8 Responses to “Week 5 – The Syllabus”

1. Jaime Oyarzo says:

   October 1, 2012 at 5:29 pm

   a great video about inclusion that contains simple but important recommendations about instructional design.

   • Laura Paciorek says:

     October 3, 2012 at 2:44 am

     I am glad that you liked it! It’s definitely food for thought, in my opinion.

2. Norm Wright says:

   October 2, 2012 at 11:28 am

   Thanks for sharing this video. So many possibilities.

   • Laura Paciorek says:

     October 3, 2012 at 2:44 am

     Did any stand out to you in particular? Thanks for the comment.

     • Norm Wright says:

       October 5, 2012 at 3:42 am

       highlighted syllabus, online notes, and study guides all seem like useful tools in some cases.

3. Scott Johnson says:

   October 3, 2012 at 2:16 am

   Laura, great video. We have the Universal Design book in our office and need to have it out on the table more durring design negotiations. The UD author speaks about the syllabus as a living document rather than a static map of a course but it seems like many of the online courses I work on are unbendable. It might be that our best instructional designer is best because she’s an elementry school teacher at heart and knows about running off the edge of the map. With kids you can’t be so sure of ever staying on course anyway.

   As a student I think I fell into just about every learning “style” at one time or another. I wonder what the perfect model or pure version of a student is? That we have to learn to “accomodate” different learning styles seems so obvious. We’re all kind of a messy collection styles all the time. Do you have a particular style that work best for your learning?

   I’m glad you are still in the group in some role.

   • Laura Paciorek says:

     October 3, 2012 at 2:43 am

     It is probably easier to say what doesn’t work well for me rather than what does. However, I still think I can learn if it is not in my preferred style. It’s interesting to ponder. I like to be cognizant of my own experiences, though, so that I don’t put them onto other people in my work. I have my own lens, but I try to be aware of that so that I can broaden my lens and see more. I don’t want miss what others may be seeing/experiencing.

     It’s great being a part of what is happening in this group. I may not write posts every week, but I will if I have something relevant to say, ask, share, or ponder. I have a great time reading the participant blogs, learning from them, and posting comments here and there.

4. Scott Johnson says:

   October 3, 2012 at 6:38 pm

   Interesting to ponder what it means to be “in a class” when some aspect of it doesn’t speak to you but the discussions hold you there. The model of absorbing wisdom from the master I’ve been told is the example used to design learning encounters. Wouldn’t that be most effective one on one? Why add in all the other students? Maybe for efficiency we crowd in others though I think there is something special about learning with a group of people around us. It could be as “simple” as not feeling alone–‘why should I learn this if I can’t tell someone?’

   Took an online class a few years ago where the instructor just quit 2 week into the 12 week run. In spite of the silence most of us kept submitting assignments and even moved our required blogs into the LMS once we learned how to make it work. Turns out I was attending a class mostly full of Mennonite women from isolated communal sites all over southern Manitoba. In the “real” world we had very little in common but online we formed a small community that kept us going. In the first few weeks that class felt so lonely until we “found” each other. In the end we were given a choice of a refund or a passing grade. Think everyone took the grade. Seemed appropriate since the class was on “open educational resources” and we’d sort of broken into the locked online school and opened our own class. Hard to predict where learning will happen.