{"id":172,"date":"2021-04-18T10:44:56","date_gmt":"2021-04-18T17:44:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/malat-webspace.royalroads.ca\/rru0225\/?p=172"},"modified":"2021-04-20T21:36:43","modified_gmt":"2021-04-21T01:36:43","slug":"demystifying-open-education-and-learning-communities","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/malat-webspace.royalroads.ca\/rru0225\/demystifying-open-education-and-learning-communities\/","title":{"rendered":"Virtual Symposium Reflection: Demystifying Open Education and Learning Communities"},"content":{"rendered":"


\n\"OER\"<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

The focus of this blog originated from the various interpretations of open education and its learning communities.\u00a0 My initial views on open education were based on an illusion of knowledge derived from my experience of online learning with MOOC and its pseudo learning communities. \u00a0\u00a0It is apparent with my early connections with the MALAT cohort, that online communities have its definite purpose.\u00a0 The chosen themes for this blog liberally filled some voids on my original interpretations of open education and learning communities.<\/span><\/p>\n

In the context of open education, there are various \u201cinterpretations of open\u201d such as \u201cOpen Educational Practices (OEP)\u201d, \u201cOpen Educational Resources (OER)\u201d and \u201cOpen Admission\u201d in Open culture, open education, open questions<\/a><\/em>.\u00a0 Navigating the \u2018ins\u2019 and \u2018outs\u2019 of open education systems triggered an illusion of knowledge which fortunately prompted my interest in this space.\u00a0 I understand at this point of time, there is more to it than simply experiencing it as a user.\u00a0 \u00a0Surely, it will be valuable to demystify the various distinctions and its respective purpose in contemporary digital learning.\u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The concept of \u201cOpen gets messy\u201d in Intentional messiness of online communities<\/a><\/em> refers to MOOC and the \u201clearning difficult to control\u201d (Cormier, 2017).\u00a0 I can relate to the difficulty of controlling the learning, especially with frequent related courses recommendations, triggering shifting learning interests. \u00a0I consequently did not experience an \u201cintentional messiness\u201d (Cormier, 2017) but more a sentiment of being a deliberate outsider to pseudo learning communities.\u00a0 \u00a0Nevertheless, the Open has unquestionably its benefits when supported by a framework that includes dedicated conversations, focused learnings, active participation and mentoring support (Cormier, 2017).<\/span><\/p>\n

Emphatically, online learners benefit from \u201clearning communities\u201d (Yunker & Young 2019)\u00a0but instructional designers do so as well. – see Developing Connections with our Clients and Learning Communities<\/a><\/em>.\u00a0 Although, their recommendations on network of learning and development professionals were commonly used by many in the industry (i.e. newsletters, social media, learning partners collaboration, etc.), they support the concept that \u201clearning communities\u201d (Yunker & Young 2019) are networking homes equally beneficial for both learners and designers.\u00a0 \u00a0Pondering the question \u201cWhat do we do to build a community of learners\u201d (Yunker & Young 2019) could creatively incite its purpose in the training design process.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The following questions, \u201chow can learning build community?\u201d and \u201cHow can communities of all kinds hard wire continuous learning into their DNA?\u201d (Pearson, 2021) tripped my thinking on learning communities. \u2013 see Reflections on a Career in Learning and Technology<\/a><\/em>. \u00a0These angles on learning communities entail the \u201cchanging learners\u201d (Pearson, 2021)\u00a0landscape.\u00a0 I professionally experienced these views with younger generations new to the workplace and the importance of peer-group learnings versus traditional development opportunities.\u00a0 The above questions are good validators of shifting learners\u2019 needs.<\/span><\/p>\n

There is definite demystification of open education and surely more questions to explore on the role of learning communities, both from a learner and designer perspectives.\u00a0 With evolving digital environments, technologies and \u201cchanging learners\u201d (Pearson, 2021) in open education as well as the pivotal role of learning communities, one of the greater questions remains as how all of these inherently contribute to the learner\u2019s journey, and certainly worth contemplating.<\/span><\/p>\n

References:<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

Cormier, D. (2017, April 18). MALAT\u00a0Virtual Symposium:\u00a0Intentional messiness of online communities,\u00a0<\/em>[webinar].<\/span>\u00a0https:\/\/malat-coursesite.royalroads.ca\/lrnt521\/dave-cormier-virtual-symposium-presentation\/<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

Cronin, C. (2017, April 20).\u00a0 MALAT\u00a0Virtual Symposium:\u00a0Open culture, open education, open questions,\u00a0<\/em>[webinar]. \u00a0https:\/\/malat-coursesite.royalroads.ca\/lrnt521\/catherine-cronin-choosing-open\/<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

Pearson, R. (2021, April 16). \u00a0<\/i>MALAT Virtual Symposium: Reflections on a Career in Learning and Technology,\u00a0<\/em>[webinar]. https:\/\/ca.bbcollab.com\/collab\/ui\/session\/playback<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

Yunker, P. & Young, N. (2019). MALAT Virtual Symposium: Developing Connections with our Clients and Learning Communities,\u00a0<\/em>[webinar]. \u00a0https:\/\/ca.bbcollab.com\/collab\/ui\/session\/playback<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The focus of this blog originated from the various interpretations of open education and its learning communities.\u00a0 My initial views on open education were based on an illusion of knowledge derived from my experience of online learning with MOOC and… Continue Reading →<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":219,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-172","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-lrnt521"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/malat-webspace.royalroads.ca\/rru0225\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/172","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/malat-webspace.royalroads.ca\/rru0225\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/malat-webspace.royalroads.ca\/rru0225\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/malat-webspace.royalroads.ca\/rru0225\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/219"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/malat-webspace.royalroads.ca\/rru0225\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=172"}],"version-history":[{"count":13,"href":"https:\/\/malat-webspace.royalroads.ca\/rru0225\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/172\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":222,"href":"https:\/\/malat-webspace.royalroads.ca\/rru0225\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/172\/revisions\/222"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/malat-webspace.royalroads.ca\/rru0225\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=172"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/malat-webspace.royalroads.ca\/rru0225\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=172"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/malat-webspace.royalroads.ca\/rru0225\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=172"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}