Outlining online teaching and collaborative elearning

Picture: edited in canva.com Blended learning inevitably is the next step for Higher Ed teachers, regardless of whether this step is taken with confidence and curiosity or reluctantly and with hesitation.  For me, when I think of blended learning as the inevitable direction of progression for my courses- or should I rather say natural future development? I feel hesitant and somewhat reluctant. Hesitant, because I am not convinced that blended learning neccessary leads to a better learning environment or even better quality of the education. And my reluctance stems from my hesitation, and the fact that I will have to invest a lot of time and effort to make the neccessary changes to my courses.  For example: Do I have to rethink the entire course designs? (probably I do... see for example Li `s thoughts on course design for online learning, Hughes et al's ideas on how to foster creativity and critical thinking online or Lauricella and Kay´s inspirational guidance on how to use form

www.pexels.com/sv-SE/license/ Group work at University. Dreaded by some students and much appreciated by others. In my experience, students often question the value of having group work as part of a course. If they are graded on the group work, the resistance and questioning of the form is usually strong. It is simply not perceived as fair that they should be graded entirely or partly on the group's performance. If the structure of the group work means that several students are given the task of solving a problem and submitting it in writing for assessment, I must agree with them. The result is often not fair. For highly motivated and engaged students group work might mean that they end up carrying more work load than they would have if they had been assigned the task to solve it individually. This is known to happen for example when highly motivated students are grouped together with less motivated and engaged students  (Strijbos, J. W. 2011) . If for example students who aim at g

pexels-mikael-blomkvist-6476583 Open access publishing, open educational resourcses (OER) and open educational practices (OEP). A lot have changed since I started my academic carrier in 2002. It is fascinating to think about how swiftly the learning environment has changed in higher education. When I took my first classes at the law programme at Stockholm University, all our course material was printed - literature, legislation and preprinted folders with case-material, and all classes and lectures where held on campus. Twenty years later here I am trying to find out the best way to get if not all, at least moust of my course material accessible online. Learning about creative commons licences  for my power point slides and creative ways to help my students interact off-campus and develop their - now - essential online learning competences. I like to consider myself a creative teacher in the sense that I come up with new ideas,  raise new questions and can generate solutions to ill-def

www.pxfuel.com What is a Digital visitor? Well, it may very well be accurately described by using me and my attitude towards digital connectivity and relation to technology as an example. First, in my life and the way that I live with and relate myself to technology, I have never developed a natural aptitude for using technology. For me technology is first and foremost a tool that I use in my profession as a researcher and teacher. My "backyard" is legal databases, governmental authorities' home pages, and occassionally also selected Twitter, Linkedin and ResearchGate accounts of researchers who I know and have added to my list of contacts myself. In my visitor mode I hardly ever leave a footprint behind by making comments or engaging with the account owner ( White & Le Cornu, 2011 ) The question that I have been asking myself for some time (though before entering the course Open Networked Learning  without being aware of the developed scientific distinction between v