Reflections on Topic 1

Hi all,

So the Friday 13 March David White webseminar was great I think.

The hierarchy system (the normal academic system) in which in which students are ranked by an authority (me as teacher) vs the network system in which students collaborate, connect and communicate with each other. While I do feel like it is a bit too radical to swing the pendulum to full connectivism (“It never works” David W emphasized), my course coordinator mind works on different ways to incorporate more of this type of learning in my courses. The quote by DW: “Teachers have historically been the gatekeepers of authentic knowledge, but now have become more of arbiters of connections” (he said something like that anyway), I thought was interesting. In my advanced courses that contain >50 participants, many of them with lots of knowledge on the subject, I can relate to this metaphor ‘arbiter of connections’. It is simply impossible for me as a teacher to trump such a large critical mass of knowledge so my role become more of a leader that set the guidelines and oversee the course (and in the end grades the students). In my basic courses, I am more ‘the gatekeepers of authentic knowledge’ actually, since it is neither possible nor suitable for instance to give the students the role of teaching each other.

Attached is my Visitor – Resident map. Red color marks that I use these items more than the black colored ones.

When it comes to the ONL recommended readings on Topic 1, the guide “Developing digital literacies” and more specifically the section on “Curriculum change” caught my interest. My institution is actually a bit “leading-edge” in the matter of web-based courses compared with other institutions at other universities in our area (sport science). However, despite the fact that we have more than 10 years of experience in teaching on-line courses, it is striking to me that not even basic policy exists as to digital literacy. This is actually quite common, the guide points to the fact that oftentimes consistency is lacking in institutions on several digital practices. This “unawareness” I can relate to at my own institution where, as far as I know, very little on subject of digital literacy is mentioned in any curriculums. So firstly bringing attention to my colleagues who teaches on-line courses at our institution on this matter, and secondly make an effort to develop a strategy and then, thirdly put digital literacies in the curriculum, would be something of interest to me.

References

Developing digital literacies (2014) JISC guide.

White, D. & Le Cornu, A. (2011) Visitors and residents: A new typology for online engagement. First Monday, 16(9).