Discussions started by Sylvia Currie

I hope this doesn't seem too selfish of me! I just posted this on my blog and it occured to me that the perfect crowd to be asking this question to is right here in this SCoPE seminar. So I'm copying it over. Feel free to respond on my blog or here or privately (scurrie@bccampus.ca) or, of course, not at all :-)


I'm in one of those situations where I'm preparing a talk, I think I know what I'm trying to get at, but I'm not sure if it's something I'll be able to articulate.

The presentation is about learning communities and networks, and the audience is primarily higher education faculty who are seeking to make their online courses and their own professional learning more relevant and engaging. Then I thought d'oh, why not get the question out there to my own communities and networks?

So, I'm curious, what do you think about when you read this phrase:

Learning where it happens

(emphasis anywhere, punctuation optional)

Learning to fly
"Learning to Fly" by Liz




Welcome to Footprints of Emergence.

About this seminar

This seminar is an exploration and discussion of how learning does (or does not) take place in complex learning environments, such as open online courses, and how this interacts with learning design.

To do this we will share our past and current research into emergent learning, which has been published in two papers. In particular, we will explain and discuss the framework we have developed for ‘complex’ learning environments – Footprints of Emergence.  

This framework enables learners and learning designers to articulate, map out, and reflect on critical aspects of learning in open, emergent learning events, both individually and collaboratively and results in visualisations of the learning experience – see the Footprints of Emergence open wiki for examples of learner experience footprints.

There are two webinars scheduled as part of this 2-week seminar discussion. They will take place in the SCoPE Blackboard Collaborate Room: http://urls.bccampus.ca/scopeevents

  1. Tuesday, 19 November 18:00 GMT 

    We will introduce ourselves and discuss what emergent learning is and the progress of our research. This will be followed by asynchronous discussion in the forum, where we can discuss further questions and any issues arising from the webinar.

  2. Tuesday, 26 November 18:00 GMT 

    This webinar will focus on drawing footprints of emergence and a discussion of the critical factors, which we use to describe and map out the learning experience. We will encourage all participants to draw their own footprints. In the following asynchronous discussion forum, we hope that you will share your footprints, so that we can critically reflect on the approach, and methodology, in order to improve it and to continue to make it accessible, available and relevant to the broader research and design community.

About our facilitators

Roy Williams is an academic, designer, facilitator and researcher, responsible for e-assessment, e-learning, and research in the Dept. of Mathematics and the School of Computing at the University of Portsmouth, UK, and an Honorary Research Fellow at the University of Kwa-Zulu Natal (South Africa). More about Roy... 

Jenny Mackness is an independent education consultant and researcher, based in the UK, who specialises in designing, authoring and facilitating online learning programmes for national and international markets, and researching open online learning. She has participated in many MOOCs and worked with a team to design and run one of the UK’s first MOOCs (FSLT12). More about Jenny...

Simon Gumtau Simone is a visual communication designer specialising in interactive media design, and an academic lecturer and researcher. More about Simone...

Participating in SCoPE Seminars

SCoPE seminars are free and open to the public, and registration is not required. You are welcome to come and go according to your schedule and interests. To contribute you will need to create an account on the SCoPE site -- a quick process. Are you new to SCoPE or wondering how to manage your participation? Check this resource.

If you have any questions about participating in SCoPE don't hesitate to ask here in the forum, or get in touch with me directly:

Sylvia Currie
scurrie@bccampus.ca 
skype:webbedfeat 
+1 250-318-2907

(edited post 19 Nov, 2013 to correct date of second webinar sjc)

Reminder! The first Footprints of Emergence webinar takes place tomorrow!

WhenTuesday, 19 November 18:00 GMT, 10:00 PST

WhereSCoPE Blackboard Collaborate Room: http://urls.bccampus.ca/scopeevents

What: We will discuss what emergent learning is and the progress of our research. This will be followed by asynchronous discussion in the forum, where we can discuss further questions and any issues arising from the webinar.

How to prepare:

  • If you are new to Blackboard Collaborate check that your equipment is ready ahead of the session.
  • Plan to join a few minutes prior to the start of the event.
  • Enter your full name when prompted.

Note: You may enter the Blackboard Collaborate room at any time to ensure there are no technical issues. 

This is an open invitation so please spread the word! 

Thank you everyone for your amazing contributions, questions, and peer feedback in this MicroCourse! And a round of applause for Beth Cougler Blom and Leva Lee for your great course design and facilitation. I predict this one will be repeated in the future. :) 

This course will remain available to you so feel free to come back to revisit anytime. Plus there's more! You're also invited to an Open Fishbowl on Friday, June 14th at 11:00am (PT). This will be an opportunity to participate in the course debrief while experiencing yet another Liberating Structure and in an online synchronous environment. Here's a direct link to the Collaborate ULTRA room. We hope you'll join in! 

MicroCourses will start up again after the summer break. Meanwhile, registration is open for these FLO courses:

  • FLO Design  - September 23 - October 18, facilitated by Karen Brooke and TBA
  • FLO Fundamentals - October 28 - November 22, facilitators TBA

Also, BCcampus is hosting 2 face-to-face Liberating Structures workshops for you to consider:

Check the BCcampus events calendar and subscribe to the newsletter to stay in the loop.

Before you leave...

If you haven't done so, please let us know about your MicroCourse experiences by completing the evaluation (sent out via email).

Until next time!

Sylvia 

Thanks for signing up for the 'Design with Liberating Structures' FLO MicroCourse! 

Your facilitators, Beth Cougler Blom and Leva Lee, will be rolling out the welcome mat bright and early Monday morning (PT).

Meanwhile, if you're feeling ambitious...

  • Poke around the course to see what's ahead.
  • Get started on your introductory post or ask any burning questions in the Open Forum.

We aim to keep these MicroCourses trim and practical. The anticipated time commitment is 5 hours over 5 days.  However, we recognize that this might be your first online course, or first time using Moodle. If you're spending too much time getting oriented, send a me quick email  (scurrie@bccampus.ca). I'm happy to help! 

And we're off!