In catching up on a backlog of reading, I have become aware of a controversy regarding the nature of learning. One writer, Downes, an advocate of connectivism as an approach to learning, has taken some criticism from Wiley for unnecessarily complicating the issues of learning. Downes seems to have problems with notions of learning that are characterised as transfer, transmission, or replication. Much of what I have to say regarding their argument probably has more to do with my background in linguistics and philosophy, rather than a genuine deep reading of Downes and Wiley, but still, it may contribute something of worth to the discussion.
Michael Reddy has articulted some of the difficulties inhent in characterising communication as a transfer of information. The chief objection is due primarily to the grounding of understnding in experience and the essential non-linear nature of experience. While a view of learning as the accumulation of information and skill at handling it may provide us a simple metaphor to characterise our relationships in learning communities, it represents an oversimplification. Eistein has encouraged us all that our theories should be as simple as possible, but he goes on to warn us that they should be 'no simpler'. It is necessary for us to have a deeper insight into learning than would be satisfied with a definition of it as transfer or transmission of information. Part of the problem with this is a faulty segregation of the experience into a content stream and a form (medium) stream.
A superficial study of the field of education as it exists in the world today may lead people to conclude that democracy is inherent in the education process, that education breaks down the divisions of society and allows educated people to better themselves. However, the traditional forms of education tend to perpetuate distinctionand division in the world between authority and citizen, master and disciple, degree-holder and degree-seeker. This current system in education is petuating elitism, rather than democracy.
All this is not to say that the education system has been harmful overall. There was a time when information was scarce in the world and when people needed considerable time to learn how to find reliable data. In such a restricted world, it was easy to conceive of the classroom as the proper construct of a learning environment. However, today's world of social media has changed the imperative of the classroom from 'inform' to 'connect'. This, I believe is where Downes' approach would take us.
At the same time, Wiley's call not to entirely scrap a working system has value for us in the sense that many currently successful scholars will not willingly shift from the old paradigm to a new one, when the old one seems to be working for them. For example, when the Duke Univ. School of Nursing set up its online school virtual learning environment (see DUSON in Second life) and could have chosen from a wide range of interactive frameworks, they chose the metaphor of a classroom. We have a need for familiar contexts, even when new frameworks would better serve us.
Showing posts with label classroom experience. Show all posts
Showing posts with label classroom experience. Show all posts
02 July 2011
19 January 2011
Starting a New Year
This semester, I am teaching three courses (with two sections of the science writing course), so I have been quite busy setting courses up and introducing students to the Moodle course pages and the social media tools I use in education. Although I have a small business in educational support (mentioned in other posts), I am employed by Thompson Rivers University to teach these particular courses this semester. It is important for me to state clearly that the opinions and claims made in this blog are my own and should not be taken to reflect TRU policies at any organizational level.
In the courses I am teaching, I have assigned each student to establish and contribute to a blog.Students in the science writing course have been encouraged to create a blog on some aspect of science they are interested in. Students in the professional and business writing courses have been encouraged to create the sort of blog that could support some serious academic, professional, or business endeavor. Some of the students are quite eager to begin blogging, while others are unsure of a topic to settle on. Once every student is on board with this project, I should have about 150 new blogs to add to my reading list. I hope I can keep up with them!
Along with writing in their own blogs, I am encouraging students to read each other's blogs. I intend to use this format as a forum where students can practice the skills of dialogue (reading, commenting, quoting, linking, and so forth) in the blogosphere. Although it is not a requirement for the courses, I hope that my students will get readers from the 'outside'. Even a few scholars or professionals who would interact with the students would significantly raise the self-image of these new writers. Future entries on this blog will likely link to many of these new student blogs.
In the courses I am teaching, I have assigned each student to establish and contribute to a blog.Students in the science writing course have been encouraged to create a blog on some aspect of science they are interested in. Students in the professional and business writing courses have been encouraged to create the sort of blog that could support some serious academic, professional, or business endeavor. Some of the students are quite eager to begin blogging, while others are unsure of a topic to settle on. Once every student is on board with this project, I should have about 150 new blogs to add to my reading list. I hope I can keep up with them!
