Week 8 CRJ

What have I learnt?

CRJ week 8

When discussing in week 8’s forum with Julius I realised a key point to consider when teaching face to face and online is to be constructively aligned. According to Biggs and Tang (2011), constructive alignment guarantees that exercises, learning outcomes, and assessments are deliberately connected to foster meaningful learning. By boosting student engagement, active and collaborative learning approaches enhance understanding and achievement (Freeman et al., 2014). Ensuring that all teaching methods are fair and accessible, following the principles of Universal Design for Learning (UDL), meets the diverse needs of learners by providing multiple ways to present information, act, and interact.

Through reading Salmon (2013) I have learn that for my stand alone classes outside of an institutional setting a way to bring in integration between e-tivity and assessment would be to use a reflective and collaborative outcome. This would create alignment and integration between teaching, learning  and final non-assessment means.

Technology can be used to cheat – but as non-written outcomes, this is currently not an issue for me and my students. Something which I should consider though is what is collaborating and what is cheating. In creative subjects projects are often worked on collaboratively, so this is something I need to be aware of. If I apply my course to an institution then I can look at my universities policies on plagiarism or take a look at www.plagerism.org or on the Joint Information Systems Committee (JISC, 2012) website

Salmon 2013): “Some writers argue that reflection is essentially an independent activity. Other writers stress the importance of collaboration to the reflection process.” page 52. Schön (1983): Reflection on Action,  reflection after practice has been completed. Reflection in Action: the thinking that takes place during teaching. Ross, (2012) says that both are valuable.

I felt that I really related to Salmon (2013) case study feedback reports in regards to what I have experienced as the PGCHE course has gone on. A sense of always needing to catch up. Anxiety about posting in a forum, whether to post first or wait to consider my answer more as a few examples.

Salmon (2013)  has designed the  5 stage model to provide structure, scaffolded, paced, happy learning. Familiar, sequenced and familiar routine.

Wenger’s, (2006) approach which is spoken about in Salmon, (2023) resonates with me and my practice, particularly in the small community of ceramics and craft. The three components of community of practice are joint enterprise, mutuality and shared repertoire. I feel that this really sums up the ceramics community, so I feel that this approach will work in my teaching, and will be adopted well by my students.

Salmon (2013) Cross-cultural interaction is most effective when more understanding is created from the sharing of multiple perspectives and different points of view (Osland, Bird and Mendenall, 2012) How can my E-tivity explore opening up viewpoints? If agreements on topic are made, little is learnt. If differences are found then learning is expanded.

It is very helpful to follow Salmon (2013) 5 step model to ensure the right amount of scaffolding is provided, allowing in lower stages for students to feel supported and guided, and at later stages to feel independent, giving room for self-reflection, social critique and preparation for real world situations outside of the learning environment. I think that my thoughts have changed around curriculum design because it has allowed me to see that a strategy almost needs to be put in place to give the students a sense of guidance, before the e-tivities are even designed. By stepping back and looking at the whole curriculum, small components can be added in piece by piece to build up the lessons within, giving an overall well-rounded course. Key things to keep hold of are my students themselves. How do they learn best? Here I can tap into the fact that they are geographically diverse learners. This will enable deep learning through share experience and will make social learning more fruitful.

References

Ayodele J, (2025) Week 8 Forum [Online] available at https://learn.falmouth.ac.uk/courses/1334/discussion_topics/30023?module_item_id=85554 (accessed 14/7/25)

Salmon, G. (2013) E-tivities: the key to active online learning. ProQuest (Firm). Chapter 3: ‘Creating e-tivities, pages 46-XX