Curriculum design for open education/Learners' guide
Contents
Learners' guide
Micro course values
The curriculum design of this micro course is underpinned by:
- The open sharing of ideas, experiences and expertise within the course and across relevant networks
- Gratitude for the existing open educational resources (OER) reused or adapted in this course
- Anticipation of future reuse, remixing, reworking and redistribution
- The aim to connect your practice in local learning and teaching contexts with broader developments and innovations
- A view of 'content' as being co-created by all learners over the duration of the course
- An emphasis on demonstrating learning outcomes through artefacts that you can reuse in your practice, and
- The notion of 'micro credentials' to support recognition of your learning within larger, accredited units of study.
The learning environment
We view the learning environment as being everywhere - in interactions with others and resources, online, offline, and anywhere you find yourself reflecting on the course. As such, this course site intersects with the other spaces and places in which you practice and learn. Our course site structures the topics and activities, and shares some of our experience of developing the pilot micro course. It is paired with another key learning space - a Wiggio group site dedicated for course participants - and we will move between these two hubs over the five weeks. Further details of the communication and workspace tools follow.
Communication & workspace tools
Wiggio group site
After evaluating a range of interaction tools, we are trialling a Wiggio group site in this micro course. It provides a common workspace for discussion, scheduling/polling, sharing links and resources, and creating and uploading files. The feed on the landing page will include all the activity of your course colleagues, stacked blog-style. Wiggio also has virtual meeting tools, some of which only function in North America. After registering by email for the micro course with us, you will receive an invitation to join our group site. You will also be able to set notification options for updates on new activity and content by your course colleagues. If you choose not to receive the automated notifications, we suggest you schedule a regular time in your calendar to catch-up on progress, as well as post your own contributions.
Curation tools
In the process of completing Task 1: Curation and feedback, you will evaluate and choose a curation tool for creating a small collection of open educational resources (OER) relevant to your practice. Guidance and examples are provided in the relevant learning pathway.
Survey Monkey
In the process of completing Task 2: Micro course reflection, you will submit your responses via a web-based form in Survey Monkey. This will allow us to keep responses anonymous for those who choose to take part in the formal evaluation of the micro course (see the task description for more details).
Study strategies
The micro course matrix structure (set out in the course overview) allows you to:
- Follow the six learning pathways sequentially, from Introduction through to Assessment and OEP, or
- Sample the learning pathways and their respective activities according to your interests and needs, or
- Take an approach combining some sequence with some sampling.
Each learning pathway comprises activities, readings, sharing ideas and resources, and reflection centred around your own learning and teaching context. One consideration for your chosen approach, is that the learning pathway activities contribute directly or indirectly to the two major tasks.
If your goal is to complete the course in full, and potentially have your learning recognised for partial credit in a related unit of study, we encourage you to complete the two major tasks:
Task 1: Curation and peer feedback
Task 2: Micro course reflection.
Completion of the tasks will support you to demonstrate attainment of the micro course learning outcomes which may map to the learning outcomes specified for a subject/unit within a for-credit postgraduate course/program, for example, in the area of higher education learning and teaching. Depending on the prior learning and assessment (PLAR) conditions applying to a given course/program, your learning in this course may then be formally recognised.
Our best advice is to start the major tasks early! Task 1 is due at the end of Week 5, and Task 2 is due one week after the end of Week 5.
Support options
This pilot micro course is supported which means your facilitators will be active in the course for its five week duration. We see support as both necessary in all forms of education, and a shared role in which diverse experience and existing resources can be tapped. Please refer to the contacts section for how to access support.
With a focus on the Wiggio workspace, see the tutorials section for specific Wiggio guidance.
Terminology
We recognise the diversity of terms used within and outside Australian higher education to describe programs of learning and units of study. Drawing on the Australian Qualifications Framework (AQF) glossary (pdf,) we use the following terms throughout this micro course:
- Course/program - an accredited program of learning that leads to a qualification e.g. diploma, degree
- Subject/unit - an accredited unit of study that is a component of a course/program, or a standalone unit. This may also be referred to as a 'module'.
In some contexts a 'module' may refer to a component of a subject/unit. Micro courses are similarly small, and to date, vary in their volume of learning e.g. 20hrs, 40hrs.
