ETC655: Lesson 3 Instructor’s Notes

In this Instructor's Notes, I share the common feedback for the Assignment 2: Analysis of Pedagogy InfoDoc, Lesson 2 discussions to advance your learning, and Lesson journal. Read them carefully. I will continue to post the "Instructor's Notes" regularly to guide you throughout the class. I have higher expectations on your learning performances than in ETC645 since this is the most advanced course in the ETC curriculum. I know you can accomplish it.

 

Assignment 2: Analysis of Pedagogy InfoDoc

Take a close look at the template. Start gathering your ideas, and resources. It is a labor-intensive assignment.

 

Assignment 3: Open Network Technology Training

Prepare ahead for the training session. It is a "real-time" PD. Planning, and executing are crucial. Watch previous students' sessions to gather ideas. For those of you who have multiple partners, seamless collaboration is needed. Static presentation, or show & tell are not enough for this assignment. Interactive, engaging, and dynamic learning experiences are what need to deliverd.

 

Lesson 2 Discussions

The quality of the postings and the interactivity were not as outstanding as in ETC645. I am looking forward to your improvements. Quality postings come from the thorough understanding of readings while fully digesting the information. Connectivism and ONLE are not easy theories and pedagogy to comprehend, particularly the key principles of Connectivism.

Principles of connectivism:

·         Learning and knowledge rests in a diversity of opinions.

·         Learning is a process of connecting specialized nodes or information sources.

·         Learning may reside in non-human appliances.

·         Capacity to know more is more critical than what is currently known

·         Nurturing and maintaining connections is needed to facilitate continual learning.

·         Ability to see connections between fields, ideas, and concepts is a core skill.

·         Currency (accurate, up-to-date knowledge) is the intent of all connectivist learning activities.

·         Decision-making is itself a learning process. Choosing what to learn and the meaning of incoming information is seen through the lens of a shifting reality. While there is a right answer now, it may be wrong tomorrow due to alterations in the information climate affecting the decision.

 

Improving Interconnectivity

Post early: Research indicated that early postings have a beneficial influence on learning outcomes.

Respond to the questions raised by others: Carefully screening whether any questions raised on your postings. Applying visuals to see whether you received any reply is not reliable. In ETC655, I facilitate the strategy of one-many or many-many which one posting addresses multiple people. See Lesson 2 discussion for the example. Not replying to them would result in less satisfactory scores in SNA.

Follow-Up Questions: I post follow-up questions to deepen our knowledge in the topics.  Give them a try!

Review SNA or social roles carefully: To advance ourselves to become proficient community learners, I shared additional scores for your social roles, Transmitter (Closeness centrality), Prominent (Eigenvector centrality), and Prestigious (PageRank). What do they mean? Are you a proficient or competent community learner? I hope you are.

Socio-Cognitive Learning: Focus on Prominent Role (Eigenvector Centrality) and Prestigious Role (PageRank), particularly prestigious roles reflecting your cognitive learning performances. Quality of whom you interact with and quality of your posting matter.

Ironically not practicing "Interconnectivity" while studying Connectivism: Interconnectivity means "interaction" and "connection."

 

How to conduct quality posting?

Integrate the Practical Inquiry Model (Garrison, Anderson, & Archer, 2000) to compose your postings.

Articulate your own opinions: Significant amount of materials copied from course materials or outside sources without condensing them through analysis or synthesis would not be considered quality posting by our community.  Integrate multiple views and show values as a seed for reflection by including other participants' views. Includes analysis or synthesis of course materials, your own experience, and/or classmates' postings. This would improve your PageRank score.

Asking "meaningful" questions: This is a great way to engage in network interaction. Asking mediocre questions would negatively impact your SNA scores, such as Eigenvector, PageRank, and Reciprocated Vertex Pair Ratio etc. In fact, posting mediocre questions shows a deficient understanding of the topic.

 

Journal Entry

Great thorough interaction with yourself and me. I relish the opportunity to spend time with you in my journal reading. Some of you carry a dialogue with yourself, like a diary with a "self-self" interaction while some forgo guiding questions, opting for an open and free conversation. What a great approach! I read them and provide my reflections for each week's journal. Do read them and continue the conversation. Each week's journal becomes a conversation thread. I feel it is important for me to establish good rapport with my students. It makes me feel closer to your learning journey.