Peer feedback (given)

I assessed learning tasks related to the online pedagogy course for another student today. He had made his PLE in kyvyt
I was introduced to kyvyt a year ago when starting my vocational pedagogy studies but ended up using another service for my digital portfolio. One reason was that I found it difficult to sign in and secondly, I found blogger easier visually and technically. My own learning curve into blogging can be seen in this very blog.

The assessment criteria is the following:

1. Does the learning environment function correctly?
2. Have you dealt with all the learning tasks?
3. Have you used links and embedded material in a versatile way?
4. Have you considered netiquette and copyright when creating your PLE?
5. Is your PLE visually effective?
6. Is your PLE interactive?
   
   
   
   
   What I like most about reading other teacher candidate's posts is that I always learn something new. It is collaborative learning. I would, however, want to add some interaction to it as well. I liked the learning views post, mostly because it was a good refreshment to learning theories and some interesting notes about special needs in an online environment. 
   
   
   It is always nice with pictures, tables, videos etc. and this blog had many tables. It is also smart to add some useful link to share with others. There was one link to Sanna Ruhalahti's presentation "käsikorjoitus verkko opetukseen" http://www.slideshare.net/SannaRuhalahti/verkkoopetuksen-ksikirjoitus?ref=
   that I found very useful. 
   
   Some visual elements did not work so well in kyvyt. E.g. the topic of the post (link) does not show fully when you open the page. This means, that when you are assessing, you have to remind yourself what you are reading again and again.
   
   
   The blog had included the areas to cover and there were many interesting ideas about my fellow student's professional and spare time activities.
   
   
   I however miss the interaction in the online pedagogy course. A great deal of learning opportunities is lost because there is no chatting going on. It is even difficult to get conversation over who is doing whose peer evaluation. 
   Course tutors: This is something to change in the future. Some synchronous part would be great. E.g. one synchronous task every month in chat  
   
   
   
   

Web based learning and teaching

I have stumbled into some interesting links and portals during my learning journey.  Some of my thoughts of virtual learning can be found here, with a link to sources for tips how to teach online courses.

Universities of Applied Sciences offer many virtual courses, the open Universities and probably the Universities have some courses online as well. The content of the courses is however a big question. How well are these courses designed? Are they interactive? Are they interesting for the students? Do students really learn something? A lecture cannot just be taped, there has to be interaction.

My personal experience from online teaching is a handful of virtual sessions with some teaching and interaction in synchronous. I have participated in one virtual course where the tasks and the interaction were asynchronous. The difference between these modes is that in synchronous teaching and learning, there can be instant communication and discussions because it happens right then. In asynchronous teaching and learning the learning takes place whenever the student wants, within a set time limit.

Both in synchronous and asynchronous teaching and learning is important. I however prefer that there is some element of in synchronous teaching and learning because it offers an opportunity to interact with peers. This gives structure to the studies and a face to the teacher and peers. In a course with only asynchronous tasks, there might be problems with students not taking ownership of the task and there might be problems with deadlines.

Gender sensitive teaching is very important to me. I will apply that in teaching Social studies, Latin American studies and International Organizations in the future. I like to provoke my students a bit in order to get conversation. I showed the video below to a class of business students this winter which was a real discussion opener for diversity management and equal opportunities discussion and problem solving. Check it out!

Learning views and student centered approach to learning

Web based learning enables a more individualistic way of learning. It could also be called student centered learning. However, there also needs to be communication in order to maintain the student’s motivation. 

I think online learning works best when there is contact or encounters between students and teachers. This could happen either online e.g. in adobe connect pro, weekly or daily e-mail responds, chat hour, FB group etc. A start-up session in the same physical room is not a bad start either. 

Online teaching does not mean that students want to learn on their own. It means that they want to study wherever (and often whenever) but they need peer and teacher support even more in order to maintain their interest and motivation. In online teaching the teacher is present in a completely different way. The teacher is an instructor that supports the students learning and has to be available online for encounters.  

Flipped classroom is an interesting change to traditional teaching where the “lecture” and “homework” changes place. The idea is that the teacher produces/finds suitable online material about the issue that is to be learnt. Then, the students watch the material on their own time and the classroom time is used for individual support, discussions, problem solving etc. It is not only about watching videos, it is about flipping the way of learning and making it more student centered. Students learn the material on their own at home and come to class to apply what they have learnt. Here is a link to the flipped classroom network in the US. And here is a blog about ipads in high school education in Finland.

Flipped classroom is definitely an interesting approach. From a teacher’s point of view, producing good online material is not the easiest bit. But from the student’s point of view, it gives the student the possibility to learn the material in their own preffered way and they can address their questions to the teacher in the classroom. It does sound efficient and it gives excellent variation to learning. 

Read also my previous posts about my way of learning, ways of learning and virtual learning.

learning styles

When I started my vocational teacher journey, I took the VARK test. You can find my result 2012 here. After one year of online studies, I had to test what has happened – so the result for July 2013 is here! VAK – multimodal, still, with very even distribution of visual, aural and kinesthetic preference.

• Visual: 9
• Aural: 10
• Read/Write: 4
• Kinesthetic: 11

I have become less read/write during the last 12 months. My visual preference has flourished and I have realized I have a strong kinesthetic preference.

