"The beautiful thing about learning is no one can take
it away from you" B.B. King
An insightful quote from the legendary blues singer and songwriter - not sure where it originated or in what context - but a great quote for our course none the less.
- Fear - of the unknown methods and applications
- Surprise - at what I knew how to do and what I managed to do
- Intimidation - some of the course participants looked like they had been blogging forever and made me feel inferior about my blog
- Isolated - not sure that this has still been overcome really
- Inquisitiveness - I loved learning more about the topics we covered
- Proud - when I did something myself and got some feedback
- Fun - especially searching through you tube funny video clips
If I look at all of the feelings I experienced through this learning process I have a clearer picture of what our students must go through; which in itself is something I know I tend to forget.
I have so many ideas for flexible learning as I have stated previously in my blog that I still can't say that I have come up with my plan; as to thinking about the wider issues such as universal design, cultural sensitivity, access, equity and sustainability, I think I need to formalise the plan first and then directly relate the plan to those areas.
SO - the plan - or rather the ideas!
- Idea 1 - new assessment for Anatomy and Physiology - has to be done for my students this year - but course descriptor states written test - so unable to change that - looks like that idea won't work. Also I need to be aware that if I do change the assessment method it would have to go through approval procedures etc. and not sure that approval would be granted
- Idea 2 - Moodle - what a muddle - Have a meeting next week with the EDA from Timaru to discuss this option and according to the Charter is something that Aoraki would like to use more of - but time frame and paperwork etc. means that this probably won't be an option that I can develop. Our PD day in Timaru alerted us to the availability of moodle and the talk by Selena Chan certainly opened up some further thought on that possibility.
- Idea 3 - Develop some flexible learning resources for the students particularly in the area that I teach either - Skincare, Aromatherapy, Indian Head Massage, Body Massage or Anatomy and Physiology - not sure if this is going to fit the course requirements though?? I love the resources that the Chef's at Otago Poly have developed and would love to be able to develop something along those lines for my students - particularly in the practical areas even with something like eye lash tinting - my issue here would be health and safety -would I want this resource being open access when there is a health and safety issue? The risk I also have is that students will miss class because they know they can catch up "on-line" - this is probably something I need to give detailed thought to - how would I control access, and in what context would students be given access to material on-line as the nature of the course is face-to-face.
- Idea 4 - set up a course blog with links on-line quizzes, mcq tests etc. use the blog as feedback mechanism - amongst other things - again think this is too wishy-washy for my flexible learning plan - the risk here is that it may not prove to be as useful as some of the other ideas -
- Idea 5 - ?????
There are many considerations that I need to take into account before I could proceed with any of these ideas - timing being a key consideration, along with privacy issues and cultural awareness, especially if I was to develop the resources for subjects like Massage.
All questions and concerns that I am still trying to fathom out answers to, and decide what my focus is going to be. Any helpful guidance would be appreciated!
Personally, I like the sound of 3 and 4 combined.. You could start by simply keeping your class notes, resources and feedback ona blog - and getting your students used to the idea of accessing that for back up to their studies.
ReplyDeleteEven better if you could get them putting their notes up and collaborating in improving them.. probably using a wiki.. but that might be a long way off..
As for your concerns about health and safety if you publish videos to the Net.. I'm not sure I understand.. Are you concerned that you will show poor practice in the video? In which case it seems that going open access is a good motivation for quality improvement.. Or is it the health and safety of the person being recorded and published? If it is the later - you would need to use a media release form that get the person's permission to record and publish the video. Having your videos on Youtube will certainly help to market your course - as it has done for the Chefs at OP.. and I highly doubt your students will skip class because the videos are there.. if that's the case, I'd be reflecting on what it is your class has to offer - because the videos would surely already be on Youtube or other media sites woudln't they? I know our Massage Therapy teacher uses existing videos on Youtube, and a quick search on Beauty Therapy revealed a lot of stuff already.
Perhaps you and a librarian could commit more time to finding good existing resources and you use your course blog to bring them together at the right time for your students.
I think that would be a good first step plan that you know you can get started on now, without waiting for Moodle permission or anyone else's say so.
and a suggestion for 5????
ReplyDeleteHow about you take a look at the Massage Therapy course that Otago Polytechnic has been building on Wikieducator. I know they are very keen to collaborate with other providers.. perhaps your plan is something to do with collaborating with Otago Polytechnic Massage Therapy..
http://www.wikieducator.org/Therapeutic_massage
Thanks Leigh for the feedback - that's sort of what I had thought really - a combination of 3 and 4 that are readily accessible now for the students! I will look at the massage therapy course and see what they are doing!
