Manuel León

Manuel León

I am an academic in Online Learning. I am interested in digital literacies, data literacy, and the interplay between the web and society, with a focus on education.
Twitter: @mleonurr

Location Southampton

Activity

  • Hi David, we are writing an impact evaluation and we'd like to have your consent for using your comments. If you would have a bit of time for us (just minutes), please let us know by replying to this message. Thanks in advance!

  • Hi Jillian. We would like to use this comment in an impact case study. For this, we need your consent. If you see this reply and would like to give your consent, please reply to this comment.
    Thanks
    Manuel

  • Posted now. Thanks for your patience!

  • Posted now. Thanks for your patience!

  • Now it is Michelle. Thanks for waiting!

  • @JadeMacdonald Apologies, the session didn't run due to technical problems. We will endeavour to reschedule the session. If we find an alternative time for the speakers to be online, we will send an email announcing it.
    Thanks for your understanding, and apologies for the inconvenience.

  • Apologies, the session didn't run due to technical problems. We will endeavour to reschedule the session. If we find an alternative time for the speakers to be online, we will send an email announcing it.
    Thanks for your understanding, and apologies for the inconvenience.

  • @NeilRogers NavCog looks great. I hope they fulfil their future plans beyond Pittsburg!

  • Indeed it does benefit everyone Lisa. Welcome to the course. We hope it broadens your perspective, and you broaden ours with your comments!

  • Indeed Sugi. Welcome to the course!

  • Welcome to the course Samantha, nice to see you back here! I am sure this will perfectly add to your experience with the Inclusive Learning course.

  • That is a great idea Kim. At a first glance, how would you rate the design of wechat in terms of accessibility and inclusivity? do you envision a scenario in which certain individuals may have difficulties in using it?

  • Agreed. As long as everyone in the group can benefit from them. Do you think we can achieve this with correct supervision?

  • Absolutely! This may need appropriate supervision, to make sure everyone in the collaboration group can use them

  • This is a great way of doing it. I have run a few group projects, both online and in campus, using a similar variety of tools. I have never had a disabled member in those study groups, but I once ran a team of mentors with a disabled member. What I noticed is that making accommodations to the disabled member increased the attention to group work and...

  • Interesting point Joshua. There are cons, especially the need for a change of style suitable for recording, are sometimes the result of the lack of willingness, or resources to address them. However, challenges such as copyrights deserve careful thought before recording lectures.

  • That is a great example of learning within the context! Thanks for sharing it, and yes, AR is something to seriously consider in inclusive learning, and growing quickly!

  • And we are ready to keep learning from your thoughtful comments, which we are reading with delight. Welcome to week 2!

  • Great to know Ana Maria, and welcome to the second week!

  • Hi Melissa, welcome to the course. We hope you find new and interesting developments in the area through this course. Let me also recommend you our Digital Accessibility MOOC, starting next month! https://www.futurelearn.com/courses/digital-accessibility/4

  • Hi Alexandrea, welcome to the course! I hope you achieve both goals, by making a lot of comments, and replying to others' comments too!

  • Hi Aisling, welcome to the course. It is great to see participants from so many different education stages. There are many early years teachers in the course, such as Sally-ann, in the comment just above yours in this forum. Looking forward to learning from your insights during the course!

  • Hi Abi, welcome to the course. You may notice several references to Higher Education here, but the course applies to learning environments at all stages, so we are looking forward to reading comments from a primary educator perspective!

  • Welcome to the course Karen. We are looking forward to learning from your insights as a Web Developer in all steps, but especially in the inclusive design steps by the end of this week!

  • Absolutely! Also, bottom-up approaches from accessibility advocates might be very effective, especially to persuade senior management

  • I hope so too Mark! And I agree that making the accessibility function visible to all teaching staff through the VLE will encourage many of them to produce accessible learning materials.
    If I were a manager, I would top this up with top-down interventions, such as organising workshops, accessibility awards (or including accessibility as a criterion for other...

  • Indeed! What would you do to make it less confusing and more organised?

  • Absolutely! Accessibility checkers are of great help, and they are embedded in many tools. For example, if you are using a virtual learning environment (Moodle, Blackboard, Canvas, etc.), it is worth looking for their accessibility checkers. For example I use Canvas, and it has proved really handy to me.

  • Yes, it is quite hard to remember it all. I would keep it as a reference, and check it from time to time against the documents you produce. Once you have done it a few times, it becomes a good habit!

  • Hi Angelina, welcome to the course! I can see that you have made a great start, commenting in most of the steps. Looking forward to see many more!

  • Good point Chris. The needs of the students are so varied that there will always be some reasonable adjustments to be made. However, this need can be reduced to its minimum by designing inclusively. It can be a bit hard at the beginning, especially when you are used to a method, when you have too much pressure to deliver, little time for high workload, etc....

  • Great to see so many HE disability staff support here. Three introductions in a row with this kind of profile! Welcome to the course Anna, looking forward to reading your comments.

  • Welcome to the course Margaret! I am sure it will be very useful for preparing your digital accessibility course. We start our Digital Accessibility MOOC in October, you are most welcome to join that one too! https://www.futurelearn.com/courses/digital-accessibility

  • You are in the right place for that. Welcome to the course Lena!

