In this blog post I’d like to elaborate a bit more about the role of collaboration and openness , as my reflections from the another topic we discussed at ONL211 experience.
After the first weeks of our ONL11 journey, we moved onto the very interesting and important topic that is the role of collaboration and openness in the digital learning times. I came across very relevant statements from various participants, yet some of them are particularly important for me.
For sure, it has been a new experience for us, and all of us has different literacy and skills in the usage of tools, it can also be frustrating many times when we need to stay compliant to all these complicated rules of data protection, as well as the licensing restrictions of the tools that we’re forced to use by our universities/organizations. It is not always easy to navigate in the multiple options and features of these systems, and the persons who can help us with the plethora of our concerns are not always available. The literacy and access to multiple resources can also results from some social injustices that may root-cause inequalities and exclusions (Bali et al., 2020).
I’ve been thinking about it for some time, and I came to the conclusion that this is not the most important how we teach, and what tools we use. It is also not that crucial how advanced we are with these systems’ usage, and if we can take advantage of every single feature that got recently published. In my opinion it is far more important to focus on the content (to be well prepared and have a good message to pass for our students), in the same time staying open for collaboration and mutual learning in a group. Our students should feel that we genuinely try our best to support them and share some relevant information that can help them developed, in a atmosphere of trust and creativity. Let us never forget about those, while being stuck or frustrated about the difficulties with technicalities and system usage details!
Bali, M, et al. 2020. Framing Open Educational Practices from a Social Justice Perspective. Journal of Interactive Media in Education, 2020(1):10,pp.1–12.DOI:https://doi.org/10.5334/jime.565
Open Learner Damian 
4 replies on “Collaboration and openness in digital learning era”
Hi Damian! I agree: it’s not the tools that are most important when it comes to online (or whatever form of) learning. As you pointed out, it’s more that we convey a good message to our students. I think in addition to content, it is the teacher’s enthusiasm about the subject and their true care about the students that really count.
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I do agree totally… I think this is what is lurking around for me too in this course, that ont he one hand I am very happy to learn more about the perils and opportunities of all that can mediate the online experiences, but I do think that sometimes the focus on the technical dimensions of it all, shadows out the heart of the matters… that matters in all learning situations.
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I really like the idea of being there for the students when they need it the most.
/Lars
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Content, collaboration and mutual learning is a step towards invovling students not just in learning, but allowing them to annotate the course syllabus for your review.
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