Blog Post: The Landing Works! in Innovation and research
Blog Post: The Landing Works!
October 4, 2010 by Tanya Elias Comments (6)
I was looking for information about an MDE e-portfolio meeting the other day. Normally I would have used an email link from within Moodle to ask someone (probably Marguerite). But the course I'm taking this semester isn't using Moodle and my old favorites were all cleared out when I brought my computer into to get fixed.
So I thought I'd try a new approach and posted the question in a group in the Landing. And within a day I got two responses with the details I needed. And it was nice that they opted to respond to my post. Maybe simple acts really do have the power to build community.
Writing these blog posts has also served as a great way to organize my thoughts, and the comments of others have challenged my to push some of my ideas a little forward.
I've now also used it to collect a series of bookmarks and connect with many great resources and people both within the Landing and out in larger web in a way that has extended my learning beyond the "traditional" Moodle "classroom." Again, it would seem a sense of belonging to a community emerges from a series of little acts.
Now I know none of this is particularly ground-breaking, and it likely even sounds cliche, but to me it is a real surprise. At the end of June I described the Landing as disorienting, disconnected and disorganized. It had no starting point, few rules, and no real purpose.
In early October, if someone asked, I'd say it's a close-knit, supportive place: comfortable, maybe even cozy. It has a thousand starting points and paths, many tools and endless possibilities; the Landing hasn't changed (much) bt my perspective sure has.
I've almost never been called a linear thinker and have often found myself in trouble for too many questions, but I realize now that my conceptualization of formal educational spaces (including those in DE) were rigid: a path, defined content, preestablished learning objectives, a class, a course.
And even though I've always beleived that the best learning occurs in the informal spaces that surround these formal spaces (think late-night study session, Skyping about an assignment, the hallways at a conference), I coudln't really ever grasp the potential of moving the formal learning into those informal spaces. Until now.
I always knew that DE had the potential to transcend place, space, and time, that's what has drawn me back time and time again. And yet, I also always walked away feeling that something was missing; it was always the best choice given the barriers, the pratical thing to do, better than...
But now, somehow is starting to feel.....not perfect, but complete. Thanks.
Tanya - you've made my day with this post. Thanks!! I took the liberty of forwarding the link to it to the AU President and VP. Hope that is OK.
Terry
Terry Anderson 617 days ago
Hi Tanya
"I've now also used it to collect a series of bookmarks and connect with many great resources and people both within the Landing and out in larger web in a way that has extended my learning beyond the "traditional" Moodle "classroom." Again, it would seem a sense of belonging to a community emerges from a series of little acts."
We've (Terry, Jon, and I) grappled with the role of the Landing in the AU technology ecosystem...we frequently encounter questions about what the Landing adds to AU that can't be achieved by existing tools such as moodle. The paragraph that I excerpted from your post communicates the Landing's role succinctly: it's about giving individuals the control to form a social network (community) through acts of content creation, sharing, and interaction, without the abrupt discontinuation that occurs when courses end. Thanks for reflections!
George Siemens 617 days ago
Tanya
I'm also very excited to find this informal learning space. In fact, I'd argue that I can't learn without it! For me it's always been the conversations with others that has made my learning meaningful. I'm quite excited to watch and participate as this space grows.
George has really honed in on one of the big strengths of the Landing for me: "it's about giving individuals the control to form a social network (community) through acts of content creation, sharing, and interaction, without the abrupt discontinuation that occurs when courses end."
The professor and fellow students in a course are integral components to a learning experience. Any opportunity to deepen and strengthen those connections, as well as move them beyond the classroom and into community translates into a complex integration of subject matter and continued learning. When this works well, it becomes revolutionary.
Leslie
onepercentyellow 617 days ago
It makes intuitive sense that it takes time to understand how to successfully use a tool, particularly one that you wern't looking for. Your description of your unfolding appreciation of the Landing is very revealing and I am sure willl reflect many other users experiencies.
Brian Stewart 616 days ago
This sure highlights questions I am becoming more and more interested in. What is that happens when a learner makes that transformation from disoriented initiate to comfortable participant in a social networked environment? What are the necessary ingredients? How can we best document this transormation? And, how can we help to facilitate its occurence? User reflections like Tanya's are a great way to get a better understanding of these things.
John Hannah 614 days ago
Excellent!
We have a real and interesting challenge as we try to up the ante a bit over the next month or two and encourage more people to come on board. On the one hand it should be better - more eyes mean more answers, more connections, more flow. On the other hand, keeping the close-knit feeling will be more of a challenge so I hope you stay positive. I have a bunch of ideas and theories about that and we are getting some plugins built that might make a big difference to coziness scalability (facebook only just figured the need for groups so I reckon we are ahead already, but there's a long way to go). Anyway, bear with us if things don't change for the better in all aspects right away - they will in the end!
Jon Dron 618 days ago
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