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ONL201 – from isolation to inspiration

It is spring 2020 and I have never been so active online before in my life, also I have never been so isolated from my colleagues and students. 

The ONL-course coincided with Covid-19, which made taking part in the course more difficult, while, at the same time the ONL discussions and seminars made me better prepared for quickly getting all of my courses online. One week, before everyone else, I knew what Zoom was, I had taken part in breakout rooms and polls online. When suddenly everyone was force into a crash course about how to go online I actually could help some of my colleagues in the process. I guess another benefit of the course was that I had a forum where I could discuss online learning. Also, ONL201 helped me think more long term about the work.

My learning will influence my practice, especially considering how to plan and organize online courses. Taking part in the course made me understand the basics of online teaching, but also the emotions and difficulties involved. Moreover, I learnt how to structure a course, what tools are available and what terminology to use. 

I hope that what was done out of necessity by so many teachers during this spring will develop into something fun and professionally satisfying – moving from isolation to inspiration.

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Architectural history online and the five-stage model

This fall I will teach a course about Swedish architectural history, it covers about 1000 years of churches, castles, parks, barns, apartments and university buildings. It is an online course and it has about 50-100 students. It is going to be necessary to make some changes to the course and my thoughts concern how to design, organize and facilitate for learning. Professor Gilly Salmon has developed a five stage model, a framework  ”for a structured and paced programme of e-tivities” (https://www.gillysalmon.com/five-stage-model.html#). I will apply her model and see how it plays out. Will it help me find ways of making the students learn and work together? What e-tivities will support this?

The first step is 1) access and motivation. The typical student on the course is slightly older and have a professional background where architectural history is a relevant addition. This means that most students are experienced, motivated to learn and finish the course. However, they might have difficulties finding the time to participate in collaborative work. The course is an online course which uses Canvas, a platform that easily can be accessed by the student once they have been registered on the course. 

The second step is 2) online socialization. All participants will be asked to introduce themselves online in smaller groups, these groups will then be acting as study groups where students can collaborate and support each other. A few assignments will be obligatory; however, the study group will be as active as the participants wants it to be. There will also be an opportunity to meet in real life as the course offers a one-day excursion. Some preparations will be made online before the excursion.

The third step is 3) information exchange. There will be two main forums for information exchange, one within the study group and one for the whole course. The study group will be able to discuss literature and content of the course while the information exchange involving the whole group will focus on practical issues that concerns the whole course. There will be an online schedule where all the activities and required reading is posted. 

The fourth step is 4) knowledge production. Seminars, quizzes and written examinations will be important parts of the knowledge production. The study groups means that there will be opportunities for collaborative learning where everyone can contribute with their own knowledge to the group. In addition to these interactive activities, there will be a number of recorded lectures that relate to a seminar or a quiz. The seminars and examinations will invite critical thinking, applying concepts and terminology, judging and evaluating.

The fifth step is 5) development. At the end of each of the three sections of the course there will be an anonymous questionnaire where learning development as well as practical aspects of the course can be brought to the table. During the seminars there will be a short discussion about how the students are learning.

Applying the five step model high-lighted the collaborative opportunities of the course and made me add study groups and at least one seminar. Although, I feel that it is difficult to know how motivated the students will be when it comes to collaborating with other students. Many have limited time since they are working while studying. Another activity I added was the questionnaires that will help adress questions, difficulties and other issues during and only after the course.

The five step model seemed suitable for a course about architecture, by carefully planning the construction of the course I hope I can offer a structured and enjoyable learning experience.

Gilly Salmon, The Five Stage Model, https://www.gillysalmon.com/five-stage-model.html

Building Tradition and History, Uppsala University, https://www.uu.se/en/admissions/freestanding-courses/course/?kKod=5KV790&typ=1

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Individual passions and social software

As a researcher in the humanities you often feel alone, tradition maintains that you should write your text, on your own, in your office. The ideas your pour into the research and texts should spring from your own clever conclusions. Not only does this not work very well, it is rarely the truth. To make an analogy to art – the artist of the renaissance was rarely alone in his studio, the art work we study was rarely the result of one hand. Similarly, we might consider research a collaborative effort, also in the humanities, and it relies on personal networks. The practice behind research and learning as a collaborative is something that academic teachers both need to learn the students and that they can be taught by their students.

