Feedback is one of the most powerful influences on learning and achievement, said Hattie in “The power of feedback” (2007). Performance feedback provides valuable information to help guide learning. Although feedback itself has no extrinsic value, it can produce subjective feelings similar to “rewards” and “punishments.” Therefore, feedback can play both an informative and a motivational role.
Still, year after year, some of the lowest scores received within the National Student Survey in Norway, are for the area of Feedback. This is a pattern found nationally, almost without exception.

From my point of view I think that feedback is also lacking in this course. I wonder why when we know the great impact feedback have on learning. Caroline Cruaud wrote this comment to our presentation on topic 3 where we submit some reflection about the feedback we get on our work in ONL:

I completely agree with your thoughts on feedback. Posting on the blog is not so motivating when you know almost no one will read the posts… I wonder if using a different platform for ONL would make it easier to keep track of all the posts?

I could add posting the group presentation isn’t so motivating either when you get 2-3 comments. In our group we`re been talking of how to “sell in” our presentation. Or when it`s best to post it so it doesn’t drown in all the other post and blogs.
How many people participated in ONL? 130? So much resources…. We`re encourage to give each other feedback, but as the week goes by, I see the same few names over and over again. It makes me think if the summative peer-feedback can be mandatory? Or what sort of feedback build motivation? What are the various forms that feedback can take? How can we give effective feedback in online courses?
These and other question will my PBL group try to answer in the presentation for topic 4. Look forward to dig into this theme.

To be continued…..
And until then I will make an effort to give feedback and kudos for all the good work presented in the ONL18 G+community.

Making Sense of Assessment Feedback in Higher, 2013.
The power of feedback, 2007.

A while ago  I read a blog post of Alastair Creelman called the “The fear factor“. The team of this blog hit me so hard and gave me words for what I feel every day in my personal and professional life. In this post Creelman highlights our fear of a world that is changing at a breathtaking pace. Some of these changes are several global megatrends: globalisation, digitalisation, environmental change, aging population and urbanisation. He refers to another blogpost of Cecilia Bjursell called the 6^th megatrend. The post states that the technology brings so many opportunities to create a more open, tolerant and educated world. And that world may be possible to achieve but first we need to work on reducing the fear factor which is the 6^th megatrend…..

A personal confession
I recognise this fear primarily in my professional life. And this feeling of fear has grown stronger the more aware I am of all the opportunities tech can give.  I feel like running after a train in highspeed, don’t know where’s is heading, just now I NEED to be on that train….
During experiences I have gain a much more realistic approach to tech than for 6 years ago when I started out as an enthusiastic tech-optimist. Even though I have an explorative mindset, I can be overwhelmed of living in a society where information grows at exponential rates, tools change constantly, new apps are created almost daily, and software is in an ever-improving mode (Kuhn, 2017). I also feel a slight anxiety towards the openness and intangible nature of the Internet. Therefor I see myself more as a Visitor than a resident in terms of White, D. S., & Le Cornu, A. (2011).

In my personal life I must confess that I am addicted to digital technology (Ng, et al. 2010). I started this morning to check Instagram, then Facebook, moved over to YouTube, Twitter, looked at some new notification on LinkedIn, Messenger, checked my online- , work- and g mail account. Watched a couple of TEDTalks, made a “note to self” in Wunderlist of new apps, articles and more TEDTalks. Swipped into Pinterest, some blogs about hiking, newspapers, and booking.com for hotels…..and so on, and so on. This gives me instant pleasure and have become a integrated part of my daily life. This makes me a Residents in terms of White, D. S., & Le Cornu, A. (2011).

Photo by Andre Benz on Unsplash

In relations to my experience of ONL so far, I hope it can give me more than just a feeling of fear and confusion. From my point of view and with some doubts, ONL  learning style entails the learner to take the initiative and also full responsibility for finding out about all the tasks and all the managing tools. It feels like embracing the fog while I banging my head in the keyboard. Moreover, I hope that ONL can encourage me to remix stuff and give me a interest to develop my own intrinsic motivation to develop my digital literacy which is a lifelong project that all of us need to be involved in (Belshaw, 2012).

Article:
White, D. & Le Cornu, A. (2011) Visitors and residents: A new typology for online engagement. First Monday, 16(9).
Ng, E.S.W., Schweitzer, L & Lyons, S.T (2010) New Generation, Great Expectations: A Field Study of the Millennial Generation. Springer Science, 25:281–292.
Kuhn (2017) Are Students Ready to (re)-Design their Personal Learning Environment? The Case of the E-Dynamic.Space. Journal of new approaches in educational researchers, Vol 6, No1.

Video:
Doug Belshaw: The essential elements of digital literacies.

Rita Li

“Not all those how wander are lost” – Tolkien

I am educated as a intensive care nurse and have been teaching at the nursing faculty at University of Southeastern-Norway, USN for 12 years. The last 2 years have I been working as an assistant professor at eDU (Unit of digitalization and quality in education) USN. The unit represent and support all faculties at USN. We provide tailor made courses, design and re-design of courses, and digitalization in international projects. I also do research on Flipped Learning, which is my favourite topic beside from sailing. I’m a curious person who finds the nature and especially the sea of vital importance.