Hi Wayne
can you please clarify what PLA stands for - performance learning accountabilities?....Bron
bronwyn hegarty
Posts made by bronwyn hegarty
Nellie you may be interested in Three-tiered funding model for OER we are researching at the Educational Development Centre at Otago Polytechnic.
I ask the group, is it philosophically impossible to charge any kind of fee in an OERu? In many situations, people do not value 'something for nothing'. The savings made on collaborating to create learning materials could be transferred to keeping the fee for service as low as possible. Somehow the OERu has to pay the bills doesn't it?
You may be interested to hear that I originally facilitated the Facilitating Online course when it was closed and could only take participants who were enrolled. And along with Leigh I pioneered the open version. Initially, facilitation was provided to everyone who participated, enrolled or not, and the spin off was that some very experienced facilitators like yourself supported that facilitation which provided huge benefits to all concerned.
However, Sarah has been told as a result of budgetary constraints that facilitation services can only be provided to people who pay some sort of fee or who are enrolled. Consequently, informal participation has almost totally disappeared. This has occurred because the pedagogy of the course sits upon the provision of facilitation - after all there is little benefit in blogging about your experiences in the course or tweeting etc if no-one is responding or giving you feedback. This illustrates a flaw in a learning system where the emphasis put on content open or not.
We have to be careful to design learning that is experiential, reflective and interactive - content should not be the emphasis. Another course I teach - Flexible learning is designed in this way, and has had a few informal participants over the years but again, the effectiveness of the course rests on the facilitation not the content, so people soon lose interest. I am interested to hear what people think are the solutions and if the three-tiered funding model is an option for OERu.
Bron
- Open access to all learning materials for no fee.
- Access to course facilitation for a limited fee for service
- Assessment and accreditation for a full fee.
I ask the group, is it philosophically impossible to charge any kind of fee in an OERu? In many situations, people do not value 'something for nothing'. The savings made on collaborating to create learning materials could be transferred to keeping the fee for service as low as possible. Somehow the OERu has to pay the bills doesn't it?
You may be interested to hear that I originally facilitated the Facilitating Online course when it was closed and could only take participants who were enrolled. And along with Leigh I pioneered the open version. Initially, facilitation was provided to everyone who participated, enrolled or not, and the spin off was that some very experienced facilitators like yourself supported that facilitation which provided huge benefits to all concerned.
However, Sarah has been told as a result of budgetary constraints that facilitation services can only be provided to people who pay some sort of fee or who are enrolled. Consequently, informal participation has almost totally disappeared. This has occurred because the pedagogy of the course sits upon the provision of facilitation - after all there is little benefit in blogging about your experiences in the course or tweeting etc if no-one is responding or giving you feedback. This illustrates a flaw in a learning system where the emphasis put on content open or not.
We have to be careful to design learning that is experiential, reflective and interactive - content should not be the emphasis. Another course I teach - Flexible learning is designed in this way, and has had a few informal participants over the years but again, the effectiveness of the course rests on the facilitation not the content, so people soon lose interest. I am interested to hear what people think are the solutions and if the three-tiered funding model is an option for OERu.
Bron
Hello all
I am jumping in here for the first time. In response to Joyce and the recognition of prior learning model. I believe this is a workable model where people who have "picked and mixed" put together their evidence. At Otago Polytechnic we have a tried and proven process where facilitators mentor candidates to "Graduate from the School of Life" at Capable New Zealand. Their life experience and mix of courses or training can be assessed for qualifications in business, health, design, hospitality, sport and adventure, trades and technical careers and life sciences. There are several established pathways on offer but the process can be customised and negotiated to suit a candidate's needs.
Candidates prepare evidence for a presentation on which they are assessed. The length of time depends on the skills of the candidate and the complexity of the pathway. This model could be adapted to suit the OER philosophy I am sure. Bron
I am jumping in here for the first time. In response to Joyce and the recognition of prior learning model. I believe this is a workable model where people who have "picked and mixed" put together their evidence. At Otago Polytechnic we have a tried and proven process where facilitators mentor candidates to "Graduate from the School of Life" at Capable New Zealand. Their life experience and mix of courses or training can be assessed for qualifications in business, health, design, hospitality, sport and adventure, trades and technical careers and life sciences. There are several established pathways on offer but the process can be customised and negotiated to suit a candidate's needs.
Candidates prepare evidence for a presentation on which they are assessed. The length of time depends on the skills of the candidate and the complexity of the pathway. This model could be adapted to suit the OER philosophy I am sure. Bron
Dear all
Derek you have written a wonderful guide covering a lot of relevant things about blogs as ePortfolios. I too have got carried away. My experience in using blogs to support students to document their learning has been in two courses I teach. I had a course blog and all students kept an individual blog. We encouraged this so they would have more ownership of their learning and views about flexible learning.
Flexible Learning - Course blog at: http://flexible-learning-course.blogspot.com/
Participants blogs - over two years - listed at: http://flexible-learning-course.blogspot.com/2009/02/participants.html
The second class is Evaluation of eLearning for Best Practice which worked in a similar way. At: http://bestpracticeevaluation.blogspot.com/
Participants developed their evaluation plans on their blogs - it was great because they got a lot of feedback from each other.
