e-Learning Ecologies MOOC’s Updates

Congratulations: You are an Active Knowledge Maker!!!

You and I are active knowledge makers in this very course-we are the emerging digital community. Congratulations!

To think of it, this course, with well thought guidance has made us not just active learners but knowledge makers. It is not the videos or reading material that have brought tens and hundreds of people to add to this treasure of discussion threads! I am sure Dr. Cope and Dr. Kalantiz can sense the satisfaction on this

Look at the treasure of knowledge and practices we have generated through this process; it is dynamic each time a person comments, continues and reviews. Traditional practice of listening, memorization and reproducing to accuracy gave most of us professional degrees. It has its own positives. But thankfully we have e-learning attributes that have totally changed the scenario. Using multiple knowledge sources, and research-based knowledge making), going far beyond traditional knowledge consumers pedagogies of traditional textbook learning or e-learning focused on video or e-textbook delivery.

Active knowledge making which I shall also refer as AKM is giving a chance for learners to build their understanding of the topic being taught rather than just telling them what it is. By empowering learners, we help them strengthen specific skills that are far more important than the amount of information they have memorized. Throughout Active Knowledge making process, there is also a sense of self-pace and self -lead journey in learning. I choose what I want, in which way I want to go

Active Learning and Active Knowledge making

Active learning often includes engaging activities that allow sufficient time for active learning- Strategies such as Role play, Think-pair-share, Group-research, Projects, Gallery walk, Fish pond and so on. When it comes to e-learning, it can be in the form of Discussion thread, Instagram responses, sharing google docs, jam-boards. Project based online research groups We are connecting to like minded people and going with individual drives—leading to authentic pedagogy. Students should be knowledge builders that are transferable to college and applicable. It is moving from centralised media to distributed sites, from compliance to participation

Research shows that by active participation and knowledge making, students retain 90 percent and 70 percent emphasis is on higher order evaluation skills as analysis, synthesis and evaluation, It naturally leads to Inquiry based learning, where questions come fast and answers are searched for those.

Research On Active learning impact

How do we evaluate the outputs of Active Knowledge Making-; It is interesting where instead of just an assessment papers to check long term memory (come on let’s be democratic, that’s not everyone’s skill?) AKM can be evaluated by the artifacts they make. Example. This submission of my update is an example of AKM. Similarly, Blogs, youtube videos, discussion threads, online peer evaluation.

The lockdown vacation period was my personal experience on facilitating AKM amongst my students. I had assigned topic where kids could do projects and write their experiences and upload it, share it and allow peers to review. I was only the center of guidance and feedback. I was no longer the provider of direct instructions and stayed away from creating forced dependency. Students had turned from consumers of knowledge to creators of knowledge. Active learning through online and e- ecology means is what makes it more compelling now with DIGITAL ECOLOGY. Access and choice are leading to engagement by not making only certain type of learners. It is encouraging to see more students getting involved as the choice of working is limitless. There is a perceived shift in balance of agency, during learning periods. We have much more active participation in cultural spaces

Here comes my Personal view:

Complete switch to AKM is possible for individuals with adequate prior knowledge or having done their foundations. For very young learners, at the point of first time learning of a concept, we should have active learning practices but not push to AKM. We carry the risk of incorrect knowledge absorption and chance of skipping the overall grasp and essence through guided learning and absorption. This is especially true when very young kids have episodic memory and link to the teachers.
Importantly, when it comes to AKM through e-pedagogy, the teacher or facilitator should be extremely knowledgeable and tech savvy and should have the ability to manoeuvre and garner together.
Students should also know to reconnect the knowledge built to the concept being put to study; it shouldn’t be a case of isolated learnings. The students should also gain from peer knowledge repertoire
Grading can be difficult as each person will have a unique style of AKM.

Having said that, a very interesting article that I glanced upon how emerging e-pedagogy in Australian primary school are put to use! Refer to Jennifer Way, ( University of Sydney, Australia)

To conclude, the digital generation has redefined learning, We are now four types of learners digital pioneers-who lead the way in the use of emerging technologies like the makers of blog for the first time , creative producers like us- Creative producers engage in ‘active content creation’ such as building websites, producing movies, manipulating images, displaying photos and creating music play-lists, everyday communicators -the majority of young people view basic digital technologies - simply to make their lives easier and information gatherers-who use search engines like google and Wikipedia. This category is especially of interest as they belong to students , parents and others fulfil needs of school when considering the educational needs of this digital generation. BUT every group is an ACTIVE KNOWLEDGE MAKING entity.

While the adults like me worry about possible limitations of technology dependence on childhood and get excited by the newness of technology itself, young people just quietly go about adopting technologies very naturally using their own ways of acquiring knowledge and developing new skills, that is, e-learning. 😊 I feel like a kid too.

Congratulations to all my peers here for being Active Knowledge Makers!!!

Credits, references, videos and Further reads:

1.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UsDI6hDx5uI

2. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u84ZsS6niPc

3. https://www.igi-global.com/dictionary/authentic-pedagogy/37366

4.https://www.igi-global.com/chapter/emerging-pedagogy-australian-primary-schools/35939

Emerging E-Pedagogy in Australian Primary Schools- Jennifer Way , university of Sydney, Australia

Source Title: Handbook of Research on New Media Literacy at the K-12 Level: Issues and Challenges

5.Authentic Pedagogy: Standards That Boost Student Performance

By Abner Oakes. ISA's Director of Outreach

https://www.studentachievement.org/coaches-downloads/authentic-pedagogy/

6.Authentic pedagogy newman

7.https://www.dannyballan.com/active-knowledge-making/#:~:text=Active%20knowledge%20making%20is%20giving,of%20information%20they%20have%20memorized.

 

8. Active learning definition by Bonwell & Eison 1991).

9. Learning Motivation and Mathematical Undertanding of Students of Islamic Junior High School through Knowledge sharing strategy- Rahayu Kariadinata, R Poppy Yaniawati, Hamdan Sugilar, Dede Riyadani

http://www.e-journal.stkipsiliwangi.ac.id/index.php/infinity/article/view/925

10. what is active learning? -https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UsDI6hDx5uI

11. https://newlearningonline.com/e-learning

Bill Kope and Mary Kalantiz

12. Photo Credit- Thinking together- Adaptive learning in the Science- Harvard university

13. Active learning- Center for Education Innovation- university of Minnesota

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-GydYPMc74g

12. Photo Credit:

Discussion video by Collete Scott North West Iowa Community college

13. Inquiry based learning

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QlwkerwaV2E&vl=en By John Spencer