Some thoughts of my readings in Week 4

Here are some aspects of the readings recommended in Week 4 of this course.

From my readings of this week it has become clear that the changing nature of both the student body and available technologies have required academics to change their approaches to teaching to gain improved learning outcomes.  These technologies enable instructors, students and others to participate in teaching and learning at a time and place convenient to them. Technology in learning and teaching does bring with it a change to the role of the instructor and the nature of teaching.  The transition to online teaching and learning from a traditional face-to-face approach challenges the expectations and roles of both instructors and learners.  Importantly, today’s OL does not only relate to replacing or enhancing “old media” with “new media”, it also relates to the role of institutions itself.   Institutions must have the content and methods that are synchronized for effective OL.  This includes setting up of new departments and policies to fit OL with traditional ways of teaching and learning.  Furthermore, the teachers themselves must be aware of the different designs and messaging techniques that are special to these technologies.  Teachers must be equipped to deal with the great demand by learners for DE.

To teach an OL course effectively, it starts with the course material.  There are many phases to developing course material and it is a process that requires many role players.  It will never do just to replicate existing course design and pedagogical practices from a traditional face-to-face teaching and learning and implement those very practices in an OL environment.   So an effective OL programme starts with the instructional design of the online course.  When moving to an online learning course from a f-2-f module, then one has to redesign learning towards a constructivist approach. This often results in a change in: roles and responsibilities; use of technology; relationships; and online presence.  In the design of new learning methodologies to be effectively taught OL, interaction is a very important aspect of the role of the instructor in distance education, and one that changes in the online environment. Learning involves two types of interaction: interaction with content and interaction with other people.  In developing an online course, participation and interaction must be structured into the course material.  At the end of the day, online learning requires that the academic changes their beliefs and pedagogical practice. 

 Thank you

Tameshnie

 

References

Moore & Kearsley, (2012). Chapter 5, "Course Design and Development," pp. 97-122

Pullen, J.M., & Snow, C. (2007). Integrating synchronous and asynchronous internet

distributed education for maximum effectiveness. Educ Inf Technol, (12), 137–148

doi 10.1007/s10639-007-9035-7

Redmond, P (2011).  From face-to-face teaching to online teaching: Pedagogical transitions. Ascilite Hobart: Full Paper.  Retrieved from http://www.ascilite.org.au/conferences/hobart11/downloads/papers/Redmond-full.pdf