Virtual Symposium Reflective Blog Post – Unit 1 Activity 3

What a week! I spent most of the last seven days out of the country for work, as such I was only able to attend two sessions live which was very unfortunate. Like Carolyn Levy, I “work at a distance but do some on-site visits” (Levy, 2019, 8:40). I was in San Diego meeting with a communication and satellite company about a new blended curriculum. An exciting opportunity which took the majority of my time this week. I felt a kinship with the “apples and oranges” analogy on the profile of traditional student vs online student. (Bates, 2019, 27:30) I think many within the cohort are proof of that juggling work, family and a Masters program. Thankfully, the recorded sessions have provided me with a tremendous resource. I did not expect that binge-watching videos would be part of my Master’s studies, but I am happy for it.

I dug into the MALT student Padlet and got lost for an afternoon. I am thankful to Darin Faber for explaining cognitive load (Faber, 2019, 11:13). Understanding what my brain is going while I try and process all of this information is very helpful.

Many of the sessions resonated with me, and I found Tony Bate’s talk particularly intriguing. The information he shared about HEQCO’s research was, and I would like to read further on this work. (Bates, 2019, 30:27). Also found his example of the web-based tool used to teach scientific argumentation fascinating. (Bates, 2019, 33:08).

My final thoughts on the Virtual symposium is that it has been a whirlwind of information. I imagine these sessions will be revisited time and again over the next few years. I genuinely wish I had been able to be more present during the conversations the week, but still, the recorded sessions have only emphasized my love of video as a learning tool.

Faber, D. (2019, April 15). Design Principles in Digital Learning Resources.
Retrieved from https://youtu.be/daJmgBwDDzc

Bates, Tony (2019, April 15). Rethinking the purpose of Online Learning.
Retrieved from: http://ow.ly/gJlx50qwmbq

Levy, Carolyn (2019, April 15). Designing Learning Environments for a Global Context.
Retrieved from: http://ow.ly/PSyN50qn5QV

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