Month: October 2020

Welcome to Week 8!

Last week we were lucky to have the well spoken Josie Gray from BCCampus offer an amazing webinar on Accessibility in Online Learning Environments. Please ensure that you review her webinar and her resources.

As you and your social pod group work on Assignment #3, it is important to not only think about your possible “online/open learning persona” in terms of a student who may be having accessibility issues in an online and/or open course. It is also just as essential to consider concerns that include equity and care.

This week you have two weekly readings. Catherine Cronin‘s Open education: Walking a critical path considers the different perspectives of equity and privilege in open learning contexts. Although we were not able to have a course #edci339 twitter chat last week, I was able to facilitate a twitter chat about this article for #ABOERJC in March 2020. You can review the chat and the discussion here to learn more about the article, the questions the article asks and the questions that others have as a result of reading the article.

The second article for your weekly reading is one that you choose as a group, from a collection of extraordinary readings. I anticipate and hope that each social pod will choose a different reading that best supports THEIR Assignment #3.

Bali, B., Cronin, C., Czerniewicz, L., DeRosa, R. & Jhangiani, R. (2020) Open at the Margins. Rebus Community Pressbooks. Retrieved from: https://press.rebus.community/openatthemargins/

Slow Twitter Chat Opportunity:

For an additional learning opportunity based on the pressbook key concepts and readings, for those students who can access twitter, you are invited to participate in an OPEN twitter chat with other learners from AROUND THE GLOBE to:

Join Equity Unbound (@unboundeq) for an open Twitter chat on algorithms, bias, and the work of Ruha Benjamin! This international “slow chat” will open up late Sunday, October 25, and will focus on this summer’s 2020 Princeton Online interview with Dr. Benjamin (@ruha9) , titled The New Jim Code.

More information can be found HERE. I plan on participating by using the Twitter hashtag: #unboundeq and #EDCI339

You can start the conversation by participating in their current discussion:

From @UnboundEq For our upcoming keynote at #OpenEd20, we, @bali_maha & @miazamoraphd are curating tweets: What does Equity Unbound mean to you? What do you get from it? Why do you participate/use it? What do you wish we would do? #unboundeq#digped8:08 AM · Oct 25, 2020

@UnboundEq

Finally, Information about Assignment #3

Assignment Instructions:

Pod Equity Project Description (Chart and Video): 

This pod project asks you to critically examine and consider strategies to support digital equity and perspectives in open and distributed learning contexts.  You are a learning designer, and you have been asked to create a “video pitch” for other online instructors. The video must answer the following question:

Using the UDL Framework to guide your final pitch/ argument, how can open and distributed learning break barriers and bridge flexibility, choice, voice and success for learners?
This project has two parts:

1)     the completion of a chart that examines a persona and their current learning struggles and barriers from multiple perspectives (The chart will be given out two weeks before hand).

2)     One “Pitch” that describes your perspectives to your fellow peers. This pitch will be demonstrated using video.

Example of Project from other course: https://proj1pod3.opened.ca/

Each member of your pod should contribute an individual video of 60-90 seconds in length describing a specific part of your pitch, but the entire pitch should be cohesive. The total length of all the videos in your pitch shouldn’t exceed 8 minutes (1-2 minutes for each person’s video). Alternatively, pitches can be submitted in Text form (a 300 word summary) which integrates current research and practice to support learners in open and distributed learning
1 – Chart:
With your pods, create a chart that compares and contrasts open and online learning design to support equity and multiple perspectives in open and online learning contexts.
●      Some questions to consider in your chart (you are welcome to expand upon or add in additional considerations):
o   What is the learning persona of the student? How would you describe this student’s ideal learning context?
o   In your group’s opinion, what are the barriers to learning that are preventing safe, flexible and supportive learning experiences and environments for this student?
o   Are there equity, social justice or cultural considerations that may be preventing safe, flexible and supportive learning experiences and environments for this student?
2 – Pitch:Example of Project from other course: https://proj1pod3.opened.ca/.

(Possible digital tools to support video creation include: FlipGrid and VoiceThread OR make your own video and upload an unlisted video to YouTube)

Using the chart information, you will be creating a “pitch” to support a specific student in your open and online learning classroom. Using UDL guidelines to frame your response. Integrate current academic research (from your course resources and from outside your course) with evidence from current practices to summarize why your pitch would support your student in previously inconceivable ways.

Using the UDL Framework to guide your final pitch/ argument, how can open and distributed learning break barriers and bridge flexibility, choice, voice and success for learners?

