There can be little doubt that education is being restructured by the advent of emerging technologies. It can be argued that this is not new, and that technology has always restructured the way humans educate themselves.
Yet it can also be argued that there is something fundamentally different between the introduction of the printing press and the Internet. It is a given that the printing press is not the only technological advance before to alter education, but it clearly is an example of a technological advance that eventually completely restructured the way we teach and learn. It is also clear that education is altered by recent technological advances other then the Internet, such as computers that are not attached to the Internet.
Regardless this blog is designed to capture the student’s perspective in regard to on online teaching and learning. It seems that often the students’ perspective has not been fully included as models of online learning are implemented.
So, it is the purpose of this blog to offer students an opportunity to offer their thoughts regarding this topic. It is also hoped that this blog will lend itself to participants responding to what others say in regard to educational offerings that are at least partially offered online.
While it is clear that this blog can be viewed by anyone who finds there way to the site it is still a goal that students will feel a sense of freedom to offer their comments without fear of any kind of retribution. This is to say that I hope that you will speak openingly and honestly rather than trying to write what you feel others (primarily professors) want to read.
While anything relevant to online learning can be discussed it is specifically hoped that students will help identify the primary concepts of online learning as it relates to them. This is a wide range of considerations such as what makes up the necessary components of online work? What are your personal opinions of online work versus face to face work? What are the most important attributes for both student and instructors to have when working online? Should students be required by the University to have specific equipment, connections, etc in order to take classes online.
These are suggestions, not absolutes. Please think and respond as to any topics you feel are relevant and should be considered when taking/teaching online.
This blog seeks a health session of asynchronous brainstorming, not definitive answers to this new educational science. Tag, you’re it.
15 comments:
Is online learning the right tool for the job? That is the question, are educators simply using canned programs to deliver instruction with little or no synchronous or collaborative activities from the participants? If so, I would say that they do not have a true understanding of what online learning looks like and how it can be developed to include social aspects of learning content area materials. A true online learning course to me includes asynchronous and synchronous meetings along with collaborative projects and sidebar conversations with other participants. The biggest issue I see with online learning is that some of the instructors have no experience in being the learner in an online course. For example, my son is taking an online course, he logs into the site, downloads his readings, completes his assignment and uploads it. He has no interaction online with the instructor or the other participants. So what are the benefits for him taking this class? He gets the opportunity to take a class not offered at his school, the cost is minimal. He is not getting the opportunity to work collaboratively or have any social interaction online. Therefore is this truly the right tool for this course? And would this style of online learning be more acceptable if the course was calculus instead of 20th Century Warfare?
Online learning IS the right tool for many jobs.... but not all. Melanie's point is well taken, owever, collboration and personal interaction with the instructors are important pieces of good instruction, not a requirement or precursor. Some subjects lend themselves to wonderful dicussions and socratic methods of teaching, while others are not. The most important piece is not the subject, though, but the learner herself. If one does well in more task oriented isolation-like settings, the infusion of materials may be best had in a "cold" interactive environment. If the learner is not, then perhaps that form of instruction is nor right for her.
What it all comes down to is self- responsibility and self-knowledge of the learner; and the instructor making the course as opportunity-filled, enriching, and available to all learning styles as possible.
Good point, Erik. It is about the learner and their needs as well as the subject and how best to present the content.
Melanie and Eric......very nice points from the both of you. You have clearly started us down the path I wanted this to go, but it is important to get other's feedback here as well. So put on your asynchronous hat and join in the conversation.
Learning is a collaborative effort when done correctly. I think the point has been made already, but I'm inclined to agree that for effective online learning to happen, there should be some depth to the online component.
However, I think we as educators and even society in general has fallen in love with the concept of "21st Century ______" (fill in the blank). Changing platforms is no more inventive than writing on white boards, rearranging desks or standing on tables to deliver a lesson. The essential components of effective education still remain collaboration and conversation, both of which should provide meaningful and timely feedback.
