The first thing that strikes me about “Teaching Online” is that the first excerpt we are tasked with reading comes from a community college in San Diego that I grew up fifteen minutes away from. I had never expected to see Mira Costa in any of my UVic studies and I am pleasantly surprised! It is interesting to read each educator’s approach to online teaching in the first reading of this week. My favorite method of social online learning is certainly Cris Crissman’s use of Second Life. I have never played any sort of Second Life-esque game but I am now realizing it might be a wonderful tool for instruction that can make the social aspect of coursework feel less like a blocky, essay to essay conversation and more of a holistic, fun and truly engaging experience. I find myself wondering while reading about all these different styles and methods of online teaching if I would struggle in these classes. I am not typically a person that does very well in a decentralized learning environment and many of these professors engage multiple outlets for their teaching. As an economics major I am seeing an opportunity for a software designed by teachers such as these that combines all of the elements of value that Blackboard, Moodle, and Second Life may have. A one stop shop for online learning that allows for simplicity, customization, and engagement.

The second reading of this week certainly dispelled the misconceptions I had about the timeline of open learning and the discussion thereof. I wonder if more articles and studies will come out on social media and its use in academia. MOOC’s and social media are the areas of open learning that most interest me as they both represent a totally new approach to social learning. The summarized articles in the MOOC section of the reading offer an interesting question about the role of classical education in the midst of a technological revolution. MOOC’s are certainly cheaper and more flexible which points to quality of education being the most interesting variable.

 

Claire Howell Major. (2015). Teaching Online – A Guide to Theory, Research, and Practice. Retrieved from http://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/uvic/detail.action?docID=3318874 (pp. 88-105)

 

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