Hi John,
Thank you for sharing this thoughtful post. Although you may not recognize me from CCK09 I recognize you :)
I have to admit I have been a bit guilty of lurking for some of the forum chats but I have been trying to chime in lately.
I will attempt to answer your questions from my point of view:
1) I expected CCK09 to be a bit overwhelming at first and it was. I did not expect some of the types of conversations though. Some have been well out of my comfort area in terms of knowledge. This has been helpful though as it has exposed me to all sorts of new concepts and terminology.
2) I am not totally sure what my needs are. I am taking the course as a part of the Emerging Tech certificate at the University of Manitoba so I think that makes me different to a lot of the participants. I need to understand enough to pass the course, but I want to meet different people and be exposed to different ideas. I also want a chance to work out what my own ideas are.
3) My needs have been met so far in the course. I think I could be doing more in the way of starting conversations. At the beginning I was quite intimidated, not because of the online nature of the course but rather the depth of the subject matter being discussed by participants. I also have needed time to reflect, which I try to do on this blog. I also do my reflecting with the people closest to me in real life, such as my husband and friends, which is not meeting needs on a course level but that is my fault :)!
4) My needs are fulfilled on the forum. I had heard that this course would probably take place mainly outside of Moodle so I ignored the forums for a while. That was a mistake. I think if I had been more attentive inside the forums I would have been saying more earlier. I do enjoy the formation of concepts that takes place inside a forum. I like that I can see who said what, in relation to what, and when. It gives me a good picture of how the concept is developing.
5) I am not sure what sort of new emerging concepts, knowledge, and connections I expected from the forums. I think it is difficult to predict where a course like this will go, but that is part of the fun of it.
6) Yes the concept of connectivism resonates very strongly with me. I have always been aware of my need to discuss and reflect on concepts. I love exploring and sharing with my colleagues and classmates. I was recently labeled a "connector" at a PD event my college held.
Once again John, I appreciated your blog post and enjoyed thinking about these topics.
I look forward to us continuing our learning journey!
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Gillian, what a wonderful response! I greatly appreciate your sharing of needs and how they have been fulfilled on the forum.
ReplyDeleteYou are not sure about your needs, but they are met.. and you want to pass the course, that sounds interesting.
You were intimidated by the depth of the subject matter being discussed by participants, so you found it difficult to engage in the conversation. Would that be the major challenge we are facing when interacting with others online, especially with a public MOOC such as CCK09? I didn't find it easy to engage at the start of CCK08, and it required a lot of listening, understanding and reflection both in blogs and forum. It takes great courage even to externalise our thoughts in writing and think aloud in blogs.
I think peer support and encouragement would be helpful to each other to engage and share in the forum or blogs. This would help in building and growing our networks.
Great that connectivism strongly resonates with you. We are all weak to strong ties at various stages of learning and in different networks, in face to face or online engagement.
I look forward to further sharing our learning in this journey too. Wishing you to enjoy the rest of the course. And a great pass with the course.
Cheers.
John