Is this not what all teachers struggle with? I know I struggle with this every time I teach. You have a very short time to make a first impression. I guess that is where it all starts. If you cannot capture the attention and enthusiasm of the students from the very beginning- how can you keep something that was never yours to keep?

Personally I must say I found the ICEBERG model very attractive. To me it was a logical work up of designing a good and course which would make students enthusiasic and engaged from the very beginning and the the model creates a means to keep them that way. In the coggle that my ONL PBL 14 created I tried to actually put my own intrepretation into the meaning of the words in the acronym and why they are important.

As an example- I hate sitting in a lecture or take part in an activity when I do not understand the purpose of it. Why do I have to know or learn this- what is it FOR???? So integrated is defintely something that I can relate to. What are the learning objectives and why are they important and how will the learning objectives be achieved. Then- on the other hand- I hate people who dwell half the time allotted to talk about what will be taught in the little time that is left after hey have explained to you what they will teach… later… But at the beginning of a course as a whole- creating understanding for the idea behind the course and how activities, assessments and support materials add up to fulfilling learning outcomes and objectives is a very good idea and it also engages students and creates enthusiasm and an understanding of the effort that has actually gone into the creation of the course.

To collaborate may aid students’  engagements. However, sometimes people just try to bring to many different kinds of people into one ”room”- even if it is a virtual room. On the other hand- the power of networking can never be underestimated. Making it clear in the course description that collaboration is expected and required should keep the free loaders away and attract those who find collaboration valuable and fun. They should be willing to share and participate

Engaging good and engaging teachers is a challenging task to say the least. Sometimes you just want to fire people- let me tell you- when you work in a university you get stuck with people who should never ever teach but somehow have to. How do you handle that?  Well- you try to make the curriculum interesting and you create a presence that makes the teacher have to try. Or you make the create the exam and keep them away from students… there is always something good in everyone! Finding good and engaging teachers is a hard task and actually- how to keep TEACHERS engaged could be a topic for another course…

Balanced is extremely important as students also plan their lives according to the workload. Sometimes a teacher is responsible for PART of a course and just tries to cream everything anybody ever needed to know about the subject at hand into very little time. It is the responsibility of study or course directors to see to it that this does not happen. Keeping a balanced level of difficulty and workload is adamant. This is of course related to the term Economical. However, at my level I feel that most of the time it is in the other direction that the problem lies. I.e that the course is way to slow and that course or study directors do not show proper respect for the time of the participants. If you invest time in taking a course- the time should be filled and the course should deliver.

Reflective may sound what we in Swedish call ”flummigt”. But- I would say that reflective can be the exact opposite. To reflect upon situations when you can actually use your new knowledge may be all that is needed. How do we APPLY our new knowledge or insights? How do we do it where we are now and how may we do it in the future?

Gradual is really connected to Integrated, balanced and economical. Ie having a course that builds up gradually in difficulty or complexity (sometimes I just think they put it there because they need the G in ICEBERG).

I think I will really use this model in the future. For me it really works and makes sense.