Objective Questions: What have you learned about developing an effective online course?
Each of the topics I’ve explored in this course has allowed me to think not only about how to develop an effective online course but how to develop any kind of course in general and have left me feeling inspired. In this course, I have learned a great deal about developing an effective online course and to consider how education has changed in general as a result of developments in technology and shifts in thinking about education.
How education has changed due to developments in technology
One of my most important realizations is that technology has led to an unprecedented level of flexibility in education. There are now far more options when it comes to the delivery of course, from completely in-person to completely on-line or some blend of these two models. Greater flexibility can also be seen in the fact that courses can include a wider variety of inputs, learning activities, and types of assessments because of technology. Ways for learners to demonstrate their learning and thus be assessed have also become much more flexible, in part due to technology.
Learning theories and e-learning
My approach to teaching and the activities I use have been heavily influenced by cognitivist and constructivist learning theories, even though I haven’t always been aware of this. It has been useful to review these learning theories and to learn about them in a more focused way. I was happy to revisit Bloom’s taxonomy and reflect on how it relates to language learning, especially doing so online.
So the next step is to think about how this can be translated into online learning contexts, which seems easy considering the flexibility of the online environment. There is such a range of tech tools now that there seems to be one to fill almost any need, allowing for activating prior knowledge, collaboration, research, review, reflection and presentation, which fulfil learning / teaching needs at any stage in the learning process, for any type of activity or interaction, as the learner moves towards mastery.
How online courses may differ from in-person learning
This depends on what kind of online course we are considering. If it is a course that is mainly comprised of synchronous meetings of the instructor and students on a video-conferencing platform, it may function very much like face-to-face class except that the meeting takes place over the technology rather than the class having to physically travel to the site of the class. Many of the activities of a face-to-face class can also be done in this type of online course—breakout rooms can be used for small-group discussions, for example, and materials can be examined together using the share screen function. Videos can be watched synchronously from different locations on platforms like Synch Tube that even have a built-in chat function and allow anyone in the group to start or stop the video.
A big difference is a lack of physical presence in online classes, so more consideration needs to be given to replacing this with a strong sense of presence and community in online classes, especially those that are wholly or mainly asynchronous. This type of course must be structured carefully to make sure it is coherent and easy to navigate as the instructor will be less at hand for guidance as well.
Teaching learners of different generational cohorts
Different generations of learners may have certain characteristics and preferences for the way they learn because of the common experiences they had growing up. The later generations, Generations Y and Z, are considered digital natives because they were born after the advent of the internet. This may make them more comfortable with technology and more ‘fluent’ in it, though it is not a good idea to assume that older generations are not equally tech-savvy or that those in the later generations are comfortable with anything beyond the basics as there are many exceptions to this generalization from my experience.
E-learning tools
The range of E-learning tools now seems endless, which is great because there appears to be a tool for any purpose an instructor can imagine. I’ve expanded the range of these that I’m aware of.
E-portfolios and assessment
In recent years, I’ve been hearing from friends and colleagues that their children are able to learn / demonstrate their learning in a multitude of ways, by writing a book, creating a video, making a poster presentation, etc. and I think this is an exciting trend since not all students can successfully show what they’ve learned in an essay or on a written test. I think this is also a good way to make being assessed more interesting and motivating for the learner. I like the idea of creating e-portfolios because they allow students to include these many artefacts of learning in one place and can show their progress over time and the breadth/depth of learning they’ve achieved. They also act as a place for students to reflect on their learning, which can be a powerful part of the learning process.
Ensuring quality in online courses
There are processes in place for helping develop well-designed courses and to evaluate these, including review of courses using quality rubrics or checklists. Courses can be evaluated in terms of whether course materials, learning activities, and assessments align with the learning objectives, which would be important for any course. They also prompt course planners to think about factors such as how easy the course is to navigate and whether the technology they’ve chosen fits the needs, which are important in an online course.
Reflective Questions: How does this fit with your experience?
Reviewing and learning more about learning theories has helped me consider the learning process, how my existing beliefs have been shaped and whether I need to rethink these beliefs. Learning about constructivist learning theory was important for me, having been educated in a way that reflected a more behaviourist-inspired way in my early years and then working in an educational field in which cognitivist theories have been dominant. Language teaching and learning—both cognitivist and constructivist views are relevant. Even drilling has its place, though hopefully a small one.
I think it’s important to keep the needs of learners in mind, just as it has always been, but for online courses the needs may be different. What I’d like to emulate is the clear organization of this course and how easy it is to navigate. I found all of the information about the course objectives, assignments, marking rubrics, etc. very helpful to get oriented in the beginning of the course and this feeling has continued.
Interpretive Questions: What new insights do you now have?
My insights come partially from what I’ve studied in this course and partly from experiencing my first for-credit online course. I didn’t really know what to expect before I started, but it’s been very enlightening to see the way the EDUC 1450 course models what good online course design is.
I’ve also realized that technology should support the learning objectives and that the selection of tools must be made thoughtfully, choosing appropriate ones for your purposes, ones that are not difficult to use and which learners / institutions have easy access to. It is essential to use technology to support the learning objectives and not just choose a tool for its novelty or use technology just for the sake of using technology.
Decisional Questions: How can this new learning be applied in your online course?
I think many of the ideas would be applicable to courses I’ve taught or am likely to teach in the future. I’ve toyed with some ideas in the past that I think I’m more equipped to put into practice now. For example, whatever kind of course I teach in the future, I’d like to organize it on an LMS of some sort, whether it’s Moodle, another product or even something I set up myself, for example on Wordpress. I would like to have one place for students to access materials, interact with each other and where I can communicate with them as a group.
I’ve also been inspired to use e-portfolios where they fit now that I know how easy it would be to create one using for example Google Sites. I’m also going to create a suitable quality checklist for my next teaching context.
References
Gwena Moss Centre for Teaching and Learning. Bloom’s taxonomy: The cognitive domain. Teaching and Learning. University of Saskatchewan. Retrieved December 15, 2020 from https://teaching.usask.ca/articles/bloom-cognitive-domain-solving.php
Halpern, D. & Donaghey, B. (n.d.) Learning Theory: Constructivist approach, schema theory—Historical overview. StateUniversity.com. Retrieved from https://education.stateuniversity.com/pages/2176/Learning-Theory.html
Comments
Post a Comment