An introduction to online pedagogy

The AMOK International days gave me inspiration on how I can implement some of the ideas in my teaching:

How web-based learning environments can support and enhance learning?

How web-based learning environment can be used for different learning tasks and teaching methods?


For example using video as a tool to record one’s thoughts and reflections was a great way to start the workshops. I was using iPad and the iMovie in the past and would like to use it more as it has some nice creative and professional looking effects. The interface with Apple products is generally quite intuitive and easy to pick up. The school where I work has Adobe Premier Elements and I have been using this software to teach video editing to students. Also I used the idea of videoing their presentations. This I believe has helped students to see how confident they are with their presentations, for example were they poised and confident and whether they were able to explain the idea to others clearly. The visual aspect of it is definitely a great way to also show work and circulate work on Youtube, Vimeo and by blogging.

Creating a MOOC is also something I would like to explore further in my teaching. I have been using some materials from MIT Open Courseware for photojournalism and photography. The most interesting part for me was literature that was suggested for reading as this gives a good insight into trends and concepts that are important for the particular subject. If one does search on the internet there are of course many options but the MIT Open Courseware materials were a sort of a short cut to higher level thinking. This can be also seen as an example of ‘online pedagogy’.

“Using personal learning environments with teacher’s active support should be seen as a scaffold towards students’ better awareness of their learning practices and better skills for learning”. (Valtonen & Kukkonen 2011, date of retrieval 2.5.2014).

Creating my own MOOC for the subjects that I teach would be a great way to start. I have been collecting materials and ideas over the past few years and also had the chance to test some of them with the students. The MOOC would enable me to organise these materials and allow for more student self-paced learning. Particularly if students are working on group projects and are at varying levels of skills in terms of editing or taking images or video. They could also research theory in their own time too. Collaborative learning is important and also the emphasis on personal learning environment helps to empower students' learning.

The other presentations inspired me in various ways, perhaps in a more theoretical way related to the pedagogy of teaching, especially the presentation on mentoring by Nijole CiuCiulkiene. Her presentation was focused on mentoring aspects in International classes. I have been interested in reverse mentoring for example as I find that if I let students participate more in the decisions around content and tools that we are using, there are always nice surprises with some of the things that they might already know of. For example one of the students told me about Weebly tool that he used in another school for creating web pages. I thought it was a good tool to use in the school context as it gives the option to create student logins that the teacher can manage from one account and it is suitable for younger users as it preserves the privacy of sites.

“Students must be familiar with their process of learning in order to be able to choose the appropriate tools and contents for their PLEs to promote their learning (Valtonen et al., submitted). This indicates demands for students’ self-regulation skills and meta-cognitive thinking which might be very challenging for students”. (Valtonen & Kukkonen 2011, date of retrieval 2.05.2014).

Regardless of the age group, teacher or mentor should always take into consideration the other persons views. I let the students teach me about latest trends in the use of social media tools for example. I have been using social media for a long time but there are always new apps or concepts that I may not be aware of. We all use these tools for different purposes depending on the interests and age. For example some of my students have come up with the idea to make a video on how to take good selfies. This was quite some time before the media hype about selfies and before the word itself officially became part of the Oxford dictionary, so I was quite happy that I allowed them to explore this topic in the school context. I believe that this did not have only entertainment value as it was also part of a ‘participatory culture’ and ‘expressions’, producing a new creative form of communication.

The lecture by Yrjö Mikkonen, PhD. Multicultural researcher, was also very interesting in terms of ideas that can be applied to teaching. I work in an international school and I always try to see all of my students first as individuals regardless of the culture they come from. The multiculturalism versus internationalism discussion was valuable and there were some interesting examples also related to the visit we had with the International School. This is quite a sensitive topic and it must be approached carefully also depending on the age group one is working with. I have for example tried to work on a Community and Service project with one of my photography groups where we had to think of a conceptual idea as a poster for anti-bullying message or any other environment related topic that students felt would address the issues related to life in the school community. I used also some ideas from the Global Education course we did with Blair Stevenson and Intercultural Communication course I have been doing at Jyvaskyla University. For example,  I asked them to formulate research questions and come up with the theme for their project. In addition to that,  I showed the video materials related to Bennett’s Principles of Intercultural Sensitivity. This was quite challenging for the 15-16 year olds but most of them were able to grasp the importance of this topic.



References:

School of Vocational Teacher Education, An introduction to online pedagogy. Date of retrieval 1.05.2014

https://optima.oamk.fi/learning/id7/bin/user?rand=14120

Jenkins, H., Purushotma, R., Clinton, K., Weigel, M., & Robinson A.J. 2006. Massachusetts Institute of Technology: MIT OpenCourseWare, Confronting the Challenges of Participatory Culture: Media. Date of retrieval 1.05.2014

http://ocw.mit.edu/courses/comparative-media-studies/cms-998-new-media-literacies-spring-2007/readings/nmlwhitepaper.pdf

Pelz, B. 2004. My Three Principles of Effective Online Pedagogy. Date of retrieval 2.05.2014

http://www.ccri.edu/distancefaculty/pdfs/Online-Pedagogy-Pelz.pdf

Hanover Research Council. 2009. Best Practices in Online Teaching Strategies. Date of retrieval 1.05.2014

www.hanoverresearch.com http://www.uwec.edu/AcadAff/resources/edtech/upload/Best-Practices-in-Online-Teaching-Strategies-Membership.pdf

Valtonen, T, & Kukkonen, J (2011). Students’ Readiness for Personal Learning Environments. In: Proceedings of the PLE Conference 2011, pp. 1-7.10th – 12th July 2011, Southampton, UK. Date of retrieval 1.05.2014

http://journal.webscience.org/581/


YLE News.The bubble surrounding expat students. 29.4.2014. Date of retrieval 2.05.2014

http://yle.fi/uutiset/the_bubble_surrounding_expat_students/7213960?autoplay=true