  • Welcome to the course Ana! I think it is quite relevant to bilingual programmes. Also, let me recommend you a great course about English as a Medium of Instruction, perhaps relevant to what you do!
    https://www.futurelearn.com/courses/emi-academics

  • Hi Cherie, although there are not many steps specifics to VLEs (1.7 is quite a relevant one) most of them are applicable to the technologies associated to them.
    Also, I would like to recommend our Digital Accessibility course starting in October, which may well be of your interest.
    https://www.futurelearn.com/courses/digital-accessibility/4
    Welcome to the...

  • Indeed Juliet. Welcome to the course!

  • Hi Rosalinda, welcome to the course!
    I hope you get the chance to practice your written English by posting a lot of comments, which I am looking forward to reading!

  • Welcome to the course Amander! I am interested in online learning too. Looking forward to learning with AND from you during the course!

  • Hi Kathriena,
    good point! I agree that learning that excludes should not be considered learning. If the learning experience that we design doesn't allow the totality of learners to learn, we are not meeting our objectives.
    Welcome to the course!

  • I cannot agree more! However, there are many different kinds of MOOCs, and in some of them there is a lot of work being done towards providing inclusive learning experiences.
    And yes, assistants' interventions are still essential to inclusive learning, and for sure they will be for a long time before they are automatised, if that ever happens...

  • Hi Cho,
    welcome to the course! It will provide you with interesting insights on inclusive learning, very useful to teach languages!
    Once you finish this course, you can start our Understanding Language course, starting in November, which focusses more on English teaching!
    https://www.futurelearn.com/courses/understanding-language/9
    Best,
    Manuel

  • Hi Fay,
    pleased to have high profile contributions like yours!
    I agree with you: the last decades of e-learning have been a bit too technologically deterministic, often neglecting pedagogy. However, I want to think online pedagogy is blooming. You may notice it in this course, and other courses in FutureLearn: everything is carefully designed to foster...

  • Hi Kim,
    welcome to the course!
    I agree, and I can even go further: non-inclusive education is not education!
    Looking forward to reading your contributions throughout the course
    Manuel

  • Good day Dinah! I agree, creating an environment in which everyone can learn is important everywhere. This course is all about this, and I hope you enjoy it. Welcome to the course!

  • Hi Ariet,
    I like your career move!
    Welcome to the course, I am sure it will be useful to you, and that you will enjoy it!
    Looking forward to reading your contributions throughout the course,
    Manuel

  • @FayPatel Hi Fay, welcome to the course, and congrats in making the very first comment! As you can see, it is generating many responses and attention. I hope to see you around the other discussion forums of the course.
    Best,
    Manuel

  • Thanks Derek for pointing this out. Now it should work. Welcome to the course!

  • @MelanieJP Hi Melanie, this has been fixed now, thanks for your understanding, and many thanks for pointing it out!

  • Hi Roberto,
    Many thanks for pointing this out! All links in 8.11 were fixed yesterday, and the link in 1.1 has been fixed today. Your help is invaluable!
    We hope you enjoy the rest of the course,
    Manuel

  • Hi Natasha, "closed" in this case means that you will be close to the rest of the community if you want, where you will have many chances to closely interact with the rest of learners and educators.
    Welcome to the course!

  • thanks Batoul! well done in doing the two first weeks in just one day!

  • and many more answers that you will find! however, do not hesitate to make questions even if the answer is in further steps. Welcome to the course!

  • Hi Lisa-Marie, the issue has been sorted now. Thanks for your patience, and welcome to the course!

  • Hi Lisa, sorry that you are having problems to download the support materials. We will fix this immediately. Please try in an hour or so. Thanks!

  • HI Margaret, welcome to the course! We hope this course helps you see the big picture of a research project, as well as the important details!

  • Hi William, welcome to the course! Yes, there will be plenty of chances to talk about the EPQ, and we are looking forward to read the comments about it, and help where we can!

  • Apologies if I am wrong: This is just to note that the last quiz question refers to data about dead people. This content is covered here, after the quiz. The feedback in the quiz question says that it has already been covered in previous steps, but it should say that it will be covered in further steps.
    I must say that I am thoroughly enjoying this course!

  • Just to note a typo: GDPR not GDRP (see second line of article)

  • Hi Patricia, if you saved your unique number given at the end of the test, you will be able to access your network by visiting https://moocpln.rsgsoton.net/. Apologies, there was a network outage yesterday.

  • Hi Isabel,
    many thanks for contributing to this. We have got quite a reasonable number of participants, and it looks like the answers of most of them are not done in too much of a rush (we can identify when they have been done too quickly). We also hope you can see the result of your own personal learning network in the next step.
    we also appreciate your...

  • Apologies, there was a network outage at the university. If you saved your unique number given at the end of the test, you will be able to see your network by visiting https://moocpln.rsgsoton.net/

  • @DeboraLeiteCaputo Hi Debora, please keep the participant number at the end of the survey. Tomorrow we will try to fix this, but we cannot guarantee immediate resolution. We will definitely come back to you though. Thanks for your understanding!

