Michelle Pacansky-Brock (2009).Building Learning Communities Online. Retrieved on May, 2010 from http://vimeo.com/8157516
Traditional classrooms Learning spacesFigure 1 Reynard, R. (2009)
Bearing in mind the changing world and the emerging new technologies, make teachers think about the way we can address students’ interests and how we could focus their attention on the issues related to a specific subject taking into account the spaces they can use for their own learning. Hence, as guides and examples for our students it is our must to learn how to design learning spaces for calling their attention in learning which they might connect with the world, knowing we are part of their learning process but not all.
As it is known, learning is mostly based on motivation, therefore it is crucial teachers foster the teaching practice by offering to the learners new learning environments regarding meaningful experiences and contents which might be demanding for students with the purpose of having them create their own scenarios where they want to learn and having them choose the way how.
On one hand, to become lifelong learners teachers also have to teach them how to learn by providing plenty of options and applications to capture their interest and foster their critical thinking to have them discover, explore, experiment, critique and analyze understanding. Besides, to support it, it is crucial to provide not only a summative assessment but also a formative one, which may contribute learners to understand their own learning. On the other hand, keeping in mind that learning occurs any time and anywhere teachers must know what kind of material can contribute to encourage learners to discus or debate, that way students can figure out what learning spaces work for them and therefore autonomy is being foster.
Finally, as learning spaces need collaboration and depend of multiple variables the challenge for educators is to develop new strategies for offering students different learning environments inside and outside the classroom by creating interactive scenarios with different activities which contribute to build up knowledge.
References
Brown, M. (2005). Learning Spaces. In Educating the Net Generation, Educause. Retrieved from http://www.educause.edu/ir/library/pdf/pub7101b.pdf
Reynard, R. (2009). Designing Learning Spaces for Instruction, not control. Campus Technology. Retrieved from http://www.campustechnology.com/Article/2009/04/29/Designing-Learning-Spaces-for-Instruction-not-Control.aspx
“The role of community”
World-connect-people. [Online 1]. Rertieved on March 28, 2010 from http://theaiesecblog.files.wordpress.com/2009/06/world-connect-people-community-international.jpg
Bearing in mind the readings referenced below, three important issues that can be related to New Learning Environments class are:
1. Virtual space.
2. Sharing and building up knowledge/ Collaborative work.
3. Teacher support (Instructor)
Firstly, given that the virtual space is anywhere in the net including digital devices, it can be carried out through a synchronous or asynchronous way. This environment supports the premise that learning can occur anytime any where as stated by Brown (2005). This concept is highly tied to our course because we are not only interacting through wikis or blogs where we are adding information about issues we are learning in this class, but we are also having a permanent communication with the tutor, in this case through wiziqi.
Secondly, the core of the community that presently, we master students have, is focused on sharing and building up knowledge. Thanks to the internet and the tools available for interacting among us, we all are contributing to construct through understanding many concepts we might not have. This, as a main feature of community lets individuals to think for themselves by finding new information and working with others towards a unified goal (Reynard, 2009).
Thirdly, the teacher as a part of any learning process supports learners to construct knowledge, promote autonomy, initiative and creativity. Hence, s/he needs to encourage students in the process of learning by keeping an active dialogue through all the members of the community. In our case, through posting each other, being flexible and encouraging words from the tutor and many other characteristics for fostering collaborative work and professional development have empowered us to keep working in the content of this subject.
References
Brown, M. (2005). Learning Spaces. In Educating the Net Generation, Educause. Retrieved from http://www.educause.edu/ir/library/pdf/pub7101b.pdf
Palloff, Rena and Pratt, Keith (2007). Building Online Learning Communities, Wiley, Chapter 2.
Reynard, R. (2009). Designing Learning Spaces for Instruction, not control. Campus Technology. Retrieved from http://www.campustechnology.com/Article/2009/04/29/Designing-Learning-Spaces-for-Instruction-not-Control.aspx
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