Last month, I was invited to join a group of coaches in an online forum.
I was delighted to be asked but I have spent much of the time as a peripheral participant … enjoying the open sharing but not contributing.
I thought listening might be a good way to start in a group of online acquaintances.
Yesterday, I responded to this message from one of the group:
Hi everyone. I’m early in the process of setting up new CPD events. I’ve been slightly dissatisfied with recent experiences and groups like this show the value of sharing and exploring new ideas.
They won’t be linked to NGB/club/County – more of a ‘by coaches, for coaches’ approach focusing on interaction, conceptualisation of ideas and discussion, building a network etc.
From your recent CPD experiences, what have been the best elements? If there was one thing you want, or would want, from a CPD experience then what would it be?
Any ideas and feedback welcome.
It seemed a great opportunity for me to discuss my thoughts about #coachlearninginsport.
It coincided too with my participation in an open online course, Connectivism and Learning. Stephen Downes is the facilitator of this course and he has this to say about connectivism:
At its heart, connectivism is the thesis that knowledge is distributed across a network of connections, and therefore that learning consists of the ability to construct and traverse those networks. (My emphasis)
Elsewhere, Stephen (2012) has discussed course design. He notes that in a connectivist course “the content does not define the course”.
By navigating the content environment, and selecting content that is relevant to your own personal preferences and context, you are creating an individual view or perspective. So you are first creating connections between contents with each other and with your own background and experience. And working with content in a connectivist course does not involve learning or remembering the content. Rather, it is to engage in a process of creation and sharing. Each person in the course, speaking from his or her unique perspective, participates in a conversation that brings these perspectives together. (My emphasis)
I am hopeful that our online group might discuss these issues … if they are of interest.
For the time being, I look forward to engaging in a conversation on the platform that explores whether we might move from CPD to CPL and to celebrate the sense each of us makes of our self-organising networks.
Connected by shared interests.
Photo Credits
At Coogee (Keith Lyons, CC BY 4.0)
