Category: edci339

Part1:  Evidence and Reflection on My Learning

 

Outcome 1：Describe the potential of human-centered learning in distributed and open learning contexts

 

From my topic 1, I talked about how EdTech could be psychologically harmful to students and violate personal information(Regan & Jesse, 2019). Students should always protect their personal privacy. And I think both traditional learning and blended learning should focus on the interaction between students and teachers. I raised my question about whether adding levels to the educational structure is beneficial or more distracting to students. Because from students perspective, traditional learning is creative enough and some traditional teaching activities are already distracting.

Here is some interesting comments:

Some people agree with me, some don’t. I don’t think there is a right answer. Everyone has a choice about how they would like to learn.

Outcome 2&3: Explore and engage with current literature on the distributed and open education movement. Critically reflect on and articulate concepts around modality, pedagogy, and access, including distributed and open learning theory, online and open learning history, privacy laws, online learning communities, open research, and open data.

In Topic 2, I clearly understand the difference and history between open and distributed learning.

There are various researches showed that online learning may produce better results than traditional instruction(Major 2015). I think students should have a strong self-awareness because they need to concentrate to complete assignments on time and participate in online classes. Of course, the difficulty of teachers’ teaching has also increased. How to let students accept and develop interest is their most important task. They need to communicate their teaching content clearly.

Here is some interesting comments by my pod members:

I would like to thank Hantan for reminding me that I forgot to finish my reference. After reading her comments, I edited my blog immediately.

At the same time, we created our pod project, a chart for the avatar we created, Jackson, with a very clear open and distributed learning plan.

As I mentioned in Topic1, EdTech helps students make specific learning plans and groups by obtaining students’ information. How much do students know about privacy issues? Meanwhile, when I finished Topic3, I read an article about digital redline. It is mentioned in the article that when Nina searches for information, the browser directly prevents her from accessing the information(Gilliard &Culik, 2016).

Outcome 4: Examine and reflect upon the potential for equitable access for all learners in online and open learning contexts.

In my Topic 3,I shared my own feelings about this courses.I found that in this online course, I communicated even more than the lectures. We have the opportunity to look at the work of our peers and get their opinions and suggestions. I read the article Digital Redlining, Access, and Privacy and understood what is the digital redlining. Although it protects the network environment for students, it also limits the scope of students to explore knowledge.

When I took online courses in China, I couldn’t access many academic materials due to regional restrictions. The VPN provided by Uvic was not very useful, so I finally bought another VPN to use. This invisible wall holds back many students and knowledge.

Outcome 5: Conduct research into and critically reflect upon emerging and future educational technologies

In reading the articles on TOPIC3 and 4, I gradually understand what is the OER. OER is a great resource for open learning, provides students with many cheap and even free materials. OER-enabled pedagogies allow students to continuously supplement their project, so that the content becomes richer and more completed.

I think a sustainability project is very meaningful.

Outcome 6: Practice digital, networked, and open literacies in support of learning about distributed and open learning

In this course, I use the Mattermost and Discord to communicate with my pod number.

 At the beginning of the course, I used the LMS platform: Brightspace to introduce myself and published the topic 1. After that, I used the WordPress to publish the blogs. I also used google doc to complete the pod project.

I am very happy to communicate with my team members and complete the project together. It was a pleasure to spend my last class at UVIC with you. Thank you very much!

Part2:

Link to updated version of the post: https://kweng.opened.ca/topic-1-showcase-blended-learning-and-personal-privacy/

Link to original  version of the post: https://kweng.opened.ca/topic-1-teaching-strategies-change/

The reason why I want to modify Blog1 is that I do not have a good understanding of open learning and disturbed learning at the beginning of the course. I wrote some absolute words. After reading and understanding, I think it is necessary to revise Blog1.

Reference:

Morris, S. M., & Stommel, J. (2018). An urgency of teachers: The work of critical digital pedagogy. Hybrid Pedagogy.

