Online Learning is really new to me. I mean really, REALLY new. I am not tech-savvy, or honestly all that bright. Now hear me out with me being mean to myself. I am smart, quite smart, but bright is a whole other thing. I know stuff, but to understand stuff is HARD. Online Learning to me is like a baby trying to put the cube in the star space of a toy. it will take me a while, but I will eventually come to terms and get it. It is good about online learning, it is bad, and then there are moments where I have been thinking to myself “What the hell is going on? am I doing it right? am I thinking the right way?”. This post is going to explain my understandings and challenges about Topic 1 and how I reflect on the material.
The first part of topic one was pretty explanatory…PRIVACY!!! SAFETY!!! FIPPA!. That’s great, I learned how to protect myself and open a blog. Safety and privacy is much like the bible for online learning. Protection of information is everything due to the nasty people out there. It really is a serious concern where parents are paranoid about their child using the web and also the scare that someone can access and find their information, use it to possibly kidnap them, or unfortunately, jeopardize the whole school.
An example of privacy issues can be found in the Regan and Jesse (2019) article we read, where “users could then track individual students’ progress through various educational stages, and teachers and others could intervene or ‘personalize’ the learning experiences of individual students as they either struggled with or needed more challenge from the curriculum” (pp.168-169). This was from the InBloom case where that company would store multiple schools’ information onto the Cloud where hackers could find a way in and expose or even do damage to the software. That is such a big risk especially when there is information about minors, and we all know how creepy people can get, so ill just leave it at that.
I will be answering the questions from this week for the other part of Topic 1:
What did you know about CoI and social presence in online/open learning before this week? What did you learn after reviewing your weekly readings this week?
I knew nothing about this term/theory. I knew to assume that it was going to be a method used in online learning, but I had no knowledge of CoI before. After reading the article I realized that it was just a new way to define online learning. the Foundations of it are what we use in this course.
What were your initial thoughts about the CoI framework? How does considering the CoI framework when designing online and open courses benefit students?
I am a little critical about this framework, due to that CoI really is just a big fancy term and method that perfectly describes what online learning should be. Supported facilitation of academic and self-researching discussions about curated topics. It is basically what online learning is about, it is detached from in-class, face-to-face learning where it is all about reflection, interpretation, and cognitive responses to what you individually learn about said topic. Aside from that, I do think that this type of facilitation is more effective and engaging, my only opposition is that I personally prefer face-to-face because I feel more of a connection when I can physically interact with classmates.
Directed Facilitation according to Barnes (2016),
“likely made students feel higher levels of learning community… and included the feeling that the instructor is drawing in participants, creating an accepting climate for learning, keeping students on track, diagnosing misperceptions, and finding consensus in areas of disagreement” (para.22).
All of these aspects are what keep the learners engaged and motivated in discourse and their reflections on the material.
Do you have any online and open learning experiences to share where you noticed social presence? How does considering social presence when designing online and open courses benefit students? what are some of the challenges?
I have not had any prior experience with Online learning but open learning possibly. I was in two IED courses and they both were open learning, but with Indigenous methods. Our instructor used directed facilitation as the primary instruction of the course which made it really more engaging in group discussion and personal reflections which made more sense and relatable. Social presence is “especially vital to online education where there is marked distance between instructors and students” (Barnes. 2016. para. 25). There is this massive distance and isolation stemming from online learning and having a great sense of social presence helps minimize that space and also helps keep the students more engaged and connected to this idea of Community of Inquiry, it is what it is based on. I personally am bad at this right now. This is all so new to me so having an online social presence seems non-existent even though that is how the group discussions happen. That is a big challenge, the feeling of isolation for me is a big one. I am not great with technology so I tend to stay within my own space and these courses push me to get out of my comfort zone and make a social presence. Barnes does even say that a strong community is vital in higher levels of education, due to the fact of feeling isolated (2016. para 28). There is also another tricky part to it, Interaction vs Presence. This is my challenge right now that I am stuck in, I am interacting with the group discussions but after reading the article I realize I am not making that big of a social presence. Barnes states that Interaction and presence are not synonymous, it is all about the motivation and skill of the student, which will signify if they are interacting or crating a social presence (para. 27). This is where I am at or will be once I get to organizing my thought about this CoI method.
It is a work in progress for me, and I know I have to step out of my comfort zone for this, and also improve on my tech skills in order to be present rather than interacting. I am really curious to see what my growth will be like throughout the course and see the final outcome of it at the end. As for right now, I am in the not so sure part and reaching for those Communicative and social presences.
References:
Barnes, C.L. (2016). “Where’s the Teacher? Defining the Role of Instructor Presence in Social Presence and Cognition”. Online Education, Humanizing Online Teaching and Learning. Retrieved from https://humanmooc.pressbooks.com/chapter/wheres-the-teacher-defining-the-role-of-instructor-presence-in-social-presence-and-cognition-in-online-education/
Regan P. & Jesse, J. (2019). “Ethical Challenges of EdTech, Big Data and Personalized Learning: Twenty-First Century Student Sorting and Tracking”. Ethics and Information Technology, 21(3), pp. 167-179. DOI: 10.1007/s10676-0189492-2. Retrieved From https://link.springer.com/article10.1007/s10676-0189492-2
I think the tone of your blog is very interesting. I can’t help but read it again and again. Your analogy is also very interesting “Online Learning to me is like a baby trying to put the cube in the star space of a toy.” I agree with this , and online learning is also very strange to me. It took me a long time to adapt to this way of learning. After all, face-to-face learning has been going on for many years, and it is normal not to get used to it. Fortunately, the epidemic is coming to an end.
Thank you! I think it will take me a long while to figure it out. I certainly am a very stubborn person and if you include my Indigenous pedagogies (which contradict these theories) it is one bumpy ride for me. Face- to face is the utmost default for Indigenous peoples. We like to have conversations,. discussions etc. with people. that connection is how we teach, learn and educate ourselves and others. It can be a very complex thing inside of a basic theory. I base all of my studies on these theories, which does make it hard for me to learn in this course as it is all about online theories. I definitely have my work cut out for me.