This week I chose to participate in the open learning activity which introduced us to Padlet.

To participate we were required to: Ask and answer questions about K-12 open & online learning in a digital open learning commons using Padlet.

Padlet is a online resource application where educators and students can post questions and answer each other’s questions either as themselves, someone else, or anonymously. Users can feel free to pose questions and ask for advice and are able to receive advice and answers from multiple people which beneficially provides a multitude of perspectives to explore. Users are also able to post attachments, links, and other files they would like to share.

Teachers can build personalized post-it boards where classmates can share and respond to ideas. studies can reach this board through a personal link provided by the educator. This application can be used as a way to brainstorm, complete group work, gather students’ evidence of learning, etc.

I really enjoy this application. It seems to really relate to the importance of social interaction in open learning promoted by topics one and two.  With this application it promotes the idea of teachers, students, and the public learning together as they are able to collaborate and share new materials and ideas.

I have connected this activity to the course outcome:

Develop an awareness of the potential of human-centered learning in online and open learning contexts and Practice digital, networked, and open literacies in support of learning about distributed and open learning.

This activity connects to these outcomes as this application allows for human centre learning as students are able to pose and answer questions regarding things that they are interested in and based on what they have experienced. It also allowed me to explore a new digital networking tool which was really fun!

This is the question I posted on Padlet…

Q: How can we encourage the use of open and distributed learning in Kindergarten/Grade 1 classrooms? With the use of digital tools?Especially since some schools only begin students to begin to learn on computers in Grade 1. How do we engage these young students in collaboration in open learning?

Here are some of the answers I received…

A: Teaching social skills to young learners in an online/often individual learning setting? Create google docs that are image based and require annotation – Voice threads, podcasting – giving each other feedback – Having one synchronous time for small groups (teacher facilitated) OR Asking for parent volunteers to help facilitate synch online sessions. Online activities which focus on building or contributing to something OR problem solving – Teachers designing fro asynchronous activities (which can be explained through text, video or podcast) that encourage students to complete tasks together (scavenger hunts). This post describes some interactive practices: https://www.bookwidgets.com/blog/2018/06/20-interactive-teaching-activities-for-in-the-interactive-classroom This post expands on these “Making thinking visible” strategies: https://arpdcresources.ca/consortia/thinking-strategies/ (retrieved from https://padlet.com/verenanz/5na90f0mkywgdcmh)