Along with writing in their own blogs, I am encouraging students to read each other's blogs. I intend to use this format as a forum where students can practice the skills of dialogue (reading, commenting, quoting, linking, and so forth) in the blogosphere. Although it is not a requirement for the courses, I hope that my students will get readers from the 'outside'. Even a few scholars or professionals who would interact with the students would significantly raise the self-image of these new writers. Future entries on this blog will likely link to many of these new student blogs.
15 July 2009
Attractions of a Blended Teaching Environment
I want to expand on a quotation from the last post in this blog, wherein a student is quoted as preferring a "blended teaching environment." I would like to explain the notion of such blending, what the student implies as the benefit, and what I have observed as other benefits of blended teaching from the standpoint of an instructor.
The notion of blending in instruction involves both classroom and online components to the course curriculum. A "blended" course will have face-to-face meetings, but will also have requirements for online activities and assignments. The exact mix of "blend" is quite flexible, with some courses more devoted to face-to-face activities and assignments while others are more focused on online work.
Blended courses are given different names by different institutions and instructors. For example, once I had been engaged as a designer of some online philosophy courses, I began to introduce online elements into my "regular" (face-to-face) philosophy curriculum. In these regular courses, I carefully explained the elements of the course, both those experienced in class and those online. However, there was no change in the overall course name or description to indicate that my philosophy course would be "blended." A growing number of university professors around the world are implementing Internet media, activities, and assignments in their "regular" courses. In other cases, such blended courses are called "mixed-modal," indicating that some of the course is in the mode of face-to-face, while some is "mediated" by the Internet. In cases where the blended course is uniquely represented in the course number and description, there may be a specific drop in the expectations regarding how often and how long the class meetings will be. For example at most institutions where I have taught, a "3-hour-credit" university course is understood to meet for three "hours" each week during the semester (the "hours" are shortened to provide time for students to get to and from other classes). In a blended system, classes may meet for as little as an hour a week to provide the essential elements in class.
In the quotation from the student mentioning blended teaching, Aaron Anderson notes a benefit of the blended teaching is that the instructor is available whenever he as a student reaches a "critical teachable moment." On the surface, this sort of comment is disquieting to those who teach, since it can imply that instructors are "chained" to their courses and available to answer student questions at all possible hours of the day (and night!). However, I don't believe Mr. Anderson really has this expectation. Rather, I think his insight is this, when instructors are "available" online (meaning that there is a forum or similar mechanism for interaction) students can post questions and other comments on the course at a time convenient to their own learning activities, rather than having to wait until the instructor is next encountered in a face-to-face setting. I have found that many students benefit (especially during the long period over the weekend between a Thursday class and the next meeting on the following Tuesday) from questions about assignments posted on a course forum along with the answers I may supply on a Saturday morning or late Sunday afternoon (according to when I find it convenient to browse the forum between classes). Such an online forum is particularly more convenient than, say, email or the phone, since all students can see both questions and answers posted, rather than: 1) each student emailing or phoning the question, and 2) my having to take the time to answer each of the students individually.
There are additional benefits to the incorporation of Internet interaction in courses, as well. For example, some of my students (either because of personal shyness or lack of fluency in English) find it quite hard to pose questions in class. Such students may also feel reluctant to try to talk during "office hours," either because their own class schedules prevent this or (in some cases) because cultural practises do not allow them to take instructors' time in such ways. No matter what the impediment to interaction is, students often benefit enormously from the distance inherent in Internet forums. Students do not feel rushed to explain their questions and can take time to carefully think about the questions they pose and the comments they make, when they are writing and posting messages to a course forum.
Also, because the forum is available to all students taking the class, it acts as a sort of FAQ page to keep students from being block in the completion of their work. In such a way, a forum can make the instructors (when they actually participate, of course!) seem to be present for longer periods than just the class sessions for the course.
So far, we have been considering the benefits of blended teaching from the standpoint of the face-to-face class that incorporates online elements. Now, I would like to turn to courses that focus their materials and activities online. In such cases, face-to-face activities can considerably enhance the learning experience.
Students who take online courses report considerably isolation as they attempt their work. They also find it easier to put off completion of the course when they have busy work schedules or activities with their families or friends that compete with their course work. Often, they find the curriculum hard to understand and instructions hard to complete. Introducing face-to-face support for students taking online courses addresses each of these needs.
