tisdag 30 maj 2017

Online Networked Learning: Lessons learnt and future practice

One of the most important lessons learnt for me personally has been to truly realize the learning power of collaborative work using a range of digital resources. One of the most challenging but also rewarding aspects of the course has been to decide on the mode of co-operation in the PBL activities and the subsequent issue of sharing the results.

What has dawned on me is how important task conception is within the PBL group. During the first couple of themes we went fairly quickly into the more detailed questions and issues without having thought through and discussed the underlying aspects of the type of knowledge that the topic was supposed to probe into. Bouncing on the surface of the issues gave us the illusion that we solved the tasks fairly quickly, but in later topics, when the same features returned in a new and more complex guise, we realized that we had not probed the issues in the best possible manner.

Perhaps this is quite natural, and perhaps it is a necessary part of collaborative learning. Coming together as more or less complete strangers, we gradually, and surprisingly quickly, built a sense of trust between ourselves, but before this trust was in place and had begun to be articulated in the form of probing questions, it was probably too challenging a task to pause and ask critical questions.

Our PBL group, to my mind, found a constructive way of dealing with trust building. Right from the start we had fruitful and quite open discussions about the topics, but then we also arranged further work in pairs, and then in smaller groups. Finally we opted for full collaborative work (Topic 4), and this was a very positive experience. However, we would probably not have been able to do this as well right from the starr.

What role have the various digital tools played in this process? Here I think it is very important to consider the function of various types of tools, and at what point in the process a specific tool is employed. Between us we had a fairly good grasp of tools, and our facilitator and co-facilitator also came up with suggestions. Some, such as Google Doc and AdobeConnect, were basically “given” within the framework of the course. However, we never really analysed the function and the potential of the tools we used, at least not in a systematic way. What consequences this might have had is difficult to speculate about, and to my mind we did choose rather effective tools, but I have a feeling that we would have benefitted from a more thorough discussion of the tools themselves, and more importantly, the properties of the tools in relation to the task we needed to complete.

When conducting such an analysis, it would be appropriate to make a distinction between work process and the product to be presented. To what extent are tools for work processes also suitable for presentation? In other words, for each topic, analyses along the following dimensions would be called for:
  • Task analysis
    • Input analysis: what kind of content are we dealing with? Scientific/scholarly, opinion, experience-based, etc?
      • Own knowledge and experience: What do we know already?
      • Processing of content: How do we best organize the input and knowledge provided?
    • Output analysis: What are we expected to do? How complex and “open” is the outcome?
  • Process analysis
    • Input processing and organization
    • Individual and collaborative work
    • Output format
  • Tools analysis
    • Tools for processing
    • Tools for collaboration
    • Tools for presentation

With growing task understanding and familiarity of the respective tools, and with the growing knowledge we had of each other (very important!), it gradually became feasible to work with one and the same tool for both process and product. A good example of this is Prezi, where we collaboratively composed an outline for the last content topic, and then subsequently added content, reviewed each other’s content and eventually agreed on the final product. Prezi is a powerful tool for presentation but I’m not quite sure that it is generally considered as a tool for active collaboration; However, because it is shared it is possible to work both synchronously and asynchronously on content development.

The digital tools that we encountered and used in this course have certainly helped us along, and have in some cases (online collaboration, joint construction of text) been fundamental to the whole endeavour, but they would not have helped unless some vital pedagogical and group dynamic features had been present. The problem-based approach to learning has been one of those vital features. By directing us to a certain work flow we were forced to slow down our decision-making process. This most likely led to more mature considerations and decisions not only on content but also on design.

All in all, I think what I bring with me from this course is the fascinating creative potential that can be unleashed when certain factors are present:

  • a common sense of direction and goal
  • an openness to learning with and from each other
  • a process orientation without losing sight of the goal
  • the inherent fun in experimenting with digital tools in a serious, professional and supportive environment

2 kommentarer:

  1. Thank you Tore for your clear wrap up of your learning moments. In our successful PBL9 of ONL162 we also recognized the difference between the group process and working on the goal as very important. Succes with your work. Francisca

    SvaraRadera
  2. Excellent summary of online collaboration and how to operate among the massive amounts of online tools. I think this is a part of the future of online tools, they will change over time and they are too many to keep a complete track over, instead we have to find another way to deal with them and their changes.

    I agree with you we did manage to collaborate online to a higher degree than I expected and this was an eye opener. It is actually possible to interact and collaborate with people that you only meet online. I think this will open up for new course designs in my own teaching.

    SvaraRadera