Description of the design and implementation of an open, online course in Professional Ethics, that I ran during August 2013 in the Department of Physiotherapy, University of the Western Cape

1. mOOC
running a mini open, online
course in professional ethics
michael Rowe
department of physiotherapy
university of the western cape

2. rationale
clinical practice is complex, teaching simplistic
knowledge is increasingly distributed,
connected
digital information and interaction with
technology changes how we negotiate
understanding
wanted to explore networked, collaborative
learning in an open, online course

3. authentic learning
provide authentic contexts that reflect the way the
knowledge will be used in real life
provide authentic tasks and activities
provide access to expert performances and the
modelling of processes
provide multiple roles and perspectives
support collaborative construction of knowledge

4. authentic learning (2)
promote reflection to enable abstractions to be formed
promote articulation to enable tacit knowledge to be
made explicit
provide coaching and scaffolding by the teacher at critical
times
provide for authentic assessment of learning within the
tasks
Herrington, J., & Oliver, R. (2000). An instructional design framework for authentic learning
environments. Educational Technology Research and Development, 48(3), 23-48.

5. learning portfolios
A portfolio is a selection of work that you collect over a
period of time, built around a particular topic or idea. It
allows you to showcase a talent or skill in a way that is
outside the boundaries of traditional assessment.
The purpose of the portfolio is to make a personal
statement about what you are learning during this
module and how it has impacted on your development
as a thoughtful practitioner. You should use it to
present evidence of your progress towards achieving
the learning objectives of the module.

7. developing the course

8. inviting external participants

9. participants
52 third year UWC
students
28 “externals” (UK, Canada,
USA, India, NZ, Estonia,
Saudi Arabia, SA)

10. providing support

11. providing support (2)

16. following each other

20. process
read the weekly activity
reflect, question, research
write a draft blog post
review the posts of others, comment
reflect, question, research
refine own blog post, connect
publish

22. connecting

28. assessment
formative assessment
comments from peers and facilitators
peer feedback
summative assessment
final blog post overview

30. Each student
needed to
assess 3 other
students
Looked at:
content
format
structure

31. Used Likert
scales and
open-ended
questions to
give feedback
to peers

32. student feedback

35. research opportunities
interviews with facilitators
group interviews with students
content analysis of student final blog posts
survey of students experiences, perceptions
“connections” e.g. liked, follows, favourites (social
network analysis)
review / position paper on open, networked learning
6 publications

36. conclusion
setting up and running an online course is hard
base your work on learning theory
providing support and guidance is essential
decide on your objectives, then choose your
tools
peer feedback can take pressure off
write it up as a research project, plan your data
collection before you even begin

37. thank you
@michael_rowe
mrowe.co.za/blog