Activity 1: Doug's Initial Reflection

Activity 1: Doug's Initial Reflection

by Doug Strable -
Number of replies: 3



New cafe overlooking the park.  (2nd-floor balcony used for reflecting) 


Hello Everyone, 

My students live in a society (Japan) that values conformity and avoiding confrontation. Many students are reluctant to share ideas publically in online discussion forums and prefer to remain silent in face-to-face class discussions. You may have noticed this in your classes with international students, as well. When I see the same students discussing a topic on social media, I see everyone engaged.  I'd like to bring in this enthusiasm from social media into the class discussion by introducing more reflective practices.

I enrolled in this FLO course to enhance my thinking on the importance of integrating reflective activities and understand better what types of activities are working for others that I could use to help my students become more self-learners.

What do I know about metacognition? Some but would like to know more. One of my favourite books is "Engaging Minds, 3rd Edition" by Davis, Sumara, Luce-Kapler so you can see my interest is with student engagement, especially as it applies in online learning.

This FLO course is my fourth FLO experience so I'm not sure when one becomes a FLO Enthusiast.  It is increasingly difficult for me to pass up an opportunity to collaborate with other professionals to reflect on my thinking so I think I qualify! FLO reminds me of the time when I participated in a "world cafe" sharing ideas but done online. 

Everyone has their favourite spot to relax and reflect.  The photos above are of a house that was just converted to a cafe nearby and overlooks the park nearby that I'm going to try out as a new spot where I will stop and reflect on our discussions this week!

I look forward to meeting and sharing ideas with everyone this week.  

In reply to Doug Strable

Re: Activity 1: Doug's Initial Reflection

by Leonne Beebe -

Welcome, Doug,

You make a thought-provoking point about your Japanese students' reluctance to become involved in face-to-face class discussions or share ideas publicly, and yet, they are very involved in using social media. Many students now have their online Learning Management System apps on their phones, and they do their online course work on their phones. It would be interesting to ask students what they think would help transfer that social media enthusiasm to the online learning environment.

Reflecting on your wondering about when one becomes a FLO Enthusiast: it may happen without you really noticing it... until one day you realize how many FLO workshops you have done, and when you get the monthly BC Campus newsletter,  you find yourself looking to see what the next Micro FLO topic is, so you can sign up right away because it will only be five days. You may even begin to feel like you are a member of a "Community of Practice". 

Your new place of reflection looks so peaceful in the middle of Tokyo. 

Out of confusion comes clarity.

Leonne

In reply to Doug Strable

Re: Activity 1: Doug's Initial Reflection

by Viviana Chiorean -

Hi Doug,

It does sound like you have become quite the FLO Enthusiast, welcome to the club! 

I wonder if perhaps having students create a "blog post" instead of one online discussion would generate more engagement. I still often read my blog, which contains numerous short assignments from my Provincial Instructor Diploma Program, on a regular basis. (https://vivianachiorean.wordpress.com)

I look forward to learning with and from you.

Viviana 





In reply to Viviana Chiorean

Re: Activity 1: Doug's Initial Reflection

by Doug Strable -

Hello Viviana,

Creating a blog post is indeed an interesting idea, and I agree it is fun to read the comments years later. Privacy might be a concern. In the past, I've gotten around the privacy issues in the forums by creating groups of one. Everyone had their own forum/blog.  

That might work very nicely, Thank you for sharing this idea.

Doug