Thursday, June 26, 2008

Wk 7: April 21-27: Planning for flexible teaching and learning - start work on plan and presentations

Whilst i have had lots of thinking around the focus of my project/presentation and an englightening discussion with Bronwyn several weeks ago ( thanks Bronwyn!!) i have finally started to shape and refine my thinking a bit more over the last week. (possibly inspired by all of the fantastic presentations i watched!!) My first point of clarrity came by discussing my thinking with my colleague who co teaches the course which i intend to 'revamp' ie: contemporary issues in maori health. We discussed the limitations of our current format, ie: lectures and workshhops - neither of these have an attendance requirement. Further comment came from colleagues who teach in other second year courses. All have noticed attendance dropping over the last two years particularly in the face to face tutorial setting. Whilst some may argue that this is not an issue i would argue that in a profession such as nursing which requires practitioners to be able to engaged in dialogue with clients, famililes and other health professionals one of the essential skills studnets require is that of being able to discuss , debate , critique and integrate theory and clinical experiences. Moreover, the key learning outcome of alll of the courses in the Bachelor of Nursing programme is to develop Critical thinkers! How do we assist students to achieve this outcome? How this can be achieved in a forum other than face to face discussion is the challenge that i would like to explore in my DFLP project.

Tuesday, June 24, 2008

Wk 6: April 14-20: Examples of Flexible Learning - open, networked, RPL

Write to your blog a response to the following: Do you think open and networked education threatens or enhances formal education generally? Try to use evidence or references to back your statements.

I enjoyed reading and being distracted by the links in the readings this week. My thinking was totally changed from a position of thinking that open networked education would mean the end of intellectual property rights for lectures/institutions. However, the debate around the value of the Open and network education is one which i see as being much about some institutions wanting to maintain their control over the knowledge /expertise and some times kudos that goes with their institution having what we might say are 'bums on seats'. Open Yale which is focused around ' providing free and open access to a selection of introductory courses taught by distinguished teachers and scholars at Yale University. The aim of the project is to expand access to educational materials for all who wish to learn." The only catch is that you receive no course credits /results. Now that is food for thought! Some could see this as being simply a marketing ploy to get more students. Conversely it could be seen to give studnets the flexibility to 'try before you buy' option.Equally thought provoking was the link to the Australian based Journal of Instruction Science and Technology (eJist) in which discussion around Open education resouce network further expanded my thinking as to the need to revisit the models and frameworks of teaching that we historically been providing. The establishment of such movement as the OpenCourseWare Consortium got me thinking also about how and if we are utilising anything like this her in NZ. I noted we are not on list of the 200 institutions around the world that contribute to it.Matthias Mehldau's comments around how the individual /institution or company could control /monitor the use of the knoweldge that they post into cyberspace by means of open access networks clearly identifed that the locus of control is with the author. They can choose how much, how often and when it information is access (whilst making money even!!)

Monday, June 23, 2008

Wk 6: April 14-20: Examples of Flexible Learning - open, networked, RPL

Write to your blog a response to the following: Do you think open and networked education threatens or enhances formal education generally? Try to use evidence or references to back your statements.

I enjoyed reading and being distracted by the links in the readings this week. My thinking was totally changed from a position of thinking that open networked education would mean the end of intellectual property rights for lectures/institutions. However, the debate around the value of the Open and network education is one which i see as being much about some institutions wanting to maintain their control over the knowledge /expertise and some times kudos that goes with their institution having what we might say are 'bums on seats'. Open Yale which is focused around ' providing free and open access to a selection of introductory courses taught by distinguished teachers and scholars at Yale University. The aim of the project is to expand access to educational materials for all who wish to learn." The only catch is that you receive no course credits /results. Now that is food for thought! Some could see this as being simply a marketing ploy to get more students. Conversely it could be seen to give studnets the flexibility to 'try before you buy' option.Equally thought provoking was the link to the Australian based Journal of Instruction Science and Technology (eJist) in which discussion around Open education resouce network further expanded my thinking as to the need to revisit the models and frameworks of teaching that we historically been providing. The establishment of such movement as the OpenCourseWare Consortium got me thinking also about how and if we are utilising anything like this her in NZ. I noted we are not on list of the 200 institutions around the world that contribute to it.Matthias Mehldau's comments around how the individual /institution or company could control /monitor the use of the knoweldge that they post into cyberspace by means of open access networks clearly identifed that the locus of control is with the author. They can choose how much, how often and when it information is access (whilst making money even!!)

Monday, June 16, 2008

Week 5: Examples of Flexible Learning - part time, block, blended


Your own impressions of an historical context for flexible learning generally
My own thinking around the historical context of flexible learning has lead me down a few winding paths which i hope i can discuss in this blog without being too 'confusing'. As per my first blog i strongly believe that flexible learning is not a new concept. And whilst i have got my head around the fact that flexi learning isn't online learning! and i did find the Ellis et al article 2006 around teachers concepts of blended learning enlightening to say the least. I found myself selecting which category i aligned with and i clearly identified with the Category A group in the teachers perception of student learning. ie: that Blended learning critically investigates changes in the world around us. "Application of learning experiences to real world situations are exemplified, often at unexpected places or times. Relating learning to the daily lives of students and future professional aspirations is a feature of this category of conception." this is totally congruent with my area of teaching in that i am wanting to assist students to the links between theory knowledge and their own clinical nursing experiences. It appears to be the most student focused perspective which again had a sythesis for me.
In the section on teachers perspective on teaching i saw congruence withCategory B: Blended teaching as developing student understanding through aligning media to intended learning outcomes. I have already given some thought to the focus of my intended project and to me it is essential that i consider what type of technology i utilise in my online content and how this will impact on learner engagement.
Comment on how you think flexible learning exists today and where you see it is heading in the future.
My thinking is that there is no going back...in many instances the development of of new multimedia technologies and the educational/ academic institutions worldwide trend to attract more 'learners' had made it a requirement for most teachers/ educators to begin to think about how they can reach and teach more effectively. The consideration of the learning needs of the Baby boomers, Gen X and Gen Y learners needs to be accounted for. Check out some interesting research that i found whilst surfing this topic on Engaging Millenials and Answering Baby Boomers Tales from a Gen X Technology researcher

Better keep typing ...a few more weeks commenting to catchup with.