You will be able to add in additional resources and links to support your “pitch” in one of the group’s blogs. Please add any additional references should also include any references in APA 7 format.

Additional Support: 

Extra information about the project can be found here written by previous instructor Colin Madland so well that I had to include it :  https://teaching.madland.ca/edci339-july20/home/pod-project-tips

Copy of Assignment #3 Rubric:

	Excellent (4)	Good (3)	Poor (2)	Incomplete (1)
Clear Description of Learning Persona and Student’s Ideal Learning Context	There was outstanding and exemplary evidence to describe the learning persona and Student’s ideal learning context.	There was good evidence to describe the learning persona and Student’s ideal learning context.	There was poor evidence to describe the learning persona and Student’s ideal learning context.	Incomplete
Clear Description of the barriers to learning that are preventing safe, flexible and supportive learning experiences and environments for this student.	There was outstanding and exemplary evidence to describe the barriers to learning that are preventing safe, flexible and supportive learning experiences and environments for this student.	There was good evidence to describe the barriers to learning that are preventing safe, flexible and supportive learning experiences and environments for this student.	There was poor evidence to describe the barriers to learning that are preventing safe, flexible and supportive learning experiences and environments for this student.	Incomplete
Clear Description of the equity, social justice or cultural considerations that may be preventing safe, flexible and supportive learning experiences and environments for this student.	There was outstanding and exemplary evidence to describe the equity, social justice or cultural considerations that may be preventing safe, flexible and supportive learning experiences and environments for this student.	There was good evidence to describe the equity, social justice or cultural considerations that may be preventing safe, flexible and supportive learning experiences and environments for this student.	There was poor evidence to describe the equity, social justice or cultural considerations that may be preventing safe, flexible and supportive learning experiences and environments for this student.	Incomplete
Use of UDL Guidelines to Frame “Pitch for Future student” in online & open learning environments.	Outstanding and exemplary evidence of use of UDL guidelines to support a pitch for a specific future student in a future open & online learning context. The guidelines directly connect to the student. Excellent  consideration of UDL guidelines with APA formatting, links and examples from the course resources and additional resources.	Good evidence of use of UDL guidelines to support a pitch for a specific future student in a future open & online learning context. The guidelines connect to the student. Good consideration of UDL guidelines with APA formatting, links and examples from the course resources and additional resources.	Poor evidence of use of UDL guidelines to support a pitch for a specific future student in a future open & online learning context. The guidelines did not always connect to the student. Some consideration of UDL guidelines with APA formatting, links and examples from the course resources and additional resources.	Incomplete
Pitch (Examples and evidence to support “pitch for student”  in online & open learning environment)	There was outstanding and exemplary evidence to describe why the chosen learning strategies were chosen to support a future student based on examples  and connections from the UDL Guidelines, course resources and additional resources.	There was good evidence to describe why the chosen learning strategies were chosen to support a future student based on examples  and connections from the UDL Guidelines, course resources and additional resources.	There was limited evidence to describe why the chosen learning strategies were chosen to support a future student based on examples  and connections from the UDL Guidelines, course resources and additional resources.	Incomplete
Research & Course Resources Integration	There was outstanding and exemplary evidence to describe the balance of academic literature and practical examples to support learning in open and online learning environments.	There was good evidence to describe the balance of academic literature and practical examples to support learning in open and online learning environments.	There was limited evidence to describe the balance of academic literature and practical examples to support learning in open and online learning environments.	Incomplete

Dr Roberts 🙂

Recordings:

Presentation Recording

Question Recording

I will add the files to “Webinar Recordings” in Brightspaces for those who cannot access google.

Link to Presentation

Click HERE for the link to Josie’s presentation

Here are the student questions that you sent in for Josie Gray:

Social Pod Questions: 

Is it easier to implement UDL with online instruction vs the traditional face to face?

What are the biggest challenges typically faced by instructors when attempting to implement UDL?

What technology is best to use in a k-3 setting to enhance the learning? 

Which learning theories do you think are most important in a k-3 setting and why? 

What effect do you think Virtual reality and Augmented reality have on the future of engagement of Open education (Engagement aspect of UDL)

Article Link from Josie: 

Virtual reality and augmented reality field trips funded by OER grants

Do you think there will be more development for that can allow learners to express themselves more other than current inventions like blogs and social media’s?

How will the pandemic impact the future of learning, even after COVID is over? Will there be more online classes?

Is there a learning theory that you think will benefit online learning during this pandemic? Pick only one.

