Topic 5 – The journey from a novice to future practice

Two months ago I had never used open platforms, I had never written a blog-post but I thought that I had a growing seed in my mind about openness, sharing and blended learning. Therefore, this course captured my interest.

I some way I had already started without really being aware, both during education and research and in a way also in the clinic.

As a clinician, I handle patients with pain in the orofacial region, mainly chronic and disabling for the patients. Many of these patients have already met five to six care-givers without promising results and are now either expecting me to be the healer or the do not expect any improvement at all. For these patients we have created a “pain-school” including some group sessions as well as some single-participant sessions. Pain-school is not just to teach the patients about pain and the somatosensory function of the human body, it is also to provide them with a network including others with similar problems in order to let them share their strategies and experiences. However, it is hard to gather patients at one place at one specific time and after attending this course there are new opportunities for me to improve this: 1) by creating semi-open online platforms for the patients to meet and network (i.e. share their strategies and experiences); and 2) to arrange group-sessions using online meeting rooms, such as Adobe Connect, Zoom meeting etc. In this way the networking and sharing will not be based upon specific meetings but can be continuing.

As a researcher, I already collaborate with other universities in other countries such as University of British Columbia in Vancouver, Canada; Aarhus University in Aarhus, Denmark; and Ministry of Health in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. Until now we only share material and work on it online, but in a local project that just started I will be able to use my gained knowledge to improve both the project but also its feasibility and usefulness. It deals with children having needle phobia and aims to provide an interactive tool to minimize the discomfort before their first needle experience in order to avoid a future needle phobia, but also to treat or provide children with tools to be treatable.

As a teacher and course coordinator I had a wish to develop and adapt the study plan to present and future possibilities. By using blended learning with online tools I believe that I not just increased the level of knowledge of my students, but also their clinical skills. This might sound strange, but the clinical skills were improved since more time was left for clinical practice. Instead of losing time on site for demonstrations, and seminars for smaller groups, an instruction video and additional material was uploaded on the learning management system. Also, our students were very happy to be able to choose when to achieve the knowledge and also that the examinations were online instead of on-site. However, the first time they found the examination a bit more difficult, but the second time they scored much better than previous students.

When I look at my journey with this course, I am happy that I have completed it.

First of all, I have a greater understanding of how the online world function. About the importance of having a digital identity and to reflect upon how my online work will mark me or my identity.

Secondly, of the importance of knowing the rules and regulations about sharing material (i.e. creative commons etc.). But also the strengths in sharing, both in science and education. It does not only improve the quality, decreases the time/effort (you do not need to re-invent the wheel), but it can increase the accessibility. Indeed, lately our group has tried to use open access journals.

However, there are some aspects to consider when you network, collaborate and that is to learn how to work in a group. As I previously wrote group work “is a form of participants benefiting from cooperative learning. This form of co-operative learning aims to enhance the total gain of an activity than what is possible when doing it individually.” aims to improve both science and learning, but to be successful there is really important to have rules and an outspoken leader.

I do not think I have reached the goal yet (will probably never reach it since the development is much faster than the adaptation of it), but I have gained knowledge and tools to avoid pit-falls. I have also gained experience in blogging…

Just some reflections on learning
– by Nikos

Designing an online and blended learning

Last year I became course coordinator for undergraduate dental students in the topic “Orofacial pain and jaw function” during their 8^th and 9^th semester. I have been a participating junior lecturer for some years and course coordinator for a smaller introductory course in orofacial pain and jaw function during the 5^th and 6^th semester. However, my intention was to modernize the course and introduce blended learning including both face-to-face learning as well as online learning activities. During this course, I have achieved some new tools, knowledge as well as training in this, which will further improve my online and blended course!

Orofacial pain and jaw function is a course that combines not just most of the topics in dentistry, but also several different learning activities. It starts with 1) lectures of the anatomy of the head and face (although students already have passed this it is a necessary repetition) including examination; continues with 2) clinical examination of the temporomandibular area; 3) diagnostics according to a standardized protocol (diagnostic criteria for temporomandibular disorders; DC/TMD) including examination; 4) traditional lectures including a theoretical examination of the course content; 5) clinical training examining and treating patients with temporomandibular disorders; and ends 6) with an oral examination of a patient case including reflection.

