Getting Started…

Before reading my new thoughts about blog post #2, please check out the original post and then feel free to continue with my new thoughts!

New Thoughts on Blog Post #2…

After re-reading my blog post for topic 2, I have decided to speak more about the experiences and research I have done into open and online courses and the strategies that were implemented.

My most recent involvement with an open course is with my boyfriend since he is currently taking an introduction to computer science course through Harvard. I have taken on the role of teacher and been helping to explain concepts and material to him. Already I have noticed major differences between his experience with an open first-year course versus mine with an in-person course at UVic. Some of the differences that I’ve noticed are the pace of the course, the number of resources available, and the level of difficulty.

First, his course is asynchronous, with the only constraint being that he must complete the course by December 2020, whereas with my first-year course it was synchronous and there were specific deadlines outlined on the first day of classes.

Second, in terms of available resources, my professors would sometimes upload their class notes/slides and would often have their office hours during my other classes which meant having to try and schedule a time that worked for us both. However, with the open course, students were given a database of information as well as instructional videos included with each assignment, giving a detailed walkthrough of how you might want to work through the assignment. The last difference is the level of difficulty between the two forms of learning environments. In my experience, professors would give students an outline of criteria that their assignment needed to meet, and even if you successfully completed the list of criteria the highest grade you could achieve was an 8/10. Professors said a 10/10 was only for students who went above and beyond the expectations outlined to them, but for someone who was taking their first-ever programming course I didn’t even know where to begin to try and go “above and beyond”. These assignments were really overwhelming since I didn’t have the experience or background to achieve what professors were expecting of me. Whereas with the open course, if a student successfully meets all the given criteria they are awarded 100%.

My experiences have made me more interested in the concepts outlined by Claire Major (Major, 2015), as her book includes examples of successful open and online courses. I was really moved by the success that professors had experienced by transitioning courses into this new form of learning and so it’s made me look into ways that open learning could be incorporated into more universities. I think creating more awareness of the benefits of open learning could influence professors and universities to make this wanted change. I plan to continue my research by finding out how I can advocate and create this awareness in hopes of bringing open learning to the computer science department at UVic.

Here are some additional readings that I found interesting regarding how to integrate open and blended learning into the learning environment:

References

Algonquin College of Applied Arts and Technology. (n.d.). Applying Technology. Retrieved July 22, 2020, from https://www.algonquincollege.com/profres/applying-technology/

Claire Howell Major. (2015). Teaching Online – A Guide to Theory, Research, and Practice. Retrieved from http://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/uvic/detail.action?docID=3318874 (pp. 88-105)

Incorporating Blended Learning Into Your Course. (n.d.). Retrieved July 22, 2020, from https://www.rrc.ca/tltc/instructional-design/blended-learning/incorporating-blended-learning/

Leslie. (2019, November 18). Open Learning at Harvard. Retrieved July 22, 2020, from https://www.extension.harvard.edu/open-learning-initiative

Open Learning Toolkit. (n.d.). Retrieved July 22, 2020, from https://open.ubc.ca/education/toolkits-education/learn-in-the-open/