Thoughts on Opening the Learning Environment

In my work with online instructors, I keep hearing a lot of talk about using wikis and blogs "as they are intended to be used" or "they way they should be used." By that, the individuals are referring to the way we generally think about wikis and blogs: a wiki is a collaborative web space with potentially multiple contributors, and a blog is an individual journal-type site generally maintained by a single entity and facilitated as an ongoing conversation with readers.

These concepts have merit, but I've begun to wonder if we are restricting instructors, learners, and the knowledge-building process by trying to define these spaces. In fact, I'm beginning to wonder if we should allow learners to make their own choices about which spaces to use rather than prescribing which space learners should use for an activity. Even if learners make the "wrong" choice (i.e., using a blog when the instructor believes a wiki would have been more appropriate), it would still present a learning opportunity (Parry, 2012). Perhaps it would even allow for the emergence of innovative uses for these spaces.

Of course, in a "traditional" online classroom, allowing such choice presents challenges for evaluation and grading. What is more important: demonstrating mastery of concepts or choosing the appropriate media for presentation? How do you evaluate mastery of concepts when various media are used for the same activity? Maybe allowing a more open forum for learners to demonstrate mastery will, by necessity, require a more open evaluation process. Now, I know that sounds blasphemous in light of all the work that has been done over the past century (nearly) to develop reliable methods of assessment. But an open evaluation process does not have to mean subjective, invalid, or unreliable. It means we have to rethink the evaluation criteria we establish and how we measure it.

I don't consider myself a particularly creative person. But I do know that when I've been challenged with having to make something work with limited or restricted resources, I've been able to find ways to exploit whatever technology I had available. Maybe that is the challenge we need to present to our learners. Instead of prescribing what tool to use, give them a task and allow them to leverage the tools available. Make the environment more open. While some learners might prefer more structure, others will run with the autonomy. In doing so, they may be able to aid or inspire the more reluctant learner. This shifts the paradigm of the learning environment from one of knowledge transmission to knowledge production, possibly improving the "stickiness" of the learning.

Thoughts? Is it our responsibility to direct learners to use technology "appropriately" or are we better off designing an open and autonomous environment that encourages exploration, collaboration, and knowledge construction? If so, how do we adapt assessment methods for the open environment?

Reference

Parry, M. (2012, March 7). Could many universities follow Borders Bookstores into oblivion? The Chronicle of Higher Education. Retrieved from http://chronicle.com/blogs/wiredcampus/could-many-universities-follow-borders-bookstores-into-oblivion/35711 

Is it fair to lurk?

I'm doing research on MOOCs (Massive Open Online Courses) right now. I've only participated in a few, but the concept intrigues me. My focus areas are instructional design and instructor activity. The literature on MOOCs is expanding, but much of it centers on individual experience in the MOOC. As researchers consider individual goals and motivations for participating in MOOCs, participant profiles begin to emerge. One participant type that was inevitable – at least in my opinion – is the lurker.

The lurker is present not only in MOOCs, but in any networked situation both face-to-face and online. You know the lurker. You've probably been the lurker; I have. In fact, I lurk a lot. I lurked in face-to-face situations. One time, my sister and I went to the dog track and decided to lurk to see if we could pick a few winners before actually placing a bet. We never did get comfortable enough to wager, so we just watched about 17 races. We felt kind of conspicuous after a while. Lurking online is much easier. Your name shows up on the participant list, but you just never contribute. Or you have a Twitter account and follow people, but never tweet. That kind of thing.

So what's the big deal with the lurker? Well, some authors see lurkers as "free-riders" (Tschofen & Mackness, 2012). In other words, lurkers take and don't give. Connected learning environments offer the ability for participants to interact and share knowledge (Mackness, Mak, & Williams, 2010). Such environments, in fact, rely on individual contributions and sharing for knowledge creation. According to Siemens (2010), lurking is never a good thing nor is it ever acceptable. Siemens believes that even newcomers to a situation should be sharing and helping to create understanding. He asserts that newcomers may be better positioned than experts to help other newcomers.

I don’t know about you, but that makes me uncomfortable. The last thing I want to do is reveal my ignorance in a public forum (although I wind up doing exactly that all too frequently). I like to look around, get comfortable, and see what's going on: how smart is everyone else? If they are too smart – meaning smarter than I am – I may decide just to hang out and absorb or perhaps leave the forum all together. It's unlikely my exposed ignorance will add much, and will likely only annoy the smart people. And online, people are none too shy about informing you of your ignorance, sometimes rather unpleasantly.

How do you feel? Is it fair to lurk in an open forum? Does everybody have an obligation to participate? Have you ever been a lurker yourself?

References

Mackness, J., Mak, S., & Williams, R. (2010). The ideals and reality of participating in a MOOC. In L. Dirckinck-Holmfeld, V. Hodgson, C. Jones, M. de Laat, D. McConnell, & T Ryberg (Eds.), Proceedings of the 7th International Conference on Networked Learning 2010. University of Lancaster, Lancaster (pp. 266-275). ISBN 9781862202252

Siemens, G. (2010, December 1). My personal learning network is the most awesome thing ever [Web log post]. Retrieved from http://www.elearnspace.org/blog/2010/12/01/my-personal-learning-network-is-the-most-awesomest-thing-ever/

Tschofen, C., & Mackness, J. (2012). Connectivism and dimensions of individual experience.  The International Review of Research in Open and Distance Learning, 13(1), 124-143.

Testing an Open Course

My home institution, like many, has immersed itself into the world of open courses. I'm participating in a beta test of the first open course. Rather than start yet another blog (since I already have 4 or 5), I thought TechMate would be ideal to serve as my test stomping grounds. We were instructed to create sections for the blog, but I'd rather not disrupt my existing setup. Therefore, I will add appropriate labels as needed.

If your tumble down the rabbit hole has landed you here, ignore this post. Read some of my other posts; they are fairly interesting (I hope). Leave a comment; nobody ever seems to comment. I'm guilty of that myself. That's one of the failures of most blogging attempts -- nobody comments. I wonder if it's because we are ashamed or embarrassed to proffer our opinions; if we think others won't value our thoughts or ideas; or if we are just not interested. Any thoughts on that? I think for many people, myself included, it's that we think others won't appreciate our insights. Am I wrong?