Learning online with Deakin

Deakin’s online courses are based on a few, but important, learning principles. To get the most out of this course, we encourage you to keep in mind the following.

Our learning philosophy

Deakin University is a pioneer in innovative digital learning. Several key principles underpin all our online courses, which are designed to:

• challenge you with new and interesting ideas
• prompt you to connect and engage with other learners and Deakin educators
• test your knowledge and understanding against clearly defined learning outcomes.

Get involved

Getting the most out of your online learning experience with Deakin begins by getting involved.

Our courses are designed for adult learners from around the globe who, like you, have diverse work, life and study experiences.

One of the key ways to optimise your learning is to participate in the tasks set by your educators and engage in topic-related conversations with other learners.

Learning through conversation

In this course, you’re invited to comment on topics, discuss issues and ask and/or answer questions.

Some of the ways you can do this include:

• adding a post to start or continue a conversation by building on what others are saying
• using reply to ask a question or make a comment that indicates you’re interested in what someone else has said and encourages them (or others) to expand on their ideas
• making a comment that links, compares or contrasts different themes in the conversation
• disagreeing with a comment in a curious, constructive and compassionate manner
• using like to indicate which comments most resonate with you.

Your task

Watch the video and practise getting involved by reflecting on the following and using the comments to join the conversation:

• Reply to a comment on the ideas outlined by Associate Professor Marcus O’Donnell in this video – try to encourage the commenter to say more about their thoughts and explain why the comment interested you.
• Make a comment that connects two people’s contributions by using the @ symbol to add their names to your response – make the link explicit (e.g. ‘Arun and Serena’s comments’ both highlight the same theme).
• Do you find disagreeing respectfully hard? What other barriers to getting involved do you experience?
• If you see a comment on ‘barriers’, reply to share your tips for overcoming these.

You may also want to take a few minutes to find out how to make the most of your Deakin FutureLearn experience by reading this short guide.

Behind the scenes: Chie’s story

In designing and creating this course, I have listened to, talked with and learned from a wide-range of experts in the field of digital learning at Deakin University. As a result, this course is a showcase of these people’s stories. I hope you enjoy learning not only with and from them, but also with and from other learners participating in this course.