Some good points re blogs as eportfolios
Now I am off to work on my eportfolio - blog and wiki.
T
You might like to take a gander at Sarah Stewart's combo as an excellent working example - her blog is a dynamic chronical of reflections and writing about her practice, and the wiki is her eportfolio which is linked to the blog. The wiki is used for storing and recording other material, documents, evidence. She has made them part of a Personal Learning environment (PLE) (see:My PLE 2009) which incorporates a variety of web-based technologies. The PLE or the ePortfolio - is there a difference? I think it all depends on the attitude to the beast and the tools in use - what do you think?
Derek you have written a wonderful guide covering a lot of relevant things about blogs as ePortfolios. I too have got carried away. My experience in using blogs to support students to document their learning has been in two courses I teach. I had a course blog and all students kept an individual blog. We encouraged this so they would have more ownership of their learning and views about flexible learning.
Flexible Learning - Course blog at: http://flexible-learning-course.blogspot.com/
Participants blogs - over two years - listed at: http://flexible-learning-course.blogspot.com/2009/02/participants.html
- These are also a great resource for subsequent classes.
The second class is Evaluation of eLearning for Best Practice which worked in a similar way. At: http://bestpracticeevaluation.blogspot.com/
Participants developed their evaluation plans on their blogs - it was great because they got a lot of feedback from each other.
Some good points re blogs as eportfolios
- Open blogs are great for interaction and peer feedback - get students to subscribe to each others' blogs.
- student work can help build up a bank of examples and course resources - assists the teacher and other students;
- students can continue to access the material - lifelong learning;
- Guide participants about how to write on a blog. Writing effectively for a blog
- there is excellent scope for creativity, e.g., sending images etc. to blog via SMS.
- when combined with a wiki, a variety of content can be displayed.
- not ideal for confidential material - closed online discussion forum is better. Not sure about derek's suggestion re discussion of patients/clients - has to be written very carefully, therefore a lot of the emotional writing which would make a deep reflective post would be lost.
- a lot of support is needed for some students to get set up with one - can cause delays in progressing through the course schedule.
- more difficult to choose what is shared - however, if combined with another platform, e.g., closed wiki, Google docs, the "confidential" material can be kept hidden until appropriate to share.
Now I am off to work on my eportfolio - blog and wiki.
TYou might like to take a gander at Sarah Stewart's combo as an excellent working example - her blog is a dynamic chronical of reflections and writing about her practice, and the wiki is her eportfolio which is linked to the blog. The wiki is used for storing and recording other material, documents, evidence. She has made them part of a Personal Learning environment (PLE) (see:My PLE 2009) which incorporates a variety of web-based technologies. The PLE or the ePortfolio - is there a difference? I think it all depends on the attitude to the beast and the tools in use - what do you think?
Nick
You have hit on a very important issue. For me, likewise, it is important to help students develop a sense of belonging to a community while they are learning. As you say if everyone feels comfortable and has trust in their fellow class mates they will be more able to express their views. This is very difficult to do. Supporting togetherness is definitely a more positive approach to addressing diversity than ranting on about diversity. In a way using strategies for togetherness does address the diversity issue by making it a non-issue - in some ways it ignores it by making it part of everything. (Like elearning.)
Boy this is becoming an exercise in philosophical argument.
But presently it does seem to be more PC to acknowledge diversity.
I agree accessibility and inclusiveness as an approach does highlight difference and so does Universal Design which I have mentioned previously. It is just one perception of how to acknowledge cultural diversity. But how can you do this if you do not make it transparent? Universal Design caters to diversity by creating learning spaces which enable access to anyone with a physical, psychological or learning disability. In that way we are seen to be inclusive as opposed to excluding a segment of the population.
I guess the argument is how to foster strategies for togetherness by making people more aware that difference is in fact normal. And by being sensitive and empathetic human beings we can provide effective and enjoyable learning experiences. I reckon we all need help with some tools to support this. Bron
You have hit on a very important issue. For me, likewise, it is important to help students develop a sense of belonging to a community while they are learning. As you say if everyone feels comfortable and has trust in their fellow class mates they will be more able to express their views. This is very difficult to do. Supporting togetherness is definitely a more positive approach to addressing diversity than ranting on about diversity. In a way using strategies for togetherness does address the diversity issue by making it a non-issue - in some ways it ignores it by making it part of everything. (Like elearning.)
Boy this is becoming an exercise in philosophical argument.
But presently it does seem to be more PC to acknowledge diversity.
I agree accessibility and inclusiveness as an approach does highlight difference and so does Universal Design which I have mentioned previously. It is just one perception of how to acknowledge cultural diversity. But how can you do this if you do not make it transparent? Universal Design caters to diversity by creating learning spaces which enable access to anyone with a physical, psychological or learning disability. In that way we are seen to be inclusive as opposed to excluding a segment of the population.
I guess the argument is how to foster strategies for togetherness by making people more aware that difference is in fact normal. And by being sensitive and empathetic human beings we can provide effective and enjoyable learning experiences. I reckon we all need help with some tools to support this. Bron