Tag Archives: networking

connections that work

Covid19, networks and capacity to teach with tech

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We have all been compelled to consider remote learning as a legitimate alternative to on-campus teaching. For the advocates of technology integrated learning (fully online or blended) – who have chipped away at good designs for learning with educational technologies – it was a triumph and a long time coming. Educators who were yet to be convinced about the possibilities of online or digital learning, quickly adopted remote learning opportunities out of necessity. How did we achieve such a feat? Be it new ways of delivering or facilitating learning, we all had to build our capacity to do so in a short period of time. Welcome the #pivotonline movement.

#pivotonline resources:
Twitter; #pivotonline
AACE: Stories from the field ebook
Linkedin group: Moving HE teaching online
Online Learning Consortium: Faculty Playbook
Coursera: Learning to teach online
OpenLearn: Take your teaching online
Youtube: Open teach
University of Auckland: Remote learning
Googledoc: Hybrid learning; Higher Ed Guidance
Public network: Keep teaching
Blog: Edvisor community
Global support group: #OER4Covid
Asian Journal of Distance Education: Diverse perspectives
EDUCAUSE: Teaching continuity

#Pivotonline is my doctoral research playing out in real-time, educators networking to build their capacity for teaching with technologies. If we consider a platform like Twitter, we can see how these networks form and flourish – with short and long term connections. The image here is of the publicly available Tweets using pivotonline hashtag. What do these connections mean and what value do they hold for the educators involved? What benefits and challenges did these new ways of learning present for our students?

Digital citizenship

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Thinking about Online identity, Professional social networks, Research profiles or your institutional policy on social media?

The constitution of citizenship is up for debate in this era of rapid technological change. Technology can equally well facilitate good or bad citizenship, and there are many reasons to argue that it does not create a neutral or democratic environment. Rules of social engagement, knowledge creation and ownership are shifting. One argument is that most academics come from a generation referred to as ‘digital immigrants’ and are expected to teach ‘digital natives’, and so it would be likely for these natives to get restless – frustrated by their teachers’ and institutions’ misuse or lack of use of the social networking tools and concepts that are everyday features of their lives. But is this the case? Researchers like Bennett & Maton (2010) have debunked the idea of digital natives/immigrants a decade ago. So what constitutes ‘good citizenship’ in this environment? Any discussion of digital citizenship should focus on two broad questions:

How is Internet technology fuelling educational and social change, and in what ways does this challenge and facilitate concepts of citizenship in the current context?
How should teachers and institutions respond to the ‘digital’ demands?

Defining digital citizenship
An ability to practice and advocate online behavior that demonstrates legal, ethical, safe, and responsible uses of information and communication technologies (Greenhow & Ribble, 2009, p. 125).
Digital citizenship represents capacity, belonging, and the potential for political and economic engagement in society in the information age. Digital citizens practice conscientious use of technology, demonstrate responsible use of information, and maintain a positive attitude to learning with technology. (Alam & McLoughlin, 2010, p14)

Developing digital citizenship
Some of the issues that arise are: digital persona (professional and personal), privacy, participation (in politics and society) and liberation/democracy (massification of education). How do we manage our identity as educators in the age of open and massive education and how do we define the rules of engagement with digital media? Netiquette is one way of building awareness of the code of conduct online but does digital citizenship support academic freedom? One thing we tend to forget is that we don’t need to share everything, we have control over the amount and type of information we share. The interaction equivalency theorem shows what the reality of educational communication and interaction is in today’s day and age. Alam & McLoughlin discussed how educators are grasping the concept of digital citizenship in formal courses a decade ago.

The RIGHT to write

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Reflecting on my experience in ACADPRAC 704: Research Writing – a course which is part of my PGCert Academic Practice journey.

Introduction
Most important concerns of my early career publishing are the confidence to express my ‘voice’ and develop a preferred style.  Part of the issue is having the ability to identify and capitalise on the existing strengths of my writing. The journey in ACADPRAC 704 became the rite of passage into writing for me. Taking a bullet train to arrive at the destination much quicker than what the usual journey would have taken. As a budding writer, I had three objectives:
To make use of the increased awareness of research writing – politics, pleasure and style – and develop as a research writer.
To develop a template for my style and a psychological approach to publication that will boost my confidence and success in publishing.
To join a community of practice (CoP) within 704 and/or the Centre for Learning and Research in Higher Education (CLeaR) to become more disciplined and productive in writing through support, advice and feedback.

Aligning my strategy (RIGHT) to the foundations (BASE) of writing. Key: B-behavioural, A-artisanal, S-social, E-emotional
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TEL tests the seasoned

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I recently presented at the International Society for the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning (ISSOTL) and Tertiary Education Research New Zealand (TERNZ) conferences on my experience with connectivist, massive open online courses (MOOCs). The experiment with setting up and facilitating a mini open online component (mooc) of a course turned into a “connectivist disconnect.”

References:

Datt, A. (2014). The Connectivist Disconnect. Paper presented at Tertiary Education Research in New Zealand (TERNZ), Auckland, New Zealand. 26 November – 28 November 2014. [Online]
Datt, A. K. (2014). Casting a connectivist stone to generate networking ripples-cMOOCs and elearning professional development. Paper presented at International Society for the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning Conference, Quebec City, Canada. 22 October – 25 October 2014. Nurturing Passion and Creativity in Teaching and Learning. [Online]

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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.