First of all, support such as is offered by Paradox is intended to bring individual students together with others who are taking the same online courses, so that they do not experience the isolation of online learning. They can work together with others to understand the course curriculum and complete assignments. They also provide a positive peer-group pressure to complete the course when individual motivation might fail.
Also, at the end of a long day or when people students care about place demands upon the students that conflict with completing their course work, having a scheduled group collaboration meeting helps to set off special learning time, so that it does not get put aside so often. Many students find that having a particular time and place in which they will complete assignments for a course actually frees up other time during their week to focus on work, family, personal, and social demands.
Finally, many online courses are not actually designed to make full use of Internet media and interactive tools but merely take the print lecture notes, the text, and assignments and place them online where students can access them. In such courses, discussion may not be clear or apparent to the learner, there may be limited contact with instructors, and phone contact with support staff may not always appeal to students. In these cases, Paradox supports online learners, making sure course materials are available and clear to students and providing students with the guidance necessary to remove confusion from the learning experience.
A growing number of instructors appear to recognize the need to incorporate Internet activities into their classroom-based courses, and such blended teaching appears to have several advantages over more traditional forms of teaching. In many settings where universities are far away, and for students whose work, family, and lifestyle prevent them from attending courses at their local campuses, the blend of services Paradox provides for those taking online courses at universities far from their residences brings these same benefits.
The notion of blending in instruction involves both classroom and online components to the course curriculum. A "blended" course will have face-to-face meetings, but will also have requirements for online activities and assignments. The exact mix of "blend" is quite flexible, with some courses more devoted to face-to-face activities and assignments while others are more focused on online work.
Blended courses are given different names by different institutions and instructors. For example, once I had been engaged as a designer of some online philosophy courses, I began to introduce online elements into my "regular" (face-to-face) philosophy curriculum. In these regular courses, I carefully explained the elements of the course, both those experienced in class and those online. However, there was no change in the overall course name or description to indicate that my philosophy course would be "blended." A growing number of university professors around the world are implementing Internet media, activities, and assignments in their "regular" courses. In other cases, such blended courses are called "mixed-modal," indicating that some of the course is in the mode of face-to-face, while some is "mediated" by the Internet. In cases where the blended course is uniquely represented in the course number and description, there may be a specific drop in the expectations regarding how often and how long the class meetings will be. For example at most institutions where I have taught, a "3-hour-credit" university course is understood to meet for three "hours" each week during the semester (the "hours" are shortened to provide time for students to get to and from other classes). In a blended system, classes may meet for as little as an hour a week to provide the essential elements in class.
In the quotation from the student mentioning blended teaching, Aaron Anderson notes a benefit of the blended teaching is that the instructor is available whenever he as a student reaches a "critical teachable moment." On the surface, this sort of comment is disquieting to those who teach, since it can imply that instructors are "chained" to their courses and available to answer student questions at all possible hours of the day (and night!). However, I don't believe Mr. Anderson really has this expectation. Rather, I think his insight is this, when instructors are "available" online (meaning that there is a forum or similar mechanism for interaction) students can post questions and other comments on the course at a time convenient to their own learning activities, rather than having to wait until the instructor is next encountered in a face-to-face setting. I have found that many students benefit (especially during the long period over the weekend between a Thursday class and the next meeting on the following Tuesday) from questions about assignments posted on a course forum along with the answers I may supply on a Saturday morning or late Sunday afternoon (according to when I find it convenient to browse the forum between classes). Such an online forum is particularly more convenient than, say, email or the phone, since all students can see both questions and answers posted, rather than: 1) each student emailing or phoning the question, and 2) my having to take the time to answer each of the students individually.
There are additional benefits to the incorporation of Internet interaction in courses, as well. For example, some of my students (either because of personal shyness or lack of fluency in English) find it quite hard to pose questions in class. Such students may also feel reluctant to try to talk during "office hours," either because their own class schedules prevent this or (in some cases) because cultural practises do not allow them to take instructors' time in such ways. No matter what the impediment to interaction is, students often benefit enormously from the distance inherent in Internet forums. Students do not feel rushed to explain their questions and can take time to carefully think about the questions they pose and the comments they make, when they are writing and posting messages to a course forum.