Weekly Course Reading

This week we will be transitioning from the history of distributed and open learning into the realities of designing for distributed and open learning experiences. Just before Covid, much of the work of online course designers and educators was focused on how to meet the needs of ALL learners, with an emphasis on accessibility. This was a result of Provincial and Federal legislation changes in 2018 that paved the way to ensure that all students had the right to access online courses and content.

In this week’s readings, there is a handbook, some guidelines and a chapter on effective online learning practices. Please read the handbook and UDL guidelines first, using them as a framework to read the chapter on online learning practices. Please take some time to connect with your social pod to compare and contrast how you interconnected this weeks readings.

Review: http://udlguidelines.cast.org/

Inclusive Learning Design Handbook from OCAD University.  https://handbook.floeproject.org/

Crosslin, M. (2018). Effective Practices in Distributed and Open Learning. https://uta.pressbooks.pub/onlinelearning/chapter/chapter-5-effective-practices/

Weekly Activities:

We are excited to have Josie Gray, Advisor, Inclusive Design and OER Collections, BCcampus as our guest speaker on Tuesday, October 20, 5-6pm PST. The Zoom link can be found on our EDCI339 social spaces page.

Josie will help everyone prepare for their group projects by taking about the importance of UDL and Accessibility in online courses. 

Since this guest speaker will be speaking about UDL and commenting on your Group project it is highly recommended that you send at least one member of each “group/social pod” to the webinar AND every group is responsible for 2 questions for the guest (if you can make it or not). 

So – before next Tuesday, can each group: 

1) Send me one email with the names of everyone in your group

2) Send me two questions for Josie (about topics covered in Assignment #3) 

Social Pod Groups (First Names)

Group 2: Harmeet, Andrew, Sam

Group 3: Quinton, Shelby, Nav

Group 4: Missing, Qing, Neil

Group 5: Travis, Stefan, Xiaujou, Jordin, Weiran

I think that these are the correct groups? Please send me one “group” email with the name of everyone in your social pod/ group project so I can ensure that everyone is in a group/ social pod and willing to work together as a group for Assignment 3? If your group is NOT the same as the one listed, please send me an email with your group members names, otherwise I will assume these are the groups?

Blog Post Prompts:

What did you already know about UDL and accessibility to support access to online/open learning for all learners before your readings and webinar this week?

What did you learn about UDL and accessibility to support access to online/open learning for all learners based on your readings and webinar this week?

What questions do you have about UDL and accessibility to support access to online/open learning for all learners from your readings and webinar this week?

How does the topic of UDL or accessibility in online/open learning for all learners connect to your own personal learning experiences OR your final project?

Additional Activities:

1. Follow and Participate in the Course Twitter Hashtag: #EDCI339

2. Preparing for Assignment #3: Pod Equity Project Description (Chart and Video)

This pod project asks you to critically examine and consider strategies to support digital equity and perspectives in open and distributed learning contexts.  You are a learning designer, and you have been asked to create a “video pitch” for other online instructors. The video must answer the following question:
Using the UDL Framework to guide your final pitch/ argument, how can open and distributed learning break barriers and bridge flexibility, choice, voice and success for learners?
This project has two parts:
1)     the completion of a chart that examines a persona and their current learning struggles and barriers from multiple perspectives (The chart will be given out two weeks before hand).
2)     One “Pitch” that describes your perspectives to your fellow peers. This pitch will be demonstrated using video.
Each member of your pod should contribute an individual video of 60-90 seconds in length describing a specific part of your pitch, but the entire pitch should be cohesive. The total length of all the videos in your pitch shouldn’t exceed 8 minutes (1-2 minutes for each person’s video). Alternatively, pitches can be submitted in Text form (a 300 word summary) which integrates current research and practice to support learners in open and distributed learning
1 – Chart:
With your pods, create a chart that compares and contrasts open and online learning design to support equity and multiple perspectives in open and online learning contexts.
●      Some questions to consider in your chart (you are welcome to expand upon or add in additional considerations):
o   What is the learning persona of the student? How would you describe this student’s ideal learning context?
o   In your group’s opinion, what are the barriers to learning that are preventing safe, flexible and supportive learning experiences and environments for this student?
o   Are there equity, social justice or cultural considerations that may be preventing safe, flexible and supportive learning experiences and environments for this student?
2 – Pitch:
Using the chart information, you will be creating a “pitch” to support a specific student in your open and online learning classroom. Using UDL guidelines to frame your response. Integrate current academic research (from your course resources and from outside your course) with evidence from current practices to summarize why your pitch would support your student in previously inconceivable ways.
Using the UDL Framework to guide your final pitch/ argument, how can open and distributed learning break barriers and bridge flexibility, choice, voice and success for learners?
You will be able to add in additional resources and links to support your “pitch” in one of the group’s blogs. Please add any additional references should also include any references in APA 7 format.

