LS4ODFL course starts today!
We recommend you enrol on the course website and set up your personal learning environment.
Dear [First Name]
Welcome and thank you for your interest in
Learner support for open, distance and flexible learning (LS4ODFL) for Pacific educators, a free online course offered by the Commonwealth of Learning (
COL) and the Pacific Centre for Flexible and Open Learning for Development (
PACFOLD) under the
Pacific Partnership for Open, Distance and Flexible Learning.
LS4ODFL is designed to provide you with an opportunity to engage with the course materials, learning challenges and one another and develop ideas to improve learner support in open, distance and flexible learning contexts.
I strongly encourage you to participate actively and regularly through postings to the course Forums, Mastodon, Moodle, and WEnotes. Active participation is the foundation of learning. Providing encouragement to fellow course mates through your constructive feedback, suggestions, and questions will help to create an effective and memorable learning experience and will make you a valuable member of LS4ODFL community.
Today we recommend that you set aside 50 to 60 minutes to establish your online learning environment.
You are subscribed to receive the course instructions for each session of this course via email.
Getting started
A few things before you commence your learning journey:
- Please register a user account on the course website and enrol for LS4ODFL here: https://pacificopencourses.col.org/ls4odfl/. This will provide additional benefits to support your learning.
- Work through the Start here page to familiarise yourself with the course website and complete the Pre-course survey. This online survey will take between 5- 10 minutes to complete.
- Post a comment on the course website to tell us why you are taking this course (see instruction here).
Session 0: Establish your personal learning environment
Today you will focus on creating accounts on different websites. This will become your Personal Learning Environment (PLE) to connect with fellow learners during and after the course.
As LS4ODFL focuses on building digital skills, we use the Internet as the learning platform to deliver content and support interactions rather than a single application like a learning management system. In the beginning you may find this approach different to what you have experienced online before, or even a little challenging if you are not familiar with these online tools. Rest assured, thousands of learners have mastered these approaches and if you persevere, you will also succeed and reap the long term benefits!
All instructions you need are provided on the course website, and if you get stuck, don’t hesitate to post your questions in the online forums and channels set up for communication and support.
Here are the links for today’s session:
- Visit the syllabus page for an overview of Session 0.
- Work through the “Establish a PLE” learning challenge (remember to click through to all subpages of this learning challenge using the “Next” button at the bottom of the pages, or use the main site navigation by clicking on the “Establish a PLE” bar or navigation hamburger on a mobile device to progress through the sub-pages).
- Introduce yourself to rest of us here!
Tip for today: The back button on your Browser or mobile phone is your friend. If you get lost - click or press the back button!
Just a couple of quick notes about how I will engage with you over the next 4 weeks:
- I will send you comments for learning challenges and respond to your emails and queries on learning challenge forums on Moodle. I will be reading your module discussion forum posts. However, I want to preserve the module discussion as free space for you to engage with other course participants, so I will not weigh in but rather watch from the side and occasionally contribute to discussions when required. I will also interact with you through the Mastodon course site.
- I will send you more emails during the course: reminders, weekly instructions, a course feedback survey, as well as an invitation to join a vibrant community of practice for teachers in the Pacific region.
Tomorrow we will start with Session 1: Teacher as a Learning Designer. I wish you every success with your studies on this course; See you tomorrow!
Best wishes
Dr Deepak Prasad
Course Facilitator
Associate Dean for Learning and Teaching Enhancement
Fiji National University