Also, because the forum is available to all students taking the class, it acts as a sort of FAQ page to keep students from being block in the completion of their work. In such a way, a forum can make the instructors (when they actually participate, of course!) seem to be present for longer periods than just the class sessions for the course.
So far, we have been considering the benefits of blended teaching from the standpoint of the face-to-face class that incorporates online elements. Now, I would like to turn to courses that focus their materials and activities online. In such cases, face-to-face activities can considerably enhance the learning experience.
Students who take online courses report considerably isolation as they attempt their work. They also find it easier to put off completion of the course when they have busy work schedules or activities with their families or friends that compete with their course work. Often, they find the curriculum hard to understand and instructions hard to complete. Introducing face-to-face support for students taking online courses addresses each of these needs.
First of all, support such as is offered by Paradox is intended to bring individual students together with others who are taking the same online courses, so that they do not experience the isolation of online learning. They can work together with others to understand the course curriculum and complete assignments. They also provide a positive peer-group pressure to complete the course when individual motivation might fail.
Also, at the end of a long day or when people students care about place demands upon the students that conflict with completing their course work, having a scheduled group collaboration meeting helps to set off special learning time, so that it does not get put aside so often. Many students find that having a particular time and place in which they will complete assignments for a course actually frees up other time during their week to focus on work, family, personal, and social demands.
Finally, many online courses are not actually designed to make full use of Internet media and interactive tools but merely take the print lecture notes, the text, and assignments and place them online where students can access them. In such courses, discussion may not be clear or apparent to the learner, there may be limited contact with instructors, and phone contact with support staff may not always appeal to students. In these cases, Paradox supports online learners, making sure course materials are available and clear to students and providing students with the guidance necessary to remove confusion from the learning experience.
A growing number of instructors appear to recognize the need to incorporate Internet activities into their classroom-based courses, and such blended teaching appears to have several advantages over more traditional forms of teaching. In many settings where universities are far away, and for students whose work, family, and lifestyle prevent them from attending courses at their local campuses, the blend of services Paradox provides for those taking online courses at universities far from their residences brings these same benefits.
08 July 2009
Challenges for Online Education
Yesterday I was reading about a new initiative in the U.S. to fund open learning university programs online. A comment written in response to the article caught my attention:
I don't want to be too quick to jettison the notion of a real and vibrant online learning community experience, and I remain open to that as a possibility, but I am also aware that the sort of face-to-face experience Paradox offers students may continue to be a significant need for students who want to get an education in Williams Lake and whose schedules require them to take courses online to do so. So, while I continue to learn online tools for creating and sustaining learning communities, I also anticipate that students will require real-time gathering places in the Williams Lake area. Both aspects of learning communities will continue to be developed at Paradox.
I find my IN classroom experiences are always better. Personal interaction and engaging the energy of the instructor is irreplaceable still for me. (comment #1)Paradox exists to provide students in the Williams Lake area who are taking online courses with essential features of classroom instruction mentioned here, namely personal interaction and instructional energy. This same respondent goes on to mention:
As a student, when I cannot reach an instructor in a virtual environment when I do not understand a concept, I get 'trapped' in my own frustrations of wrapping my head around something I do not understand and bear the learning curve until I get an email response (comment #3)Note that frustration is a big element in the experience of some online learners, especially when it is identified as frustration that would not be experience in a classroom setting. This student concludes by proposing hybrid course delivery:
I personally find it best to have a blended teaching environment so when I am studying on my own I can reach my instructor for that critical teachable moment. (comment #3)Now it is quite true classrooms bring students into real-time contact with instructors, particularly in courses with relatively low student-per-class ratios. Nevertheless, such contact does not necessarily promise immediate accessibility of instructors when students are studying on their own. Clearly, though there is a real experience component of classroom education that at least some students find essential to the formation of their own education. Thus, it may not be possible for such students to experience an online learning community in the full way they expect their classroom learning communities to function.
I don't want to be too quick to jettison the notion of a real and vibrant online learning community experience, and I remain open to that as a possibility, but I am also aware that the sort of face-to-face experience Paradox offers students may continue to be a significant need for students who want to get an education in Williams Lake and whose schedules require them to take courses online to do so. So, while I continue to learn online tools for creating and sustaining learning communities, I also anticipate that students will require real-time gathering places in the Williams Lake area. Both aspects of learning communities will continue to be developed at Paradox.
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