, other teachers and students, and what suits one does not always suit another. Flexible teaching for flexible learning is the same as entering into any partnership - there are a multitude of factors involved. During the course you will be exploring a lot of different approaches and opinions about flexible learning. In the end you have to decide where you sit as a teacher in all of this and how you can design your teaching for flexibility. How will you re-jig the content, activities, assessments and communication methods which you currently use in your courses, to provide more flexible ways of learning? First of all this requires you to take a close look at what you are doing now, what is possible and what you can change to make your teaching more flexible.
To get you started I have had a go at preparing something for the orientation exercise which is explained on the course wiki. For example you are asked to draw something, or find a picture which depicts the type of teacher you are. I was racking my brains about the type of picture I would use to illustrate the type of teacher I am. I have settled on one but still have to reflect on why I chose it. The pic is on my blog and there is also a post about how I regard my flexible teaching. I am looking forward to seeing what you all come up with. Bronwyn Hegarty
