I'm also making some changes and adjustments to the MDL4000 course site prior to the upcoming face to face classes. I've reached out, using direct messaging on Twitter, to a TC in the Ottawa area who is active on Twitter, has participated in a number of openly accessible podcasts through VoiceEd.ca, and who has recently updated her web presence. She has agreed to drop into one of my classes (using Google Hangouts) to talk to my class about what she's been doing. My goal is to have students connect to others in the early stages of the profession who are models of active, open teaching practice as well as build connections for their own PLNs. If I bring these connections into focus, perhaps some of the students will revisit their blog sites with renewed interest in building their digital persona (part of the Persona component of CDL) and possibly even participate in the TC2 podcast series on VoiceEd Radio. (Use & Create) (Persona - identity building)
This ties into the Dial-It-Up diagram for the CLOSED - OPEN continuum. There are varying degrees of closed and open in each component of the courses I teach and how students participate in the course activities. For both courses, my approach if not one of coercion but more of active encouragement, supportive exploration, and models that show I have also tried these activities and that I have reflected on the experiences in open, digital spaces e.g. my blog, twitter. I tend to place opportunities and choices into the classes and activities or embed them within the assignment requirements rather than force students into spaces or places that are less comfortable or ones that they may not be ready to explore.
For example, Slack is a required space for the CDL3239 course but participation is specifically linked to collaborative feedback in small groups. Posting a response to the whole group in one of the open channels is not part of the grading or expectations. Posting a response in their small group conversations is graded, but only as a component of their overall project. It's an open opportunity that some engage in but others limit their participation to just the required contributions. There is choice and agency built into the expectations in the use of this digital tool, with code breaking as part of the process built into the course design.
For the MDL4000 course, participation in podcasting is not part of the evaluation unless students chose to explore this form of media production as part on a media-making assignment. Since some may not be comfortable with voice recordings, I do not require them all to do a podcast. But I have recently done a podcast for a VoiceEd.ca radio show, titled Getting Air, I share this with my students as a model. I bring into the classroom activities others (such as Sarah L) who are trying new media productions in their professional practices in order to build digital identity. Included in this is time in class for exploration into code-breaking using voice recording tools such as Audacity and GarageBand. Since I do require students to create a blog site as part of their course assignments, I provide choice and agency in how these blogs are used and how privacies/permissions are applied. I do not evaluate students code breaking abilities in blogging fluency. Rather, I look at the content that is relevant to the media and digital literacies that are part of the course teaching, as well as the progress over time, since the four required blog posts are required over a period of six-seven months. (Meaning Making - reading, relating, expressing).
This links back to Cronin's diagram for making decisions in the continuum from CLOSED to OPEN and how I, as the educator/instructor, negotiate through the macro, meso, micro and nano levels.
- Will I share openly? - my podcast; my voice in Slack; whole group or small group channels
- Who will I share with? - other TC's in other faculties; other faculty members in my own faculty; other faculties in Ontario and beyond; other educators in open spaces
- Who will I share as? - my persona as instructor at faculty of education; as a K-12 educator; as a fellow explorer in open spaces; as an OER eCampus fellow
- Will I share this? - deciding what to share and where to share it....to blog here in this space, on my professional blog space, on my course blog spaces (there is a blog attached to each of the course websites) and/or on my closed, private, journal spaces; will I share this on Twitter?
