Author Archives: ashwinidatt

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About ashwinidatt

I am an experienced higher educator, researcher and pragmatic innovator. My interest and expertise are in contemporary issues in education including inclusive blended, online and networked learning, social media, digital citizenship and networking for capacity development.

Strategies to engage online

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While hastily trying to finish off a proposal on the mooc course design and challenges (which will influence the design itself) for a book chapter,  I’ve come to a realisation that my online students (fellow academics) are not really present in the course. Yes, they log in and out and do post a few messages sporadically in response to the activities, I still am not getting the level of engagement I would like. Going back to my masters research on the types and levels of interaction within the course, I am a bit worried if this group will do well on a collaborative task. Therefore, I have planned a synchronous session that will help me develop more of a presence and be the facilitator of learning in the course. I have invited students to join in with questions etc and also come prepared to summarise the first topic of digital citizenship. I will record the session for the benefit of others in the course.

Reading on the MOOCs phenomenon and the diverse ways in which learners and teachers alike respond to it, is very intriguing at this stage as I plan the implementation of the 703 mooc. A meeting with the copyright officer and the library liaison is high on the cards as I need to clarify what is acceptable and can be legally shared through the mooc. The pieces of the theoretical puzzle are slowly getting solved as I discover more literature on the pedagogy of MOOCs.

MERLOT Journal of Online Teaching and Learning and MOOCs forum seem to be excellent sources of information on the current status and application of the MOOCs initiative. What’s also reassuring is that cMOOCs and their design is what is relevant in my approach to mooc design, development, implementation and integration in ACADPRAC 703. cMOOCs are influenced by well known learning theories and concepts such as Socio-constructivism that has its roots in social learning, Connectivism that is informed by network theory and Community of Practice (CoP) model that is relevant in academic professional development initiatives.

Dressing and styling

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A search on writing, dressing and style, revealed a rather humorous, unrelated article on styling and dressing, in the sense of, you guessed it, fashion! What resonated with me, however, was the implied message in the article. Irrespective of the designer style or label, the height of the wearer has an impact on the overall impression of the garment. Much like the stage we are at in our research career, has an influence on the liberty we have to make bold statements with our writing. This post is very much a reflection of my own writing journey, not research writing per se but writing in general.

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Connections: MOOCs, CoPs and the conversational framework

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How can the conversational framework influence the design of a cMOOC? Can a cMOOC be an advantage for elearning professional development? Can rethinking the classroom in the digital age be a good example of a cMOOC where the aim is to provide access, increase flexibility while supporting the development of a community of practice where ideas and experiences are shared among individuals who may maintain contact beyond the course. This will be the focus of my design of the mooc on rethinking the classroom-every aspect of the course will be largely dependent on the connection and communications on the course. The Personal Knowledge Management (PKM) skills model will still come in handy as there needs to be initiative and motivation for enrolling and maintaining a presence in the course…

Curse of technology? More reflection on ACADPRAC 703

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Apart from all the enrollment concerns, I have begun to feel that most of the students are yet to feel confident online. At least one of them is fully engaged (having completed their student page!) and raring to go while the rest are very cautious. It is hard to find the balance between catering to the needs of the very active and those who are lurking not because they don’t want to engage but just haven’t found the confidence to put their thoughts out there. A good last minute teaching strategy for me was to hold back the summary of topic 1 until all students have had a go at the readings and have posted a response to the online activity. Have decided to publish the announcements using the comments feature as it is auto subscribed. There was bit of a drama over where it should appear on the site and whether the comments bubble should be active when it is on the homepage. We tried to suppress the bubble but realised that the ajax code does not behave and the like button disappears after the first person has used it! Now, a dedicated page called announcements has been created and that has the full comment feature.

First reflections on the new ACADPRAC 703

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Off to a ‘not so great’ start as there are many enrollments issues to be sorted. However, considering the class sizes I have had before, 2 being the minimum, I think having 5-8 people this time is a real bonus. Panic has set in over student pages as I have realised there are glitches in the system that allow student editors to see the hidden pages. Though they cannot edit or see the content-which is displayed as work in progress- I feel it is not a professional look. Also, linking to unpublished sites in image map makes it go to edit view where access is compromised for hidden content. Answered the first student query as I did not have access to the right CECIL instance of the course, I couldn’t see the students enrolled. Then there was the palaver over enrollment caps, ACADPRAC 703 somehow had a capacity for 5 students on SSO which isn’t correct at all. If anything there could be 50 students which I rightly pointed out to admin and they realised it was a typo!

This confusion between ACADPRAC 703F City 2014 and ACADPRAC 703FX 2014 certainly exists and needs to remedied through CECIL admin. I finally got access to the correct course.
Design aspirations:
>> interactive course with focus on peer-peer communication and collaboration.
>> input from students to negotiate the assessment 2 format and timing.
>> clear guidelines on what is required and what is desirable but not essential e.g. links to Fellowship and CLeaR Lights programme.
>> information to lead into further exploration and personalisation of the learning experience.
>> journal for student reflections, collaborative glossary and student pages to create an online presence. 

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