final layout - smallsize - inspired.oum.edu.myinspired.oum.edu.my/issues/01/pdf/inspired-01.pdf ·...

inspired

Building Communitiesof Inquiry

• Important Dates... p. 2• On Building Communities of Inquiry and Other Enhancements... p. 3

• Entrenching the Culture of Collaborative Inquiry... p. 6

May - Aug 2017 / Issue 01 inspired.oum.edu.my

May - Aug 2017 / Issue 01

inspired

Page 1

about inspired

the team editor’s note

inspired is a not-for-profit OUM e-newsletter on the 3Ps - practice, policy and philosophy - of teaching and learning in and beyond OUM. Published thrice-yearly,

it engages a readership of OUM learners, staff, tutors and the interested public. inspired evolved out of TCX (Tutor Connexxions), a now-discontinued OUM

e-newsletter which saw 45 issues published over almost a decade.

Thank you for reading this inaugural issue of inspired, OUM’s new e-newsletter on the practice, policy and philosophy of teaching and learning in and beyond OUM.

inspired was first mooted earlier this year by YBhg Prof Dato’ Dr Mansor Fadzil, President and Vice-Chancellor of OUM. The idea was to retain the focus on best practices in teaching and learning of TCX (Tutor Connexxions, the now-discontinued e-newsletter out of which inspired emerged) but to widen the intended readership from OUM tutors only (as was the case for TCX) to OUM tutors and learners, as well as the interested public. Like TCX, inspired is published thrice-yearly, once in each of the three semesters OUM has in a year.

Putting together this inaugural issue has been fun and intrinsically rewarding, and I would like to take this opportunity to thank both the inspired team members for their patient contribution and the previous TCX contributors for the dedication they had put into the publication over the years. I would also like to extend my thanks to Razif Masri for the photographic work, and Nazrai Ahmad Zabidi for assisting in obtaining an e-ISSN number for inspired.

On behalf of OUM and the inspired team, we hope you will enjoy inspired and we wish you Selamat Hari Raya!

Dr David CL LimEditor

AdvisorYBhg Prof Dato’ Dr Mansor Fadzil

EditorDr David CL Lim

Editorial MembersDr Zainuriyah Abdul KhatabTengku Amina MuniraMohd Izral Mohd Nazir

Graphic DesignerMegat Malfiz Ismail

Web AdministratorSaiful Amir Ramali

Copyright © Open University Malaysia 2017. All Rights Reserved.

No part of inspired may be reproduced in any form or by any means without the written consent of the Editor of inspired.

This image is reproduced with permission from Kaboompics. The cover image is licensed from Shutterstock.


inspired

Page 2

New Undergraduates:19, 20 & 21 May 2017

Senior Undergraduates(SMP only):

28, 29 & 30 July 2017Postgraduates:

28, 29 & 30 July 2017

Undergraduates:12-24 August 2017

Postgraduates:19-24 August 2017

Existing Undergraduates & all Postgraduates:Online: 10-23 July 2017

Offline: 14,15 & 16 July 2017New Undergraduates:

Online (exercises and activities):6 June - 6 August 2017

Senior Undergraduates:19, 20 & 21 May 2017New Undergraduates:9, 10 & 11 June 2017

Postgraduates:19, 20 & 21 May 2017

Senior Undergraduates:9, 10 & 11 June 2017New Undergraduates:

30 June, 1 & 2 July 2017Postgraduates:

9, 10 & 11 June 2017

Senior Undergraduates:30 June, 1 & 2 July 2017

New Undergraduates:14, 15 & 16 July 2017

Postgraduates:30 June, 1 & 2 July 2017

Senior Undergraduates:30 June, 1 & 2 July 2017

New Undergraduates:14, 15 & 16 July 2017

Postgraduates:30 June, 1 & 2 July 2017

Tuto

rial / Seminar CompulsoryTutorial 1

Tuto

rial / Seminar3 Tuto

rial / Seminar4Tu

torial / Seminar5

Tuto

rial / Seminar2

AssignmentDeadlines

FinalExams

important dates

infographic by Megat Malfiz

feature May - Aug 2017 / Issue 01

inspired

Page 3


No part of inspired may be reproduced in any form or by any means without the written consent of the Chief Editor of inspired.

On Building Communities of Inquiryand Other EnhancementsAn Interview with YBhg Prof Dato’ Dr Mansor Fadzil,

President & Vice-Chancellor, OUM

by Dr David CL Lim ([email protected])

Dr David Lim (DL): In this May 2017 semester, new assessment formats and structures are being introduced to new learners. Please could you clarify what this entails?

