fdol132 unit 4: collaborative learning and communities with dr keith smyth and dr david walker

#FDOL132

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Flexible, Distance and Online Learning an open course using COOL FISh http://fdol.wordpress.com/ Twitter: @openfdol #fdol132

unit 4: collaborative learning and communities with Dr Keith Smyth & Dr David Walker

29 October 2013, 7-8pm (UK time)

FDOL132 Learners

• Registered: 107

• FDOL132 community in G+ until now: 71

• Signed up for PBL groups: 31

• PBL groups: from 4 to 3 (group 2: 6, / group 3: 5 / group 4: 6)

• PBL facilitators: 4

Countries

• UK - 66

• Sweden – 17

• Canada – 4

• Ireland – 2

• also participants from: Hongkong, Argentina, Greenland, Switzerland,

New Zeeland, Slovenia, Belgium, New Zealand, Norway

29 October 2013

FDOL overview

Unit 1 (12 – 25 Sep): Orientation

Unit 2 (26 Sep – 2 Oct): Digital literacies

Unit 3 (3 – 16 Oct): Flexible learning and teaching in the digital age

Unit 4 (17 – 30 Oct): Collaborative learning and communities

Unit 5 (31 Oct – 13 Nov): Supporting learners

Unit 6 (14 – 27 Nov): Open educational practices

Unit 7 (28 Nov – 5 Dec): Sharing

Dr Keith Smyth

Senior Lecturer,

Senior Teaching Fellow

Edinburgh Napier University, UK

Twitter: @smythkrs

Dr David Walker

Senior Learning Technologist

University of Dundee, UK

Twitter: @drjwalker

Collaboration beyond boundaries: enabling cross-

institutional practice

Dr Keith Smyth and Dr David Walker

Webinar for Flexible, Distance and Online Learning #fdol132

Future of HE: Identity and Place

• Collaborate to compete (HEFCE Task Force)

• Review of Higher Education Governance in Scotland (2012): – Collaboration a ‘fundamental principle’ of Scottish HE system – “…interest of Scottish universities...is collectively best served by creating

collaborative partnership arrangements with other higher education institutions, and this should override any perceived competitive advantage for an individual institution.”

• Online provision recognised as potential means to address diverse

learning needs and open education to a wider audience

• Increasing scrutiny of publically funded provision (duplication)

• Content versus experience – added value (Welsh initiatives)

Global Dimensions in Higher Education

• Identified need for CPD provision that offers a pragmatic way to engage academics in the critical exploration of global issues in HE

• Development informed through discussions and

contributions on these issues with international colleagues and partners

http://globaldimensionsinhe.wordpress.com/

About Global Dimensions in HE

• Development focused on ensuring the integrity and relevance of the module within international contexts

• An educational action research approach has allowed the development of the module to take place within a framework of ‘public and reflective inquiry’ (Cousin, 2009)

• Project members, and potential international partners and contributors, have engaged in a range of reflective activities and joint dialogue, and experts from within the global education sector have contributed ‘Global Stories’

http://globaldimensionsinhe.wordpress.com/global-stories/

Pedagogic Principles

• Structuring a collaborative learning experience that moves participants from collective exploration of key issues to applying concepts and ideas to their individual context

• Focus on choice and negotiation of tasks, and learning being driven by both individual and collective needs within the group

• ‘Learners as tutors’ and ‘tutors as learners’

Pause for Thought

• It is proposed by some that fully online learning is more suited to ‘motivated self starters’ who understand themselves as learners. What is your view on this?

• Is collaborative online learning more suited to postgraduate and professional education?

Progress to date

• Development of four units and associated readings, activities, and student guidance designed to support critical engagement with themes of the module

• Creation of digital artefacts (e.g. video interviews, podcasts, interactive case studies, digitised texts)

• Development of project blog where project we are documenting progress and challenges, and papers to share ‘lessons learned’ with the sector including challenges that need to be addressed to offer true collaborative provision (e.g. OER13, Ascilite 2013)

• Development of the module nearing completion, to be piloted as an open collaborative course during 2013/14 before being refined and made available as an OER course.

Practical Challenges

• Joint approval of collaborative provision • Potential need to restructure institutional policy and

regulations to accommodate collaborative open educational course design and delivery (IPR?)

• Alignment and compatibility of institutional curricula models (including credit levels and teaching periods)

• Enrolment and assessment of open access versus institutional participants

• Access to licensed resources • Integration of open platforms of delivery with

institutional educational technologies and administrative systems

• Distribution of developmental/administrative costs

Boundaries

• Language of openness – not shared, but ‘culturally bounded’

• Institutional systems and process are proprietary by design

• Educational model and the institutional educational technology (i.e. The VLE) is fundamentally built upon information architecture - less about meaningful interaction but managing data (where students and course codes are ‘units of data’ in information transactions)

• Economics of openness – reputational (brand enhancement)

Isolation through massification?

• Can truly collaborative open, online learning be enabled within large or massive contexts?

• Can we balance the needs of the individual, and development support for the individual, when learning in open online contexts?

• As we move from small to large to massive open contexts, do we reduce our focus from collaboration to cooperation to communication?

Pause for Thought

• How open can we be?

• How open should we be?

Contact Details

Dr Keith Smyth

Office of the Vice Principal (Academic)

Edinburgh Napier University

k.smyth@napier.ac.uk

Twitter: @smythkrs

Dr David Walker

Library & Learning Centre

University of Dundee

d.j.walker@dundee.ac.uk

Twitter: @drdjwalker

Any questions and/or reflections?

FDOL132 team

Chrissi Nerantzi Academic Developer University of Salford, UK FDOL organiser PBL facilitator

Lars Uhlin Educational Developer Karolinska Institutet, Sweden FDOL organiser PBL facilitator

Maria Kvarnström Educational Developer Karolinska Institutet, Sweden FDOL organiser PBL facilitator

Neil Whitnell Senior Lecturer in Nursing, University of Salford PBL facilitator

#FDOL132

Flexible, Distance and Online Learning an open course using COOL FISh http://fdol.wordpress.com/ Twitter: @openfdol #fdol132

Thank you for joining us today. See you online!

next webinar unit 5: supporting learners

Fred Garnett 7 November, 6.30-7.30pm (UK time)