  • And very importantly, keep the Unique Participant Number! There is still hope that all your data has been recorded, and you may not need to repeat the survey to view your PLN.

  • Sorry about this, and thanks for letting us know! We appreciate that must be frustrating, and fixing it will be our priority.

  • Interesting question Sas! There are theories, such as experiential learning, that emphasise learning as reflection on mistakes. I think learning due to making mistakes actually fits in all theories shown in the previous steps!

  • @DeboraLeiteCaputo I think digital literacies in the school curriculum will arrive sooner or later, it is just a matter of time.
    Welcome to the course!

  • Hi Susana,
    totally agree. 'Google it' is useful in many situations, but certainly not all. Critically assessing information is one of the core skills needed today, rather than memorising it.
    Welcome to the course!

  • Hi Meery-Ly,
    I want to think there is still hope for face-to-face conversation without the need to base it on what our phone tells us. Also let's hope learning evolves, instead of being eliminated.
    Welcome to the course!

  • Hi Chris,
    'learn how to learn' - absolutely!
    Later in the course, there is some discussion on these new and more flexible literacies that you mention.
    Welcome to the course!

  • Indeed Hong. Assessing the validity of information is an important skill to have nowadays. There are more of these skills, and I hope you discover them in further steps of this MOOC.
    Welcome to the course!

  • This is a good approach Ginta. I had a teacher who said teaching is not about providing answers, but provoking questions!
    Welcome to the course

  • Hi Tanisha, why do you prefer face-to-face? I like it because I get to interact with real people in real time. Maybe there is an approach that brings the best of both worlds: face-to-face and online, don't you think?
    Welcome to the course!

  • Hi David, apologies, you are not doing anything wrong. This review video is not ready yet. We will let you know when it has been uploaded by replying to this comment. Thanks for your understanding!

  • Hi C B, apologies, you are not doing anything wrong. This review video is not ready yet. We will let you know when it has been uploaded by replying to this comment. Thanks for your understanding!

  • Hi Sandra,
    I guess you have seen that the youtube video is up now. Enjoy!

  • Hi Rodrigo, I see you have managed to log in. Thanks for watching!

  • Thy Cindy, Jocelyn, would you mind trying again? apologies!

  • HI Purnendu, could you please try again?

  • hi Derek, could you please try again?

  • Thanks Andrew and Johanna! For the moment, we have removed the reference to this link until we see if we can find it elsewhere.

  • Manuel León replied to [Learner left FutureLearn]

    Hi all, sorry my fault! now the link is properly formatted. Thanks all for letting us know.

  • Just picked this up. Thanks Lisa and Richard, very flattering coming from you!

  • Thanks Jessica for spotting the link. Now the article links to the correct video.

  • Thanks Wael, apologies for the audio!

  • thanks for these links Keith! John Oliver´s clip is hillarious, I came across it in the previous run of the course. I recommend it to everyone else, because although only one side of the argument is shown, John Oliver makes it quite to understand!

  • Many thanks for your feedback DN. I have just opened it and it works for me. I am using Chrome browser on Windows OS. What are you using?

  • Great point Bernard, no one owns it! We hope you enjoy the whole course, especially the section on Net Neutrality, which reflects on this particular point.

  • Yes, we are. And we need to look closely at how it is changing in order to shape it for the benefit of everyone. We hope this course helps in that respect! Welcome to the course Muhammad

  • Assessing the accuracy, truth, or reliability of sources in the Web has become quite a challenge, and it takes skills that many people have identified as one of the most important digital literacies. Helen Beetham, for example, names it information literacy in her framework, have a look at that if you...

  • This is an interesting thought Martin, perhaps we would not be that bad without the web after all. I think the web can evolve in many different ways, such as something that traps us like a spider web, or something that connect us like a brain cells network. Welcome to the course, we hope to keep reading comments of this kind along the course!

  • Hi Norman, it is great to have local politicians here! Welcome to the course, we are looking forward to reading your thoughts about the web throughout the course!

  • That was Samuel Johnson right? I know it thanks to the Web, I knew where to get it! Welcome to the course Patrick, we hope reading many of stimulating comments from you, just like this one!

  • Absolutely! However, together we have to shape the web we want, as it could become something that we don't want. In the rest of the course you will know very well what I am talking about. Welcome to the course!

  • Interesting point of view Jekko. Welcome to the course, we hope you discover things about the web that you didn't know before, and we hope you share your discovery with us!

  • Indeed Steven. Not only addicted, but also fully dependant! Welcome to the course, we hope you enjoy it!

  • Hi Jeda, thanks for your thoughtful reflection, and welcome to the course! We hope you enjoy it, and we also hope to read many comments like this one from you!

  • Hi Andi, welcome to the course, and thanks for breaking the ice, you did the very first comment! You have spotted very well how much we depend on the web today. We hope you explore this further in the rest of the course, and that you share your discoveries with us via your comments!

  • Hi Peter, Douglas' review is up. Thanks for your patience!

  • Hi John, Douglas' review is up. Thanks for your patience!