What are the thoughts that Floe Inclusive Learning Design Handbook brings me

         In the reading about the Floe Inclusive Learning Design Handbook is a free Open Educational Resource (OER). It designed to assist teachers, content creators, Web developers, and others in creating adaptable and personalizable educational resources that can accommodate a diversity of learning preferences and individual needs. There are many new concepts, ideas, and issues in Floe. Here three points will be listed that are considered essential.

         First of all, a fascinating idea is co-creation. Co-creation involves building deeper relationships between students and teachers and between students and other students. Education is considered a joint effort, and learning and teaching have done with students, not students. This perspective is a very novel and new perspective for some people, and it is also very different from the previous thought of education. In the previous learning process, what we did was learn knowledge and skills from teachers and then teach them to future students.

          We have overlooked that education is a joint endeavour, something that can be done together between teachers and students. Co-creation is essential because teachers and students are at two different ages. When their various interesting ideas are mixed, the learning process will become more exciting and may have some new inspirations. Teachers do not necessarily know everything, and it is not difficult for students to make interesting points. Co-creation is likely to allow students to collaborate and learn independently through the sense of a learning community and enhance the learning experience of students. When students and professors conduct courseware development and research together, professors can get a lot of inspiration from students’ innovative ideas in order to improve the content of courseware. At the same time, it can also enable students to improve their thinking skills in the process of practice. Co-creation can not only make students more engaged in this course, but also increase their satisfaction with the course. Because students are active participants in the proposal, students can feel the difference between traditional teaching models and innovators in practice.

            Secondly, a remarkable idea is translating the handbook into other languages. I sincerely appreciate this. Sometimes even if the content is straightforward but not in a language that students are familiar with, they cannot understand it at all. When I first came to Canada to attend high school, I couldn’t adapt to the environment of English. Mathematics in Canadian high schools was not that hard at the time, and I learned this a long time ago. However, sometimes the misunderstanding of concepts is due to students cannot fully understand the course content or some language comprehension errors. If the handbook can translate into a language familiar to international students, this may be more friendly to students who are new to Canada.

           Third, another important idea is Creating alternative presentations of the handbook. For example, it contains some suitable versions of electronic devices or offline reading. Alternative presentations of handbooks are especially crucial in this particular period now. When our physical health cannot be guaranteed, nor can we go to school, we can learn well with a suitable version of mobile devices. Furthermore, some people will prefer the electronic version. The electronic version will not only allow us to organize these learning content better, but it will also be more environmentally friendly. The electronic version has the invaluable advantages of paper handbooks, and it will even become mainstream in the future. When we have an iPad, we can get some of the learning resources we want, and we can adjust the font size and screen brightness according to the comfort of the eyes. The electronic version of the book is cheaper and even free, allowing more children from families who cannot afford the expensive education to get the same quality learning resources as others. At the same time, electronic book resources need only take up a little memory, and can also carry the entire library on a small storage card. The electronic version handbook not only saves paper but also reduces the burden on the planet. It can achieve zero tree felling to achieve the right environmental protection and low carbon. According to the survey, “In the USA in one year, 2 billion books are produced. To get the paper for these books requires consuming 32 million trees.” Even more exaggerated is that around 40 football fields of trees cut down every single minute. Nature will one day punish humanity, and polar bears will one day lose their homes. If the electronic version of the handbook can reduce a little damage to the earth, each of us has a responsibility to choose this way.

            Two concepts are difficult to understand in the reading of these two weeks. The first one is to Derive, remix, and reuse the handbook’s content. I also saw other students annotated this and said they want to learn more about this. The second the Creative Commons 2.5 Canada License. I do not understand what this license is and why all content in the handbook licensed under this 2.5 Canada License.

            Finally, the last question that came to the mind is concerning the universal design that not addressed in this module. Universal design should meet the needs of potential students with a wide variety of characteristics. Disability is one of these characteristics. For example, one student could be Hispanic, six feet tall, male, thirty years old, an excellent reader, primarily a visual learner, and deaf. When we are designing a course, the universal design requires consideration of all characteristics.

References:

  1. Retrieved from https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/family-education/article/1083971/massive-open-online-courses-learning-revolution
  2. Retrieved from https://www.tiredearth.com/articles/less-paper-save-forests-rescue-environment
  3. Retrieved from https://udlleurope.wordpress.com/
  4. Retrieved from https://decoline-shipping.com/qa/how-many-trees-are-cut-down-for-textbooks.html

Some thoughts about the Floe Inclusive Learning Design Handbook

  • This week I learned an interesting reading about the Floe Inclusive Learning Design Handbook is a free Open Educational Resource (OER). It is designed to assist teachers, content creators, Web developers, and others in creating adaptable and personalizable educational resources that can accommodate a diversity of learning preferences and individual needs. There are many new concepts, ideas, and issues in Floe. Here I will list three points that I think are important.