In order to make it blended and partially online, I made some small adjustments without losing any part of the constructive alignment. Now the course starts with 1) a repetition of the anatomy of the head and face although instead of lectures the material is online on our learning management system called PingPong, including an online multiple choice examination; continuing with 2) a webinar of the clinical examination and diagnostic protocol DC/TMD, with an instruction movie uploaded on PingPong, as well as an online group activity with a patient case where the students have to collaborate to both find the correct diagnosis and suggest treatment for their patient case. They also have to learn their cases because a face-to-face clinical session is included with a role-play (new groups) where the learners will be their patient cases. This in order to improve their clinical skills taking a patient history as well as examining according to DC/TMD. At the end of this part there is an online examination of the DC/TMD diagnoses. Instead of having traditional lectures of the theoretical parts 3) the learners are invited to 3 webinars held by me and the professor, one for each chapter of the course literature. For these seminars the learners are instructed to read the specific chapter and prepare questions to get deeper knowledge and at the end they will get five multiple choice questions on the content and the score of these will be a bonus to the large theoretical examination in order to motivate for interaction and preparation. All material is on PingPong and the students are encouraged to work in groups and share their experiences online. They have a Facebook-group for this course, but I think that I will introduce them to another platform next year. At the same time 4) the learners have started their clinical training examining and treating patients with temporomandibular disorders where have hands-on help from us and are also able to ask questions on the topic. Each clinical session ends with 30 minutes of reflection upon their patients. Among the clinical sessions there are also some clinical demonstrations held regarding advanced/additional examination tools. However, I made one of these clinical demonstrations regarding behavioral treatment as a webinar session where the learners in group will hand in an assignment (in any way they want-from a powerpoint presentation to a recorded movie). At the end of the 8^th semester the students will have their online theoretical examination based on the webinars, the material on PingPong and the course literature. After this examination, the reflections after the clinical sessions as well as the group assignments the learners have reached the 3rd level of the SOLO taxonomi (they can combine, describe, perform serial skills, analyze, compare, relate, justify and explain causes). During the 9^th semester the learners continues with the clinical training and at the end 5) they have an oral examination of a patient case they have examined, treated and followed up. This has first to be handed in with a reflective discussion (including references to the literature) regarding their choice of diagnoses, treatment and the factors contributing to the patient’s problem. After passing this, they are invited to a group examination. After passing the oral examination they have reached the highest level in the SOLO taxonomy (hypothesize, reflect and theorize).

It is not perfect yet, I know that since I have learned a lot during this course, but I think I am on the right path. The ground I settled, now I just have to shape it to make it a diamond. I also know that I have to be available, supporting for the learners since it is a process to be an online learner. If one look at “The five stage model” the learners are already at the second stage but need to be pushed to start exchanging information and construct knowledge online, but after that the will be able to grow by themselves.

 

References

Biggs’ structure of the observed learning outcome (SOLO) taxonomy, Teaching and Educational Development Institute, University of Queensland, Australia. Available at: http://www.uq.edu.au/teach/assessment/docs/biggs-SOLO.pdf

Biggs. J. (2007) Teaching for Quality Learning at University – What the Student Does (3rd Edition) SRHE / Open University Press, Buckingham. Available at: https://www.umweltbildung-noe.at/upload/files/OEKOLOG%202014/2_49657968-Teaching-for-Quality-Learning-at-University.pdf

Salmon, G (2013) The Five Stage Model. [Homepage] http://www.gillysalmon.com/five-stage-model.html

Vaughan, N. D., Cleveland-Innes, M., & Garrison, D. R. (2013). Teaching in blended learning environments: Creating and sustaining communities of inquiry. Edmonton: AU Press. The whole book as PDF available here.

How to learn in communities – networked and collaborative learning

To work in a group can be challenging from many aspects, but the gain by working as a group is great. Group work is a form of participants benefiting from cooperative learning. This form of co-operative learning aims to enhance the total gain of an activity than what is possible when doing it individually. Hence, working in group aims tend to improve the learning experience and achieve deeper learning. Collaborative learning might also help the learners to acquire skills specific to collaborative efforts. For this, the learners will have to learn how to delegate roles and responsibilities, to hold everyone in the group accountable, i.e. have ground rules for their collaborative group work. To do this, they have to co-operate with the other group members despite different experiences (which actually only improve the learning process). Having these skills the participants in a group work will be able to tackle more complex problems than they could on their own since they will pool the group knowledge and skills and not only the individual. Further, by sharing diverse perspectives the learners will develop new approaches, strategies to solve tasks and by time also being encouraged to take risks, go further in reflecting, critical judging a specific task. This collaborative working model is also applicable in research, improving the understanding of the outcome, results of a study, also improving the methodology.

Although the learning benefits of a group work are noteworthy, simply assigning group work is not a guarantee that these goals will be achieved. In fact, group work can collapse if they are not designed or supervised (having an outspoken leader) to promote meaningful teamwork and deep collaboration.

Finally, with the digital tools of today, such as collaborative platforms for writing and sharing documents, possibilities for online group meetings and also structured webinars it is not anymore a question if learning in communities is useful.

One great mind can achieve a goal, but several great minds will achieve a higher goal.

 

References

Trecker and Harleigh Bradley, Social group work, principles and practices, Association Press, 1972

Caruso, H.M., & Wooley, A.W. (2008). Harnessing the power of emergent interdependence to promote diverse team collaboration. Diversity and Groups. 11, 245-266.

Mannix, E., & Neale, M.A. (2005). What differences make a difference? The promise and reality of diverse teams in organizations. Psychological Science in the Public Interest, 6(2), 31-55.

