Opened, Week X
This is the “Week X” post. Why? Because this is the Week X of the course.
The week X is, for me, the week that neither students nor teachers nor tutors would like to “meet”, but it happens.
In the week X you feel frustration and disappointment.
Frustration is relate to a lack of feedback from your teacher/tutor/mentor.
Where is the beautiful relationship made of glances and smiles and jokes and smell after a hot morning in the classroom? Online teachers/tutors/mentors, did you ever think about this human aspect?
Disappointment arise from the awareness that more or less 40 people all around the world are reading things and writing about them but don’t build up any social network.
We are doing our “homeworks”, for sure reading some posts by someoneelse … but then?
I would like to get in touch with some of you, know who you are, what are your dreams, needs, faces…
I would like to get some feedback from Wiley!
David, if you are there knock the door!!!!
Please!!!!
Hi, Alessandro.
I am here and share your Week X disappointment. It seems to me that in the first two weeks, we were starting to build up some relationships and networking, but in the last few weeks, that is mostly gone.
In other online courses I have taken, there is much more email and blog conversations with the instructor, which helps the whole group be more connected. I really enjoyed this in the first week of the course, but since then…? I too feel a little “alone.” This is more like a self-study course now. Still valuable, but not as much.
I suspect that the lack of feedback from the instructor is a real-world case of “sustainability.” I don’t know how many people in the course are “paying” students, but I think not too many. Since those of us who are not paying do not have to be “graded,” this may not be a priority.
It is interesting that overall posting and comments from other students are falling off too. I wonder if this is related to the above or if people are just too busy. It’s an interesting study in the dynamics of an online open course.
There was talk in the syllabus of some real-time online chat sessions for the course. I think this would help. Perhaps this would help. What do you think?
Regards,
karen
www.k12opened.com/blog
ciao Alessandro,
I was just meeting up with Megan Haggerty a few days ago - another course participant, and we discussed just this. I thought the first week of the course was great - the readings were fairly dry, but everyone attacked them from different perspectives, and it was very interesting reading everyone’s postings. I followed links that lead me to more and more writings, and even to some extent modified my own views. I also really liked the way David Wiley summed up everyone’s comments, and provided some sort of “closure” for the week. Especially with blogs, the feeling of being heard, and read, is very important - I put it out there but do anyone ever visit? I check my blog stats, but mostly there are just Google spiders…
So people commenting on my writings, or linking to them from their writings, is really motivating. But being acknowledged by the teacher is important too. Megan and I discussed this, the role of a teacher - why it was felt as so important to have his input into all of this. But I guess he designed this course, and we would like to have him as our guide, through our process of learning. Or even as a peer-learner - I’d love to see his comments and reflections on this course in general, did it turn out as he expected…
The first week was great, the second and third were quiet, but that was OK because I was moving back to Toronto and beginning school again. I did a massive amount of reading the weekend before deadline, to get through all the readings and be up to date. Since then we haven’t heard from our teacher (I know he was busy with the conference - but a biip? A “I’m sorry I’ve been busy”??) Also I think our blog posts are less interesting because we don’t have that much to add - reading through all this is interesting and important, but most of it tends just to be very similar looking “summaries of main points”. I also wonder whether the blog format prohibits the creation of “dialogue” - of nodes forming, and people contributing to them. We read, we post, we move on. (Also, since i use Google Reader to scan through everyone’s posts - I don’t usually even see the comments, unless I go to each individual post).
So I guess the conclusion is that as naufraghi set loose on the ocean, it’s up to ourselves to save us. One problem of this course is that we haven’t really been provided with the tools - we need a sort of “back-channel”, a mailing list or a forum or something that is less “personal ownership” and more “group ownership”, more of a conversation. To have a meta-conversation about where this course is going, and how we want to change it (subvert it?) to suit our own learning goals.
Don’t give up!
Stian
PS: If you want more people to comment on your writings (I know I always do), making them register and log in, with email verification, just to provide a little comment is probably turning a lot of people off. I know spam is a problem, but using a captcha, or a spam filter (Akismet works wonders for me), is probably a better solution.
Hi Stian,
the blog I am using is made with wordpress but not on the openplatform, it’s on my own serverspace.
Thus I decided to allow free comments after the first approval of a comment by de admin, that is myself.
I for sure will improve the system with the time.
I think we are alle feeling the need to have a moment - in a chat, in a forum, in a social community - when and where we can build more social networking relationships.
