Another late blog-post from my side. And I have to sort my thoughts about collaborative learning in this one. First of all, sounding like an actor after receiving the Oscar statuette, I would like to thank my PBL group and the facilitators for a true collaborative learning experience online. Yes, ONL181 has been, at least for me, an occasion when real collaborative learning did take place and it did move my own thinking forward.

As an educator I use different collaborative methods in the classroom to deepen the learning experience for my students. I urge for dialogue and critical questions and try to push all of us to the next level. In the classroom it feels quite easy to involve the students in collaborative learning and co-creation of knowledge. This was actually one of the reasons why I joined during this hectic period of time the experience of ONL181 – I wanted to learn how to move into the digital space and motivate learning and to create a truly collaborative space on-line. Or is that even possible?

 

 

According to Brindley et.al (2009) online collaborative learning can take place as discussions either in the whole group or in smaller groups. Very much as in the physical classroom. It is important to build in to the process both a sense of purpose and trust to move the process forward and also commit the learners to participate in the learning experience. The urge of moving more and more of the teaching online and maybe not be quite familiar with different tools and techniques to involve the students have created a lot of frustration (Capdeferro& Romero, 2012). The role for the facilitator is time consuming and takes a lot of communication skills to be motivational online. The digital space gives the opportunity for learners to be more flexible and also more anonymous and because of that the distrust towards group members might occur easier than in an actual classroom situation.  And again, it is very important for the teacher to know when and how to move into the learning space and to interact. The role of the teacher and coach grows and becomes even more important than ever. The planning of the course is very important.

Some things I am definitely thinking about designing courses both online and in a more classical surrounding are listed below (Brindley et.al 2009)

• Transparency of expectations.
• Clear instructions
• Appropriateness of task for group work
• Meaning-making/relevance.
• Motivation for participation embedded in course design
• Readiness of learners for group work
• Timing of group formation
• Respect for the autonomy of learners
• Monitoring and feedback
• Sufficient time for the task.

And now back to my own experience and ONL181 where I experienced the best online learning in a long time. The design of the course and the discussions both in the big group during webinars and in our inspiring PBL meetings gave me the boost to try things in a more collaborative and open way, I think. So the next step is to make a collaboration with a University close to Berlin, and this is becuase of the courage I got during this course.

References;

Brindley et.al. 2009.  Creating Effective Collaborative Learning Groups in an Online Environment. The International Review of Research in Open and Distributed Learning, Vol 10, No 3

Capdeferro, N & Romero, M. 2012. Are Online Learners Frustrated with Collaborative Learning Experiences?