As we finish EDCI339, it is worth thinking about where we started and where we are now.

We began the course with a very typical closed model of distributed learning using CourseSpaces (Moodle), some articles to read, a blog post, and a quiz. Within a few days, though, we moved the course content and interactions out of CourseSpaces and into WordPress, an open platform where your work is a contribution to the wider open community, rather than a post with a primary audience of one person.

I got you started organizing yourselves into learning pods knowing that in a course this short (only 3 weeks), there is no good way for you to interact with each other if it is a whole group conversation. There is no way to follow the posts of up to 44 other learners and also do the work of making sense of it all for your context. Furthermore, and to pull back the curtain a bit, there is no good way for me to provide meaningful feedback to each one of you. It usually takes 10-12 or so hours of my time to fairly assess 30 blog posts and to provide feedback, and that is in addition to teaching 2 other courses and my day-job work.

I write that not to complain, because I do enjoy teaching this course very much, but to show that it would be impossible for me to keep up with the workload if I were assessing everything on my own.

This is why the learning pods are so important in this course. The learning pods are where you are able to discuss issues among yourselves and bring me in as needed, which many of you did.

I hope this has modelled for you a course structure that, as Tess mentioned in her post

amplif[ies] the perspective and voice of students

If you are going to have a voice, then I need to step back and get out of your way. What I have seen so far in your posts and in your pod project is a group of highly engaged and motivated learners who have done an excellent job of digging into the sometimes confusingly overlapping structures of open and distributed learning. You did it, though, and that is the whole point...YOU did it.

It may have felt a bit isolated in this asynchronous environment, but the course is structured specifically to reduce that through the learning pods and opening up the course to the web, where there is a vibrant and rich community of people at all stages of their journey with open learning. I trust that your learning pods were a microcosm of that community.

For some of you, my feedback on your work has led to you revising and resubmitting, and this has meant that you have been able to engage in the process of learning, and that is very good. Others of you didn't need this opportunity, and that is entirely expected. I'm grateful for all of your work.

Wrapping up

As you finish the requirements of this course (and maybe other courses too), here are some final tips based on questions that have come in in the last few days.

you need to have completed all four individual posts and published them on your own blog under the category edci339.
you need to revise and expand on ONE of those posts for me to assess as part of your portfolio. Expanding on your post might include finding another scholarly, peer-reviewed article or two on the topic from the library, or maybe engaging with the open community on Twitter about the topic, and then revising your post to include a broader perspective. This post should be 500-700 words. If you have already published your final post, you can continue editing it...I will never know.
make sure there is a link to your pod project in the menu of your own site, and that there are links to your individual sites on your pod project site.
For your portfolio, instead of four 50-word reflections on the optional activities, please include a reflection on the TwitterChat (search for #edci339). Details are in my previous post. This reflection can be included in your revised post if you prefer. The rubric that I use for grading is published in the course syllabus, on the last page. For a more visual representation, please see this page.

The official course end date is Tuesday, July 28 (tomorrow). Please make every effort to ensure your work is complete by then (end of day Pacific time), but let me know if you will be prevented from doing so.

View all of Topic 4 Update

I aim to have your pod projects assessed this week. Hopefully for Friday afternoon or evening.

Topic 4 is our opportunity to both practice and reflect on openness in education. We have considered that this course is both distributed (you don't need to be in a particular room at a particular time on campus in order to participate) and open (the course materials are available on the open web and anyone is welcome to participate, even without paying tuition). For the next several days, you are invited to at least observe, but hopefully participate in the ongoing conversation and community of open educators and learners on Twitter.

Twitter

The little elephant-bird in the room!

For those who don't know, Twitter is a 'micro-blogging' service where each post is limited to 280 characters (not words, characters). One of the best things about Twitter is that you can curate who you follow so that your feed shows you stuff that you are interested in. You can also mute words so Tweets with that word won't show up in your timeline. And you can block people from following you or seeing your Tweets.

Another good thing about Twitter is that you can follow along with certain topics or conversations without signing up for an account.

For example, if you want to see what I've been tweeting, just go to https://twitter.com/colinmadland and have a look. If you want to follow the hashtag #edtechuvic, you can do that too at this link, then enter #edtechuvic into the 'Search Twitter'' bar at the top.

