Discussion prompt: Keeping in mind your own experiences as a teacher and as a student, consider what Anderson means when he describes the attributes of learning in terms of being learner-, knowledge-, assessment- and community-centered. To what extent have you experienced on-line or mixed-mode courses that achieved this kind of learning environment?

I think that the way in which all of the ETEC courses that I have taken thus far have been set up, has definitely nurtured a community of learners. Reflecting back upon my past and current course work, I feel that I have experienced some learner-centered, knowledge-centered, assessment-centered and community-centered approaches to varying degrees. There have been times in my courses where I was able to learn in isolation at my own pace by working through assigned readings, podcasts, video clips and the related interactivities. There have been times where it was actually the posts or replies from my classmates rather than the particular module content that really brought forth learning connections for me and took me off on valuable learning tangents to find out more. It is very unlikely that I would have taken the same inquiry routes in these instances without the input and insight of my classmates.

In some of my courses I have felt that the weekly discussion prompts have been more effective in generating rich discourse than in others. Overall however, I think that the majority of the topics of discussion that have guided my weekly posts and replies have served as great starting points for conversations. From my own online learning experiences it seems as if each classmate brings a different perspective and realm of experience to the conversations that often results in much richer learning than would have occurred if I was studying the course content in isolation. The post and reply format of the discourse in Blackboard which has been the norm in all but one of my courses so far, allows us to ask questions, provide additional related resources, and share personal experiences and/or opinions in a safe environment. Although by posting our thoughts for everyone to see and potentially critique, we are putting ourselves out there and it makes us a bit vulnerable, the fact that these are Masters level courses and the student population is comprised for the most part of professionals working in fields where collaboration is a day to day must a great deal of the time, the climate in the discussion forums has always been a welcoming one (in my opinion). Although Blackboard has its drawbacks, I do have to say that I prefer the discussion forums internally in Blackboard over the wordpress weblog community that I am currently a part of in my other course at this time. This is my first MET experience in which the sense of community that I normally feel by this stage of a course seems to be lessened by the discussion medium. I think that my feelings of disconnect mostly stem from the fact that there is not a formal notification system to alert students to new messages or replies other than a small list of only the most recent posts at the edge of the webpage. I feel like I am spending most of my time scrolling, searching and rereading things to be sure that I have not missed anything rather than building up a relationship with my fellow classmates. I would be interested to know other people’s thoughts/preferences in regard to weblogs vs. Blackboard discussion forums.

One of my previous online courses in particular stands out to me as a course that really was successful in achieving community centered-learning. Not only were the discussion forums places filled with valuable discourse, one of the participation requirements really pushed me to look beyond my own thoughts and opinions and take a closer look at the shared ideas of my classmates. In this course, the instructor had a weekly wrap up task that required us to make connections with classmates while also completing a self-reflection activity. At the end of each week, the instructor asked us to post a brief self-evaluation that included a few questions to rate our own participation for the week and it concluded with a requirement that we select a quote from a posting made by one of our classmates during the week that most resonated with us. We were expected to name the classmate, the thread title, provide the direct quote followed by a brief (2-3 sentence) explanation of why that particular quote was a powerful one for us personally. I greatly enjoyed the weekly reflection process and I found myself keeping an eye out throughout the week for that one post that really piqued my interest, challenged my own beliefs, or made me dig more deeply into a topic that I probably wouldn’t have otherwise.
Even though I am approaching the half way mark in my MET journey, it still surprises me that I can feel so connected to a group of learners that are virtually strangers to me and in some cases, are across the world from me physically. I cannot speak to any online course experiences outside of the UBC MET program so I am not sure if it is something unique to this program or not, but I truly do feel a sense of community in my course work despite the fact that I am not face-to-face with my instructors or classmates.