Mc² = E Learning Reflections

It's a fascinating experience reading through old books.  If you've been following my blog you know that I recently finished reading the work of Vincent Tinto (1993).  This time I'm digging even further back though and looking at the work of Herbert Blumer (1969).  So much of this man's writing is dead on point and very relevant to the field of education (and online education too). Blumer's work on Symbolic Interactionism was based on three simple premises: 1.  The way we act depends on the meaning we assign to things.   2.  Different individuals behave differently towards things depending on the meanings those things have for each person.   3.  As we interact with other people, the meanings of those things can change. Obvious really, aren't they.  But what's perhaps less obvious are the subtle implications that make this an important feature of the learning/education process.   If we look at the world from a relativist s...

So, I've come to the end of my first week of study in module #H819 with the #OpenUniversity in the UK. Its the final module in my MA in Online and Distance Education (MAODE) and I've been looking forward to this for such a long time. It kind of marks the beginning of the end for my MAODE journey in a sense because I've loved every minute of my learning experience. Yes there were bits that I struggled with and bits that I found more challenging than others, the same as most other students would claim I imagine. But the connections I've made and, more importantly, the conversations I've had have enabled me to learn and grow as a person and as a practitioner. ( "Age of Conversation"   by  Search Engine People Blog  is licensed under  CC BY 2.0 ) I was watching a video recording of a seminar this afternoon where Mike Sharples, one of the #OU's leading academics and former lead on the development of the Futurelearn platform, really highlighted a number ...