Posted to my Open University student blog 25 September 2010
Revisited here as I pick through extensive notes, grabs, thoughts, experiences and assignments on the Masters in Open and Distance Education (MAODE).
There are 143 posts in my blog that contain the word ‘forum’. At some point in all five modules the use of a forum, of social networks for learning, about the technology, the interplay of people and the effectiveness of this as an educational arena has been discussed. 143 posts is rather shocking – the way I write that can’t be less than 60,000 words. Don’t worry, it stays put until something tickles my synapses, jingles the little bells between my ears.
What does this tell me?
Why do the Plenck 2010 forums work?
Many themes. It is your choice to join. Updates are sent to your email. You read and add, return to the parent, and comment.
They are seasoned e-educators and lucid. It is more jamming around a piano.
You have three hours in which to return to your post and edit, add or delete.
People don’t question the set up, they just get on with it. Do we write about what it is to put words onto a sheet of paper with a pen? Or do we say something?
What do I know now?
It’s remarkable enough to be able to tap into my memories of a moment rather than someone else’s. I know the value of keeping any kind of journal having done so since I was 13 years and six months old. Rarely read over until I had a wordprocessor and a fraction of it now online like a mental back-up.
So what of social learning?
It was going on centuries ago, let alone in my lifetime. The joy now is to find these conversations with relative ease through blogging, or a social group.
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