Blended Learning Panel @richardgorrie et al [visual notes] #oucel12 (Photo credit: giulia.forsythe)
Distance Learning
- The basic idea of distance learning
- Design of distance learning
- Participatory teaching methods
- Description of the challenges
- Considerations such as teaching methods
The basic idea of distance learning
Build on the efficacy of offline methods
- Make content easier to consume (books, lectures, learning materials)
- Facilitate teacher/student and student/student interaction
- Increase time-on-task
- Assess learning in multiple modes
Overcome limitations of offline methods
- Instruction is not bound by location, time, or “turn-taking”
- Students and faculty can participate from anywhere at any time
- Many faculty tasks can be automated, allowing greater interaction/intervention with students
- Data analytics make it easier to identify when students are falling behind and intervene.
Capitalize on new abilities to improve instruction
- Collaborative documents (wikis, gDocs) allow students to co-create knowledge
- Blogs encourage periodic reflection, engagement with like minded colleagues
- Media creation tools encourage active creation of authentic products
- Public sharing of content enables collaboration with stakeholders outside the classroom
- Student ownership & publishing of data (ePortfolios) encourages ongoing review, revision, and focus on professional standards.
Design of distance learning
- Identify Intended Outcomes of instruction
- Determine what mastery of the outcomes looks like
- Design assessment that measures students’ mastery
- Design learning experiences that prepare students for assessment
- Deliver instruction and assess mastery
- Evaluate students’ mastery and adjust instruction to close gaps.
Participatory teaching methods
Constructivism
- Students learn by actively making meaning, not passively receiving information
- Students need to integrate new information into their existing world-view
- Learners bring their own past experiences and cultural contexts to the learning taskLearning-Theories.com
Student-centered vs. Teacher-centered Learning
- Students must be empowered and expected to drive learning.
- Find ways to put students in charge of their learning.
- Use technology to let students work at their own pace, repeat tasks until mastery
Project-based/ Problem-based Learning
- Students work in groups to solve authentically challenging, real-world problems
- In order to successfully complete the project, they must master the outcomes
- Students create work products that are authentically useful in their field
- Work is added to an ePortfolio and reflected upon (metacognition)
Teaching Methods
- Discussion boards
- Wikis
- Blogs
- Group Projects
- Peer Grading
Description of the challenges
- Faculty are slow to adopt and master new technology and pedagogy
- Students expect traditional pedagogy, complain about student-centered techniques.
- Technology is expensive, complex, and overwhelming for lay users.
- Most faculty reproduce the teaching methods they were taught with. Lack of theory.
- Compatibility issues. Wherever possible, choose cloud-based, cross-platform tools!
- Data integrity & consistent practices. Many hands on your data requires careful practices!
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