Week 1 - What are the benefits and constraints of online learning?

I’m currently writing this on my phone whilst sitting in the dark feeding a 7 month old baby - that is a clear benefit of online learning! I have also started online teaching this week too, I’m glad to have the first module of the PGCHE under my belt, it’s made me a lot more confident in my skills as an educator.

But, in the same way as online supermarket shopping is different to in-store, you can’t squeeze the melons (😝). I miss being able to sit in a quiet library taking notes (impossible with a baby I know), I miss talking face to face with my peers.

Talking face to face to anyone at the moment is a luxury though! It feels very timely that we are starting a module on blended/online learning at such a time, I think there will be a growing demand for educators with online learning skills.

The limitations of teaching online are things I will be learning over the coming weeks, but as I have little experience in in-person teaching I can’t really compare. The course I am teaching on utilises a platform called Padlet which we use for Ideas Walls - a place for students to share their thoughts, ideas and references, and comment on their peers’ work. I have seen this work really well with other groups, once the students get used to the medium... I know students and interns can be just as shy in studio ideation sessions too, but the screen adds another layer of ambiguity. Talking to one of the other tutors, he says that this can actually help some of the extremely shy students flourish, who would have struggled in a loud crit session. So the positives and negatives of online learning are really just as numerous as traditional university settings.