Topic 3 Learning in Communities; Networked Collaborative Learning.

This was topic 3 that proved an initial challenge to get deep into the subject matter.  Due to change in time zones I missed the webinar and the tweet chat (this latter due to the late hour).  I later accessed the recording twice but it was not the same as attending the synchronous event. This made group work even more challenging, hence my blog this time be winding.

However, the guided resources were an interesting read and watch.

In a collaborative learning environment, the learners, or shall I call them students, do not come with empty ideas or knowledge.  Each comes with some knowledge to share and exchange with the rest and in the process, grows in knowledge in areas that perhaps one would not have thought of.  To quote from one paper, Learners are not passive receptacles but are active in their process of knowledge acquisition as they participate in discussions, search for information, and exchange opinions with their peers. Knowledge is co-created and shared among peers, not owned by one particular learner after obtaining it from the course materials or instructor. The learning process creates a bond between and among learners as their knowledge construction depends on each other’s contribution to the discussion. Hence, collaborative learning processes assist students to develop higher order thinking skills and to achieve richer knowledge generation through shared goals, shared exploration, and a shared process of meaning making (Brookfield, 1995; Christiensen & Dirkinick-Holmfeld, 1996; Jonassen, Davidson, Collins, Campbell, & Haag, 1995; Palloff & Pratt, 2005). This passage clearly explains what we went through in our group.  I realized that at one time, I was lost but had something to contribute to the group.  When we had group discussions, my thoughts and ideas were clarified, and refocused back to the theme; outcomes were important as well as the processes; but how does one go through the process? The role of the instructor here is certainly necessary to keep us on track. 

I do not have a PLN and I had never thought about this concept, but doing this course, my mind is shaping to many new aspects of PLN. So first, I want to develop it and see how it moves forward.   Am thinking of subscribing to kay’s blog to learn more about it.

So far so good in use of new technologies.  I can only use so many……As I said before, I registered in twitter but do not ask me how I have faired so far… dismally.  Of course, I have learnt to use Vt, canva (not too successful yet), coggle which I like very much but still I have to get proficient in it.  I will keep it thus far; no more. Am looking forward to next week’s topic.