H800…officially concluded :)

Today I’ve got the news that I passed my first course with OU. This was a very busy course which has made me reflect on various issues ; not just study related but also professionally and also personally ! Well this is just the beginning of MAODE. I’ve gained credibility in myself, where now I […]

Blogging for students

It’s been quiet some time since I have written a post. In the final part of H800 I was thinking about ways in which my students might be introduced to blogging. I have focused on my secondary students where two main blogs have been set up with two different aims. stigstud.wordpress.com is being used to […]

SNS

Whilst ‘patching’ up my ECA, I’m realising how SNS are entrenched in the lives of the majority of students. On the other hand schools (not just in Malta) tend to block access to SNS. What does this mean? That SNS are put in the same category of online gaming, porn and other time wasting online […]

ECA and …

Drafting and drafting and drafting and drafting … my ECA. One of the two technologies for my ECA is surely blogs. It is very interesting researching how learners and teachers use them in different learning contexts. Whilst developing my writing I am more convinced that in the next scholastic year, I’ll be using some sort […]

Week 25 – A2: Mix right ?

Reading: Anderson (2003) ‘Getting the mix right again: an updated and theoretical rationale for interaction’. 1. On page 2 of this article, Anderson (drawing on Sims, 1999) lists the functions of interaction, as follows: Learner control Facilitating programme adaptation based on learner input Varied forms of participation and communication Aiding the development of meaningful learning […]

Week 24 – A8: Practitioners and models of pedgagoy

reading: de Freitas et al (2007) ‘The practitioner perspective on the modelling of pedagogy and practice’ 1. What are the two main ways in which interventions intended to change how teachers teach actually attempt to do this? (page 26) Assumption that interventions intended to change teachers’ teaching (model practice) will improve practice. The authors argue […]

Week 24 – A4: Design for Learning

Reading: Beetham and Sharpe (2007) ‘An introduction to rethinking pedagogy for a digital age’. (a) How do Beetham and Sharpe view the relationship between learning and teaching? The authors acknowledge that teaching and learning are complimentary, where teaching is an activity in which students are being helped to learn. Learning naturally (informally) or through social interactions (more formal). (b) […]

Week 24 – A5: A textually saturated curriculum area: media studies

Reading: extract from Satchwell and Ivanic (2009) ‘The textual mediation of learning’ If teachers are aware of the potential of this informal media awareness of learners, they are more likely to be able to make links to it. They will also be able to enlist students’ personal engagement with the media for the benefit of […]

Week 24 – A3: Learning Architectures

reading: Wenger (1998) – Learning Architectures 1. Wenger’s four dimensions of design for learning; Participation and reification Design for practice is always distributed between participation and reification – and its realization depends on how these two sides fit together. Designed and emergent The relation of design to practice is therefore always indirect. It takes place […]

Week 23 – A5 – The network methapor

I have found the use/explanation of this network methapor as trying to simplify (by explaining it in a very theoretical mode) a very complex term which is learning. On the other hand through my networking understanding, I can see that networking (in computing and also as a metaphor in learning), is not merely a connection […]