ReplyDeleteThe health and safety aspect is around the fact that tinting especially involves the use of chemicals that are harmful if used incorrectly - I know we have had to remove tinting from our level 2 programme for this reason. Yes there is a lot of stuff - but as the fashion ladies have pointed out mostly poor quality and Americanised!
Your quote at the top makes me think of soemthing similar like "invest in education and training, you can't lose it on the stock market".
ReplyDeleteCan I suggest: do what you can and don't worry about the bits you can't. From a student's perspective even adding some interest (sound, pictures, interactive exercise) and ways of reinforcing or viewing knowledge from different perspectives would be good - such as your own youtube videos or pointing them to useful supplementary resources on the web such as Marian Diamonds Anatomy and physiology stuff on Academic Earth (just suing that as an example) or online or free flash card systems they can use to memorise the names of bones and muscles eg memorylifter or byki. Maybe a few short podcasts/mp3 sound files by local massage therapists giving examples of how they apply the knowledge in their work (would give real world meaning to the knowledge). If you can't get Moodle up give them stuff on a usb stick - at a small cost that they can recoup when they return them at the end of the course. Let them explore themselves and reflect.
dzyanna
Thanks so much Dyzanna - especially for the suggestions for resources already on the web - what a great idea about the USB - yet another example of flexibility that I hadn't even considered! I will start exploring!
ReplyDeleteHelen it looks like Leigh beat me to it again. I agree with all his suggestions. I believe the blog idea could work very well in two ways. Firstly as a way to alert your students to information relevant to their subject as well as a way to provide them with motivation for the subject. I am sure there is a lot of topical stuff you could alert them about and you could drip feed them resources week by week.
ReplyDeleteSecondly as a means of helping students practice their writing skills. I am interested to hear more about your first idea - written test. Is there any way you could get students to keep a blog and use something like this formatively to help them to prepare for the summative test. That is they use it as a way to learn to express their ideas and expand their understanding about the terms they are learning as well as learning to write better. You could give them feedback as they go much as we do on your blog. They could either post the final written test on their blog or email to you or hand in.
Clinical nursing lecturers are having a lot of success in using a wiki as a place for students to share resources with each other. They also use the area for discussions about events which occur in clinical. I don't think it is too soon for using a wiki for adding resources if the students get good support. You could start them off once you learn how.
Thanks Bron - again more for me to digest and think about- I like the idea of students using a blog to help them with their writing skills - my main concern is that many of our students have not completed formal schooling and would I think be very daunted by the idea - but - again - is that just me thinking that and could I put out some sort of survey to see what their level of understanding is. I give students a weekly test (typed and printed out on paper) maybe I could post the questions on the blog and they can then respond on their own blogs? That sounds a great idea!
ReplyDeleteI may need guidance on a wiki!!! is that through wiki educator or another place?
Good encouragement and suggestion Dzyanna - its great having engagement from abroad in this course, thank you.
ReplyDeleteHelen, perhaps instead of using blogs, you could ask your students to set up their own social network on Beebo or something. They'll probably want to keep it seperate from their real social network on Facebook, but through Facebook they'll probably have the intuative skills to set something up elsewhere (for you!) and write there. That way they have control of where they write, including privacy settings. As you suggest, you could write your tasks up on an open blog like this one, but your students are free to choose.. options being (email responses to you, paper mail, or their own blog or profile site..) personally I would encourage them to connect with eachother using a social networking site because it's likely to have use to them after the course.. if not the network itself - then the idea of using such a thing for marketing their future businesses and services, or furthering professional development.
I haven't really got anything to add to this conversation at all. However, I do identify with your feelings about a learner - it does us educators the world of good to re-visit those feelings, doesn't it?!
ReplyDeleteI haven't felt part of a community in this course. In fact, I have felt quite isolated (but that's OK - I have been very caught up in other things in my life which hasn't helped). And this I think can be an issue that we need to take into consideration - how to be flexible to fit individual needs but at the same time create a community feel to the learning.
...assuming a community feel is universally valued right? It is a bit of a unquestioned premise I reckon....
ReplyDeleteHi Helen
ReplyDeleteI have just been reading over your blog and want to commend you on the regularity of your posts and on the thought and effort that has gone into these. I very much like that you have started this blog with sharing your feelings and I can certainly relate to all of these.
Cheers
Jenny