Hey folks,

This week’s reading from Major (2015) concisely summarized all of the possible ways to structure an online course platform (in theory). Author major quotes “A learning platform is the foundation on which a course is built.” (Major, 2015). I concur with Major as later on in the textbook it describes how the learning platform requires precise planning of course material and outline. I have personal experiences where the curriculum and information being taught in a course wasn’t exactly planned out well and that suffered major consequences on student’s performances in class. Especially during Covid and my participation in online Uvic CSC courses.

Major introduced the 5 organizational elements: enrolment, amount, timing, platform, and pathway (Major, 2015). Enrolment mentions open and closed enrolment. The difference is open allows anyone technically capable of joining to enter a opposed to a set listed number of people can sign up. I have hopes for Open for Massively Open online courses (MOOCs) as I believe that the more people interested in a topic should allow entry as information is freely distributed. Just like art, knowledge should be shared by everyone. I’m not too confident when in amount it mentions hybrid classes.  In my opinion there’s some flaws and miscommunication when handling a mix of in person and online within courses I’ve taken that I find it’s not worth the experience as opposed to just having one or the other. Timing is the most important point of any course. I believe that a course should be able to deliver all it’s material in a organize and timely matter such that each topic is given enough attention. In the past some material in my csc classes were skimmed over due to time poor management. Finally platform and pathway is something to take notice of as it has been very useful. With zoom and brightspace I had the opportunity  to connect with students and learn more than I could’ve in person. Technologically is pretty fast and convenient when reaching people for a problem in math for example.

 

The other reading was by Martin Weller on Open Education. Even though I did praise MOOCs earlier, this reading mentions one of it’s biggest obstacles. In that it must consider it’s audience and their background when it comes to learning in a open enrolment. I enjoyed reading the guide and surprised by the amount of data collected. I also agree with further research into open learning as It has a lot of potential if done correctly (Jordan and Weller, 2017).

References

Major, C. H. (2015). Teaching Online – A Guide to Theory, Research, and Practice. Retrieved from http://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/uvic/detail.action?docID=3318874 (pp. 76-108)

Jordan, K. & Weller, M. (2017). Openness and Education: A beginners’ guide. Global OER Graduate Network.