Where self-directed learners congregate??

[GraphDesProject]

During ocTEL last week I was especially pleased with the support and critique from tutors and peers during the assessment strand. I’m preparing a conference talk about blogging and I’d posted about this topic. The feedback opened up several new issues and areas for debate, which was really helpful in a learning sense but also in a real world scenario. I was able to go and chat to my bloggers about these issues and get my talk sorted out more efficiently. For me this was a rich and valuable experience.

 
In all the MOOCs I’ve done I have really welcomed peer support, advice and guidance, especially in the chaotic period at the start. I’ve felt here in ocTEL that I can contact people about issues not directly related to ocTEL and there is such a co-operative atmosphere, even when there are critiques. It has felt quite safe but full of dicovery. Lots of fun too! Like Sandra (FieryRed) I’m a bit reluctant to be the first to post, but have done several times as logistically I was working and ready…so what the hell. Maybe it’s easier to take a risk on being “wrong” or being a twit in an online forum. I’m also grateful for the many links shared and for the feedback when I have shared something. I don’t feel (usually) that my comments go into a void.

 
In terms of weaknesses, I feel a bit disappointed when it all goes quiet on the forums and Twitter. Although I like the sound (Sandra) of a meet-up I don’t think I’d actually get round to it! I’ve noticed on a Coursera course that I recently started that the meet ups were part of the course menu and very well attended (but they’ve got 50,000 people so…)

 
I wondered why ocTEL was more “chatty” than a previous and similar MOOC I’d done. I think it is the forum site that helps. In the previous one we posted in a cloud area and I don’t think it was very easy for people to access each other’s comments. Even on the Coursera MOOC there is a lively forum and people are also being very co-operative there, making links and starting businesses together!

 
I’ve always been a very self-directed learner, even in school when I learnt from my own materials for O levels, avoiding the regular classes. I think most other people here are too. Do you create a favourable site for this, or do the self-directed just congregate where there are learning opportunities, whether it is a MOOC or a library or a second hand bookstore? Peer support is lovely, but I’d still be learning without it. For me I think it was the extra challenges from a junior school teacher and support of my parents that enabled my self-direction.

 
I think helping learners feel supported is mostly done at Induction/Interview when the whole experience is new and where expectations are set out on both sides. Stressing that the staff are there to help is perhaps obvious but nevertheless reassures.  You have to live up to this. Being contactable, patient and respectful are absolutely vital. Setting the challenge of self-regulation for learners helps (most of) them feel that they are now in a new community of practice – academics, scholars or young professionals.  If you have some mature learners in the group they lead by example, as does a dynamic of useful competition.  Also get the new group working in small groups  – we run a small, informal photo competition on the first day, which always helps.

 
But some learners remain a challenge, seemingly never getting the hang of self-direction. So this is my own challenge – how to get them to that point. Stay patient, be encouraging, provide them with more and more challenging and independent opportunities. A lot of this revolves around learner identity. What are they taking the course for – where do they want to get to? These goals can be kept in mind to promote self-directedness/independence. Enabling effective evaluation of their work also helps them to understand how well and how independently they are doing. I use quite a bit of (well prepared) peer assessment to help develop quality awareness and sympathetic critiquing! I don’t think TEL makes a fundamental difference to what learners can do self-directedly, but it does throw up more of a challenge about how to make people feel supported in the first instance than in the face-to-face environment. So the encouragement to network at the start is undoubtedly very important.

 

Sancha (GraphDesProject)

[GrainneHamilton]

Hi Sancha

I’m interested in your thoughts about how you interact in an online context…

‘Maybe it’s easier to take a risk on being “wrong” or being a twit in an online forum.’ Do you think it helps if you are in a co-operative environment, ie would you mind ‘being a twit’ in a forum where people were not very constructive in their comments?

Your comment: ‘Peer support is lovely, but I’d still be learning without it’ would be applicable to many learners I imagine. I wonder if we appreciate peer input more in certain contexts or at different stages in our learning?

Grainne

[GrainneHamilton]

Hi Sancha

I’m interested in your thoughts about how you interact in an online context…

‘Maybe it’s easier to take a risk on being “wrong” or being a twit in an online forum.’ Do you think it helps if you are in a co-operative environment, ie would you mind ‘being a twit’ in a forum where people were not very constructive in their comments? 

Your comment: ‘Peer support is lovely, but I’d still be learning without it’ would be applicable to many learners I imagine. I wonder if we appreciate peer input more in certain contexts or at different stages in our learning? 

[GraphDesProject]

I think people worry about leaving comments in print/screen where people can always return to see what a twit they were! (Or not!). In f2f, the moment goes into the ether. I don’t usually worry about it  in f2f and though I do worry about it online I’ve given up worrying – I’d rather have the feedback. When I’ve made posts here the feedback has nearly always been helpful and goes off in direction I never imagined. So it is worth the risk. What I do notice though is my typos – I can’t seem to make a comment with it beign full of them.

[James Kerr]

There was a lively bit of e-mail traffic when ocTEL first started, through the JISC mailing list.  At first I wasn’t sure how well a mailing list would lend itself to MOOC use, but I also knew there were other avenues, and in MOOCs, especially a cMOOC like ocTEL, participants will find and use their comfort zones.

In another MOOC I participated in, the main communication channels were Twitter and diigo.  There were forums available, but they were not used by many participants at all, and, lacking a critical mass to generate thoughtful discussions, they remained dormant.

[Author]

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