Being a distance student in and of itself is more difficult than being an internal or on-campus student. Attrition rates of students who study at higher education via distance are higher than attrition rates of internal students (Carr, 2000; Parker, 1999). There are multiple reasons for why this is the case, some reasoning may be similar to what I encountered in the Networked and Global Learning course this term. When I first started my Masters of Education almost 4 years ago, I originally enrolled in the same course. It was run via distance in Moodle a learning management system. The course was linear, what I was used to with studying and used the style of read/ watch/ interpret/ formulate ideas and then discuss and then reflect. I didn’t proceed with the course because of personal circumstances, but found it relatively easy to fit in my current schema of what I knew to be true about studying online. So when I re-enrolled in this course again this term, I was hoping to pick up where I left off...... boy was I in for a surprise!!
I was confronted with a course Moodle site that said, “Go to this blog as we will be doing the course through this blog and not Moodle”. When I discovered the blog and what it was asking me to do, I was flummoxed and had difficulty working out where to start. My expectation of what the course would be like and what would be expected of me and what was actually occurring were completely different things. I spent four weeks of the course, reading the course blog and working out how to get started. I complained bitterly to my colleagues, my husband, anyone that would listen that I had no idea how to blog and it all seemed too difficult. I discussed with these same people how I should approach the task at hand (making my own blog), and then I had to work out where to go to do this. Four weeks into the course, without having done any blogging, I finally took the plunge and started my own blog (hating the whole experience along the way) but learning so much about myself and the process through doing it.
Why did I struggle so much with this (strange at the time) concept of learning and studying? There were multiple reasons, one of these was that I now believe I had issues with cognitive load theory (Sweller, Paas & Renkl, 2003). What I was experiencing was my ‘at capacity’ moment. The learning environment was so different from what I had experienced, there were so many different technological elements, there were multiple places where I had to engage, I had no idea where to start. Tyler-Smith (2006) explains this phenomena, “Learning new material or a skill, for which a schema is underdeveloped or non-existent, can cause working memory to quickly overload its limited capacity. This overloading can result in a learner becoming highly anxious and losing confidence, which in turn can lead to the learning process, in effect, freezing and the learner being unable to continue”. This was evident in my first blog post. I spent all day setting up my blog, fiddling with the site and writing one blog. I was concerned with whether or not it was right, interesting and whether I was doing ‘it’ right. In the end I just read and engaged with the course materials and then wrote what I felt was right.
Throughout my blogging experience I used multiple models of learning, none quite fitting with how I operated in real life. Whip and Chiarelli (2004) discuss a social cognitive model of self-regulated learning and I related well to this model of learning. I see a clear relationship between my “ self-generated learning strategies, beliefs (such as efficacy and goal orientation), feelings (performance anxiety, fears), and social and physical environment” when it comes to my learning (Whipp & Chiarelli, 2004, p. 6). In regards to my learning as a student in a networked and global learning environment there were social and environmental factors that impacted my study, and these needed to be considered and accounted for throughout the learning process. Some of these environmental factors were that I struggled to get online to blog when I was travelling for work.
I believe the whole concept of the Networked and Global learning course used an authentic learning approach, in particular situated learning theory and this added to my experience (Herrington, 2006). If the course had of continued down the path of what I had originally envisaged, then I don’t think that I would have gained as much experience of using technology and engaging with it. There were a few mistakes I made along the way, but this added to my learning, which in turn added to my ideas around how my students would cope with doing the same learning activity, and whether or not I would implement the whole learning experience in the same manner with my students.
