Welcome!
Welcome to EDCI 339: Distributed and Open Education at UVic and to welcome also open learners who wish to follow along with this course. I post a task list each week. Please do come back to the week’s post in case I add anything across the week. Each week’s post is considered dynamic until the week is closed out. If I add anything helpful (including recommendations curated by you), I’ll add it to the bottom of the list with NEW next to it.
Tasks for this week for EDCI 339:
Read the course outline
It is important to read the outline thoroughly, so you understand the course. This is not a start anytime/end anytime course, so not correspondence model, but an engaging online design. I am a very flexible and helpful instructor, so please do not struggle or spend much time on anything in isolation. You can book a meeting with the link in Brightspace, or send me a message to push me to a phone call or Zoom meeting and I can help to resolve it with you.
Read recommended articles.
To learn more about our networked and open course design, please consider reading these two articles. Note: just because our course is open access does not mean you cannot be private. You have full agency over your privacy preferences.
Become familiar with this course blog
Please skip reviewing the posts found under the competency menus given they will be updated as I link to them from my Instructor posts each week. Each week I will link to only the specific posts you will need to review.
Review the following course blog posts:
Follow the instructions on our blog post, Creating a Blog on the OpenETC. If you need help, you can a) message me if you need help, b) come to our whole class drop-in at the end of next week, or c) sign up for a short Zoom with me using my booking link. Links on the course outline and in Brightspace.
Complete the Learner Pathways Surveyby Wednesday, May 20
This will provide me with all the information I need to help to support you in this course (e.g., your privacy preferences, to get your blog URL, etc.)
Learning Pods
Link is in Brightspace. You can then figure out a good day/time for the four of you to meet weekly in your own Zoom room.
Know where to find our Zoom link for live sessions
You an easily access our Zoom room from the link posted in BrightSpace or on our course outline. Please always log into https://uvic.zoom.us BEFORE opening any Zoom link so I do not have to be interrupted to admit you to the room.
Know where to find my booking links to sign up to meet me.
This link can be found on our course outline and in BrightSpace.
Watch the following recordings
Guest Session (42 min) with Brian Lamb of TRU and the Open ETC (see bio and his blog).
This was recorded for Dr. Irvine’s spring EDCI 136 class, which is a great foundational course for digital literacy and is offered regularly. We use this same blogging process for all of our EdTech courses (EDCI 136, 335, 336, 337, 338, and 339), so although this template shows 136, this video reviews the same process. You are welcome to explore the resources on the EDCI 136 course as it is open access. I hope this video will be helpful in orienting you to Wordpress, which will be a tool we use for you to document your learning. If you already have a blog, please message me about how we can use the same blog for this course by just creating a few categories and new menus.
Walkthrough of Wordpress
Introductions
Throughout this course, you will have opportunities to learn from one another by reading each other’s work, engaging in group projects, and participating in peer review. To begin, let’s take some time to get to know each other by creating an introductory post on your blog. Try including some of the following prompts (you don’t need to address them all, but try to help us understand who you are):
- What is your name and lifestage?
- Where is your hometown? What is your native country and first language?
- What is your university major, and when do you plan to graduate?
- Introduce your professional background (please include any volunteering or philanthropy)
- What are your favourite academic subjects?
- What are your hobbies or life passions?
- Share something interesting you did in the past year.
- What experiences have you had with multimedia in education?
- What is something you hope to learn in this course?
Now, let’s start thinking beyond text - what can a photograph or short video clip tell us about you? Images are quick to process and engage us primarily on an emotional level (Yousman, 2016). So please share some photos or a short video clip of yourself — can you answer any of the above questions with an image?
Post a link to Brightspace
Once you have published your blog entry, post a link to your introduction in the Brightspace discussion forum.
Once you’ve posted your introduction, take time to meet your peers:
- Review/read several of your classmates’ introductions.
- Engage substantively with a few others, especially those who haven’t received much feedback yet.
- Use this opportunity to find peers with shared interests, goals, or majors who could potentially form a small group for synchronous discussions or identify a team for the challenge projects.