Hi Scott -
> Comparing mine to Lisa's and Japp's prints reveals as much about the polarized, all-or-nothing way I think
For me, this is a great sentence, because it is evidence that the footprints are not just a course evaluation tool; they support reflection and surface tacit knowledge and understanding.
> emergence is actually a new understanding that is amazingly or unexpectedly complete
And - yes - this is exactly how I see it.
Thanks for your comments.
Hi Lisa, Jaap and Scott
Thought you might like to see your footprints all together.
Many thanks for these explanatory points Jaap. I think inevitably indviduals will be working on slighty different scales - and I would suspect that this is the case in any form of reflection/evaluation exercise. What I like about the footprints is that they show so clearly how unique the learner experience is - and therefore how challenging it is to draw any generalisations about it at all!
However, you have pointed to the influence of prior experience on the drawing of footprints. I do agree with you that past experience, for example of a MOOC, is likely to affect how the factors are interpreted. I myself have found that I tend to judge factors such as autonomy, diversity and so on in relation to my experience of CCK08 - so I am not challenged by these as much as maybe someone who is more used to working in prescribed learning environments might be. That is why the descriptions that go with the footprints are also very important.
I completely agree though that a prescribed course does not mean a low-value course and I very much like how you have described this - A course will be emergent if student and course do have a fit together. Fitness for purpose is something we have always thought important, but perhaps we should emphasise more.
Scott - thanks so much for sharing your footprint. It is fascinating to see this - and now that we have received 3 POTCert footprints I am quite tempted to do one of my own from my perspective of contributing to the delivery and moderation of one of the weeks in the 2012 course.
I am really interested in the way you have given some factors two scores. This is not the first time this has happened. As you have found out - it is only possible to draw a footprint for a snapshot in time, because the learning experience is constantly dynamic and changing. That is why it is helpful to draw footprints at different stages in a course to see how your perceptions change over time. I picked up this wonderful Prezi on Twitter over the weekend which describes a PhD student's rollercoaster ride. She is describing the changes over 3 years - but my experience is that these ups and downs happen through any course, however short.
You have said that you found the template 'a pain'. My sympathies - I did too to begin with. It took me a long time to get used to it - and in fact the way I work now is to take an existing footprint and use that as a base - moving the points to where I need them to be for the new footprint. And Yes - we haven't yet sorted out how to get this to work on mobile devices or even on all versions of Word - as we found out in a face-to-face workshop we ran. So we still have a lot to do in that respect.
And finally you have said The challenge I found with the footprint was the implied valuing or judgement I feel from all rating systems. Again - I completely understand this having struggled with it myself. For me drawing the footprints forces me to be committed to how I position the points at that time. The evidence of what I think at that time is made very concrete and visible by the drawing process and outcome - so that puts a greater owness on me to make sure that I am being as honest and fair as I am able. An interesting if somewhat uncomfortable challenge!
Just to let everyone know that officially we are past our allotted time for this event - but discussion has been so animated and is still ongoing - so we are going to continue here until the end of this week - Friday 6th December - after which we will move to the space for our special interest group. See http://scope.bccampus.ca/course/view.php?id=380
Anyone who would like to continue these discussions is welcome to join us there and/or contribute to our open wiki Footprints of Emergence
So there is still time to add your thoughts to these discussion threads - or add a footprint.
Jenny, Roy and Simone