As one chapter closes…

…another one opens. Well, its almost mid-January 2018 and as one course ends (IDEL) a new one begins (Digital Education in Global Context – DEGC), no rest for the wicked I might add since this has happened over the space of last weekend – truly!

DEGC assessment is 50% by way of a group blog and us learners have to lead the blog posts and ensuing discussions for 2 of the 12? weeks the course runs. I’m afraid to even count the weeks but since the assignment is due in just under 14 weeks time then that’s the length of time I need to be focused on the course. The guideline is 7-10 hours a week and I will try to study smarter this semester and stick to that guide. With 4 research students to support, a face to face class to teach, and an online class to prepare for it will be a busy semester, that’s for sure.

In order to move forward, I find it helps to look back and in my case here are some key learnings I took away from my first semester studying Digital Education at the University of Edinburgh:

• Technology is not our enemy but it takes investment to learn how to use it wisely. While I had spent some time during summer 2017 figuring out how to use WordPress in the knowledge that it was an assessable component of IDEL, I stuck with a fairly basic approach. Selecting and customising themes was alien to me until it came to the assignment. I didn’t think I could easily convert my 2,500 words into a website with any great meaning so stuck with the blog approach. With assistance from my regular study buddies (Noemi, Tricia and Anshul) I think I came up with a half decent output (results later this month will tell the true tale of course!). So, figuring that I’ve gotten to grips with WordPress my attention now turns to the likes of MS Sway, Animatron, Weebly, Wix, Kahoot, Socrative, MS Forms, Google forms for starters! My goal is to convert some of the module content for my upcoming face to face classes using these technologies and share feedback with my MScDE peers and anyone else who may be interested – watch this space.
• Social learning is important and it doesn’t just happen, it takes effort. During the early weeks of IDEL it felt a bit daunting not knowing anyone and trying to engage in the discussions. If I’m truthful I figured that I’d try and get away with as little as possible in the areas that didn’t interest me and more importantly that were not assessable components of the course. But, this isn’t me and soon I became engaged with a small group to figure out how to play Minecraft! This was a turning point and while I admit that I haven’t built much in Minecraft I know I have built solid relationships with some classmates that will no doubt ensure long after we graduation. Indeed, I probably learned more from this group of people (you know who you are) about technology and have more confidence to start experimenting further.
• My assignment focused on teaching presence within a community of inquiry and the process taught me as much about learning from the student perspective as it did about the teacher perspective. As one former student wrote when I told him I too was studying for a masters – ‘Good to know you are also a student now, while teaching at the same time. Will help understand students more.’ I trust that I will follow through and become a better teacher as a result.

Featured image courtesy of: https://pixabay.com/en/read-book-knowledge-study-of-kids-2799820/