collaboration – Page 2 – Critical Skills 101

Half way through #crit101…

As we have reached the half way point of Critical Skills 101, I thought it was a pertinent opportunity to reflect on how the course is shaping up; including the successes, failures and challenges that lay ahead.

#WINNING

There is clearly a lot of learning taking place. This is both evident in the quality of work produced and the honesty of many participants’ blog posts. In some ways the course has become more than I expected with the three tenets: “openness – social media – student voice/choice” (Cronin, 2012) being placed firmly at the heart of it. The syndication of blog posts and the decision to move to Google+ for week four’s discussion are evidence of this. Moreover, the feedback I have received from many of you has been significantly positive. There have already been numerous tweets, emails to that effect; as well as several of you expressing to me face-to-face how much you are getting out of the course.

#LOSING

Based on my experience of MOOCs I did expect some participants to drop out of the course, nevertheless I consider this an issue that I need to evaluate and act on. Some of you are fully engaged, embracing each week’s reading and activities with fervour. However, some of you are not. While the nature of the course speaks to independence and autonomy, one of the principle aims of the course is to encourage and develop this. Clearly, for some of you the course is not achieving this aim. Whether that is my fault, something to do with the course content or structure, or something else entirely I am not sure at this stage? This will certainly feed into my evaluation of the course once it has been completed.

#OPPORTUNITY

One of the principles that underpins MOOCs is connectivism. It was my hope that all participants would freely interact and support each other. However, this has not been the case. Interaction between us (I include myself as a learner in this process) so far has come at times that I (as course leader) have specified, such as week two’s collaborative assignment and the weekly Twitter discussion. I do not know if this is simply to do with the fact that most of you are 14-18 year-olds. As such you have a limited experience of learning in this way. It may also have to do with the time that the you feel you can put in to the course. Most of you have full timetables as it is and this is additional learning. And I suspect that for some it may also come down to confidence. The willingness to share openly in your learning does not come naturally for everyone.

However, as Dave Cormier explains in the video below connection and collaboration are important to being successful in a MOOC. Please take the time to watch the video and reflect on your participation so far. To what extent has your approach met with Cormier’s thesis?

So success in a MOOC is about connecting. This is both an opportunity and my challenge to all of you. As week four dawns don’t wait for me to give you permission to connect with each other. Use Twitter, use Google+, use your blogs; share your docs; or use a means of communicating/sharing that suits you but don’t feel that you are on your own. Many of you expressed, in week one, that interdependence was important to being a successful independent learner. Lets put that into practice during week four.

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Image cc. ®DS.

#crit101 Week Two: What is the best way to cook an egg?

This week I asked participants to collaborate on a short piece of research, addressing the question:

“What is the best way to cook an egg?”

The task was challenging, not least because of the ambiguity inherent in the task but also because of the short amount of time they had to complete it in. Moreover, for many of the participants additional challenges presented themselves because of the need to collaborate using a technology (Google Docs) that some of them had never encountered before. I am pleased to say that many of the participants not only demonstrated their ability to work collaboratively but also displayed the resilience many of them referred to as being integral to in(ter)dependent learning in week one.

As I write this, with one hour to go until the 6PM deadline, one or two groups are still editing and refining their articles. Others have finished and blog posts, reflecting on week two, have started to be posted. I will be reading and responding to both the articles and blog posts over the course of week three. Additionally, the first badges will be issued this week to those participants who took an active role in their group’s research project.

Published Articles: What is the best way to cook an egg?

#crit101 #egg Research – Advice and Guidance

With the tomorrow’s 6PM deadline being just around the corner, I thought it would be pertinent to offer some advice and guidance to help you complete your research and get it written up.

Today, you should continue collecting data and write up your introduction and methodology.

In the introduction you should discuss the ambiguity of the question and what you settled on in terms of your chosen line of enquiry.
In the methodology section you should explain your research approach and chosen methods. Do not discuss any findings.

Tomorrow, you should analyse and evaluate the data collected, then write up your findings and conclusion.

In the findings section you should present your analysis of your findings, triangulating your data sources.
In your conclusion you should reflect on and evaluate what you have learned.

Remember, I am just an email or tweet away. Your finished article needs to be published and a link to it included in your individual blog posts.

#crit101 – Week Two

In week two #crit101 is turning its attention to research and enquiry. The week two page has been updated with reading material and information about this week’s assignments.

Like last week there will be a live video lecture at 7:30PM (GMT) on Monday (28.01.13). Check the blog or Twitter around 7:25 for the link. Once again the slides will be made available prior to the lecture, and a recording will be made available shortly afterwards.

The main assignment in week two requires you to conduct research and work collaboratively with your peers using Google Docs. More information about this is available on the week two page and will also be explained in detail during the introductory lecture.

The Twitter discussion will be on Wednesday (30.01.13) between 7PM and 8PM (GMT).

On top of this, I wish to encourage you all to read and comment on each others blog posts from week one. You can find them here on the #crit101 blog. I have added an archive so that it is easy to access all posts published on the site. I will be adding my own thoughts to your posts, but commenting is a key component of the blogging process, and I think it would be useful for you to keep the discussion about in(ter)dependent learning going as the course develops.

#crit101 Twitter Discussion – Tonight 7-8PM (GMT)

The first #crit101 Twitter discussion takes place this evening between 7:00PM and 8:00PM.

As previously discussed, sharing and discussing ideas encountered in the course is an important aspect of learning to become an in(ter)dependent learner. I hope that you will all be able to join in.

In this first discussion there will be an opportunity to ask any questions that you may still have about the course. Then we will turn our attention to the idea of learning to become a more independent learner. What did you make of the learner survey and reading materials from week one? Do you agree with everything you have read? Are there ideas or concepts that you disagree with or are unsure about? Tonight’s discussion is a chance to explore, test and debate.

Joining in with a discussion on Twitter for the first time, with multiple participants, can be a bit daunting.

First and foremost, remember to include the hashtag #crit101 in all of your tweets.

Secondly, prepare yourself. It is best participate using a computer or laptop rather than a mobile phone. You want to be able to see the stream of #crit101 tweets and be able to tweet/reply at the same time. There are a couple of ways to do this…

You could use the Twitter web interface. Search the hashtag and away you go. This has limitations, and works best if you have two windows open side by side. The first window includes the stream of #crit101 tweets. The second is your @ replies, so that you can see if anyone has tweeted you directly.

Alternatively, you could use TweetDeck. Available for both MAC OSX and Windows, TweetDeck is a Twitter client that works perfectly for following and participating in a discussion on Twitter as it allows you to have multiple columns, including your tweets, @ replies, DMs and hashtags you are following.

See you in the Twitterverse, very soon. 🙂