Advantage of Online Pedagogy

[John Patten]

Hi All...

Interested in starting a discussion related to the advantages to
online learning/pedagogy? What are they from a learner's standpoint,
from a facilitator/instructor's standpoint, institution standpoint?
Etc., etc.

I added a page over on the eduMOOC wiki, http://edumooc.wikispaces.com/home
to begin exploring some of the ideas revolving around this subject.

I'm thinking more on the instructional side as opposed to the
institution side as most of them have already been fleshed out quite a
bit.

How do we incorporate what current and future technologies bring to
the table in regards to instruction? How do we design learning
opportunities for students that incorporates the content but also
address learner interests?

Work with me here....interested in your ideas!

Thank you!

[Paul]

Hei John,

1. Formative Assessment - I believe that there can be considerable
advantage in formative assessment. For example, when a learner (or
group) create a personal learning environment (like a blog) which
branches of from the main hub of the LMS (like moodle) there can be
more advantage to do formative assessment, both from a facilitator and
peer-view perspective.

2. Context - From my own experience as a life-long learner the
contextual aspect of knowledge attribution is focus on in an online
pedagogy. Although I would prefer to use blended learning as a frame
for discussion here rather than "online pedagogy". The integration of
"the everyday" is a very important feature for all learners as it
provides context to learning. Pushed more we see that the cultural
differences/similarities learners are able to discuss etc. in a online
community can be used much more in the curriculum design.

I think the above 2 points may be a response to your question "How do

we design learning opportunities for students that incorporates the

content but also address learner interests?".

Regards, technology - there is not one bit of new/old technology that
I use in online learning that I have not used in the traditional
classroom setting! This means that technology should be part of all
learning and not the main factor of discussion (for me that is :)
However, the methods/perspectives that technology highlights is of
huge interest to me. For example, Open Distance Learning (ODL). This
may be an area to add to the wiki in terms of how instruction and
technology create new spaces of learning?

regards
Paul

On Jun 28, 11:34 pm, John Patten <johnpa...@gmail.com> wrote:
> Hi All...
>
> Interested in starting a discussion related to the advantages to
> online learning/pedagogy? What are they from a learner's standpoint,
> from a facilitator/instructor's standpoint, institution standpoint?
> Etc., etc.
>

> I added a page over on the eduMOOC wiki,http://edumooc.wikispaces.com/home

[Katarina]

Hello,

on the wiki page among strengths you list learner autonomy of online
pedagogy and also global audience.
I would like to emphasize the connection of autonomy/time flexibility
with gathering the global participation (I am not sure whether this
would stand as separate point or a part of points already mentioned)

But here is my point:
As ESL learner, when operating in English I am still - well, slow. It
is more of a hassle to express my ideas and it takes me some time to
figure out how to say what I want to say. When I took f2f courses at
UBC in Vancouver, I never managed to participate much in classroom
discussions - by the time I streamlined in my head what I wanted to
say, the discussion usually moved off the topic. I thrived in online
courses, where I could take my time to express my opinions....

cheers,
Katarina

[Mitch]

Katarina

I think this is where something like using Twitter in the classroom
would be an advantage. It allows people who either take a little
longer to form an idea or, in your case, need a little extra time to
format in a different language. But, of course, it is already in use.
( http://articles.cnn.com/2011-06-08/tech/twitter.school_1_twitter-students-classroom-discussions?_s=PM:TECH
) But you're right, online courses tend to allow you to gather your
thoughts. I took almost my entire junior and senior years of my second
degree online, even though I was employed at the school I was
attending. It made it easier to gather my collective thoughts and
express them in an intelligible manner.

[Dr. Ruth]

Hello all
I have been teaching online for about twelve years, initially starting
with courses that I wrote from scratch and graduating??? to courses
that were written by others.
My students tell me all the time that they never talked or
participated in traditional classes. Too afraid of being wrong, or
afraid of follow-up questions from the teacher. Online, everyone
participates or they do not get the grade they are looking for :)
This is the biggest advantage (right after the stay at home and not
get a sitter advantage)

Dr. Ruth (lv2...@comcast.net)

On Jun 29, 4:31 pm, Mitch <coolmitc...@gmail.com> wrote:
> Katarina
>
> I think this is where something like using Twitter in the classroom
> would be an advantage. It allows people who either take a little
> longer to form an idea or, in your case, need a little extra time to
> format in a different language. But, of course, it is already in use.

> (http://articles.cnn.com/2011-06-08/tech/twitter.school_1_twitter-stud...

[Dan Maloy]

I'm coming at this from a continuing education standpoint, both open enrollment and CEU courses.  For my institution, especially for the CEU courses, online learning has had the advantage of extending our presence beyond the normal borders of a community college.  We can produce content that's taught nationally, not just in our assigned geographical area.

I've been trying to frame how the pedagogy of online courses will work for our open enrollment classes though.  Unlike a standard HE credit class, or even a professional CEU program, the open enrollment classes (e.g. Zumba exercise, or Beginning Microsoft Word) are both short and frequently taught by amateur instructors.  This presents some challenges for embracing online modes of instruction which we're trying to work out.

On the other hand, the openness of the field gives our students a chance for a lot more engagement.  Where before our classes were very limited in scope, simply because of the nature of most open enrollment classes, online instructional technologies let us extend the formal (and informal) learning opportunities.  We're not just limited to one or two hours of classroom time anymore.