What will be
taught, to whom and why?
My intention is to create an innovative approach to
lifelong learning by experimenting with organizing groups of adults to work
together through existing free-to-learners online courses such as MOOCs.
Learners will follow the online activities mainly on an independent basis and
meet in-person weekly in groups to review learning materials, discuss related
topics and peer-review assignments. The group members will use a peer-learning
approach, sharing their expertise, as well as their experience with the course
content and exercises.
The Context
The audience that I will be addressing in my project are
adults living in a residential community in Ottawa, Canada, known as The Glebe.
The Glebe has a population of 11,180 (2010). Of those aged 25-64 years almost
all (89.7 %) have some post-secondary education. About 25 % are not in the labour force;
whereas only 5% are unemployed. 68.8 % are employed. (Retrieved from
http://neighbourhoodstudy.ca/glebe-dows-lake/).
The one-quarter of the population not in the labour force likely comprises a
combination of retired older people, stay-at-home parents of young children and
post-secondary students.
In order to
narrow down the group of potential learners I have preselected a MOOC course
developed and presented by the University of Southhampton on the FutureLearn platform
entitled “Developing Your Research Project”. In this course
- by the end
of eight weeks you could reasonably aim to have:
- considered whether undertaking a research
project really is for you
- picked a topic, created a draft hypothesis and
some research questions
- written a draft research proposal (around 200
words)
- considered what research methodologies you will
be using and updated your research proposal to reflect this
- written a summary of your updated research
proposal (FutureLearn, 2015)
This course is live for 8 weeks from 12 September to 31
October 2016 and therefore I can benefit from observing (and participating) in
the course with a global online set of learners. This experience will be used
in my design, while implementation will take place during a future offering of
the course.
Based on my observations of the first week and the
introductions by the current cohort, and my knowledge of The Glebe community,
the profile of the learners who will join the proposed face-to-face group will
have similar characteristics to the ones currently studying online. The main
difference is that the online course has a high proportion of high school
students, whereas for the face-to-face session students at the high school
level will not be targeted as they are likely to have the support they need
already through their high school.
The adult learners’ profile and why they might join the
course and participate in the face-to-face weekly sessions is described below.
University or college level students at undergraduate or graduate levels interested in honing
skills for their current studies (to improve marks) or to acquire research
skills that might be useful for future employment.
Teachers (mainly university or college
level) for skill upgrading in research related to a wide range of content areas.
Professional workers, in any field, to
develop or hone their research skills possibly related to advancement in the
workplace. The types of professions
mentioned by current online students in the course are: Family Health Nurse, Medical
Researcher, Health Science volunteer, Humanitarian worker, Guidance Officers in
education, College Librarian (FutureLearn, 2015). Adults with similar
professions live in The Glebe.
Independent researchers in any field. The
types of researchers that could be interested, also based on the range seen in
the current online MOOC, include ‘seniors’ interested to work jointly on a
research project, and adults of all ages preparing to return to post-secondary
education, considering finishing up an incomplete dissertation, completing
genealogy research, developing skills in writing up research to publish in
journals, etc. (FutureLearn, 2015). Once again, adults with this profile live
in The Glebe.
Most likely the group facilitator will not be a subject or
content expert but rather a group convenor and facilitator applying good
learning design techniques applicable in group settings. The experts will be
the MOOC professors complemented possibly by one (or more) of the peers within
the face-to-face group.
How does this
relate to the broader social, educational and technological trends?
Change, technological and other, will continue unflaggingly
and exponentially in the future and needs to be embraced by all,
young and old. Kevin Kelly (2016) in his video podcast "The Next 30
Digital Years", stated "what is inevitable in education is that we
will become lifelong learners. You will need to learn the skills of how to
learn and keep learning because there will be no alternative" (The Long
Now Foundation, 2016). Lifelong learning, defined as
"(a) form of or approach to education which promotes the continuation
of learning throughout adult life, especially by making educational material
and instruction available through libraries, colleges, or information
technology" (English Oxford Living Dictionary) is becoming, therefore, the
norm rather than an option for adults. Everyone who completes formal
education must be ready for the reality that the "next day" is
the beginning of their informal lifelong learning.
By participating in MOOCs, supported by peers in face-to-face
meetings, lifelong learners will be learning important research skills which
can be useful in both academic environments as well as in the workplace and in
the community at large. As well, they will be practicing, in a peer-supported
environment, digital age learning activities that all students may be embracing
in the future. As Bates (2015) notes “(s)tudents will work mainly online and
collaboratively, developing multi-media learning artefacts or demonstrations of
their learning, managing their online portfolios of work, and editing and
presenting selected work for assessment” (Bates, 2015, p.367).
References
Bates,
A. W. (2015). Teaching in a digital age.
Retrieved from http://opentextbc.ca/teachinginadigitalage/
