August 2

Managing Online Learning: Free Online Courses

IMG_2802FutureLearn and The Open University with partnerships from universities across continents offer a selection of free online courses (with possibilities of gaining certificates too). Here are the five courses listed that can help you understand online learning better – you can recommend it to your students or take a look yourself if interested. Click on each link below to learn more/enroll in the course.

Get Started with Online Learning: This free online course will explain how you can study online without putting the rest of your life on hold.

Learning Online: Learning and Collaborating:Become an effective online learner and develop your online communication skills when working with others.

Learning Online: Managing Your Identity: Reflect on how you want to present yourself online and take positive steps towards these goals.

Learning Online: Reflecting and Sharing: Get the most out of online learning by reflecting and sharing your learning with others.

Learning Online: Searching and Researching: Improve your online research skills and your ability to critically analyze sources of information.

February 17

8 MOOCs that Support Technology in Teaching

online_livingroom 011An article written by Dian Schaffhauser on Campus Technology website has listed 8 MOOCs that can help faculty learn more on technology use in classroom (“8 MOOCs for Better Technology-Enhanced Teaching”). These professional development opportunities are, of course, open and offered through different universities. They are offered at different times, are self paced, and you can take what interests you the most from them. I will list them as they appear in the article.

1) Instructional Design Service Course: Gain Experience for Good    (starts February 22; runs 12 weeks; requires 2-3 hours of work per week, Canvas platform, Description: Learn how to create open educational resources (OER) for people in adult basic education programs.)

2) Becoming a Blended Learning Designer    (starts February 22; runs for 5 weeks; requires 2-3 hours of work per week, canvas paltform, Description: This MOOC will talk you through the Blended Learning Toolkit, a free, open resource for institutions that want to develop or expand their blended learning programs.)

3) Teaching with Tablets  (February 29, 2016; runs for 5 weeks; requires about 3 hours of work per week, Blackboard platform, Description: Intended for educators from elementary school through higher ed, this MOOC will cover the use of iPads and other tablets for teaching and learning.)

4) Accessibility: Designing and Teaching Courses for All Learners  (February 22, 2016; runs 6 weeks, Canvas, Description: Your chance to gain the knowledge and skills to design inclusive learning experiences, especially for students with disabilities.)

5) Disability Awareness and Support  (Timeline: Self-paced, Coursera, Description: Advance your understanding of accessibility issues in education, including legislation, universal design and assistive technologies.)

6) Prior Learning Assessment for Educators and Industry (February 22; runs 3 weeks; requires 2 hours of work per week, Canvas, Description: This course will teach you how to develop policies and articulations for credit for prior learning (CPL), explain the use of portfolios and assessments and introduce you to existing credit “crosswalks” and assessment resources.)

7) Blended Learning Essentials: Getting Started (March 7; runs for 5 weeks; requires about 4 hours of work per week, FutureLearn platform, Description: This UK-produced course covers multiple practices and pedagogies to help participants learn how to use blended or hybrid tools and technologies “with confidence.” The “getting started” session is followed by an additional series on “embedding the practices.”)

8) Leaders of Learning (May 2016; runs 6 weeks; requires 2-4 hours of work per week, edX platform, Description: Richard Elmore, a professor of educational leadership in the Harvard Graduate School of Education, takes participants on a tour of the “shifting landscape of learning.” You’ll explore how learning is changing in a digital culture.)

July 21

Learning to Teach Online

Photo credit: https://itunes.apple.com/us/itunes-u/learning-to-teach-online

Photo credit: https://itunes.apple.com/us/itunes-u/learning-to-teach-online

By Paul Keyworth

LTTO (Learning to Teach Online) is “a free professional development resource designed to help teachers from any discipline, whether experienced in online teaching or not, to gain a working understanding of successful online teaching pedagogies that they can apply in their own unique teaching situations” (COFA.online Gateway, 2015). Currently, I am participating in a MOOC of the same name via Coursera, which is still accessible if you are interested. It is also available freely through iTunes.

Award Winning Resources

The project is the work of COFA Online, part of the College of Fine Arts at the University of New South Wales (UNSW), Sydney, Australia, and is supported by the Australian Learning and Teaching Council Ltd. Co-creators, Simon McIntyre and Karin Watson from UNSW, have won the following awards for LTTO:

2012 MERLOT Award for Exemplary Online Learning 
Resources – MERLOT Classics (USA) 
Faculty Development Editorial Board Award - 
Learning to Teach Online 
McIntyre, S., Watson, K.
2011 Ascilite Innovation and Excellence Award
Exemplary and research informed use of technologies 
for teaching and learning in tertiary education - 
Learning to Teach Online
McIntyre, S., Watson, K.

Learning to Teach Online Episodes

So far, I have discovered a wealth of resources and pedagogical information relating to implementing and evaluating OERs (Open Educational Resources) and institutionally-supported technologies. In particular, you may find these LTTO Episodes to be a valuable resource as you plan your online or blended courses. The instructional videos are compiled into three categories: Context, Planning and Teaching,” “Case Studies,” and “Technical Glossary (COFA.online Gateway, 2015).

References

Learning to teach online. (2015). Retrieved from http://online.cofa.unsw.edu.au/