Because there was a time lag between when I read other students’ blogs, course materials and when I would blog, a lot of my critical thinking occurred in isolation, offline and wasn’t always captured in essence. The issue with this is that, had I put more blogs online, reflecting on my experiences, as well engaging more with other students’ blogs; then this would have allowed better retrospective critical reflection (Yang, 2009). In the past I have reflected on my learning and teaching through other mechanisms, such as speaking to colleagues, discussing current research, experiencing an event, then making changes and seeing whether there was any impact. Journaling or reflecting in such a public space was a new concept and was daunting also. I wasn’t always thinking that open/ online critical reflection of my teaching and learning experiences as a collaborative reflective tool where I could access feedback from others (Yang, 2009), but rather I felt exposed at times and hence spent a phenomenal amount of blogging time vetting and checking what I wrote, rather than just reflecting and writing.
Did participating and being a student in a networked and global environment allow me to learn anything new as a student? Absolutely! Once I got over the initial shock of what I needed to know and do to create blogs and sustain them, I felt more comfortable just getting on with it. One of my biggest issues revolved around a lack of time and at times technology (as I was travelling out west for work whilst studying). There is a bit of fiddling involved in making blogs, but once I got the hang of it, the idea that I could reflect on my learning experience and access these reflections anywhere, was liberating.
References
Carr, S. (2000). As distance education comes of age, the challenge is keeping the students. The Chronicle of Higher Education, 23, page A39 . [viewed 23/09/15] http://chronicle.com/free/v46/i23/23a00101.htm)
Herrington, J. (2006). Authentic e-learning in higher education: Design principles for authentic learning environments and tasks. Retrieved from http://ro.uow.edu.au/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1029&context=edupapers
Parker, A. (1999). A study of variables that predict dropout from distance education. International Journal of Educational Technology, Vol. 1 (2). [viewed 23/09/15] http://ascilite.org/archived-journals/ijet/v1n2/parker/index.html
Sweller, J. Paas, F. & Renkl, A. (2003). Cognitive Load Theory and Instructional Design: Recent Developments. Educational Psychologist, Vol. 38 (1), 1-4.
Tyler-Smith, K. (2006). Early attrition among first time eLearners: A Review of factors that contribute to drop-out, withdrawal and non-completion rates of adult learners undertaking eLearning programmes. Journal of Online Learning and Teaching, 2(2). Retrieved from http://jolt.merlot.org/vol2no2/tyler-smith.htm
Whipp, J. L., & Chiarelli, S. (2004). Self-Regulation in a Web-Based Course: A Case Study. Educational Technology Research and Development, 52 (4) 5-22.
Yang, S.-H. (2009). Using Blogs to Enhance Critical Reflection and Community of Practice. Educational Technology & Society, 12 (2), 11–21.
I was confronted with a course Moodle site that said, “Go to this blog as we will be doing the course through this blog and not Moodle”. When I discovered the blog and what it was asking me to do, I was flummoxed and had difficulty working out where to start. My expectation of what the course would be like and what would be expected of me and what was actually occurring were completely different things. I spent four weeks of the course, reading the course blog and working out how to get started. I complained bitterly to my colleagues, my husband, anyone that would listen that I had no idea how to blog and it all seemed too difficult. I discussed with these same people how I should approach the task at hand (making my own blog), and then I had to work out where to go to do this. Four weeks into the course, without having done any blogging, I finally took the plunge and started my own blog (hating the whole experience along the way) but learning so much about myself and the process through doing it.
Why did I struggle so much with this (strange at the time) concept of learning and studying? There were multiple reasons, one of these was that I now believe I had issues with cognitive load theory (Sweller, Paas & Renkl, 2003). What I was experiencing was my ‘at capacity’ moment. The learning environment was so different from what I had experienced, there were so many different technological elements, there were multiple places where I had to engage, I had no idea where to start. Tyler-Smith (2006) explains this phenomena, “Learning new material or a skill, for which a schema is underdeveloped or non-existent, can cause working memory to quickly overload its limited capacity. This overloading can result in a learner becoming highly anxious and losing confidence, which in turn can lead to the learning process, in effect, freezing and the learner being unable to continue”. This was evident in my first blog post. I spent all day setting up my blog, fiddling with the site and writing one blog. I was concerned with whether or not it was right, interesting and whether I was doing ‘it’ right. In the end I just read and engaged with the course materials and then wrote what I felt was right.