Professional networks have always been at the foundation of research; however, new technology has made it easier to connect with more people and it happens much quicker. Twitter, Facebook groups, online conferences, blogs and other platforms have become valuable tools to help create and expand your personal learning/research network. Online I can easily find people who are passionate about the same things as me or I can find new things to become passionate about.

When I teach students, I tell them that academic research relies on dialogue and discussion for its existence and that there are different tools to create and maintain this discussion. Usually it is based on writing, sometimes speech, which is made public in different ways. It can be the seminar, the thesis, the article, the review or the blog. As researchers we are trained to have a goal with our learning, to be efficient and evaluate the learning we do. This is still a process when it comes to students. (Brindley and Walti) However, a skill that student and researchers alike needs to practice is how to create and sustain learning communities and networks. 

Usually we don’t talk about personal learning networks with our students, I find that when we do this turns out to be quite useful to all. Because these networks don’t just happen, they are the result of more or less conscious efforts, and they are valuable to us. However, to an outsider they might appear as secret clubs, how do we find them? Can we become better at inviting new people? Can we help the students understand how they work and help them create their own networks? One way to do this might be to include collaborative learning in courses.

In her talk on PLN’s theory and practice Kay Oddone discuss the benefits of personal learning networks and the apparent paradox where the learner moves in a network while guided by individual needs and passions. As learners and researchers we rely on this paradox as well as on a social software, online as well as offline, which enables us to create connections and spaces for learning. 

Brindley, J., Blaschke, L. M. & Walti, C. (2009). Creating effective collaborative learning groups in an online environment. The International Review of Research in Open and Distance Learning, 10(3)

Oddone, Kay, PLN’s theory and practice, https://youtu.be/g8mJX5n3IEg

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Openness, quality and transparency

Knowledge is a common good and should be made accessible. As a teacher, I like getting easy access to both educational resources and research. Naturally technology is a primary driver but also legislation and attitudes among students and staff. However, for an educational online resource to be of any use for university teachers there are two main concerns, quality and transparency. 

Online educational resources, it might be films, courses, access to archives have to be of good quality. Quality means that they need to be up to date, both the content and the technology. In my teaching I have had made use of open educational resources produced by numerous museums and archives. These resources are primarily focused on content. In addition, I have used free online resources focused on open learning such as Smarthistory.com, which is the official provider of art history for khanacademy.org. Although easily accessible these organizations are not as transparent as a university and has a number of private sponsors, mostly based in the USA.

Martin Weller discuss his concerns about openness in his book The battle for open pointing at concerns about commercial interests, financial sustainability and accessibility. (Weller 2013) This might not have to be a problem, however, both teachers and students have to be aware of the situation. It is as important to know who has produced the knowledge and how in an online lecture as it is when reading an article. 

What then is the main contribution from online resources such as Smarthistory? Although offering both content and educational services, such as specially designed online materials, in-built learner support and assessment I would say there is one main feature that has been most useful to me. Visiting architectural sites and art work is an essential aspect of teaching art history. As a senior lecturer I usually bring my student to different sites during field trips, something which is no longer possible because of Covid-19. This means that virtual guided tours offered by museums and short films produced by free online recourses have become even more valuable. 

Smarthistory’s content is based on a combination of conversational videos and essays which cover art and cultural heritage. They are not ‘traditional’ lectures but a dialogue and an actual visit to a site, “we essentially walk into a museum and record on the spot” The viewer should feel “like they are eavesdropping on a conversation between experts.” (Smee 2020)

During a field trip this conversation usually happen between the teacher and the student. And to be honest, during Covid-19, I have missed this often creative and fun meeting with the students and a site. And I recognize some of the reluctance to using other people’s work described in Teaching in a digital age (Bates 2019, 11.2.4.2). Before March 2020 I considered the films describing different art works all over the world as a useful and interesting educational resource, now they are also a reminder of the fun and value of actually meeting your students on site. 

Bates, T. (2019). Teaching in a Digital Age: Guidelines for Teaching and Learning. (2nd edition) 

Smee, Sebastian, (May 1, 2020) How two professors transformed the teaching of art history, https://www.washingtonpost.com/entertainment/museums/how-two-professors-transformed-the-teaching-of-art-history/2020/04/30/21fb77c6-88ee-11ea-9dfd-990f9dcc71fc_story.html

Weller, M. (2014). Battle for Open: How openness won and why it doesn’t feel like victory. London: Ubiquity Press.