OpenEd: Comments to David Wiley

I posted this on David Wiley’s blog, in his entry in response to Alessandro’s concerns about the course, which mirrored my own thoughts. I am reposting it here, since I know many will not see the comments on David’s blog. Thank you Alessandro for getting this conversation started. 

HI David,

I am very glad that this topic came up, as it is something I think several of us have been thinking. For my own sake, I understand that it is a big commitment to be following and commenting on so many posts and ideas every week, but I guess in hearing nothing from you at all about the course, we feel that we are left to “sail our own sea”… here are some thoughts

• I’d really like to hear more about your self-reflective thoughts about this course, how you feel it is going, and how you’d organize it differently, or how you will organize it differently if you are teaching it again (which I hope you will!)
• Perhaps limiting enrollment would be a good idea - probably on a first-come first-serve basis. Since all the material is open, everyone else would be able to read all the material, read every blog, and even publish on their own blog - they just wouldn’t be in the blogroll and you wouldn’t be obliged to read their blogs etc.
• We should probably consider what technologies we use to conduct this class. I really like the fact that no synchronous presence is necessary, since it’s hard with different timezones and responsabilities, but the possibility of one - for example once a week just assigning a time and place for people who want to to meet and discuss would be useful. You wouldn’t have to attend if you didn’t have time.
• Perhaps having a co-tutor, like a TA, who would help read the blogs and provide comments, join the chat etc. I am sure, for such an interesting topic, you might be able to find someone to do it voluntarily.
• Blogs are good for publishing longer “essays” that stand on their own - the fact that we publish them on our own blogs is nice, because it gives it more “personal” identity, and people not in this course can come across them. However a) I read all the blogs through Google Reader, and thus I miss the comments. b) We really need a “back-channel”, whether a forum or a mailing list, where we can have more of a running dynamic conversation about this forum, how it’s going, how we are feeeling, how we’d like to do it differently etc. Apparently edocet’s concern has already been discussed among the Italian speakers because they already belong to one online community, but hasn’t been shared with the rest of the group, because there was no place to do that, except post a blog, which is somewhat “bombastic” - especially if it’s just for a question (like “where are the interviews listed in the curriculum”)
• I really liked your “summary” posts during the first week, and I would love it if you could continue doing that. You don’t need to cite us all by far, but just highlighting a few interesting thoughts or ideas, and kind of “pulling it all together” before we move on.
• I also second Megan’s post about a schedule were we first have to post our first impressions on the readings, and then a few days later blog about other people’s thoughts.

Stian
apologies for the long message - I really think this is a wonderful initiative, and I am learning a lot, both about the content, but also in reflecting about the course delivery! Thank you!

This entry was posted on Monday, October 22nd, 2007 at 23:19 and is filed under open-education. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.