Online Learning solution or confusion

1
Online Learning- solution or confusion?

• Liverpool Hope University College
• Learning and Teaching Week 2005
• Petra Luck and Sandra Ardrey

2
Overview of session

• The VNS Game
• Debriefing from the Simulation Game
• Good Practice in online teaching and learning

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Debriefing

• Online learning can have an emotional impact on
  learners
• Jargon must be avoided or explained
• Instructions must be clear and complete
• The start of an online course needs careful
  planning

4
Current levels of online learning

• Currently, thousands of university courses
  worldwide over 2 million students per semester
  in the US
• Scores of studies have shown it is generally as
  effective as or more effective than 100 FtF
  courses
• BUT There are extreme variations. The keys are
  the Three Cs- Constructivism, Collaboration
  and Community

5
Overcoming the Distance

• As the distance between people increases, the
  possibility for genuine empathy between them
  decreases. Eighteenth-century philosopher David
  Hume (1898) argued "The breaking of a mirror
  gives us more concern when at home, than the
  burning of a house, when abroad, and some hundred
  leagues distant" (Vol. 2, 206).
• But, the convenience of being able to study when
  and where one chooses may outweigh the
  disadvantage of missing some of the human
  interaction that characterizes conventional
  learning.

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The Importance of Introductions

• Life in a Small Village
• Life in the big city

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First Steps for the tutor

• Define your goals, objectives and learner
  outcomes
• Instructional design driven by audience and
  content
• Understand the learners goals and expectations
• Provide students with specific resources, support
  and clear instructions

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First Steps

• Expect the unexpected
• Use technology as a tool
• Recognize the value of students gaining tech
  skills and course competencies
• Make it easy to get help
• Promote peer learning
• Stay connected with others who are teaching
  online
• Reflect

9
The Importance of Community

• Ice Breakers
• Make it safe to participate
• Build personal relationships
• Personalize messages
• Accept lurkers
• Model discussion skills/netiquette
• Identify the linkages between students comments
  and ideas
• Use group projects
• lessen the psychological distance between
  communicators through Immediacy Behaviors
• Establish Swift Trust (Hiltz, 2005)

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Tour Guide, Teacher, LearnerWhat hats do you
wear?

• Pedagogical
• Social
• Managerial
• Technical

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Pedagogical Roles

• Have clear goals and objectives
• Encourage participation
• Model appropriate behaviors and interactions
• Avoid being the authority
• Offer or draw attention to conflicting opinions
  to encourage debate

• Promote private conversations offline
• Find unifying threads weave strands of
  conversation together
• Keep group assignments simple
• Relate activities to the learners experiences
• Require contributions
• Dont lecture encourage conversation with
  open-ended questions

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Social Roles

• Accept lurkers
• Make it safe to participate
• Guard against fear
• Avoid humor or sarcasm
• Use introductions

• Facilitate interactively
• Model and encourage positive and effective
  discussion behavior
• Do not ignore bad behavior
• Expect flame ups to occur

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Managerial Roles

• Encourage informality
• Encourage student leadership
• Vary student roles
• Allow adequate planning time (much more than you
  think)
• Expect administrative and technical questions
• Use private e-mail to address issues that come up
  in the discussion

• Synchronize, move on, synchronize, move on
• Keep track of who you have and have not responded
  to
• Offer tips on course management and e-learning
• Remind students of upcoming assignments and
  activities
• Manage outspoken students and encourage soft
  spoken students
• Be clear about expectations

14
Technical Roles

• Develop pre-course materials and how to
  resources
• Give students time to practice, play and explore
• Provide time to learn new online tools and
  courseware features
• Use technical support
• Separate your instructor and technical assistance
  roles
• Make sure help is only one click away
• Check up on each student
• Promote peer learning and sharing survival
  tips, lessons learned and short cuts

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Building an online learning communitySecrets to
Success!

• Invite Input
• Students need a voice in the goals and agenda of
  the course
• Learners need content that matches their
  individual academic and personal goals
• Learners need active, collaborative learning
  projects and authentic tasks
• Allow students some independence and control over
  their learning

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Building an online learning communitySecrets to
Success!

• Provide Individualized Feedback
• Feedback through e-mail, discussions, journals,
  assignments
• Positive messages about progress, effort,
  participation, and contributions
• Constructive criticism when necessary go
  offline for private conversations
• Recommend links to resources to extend learning
  and enhance understanding

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Building an online learning communitySecrets to
Success!

• Connect Learners with One Another
• Provide many and varied opportunities for
  interaction
• Promote peer learning
• Facilitate collaborative learning
• Model positive discussion behavior and netiquette
• Identify linkages between students comments and
  ideas

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Expect the frustrations

• A child of five would understand this. Send
  someone to fetch a child of five.
• Groucho Marx
• It isnt easy being parents of a six-year-old
  today. However, its a small price to pay for
  having someone around the house who understands
  computers.
• Anonymous