Comments from working in #ocTEL week 2 activities.
The concepts of deep, superficial and strategic learning are all important for learners in their approach to new material or consolidating material with their existing knowledge.
I feel that the approach by online learners is harder to determine due to the in and out nature of the engagement and their other commitments and motivations during that time.
From my owen experience, I have completed a few online courses and sometimes it is just hard work. The lack of interaction is stifling in some instances and you may get sick of prodding and either opt for the strategic/superficial end.
In this #ocTEL MMOC i have found it to be a bit of a roller coaster, and have tried the strategic approach mainly because there are some things I want to discover, and get some feedback from others. I have been a bit daunted by the myriad of ways of connecting with others and finding out their views and experiences.
Overall, strategic learning is probably good when people know what they want to learn, and can then go back and build n this as required. In some respects, I think the age of the deep learning is probably for earlier levels of education.
You raise some good points here. The approaches used by an individual learner will vary across different contexts and even within a context. For example, on this course I seem to be taking a deep approach to some aspects that engage me more and not even looking at other areas. I don’t think I’m being strategic in that I’m not deliberately making choices so much as just getting more involved as I get interested in the discussions and subject matter. The teacher or course facilitator has an important role in providing opportunities for deep learning – it sounds as if this may not be have been the case on some of the online courses you have done. It is also often not the case where learning is driven by assessment and “teaching to the test”. I suggest you have a look at the discussion here http://octel.alt.ac.uk/2014/forums/topic/deep-learning-is-not-the-ideal/ to see some of these points expanded and I hope you experience some deep learning by the time you finish octel!