Impact of an open online course on the connectivist behaviours of Alaska teachers

Abstract

In this article we will describe a continuum of development towards knowledge generation and networked learning which emerges as practising teachers participate in a connectivist experience offered through an open online class (OOC) learning design. We believe that this design offers an opportunity to provide authentic professional development and collaboration particularly for those teachers in remote areas such as in the Alaska bush. Research remains in progress; however, current findings indicate that those teachers who valued the connectivist experience indicate a desire to promote these experiences with their own students. Content analysis of interviews, focus group transcripts and Twitter transcripts reveal four distinct stages of awareness of values necessary for success in the OOC. Of the practising teachers who enrolled, 98% were successful in completing the OOC for credit; however, 20% remained resistant to connectivist pedagogy throughout the experience.

Comparison of Online and Onsite Students’ Learning Outcomes and Experiences in a Massively Open Online Course in China

“…Both online and onsite participants experienced challenges with self-directed online learning. Similarly, Graham and Fredenberg (2015) noticed in their study some participants struggled with open learning. They recommended making this a prerequisite for learners to have prior exposure to traditional asynchronous learning.…”

The pedagogical quality of MOOCs based on a systematic review of JCR and Scopus publications (2013-2015)

“…In response to this, we should cite the educational experiment by Graham and Fredenberg (2015) of the University of Alaska, who implemented a connectiv ismbased MOOC with teachers from the region that obtained satisfactory results and where the authors concluded that an open learning environment and a meth odological focus based on experimentation and play is the best option for being suc cessful. Roig, Mengual, and Suárez (2014), however, find that of the 52 MOOCs an alysed from 10 different platforms, fo cussing on the «methodology» category, MOOCs have an average methodological quality of 67.4% according to the pedagog ical assessments performed.…”

“…Likewise, it is important to highlight the experiment carried out by Graham and Fredenberg (2015) on the MOOC course they implemented in Alaska in which teachers participated. The basic objective was to discover the impact of this connectivismbased MOOC and it was concluded that, in principle, there were problems with some teachers who did not have technology skills or compe tences, but communication channels and routes and collaborative work were essen tial tools for them to complete the course satisfactorily.…”

Los nuevos entornos virtuales de aprendizaje permanente (MOOC). Un estudio diacrónico del estudiantado de la Universidad Pablo de Olavide (2015-2017)

“…Y se fundamenta en plataformas de aprendizaje dirigido, desde los principios de ubicuidad, autoevaluación, modularidad y vídeo simulación (Vázquez-Cano, López-Meneses y Sarasola, 2013). Además, es un fenómeno relativamente reciente (Graham y Fredenberg, 2015). En el año 2008 el fenómeno mundial de los MOOC apareció como un importante desarrollo de la educación en línea (Mackness, Mak y Williams, 2010).…”