Group 4 Artefact: POWTOONS.
This GIF perfectly summed up what I felt like this week...
Trying to get everything done by deadlines...
So getting to the initial pre-course readings was challenging to say the least. That being said, I found some points really interesting:
Susan Seibert (2021)
Students struggle with uncertainty, and may initially require more scaffolding, feedback and encouragement when they take on new online learning and perspectives. they need to be pushed out of their comfort zones and be presented with opportunities to deal with uncertainty.
Spoon feeding does students no favours - rather give them unfinished learning products - get them to fill in the gaps themselves to figure things out (ie: ill-structured case studies, incompleted theories, etc).
Perseverance involves learning how to anticipate challenges and failure.
As learning facilitators, we need out students to see us embrace mistakes/failings as learning opportunities. We need to reward students who take RISKS.
The end product is not as important as the EFFORT and RISK involved in creating.
I enjoyed several points of emphasis of the video we watched in our group on PBL:
VIDEO: What is Problem-Based Learning? (Note to self...write down the name/URL of the video next time...)
Students need to be prepared for an unknown future.
Students need to be TAUGHT how to solve real-world problems, within their own worlds.
PBL consists of 4 steps:
Present/Identify a problem
Develop a plan to solve the problem (what is needed and how can it be tackled)
Implement the plan (test it out)
Evaluate the implementation (reflect on what went right, what didn't, and what other ways of tackling the problem may be more efficient).
FIRST meeting with our PBL Group 4 - 23rd September, 4-5pm
It was lovely to meet my other group members! I feel lucky to be able to tap into this incredible talent of higher education colleagues. It does seem like they have been in the tertiary space for a lot longer than I have - I am hoping to pick up some good lecturing tips!
I'm still very nervous that there is a lot of reading to get through!
And utterly confused about the 6 Hats!! Everyone else seems to know what is going on...just wing it, Casey...you will figure it out later...
Ribble: "Be SAFE, SAVVY, and SOCIAL"
For some reason, the 6 Hats concept completely confused me - which made me think about how much I struggle to synthesise information. I am very good at approaching things in a step-by-step manner, but synthesising everything - actually stopping to ask what are the pertinent points, is really tricky for me.
When synthesising all the readings onto this document, I tried as far as possible to address the various Hats points. Deciding on an artefact in which to demonstrate our understandings of the readings was a really seamless process, thanks to our group's amazing democratic skills! I really enjoy our group - we started a Telegram group, and this has proved really helpful to be able to engage in between the synchronous meet-ups.
We decided on using PowToons to display our reading synthesis - a really creative animation tool. I used this tool about 5 years ago, so there was definitely a learning period, playing around with the functionality. It was AWESOME to see how the group helped each other (we kindly got an absolute MASTERCLASS from Annie!), and we pulled together a product of which we were really proud.
It was interesting to see how my attitude towards the course shifted - It started off as a nervousness that I would not get through all of the readings, feeling bogged down by theory, only to look forward tp engaging with PowToons and collaborating to create a really exciting artefact. This came at a really good time with my work, as I have a lot of repetitive marking at the moment, so working on PowtToons provided really valuable breaks in routine. It also feels that I have the energy and interest to face Topic 3: OER and MOOCs - topics in which I am very interested to learn more!
Our PowToon covering Digital Citizenship can be viewed HERE.
Bring on Topic 3!
Interesting read. The way your attitude changed towards the course eventually is something someone can learn from. Great!
Great read Casey. Thank you for your honest reflection on your overwhelmness - I felt the same!
Hi Casey! Loved reading your post :) I think you can be assured that most of us are experiencing what you mentioned! I like how you reflected on your experience of the 6 hats and having to synthesise a lot of information!
Loved the Gif :-) I am glad you did not let your concerns in week 1 daunt you too much as the reflections I have read are thoughtful and insightful. I think a lot of people can identify with some of your thoughts, so keep up the reflections :-)