Student’s preferred learning styles are something that is good to know and teaching should take all learning styles into consideration. I however believe that it is important to use all styles in order to learn and one should try to strengthen weak learning styles in order to strengthen one’s ability to learn new things. To only differentiate based on learning styles is not something I will implement in my own teaching.

You may read more about learning styles from my virtual session one post.

networks in learning tasks and teaching methods

I have studied vocational pedagogy 1 and 2 in two different study groups. The first one was called Jupiter, as the planet, and we studied vocational pedagogy together during fall 2012. Our learning goals and tasks were in Optima and we prepared for 4 virtual session. The sessions were nerve wrecking for most of us because it was new for us to teach online. The learning outcome was often something completely different than I thought in advance. What I learnt from these sessions was that it is really important to plan learning content in virtual teaching. It has to be very clear, and presence and interaction is vital. You can read about our four sessions in the following posts: 1, 2, 3 and 4 here.

The virtual sessions were important, but the real learning happened elsewhere. The learning happened during our preparations for these sessions, in our planet teams. We learnt from each other, got hints from others where to look, had to explain what we meant, why we think something is important. It was difficult to find time for common chats, difficult to have time to do the tasks but that is what teachers' meet in the classroom all the time. It was good to experience the joy of learning together and to also experience the downsides.

I embrace learning together nowadays. Something I used to hate, has become something I va,lue deeply. I have learnt to listen to others, I have realized that one ok idea becomes one great idea after it is shared with others and elaborated further. The sooner this happens, the better is the end result.

Networks can be created for different purposes. For example a blog or facebook group for a single course. The most important factor is that information is shared and that there is room for exchange of ideas and discussions.

There are many networks available out there. They are often meant for a particular group of people - only teachers, only students, only political scientists etc. The challenge is to create a group for a wide range of people; say teachers, students, entrepreneurs, experts, NGOs where there is real activity and sharing of ideas. I think the lievästi outoa liiketoimintaa (LOL) is an excellent approach to include students, entrepreneurs and teachers into real problem solving and learning of new skills. I would love to create something similar in Kokkola.

If I create such a network, will you join?

web environment enhances learning

I am personally a big fan of virtual learning. The possibilities of finding something interesting is immense. The challenge is to stay focused and not be distracted.

After one academic year of studying virtually, I am more than sure that the web environment enhances learning. The web provides all published information available for learners to explore and we can step by step learn more in our own pace. Since we are our own bosses in information searching, we can focus on the aspects that are most interesting to ourselves. This helps us maintain our interest and enhances learning. 

When I talk about a web environment  I am not talking about virtual platforms like moodle or Optima. I mean the whole virtual world. I think that is an important factor to take into consideration. A virtual learning platform can be the place for important information (learning goals, tasks, assessment etc) but for real learning, the student must be allowed and encouraged to look for answers themselves. That is when can stumble on something very interesting and when we learn something new, often unexpectedly.  

During spring, I tested a method where I asked students to do short assignments virtually. The lessons where usually quite long, a total of 3 hours, so individual work was welcome. The idea was to find interesting tasks for the students, something interesting to them, something real. I had read Marc Prensky's Digital Natives, and was sure there is some truth to his work. I also have a long educational history myself and have always had trouble listening for a long time. 

The feedback from the students was encouraging. Doing research on the computer was a top way of learning. They liked the freedom to find out things by themselves. For me, that was the first steps into collaborative learning, which is the absolutely the most fun way of learning virtually.

Online Pedagogy / to-do-list

Verkkopedagogia/Online Pedagpgy 3 ECTS coming up!

This is my tasklist for Online Pedagogy. This is my personal to do list, where I will check tasks done. The learning platforms that will be used are kyvyt and this blog. Reflective tasks will be done here. Some tech tests will be done in kyvyt. But quite frankly, I like blogger more.

*4. Reflect on the question ”How the web environment can enhance learning?”

*5.  Reflect on how network can be used in different learning tasks and teaching methods.

6. Add links to your reflections, leading to other resources and environments. Use these as examples.

7. When writing your thoughts/ideas/reflections use the web possibilities as thoroughly as you can. Use links, graphics, hypertext, video, embedded objects, RSS feeds etc.

8. Reflect on how different learning views, student centred approach and different learning styles can be taken into account in web-based learning?

Reflect* on the contents already familiar from Vocational Pedagtogy 1 (VOC I) using your PLE.

9. How to justify pedagogically the methods used in web-based learning and teaching? 
Find viable examples in the web and reflect* on the findings from the point of view of your own vocation.

10. Find a peer evaluator (using Optima, forums, contact teaching etc.) and ask ask for feedback/assessment. Make surer that your evaluator uses the set ciriteria. Analyse the feedback you get in your PLE.


11. Give feedback about your pair's (or fellow student's) PLE using the set criteria. Analyse your feedback for example in your blog or PLE.

xx Create your self assessment using the form, makethe necessary changes/additions/amendments if necessary, and publish your self assessment in your PLE.

xx.   Send a notice to your tutor when the whole module is ready to be assessed by your tutor.

* (For example using a blog, wiki, web page, discussion, social media)