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Establishing a ‘Social Learning Space’ during lockdown, and beyond. [A-078]

Public Group Active 2 years, 1 month ago

Thu, Aug 27 2020, 4:00pm – 5:00pm

Authors: Tim Fransen

Room: Bell Seminar Room

Type: Parallel Session (30mins)

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Description

Session Description

I am a Technical Tutor at a university involved in teaching and research activities focused on software, hardware and systems associated with web and print-based design and production.

In response to the recent shift from mainly in-person instruction to exclusively distant learning, I rapidly created (and continue to develop) a low-cost, almost no-cost, online ‘Social Learning Space’ to maintain formal and informal student-centred collaborative learning.

The initial aim was to facilitate connectedness and provide continuity for my students in a time of isolation and uncertainty by bringing together several communication technologies into one coherent online platform – attempting to approximate our synchronous ‘brick-and-mortar’ interactions and experiences, as well as encouraging asynchronous and cross-course learning opportunities.

The communication technologies used (to date) are Jitsi Meet, Etherpad, MURAL and WordPress which enable video conversations as well as textual and visual collaborations.

Jitsi Meet is an open-source video conferencing solution including screenshare, recording, streaming, hand raising and integrated chat features.

Etherpad is an open-source collaborative text editor allowing people to simultaneously edit a text document in real-time. There is also a chat box in the sidebar to allow meta communication.

MURAL is a flexible and free (for students and lecturers) digital workspace/pinboard for visual collaboration, brainstorming, co-design, problem-solving, storytelling etc.

WordPress is an open-source web publishing platform used to integrate the above tools into one coherent online location.

So far, I have utilised this ‘Social Learning Space’ to deliver/facilitate sessions on web and graphic design to a range of undergraduate and postgraduate students. I have also presented at an internal learning and teaching exchange and subsequently created personalised versions for several colleagues to trial in their respective teaching contexts. Additionally, variants of the platform are being utilised to enable cancelled on-site research events and an international academic conference to now take place online.

The proposed ‘practice presentation’ will provide an overview of establishing this ‘Social Learning Space’ prototype within an educational institution during the lockdown period, and beyond. Insights, experiences, observations and reflections from participants (teachers, students, researchers and conference delegates/attendees) will be shared. Additionally, presentation attendees would be invited to explore the online demo and be offered a personalised version and the opportunity to join the ongoing pilot study.

Demo available at: https://tsslsbu.org/_social_learning_space (use the Chrome browser).
Password: sls2020

References

Fransen, T., 2020. Social Learning Space: BETA. [online] Available at: https://tsslsbu.org/_social_learning_space [Accessed 28 March 2020 – present].

FutureLearn Ltd., 2018. The pedagogy of FutureLearn: How our learners learn. Available at: https://cdn-wordpress-info.futurelearn.com/info/wp-content/uploads/FL-pedagogy-RGB.pdf [Accessed 29 March 2020].

Williamson, A. & Nodder, C., 2002. Extending the learning space: Dialogue and reflection in the virtual coffee shop. ACM SIGCAS Computers and Society, 32(3).

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