YBhg Prof Dato’ Dr Mansor Fadzil (DM): Thank you, Dr David, for the opportunity to share with our learners, academics and stakeholders the various teaching-learning enhancements we are rolling out in stages. In this May 2017 semester, we are piloting a new way of assessing learning. The pilot project involves a set of eighteen courses which new learners will be taking in their very first semester with us. Here’s the premise for the move.

Research done in the context of open and distance learning [ODL] institutions such as OUM shows that learners stand to benefit tremendously from a more pastoral approach to assessment. This is true for all ODL learners but especially for those who have just entered their first semester of study and require scaffolding measures to ease them back into formal education. Here we need to bear in mind that a majority of our ODL learners are working adults for whom the academic culture of learning is new.

One way of providing this pastoral care is through the provision of specially-tuned assessment formats and structures that are likely to produce positive washback

effects. In their first-semester, if not in their first-year, new learners should rightly be given the kind of assessment that helps orientate them to the university culture of knowledge and learning. The assessment employed should also help them to engage more closely with what they have to learn, and to learn such self-regulatory behaviours as seeking help to learn and learning alongside peers.

With this end in mind, it simply would not do to expect learners to complete, for each course they are taking, the conventional written assignment to be submitted late in the semester, topped by a final summative sit-down exam. In this scenario, the formative and collaborative aspect is entirely eclipsed by the summative. Feedback on written assignments comes rather belatedly, near or after the final exams, which is a bit too late to meaningfully help learners learn and improve.

Based on ODL research, as well as feedback from consultation with our learners and academics, we are piloting a new way of assessing learning. In place of the one conventional essay-type assignment to be submitted towards the semester’s end, we are introducing a series of smaller tasks to be completed entirely online, phased at regular intervals over a semester, and given immediate feedback. This will go a long way in helping learners to check and take charge of their learning progress.

photo by Razif Masri

continued on next page...

...continued from previous page

DL: Does this mean that the conventional essay-type assignment is being phased out? Also, what kind of new smaller online tasks are being introduced?

DM: There is still a place for the essay-type assignment, especially for the more advanced courses that require it. Generally, where appropriate, in place of the essay-type assignment, we are introducing, firstly, a series of short-response questions for each topic in the courses involved in the pilot project.

Subject-matter related, these short-response questions are accessible online, enabling learners to respond to them online, too, within a set time-window. Not only will this type of assessment help learners pace their learning consistently, week after week over a semester, it will also provide them with invaluable feedback on whether they are on-track – instantly, at that. Responses to the online questions accrue marks and cumulatively contribute to the learner’s overall grades for the courses involved. Of course, the short-response question type of

assessment may not be suitable for some courses. For these exceptions, exercises in various appropriate forms will be introduced instead. One example of an exercise is the actual speaking test required for a course like OUMH 1303 [English for Oral Communication]. DL: The change from having one big chunk of written assignment due at the end of the semester to micro tasks with instant feedback phased over a semester sounds much more learner-friendly. Aside from short-response questions and exercises as you explained them, what new assessment formats are being introduced?

DM: The other new component under continuous assessment is the problem-based learning activity with follow-up assessment that we are introducing simultaneously in this May semester.

The thing to highlight about this component, firstly, is that it builds on what learners have mastered and gauged via the aforementioned short-response questions. Secondly, it is effectively an exercise in collaborative online learning.

Generally, a problem-based learning activity begins with a content-related ‘problem’ formulated by the academic course leader and posed online by the system administrators of myINSPIRE, OUM’s learning platform. The ‘problem’ serves to trigger learners’ intellectual curiosity, prompting them to share and compare responses and experiences, and to untangle the knots, so to speak, by way of negotiating and co-constructing knowledge. The social and cognitive online activities that take place here are facilitated by the teaching presence of the tutor.

Once the educational transaction of collaborative online learning reaches a sufficiently rich level, learners will proceed to assess their mastery individually. This will be done in online mode through a set of high-level multiple-choice questions [MCQs] revolving around the ‘problem’ previously discussed.

As with the component comprising short-response questions, the online MCQ component flowing from the problem-based activity has an embedded instant-feedback mechanism.



inspired

Page 4

We are introducing a series of smaller tasks to be completed

entirely online, phased at regular intervals over a semester, and

given immediate feedback. This will go a long way in helping

learners to check and take charge of their learning

progress.



inspired

Page 5



DL: Will the MCQs flowing from the problem-based learning activity for the involved courses contribute marks towards the learner’s overall grade?

DM: Yes. Generally, the MCQ component of continuous assessment for the courses in question will contribute thirty percent to the overall grade. The same weighting is given to the previously-mentioned series of short-response questions. What this means is that, structurally, we are now giving the continuous assessment portion a heavier weighting than before. Now it stands at sixty percent, while the final examination will carry forty percent.

