Category: Reflective posts

1. 1. Every learner has his/her own way to learn new knowledge.

Because people have different characteristics which develop the diversity of learning style, for example, some people think it is better to read out loud and some think the other way. Some people like to make notes while they are reading, some people do not. There is no right or wrong, better or worse way of learning things. There are only suitable ways of learning for learners. So, it is very important to find a learning style that is suitable for the learners which contribute to my second point.

I have this experience that when I was in China, I forgot to put my name on my example paper. The teacher from the other class was able to recognize which was the teacher of mine when everyone was doing the same paper out of many different sections of the same subject. From here, we can see that the style of answering questions can be passed on by teachers. The same applies to the style of learning.

2. Why is it important to find a suitable way of learning for every learner?

Because an appropriate, good method of learning can save much time for learners. For example, some people are good at summarizing content out of a long article, and some do not. It will be a better method for the learners with the better-summarizing skills to conclude the materials they have read (Hypothes.is would be a good app for them to conclude the content as an annotation). People with weaker summarizing skills can read the materials several times instead of misunderstanding or guess the meaning of content.

3. Through OER, learners can easily find or develop their personalized ways of learning.

Because it is a flexible, free and easy-access source which better for the learner to discover and develop their personalized study method. It is important for the learner to have a flexible and easy-going environment. There are applications or websites like FLOE designed for diverse learners. It has many tools for learners to use, first discovery tool, preference exploration tool, and so on. It is a really good open-source.

 

1. 1. “If we had easy-to-use tools, we’d all make our content more accessible”. What does this concept mean? It is a bit rough and general. What does this sentence try to tell us in a more logical way?

2.” The goal of education is to support learners in reaching their full potential”. “Full potential” What does full potential mean? What kind of aspects does it include? Full potential is too broad and impossible to achieve. The potential of human is infinitive large. So, I am confused by this sentence or perhaps I want to know the details.

 

1. The module in week 11 mainly talks about the how and why the Universal Design for Learning. I wonder more about the what is the Universal Design for Learning. There should be more information or history about the universal design. It will be more helpful for people to contextualize the content. And perhaps have different understandings on the same content.

A.

The difference between online educational content and openly licensed educational content is that online educational content is very broad which contains “open” and “close” educational content. Many of the online educational content is not open and has to ask for permission before people access them. Openly licensed educational content is open content (OCW, OER, MOOC)  that involves the most popular open license system- Creative Commons(Known as the basic CC By license ). People are giving permission to access the providers’ creative content under the Creative Commons terms. Conclusively, not all of the online educational content is accessing freely and has to ask for permission. But openly licensed educational content is already given permission for people to use them under Creative Commons terms.  

B.

This is the link of  the open educational resource (About Accounting: Forms of Business): https://digmedia.cdu.edu.au/ssdcms/ipublic.do?u=d10141906330406

C.

The source does point its objectives out by telling the question(objective) on the overview which can give people some rough ideas about this topic and triggers their imagination.

No major content errors, but the explanation of each point is very short which I doubt its accuracy of the topic. There are no spelling errors and it is not peer-reviewed.

The explanations are very short on each point, therefore, is not very clear and understandable. The layout and interface are very simple and plain which is easy to navigate. The design is not very attractive did not enhance learning for me. The video quilty is medium. 

It is an embedded video and has to log in before saved as other formats, but can be watched on the website. There are subtitles in this video and they are accurate.

The video does encourage active learning and participation by giving time to people to discuss and refresh memories. The video tests people’s understanding of the materials by asking questions and giving times for people to think. The license of this source is Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs which can be reuse but cannot be used for commercial purposes and cannot be changed. It is the most restrictive of the six main licenses. If it can be edited, I would put more interesting and practical examples and more explanations on every point which could draw more attention and make the topic easier to understand. 

D.

As a student, I would use OER as an assistive tool that can help me when I am at home because it allows me to access the sources anytime I want instead of going to school or booking an appointment for help. after knowing the existence of the open educational resource from this course, it really gives me convenience. OER can be my tutor at home that every problem I have from the school work I can find my solution through the internet with the open educational resource. 

 

       

 

 

 

Compare to student-centered learning, I personally like the teacher to be the center of the class, because all students have their own thoughts and it is hard to trust a student over a profound teacher. It is good to have one’s own thoughts. Either teacher-centered or student-centered, they all have pros and cons. It more depends on which one is suitable for the students. The best way is to combine them, the teacher is the light guiding students, but the students are not necessarily listening to the teacher, and they can have their own ideas and share with others. For example, with a small size of the class, when the teacher is talking, everyone else is listening carefully. After talking, the teacher will give students time to brainstorm and share ideas with the rest of the class which is also giving the stage to the students and letting them “perform”. This is a good way to train students’ critical thinking and other abilities. Both teacher-centered and student-centered are taking turns in one class which is a good method for learning. Both teachers and students can learn new things from each other. There are always many solutions to one question. The most important thing is to learn how to be self-determined in the study. People with a self-determination will benefit from both student-centered and teacher-centered learning.

 

 

There is no better or worse between synchronous and asynchronous. It more relies on which learning is better for the learner. For example, people with strong self-control, both synchronous and asynchronous learning are suitable for students. If a student lacks self-control or self-consciousness, it is better for the student to have synchronous learning. Asynchronous learning is more time-flexible which is also good for those who do not have much time or time is flexible. Many online courses are very human that they can have different sections either time-fixed courses or time-flexible courses. Even for schools, they have both normal(in-class) courses and online courses which are very convenient and human for students.

 

My understanding of the word “Connectivism” is to get more connections online through social media, like Facebook, Instagram and many other social apps, which can help people when they need help in learning. For example, if a person is learning physics and stuck in the middle of the study, he/she knows a friend who is a physics doctor can help with his/her questions. That is also the advantage of knowing some knowledgeable people because with the internet, it can be faster to solve problems online through social apps compares to look for help when teachers or friends are not there. With more connections on the internet, people can always get helped when they are needed during studying.

 

The best way for a learner to study is also the most comfortable way of learning. It is significant to find a good objective while study, otherwise it is very easy to get lost and do not know what to learn and what to do.

 

 

After reading both of the articles, I learned that the internet is very powerful and changes fast over time. So does the educational technology. It almost evolves every single year. I think the reason for the fast evolvements is that people are eager to gain new knowledge on the internet since it eliminates the time, distance and many other limitations. In addition, with many knowledgeable people’s contributions to the study materials online, learners can easily access to them. The most important part of open learning is that people can study on their own pace and slowly digest the new things they have learned. There are more and more people start to agree on open learning and it is getting better.