Openness in science and education

When you move forward to openness and sharing educational material you have to reflect not just upon your content and intention with the specific material but also how it might be received and interpreted by the reader. Today the web is used a knowledgebase for any kind of question. However, the uploaded material is not always checked and the content might not be correct. This might mislead a great amount of the population. Sometimes this could have been the intention as well, but sometimes just because the information provided is a selected part of a greater content. When it comes to areas such as construction and medicine this could have fatal consequences if people are semi-educated, i.e. someone might follow an “open course” and believe that he/she has enough knowledge in a specific topic, although it is just a basic course. What think if a person who wants to become a constructor attend one basic constructing course and then believe him/herself to be a builder and build a house for his/her family that just stand for one week, or patients believing they have enough knowledge about “their” condition, which sometimes might even be hard for a multidisciplinary group to handle.

However, there are many positive aspects of openness in both science and education. First of all, a) the accessibility will increase; b) there will be a greater flexibility for the learners to be able to attend lectures since they can be pre-recorded and uploaded; c) instead of just produce material (that someone already have produced), present, shared material can be improved, modernized, updated; d) the material can be critically judged which in turn would improve it; and e) it opens the doors for collaborations for a very low cost, and perhaps with a multidisciplinary approach, also increasing the quality, especially in science.

But there are some pitfalls. When you start sharing you have to be careful using material you have found on the web, are they freely available? Do they have any license? How do I cite them? When something is posted on the web is has copyright by default. This mean that you have to ask for permission, and also teach the students to learn how to use the material. Also, open material requires access to internet, which can be challenging in one way since there are still technologically underserved areas, and as previously mentioned is is really difficult to educate the user to be critical in the selection (for instance google keeps track of searches and provides with what an algorithm believe is what one wishes to find out).

With all this in mind, there are some risks but the opportunities, the strenghts, the openness (availability) are so many that it is time to go open, but only after a basic course in open networked learning.

 

References:

Robert Farrow: A Framework for the Ethics of Open Education. Open Praxis, 2016 (8):93-109
http://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/EJ1103941.pdf

Open education and the future. Short TED-talk by David Wiley https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rb0syrgsH6M

Bulger&Davis: When Social Media Assignments Increase Risks for Vulnerable Students https://dmlcentral.net/social-media-assignments-increase-risks-vulnerable-students/

Webinar with Teresa Mac Kinnon 7.3.2017
https://connect.sunet.se/p4w69agso07/launcher=false&fcsContent=true&pbMode=normal

The first topic – FISh

 

The first topic about “digital literacies” included not just our first step into the world of digital media but also a webinar, an interactive seminar, about digital literacies.

In this webinar, I realized that my knowledge was limited. This despite my interest in digital developments, since childhood. I have access to the “tools” (digital), I believe I know “how” to use them, I “do” use some of them, but I do not know what digital identity I have or which digital identity I portray.

Some essential questions were raised. A) How can my professional identity be distinguished from my private in the online world where algorithms are created to gather information in a shape of a web and then deliver this information according to the assumed interest of the user (the person using a search engine). B) As a professional educator, should my professional identity be separated from my personal or could that just confuse the learners? C) How can I create a safe but still accessible learning environment for learners, without risk for filter bubbles?

After the introductory webinar, our PBL group (PBL group 2) had an online meeting to set up both ground rules for our collaboration and to start the group work regarding “online participation and digital literacies”.

The scenario is about a digital novice that has been thrown out to the shared communities online to start a digital career. The group started to “Focus” on the scenario, to raise questions in order to “Investigate” the topic and discussed how to “Share” this to other learners. We were guided through this process using a template called FISh (Focus-Investigate-Share). With a lot of collaboration participants from all over the world (the PBL Group 2) managed to proceed and succeed, and now I feel more comfortable using at least some of the open networking tools. However, I am still not comfortable sharing or mixing my personal identity with my professional identity.

 

References:

How to develop digital literacies
https://www.jisc.ac.uk/guides/developing-digital-literacies

The developmental process by Beetham & Sharpe’s framwork (2010)
http://jiscdesignstudio.pbworks.com/w/file/40474958/Literacies%20development%20framework.doc

Creative commons
https://search.creativecommons.org/

 

Reflections

My journey has just started, my journey to become an open network learner. As the Greek philosopher Aristotle said “Become what you are”, this will have to be my destination. However, the destination is not the most important, but the journey, which I will do together with my friends in the second PBL group of ONL 171. There is however not only one route I can follow, but there are many routes that all have the same destination, the same goal. It depends on the participants and what character the learning activity takes.

This week, after the introductory webinar, our group had an online meeting. With the solutions of our time this meeting could include not just participants from the same university, the same city, the same country, the same continent, but from the entire world, from the most southern parts of the planet (South Africa) to the most northern parts (Sweden and Finland), and from more central parts (Pakistan and Singapore).

From the webinar and the group meeting I learned that it is essential to have clear ground rules for the group activities. With clear rules the group will be able to be dynamic, to grow. Without rules, without clear roles for the group members, there will be no progress, and no learning. With this in mind and with the diversity in the competencies of the second PBL group of ONL 171 our group has all the possibilities to not just “become what we are”, but to reach further by settling a platform for continuous learning and collaboration.

With hopes to succeed and prosper.

My first post

As a novice using social media, this blog might give me the opportunity to both improve my pedagogical skills and to become familiar as well as comfortable using interactive tools.

Looking forward typing my thoughts and insights.