General Guidance or a Course?

I have been pondering how best we can develop the way we create COOCs. We have had around a dozen new COOCs in the last few months and the way these develop is done to each individual. In a way, that is the whole point. We want the space to be open to anyone to develop their course, for their audience, with their knowledge, using their practices just as they see fit.

What may also be great to see though, is the sharing of these ideas to help each of us learn new ways of creating, building and developing ways of learning and ways of teaching. I have created a rough (it is rough) guide to a sort of meta-course we could do together, teach together, learn together. Really, it seems to read as just session one/ week one/ stage one and might go on to show how we use video or how we use collaboration? Perhaps we can look at assessment and how we can use some, none, lots? What form of assessment?

Moodle has lots of tools within it we can apply and use. It is something we can explore together and that each of us can take back to our own courses and use with our own groups and peers.

Anyway, the course is below and I would love to hear what thoughts you have and whether we such a course is something you are interested in.

Session Title: Bricks in walls and factories of illusion. Questioning what it means to be an educator – what can we do collectively (or individually) to improve what we do?

Aim of session: Are we, as Doris Lessing says below, part of a self-perpetuating system of indoctrination? Does Mark Twain’s statement that “I have never let my schooling interfere with my education” mean anything to you?   What kind of educators are we and what kind of educators do we want to be?

Using some critical approaches to education this session is a chance to discuss ideas related to being an educator. What does it mean, what do you feel is important and what would you like to change?

We can seek some answers and at least feel heartened by the sharing of ideas. There will be opportunities to bring in your own ideas and seek ways of creating innovation in what we do now. This is a session that we will create between ourselves and shape based on our collective consciousness.

Ideally, what should be said to every child, repeatedly, throughout his or her school life is something like this: ‘You are in the process of being indoctrinated. We have not yet evolved a system of education that is not a system of indoctrination. We are sorry, but it is the best we can do. What you are being taught here is an amalgam of current prejudice and the choices of this particular culture. The slightest look at history will show how impermanent these must be. You are being taught by people who have been able to accommodate themselves to a regime of thought laid down by their predecessors. It is a self-perpetuating system. Those of you who are more robust and individual than others will be encouraged to leave and find ways of educating yourself — educating your own judgements. Those that stay must remember, always, and all the time, that they are being moulded and patterned to fit into the narrow and particular needs of this particular society.
― Doris Lessing, The Golden Notebook

Who should attend: Anyone with an interest in the ways we can create learning that appeals to a diverse group and moves beyond purely traditional concepts of learning and teaching.

Benefits of attending: This session offers a space to reflect on educational practice and relate your own ideas of education to some grand narratives and critical approaches to education. The goal is to give an opportunity for free-thinking, creative expression and sharing of your approach to the job that you do.   The benefits are individual, clearly, but may well help to generate a sense of shared concern with what it is we do and what we can perhaps to change to improve our experiences’ if we are happy, creative and alive what benefits can come from that? We will enjoy a lively discussion, a sharing of thoughts and a collective appreciation of our own beliefs, ideals and how these can inform our creativity.