Learning Reflections

Professional Foundations: Collaborating, Researching, and Networking

The Best Laid Plans of Mice and Busy Women...

This week I planned to explore interactive OERs (curricula, simulations, video lectures, etc) to add to my knowledge and understanding of these resources. This is a lofty goal for someone simply working full-time...and a bit too ambitions for someone currently interviewing, completing a freelance design project, and working full-time.

Image source, graphic river

Rather than research and develop a comprehensive learning guide, I studied one genre of these tools and began the outline of said guide.

This limited bit of research has greatly added to my understanding of these tool s, and I feel like I'm already becoming a more knowledgeable resource for my teaching & learning communities!

Engaging in a Community of Practice (CoP)

I joined a few LinkedIn communities when I began working in Instructional Design. Back then I was much  more curious and spent more time learning from and asking questions of my experienced peers. Today, I'm a bit more strategic about my community engagement (this is a euphemism for being rather quiet of late). So, I'm back in the game and enjoying the interactions with my peers. We really are a smart group!

I rekindled my acquaintance with the LinkedIn CoP/Networking group, 'Transformational Teaching with Technology' Reading recent forum posts and checking in on my past contributions. I had forgotten how engaged I when first meeting this community. However, this forum of over 2600 members has taken a turn toward self promotion. No longer are the recent posts conversation starters. In fact, all posts for the last 3 years, showcase someones external website, article, newly created video or interactive quiz... and none appear to have been viewed by any of the cohort; there is no commentary, there are no 'likes', and certainly no' shares'.

Feeling undaunted, I recently engaged with the 'eLearning Guild, then had an accidentally fruitful conversation with a representative with Gartner Research Suite... about their available resources and tools for online teaching and learning. Okay, that's grasping at straws, but I was pleasantly surprised by the information that I gained.

I do need to actively engage with these groups, so my plan is to make a connections at the close of the week to learn what my peers are doing with Open Educational Resources, whether they're successful...and how I can  duplicate their successes.