I have taken online courses in the past and gotten "virtually" nothing from them. I can attribute that to my lack of readiness to dive into this learning style. Online learning, as Melanie has alluded, requires an instructor that truly understands this is an ever evolving method of learning and that he/she can benefit from the experience as well. I have a neighbor that is an online instructor for University of Phoenix and the Teacher Education Institute. My opinions about these two "institutions of higher learning" may leave a little to be desired, but his approach to his classes nails what I feel online education should be. In his discussions, he gets the ball rolling and he allows the creativity of his students guide the course of the class. Like our class, ideas are put forth and we draw from our knowledge and experiences to enhance and using the online approach additional resources can be brought into the mix. The interaction with people is a great benefit of face to face class meetings, but the mixing of ideas, values, resources and variety of technological skills can be combustible in a most positive manner.
Online learning requires that you read the directions and follow them. Silly me - I emailed this response rather than posting here. There is something to be said for sitting in a class and being able to put an actual piece of paper in a professor's hand - but I still love online learning for certain types of classes. That being said . . . I'll humble myself and attach what I submitted by email.
I have completed two add-on certificates through strictly on-line learning opportunities (totaling almost 40 credit hours) and I have taught three online classes for our local community college. This being said, there has been no one format that was consistent t throughout all of the programs. For me personally, as a student and as a teacher – utilizing the format of on-line learning with one or two face to face meetings incorporated into the delivery option proved to be the most beneficial.
There are benefits to asynchronous learning that suits my lifestyle best. It allows me to combine work and family and honor my outside commitments to community and work. I can work when I am in the mood to learn rather than when a clock dictates that I be in a seat. I find that this nurtures my creativity and gives me opportunities to think through issues rather than simply respond within a three hour time period. I find my responses to be more thoughtful. As a teacher I was able to be more thoughtful as a teacher and respond to students as I saw issues arise (throughout the process) rather than simply after assignments had been turned in. This allowed me opportunities for formative assessment and strategic corrective instruction as issues developed rather than waiting until the assignment due date.
Synchronous learning has benefits as well. I am able to ask and answer questions in real time. I enjoy the feedback and interchange of ideas with my peers. This type of instruction provides the supports that are necessary to be a successful learner. This approach is more intrusive into family time, but has benefits that warrant its use.
Online learning allows me to overcome the barriers presented by living and working in the sixth most rural in the state. If it were not for the possibility of some class sessions being delivered in an on-line format, it would be most difficult if not impossible for me to balance educational pursuits against the demands of my job.
Perhaps the greatest benefit is that as a working mother, online learning lets me pursue continued education without interfering (too much) with my role as mother. I am able to log on after my children are asleep and complete assignments while still being able to attend every ballgame and every swim meet. On weekends, when my children do see me at the computer participating in educational endeavors, they see a parent who values education. They see how I study, how I write, how I think and how I plan. This role modeling is invaluable to me as a parent.
I think we need to make a distinction between adult learning and student learning. We have all become enamored with the idea of the "underwear classroom", where you can be in school wearing whatever you want (at lest until skype classrooms become the norm at least).
I do find that there are numerous concerns with having students in an online classroom since they need a great deal more intervention and support than most adults. In addition, students self-concept and thought patterns are not fully formed - they benefit from direct instruction and socratic dialogue, something that is sorely missing from an online environment.
To add to that, a student is more likely to goof off if not supervised. (Anyone who thinks this isn't so, how many times have we played solitare or minesweeper while participating in a webinar?)
There is some terrific stuff being written in this blog and I want to help keep the momentum.
Clearly online education is completely changing education’s horizons. This is not to say for the better, but clearly in some ways it is, and perhaps in other ways it comes up short, at least at this point. There is much garbage among the flowers, to paraphrase Leonard Cohen.
Still one of the driving questions to me still regards how people learn. We spend a lot of time figuring out how to teach, best practices, etc., but it sometimes seems upside down ... by that I mean if our primary goal is to help someone learn doesn’t it make sense to first learn how they learn? Any of you ‘idiocraticaters’ think this is too bleeding heart liberal kind of thinking?