 

  • First of all, a very interesting idea came up in my mind is co-creation. Co-creation involves building deeper relationships between students and teachers and between students and other students. Education is considered a joint effort, and learning and teaching are done with students, not students. This perspective is a very novel and new perspective for me, and it is also very different from what I previously thought of education. In the previous learning process, I think what we did was to learn the knowledge and skills from the teacher and then teach these to my future students. I have overlooked that education is a common endeavour, something that can be done together between teachers and students. This is very important because teachers and students are at two different ages. When their various interesting ideas are mixed together, the learning process will become more interesting and may have some new inspirations. Teachers do not necessarily know everything, and it is not difficult for students to make interesting points. When teachers and students, students and students can co-creation, I believe the teaching results will be more exciting.

 

  • Secondly, an important idea is translating the Handbook into other languages. I deeply appreciate this. Sometimes even if the content is simple but not in a language you are familiar with, you can’t understand it at all. When I first came to Canada to attend high school, I couldn’t adapt to the environment of English. Mathematics in Canadian high schools was not that hard at the time, and I learned this a long time ago. However, I sometimes misunderstand some concepts taught by the teacher because I can’t fully understand the course content or some language comprehension errors. If the handbook can be translated into a language familiar to international students, this may be more friendly to students who are new to Canada.

 

  • Third, another important idea is Creating alternative presentations of the Handbook. For example, it contains some suitable versions of electronic devices or offline reading. This is especially important in this special period now. When our physical health cannot be guaranteed nor can we go to school, we can learn well with a suitable version of mobile devices. Furthermore, some people will prefer the electronic version. For example, I myself prefer the electronic version of the handbook. The electronic version will not only allow me to better organize these learning content, but it will also be more environmentally friendly.

  • When reading these two weeks of readings, there are two concepts that I have difficulty understanding. The first one is to Derive, remix, and reuse the Handbook’s content. I also saw other students annotated this and said they want to learn more about this. The second the Creative Commons 2.5 Canada License. I don’t understand what this license is and why all content in the Handbook is licensed under this 2.5 Canada License.

 

  • Finally, I got the last question that is in relation to universal design that was not addressed in this module. Universal design should meet the needs of potential students with a wide variety of characteristics. Disability is one of these characteristics. For example, one student could be Hispanic, six feet tall, male, thirty years old, an excellent reader, primarily a visual learner, and deaf. when we are designing a course, the universal design requires consideration of all characteristics.

 

Preferences:

  1. Retrieved from https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/family-education/article/1083971/massive-open-online-courses-learning-revolution
  2. Retrieved from https://udlleurope.wordpress.com/

My most memorable online learning experience

     In my life experience, I do not have much experience in online classes. There is an online education class that reminds me of it was last summer. I had just finished the Edci 337 course before that, and I had a good experience with this online education course. So I decided to return to China for the summer and I signed up for an online course at Thompson Rivers University. In this online course, I didn’t feel any humanization of online learning at all. The course design of this course made me feel like I was fighting alone, and the design of the course was very different from the difficulty level of uvic. In this course, I deeply felt the sense of distance brought about by not having a common physical location. I don’t know who the classmates who are attending the class with me. I did not have any frequent contact with the professor. I struggled for two months and learned this course on my own every day without any substantial help. Eventually, I decided to drop this course, and so far I think it is a decision that I won’t regret.

     In this failed online course experience, I began to think about two aspects: synchronousity, and the course’s grading system.

     First of all, about synchronous interactive sessions during the course. Teaching presence is very low during this course. The course design does not include virtual office hours or live sessions. The moment I got the book, I started the self-study mode and couldn’t get any help. Later, I discussed this educational course with my other friends, and they both failed the course. It is conceivable that there are certain problems in the design of the course, and some more interactive sessions should be carried out. For example, the professor can set a fixed time every week to video chat with us or a fixed time for Q & A.

     Secondly, I have some opinions on the grading of an online education course. I like the grading system for online education courses. In school courses, we will lose the grades we should have due to attendance or other objective reasons. Some people may have a good understanding of the course content, but get a very low score because they are often late. One of my high school classmates has this experience. He is a very intelligent student and understands the course thoroughly. However, because he was often late, he was warned by the school and eventually transferred to another school. I think that’s part of why I like online education courses. 

     Everyone has their own lives, and they have different ways of working and resting. The purpose of learning itself is your understanding of the course content, rather than following all the technical instructions perfectly. For example, many people want to register for a course after work to improve themselves, then we can’t stipulate them according to a fixed schedule. Online education courses do a great job in this area, and I think online education is more focused on learning itself. In online education, each of us does not need to complete the same learning progress at the same time, we can also adjust the learning plan according to our schedule. Learning itself should focus more on the process rather than the rigid learning arrangements. I can reach the school classroom for attendance every day at 8:30, but my learning efficiency may not have improved during that time. Rather than this, I am more inclined to arrange my learning progress and plans.

     In conclusion, whether it is an online education course or a face-to-face education course. The most important thing is to understand the course content, not follow the step-by-step follow technical instructions.

References:

1.(n.d.). Retrieved from https://www.google.com/search?q=humanization of online education&sxsrf=ALeKk01iPjtEwVsuKsak-rdKM4dikIjIRA:1583728172786&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwiii6OZx4zoAhXIvJ4KHa8_CIEQ_AUoAXoECA0QAw&biw=1100&bih=683#imgrc=mOjHc6Q2ELjqFM

2.Retrived from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G9lF9W-FKoI