A final review on #BlendKit2014...a thank you and comments on our Learning Culture

Hello and Welcome Back!

This is my very last post on #BlendKit2014 - as I am not submitting a portfolio, I'm now done the course - but I'm not done learning.  Not by a long shot!

I will be continuing to take MOOCs and continuing to write about them - although not always here.  I will share links to my blogs as they are posted just in case you want to keep up with me :)

I'm starting a course on Gamification from OpenLearning - I expect to start posting about it in a week or two...You will get the details here as soon as I can release them!  If you've read my blog before, you know that Gamification and E-Portfolios really sparked my fire!

In the meantime, I have been reflecting on my MOOC experience in #BlendKit2014 (specifically, although Intro to Marketing on Coursera has been similar in experience).  The community we've built.  The shared experience. I've come to realize something.

Universities have it all wrong.  When they say MOOCs can't replace the school culture, the classroom experience and the one-on-one interactions with the professors, I have to ask, "What dream world do they live in??".

When I attend Saint Mary's University, I was lucky.  In the grand scheme of things it's a small school, although in Canada we would probably consider it a medium school.  I knew who my profs were.  They might know my name...but generally I was "Oh right, the one who wrote about...".  I didn't have many convos with the profs, the classes weren't filled with debate, I didn't know half of my class.

Which was ridiculous.  Some classes had 30 people in it.  Some upper level courses had 12.  I didn't know them.  They didn't know me.  We had a "sage on stage" most times with limited discussion.  We didn't try to help each other to understand the material or the context.  We were not a community as such.

Now again, I was kind of lucky.  I was on the executive of the English Society.  I arranged to have profs come in for symposiums to share their latest research (we made for a great group to tell you where you ideas had room for improvement!!) and often a beer or two after.  I had office hours and spent some time debating concepts, imagery, context, symbolism, etc with a few students - generally not those in my class though.  I didn't ever feel like my understanding was important to anyone else. I was alone in making my education count.  And...that led to me maybe not working quite as hard as I should have...

I worked ridiculous hours while in school - one year I did 52 hours a week for an entire semester, went to school full time and still had a social life.  Crazy? Yes! Did I do homework?  Barely.  Did I put forth nearly as much effort as I do now?  Nope.  Not by a long shot!!

Learning about Blended Learning meant I did probably 6+hrs/wk of work to understand the content and context of the work.  Researching, piecing things together, and reflecting in this blog...at least 6 hours/week.  Just for this course.  I have been taking 8-10 more at any time.  But I had help.  I had a community of people who would talk about concepts on twitter, Google+ or my blog.  Or the discussion forums.  Or LinkedIn.  I had a personal learning network.  I made connections that I want to stay connected with.

People shared their ideas, their understandings, their successes and failures (real or perceived).  They invested in each other - showing their work at various stages, looking for feedback and advice - which they got!  Our shared goal was to have a deeper understanding.  That we all have a deeper understanding.

MOOCs can drive the Learning Culture.  It's driven by the participants, not the university and not the professors.  Each may take part, but it is the students who take the lead, help each other, look for deeper meaning, share, support, and ensure no one who wants to get ahead is willingly left behind.   We drive the Learning Culture.

We did.  Us.  I'm so glad to have had the chance to take this course with each of you.  We came in from many different walks of life, experiences, and understandings.  We finish this course with a shared experience, a shared understanding, a shared desire to help our connections find a deeper learning.

Time for some Confidential Information...

I was very intimidated at the beginning of this course - I realized that I was one of the few who didn't teach in a school or - even scarier - in a university.  I thought about dropping out a dozen times in the first week even though I loved it, was learning and having fun.  Seeing so many people with PhD or EdD after their names or job titles that were followed by at X University...Yikes!  I only had a little ol' BA...and I seldom talk about it!  And I have been working in retail (and retail training)...Double Yikes!  But this community (thankfully) quickly grew and made me feel like it was OK to come in from a different angle.  That my experiences could add value and occasionally a different viewpoint.

Had I taken this course at a brick and mortar institution, I would have withdrawn and run for the hills by Week 2.  I'm glad I didn't.

Hello #BlendKit2014 friends! You gave me a real understanding of MOOC Driven Learning Cultures http://t.co/zU1RBlPFuf Enjoy! @Accredible

— Passage Gal (@passagegal) May 30, 2014

I've written a slightly more defined version of what I am emotionally trying to explain here over on Accredible.com.  The culture we created is just as relevant as the culture at any brick & mortar school - and possibly more valuable!  What we created was something I was never able to find at any university (even though the schools all say they have it).

