EDUC3325 - Week Eleven Reflections

The importance of collaboration and group work for learning was emphasized again for me this week as the EDUC3325 students completed their WebQuest projects. This semester I asked the students to complete a "confidential" online reflection about the process involved in completing their group projects. I asked them to respond to four questions - in order to guide their reflection:

1. How did you contribute to the success of the WebQuest (i.e., roles, responsibilities and tasks)?


2. How did other members of your group contribute to the success of the WebQuest (i.e., roles, responsibilities and tasks)?


3. What were the challenges that your group faced when completing the project (i.e., goals, scope, communication, workload)?


4. How did you overcome these challenges and/or what recommendations would you make for your next group project?

We're going to debrief on these reflections in the coming week and I'll be sure to post a summary of our discussion to this blog next week :)

In other news, my travels took me to Ohio for the Lilly National Teaching Conference at Miami University in Oxford, Ohio. This is my "all time" favourite conference and I have attended the past three years in a row. Milt Cox is the "host or inn-keeper" for the event, which he has coordinated for the past 26 years. What originally drew me to the conference was Milt's pioneer work in the area of faculty learning communities. It's just amazing how he has spread this concept around the globe. The conference is definitely an "intense" event!! I facilitated a couple of sessions - one on using wikis and weblogs to support deep approaches to learning and one on our inquiry through blended learning approach at the University of Calgary. I also hosted a couple of lunch time discussion tables on these topics. As usual, the quality of the sessions, company, food & drink, accommodation and organization was outstanding. I'll definitively be back next year. As an aside - I really do think there was an increase in the number of sessions on course redesign this year. A trend similar to last week's ISSOTL conference. Hmnn . . . I wonder if this is true or just my perception - as I seem to be seeing everything in higher education these days - through the "lens" of course redesign. I really, really appreciate the work that Dee Fink (former President of the Professional & Organizational Development network) has on designing for significant learning. I've linked to my conference notes and posted a few pictures from Miami University below - the university was founded in 1809 as a land grant institution to encourage people to move and settle in the western part of Ohio state.