Give it a try, go to Twitter and search for some of the following accounts:

UVic

• @colinmadland
• @verenanz
• @_valeriei
• @mpaskevi
• @edtechfactotum

Higher Ed

• @coursosa
• @ChristineYH
• @BCOpenText
• @edifiedlistener
• @tressiemcphd
• @DrMunaSaleh
• @acoolidge
• @hackeducation
• @eromerohall
• @ammienoot

Authors of EDCI 339 Readings

• @ClaireHMajor
• @hypervisible
• @mweller
• @jessifer
• @MartiCleveland

EDCI 339 Learners who have given permission to share

• @ToddBergeron10
• @t_greenlay
• @Crystal96874284
• @LucasLe74381899
• @_alex1112
• @itsmilliexx_
• @tanvirsidhuu

Or some of these hastags:

• #edci339
• #edtechuvic
• #tiegrad
• #bcedchat
• #openped
• #opened
• #OER
• #FemEdTech

As you browse these resources, pay attention to the things that are less visible.

Whose voices are amplified?
Whose voices are suppressed?
What is being shared (articles, links, conversations...)?
How does an 'open' platform like Twitter help learners and educators? [Twitter is open in that it is free to access on the web. It is most emphatically not open in how it does business.]
How can Twitter harm learners and educators?

TwitterChat

Thursday evening between 7:00 and 8:00 pm (PDT), we will be having a Twitterchat. Verena (the instructor in section A04) and I will host and we will post questions on #edci339. This will be an open conversation, so there will likely be people from well beyond the class who chime in and participate, and you are invited to join as well! This will be a great opportunity for you to connect with others in the class, in the other section, and around the world.

If you can't make it at that particular time, you are welcome to search the hashtag on Twitter afterwards and you can still contribute. Often the conversations in TwitterChats extend well beyond the times specified as others find the hashtag.

View all of Topic 4 (July 22-28)

Topic 3 expands on the discussions from topic 1 about privacy and also introduces issues of access for minority and vulnerable populations. Open education has always been primarily been about providing increased access to learning for those who may otherwise have been excluded. Confusion between 'open' and 'distributed' learning comes partly from the fact that open education has its roots in distance (or distributed) education and the two both have the same goal of improving access. Today, however, I find it useful to think of 'open' education as being specifically for people who choose to participate in learning experiences because those experiences are made available on the open web, and they do so for their own personal edification, not for credit.

EDCI 339 is an example of a course that is offered in the open on WordPress, and learner interactions are open (unless you have chosen otherwise), so it is an open course. However, if you are a registered UVic learner and are completing EDCI 339 for credit towards your degree, then you are not an 'open' learner. You are learning in a distributed format, and you are paying tuition to do so.

If you told your neighbour or co-worker about this course, pointed them to the course site, and they decided to follow along for their own interest, they would be considered an 'open' learner.

Part of the reason we began this course in CourseSpaces is to demonstrate this difference. Topic 1, in CourseSpaces, is a classic 'distributed' model. Access is limited to registered learners, interactions and learner contributions are invisible to the public, and it would be impossible for someone not registered at UVic to participate. Beginning in Topic 2, we opened the course by moving all content and interactions into WordPress. Many of the constraints of the learning management system (LMS - CourseSpaces/Moodle) are gone. Anyone can access the course materials, you are free to share your work with your community, and anyone can follow along for free.

Another reason we chose this model is to demonstrate the extent of the data that is generated when you participate in an LMS-based course. Since the course was created, there have been over 5000 'clicks' within the course. Each of those clicks represents something that either one of you or I did in the course.

The report looks like this (multiplied by 250):

You can see that I have occluded user ID numbers, and I didn't include the column that shows the names of users. Every time you click on something, CourseSpaces records the click in the database, along with your IP address. Keep in mind that this is only one course and only one week of interactions in the course. So, it is one thing to know that CourseSpaces is keeping this information, but the important thing about CourseSpaces is that it is open source software, which means that there is no company hosting the software that is using that data for their gain.

Canvas is an LMS that has rapidly gained market share in North America. Over the last several months, they have been going through a process to go private after being a publicly-traded company for several years. The initial offer valued the company at around $2 billion (US). Given that Canvas is primarily a cloud-hosted LMS, all of the data from 30 million students across North America was suddenly 'for sale' and purchased by a private equity firm.

Open educators often prioritize open platforms (like WordPress) because learner data doesn't go up for sale to the highest bidder, if it is collected at all. When you interact with your own site on opened.ca, you are the one in control of your data.

To bring this back around to access for marginalized and minority groups, we know that platforms which prioritize the gathering of user data (Google/YouTube, Facebook/Instagram, Twitter, TikTok) and then displaying content based on past views have a very strong influence on culture. The algorithms that these tools use prioritize and normalize content created by and for white people, which excludes people from other ethnic backgrounds.

The final component of openness that I will write about today is the ability of all people to participate in higher education. I believe that higher ed is fundamentally about 3 things:

• the creation of new knowledge
• sharing new knowledge
• service for the good of the community

These three purposes are at the core of faculty work, with most faculty spending about 40% of their time on each of research and teaching, and the remaining 20% on service. Your role as a learner also reflects these values. You are participating in the process of creating and sharing new knowledge, and doing so is a service to the community. However, if your work is locked behind the login screen of the LMS, how are you contributing? If, on the other hand, your work is open, you are contributing to the community with every post you make.