DL: I understand that these enhancements you have just shared is part of your larger vision for OUM which borrows something from the educational model of ‘community of inquiry’ conceived by Garrison, Anderson and Archer. Please could you tell us more about that?

DM: The ‘community of inquiry’ model is certainly something we are keenly pursuing at OUM. I have sought the support of our Vice President (Academic), Prof Dr Sha’ari Abd Hamid, to systematise its introduction to our teaching-learning process. We draw from the model for good reasons. It provides a sensible, if not prudently informed way of conceiving successful learning in higher education. And it points to how we could get there. As premise, the model conceives of learning as a cognitive act undertaken by the individual learner. But it does not reduce learning to being dependent entirely on the learner alone. The learner still needs to study the given learning materials on his or her own for a significant number of hours over a semester. Studying on one’s own is certainly essential and rewarding. But it has its limitations.

This is where Garrison et al. come in. They acknowledge the importance of self-study but they also recognise that successful learning is invariably collaborative; it takes place socially, within a ‘community of inquiry’, through sustained communication. This is especially relevant to the ODL setting. Why? Because the social aspect or presence of learning is precisely that which supports learning, otherwise known as ‘cognitive presence’ in the parlance of Garrison et al. Conceptually, ‘cognitive presence’ is “a vital element in critical thinking, a process and outcome” that we want our learners to realise.

The other element in the model which supports cognitive presence is ‘teaching presence’. Contrary to conventional wisdom, teaching presence in the Garrison et al. model refers not simply to the designated teacher but rather to any participant in the community of inquiry. It could be the learner’s peer or peers, as the case may be, although the primary responsibility of teaching rests on the shoulders of the teacher or the tutor in our case. In this scheme of things, the functions of the teacher or tutor are to design and develop learning activities, and to facilitate higher-order learning through the exercise of leadership.

In a nutshell, then, the three core elements or presences – social, teaching and cognitive – need to interact within a community of inquiry in order to yield for the learner a worthwhile educational experience.

DL: The ‘community of inquiry’ model as you’ve explained it is very explicit about the precise roles it assigns to each stakeholder. Aspects of the model seem familiar and appear to me have been long been embedded in our existing teaching-learning process, no?

DM: The Garrison et al. model and our long-standing practice do overlap to a degree. Both conceive of successful learning not as an unpredictable outcome of chance but as a series of planned activities designed to encourage information exchange, focused discussion, peer collaboration, community building, and so on – all with the ultimate aim of promoting higher-order learning.

With the ‘community of inquiry’ model coming to the forefront of our practice, our operational challenge now is to entrench the culture of learning conceived by the model. In the coming semesters, OUM will be conducting extensive briefings and training, as well as disseminating information on the ‘community of inquiry’ approach we are taking. It is crucial that all the stakeholders are kept abreast of these developments which I’ve spoken about and are made fully aware of the roles they ought to play and the support we will be providing to help them achieve the desired educational experience.

DL: Thank you, Dato’, for taking the time to share your thoughts with the readers of inspired.



"The Garrison et al. model and our long-standing practice do overlap

to a degree. Both conceive of successful learning not as an

unpredictable outcome of chance but as a series of planned activities designed to encourage information

exchange, focused discussion, peer collaboration, community

building, and so on – all with the ultimate aim of promoting

higher-order learning."

In any provision of higher education, the responsibilities of the university extend well beyond placing learners within a curricular landscape at the front end and, at the back end, assessing learners to ascertain the degree to which set learning outcomes have been met. A host of other responsibilities come into play; here I want to focus on just one: setting the culture of teaching and learning that mediates both ends. The ‘How’ of LearningThe curricular landscape sets out ‘what’ to learn, while the culture of teaching and learning concentrates on ‘how’ to learn. Both are critical considerations, of course, but the latter is especially close to the heart of any institution that provides higher education in the open, distance and online modes. This is due primarily to the unique learner demographics.

An open university such as OUM caters to a multitude of geographically dispersed learners from a very wide range of backgrounds, almost all of whom juggle work and study simultaneously. This is in contrast to the conventional university where learners, most of whom study full-time, attend face-to-face lectures and tutorials, and interact with their peers and teachers on-campus. By way of facilitating teaching and learning for the former category of learners, OUM had in the early days equally emphasised learner participation in self-directed learning, online discussions on content-related matter, and supplementary face-to-face (F2F) tutorials led by the assigned tutors.

feature May - Aug 2017 / Issue 01

inspired

Page 6





Increasing Emphasis on Online Teaching and LearningAs OUM evolved and fine-tuned its operations based on institutional research and feedback from learners, academics and other stakeholders, it began to de-emphasise F2F tutorials and give increasing emphasis on online teaching and learning.