Additional Support: 

Extra information about the project can be found here : https://teaching.madland.ca/edci339-july20/home/pod-project-tips

Example of Project from other course: https://proj1pod3.opened.ca/

Photo by James Sutton on Unsplash

Welcome to Week 6!

1. I have given you all some feedback on your blog post #1 of 4 – which makes up Assignment #2. Some things to consider for future blog posts: The blog posts must integrate and connect to course content & resources which includes your weekly reading, the webinar recordings & the interactions with your social pods. For blog posts #2-4, please ensure you have added some kind of evidence that you have connected and interacted with your social pod in order to expand upon your original blog post. Each week, you have been asked to connect with your social pods. Evidence of these “meetings” (whether comments in your blog post or reflections about an informal social pod meeting) NEED to be integrated into your blog reflections. Please ensure you interact and connect with your social pod EVERY week in your own way. For Topic 3, we will be completing group projects with our social pods.
2. Another idea is to split your social pod up into “social partners” each week. That way only one person has to give you feedback and you only give one person feedback. Your social pod can switch up the partners each week ? This should help ensure EVERY person gets and gives feedback?

3. I have included some examples of blog posts from other students in my other courses for you read in your feedback. While it is important to integrate some of the themes and topics from your reading, it is more important to connect the themes and topics to your OWN personal ideas and learning experiences. Consider writing your blog with an informal tone. The integration of digital media, creating infographics or digital artifacts to summarize the key themes from the course, is highly recommended.

4. Connect your blog post to the course learning outcomes and main topics that you are focusing on form the course. I am looking for evidence of your reflective analysis and synthesis of the course content and how you are meeting the course learning outcomes.

Weekly Course Reading

This week we will be transitioning from the history of educational technology and online learning, to the history of open learning. Please ensure that you have listened to the recordings of the #edci339 course webinars. Please consider integrating ideas from the webinars into your blog posts.

In this week’s reading, Jordan, DeVries, Rolfe and Weller summarized a wide selection of open literature. They were able to theme the literature in their presentation and article:

Weller, M. , Jordan, K., DeVries, I & Rolfe, V. (2017). Reclaiming our history: Citation analysis of historical open and distance learning research. Presentation at the ICDE World Conference on Online Learning, 16-19 October, Toronto, Canada.

This week’s reading is a summary of the presentation and original article, with overviews of the major literature for each theme. it is an essential reading for anyone who wants to learn more about open education.

Openness & education: A beginner’s guide

Ironically, you will notice that Dr. Martin Weller is one of the major contributors to this week AND last week’s article. Dr Weller is a globally renowned research in distributed (online) and open learning. He not only influences the readings in this course but has widely contributed to the literature in the history of online and open learning in Higher Education worldwide.

As you read through this week’s reading, please take note of the major topics:

Open education in schools

Distance education and open learning

E-learning and and online education

Open access publishing

Open educational resources

Social Media

Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs)

Open practices

Blog Post Questions:

In you weekly blog post, consider the following some of the following questions. What are the three topics that resonated with you the most? How would you describe the historical and theoretical trends in open and distributed learning? What did you already know, what do you know now based on the course readings and activities, what do you hope to learn? What is one topic you might consider to expand upon for your final project? What are the similarities and differences between online (distributed) learning and open learning?

Supplementary Readings for K-12 Distributed and Open Learning Contexts:

Roberts, V. , Blomgren, C. Ishmael, K. & Graham, L. (2018) Open Educational Practices in K-12 Online and Blended Learning Environments. In R. Ferdig & K.Kennedy (Eds.), Handbook of research on K-12 online and blended learning (pp. 527–544). Pittsburgh, PA: Carnegie Mellon University ETC Press.

Barbour, M & Labonte, R. (2018) An Overview of eLearning Organizations and Practices in Canada. In R. Ferdig & K. Kennedy (Eds.), Handbook of research on K-12 online and blended learning (pp. 600-616). Pittsburgh, PA: Carnegie Mellon University ETC Press.

Thank you to our first two guests in the #EDCI339 webinar series! We appreciate your time, dedication and contribution to global learning!

