We are using this space to share with you our reflections of the one on one telephonic conversations we had with each one of you.
As you know for many us it is the first experience of being in an online course, including us :) The online module started with a very high participation rate and by the time we reached week 2 we saw a dip in the participation. This got us wondering as facilitators if we are on the right track, if the course is engaging enough or what should we be doing differently to ensure participation in the course.
The idea of having one on one conversations was also to put in practice some of the ideas that we have been discussing in the learner module. Some of these are:
- Understanding the expectations of the learners from the course and to what extent they are being met
- Understanding the learning experience from the learner’s point of view - what is working and what are the challenges?
- Making course correction based on suggestions from the learners to improve the learning experience
The conversations were a great reflection space for us as well. We got to know you better as learners.
The things YOU liked and did
1. This is a learning opportunity for us
Most of you said that, this is a new experience for you where the idea of the learning space is different. The online module gives you a chance to experiment with different forms such as discussion forums and group online chats.
2. A space for reflection
It was felt that the course activities, especially the reflection worksheets, give an opportunity to think about the work that we do. Some of you said, that in the everyday schedule there is no time to pause and think about our work or even about our students in so much depth.
3. Learning from others
For the the online chat and discussion forum, some of you said that it gives us a chance to know what others are thinking about the same topic. It helps in taking your thoughts further by building on others' ideas. At the same time, some of you wanted to be more responsive in discussion forums and read carefully your peers' responses.
4. Seeking support
We think that it was important that a lot you showed making an extra effort in understanding the course activities before starting to do them. A lot of you spoke to your colleagues, institution heads, and family members as well. This aligns with the course's aim to share conversations to improve practice.
Feedback for US the facilitators
1. Support to manage time
Most of the participants are not able to take out enough time for the course. The activities per se do not require more than 6 hours of your time, but to take out that time given the other work commitments is making it difficult. Keeping this in mind, we will make an effort to reduce the number of worksheets that are given for each week.
2. Provide more explanation
Something that came up again and again in different conversations was the need to have more clarity in the concepts and the instructions for the reflection activities. Given this, we will make an effort to provide more detailed guidelines for the reflection activities and also provide some samples for the different activities being proposed.
3. Link between ideas not clear / Go back with more questions than answers
There was some feedback on how some of the activities seem disconnected or how ideas are not closed before new ideas are introduced. We understand, the need to have some conclusions in place before we move ahead with concepts or the need to see the bigger picture. We will attempt to provide closure to concepts and ideas to the best of our abilities through the weekly summary PPTs and the blog posts.
Suggestions and strategies for you
1. Self-directed learning
We would like to emphasise that the idea of this course is not to provide ready-made answers, the idea of the course is to get on the path of self - learning, where we are seeking answers on our own. The course is a space to trigger some reflection on our practice and help us become aware of our practice which can help us define our agenda for change. Thus, if sometimes as learners you feel that things are not getting clear, or what was the point of doing some activity, we would request you to be a little patient with us and wait for the future activities to unfold as that might have some of the answers to your questions. This does not mean, that you do not voice your discomfort or your suggestions. We would love to hear your feedback on the activities on the ponder point.
2. Better time management
A lot of you said that the activities are such which require a lot of thinking and cannot be done in a rush. We appreciate this fact. One suggestion which we have is that, whenever you get access to new content, you watch the navigation videos and glance through the different steps so as to get an idea about the week. Then the rest of the time, keep making your notes about the activities and at the end of week, review and consolidate your notes and put them together in the presentation format. This will provide you with enough time to think through things, rather than doing it at one go.
Also make it a point to logging in every day to the LMS so that you are updated on the new content that is going up or anything else that is being added to make things easier for you.
3. Smart goals and smaller achievements
In order to keep up with the pace of the course, we also suggest that you create SMART goals (Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Realistic, Timely). Some of us have an urge to give our bestest shot at the activities and want to ensure that we have thought about things completely before we respond. This thought is very encouraging for us to see as facilitators. However, as a word of caution, we also want to highlight that it is equally important to assess the situation, the task in hand and allocate time that is necessary to complete the same. It would be helpful to appreciate smaller achievements and scale new heights.
Good luck with the rest of the modules.
Best,
MasterCoach Team
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