Thank you Dr Kelvin Thompson and Dr Linda Futch for creating this fantastic program and providing the forum for a Learning Culture to be built.  Your feedback and participation in Social Media played a great part in our community development.  Your in course emails provided great feedback and support to a gal who felt like a fish out of water but was loving to learn about Blended Learning.  Should you ever run this course again from a corporate training perspective, let me know!  I'm totally in!!

To my fellow coursemates, I look forward to staying in touch via twitter, each others blogs, Google+ and the LinkedIn group.  I hope to see you again in another course and wish you great learning, great understanding, great happiness and great success!

What is Blended Learning?

What is Blended Learning?

Simply put, blended learning is a course that is partially taught in a classroom, and partially taught on-line.  This frees up classroom time for more interactive learning, versus a learning download.  This also allows the learner to (at their own pace and on their own time) learn the content before meeting with the group to discuss and apply it.

There is no specific definition as to what percentage is taught on-line and in class but the Sloan 
Consortium (a professional organization dedicated to post secondary on-line learning) defines blended learning as a course where 30%-70% of the instruction is delivered on-line. (BlendKit Reader Second Edition, Edited by Kelvin Thompson, Ed.D.)

This is an interesting video defining Blended Learning:

This is another good video to explain Blended Learning:

As I have mentioned, I am taking a course to become a Blending Learning Designer.  For more information, check out the Blended Learning Toolkit.

To learn more about the course, check out this video!

I've just started a MOOC called Becoming a Blended Learning Designer through Canvas.

I've just started a MOOC  called Becoming a Blended Learning Designer through Canvas.

Why?

Mostly because I love to learn and I love to share information with others.  If I didn't have such a terrible phobia about speaking in front of a crowd, I would have been a teacher.  Instead, I've taken several courses in teaching methods and Adult learning and have applied it to training in a retail environment - with smaller groups that allow me to share and interact, without breaking out in a cold swear - ugh!

A bit about me and why I am interested in Blended Learning

At a previous employer, a home-goods store, all training was Face to face (F2F).  Materials were available on the Intranet to print and teach from.  Courses designed (I swear!) by people who have never taught a class in the middle of a cookware department, on a busy day to the only associate on that half of a store!  Classes were constantly interrupted, cancelled mid-way through by a well meaning manager or ended with someone called to cash.  To say they were unproductive would be an understatement.  When the learning was validated through role plays, or - heaven forbid!, a mystery shop, it was very evident that the methodology did not work.

Unfortunately, in a corporate environment, messages from the front lines are often ignored.

Another employer had on-line learning down to a science!  Or, so they thought!!  With a minimum amount of time mandated to be dedicated to training per associate per week, the thought was to sit an associate in front of a computer, have a lot of information pushed at them to take notes on, and then quiz the living be-jeepers out of them (a WHMIS course had no less than four (4!) tests in order to complete - sometimes as long as 3 months after the class was taken).

Now, this strictly on-line learning worked for some, but not my team.  Although they were dedicated to the learning process (an advantage to having 3/4 of my team 40+), they felt isolated by this learning process.  They had no one to talk to about what they were learning as they were all at different places.  They had no one to whom they could ask questions. It was not always easy to relate the content of the materials to the practicality and reality of everyday life.  

I had to make a change.  Right away.  Before my crew bailed on me.  And I had to go against the corporate plan and training policy.

I organized F2F training with every vendor and supplier I could.  If someone was an expert on a topic and I could get them in, I did.  Sometimes, the teacher was me.  I rearranged schedules to allow everyone to attend a session at some time over a 3 month period.  I made sure they could ask questions.  I gave them notice about who was coming and when.

And they studied.  They reviewed websites.  Catalogues.  Brochures.  Anything they could get their hands on.  At work.  At home.  Whenever they could.

Why?

So the time they had F2F could be used for interactive learning. So they could ask questions - specific to the product we carried.  Things their customers were asking and that they couldn't answer.  They learned a lot.  They challenged their instructors to learn more and teach more.

And what happened?

Sales went through the roof!  Confident, well informed, educated individuals who understood what products were right for what jobs sold their little butts off!  A department which would generally be a mid to bottom rated department in a Hardware/Lumber store became #1!!

Blended Learning

That was my first foray into blended learning.  Balancing an on-line component with a F2F component in a mix that worked for the group in question.  Not that I knew at the time that was what it was called.  I also didn't know at the time that people were studying the effectiveness - or that my results and conclusions based on my highly unscientific study would be in line with real studies by professionals.

I was happily surprised when I read the chapter for module 1 of my course that I had been on the right track.  Now to learn more so that next time, I can have the proper mix and the right tools at my disposal.