Excellent blueprint -- thoughts and reflections
Hi Liz
Reiterating Wayne, this is indeed a fantastic online teaching model. I intend to use it for future design projects as well! I am suggesting that you could perhaps add a reflective dimension?
...so that you now have:
EXPLORE - IDENTIFY - RECOGNISE & UNDERSTAND - EVALUATE - CONSTRUCT - REFLECT.
I am thinking out aloud about the teaching & learning context of this module.
• How does one integrate the different knowledge contexts effectively ? ( psychology, education, social work, communication science, public administration, English studies, managerial professions, and Health Sciences Education).
• How does one cater for the different geographical contexts of the participating students effectively as well ?
When it comes to the technological tools, such as the “reflective video activities based on open access videos hosted on the internet”.
• How does one deal with the issue of expensive internet access for the majority of our students? (Incidentally access to the internet seems to be comparatively more expensive in South Africa than in most other African countries).
I am looking forward to participating in your Unisa OER strategy planning at Unisa.
Ndagire
Hi Ndagire,
Excellent questions.
Regarding context -- I think we can provide more contextualised learning experiences using the concept of "free range learning" (see Pam Ryan's blog post). Learners can have greater flexibility to uses OERs better aligned with their own interests and contexts.
Integrating different knowledge disciplines will always be a challenge with a discipline-based curriculum. Do you have any thoughts and ideas on how to respond to this need.
The cost of reliable Internet connectivity is a huge challenge in many parts of the world. I don't think the OERu will necessarily solve the problem -- but there are a few things we can do to minimize the costs of connectivity for OERu learners. For example:
- WikiEducator has the ability to produce print-based study guides for the core learning resources. These could be duplicated locally for offline study. The print version will contain full urls to key sites which learner could explore when they visit a local cyber cafe or internet access point.
- Interaction strategies could use mobile technologies -- eg microblog posts which may be more affordable in different contexts.
- Digital literacy are becoming an import skill for the 21st century -- I think its important for us to think about creative solutions to help learners acquire these skills.
Appreciate the feedback - -thanks
Dear Ndagire
Thank you for the great feedback. I agree we should make sure that we have the reflective dimension included. Tony Mays will be managing the development and I will ensure that he includes this.
The issue of internet access and cost is indeed worrying. Interestingly enough, from the recent ICT survey conducted at Unisa it seems that access and infrastructure is much less of an issue than the exorbitant cost of access in South Africa. I am afraid there is no ready solution to this and we will just have to wait for the cost to decrease (of which there are definitely already signs). The best we can do is to prepare ourselves to have OER resources in place and try to limit the amount of bandwidth and data that needs to be downloaded as part of our resources.
Kind Regards
Liz