Webinar 1- Topic 1: Humanizing the Learning Experience with Helen DeWaard

Twitter: @hj_dewaard

Google Slides

Webinar 2 – Topic 2: 25 Years of EdTech with Dr. Martin Weller

Twitter: @mweller

Questions for Students Answered by Dr. Weller:

1. I got the impression from your book that possibly you felt that various service providers got greedy in the early 2000s with contracts tying up learning institutions, and also with teachers/instructors not contributing freely to programs because of copyright of material etc. If the various parties had not been greedy do you think online learning could or would have evolved differently and how?

2. Given the historical amnesia and the reluctance of the academic fraternity to adopt new technological ideas related to ed tech. Do you think that this marks the end of the revolution of ed tech by technology or is there a possibility that a mind blowing or even a life changing technology is on its way and if so what will it be like?

3.Which technological improvement over the years would you consider to be the most vital advancement of ED tech?

4.What is the most useful online tool to use for education?What effects will the pandemic have on the future of ed tech?

5.What are some tried-and-true methods to increase student-participation in online learning environments?

6.which topic is most important for creating a meaningful experience online with young learners?

7.Which online tools do you recommend for education?

Activities this week:

Dr. Martin Wellar’s optional webinar. Tuesday Oct 6, 2020 (9-10 am PST)

Please add your Questions for Dr. Weller (from your Week 4 blog posts) HERE

Zoom link is on the #EDCI339 A02 social spaces page

Also consider following #EDCI339 in Twitter and add any resources, links or other tweets that expands upon the idea of what we are “calling” this type of learning happening in current Higher Education/ K-12 contexts. (Always click on “Latest”). Let’s start sharing resources and ideas to support our understanding of our past and current learning contexts.

Twitter Resources: Click HERE

Hello everyone!

As September winds down, the sun is starting to set earlier and earlier and the leaves start to fall (at least in the Northern Hemisphere) I have noticed I am already more tired than usual. While it is most likely the pandemic, and my inability to be “anxiety free”, think I am beginning to really feel the weight of trying to get through as if it were normal.

I am wondering if you are feeling the same way? Now that your courses have started and things are starting to make more sense, do you feel more overwhelmed that normal? Please send me an email to tell me how you are doing this week as an early course check-in – before the Canadian Thanksgiving Weekend – as I am grateful and truly appreciative of your hard work and perseverance through these first weeks of the course.

I made a video and ppt this week to help guide you through the weekly readings. Please watch the video below and skim through the ppt for more information:

This is the link for the ppt for #EDCI Week 5 (I have included all links to the additional resources).

I included a brief summary of the main learning theories in my video this week for the the Bates (2014) blog post. I turned the Howell Major (2015) article into an pdf and wrote my notes there. I had to upload the google.doc into our Brightspaces content section – as it is copyright and I could only share a partial example due to copyright as it is hidden by a password. I also expand upon the ideas from the case studies in the video – and encourage you to consider the connection between the “History of 25 Years of EdTech” and the present “EdTech Learning Reality”.

The readings this week are the following: Please ensure you complete your blog post, then connect with your social pods! Also consider following #EDCI339 in Twitter and add any resources, links or other tweets that expands upon the idea of what we are “calling” this type of learning happening in current Higher Education contexts.

Howell Major, C. (2015). Teaching Online – A Guide to Theory, Research, and Practice. (pp. 88-105). Retrieved from http://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/uvic/detail.action?docID=3318874 

Note: UVic login is required

Bates, T.(2014). Learning Theories and Online
Learning. [Blog post]. Retrieved from
https://www.tonybates.ca/2014/07/29/learning-theories
-and-online-learning/

I am REALLY looking forward to your first -handed in- reflective blog posts. I will have them back to you by the end of this week.

Reflection post questions to consider for this week:

Focus: Connect the 25 Years of EdTech Reading from LAST week, and the webinar from this week to the reading that consider learning theory and asynchronous learning design.

Considering our current learning reality and context, what kinds of examples of online learning theory have you seen/ experienced as a result of the Covid 19 Crisis?

What kinds of new course design “philosophies” have you experienced, heard about or are curious about?

How has the Pandemic Pedagogical approaches (how we have been learning through the pandemic) been the same and/or different than what we experienced before in online learning?

What do you think will change in Higher Ed (or K-12) as a result of our Covid experiences – using EdTech history and online learning theory to frame your answer?

Please do not hesitate to contact me with any questions or concerns,

Dr. Roberts 🙂