I imagine it’s a rarity to have a blog post summarises key thoughts when the course hasn’t actually started, but best to start as I mean to go on…
- There’s an awful lot of learning environments, both within the Uni of Edinburgh circles and outside of this (e.g. Minecraft) that are going to be used over the course. Initially this feels a little overwhelming, but like most things once you get over the early hump the whole thing starts to come together. I like this – most other online courses have been done within a single environment. While this makes the course more ringfenced and easier to navigate, this is actually a downfall – they don’t encourage or promote wider thinking or learning. Daunting initially, but now I’m coming to grips with it I’m getting more and comfortable.
- The forum discussions are going to be great! I’ve been one of the more active users over the past couple of days (most people probably don’t have the luxury of having their close family currently staying with the in-laws overseas), but some of the posts are very thoughtful, and provocative. I’m going to gain heaps of insights from the other students.
- I’ve learnt several new words – ‘performativity’ being the best of the bunch.
- Having had a skim through the recommended reading by Selwyn, it seems the adoption and impact of digital technologies within teaching circles is very complex, with lots of factors at play. Many of the more pertinent ones seem to be related to the institutional backdrop within a teaching role, and as someone fairly alien to this world, it’s quite the eye opener.
- While I’m still concerned about the time pressures of the course on home and worklife, my enthusiasm is really high. We’ll see how long that lasts once reality kicks in. I think a key aspect to maintaining momentum will be to schedule some time in every day to stay on top of things and contribute, whilst also committing to regular posts like this.
Deep breath…. Week 1 is nigh!