Saturday, March 27, 2004
E-Book Theory and Practice of Online Learning
Designing and Organizing the Online Learning Context
The design and construction of the course content, learning activities, and assessment framework constitute the first opportunity for teachers to develop their "teacher presence." The role the teacher plays in creating and maintaining the course contents varies from that of a tutor working with materials and an instructional design created by others, to that of "lone ranger," in which the teacher creates all of the content. Regardless of the formal role of the teacher, online learning creates an opportunity for flexibility and revision of content in situ that was not provided by older forms of mediated teaching and learning. The vast educational and content resources of the Net, and its capacity to support many different forms of interaction, allow for negotiation of content and activity, and a corresponding increase in autonomy and control (Garrison & Baynton, 1987). Teachers are no longer confined to the construction of monolithic packages that are not easily modified in response to student need. Rather, the design and organization of activities within the learning community can proceed while the course is in progress. Of course, such flexibility is not without cost, as customization of any product is more expensive than mass production of a standardized product. Thus, the effective online learning teacher makes provision for negotiation of activities, or even content, to satisfy unique learning needs. However, within this flexibility, the need to stimulate, guide, and support learning remains. These tasks include the design of a series of learning activities that encourage independent study and community building, that deeply explore content knowledge, that provide frequent and diverse forms of formative assessment, and that respond to common and unique student needs and aspirations (see Chapter 2, this volume).
Learning materials are part of the process to create teaching presence. So, is the design and construction of learning tasks or activities. That means, according to Anderson, the design and development of learning materials and learning tasks are part of the same process of creating teaching presence.
That also means the design and construction of both elements must go hand in hand! Learning materials can be negotiated.
The design of e-learning courses is covered in greater detail in earlier chapters of this book, but this design process provides opportunities for teachers to instill their own teaching presence by establishing a personalized tone within the course content. This is done by allowing students to see the personal excitement and appeal that inspires the teacher’s interest in the subject. Borge Holmberg (1989) first wrote about a style of expression, referred to as "guided didactic interaction," that presents content in a conversational (as opposed to academic) style. This writing style helps the learner identify, in a personalized way, with the teacher. Techniques such as illustration of content issues with personal reflections, anecdotes, and discussions of the teacher’s own struggles and successes as they have gained mastery of the content have been found to be inspirational and motivating to students.
Activities in this category of teaching presence include building curriculum materials. The cost of creating high quality, interactive learning resources has led to renewed interest in reusing content encapsulated and formally described through metadata as "learning objects" (Wiley, 2000). These objects are then made accessible in repositories such as Multimedia Educational Resource for Learning and Online Teaching (http://www.merlot.org) or the Campus Alberta Repository of Educational Objects (http://www.careo.org). Creating or repurposing materials, such as lecture notes, to provide online teacher commentaries, mini-lectures, personal insights, and other customized views of course content, is another common activity that we assign to the category of teaching presence. We anticipate that work on educational standards for describing, storing, and sequencing of educational content, and for formally modeling the way in which learning activities are designed, will significantly change the design role of many teachers from one of content creation, to one of customization, application and contextualization of learning sequences (Koper, 2001). Finally, this design category of teaching presence also includes the processes through which the instructor negotiates time lines for group activities and student project work, a critical coordinating and motivating function of formal online course design and development, and a primary means of setting and maintaining teaching presence.
The design and construction of the course content, learning activities, and assessment framework constitute the first opportunity for teachers to develop their "teacher presence." The role the teacher plays in creating and maintaining the course contents varies from that of a tutor working with materials and an instructional design created by others, to that of "lone ranger," in which the teacher creates all of the content. Regardless of the formal role of the teacher, online learning creates an opportunity for flexibility and revision of content in situ that was not provided by older forms of mediated teaching and learning. The vast educational and content resources of the Net, and its capacity to support many different forms of interaction, allow for negotiation of content and activity, and a corresponding increase in autonomy and control (Garrison & Baynton, 1987). Teachers are no longer confined to the construction of monolithic packages that are not easily modified in response to student need. Rather, the design and organization of activities within the learning community can proceed while the course is in progress. Of course, such flexibility is not without cost, as customization of any product is more expensive than mass production of a standardized product. Thus, the effective online learning teacher makes provision for negotiation of activities, or even content, to satisfy unique learning needs. However, within this flexibility, the need to stimulate, guide, and support learning remains. These tasks include the design of a series of learning activities that encourage independent study and community building, that deeply explore content knowledge, that provide frequent and diverse forms of formative assessment, and that respond to common and unique student needs and aspirations (see Chapter 2, this volume).
Learning materials are part of the process to create teaching presence. So, is the design and construction of learning tasks or activities. That means, according to Anderson, the design and development of learning materials and learning tasks are part of the same process of creating teaching presence.
That also means the design and construction of both elements must go hand in hand! Learning materials can be negotiated.
The design of e-learning courses is covered in greater detail in earlier chapters of this book, but this design process provides opportunities for teachers to instill their own teaching presence by establishing a personalized tone within the course content. This is done by allowing students to see the personal excitement and appeal that inspires the teacher’s interest in the subject. Borge Holmberg (1989) first wrote about a style of expression, referred to as "guided didactic interaction," that presents content in a conversational (as opposed to academic) style. This writing style helps the learner identify, in a personalized way, with the teacher. Techniques such as illustration of content issues with personal reflections, anecdotes, and discussions of the teacher’s own struggles and successes as they have gained mastery of the content have been found to be inspirational and motivating to students.
Activities in this category of teaching presence include building curriculum materials. The cost of creating high quality, interactive learning resources has led to renewed interest in reusing content encapsulated and formally described through metadata as "learning objects" (Wiley, 2000). These objects are then made accessible in repositories such as Multimedia Educational Resource for Learning and Online Teaching (http://www.merlot.org) or the Campus Alberta Repository of Educational Objects (http://www.careo.org). Creating or repurposing materials, such as lecture notes, to provide online teacher commentaries, mini-lectures, personal insights, and other customized views of course content, is another common activity that we assign to the category of teaching presence. We anticipate that work on educational standards for describing, storing, and sequencing of educational content, and for formally modeling the way in which learning activities are designed, will significantly change the design role of many teachers from one of content creation, to one of customization, application and contextualization of learning sequences (Koper, 2001). Finally, this design category of teaching presence also includes the processes through which the instructor negotiates time lines for group activities and student project work, a critical coordinating and motivating function of formal online course design and development, and a primary means of setting and maintaining teaching presence.
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