Regan, P.M., Jesse, J. Ethical challenges of edtech, big data and personalized learning: twenty-first century student sorting and tracking. Ethics Inf Technol 21, 167–179 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10676-018-9492-2

Vaughan, N. D., Garrison, D. R., & Cleveland-Innes, M. (2013). Teaching in blended learning environments: Creating and sustaining communities of inquiry. AU Press.

Major, C. H. (2015). Teaching Online – A Guide to Theory, Research, and Practice. Retrieved from http://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/uvic/detail.action?docID=3318874 (pp. 76-108)

Jordan, K. & Weller, M. (2017). Openness and Education: A beginners’ guide. Global OER Graduate Network.

Mays, E. (Ed.). (2017). A guide to making open textbooks with students. Rebus Community.

Gilliard, C., & Culik, H. (2016, May 24). Digital Redlining, Access, and Privacy. Common Sense Education.

Wiley, D. & Hilton, J. (2018). Defining OER-enabled Pedagogy. International Review of Research in Open and Distance Learning, 19(4).

Teaching strategies has significantly changed with the advancement of technology, the recent pandemic isn’t solely the cause of the different possibility of blended learning but rather act as a fuse that alerted the education institutions to emphasis on taking advantage of the online environment.

 

I agree with the concept that blended learning isn’t simply the fusion of face to face learning and online learning (Vaughan, Garrison&Cleveland-lnnes,2013). It is a “thoughtfully “structured system with conceptual order of significant methods to engage the student while delivering quality educational experience for higher education. I think blended learning environments will not only be beneficial to constructivism learning in higher education as the students are likely metacognitive and willing to take some responsibility in their learning. However, I believe face to face teaching should be primarily emphasized and technology could be supplemental to the traditional face to face learning environment. Technology will not always have limitations on community interaction. Many times, students will learn some unfamiliar skills through the Internet. For example, seeing the process of solving a MATH problem on YouTube.

 

Furthermore, as the critical concern of privacy being widely expressed towards using big data in education, I am curious about the contradiction between privacy and student’s honesty. Respecting individual privacy is important however, student’s academic integrity should also be as important because the fairness of the education system should be equal to everyone.

Next, the protection of personal information is also very important. Under the influence of Covid-19, the duration of online learning has become longer and longer. Students often ignore the privacy issue when they log in to social media or some websites to fill in the privacy information. Most students are unaware of how big data operates and how it is used, and in such cases, students are unaware of personal information being exposed. The issue of passwords also needs to be taken seriously. Although Edtech can conduct detailed analysis of students, it still touches on the issue of personal privacy (Regan & Jesse, 2019). Edtech helps students make specific study plans and groups by obtaining their information, but I don’t think this is necessary. I think it affects students’ mental health to some extent.

 

I would like to emphasize on the idea of technology should be used as a supplemental tool to assist teaching but should be considered before used as assessment tools. Integrating technology into the education system could be a double-edged sword. How students interact with each other is a very important part of the blended learning.

 

Also, another concern I would like to discuss is distractions on the internet. In a student perspective, traditional learning is already creative enough and some traditional teaching activities already diverges the attention of the students, will adding more layers to the education structure be beneficial or diverges the attention of students even more? The internet opens the accessibility of education to learners, the blended learning will be most effective in engaging the students.

First, I relearned some concepts of OER, Wiley & Hilton clearly explained how 5Rs (Retain, Reuse, Revise, Remix, Redistribute) in the instructional setting.

OER  is not just a free resource, it can also help teachers and students to further their development.  OER-enabled pedagogies allow students to continuously supplement their project, so that the content becomes richer and more completed. I think it is a good way to for the learning. Students may not learn or experience enough when they do their assignment at the beginning. After they have gained some new knowledge from other courses, they can share the new opinion with the future students. Furthermore, students can participate in organizing, collating and creating OER (Wiley & Hilton, 2018). Open learning is very flexible in this regard. For example, our showcase is an assignment to rearrange and edit after learning more. I think it is really useful and meaningful.

 

Reference

Wiley, D. & Hilton, J. (2018). Defining OER-enabled Pedagogy. International Review of Research in Open and Distance Learning, 19(4).