With all that in mind, the readings for Unit 3 reflect these priorities for open education.

View all of Topic 3 (July 16-21)

Good morning everyone! Or maybe good afternoon...as some of you mentioned in your introductory posts, an advantage of distributed learning environments like this one is that you can participate on your own time, even though we have a schedule to keep!

In order to keep things on track, it is worth checking in on what you should have completed so far. Please check the schedule page and make sure that you have completed all of the activities so far. The most important activities so far are Individual Posts 1 and 2.

Also, if you are not yet plugged into a learning pod, you need to either connect with one today, or get in touch with me as soon as possible. Your first major assignment is due Friday, July 17, and it is to be completed with your learning pod.

I have had a question come up about the optional activities mentioned on the syllabus. Those are intended to encourage you to engage with the course materials on the open web. I have dropped the ball in structuring that activity for you, and have decided that you will NOT be required to provide evidence of your engagement with the optional activities. I apologize for the confusion.

Thoughts on 'Distributed' vs. 'Open'

One of the things that you will be sorting out through your pod project is the difference between distributed and open learning environments.

Here is a conversation between Robin DeRosa and Clarissa Sorenson-Unruh that goes deeper into the unique characteristics of what 'open' is.

I'm looking forward to seeing Individual Post #2 on your blogs!

View all of Topic 2 Update

Here are some ideas for helping you think through the requirements of the Digital Equity and Perspectives pod project.

Goals of the assignment

I want you to critically examine digital equity in distributed and open learning environments. To do this, you are asked to compare and contrast distributed learning environments with open learning environments. To help you think about the differences between distributed and open environments, you can consider that EDCI 339 began in a typical distributed model (CourseSpaces allows for learners to connect remotely and asynchronously but everything is locked behind a password and login), and now we have changed to an open model, where learners can still connect asynchronously, but our interactions and ideas are openly accessible on the web. The knowledge that we generate can be shared because it is accessible. Anyone with an internet connection can join along if they'd like (but they won't get credit).

The fact that open learners need an internet connection implies that they have a few other things, like a device (computer, tablet, phone), time (to read and write), the ability to interact with the materials in a way that is suitable for them (audio if they are unable to see well), bandwidth (to be able to access large files like video), and any number of other things.

It is the differential ability to already have access to all these other things that created inequity. Some people have vision impairments and require a screen reader, other people don't have access to a quiet place to study, or they only have access to a mobile phone with an expensive data plan, so they can't download videos.

Building a Persona

The first part of the assignment will require you to build a persona, which is a snapshot of a fictional learner, but who is based on the actual characteristics of actual people. For the purposes of this assignment, you can build a persona by brainstorming different characteristics. You do not need to gather actual data.

You can find resources on building a persona here, along with examples.

Check page 4-5 of this PDF for examples of personas.

Sample Charts

Once you have developed a persona, you need to build some way to compare and contrast the affordances of distributed learning environments with open learning environments to meet the unique needs of your persona. One simple way to do this is with a table...

Or, you could create a mind-map...

Pitch

The idea behind the pitch is for you to concisely summarize your recommendations for your persona to decide to either take a course in a distributed environment (like CourseSpaces), or in an open environment (like WordPress).

Sample Questions

There are many different ways to think about how inequity influences learning environments...you do not have to address all of these questions (you could choose one of the following questions for each member of your learning pod).

• Will your persona be learning all online, face-to-face, or a combination of both?
• Describe the “mediums” in which this persona might be learning.
• Where would the learning be asynchronous or synchronous? Why?
• List or describe any digital tools that might be considered to support distributed or open learning.
• How would you describe this student’s ideal learning context?
• What are the real and perceived barriers to learning that are preventing safe, flexible and supportive learning experiences and environments for this persona?
• Are there real or perceived equity, social justice or cultural considerations that may be preventing safe, flexible and supportive learning experiences and environments for this persona?
• Check here for more information on the following questions.
  • How could your learning design support multiple means of engagement?
  • How could your learning design support multiple means of representation?
  • How could your learning design support multiple means of action and expression?

Formats

There have been some questions about the format of the assignment. You should create a new site on opened.ca for your pod to share and host the materials for the project.
You may be creative in how you format the assignment. We have suggested that you could use video in a tool called FlipGrid, OR you can choose to use a text-based format. FlipGrid limits an individual video to 2 minutes.
You may also use another format according to your pod's preferences.

View all of Pod Project Tips