Activity 2: looking at examples

Activity 2: looking at examples

by Neil Davison -
Number of replies: 9

I have been perusing the applications as suggested and searching for something applicable to a one off, self-paced course i.e. no coming back the following class.

exercise 7 (Metacognitive note-taking skills) in the Ten Metacognitive Teaching Strategies looks to be a good one and got me thinking that it might be a good idea to have a discussion forum post included in the online course structure that enabled others (work colleagues) to interact at certain points (beginning, middle, and end) relating to the metacognitive task of reflection.

I like the idea of putting down what is already known, what I want to learn, and then what I did learn too. This is another way of expressing it.

The course subject is on fire safety and the fire safety plan so it could be a bit dry if not dealt with well.



In reply to Neil Davison

Re: Activity 2: looking at examples

by Leonne Beebe -

Neil,

You do present an interesting metacognitive challenge; your Fire Safety and the Fire Safety Plan course sounds like the one-time, self-paced, content-based course.  This sounds similar to an online course I had to take from one of the provincial ministries on client information privacy policy.  It took about three hours to complete the online "read and answer" course, after which I received a certificate that I needed to give to my employer. There was no contact with anyone during or after the course. Also similar was the Canadian Language Benchmark Boot Camp Certificate I needed to give for credit in my Teaching English as a Second Language certificate courses.  You work through the course material at your own pace; after reading each section, you write the test until you get the required percentage to pass; then, you can move on to the next section.  At the end, you get a certificate. At no time, do you need or have access to another person. There is an email address to contact someone should you have any problems.

In your course, do you have a group of people taking this self-paced course at the same time?  If yes, then your suggestion of having a group discussion forum where they could reflect and discuss what they already know based on their work experience and why they are taking the course before they start the course would help bring your individual workers together into a learning cohort. After starting the course, as you suggest, you could have an open discussion forum during the course that would allow for on-going course-content discussion among the participants further developing the learning cohort. When they have finished the course, you could have a "Looking back - Looking forward" discussion forum where participants could discuss how they plan to apply what they learned in the course to their work-place. 

I look forward to learning from the feedback and comments you receive from the other participants as your situation certainly introduces an interesting metacognitive challenge.

Out of confusion comes clarity.

Leonne

 


In reply to Leonne Beebe

Re: Activity 2: looking at examples

by Neil Davison -

Yes Leonne, much like you suggest, the course will have opportunity to share - one of the exercises included is designed to prompt discussion around the work area (and evacuation route) and determine who is around and to look out for each other. 

I felt like there might be benefit in applying a time limit on the course which might make the forum a busier place to reflect.

I will put something together today to formalize this thought process and help everyone understand the reasoning.  


In reply to Neil Davison

Re: Activity 2: looking at examples

by Beth Cougler Blom -

Hi Neil,

I like the idea of seeing if you can time-limit the self-paced course to encourage learners to head into the forums over the same duration of time.

If this is not possible, two other ideas are:

  • Encourage the learner to start a reflective journal or "notes area" (if you think the word journal might elicit some groans!) in which they should write reflections in response to those beginning, middle and end prompts
  • Invite the learner (or require them) to find someone outside the course to go out and ask questions of and share information with at key points in the course (e.g., beginning, middle and end) that can serve as a check and balance for them to make sure they actually do the work. This could be a colleague or a supervisor or a volunteer if you have them in that environment?
Your online course could also include icons (such as this set) at these various points, e.g, "Pause and Reflect" icons, which indicate something the learner should do in this vein, metacognitively.

In reply to Beth Cougler Blom

Re: Activity 2: looking at examples

by Neil Davison -

Hi Beth

I think it's important for me to get some feedback through the notes too so I didn't want them to be too onerous for fear of not getting any at all!

Nice touch with the icons too.

Thnx

Neil



In reply to Neil Davison

Re: Activity 2: looking at examples

by Janna van Kessel -

Hi Neil,

I too have been looking at strategies and activities for online course delivery as a few of us examine a computer skills course that we have been asked to redesign as a self-paced modular course within our Adult Basic Education program.

In addition to the note-taking skills and Leonne's notes about forum discussions, I wonder if a forum (along with an instructor/facilitator's concept/problem-solving video) to 'talk out/map out' potential areas of confusion using a problem-solving approach could help with the development of a fire safety plan? Along with showing the 'bumps' along the way in problem, solving, I also appreciated reminders about questioning and alignment of formative and summative assessments (from practice to assignment-exam level challenges) in "Know Cubed."

I look forward to hearing more about your course at New Caledonia!

cheers, Janna


In reply to Janna van Kessel

Re: Activity 2: looking at examples

by Derek Murray -

My preference as an instructor is to try to get learners interacting with each other as much as possible as a kind of accountability, which I realize is not always realistic. It's odd then that my preference as a learner is to work independently! (for the most part)

For your activity, I like Beth's idea about a reflective "journal" or whatever you want to call it. As an example, I worked on building an Engineering course where learners had to reflect on their perspective on a particular ethical principle, then they read content & answered questions, which was followed by a case study and finally a quiz. After the quiz they again reflected on the same principle they had though about before the experience. They were asked whether their perspective changed, if so, why, and what about the content and case study led to that change in thinking. There was also a discussion forum, but I don't think it was integral necessarily.

In reply to Derek Murray

Re: Activity 2: looking at examples

by Neil Davison -

Hi Derek 

Your mentioning of discussion forums not being integral has reminded me that forums become abandoned without feedback and input from others, including instructors or tutors. 

It is possible that eventually this would be a course that only new hires would be taking and that could cause a problem with collegiality. The pilot program could work with a forum as it would be mass registration.

Thanks

Neil


In reply to Derek Murray

Re: Activity 2: looking at examples

by Neil Davison -

Hi again

Derek, yourself and Beth I think both have it nailed - get them to talk to each other. The course delivery is online but everyone works (at this point) in the same campus. There's no reason why they can't go out and speak with each other.

Regarding the timing, perhaps one early bird can spark another to complete the course while in conversation.

I can always ask for feedback on the course after the fact, the learner metacognitive work should be the primary concern during the course.


Neil

In reply to Neil Davison

Re: Activity 2: looking at examples

by Sylvia Riessner -

Lots of great suggestions from others already - especially the ideas to have people go out and speak to others (and report back in some way). Getting people to reflect and share online can be difficult - especially if they are not interacting with an instructor or having to meet timelines.

I know that I've found it difficult to get learners to slow down and share reflections in online courses, if it doesn't contribute value that they can easily recognize.

Would there be a way to offer some small reward (recognition from instructor, extra points, a goofy badge) for sharing their reflections? Or offer a series of thinking prompts (brief "stems") that they complete as a group so they can look at and think about the perspectives of other participants?

Good luck!