Clearly we have studied how people learn, but seems to me our priorities in education do not necessarily match the concepts of learning to teaching in many cases. Maybe I am wrong, I hope so. But, we know there are auditory learners, visual learners, learners who have multiple intelligences, people learn by doing/hands on, learning from research, learning from repetition and drill, right brained/left brained learners, learners with ADD/ADHD, PM learners, AM learners, it goes on and on. No matter what we claim in vision and goal statements our public schools do not have the resources necessary that will allow us to handle every individual need of our students. Seems to me that we are forced into a basic teaching strategy of aiming for the middle hoping to reach the most we can. This is not a criticism, simply an observation. The financial reality of our public schools ensures a one size fits all model of education.
Now back to topic......online graduate school coursework. Perhaps the crux of this discussion revolves around the question: How is learning best achieved in graduate school online coursework? Don't be shy on giving specifics. Have you had an idea that you really liked, that worked for you, that you are willing to share? How about any that you did not like at all, without being to identifying or critical of anyone who does not have a chance to defend themselves?
So? What?
So what?
Your turn?
Yep.
This paragraph made me think a little about how we go about teaching in general. "Still one of the driving questions to me still regards how people learn. We spend a lot of time figuring out how to teach, best practices, etc., but it sometimes seems upside down ... by that I mean if our primary goal is to help someone learn doesn’t it make sense to first learn how they learn?" I have been involved with Intel Teach, in this program teachers come to training for one week and at the start of the training, they are asked to define what they want the student product to look like at the end of lesson. They, then, spend the rest of the week working backwards from the student product to create a lesson plan that meets those criteria. It is unsettling for most teachers, because it removes them from their comfort zone of I create the lesson, students learn the content and then the students share what they have learned. With Intel Teach, the sharing of what is suppose to be learned by the student starts the process, this is a new concept for teachers. So does this not hold true for online learning? Should we not start with the end in mind?
"at the start of the training, they are asked to define what they want the student product to look like at the end of lesson. They, then, spend the rest of the week working backwards from the student product to create a lesson plan that meets those criteria."
Very powerful. We SHOULD begin with the end in mind. Any road is the right one if you dont know where you are going. No, I didnt make that up, but I like it. In utilizing online learning, either as a method, as a tool, or as the only medium of teaching, OR in typical face-to-face interactions, we need to know what the students, adult or child, what they need to know, and how they best will discover, absorb and use the information we want to impart on them. (wow a long sentance)
every generation of students, like it or not, learn differently than the previous one. Our current generation of studentsare well versed in technology, especially computer uses. Now, they may not be old enough or responsible enough to independently navigate the Interwebs safely, but that doesnt mean that the utilization of online learning methods could not be useful. As they devlop skills and responsibility, students will be more able to utilize the technology and online venues. Like anything, the implementation of this is phased and tenative.
A blanket statement that online learning is a "magic bullet" is dubious. It WILL however gain in popularity and be utilized more and more over time, and the costs will continue to fall.
So... what do we do? retract our heads in our shells? stick our heads in the sand until we HAVE to implement? That would place our students at a disadvantage in their own world (imagine a college freshman who has no expereince with the Web or cant type effectively). Or explore and allow our students to experinece different styles and pieces of online learning and watch them grow ad change, adapting along with the environment in which they live?
Either way we go, we as adults need to develop skills in this area... and provide skill-learning opportunities for our students.
I think that online learning has it's place in the educational toolbox. But, I don't believe it to the salvation of the educational system.
From personal experience my daughter has performed well in the courses that she has taken through NCVPS. The main reason that she taken courses through NCVPS was to broaden her educational experience. She will probably graduate with 3 or more credits than she needs, but NCVPS has allowed her stay with band, student council and get numerous AP credits.
As state in other posts, the issues I see with OL are on the delivery end. More training and development needs to be done with the providers/instructor. I think it takes a special skill set fro distance learning. The students will adapt they always do.
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