Reflective Log 5601 16 March 2009

More Eureka moments here.
Hey I think I might actually be learning something here...
For the last couple of days I have been trying to settle on a project topic for the course and also get my head around the actual requirements for the project proposal (Assignment 1) and the project itself.
So I have read the required readings for module one and turned my attention to the assignment exemplars that are provide online for download. This I have found to be a treasure trove and I have been mining that particular gold mine today.
The exemplar project proposals I have found are quite varied in approach and to a certain extent even in depth. This I have found comforting as it puts me a bit more at ease that my own offering will be acceptable. But the biggest benefit from the exemplars I am finding is that I am learning as much about and from the structure of the learning materials and process as I am from the theory. Sharon Watson has citied Biggs in referring to ‘aligned teaching’ where all aspects of the learning unit promote rather than hinder learning. Reading Watson’s project, in her discussion of design principles, learning activities and content sequencing, she citied several studies into learning methods such as ‘on-line socialisation’, acclimatization, formative reflection scaffolding learning engagement and asynchronous discussion (Salmon & Giles, 1997, Lawless 2005, Thorpe 1995, Seimans, 2005. Coincidentally all of these methods rang a bell of familiarity with me as they are employed in the design of this unit and the other unit (FET5621) that I am studying this semester. This realization was both comforting and informative to me. Comforting, in that it was obvious that USQ is practicing what it preaches in terms of Designing Learning modules and instructive as I realized that I was learning how to design learning not just from the assessment items and reading but from the very process that has been set up through the course structure..