Originally published to eBridge on Saturday 15
October 2011
I've been able to start off with some practical experience of
online teaching this week at work, as I've just started a forum group in support
of one of our management programs. There will be the usual face-to-face event
at the end of it, but my colleagues are coming round to the idea of enhancing
and extending the learning process through online interactions. I've started us
off with some introductions, and one of my colleagues has found a couple of
surveys for participants to take - hmm, seems a little similar to what we're
doing at the moment! We're asking participants to state their own learning
objectives from the program at this stage, so it's more learner-centric, and
allows the people who will run the face-to-face component to tailor the
activities if any particular objectives emerge.
From taking the first
survey, I'm interested to see that although I have some preference for two of
the styles, this isn't very pronounced. Some might say this is just lack of
conviction, though I prefer to think of it as open-mindedness!
Reading
through Stephenson (2001) has shown up some of the preconceived ideas that I've
come across in the past, such as taking a standard lecture and putting it
online. While these kinds of methods can be useful for convenience, they don't
address the underlying limitations for learning that were there in the first
place - if the lecture wasn't having an effect for face-to-face students, why
should it do any good for online students? Broadcasting information is one of
the functions for ICT, but (extended) communication is the newly emerging and
critical function that should be of interest to educators. The use of
asynchronous communication, perhaps originally thought of simply as a necessity
for people who could not study by conventional means, has opened up new
possibilities for engagement and interaction in
learning.
References:
- Stephenson, J. (ed)
(2001) Teaching and Learning Online: Pedagogies for New Technologies,
Kogan Page, London
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Comments:
'The
use of asynchronous communication, perhaps originally thought of simply as a
necessity for people who could not study by conventional means, has opened up
new possibilities for engagement and interaction in learning.'
Yes, and, in fact, there is research evidence to
show that there is really good quality of learning due to the depth of reflection
that the time-scales allow.
Another strategy whch research has shown to
have very positive effects on learning is actually Twitter .... though that
operates mentally in perhaps the opposite way to forum
discussions.
Enjoying your reflections. :-)
Reply:
Incidentally, I've just had a week of not
using Twitter, think I was suffering from social media fatigue! But yes it can
be great for getting conversations with people from around the world, I've taken
part in the last two Real Workplace Learning discussions and they're very
helpful. Could you point me at some of the research about reflection and depth
of learning?
),
I am losing some objectivity by not balancing them out in this way. If I can
lead myself astray in this manner, with some supposedly useful experience in the
field, what chance does the average school pupil have if they are completely
reliant on whatever content gets pushed their way?!