This site has been partially funded by the Off Campus Learning Project, Faculty of Education, Monash University. To find out more about the OCL Project click here.
The Online Teaching Community explores how technology can help Lecturers share effective teaching practices. The website is a work in progress. It is being designed to explore the value of some ideas which have been driving this project.
For instance, we believe that:
- teachers value sharing stories,
- teachers appreciate other teachers’ stories,
- teachers are time poor and appreciate introductions to ideas which they can evaluate based on their own deeply contextualised experiences
- while we see the need for technical support we think there is a critical need for a site which offers good teaching ideas
This website will never be finished. It will adapt according to feedback. This is our first evaluation cycle (followed by more design and development).
How to give feedback
- read the explanatory statement (draft document - see below for notes)
- Spend 10 minutes browsing the site, especially the “Teaching Ideas”. [click here to get started!]
- complete the anonymous survey (hosted by SurveyMonkey)
Notes: The anonymous survey data will be used to shape our design. Ethics clearance is also being sought and if granted the data will also be used in conference and journal publications. The explanatory statement which has been submitted to the ethcs board is included above. (A retrospective ethics application will be submitted to seek permission to use data collected before ethics clearance)
Where is this headed?
Who knows? The shape of this site depends on your feedback. However, I am driven by a belief in communities of practice which are founded on people coming together and negotiating valued practice. Within this perspective it is crucial that learners have an opportunity to participate, experiement with their identity as much as with new skills. My vision for this project is a place where any teacher can share their ideas in whatever format. In addition, we can comment, rate, and add to those ideas. I hope this site of teaching practice will be communally managed and will allow us to reflect on our practice as well as become a home for researcher practitioners.
