Being Known in a Virtual WorldAs I finish my master's I am situated in Vancouver. When I began the process I was living in Beijing. Shortly I will be moving back to Hong Kong, where I lived for 21 years previously. I will be teaching Grade 3 at an international school and will have added technology responsibilities. Moving has been the story of my life, as I have lived in ten different countries, travelled to many more, and been educated in a number of systems: New Zealand, USA, South Africa, Canada. In this setting, I am presenting myself primarily as a student and a teacher/educator but as with all of us, who I am is much more complex.
There are a number of unique issues to be considered related to "being known" when teaching and learning in a virtual world. I have included two of these issues in discussion below. |
"All ABout Me" Created for ETEC512 Group Presentation using Glogster
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Social Presence
While e-learning meets a number of needs such as access, flexibility, and cost (Bates and Sangra, 2011), what is missing is the face-to-face interaction and community building that happens in a regular classroom. As a teacher I spend a good part of the first week of each year focused on "getting-to-know-you" activities and building community in my classroom. The social aspect of learning is extremely important and anyone involved in e-learning must overcome the barrier of disembodied students. This area of e-learning, referred to as social presence, is a growing topic in research as academics and practitioners alike, seek to understand what makes an effective online learning environment. After beginning my online course work, I became extremely interested in this topic and chose to focus on it in three different courses. The first was a group project for ETEC512. As a group our assignment was to delve deeply into the readings for that week on the theory of online learning. We chose to frame our presentation around Anderson's paper, Towards an Online Learning Theory (2008) in which he delineates the four "centred" aspects required for effective online learning: learner-centered, knowledge-centered, community centred, and assessment centred. One of my group responsibilities was the presentation of the "learner-centered" section which focused on the aspect of social presence from a learner and instructor perspective. I delved further into this topic in ETEC510 where I took what I had learned previously, added to it, and contributed to a communal MET ETEC510 wiki site by creating the page on social presence. My own experiences with social presence as a student have further informed my thinking in this area. I believe that in order for students to engage and ultimately succeed in an online environment, there needs to be rigorous effort on the part of instructors to encourage community.To this end, I will focus on this aspect when I do some instructor training for a small online project in July.
"Empowering Authentic Identity" DiscussionIn ETEC565G, we first grappled with our preconceived understanding of the concept of culture. I thought that it would be quite easy for me since I have experienced a number of different cultures. However this was not to be the case as I wrestled with what I would come to realize were outdated notions of geopolitical culture espoused by early theorists such as .... As we moved into culture and online learning, we looked at the notion of disembodiment in the virtual space. This discussion artifact demonstrates my reflection on the question, "Can individuals create a 'real' identity, including a real cultural identity, in virtual environments." |
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References, Links, and Key Resources
Aeckersberg, L. Cooperman, B. Hutchings, D., Noel, K., Penner, J. (2011). Group presentation: Learning theories and technology. Retrieved
from http://theorylearntech.weebly.com
Anderson, T. (2008). Toward a theory of online learning. In T. Anderson & F. Elloumi (Eds.) Theory and Practice of Online Learning, Chapter 2 (pp.
45-74). Available online at: http://www.aupress.ca/books/120146/ebook/02_Anderson_2008_Anderson-Online_Learning.pdf
Bates. A. W. and Sangra, A. (2011). Managing technology in higher education: Strategies for transforming teaching and learning. San Francisco,
CA: Jossey-Bass Publishers.
Social Presence. (2012, March 3). ETEC 510. Retrieved 16:05, July 10, 2013 from http://etec.ctlt.ubc.ca/510wiki/index.php
title=Social_Presence&oldid=41880.
Aeckersberg, L. Cooperman, B. Hutchings, D., Noel, K., Penner, J. (2011). Group presentation: Learning theories and technology. Retrieved
from http://theorylearntech.weebly.com
Anderson, T. (2008). Toward a theory of online learning. In T. Anderson & F. Elloumi (Eds.) Theory and Practice of Online Learning, Chapter 2 (pp.
45-74). Available online at: http://www.aupress.ca/books/120146/ebook/02_Anderson_2008_Anderson-Online_Learning.pdf
Bates. A. W. and Sangra, A. (2011). Managing technology in higher education: Strategies for transforming teaching and learning. San Francisco,
CA: Jossey-Bass Publishers.
Social Presence. (2012, March 3). ETEC 510. Retrieved 16:05, July 10, 2013 from http://etec.ctlt.ubc.ca/510wiki/index.php
title=Social_Presence&oldid=41880.