Where I'm up to so far!!

Blimey the catch up I had to do has been far more than I thought. It's been impossible to post about the week 2-3 activities on the tutor group forum or wiki because I end up falling further behind. The course is fast paced like H808 was. I've decided to sum up what I've found so far and start participating on the week 4 activities and go on from there.

Week 2
The learning outcomes of this week are to:

• understand the challenges for disabled students
• collaborate with other students in compiling a taxonomy of such challenges
• understand the challenges that arise in different subjects and contexts

So did I meet the learning outcomes...well yes and no! I'm aware of the support offered by OU to a student who declares a disability as well as funding available to meet costs. I agree with dyslexia now being more widely recognised as a disability. My son is borderline as well as having Raynauds . I suppose we view it more as a challenge than a disability with the Raynauds being the more problematic especially in the cold weather and because he's an artist and his hands are his tools. During exams he is given a room of his own....nothing to do with his learning difficulty but this allows him to exercise his hands/feet without disrupting other students.
I think this highlights the fact that the challenges that students with impairment face are personal to them and cannot be so easily generalised. What may be a challenge to one student may not be to another though they may share the same impairment.....the impairment will always affect people differently.

Catch Up!!

I've finally finished my ECA for H804 and posted it off this morning....yeah!!!! I've found it really hard having the end of H804 overlap with the start of H810....guess I didn't think it through well enough.
I've now got 2/3 weeks of catch up to do as the other students are well ahead of me and there is the added pressure of online participation carrying 10% of the assignment marks. Not too sure where to start...I know the beginning is always good! Right now I'm also a little confused as to which tool to use when...tutorial group forum discussion, tutorial group wiki, this blog????!!!

Activity 2.2 (week 1)

Off to read Seale so I can attempt to answer the following question..........

Think about the following questions:
1. According to Seale, all the players in accessible elearning have their own perspectives and their own stories to tell.

• What is your perspective or story? Acessibility is similar to inclusion in that not everyone can be treated equally but in the case of courses they may be adapted to meet learners needs. I say 'may' as some courses cannot.
• What events, people or objects have influenced your current perspective regarding accessibility? My Early Years courses (E123/E124) are vocational courses that require that the learners are working with children (0-8 years). This immedialtely rules out anyone with a criminal record. It can also rule out certain disabilities as there is a duty of care to the children. In the past I have had to exclude a learner due to her criminal record at age 16. In an FE college I have also placed a student in a nursery school (under pressure from learning support)... who used an electric wheelchair with limited movement below the neck and had limited speech. Nursery adapted well but the learner became a health and safety risk when the children realised they could make the wheelchair move and she was unable to prevent this. The learner also was only able to complete one or two units and would not have been able to attain a qualification as the examining body required learners to complete all units which included toileting children, working with babies, nappy changing and so on.
• How conscious are you of these factors when you are reading and thinking about accessibility issues? I'm very concious of being politically correct and not discriminating but also not wanting to set the learner up for a fall by not being honest with them. In life there are often limitations that cannot be overcome.

2. If you were to conduct an analysis at this point in time, of the costs and benefits for you personally as a learner in studying this course online, what would the analysis look like?

• Would there be more costs than benefits? More benefits as OU are paying for the course
• Are they evenly matched?
• What factor helped you to decide you could cope with studying this course online? I work online and this is my 3rd online course. I'm driven by wanting to achieve an MA but I'm sacrificing a lot (family time) to achieve this.

3. Seale uses the imagery of a magic fairy to make the point that many of us are waiting desperately in the hope that we don’t have to take responsibility for accessibility because somehow or other it has ‘miraculously’ been done for us.

• What metaphor, analogy or imagery would you use to describe your or your co-workers’ current attitude or expectations regarding finding solutions to accessibility ‘problems’? Bring it on....if this wasn't my attitude why would I be on this course?

4. If you attended a conference where the main theme was making online learning accessible, what kind of information or evidence would you wish to hear from the presenters that would help to inform or change your practice? What can be done, how it can be done, when it can be done

5. Thinking about accessibility:

• Why do you think some students do not declare their disability to the institutions in which they are studying? Wanting to be accepted on their own merits rather than be treated as disabled
• Does it matter if an institution does not know the exact numbers of disabled students registered on its courses and the exact nature of their learning needs? Yes, without such data improvement cannot happen
• How necessary do you think this information is, in helping institutions develop accessible learning? It's necessary
• In what way might such information help an institution improve the accessibility of its online learning material? identify the types of accessibility required but more likely to be lnumber of disabled learners and the cost of accessibility....I know I'm sooo cynical!