This course changes my opinion about online class. I used to think online courses are lack of communication because I cannot meet my professors and classmates face to face. Compared with lectures, it is difficult for teachers and students to communicate at the same time and space. However, in this online course, I communicate even more than lectures. We have the opportunities the view our peers’ works and get comments and suggestions from them. In order to ensure the efficiency and quality of teaching and learning, an interactive learning environment is more important for online courses.

Online learning has become a big trend. There are also a lot of online learning materials come out. We should consider whether it is helpful for learners to learn when we create these learning materials. No matter which kind of media was used in the educational area, media richness is an important impact that should be taken into consideration. In the real life, people always prefer seeking the simplest media first, and then choose the more complex or richer media when the simple media cannot fully achieve the learning goals. However, the richness of the media needs to be taken into consideration when choosing a medium or technology. Open learning is difficult to avoid privacy protection, and sometimes the browsers can help us block some websites from interfering. ORE, a great resource for open learning, provides students with many cheap and even free materials.（Mays, E. (Ed.)，2017）

 

Reference:

Mays, E. (Ed.). (2017). A guide to making open textbooks with students. Rebus Community.

Gilliard, C., & Culik, H. (2016, May 24). Digital Redlining, Access, and Privacy. Common Sense Education.

 

Some educators believe that online teaching is lower quality and ineffective, but in fact, various researches showed that online learning may produce better results than traditional instruction(Major 2015).

There are five elements of online learning, which are enrollment, amount, timing, platform and pathway (Major 2015). Online courses all provide platforms that distributed learning and open learning.

No matter what the way of learning, students should have a strong self-awareness. They need to concentrate to complete assignments on time and participate in online classes. How to make the teaching form of the teacher accepted by the students becomes extremely important. Teachers also need to prepare a lot for the class to ensure that students can understand. The content of the online courses needs to be very systematic and detailed for students to learn in depth. The teacher assigns tasks on time, students complete assignments on time, and communicate with the teacher in a timely manner are all important parts of the online learning.

Open learning gives everyone the opportunity to get knowledge and anyone can participate in the class. Although open education’s approaches and technologies are different, they are all learner-centred. Whether the courses are delivered in person or through distributed learning and open learning, effective teaching methods and student effort are the focus.

 

References

Major, C. H. (2015). Teaching Online – A Guide to Theory, Research, and Practice. Retrieved from http://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/uvic/detail.action?docID=3318874 (pp. 76-108)

Jordan, K. & Weller, M. (2017). Openness and Education: A beginners’ guide. Global OER Graduate Network.

Teaching strategies has significantly changed with the advancement of technology, the recent pandemic isn’t solely the cause of the different possibility of blended learning but rather act as a fuse that alerted the education institutions to emphasis on taking advantage of the online environment.

I agree with the concept that blended learning isn’t simply the fusion of face to face learning and online learning, it is a “thoughtfully “structured system with conceptual order of significant methods to engage the student while delivering quality educational experience for higher education. I think blended learning environments will only be beneficial to constructivism learning in higher education as the students are likely metacognitive and willing to take some responsibility in their learning. However, I believe face to face teaching should be primarily emphasized and technology should only be supplemental to the traditional face to face learning environment as technology will always have limitations on community interaction.

Furthermore, as the critical concern of privacy being widely expressed towards using big data in education, I am curious about the contradiction between privacy and student’s honesty. Respecting individual privacy is important however, student’s academic integrity should also be as important because the fairness of the education system should be equal to everyone.

With this contradiction, I would like to emphasize on the idea of technology should only be used as a supplemental tool to assist teaching but should be considered before used as assessment tools. Integrating technology into the education system could be a double-edged sword as having activities online will always be inferior to interactive activities face to face because of the absence of presence of student’s interaction in reality.

Also, another concern I would like to discuss is distractions on the internet. In a student perspective, traditional learning is already creative enough and some traditional teaching activities already diverges the attention of the students, will adding more layers to the education structure be beneficial or diverges the attention of students even more? Although the internet opens up the accessibility of education to learners, I still believe face to face teaching will be most effective in engaging the students.

 

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