I am open to any opportunity.
Maybe you could join us in the LTever community of the University of Florence.
http://www.lte-unifi.net/elgg/
I’m here! Believe me, I’m here. Please come see my recent post over at http://opencontent.org/blog/
I’m logged in, but my posts aren’t showing up?
There we go. Alessandro, please come see http://opencontent.org/blog/archives/383 and give me ideas on how to help the class work better, please!
I do feel better when I see this blog, and I don’t feel like I am the only one feel “alone”. I am a new student in this field, get others’ supports are very important to me especially from the instructor. I was straggling on if I understand the weekly reading or I understand the weekly question? Or I didn’t understand them neither of them? Or there is actually no right and wrong answer to any question? Or we have to follow the instructor’s thoughts? I was thinking it is because of my traditional education, I can’t get used to the new teaching environment? I am even thinking if this is called open education, people are hard to keep hard working without retained motivation.
People gave up giving comments to each other, is it because they are all busy? I spent a lot of time to read the articles and write down my thoughts on time everyweek, but I can hardly find few blogs are keeping weekly reading and giving thoughts. And the comments are gone!
I like the way David did in the first two weeks, so if he can keep doing that, it will be great! I also would love to have some time chat with you guys all together and share the ideas.
No David, your comment is already shown
Hi all!
First of all, I want to thank Alessandro for this post. He made explicit a feeling shared by most of us.
I don’t think it’s a question of “pay or not pay”. In my case, I’ve not paid yet, but I intend to do it, becasuse I don’t need credit but I’d like to receive the completion certificate. But even if I had paid, I don’t think I ‘d have more “rights” of feedback
I think David challenges himself very hard with this course. It’s an absolute innovation and maybe he has now some sustainibility issues (Karen, I agree with you!).
More, chances are that latest weeks topics were less exciting and our posts were less interesting?
Anyway, thanks to Alessandro, it’s a a good point for the course community: we are now awake and walking on, as well as our instructor!
I too was going to pay something at the end, not because I wanted a certificate or credit, but just to compensate for the value.
I think that the issue of optional payment for “open” content is an interesting one. Are you familiar with Radiohead’s recent release of their CD? They made it available as a download on the Internet and you could pay whatever you wanted for it, including nothing. I paid for it (about the same as what I’d pay for the CD; I liked the idea of this and the convenience of downloading it). Amazingly, many others paid too; the band took in something like $10 million.
When I and others got the download though, the audio quality was horrible (160 k). There was no information prior to purchase that the quality would be poor, and now Radiohead says “too bad.” If we want to get the music so we can actually enjoy it, we’ll have to buy the CD.
This kind of thing could really hurt the open movement. Many people already think that “free” means poor quality. Experiences that reinforce this are unfortunate.
Hi, Alessandro, I was wondering if anyone else besides me would be feeling just like as you described…
Your post was a creative one - and true one.
But you know what - community connection is also “our’ responsibility. I know that I have not made more connections in this course because of myself, as well. I am taking responsibility on this. I should have reached out more. The instructor/tutor availability is important, sure, but how about us, the learners?
I have also taught online and I can see this matter from the other perspective, too.
What do you think?
I have a similar experience as yours.
That’s also why I decided to express my feelings: because among italian learners we were discussing about this “problem” since a few weeks ago, more or less after the third (like many other students told in their posts after mine).
What about students’ engagement? I posted my opinion with Ostwald’s words:
http://www.edocet.net/wordpress/2007/10/19/comunita-di-apprendimento/
After all, even Wiley confessed a personal difficulty with this way to manage a course.
In my answer to Karen (see previous link in this comment) I wrote that it (the course, and the problems we have focussed) maybe depend on this: how do I (student) relate to a course, to a teacher, to my fellows, to the given tasks?
What is astonishing to me? Everybody noticed and focussed on the “concerns” about the course and the teacher’s apparent absence, but nobody focussed on the part of the human relationship among US:
“Where is the beautiful relationship made of glances and smiles and jokes and smell after a hot morning in the classroom? Online teachers/tutors/mentors, did you ever think about this human aspect?
Disappointment arise from the awareness that more or less 40 people all around the world are reading things and writing about them but don’t build up any social network.
We are doing our “homeworks”, for sure reading some posts by someoneelse … but then?
I would like to get in touch with some of you, know who you are, what are your dreams, needs, faces…”