This is my reflection of topic 3. This has been quite a hard topic for me. I do not have much experience as I have not really developed many courses of any kind. This has led to many (off-topic as I now see) thoughts. I attribute this to the abstract nature of the topic and my being on the ASD.

I experimented with a simple Prezi presenting some challenges I initially thought about:



However, over time these ideas have improved I hope.

Thanks to a friend and author Brenda Daniels, these quotes have occupied my mind for this module:

“The function of literature through all its mutations has been to make us aware of the particularity of selves, and the high authority of the self in its quarrel with its society and its culture. Literature in that sense is subversive – Lionel Trilling, Beyond Culture, 1966.” – Is this referring to ego/arrogance or its opposite low self-esteem (these are both negative expressions of the 2 antonyms I think).

“A great literature is chiefly the product of inquiring minds in revolt against the immovable certainties of the nation – H L Mencken, Prejudices, 1919″ – for me, so interesting that this is from the time of the Treaty of Versailles ending the great war (WW1) and the great influenza epidemic – two such great global suffering episodes.


I think we need to ensure that literature is used for knowledge dissemination and not ego enhancement. I think literature is disruptive and that the online environment will promote this and enhance it.

The disruptive spontaneity of an online community- and network-based approach seems in opposition to the structured and preparation-based approach of a traditional forum.

I feel there is a revolt in education taking place. Fernanda Lecerda offered some interesting insights about just this “Can we build networks without planning” or “Will they just happen”. “Lessons learnt” suggest some kind of planning. But adding a social dimension via social networks to improve social capital is itself disruptive. One cannot know everything and social networks seem to have an often unpredictable and sometimes negative way of causing information to be disseminated (e.g. effects of the Arab Spring, Cambridge Analytica and the Brexit/US elections).

This Prezi from our ONL1 PBL1 is quite informative:

Our ONL181 PBL1 group really puts some of my thoughts down. Thanks to my colleague Gideon Mekonnen for leading this topic 3 and summarising it nicely for me using input from all our group (Maria Bäck, Paula Morais, Maria Kvarnström, et al.)!   

Izaan Marx also summarised Community learning – Motivation …Stations! Topic 3 on her Blog quite easily for me to understand”….Collaboration, Motivation,Skills, Reflection, Engaged learning and Values. This seems to be the cornerstone of a good Community”.

The cheerleading theme is different. It also seems like a motivational speaker may be well equipped to keep this sort of network learning going….and yes…Coffee!! I do agree it may be easier to introduce new techniques to make it fun….

Had a brief look at Rodrigo Fernandez Blog too…..

Loved this: (i) what is the ideal group size and how should the groups be formed, (ii) cooperation vs. collaboration, (iii) facilitation vs. supervision, (iv) how to promote students’ engagement

I also agree that facilitation is needed but supervision is useful. I think that this is especially so with less mature students..