Free Online course
The Online Educator:
People and Pedagogy
People and Pedagogy
18 May,19 Oct 2020
As e-learning becomes ever-more widespread, online educators are being required to design learning experiences that engage and meet the needs of very diverse learners.
This course, developed by The Open University’s Institute of Educational Technology, explores four myths: that learning design is about technology and content; that innovation and accessibility are incompatible; that researching online learning is an ethics-free zone, and that educators’ online identities are irrelevant.
Studying the course will help you enhance your practice through videos, quizzes and discussion with peers.
What topics will you cover?
Week 1 - Disruption and design
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Current developments in online teaching
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Navigating the hype about disruptive innovation
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The relationship between content, technology, people and pedagogy in learning design
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The challenges of meeting diverse students’ needs
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The use of personas in creating relevant online courses
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Myths about accessibility and digital innovation
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Types of digital exclusion
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Finding and evaluating accessibility guidelines
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Applying accessibility guidelines to your teaching
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Myths about researching and evaluating online teaching
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Evidence and ethics
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Navigating the hype around educational technology innovation
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Evaluating research reports
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Evaluating your own teaching innovations
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Ethical considerations when researching online teaching
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Myths about online identity
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The value to educators of a carefully constructed online identity
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Evaluating your own online identity
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Using Twitter to build an identity online
- Develop personas to inform the online learning design process
- Identify the ethics considerations involved in researching online teaching
- Apply accessibility guidelines to online teaching contexts
- Identify key accessibility issues related to online learning
- Reflect on your exisiting digital identity and plan for its future development
- Explore ways of shaping a digital identity as an online educator
- Discuss the relationship between technology, content, people and pedagogy in online courses.
This course is suitable for anyone involved in online education or training, including teachers, trainers, course designers and researchers. While it will help to have a current practice setting to draw on, this is not essential.
Who will you learn with?
Leigh-Anne Perryman: I'm Qualification Director for The Open University's Masters in Online and Distance Education. I'm also an academic, researching the impact of openness, and gender equity, in the developing world.
Martin Weller: I am Professor of Educational Technology at the OU. My interests are in digital scholarship, open education, OER and MOOCs.
Terri Rees: Open University Tutor, academic developer, educational consultant and researcher.
Moreinfo:https://www.futurelearn.com/courses/the-online-educator