#change11 How has e-learning changed my life?

My thinking of late has turned to an old thorny question buzzing in the back of my brain! Maybe its result of the transition from one project(s) to another and the fact that I’m seeking true meaning for what I do online? Perhaps its my other self providing me with a ‘map’ to where I want to be next. But, on another more practical note, is it my way of framing what I’m doing by being part of #Change11.

I have been viewing some excellent and thought provoking slidedecks from Stephen Downes over at Slideshare and this one in particular has prompted some of this questioning: connectivist learning. This slide in particular has resonated for me as a way to describe how e-learning has changed my brain and my life.

“We are using one of these … to create one of these”!

I agree absolutely with this and I can now explain the changes I have experienced through the networking part of e-learning and how they have impacted on what I do and what I think. Thank you Stephen.

I can genuinely say that my network connections are wide and deep and provide me with all of the answers and more of the questions I need to ask to help others build their own e-capability. I no longer have to wait for discussions and conversations to happen at a face-to-face meeting, although they still do provide the added benefits of collective and collaborative instant brainstorming. My discussions and conversations are mostly held online in community networks, course forums, social networks, text and chat messages. When I wish to find a solution to an e-learning issue; when I have a question about best practices in project processes; and when I need to keep up-to-date with what’s happening in the e-learning environment for adult learners – I need to go online and use my networks, my connections, my curations and my colleagues to find the answers. My online personal learning network guides my daily practices.

Incredibly I can usually find a link, an article, a tweet or a comment about the issue I am thinking about by just allowing them to filter into my personal web spaces. Invariably – whenever I am there – something, some one thing, will pop up and lead me to a place where the answers exist. I am constantly amazed at how this happens on a daily basis – is this the law of ‘virtual’ attraction? I have learned to trust this instinctive way of connecting and networking – that’s where my brain has changed – plus I have patience to await the return on this investment of my time.
Does any of this make sense to you? What do you do differently now that you have a personal learning network?

The way I learn has changed too – I am much more likely to engage in a Massive open online course than enrol in a short course facilitated online. I have confidence in directing my own learning and enjoy the freedom of choice in selecting the learning path. That is not for everyone of course, but it certainly is for me and many others who embrace the MOOC way of learning. So with this new knowledge I aim to explore other blended MOOC models for developing e-capability for those I e-mentor.

So what has changed in me? How have I reached this plateau? The answer lies in my Networking; Experiences; Immersion and Connections!

What has changed for you?

 

 

Scoop It! on E-portfolios

Scoop It curations on or about eportfolios are plentiful right now; I’ve gathered a few together for your enjoyment.

• Eportfolios curated by Lee Ballantyne: http://www.scoop.it/t/e-portfolios 
• Eportfolios curated by Heath Sawyer: http://www.scoop.it/t/eportfolios 
• Eportfolios world wide curated by Ray Tolley: http://www.scoop.it/t/eportfolios-worldwide 
• Mahara Eportfolios curated by Sigi Jakob: http://www.scoop.it/t/mahara-eportfolio 
• Eportfolio Examples curated by Ray Tolley: http://www.scoop.it/t/eportfolios-examples 
• Preparing to be a self-directed learner curated by Coach Carole: http://www.scoop.it/t/preparing-to-be-a-self-directed-learner

Create a Scoop It! for yourself on any topic at: http://www.scoop.it

Please add a comment with other Scoop It! curations on eportfolios or self-directed learning or join my Scoop Its!

Collective learning for #change11

As researchers, we need to fully understand collective learning processes, the factors that affect these, and the emergent nature of collective learning. As practitioners, we have to face the challenges around whether collective learning can be planned, structured, and managed. As learners, we have to understand the inter-relationships between individual and the collective.

My recent experiences with the EpCoP MOOC gave me a headstart in my thinking about collective learning. It is now my belief that collective learning can be planned, structured and managed. We need to have essential ingredients such as a design team willing to working collaboratively, a collective understanding of the purpose of our planning and designing and a common goal as delivery facilitators.

• We need to have a sponsored project that pushes the design and development along at a pace that enables participants to gather their enthusiasm, their committment and their follow through over a reasonable stretch of time.
• We need to employ the technology tools that enable collaboration, communication and creation and that each person is comfortable in each of those domains.
• We need a project management approach to ensure that timelines were met and deliverables and outcomes achieved on time and in budget.
• We need a cohort of learners who are eager to engage in the learning journey about the collective learning topic.
• We need plausible and meaningful measures of activity, success and outcomes and innovative methods of sourcing feedback and testimonials along with a wrap up procedure to provide closure for the experience.
• We need the stamina and ingenuity to see the project through and to ensure that we capture the experience as a reflective practice from launch to closure.

But most of all we need the collective learning of all participants to shape, change, validate, verify, engage and evaluate the total experience quite transparently and openly.

A big thank you to all of our EpCoP MOOC collective!