As our President and Vice-Chancellor, YBhg Prof Dato’ Dr Mansor Fadzil, has explained in several issues of TCX (Tutor Connexxions) and elsewhere, OUM studies have shown that, although our learners generally view F2F tutorials favourably, an overwhelming majority have not been able to leverage on them. For the most part, this is due either to learners being geographically removed from the nearest learning centre, or to their being preoccupied with work and other life commitments, compelling them to forgo the tutorials. Hence, in recent times, instead of getting learners to organise themselves around the fixed times and places of tutorials they are unable to attend anyway, OUM is putting learners back at the heart of their learning experience with online learning. The result is learners being empowered to learn asynchronously alongside their peers and tutors at their own convenience, by their schedule, at their own pace, and from wherever they may be located at any given time.


Entrenching the Culture ofCollaborative Inquiry

by Prof Dr Sha’ari Abd Hamid Vice President (Academic), OUM





inspired

Page 7



Entwining Self-Directed Learning and Collaborative Online LearningWith F2F tutorials reduced in frequency, OUM’s current accent is on self-directed learning and, especially, collaborative online learning. These two main ways through which learning is promoted are intertwined, each feeding into the other in cycles that repeat themselves until the minimum threshold of learning is met.

Within this framework, self-directed learning is an essential staple, as YBhg Dato’ Mansor underscores in the main feature of this issue. At the most basic, learners need to individually cover their learning materials consistently over the semester, progressing day by day, week by week. Learning materials here refer to one or more of the following: course modules, video lectures, online exercises, prescribed references, and so on.

In the OUM context, self-directed learning, while essential, is rarely in itself sufficient to promote the kind of deep learning that typically occurs when it is coupled with collaborative learning with peers and the tutors serving as online interlocutors.

To illustrate this, let’s imagine that that topic to be studied by the learner concerns ‘ideology’ and the phenomenon where people espouse values and perform actions that are arguably detrimental to their best interest.

Studying on his/her own as the first step, the individual learner should be able to grasp, at the very least, some key concepts related to ideology and ideological identification. Reasons may be offered in the prescribed reading material for why people do not always act in conformity with their best interest.

All that is well and good. But how would the learner check his/her understanding? What if the learner gets tangled up in attempting to unravel the knotty problems related to the subject matter? On his/her own, how will the learner reliably test the theories or hypotheses encountered as ‘knowledge’?

Community of InquiryTaking cognisance of the real world, we will find generally that, while an individual may be able to make reasonable strides solitarily, he/she stands to make even greater strides if he/she were to learn collaboratively. As the idiom goes, two or more heads are better than one.

It is on this premise that the online ‘community of inquiry’ model was originally proposed by Garrison, Anderson and Archer in their essay, “Critical Inquiry in a Text-Based Environment” (2000). Garrison et al. argue that an online community of learners practising the culture of collaborative inquiry trumps solitary learning on its own. Together, through sustained online discussions, the learner, his/her peers and the teacher (or tutor, as is the case in OUM) will be able to critically negotiate and co-construct meaning out of what they are studying in a given course.

It bears pointing out, though, that putting a group of learners and the teacher together in an online forum does not in itself constitute the kind of ‘community of inquiry’ envisioned by Garrison et al. The ‘community of inquiry’ may be said to exist only insofar as every member in the group actively shares (instead of hoards) resources, experience and knowledge, and participates in sustained online discussions on the subject-matter at hand at higher cognitive levels.

Articulating this espoused culture of teaching and learning is no doubt easier than realising it. The challenge that open universities invariably face lies in obtaining the buy-in and commitment of all parties – learners and tutors – to come online prepared, having done prior homework, to share and partake in sustained discussions that progress to higher cognitive levels.

The task required to realise the goal is, in short, to entrench the culture of collaborative inquiry. This involves a number of things, including communicating unambiguously and routinely reiterating to learners and tutors the university’s teaching-learning expectations, weaning learners off the culture of passive learning with demonstrations of successful collaborative teaching-learning, guiding learners in engaging with others online in a respectful and supportive manner, providing continuous training to tutors on ways to exert constructive ‘teaching presence’ in their online facilitation of discussions that encourage critical reflection and discourse, and so on.

OUM is currently engaged in this multi-prong phased approach to entrenching the culture of collaborative inquiry, about which I hope to share more in the coming issues of inspired. I warmly invite all of you, learners and teachers of OUM, to join us on this worthwhile journey.



“The challenge that open universities invariably face lies in

obtaining the buy-in and commitment of all parties – learners

and tutors – to come online prepared, having done prior

homework, to share and partake in sustained discussions that progress

to higher cognitive levels.”

final layout - smallsize - inspired.oum.edu.myinspired.oum.edu.my/issues/01/pdf/inspired-01.pdf ·...

Documents