I can honestly say that this reading was eye-opening. Not only did I learn a lot more about teaching online and its approaches and Open Education from a beginners sense, I was able to consider where I might want to focus future exploration.

“Indeed it would be possible to conclude from this literature that online learning is one specific thing: a mono-lithic approach to anything that takes place over the internet” (Major, 2015). I find this quote in the opening to really pull the reader into some of the preconceived notions regarding online learning. I must admit that I have fallen into this hole before as prior to the pandemic I have the notion that online learning was not good as people could more easily cheat, not have as much social engagement and interaction with professors or classmates, and also would lack some of the essential learning that could be provided in a face-to-face environment. Also like the quote I thought much of this notion was anything that was on the internet, including some social media. Additionally, this quote, “I’ve been using social media in teaching for many years, both in hybrid courses that mix face-to-face and online interactions and in purely online courses. I found that the use of these media influenced me to change my style of teaching, because (together with my attitude) these technologies enable my students to communicate with me and one another in ways that a typical classroom would not allow” (Major, 2015). led me to recognize my own social media use within education. For example, I made a Tik Tok that could communicate the English Literature topic of Harry Potter in a magical sense by means of an activity. You can see that video here, https://youtu.be/ezCs0owRw7U

Next, the section of the reading that included strategies for structuring online courses was honestly amazing as this is where I would want to consider exploring more through my own possible research.

This section of the article provided some very helpful examples of actual online courses and their structures. I can see myself utilizing this information in my own course planning as much of this information could be pivotal to my learning and development of lessons. I would also be curious to see how my lessons and these compare as many of the examples in the article are from university classes. I think this could be an interesting opportunity. 

• Honestly, if I got the chance I would love to ask a professor how they plan for online vs. Face-to-face classes. I would also ask them what they think some of the crucial differences are, how they mitigate these differences, and what differences they notice in the students’ engagements and outcome within the courses. 
• Additionally, I would be curious to conduct a survey in which students could explain what type of classes they are able to engage with more, how they feel about any academic differences, and the various outcomes. I would also really be interested in taking electroencephalographic (EEG) data of students in both environments to see the neural differences. My main interest in this comes from the differences I have seen in my own learning throughout this pandemic learning period. 

Finally, the reading by Jordan & Weller provided me, a self-identified beginner with a great run down into the history and context of Openness and Education. This reading allows the user to essentially travel through time with the development based on the citation network at the beginning of the article. I quite appreciated the brief annotated bibliographies of some of the most influential papers within each topic area allowing the reader to gain a better familiarity and understanding. Honestly, I was quite impressed with the amount of information and resources presented towards the readers needs. As a beginner, I was surprisingly not too overwhelmed and found the information to be interesting.

I can honestly say that I will utilize the information presented in this reading down the road in order to develop a more well-rounded and considered classroom approach wether it be online fully or incorporate online aspects.

Major, C. H. (2015). Teaching Online – A Guide to Theory, Research, and Practice. Retrieved from http://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/uvic/detail.action?docID=3318874 (pp. 76-108

Jordan, K. & Weller, M. (2017). Openness and Education: A beginners’ guide. Global OER Graduate Network.