Throughout my blogging experience I used multiple models of learning, none quite fitting with how I operated in real life. Whip and Chiarelli (2004) discuss a social cognitive model of self-regulated learning and I related well to this model of learning. I see a clear relationship between my “ self-generated learning strategies, beliefs (such as efficacy and goal orientation), feelings (performance anxiety, fears), and social and physical environment” when it comes to my learning (Whipp & Chiarelli, 2004, p. 6). In regards to my learning as a student in a networked and global learning environment there were social and environmental factors that impacted my study, and these needed to be considered and accounted for throughout the learning process. Some of these environmental factors were that I struggled to get online to blog when I was travelling for work.
I believe the whole concept of the Networked and Global learning course used an authentic learning approach, in particular situated learning theory and this added to my experience (Herrington, 2006). If the course had of continued down the path of what I had originally envisaged, then I don’t think that I would have gained as much experience of using technology and engaging with it. There were a few mistakes I made along the way, but this added to my learning, which in turn added to my ideas around how my students would cope with doing the same learning activity, and whether or not I would implement the whole learning experience in the same manner with my students.
Because there was a time lag between when I read other students’ blogs, course materials and when I would blog, a lot of my critical thinking occurred in isolation, offline and wasn’t always captured in essence. The issue with this is that, had I put more blogs online, reflecting on my experiences, as well engaging more with other students’ blogs; then this would have allowed better retrospective critical reflection (Yang, 2009). In the past I have reflected on my learning and teaching through other mechanisms, such as speaking to colleagues, discussing current research, experiencing an event, then making changes and seeing whether there was any impact. Journaling or reflecting in such a public space was a new concept and was daunting also. I wasn’t always thinking that open/ online critical reflection of my teaching and learning experiences as a collaborative reflective tool where I could access feedback from others (Yang, 2009), but rather I felt exposed at times and hence spent a phenomenal amount of blogging time vetting and checking what I wrote, rather than just reflecting and writing.
Did participating and being a student in a networked and global environment allow me to learn anything new as a student? Absolutely! Once I got over the initial shock of what I needed to know and do to create blogs and sustain them, I felt more comfortable just getting on with it. One of my biggest issues revolved around a lack of time and at times technology (as I was travelling out west for work whilst studying). There is a bit of fiddling involved in making blogs, but once I got the hang of it, the idea that I could reflect on my learning experience and access these reflections anywhere, was liberating.
References
Carr, S. (2000). As distance education comes of age, the challenge is keeping the students. The Chronicle of Higher Education, 23, page A39 . [viewed 23/09/15] http://chronicle.com/free/v46/i23/23a00101.htm)
Herrington, J. (2006). Authentic e-learning in higher education: Design principles for authentic learning environments and tasks. Retrieved from http://ro.uow.edu.au/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1029&context=edupapers
Parker, A. (1999). A study of variables that predict dropout from distance education. International Journal of Educational Technology, Vol. 1 (2). [viewed 23/09/15] http://ascilite.org/archived-journals/ijet/v1n2/parker/index.html
Sweller, J. Paas, F. & Renkl, A. (2003). Cognitive Load Theory and Instructional Design: Recent Developments. Educational Psychologist, Vol. 38 (1), 1-4.
Tyler-Smith, K. (2006). Early attrition among first time eLearners: A Review of factors that contribute to drop-out, withdrawal and non-completion rates of adult learners undertaking eLearning programmes. Journal of Online Learning and Teaching, 2(2). Retrieved from http://jolt.merlot.org/vol2no2/tyler-smith.htm
Whipp, J. L., & Chiarelli, S. (2004). Self-Regulation in a Web-Based Course: A Case Study. Educational Technology Research and Development, 52 (4) 5-22.
Yang, S.-H. (2009). Using Blogs to Enhance Critical Reflection and Community of Practice. Educational Technology & Society, 12 (2), 11–21.