6. In our working lives we are all constantly managing our identities – both public and private.

• What aspects of your identity do you openly reveal to your work colleagues or students? Very little if any personal detail to students. More to colleagues once I get to know them.
• What aspects do you reveal in a more selective manner (if at all)? Where I live, husbands job, children's school
• Are there any aspects of your identity or information about yourself that you would feel uncomfortable revealing to work colleagues or students? Yes

Actvity 1, 1.2, 1.3, 1.4 (Week 1)

Activity 1

• Already familiar with StudentHome page
• and familiar with MAODE Programme website
• Have checked out the website and course-specific online tools e.g. blog, wiki's
• Have created pesonal blog....posted Autumn pics as it feels like Autumn outside and as the course progresses it will hopefully remind me how many weeks have passed since I started and how nearer I am to completing!!!

Activitiy 1.2

• Have now read course guide and Assignment guide

Activity 1.3
I work for the Open University tutoring two level one courses fro the Early Years degree. I'm based in the northeast of England so my learners are both from the northeast but also from anywhere in Europe. This can mean that often English is not their first language. They are 'vocational' students in that they must be working in an Early Years setting in order to comply with the requirements of the course. They are of varying ages, anywhere from 18 years onwards. For many this is their first form of study since leaving school and for some their first experience of OU. At the present time my courses are quite 'traditional' in that the learners have course materials posted to them, they must post me their assignments and I also carry out face to face tutorials. However this is changing with the introduction of eTMA's and more online activities. I have already created wiki's for both my courses since studying on H808 and H804.
I would like to have more awareness and understanding of learners with disabilities especially in relation to online course design as well as being their tutor. At the present time I have no learners with disabilities.
Activity 1.4

• I've added my name to the list of students in my tutor group wiki
• I've made a link there to my blog
• I've introduced myself in my tutor group forum
• I've posted a reply to a member of my tutor group

So far I've ticked off all of the Part 1 activities....yeah!

Day 2

So I decided to tackle today more positively. I waited till nearer lunchtime to log on to the course website and hoped that I would see more members logged on to my tutor group. However the course website is down and therefore I can't access anything. Its a bit frustrating but its actually given me time to get on with other more pressing things...ECA...marking student assignments etc. Once up and running again I will print off the course material so I have a hard copy....I just find this useful but its unlikely everyone on the course does this. I also save resources to my documents so I don't have to keep logging on to OU all the time to access them.
I can't wait to get my teeth into the course but its not helping me having H804's ECA hanging over my head! I decided not t take a break between the 4 MAODE courses as I felt I would lose momentum and it feels good to know that I could have my Masters by the end of next year. On H808 which was my first course I met Enda and Clive....Clive then did H804 with me and is completely responsible for me being on H810...he talked me into it!!!

H810

Today was the first day on H810: Accessible Online Learning:supporting disabled students.

So far there appears to be only two of us in the allocated tutorial group but hopefully more will join. Had tried to put my OU blog onto the tutor wiki but gremlins wouldn't allow it so have created this blog as I'm familiar with blogger.

This is my third MAODE course and so far its not as expected. I'm used to Firstclass desktop as both a tutor and as a student and navigating the course forums is frustrating to say the least....but its early days I guess. Instead of returning to course website I'm redirected to studenthome and have to start all over again.....who has that many hours in their day to waste? Obviously as this is a new course there will be a few problems to iron out.....probably helps that I tutor for OU and have been a student for years!!! Also as it's a masters course and about online learning it will be constantly evolving.

I still have a 6000 word ECA to finish and have somehow got myself involved in an online course with the University of Manitoba in Canada and of course I've got TMA's to mark. So, so far my first day appears to be nothing more than a whinge....can only go up from here eh?! I've had a quick glance at the course material and it seems to be OK. I would have preferred to have started the course after I'd finished the last one but what can a girl do!!