Participatory Culture

This week's blog prompt: Are you currently fostering a participative culture [in your teaching]?  Tell us how, or how you would like to.  What are the benefits?  What are the challenges?

The videos this week were extremely helpful as I move forward with teaching.  I'll talk about two experiences I'm currently involved in: as Faculty Supervisor for cooperative education at Holy Family University, and as Instructor of the 'Intro to Educational Entrepreneurship Seminar Series' that started yesterday for Penn GSE students and alumni.

The Cooperative Education role is primarily online.  I guide and advise several Communications majors as they complete their required internships.  This role is actually what made me realize that I needed a program like VOLT.  I am used to teaching within 4 walls and having an almost eerie command of every inch of the learning environment.  It's really an incredible zone that I fall into.  However, when the class is primarily online, that kind of command is not available or possible, and I have to gain in other ways.  

In the Intro to Education Seminar Series, which is 99% face-to-face, I feel like the learning environment is a big ball of clay that I can mold into something awesome.  This allows me to intentionally foster a participatory culture within the seminar.  For example, there were several times where I split the participants into groups and had them share their thoughts and brainstorm with each other.  This allowed plenty of space for the participants to learn from each other and even teach one another if applicable.  We do have one online component, a Google Doc where participants can list resources that would be helpful for everyone regarding the topic. This is easy to manage since it's only one online component, and I can clearly see how successful it is (or isn't).

However for the Cooperative Education role I sometimes get a bit anxious because I am not sure of the most efficient and effective way to foster that participatory dynamic. The students have been (and are) great but I would like to do the best job possible setting them up for a high level of success. We use Blackboard, the students are indeed blogging, and I have them working on their Linkedin pages. Still, I'm not sure of how to facilitate and foster a high-level, organic participatory culture within this online dynamic like I've been able to do in my face-to-face teaching.

Which is why, again, I'm really glad I'm in this VOLT program!

Online Teaching and Learning

The most important reason to understand online teaching and learning is because of the opportunities that the online space affords.  I believe we have only begun to scratch the surface of how we can construct dynamic learning experiences using online technology.

We can interact with people from different countries, cultures, and more.  We can learn at nearly any time, and almost any place.  But I don't think we've really figured this online "thing" out yet.  The phenomenon is too recent.  There are great things that can result from online teaching and learning, but we're not sure how to get there yet.  Thus, it is important that we keep analyzing and examining this space, so that we can develop a fuller understanding of what truly is possible when we shift from the physical classroom to the online realm.

The Return!

Marcus.edu returns!  I am now enrolled in the Penn GSE Virtual Online Teaching (VOLT) certificate program.  This is a great opportunity to learn more about online teaching and learning - which as you may know, I feel is very important for the future of education.  We will be regularly blogging for the course. Exciting!

Let's get started.