Hi, I am Arlene Liu from Economic. This is my fourth year in Uvic

  • What interests you about open and distributed learning?

I think Distributed and Open Learning is more accessible and flexible than traditional teaching methods. Students can freely choose their learning environment and are not restricted to a specific environment on campus and choose the time to attend classes.

  • How do you currently use digital tools to support your learning or professional life in the context of education?

In Uvic, we normally use bright space as the major digital tools to support the basic online learning. Professors could post the the information about the class and  update the weekly task we need to finish. Moreover, I personally think zoom is a good  digital tool to offer a good platform to communicate within a group. Furthermore, the different function of google also achieve the goal of sharing idea and making the communication easier.  For example, we can open  a file on google docs, every can enter this file and put their idea on.

  • What is your understanding of digital literacy and its importance in open and distributed learning settings?

Digital literacy is a ability to navigate, evaluate, and create information by using the digital tools.  Furthermore，Digital literacy played a crucial role on open and distributed learning settings. Because Proficiency in digital tools can greatly improve your learning efficiency. You will acquire information through various digital tools and process information on some digital platforms.

  • Describe any experiences you have with learning in open or distributed contexts. How will you engage with and contribute to this learning approach through the course?

I have registered for two courses at TRU University. These two classes are conducted through  in the form of open and distributed learning. I mainly introduce a course about business here. This course post tasks on an official platform such as Brightspace. Students need to complete these tasks in their own way. These tasks mainly include some assignments and exams. However, the official learning materials are not enough for me to fully understand how to solve the problems, so I used video analysis provided by video platforms such as YouTube during the learning process, which helped me understand what I learned faster. Moreover, the exam was also conducted online. The teacher supervised the students’ behavior during the exam through zoom, which is very convenient for students who are not convenient to go to school for the exam.