sunnuntai 1. syyskuuta 2013

First impression of the course content

I spent this morning reading through the module description, working methods, activities and assessments of the Multicultural Authentic eLearning- course and I have to say I got a little overwhelmed. It took a while for me to actually comprehend the text with its new (for me) words and concepts. But after a careful read and thought process I think at the end I now have a fairly good understanding of what the course is about. Though, I have to confess there are some terms I am not yet familiar with but hoping they will be clarified with concrete examples as we proceed our collaborative learning on this course.

I am a type of a person who makes lists both at home and at work; a to-do-list, a shopping list, remember this-list, things to be discussed during lesson- list etc. And now being back at school I find myself making lists. Lists sum up and clarify things for me i.e. for example a list of key words. Therefore while reading through the module description etc. I made a list of key words. This is just my list, but I hope it will be of some help to some of you.. unless, every other one you is already an IT wizard. Personally I am not. This course will truly be a challenge for me, but who doesn't like a challenge. Plus I do need to update my IT skills and this course will force me to do it. Already I've done something I'd never done before; an internet blog.

I guess some of the things above already tell you something about me, but I will soon get back to you with 1 Topic task / Identity task.

Till then.. Here is my list of key words:

MaEl-2013

Key words:

Module description
the implications of multiculturalism
the collective identification, development and employment of pedagogic tools
the enablers and factors affecting multicultural e-learning
the multicultural professional identity building
the collaborative construction of knowledge
peer learning
the analysis, reflection and comparison of intercultural experiences
the meaning of culture in e-learning
a multicultural virtual community

Working methods
the internationalisation of educational institutions
the professional development of teachers
the virtual mobility of students
the globalisation of education
multiculturalism
education
peer learning
peer development
reflection and evaluation
increasing multicultural operational environments
the exchange of ideas, knowledge, experiences and emotions
eBenchmarking
online learning
shared learning
collective learning
collaborative learning
interaction
collaborative activity

Peer pairs / small groups
peer learning and collective learning channels
blog
the e-benchmarking method
the common understanding of the examined phenomenon
a peer community
the areas of foci
personal development
reflective learning



How can authentic learning principles/criteria be developed, or re-designed, for multicultural contexts?



ACTIVITIES

Topic task (reflection tasks – individual tasks; self-reflection and collective/ collaborative tasks; learning community)
  • reflecting the module's themes
  • mirroring module's themes against one's perceptions, feelings and experiences

Identity task (reflection task, individual self-reflection)
  • processing an identity perspective
  • considering one's growth as teacher / professional
  • e-learinng point of view
  • 150 words per topic

Development task
  • the concrete development of one's own online teaching work
  • an authentic development project
  • close peer collaboration
  • peer benchmarking
  • producing new educational material (a course / a smaller module) or modernise / redesign educational material or a previously designed course module
  • applying the principles of multicultural authentic e-learning


ASSESSMENT

a) self-evaluation
b) peer evaluation
c) expert evaluation


Oh, and do have a question for you:

Could someone please explain what does the term benchmarking / e-benchmarking in practise mean?
I am no IT wizard and have some to learn even when it comes to the vocabulary. Would truly appreciate the help. Thank you! j

2 kommenttia:

  1. Hi Jonna,

    I think it’s a good thing that you are not yet familiar with all concepts of the module. It means that you can find something new to learn and you can make new findings.

    The idea behind this module is that new things will gradually be open up and you can deepen your understanding about the phenomenon step by step.

    By e-benchmarking we understand peer learning method / benchmarking cooperation, in which we use electronic tools / virtual communication in our interaction.

    Benchmarking in our context is a peer reflection process of one's e-learning course (re-designed during this module) based the reflection tool we will develop together.
    A student / or a student pair will examine and discuss how multicultural authentic e-learning criteria are implemented in other student’s / student pair’s development task (re-designed course). We will do the benchmarking process in pairs from the December.

    Benchmarking philosophy and process are shortly described in Activities in Topic 1 and will be described in more detail in Topics 6 and 7 before we start our benchmarking process.

    From Topic 1 Topic references and further learning  Topic resources you can find one article in which the BM model we are applying in our module is described:

    Leppisaari, I., Vainio, L. & Herrington, J. (2009). Virtual benchmarking as professional development: Peer learning in authentic learning environments. In Same places, different spaces. Proceedings Ascilite Auckland 2009. Retrieved (12.6.2013) from: http://www.ascilite.org.au/conferences/auckland09/procs/leppisaari.pdf

    VastaaPoista