ON-LINE LEARNING PEDAGOGIES AND RESEARCH
Ms.M.Kanmani[1] Dr.P.Annaraja[2]
Introduction
Computer and internet use has grown tremendously in recent years in all over the world. The attraction of computer-based and internet-delivered education and training is therefore not surprising. Many people have access to the necessary hardware required either at work or at home, and individual households are hooking up to the internet in ever-increasing numbers. In India, there is a high level of awareness among Indian corporate houses on the benefits of on-line learning. Indian companies like Infosys, Wipro, NIIT and Tata Interactive are harnessing the benefits of $2 billion global e-learning industry to impart training to their employees (Bibhu Ranjan Mishra, Daily Business). In India the e-learning programs in relation to teacher education are still at a nascent stage. On-line learning is one of the aspect of e-learning , which has the inputs of techniques like animations visualizations, virtual environments, simulation and games, text, audio, video and lots of creativity in building training programs. This helps the learner to get trained at their own place, based on their own convenient time and is of course self-paced. Also it has been proved that there is a 30% saving on finances in training corporate sector employees using e-line learning than the conventional classroom-based learning. (Vandana Gupta, 2008).
The Need of Incorporating on-line learning in Teacher Education Programs
Harper et al.(2000) report that there is evidence of extensive exploration and experimentation in online learning. However, it has not yet become a mainstream delivery approach, and numbers using it appear low. Data from the most recent survey of student outcomes undertaken by the National Centre for Vocational Education Research (NCVER2002) indicate that fewer than 2.5% of respondents are participating in learning programs involving at least some online learning component. Of these, only a very small proportion said they were studying purely online. A recent report commissioned by TAFE frontiers in Victoria and entitled The current status of online learning in Australia found that the number of organizations in their sample planning to use the internet or intranet to deliver training or provide access to learning appears set to more than double. They cite cost, accessibility, speed, consistency and improved learning outcomes as their reasons for choosing the online mode of delivery.
Though India is one of the leading countries in the use of information and communication Technologies in all aspects, still there is an immediate need to incorporate on-line learning strategies at Higher Education level in general and Teacher Education programs in particular. The students opting for teaching as a profession need to be given wider and extensive exposure to training by on-line learning. Online learning environments permit a full range of interactive methodologies, and instructors have found that in adapting their courses to online models, they are paying more attention to the instructional design of their courses. As a result, the quality, quantity, and patterns of communication students practice during learning are improved. If on-line learning is incorporated in Teacher Education Programs, individualization which is a key for innovation will be increased, quality of student learning is improved, access to higher education is increased, the costs of Teaching and Learning will be reduced and innovations will be sustained.
On-line Learning Pedagogies
On-line learning can suppress many of the pitfalls of regular classroom training such as boring slides, monotonous speech and two-dimensional representations. Amazing virtual environments can simplify, clarify and create an effective learning environment. Web audio-video conferencing and live broadcasts enhance the interaction levels. On-line learning pedagogies broadly are categorized into two i.e. Interactive and non-interactive learning. In interactive mode Synchronous learning will takes place, but in non-interactive mode asynchronous learning will takes place. Both the methods are highly beneficial to the learners to facilitate learning according to their own pace, interest and time.
Principles of On-line Learning Pedagogies
There are three principles for effective on-line learning pedagogies. They are
A. Principle 1: Let the students do (most of) the work.
- Student led discussions
- Students find and discuss web recourses
- Students’ help each other learn (peer assistance)
- Students grade their own homework assignments
- Case study analysis:
B. Principle 2: Interactivity is the heart and soul of effective asynchronous learning.
- Collaborative research paper
- Research proposal team project
C. Principle 3: Strive for presence.
Social Presence: When participants in an online course help establish a community of learning by projecting their personal characteristics into the discussion — they present themselves as "real people." There are at least three forms of social presence:
· Affective — The expression of emotion, feelings, and mood
· Interactive — Evidence of reading, attending, understanding, thinking about other's responses
· Cohesive — Responses that build and sustain a sense of 'belongingness', group commitment, ore common goals and objectives
In general, the online students bond earlier and 'better' than students sitting in the same classroom. To some extent, this is probably because they aren't sitting side-by-side. There is an absence of appearance-based factors that can inhibit self expression and create stereotypical expectations. Further, possibly because of the anonymity of the asynchronous mode, online students tend to self-disclose to a greater extent than those sitting face-to-face. There are a few formal techniques that promote collegiality. Students introduce themselves as an initial condition of participating in the course, which breaks the ice and provides some points of reference for identifying who a student, is and where s/he is coming from.
Cognitive Presence: The extent to which the professor and the students are able to construct and confirm meaning through sustained discourse (discussion) in a community of inquiry.
· Cognitive presence can be demonstrated by introducing factual, conceptual, and theoretical knowledge into the discussion.
· The value of such a response will depend upon the source, clarity, accuracy and comprehensiveness of the knowledge.
Student led discussions should be the major learning activity in most of online courses. These discussions will provide a greater opportunity for students to present to one another. Provide opportunity to each student to ask an 'original (non-duplicated) question, then facilitates the discussion on that question, for every chapter. With around 25 students in a course, this usually satisfies the 'comprehensive coverage of the discipline' issue. The final component of the student-led discussion strategy is to apply a grading scale to the discussions. Students are given daily feedback on their discussion post grades, and can judge their progress and manage their time on the course accordingly.
Teaching Presence: Defined: "Teaching presence is the facilitation and direction of cognitive and social process for the realization of personally meaningful and educationally worthwhile learning outcomes [1]." There are two ways that the professor and the students can add teaching presence to a discussion:
1. By facilitating the discussion:
· Identifying areas of agreement and disagreement
· Seeking to reach consensus / understanding
· Encouraging, acknowledging and reinforcing student contributions
· Setting a climate for learning
· Drawing in participants / prompting discussion
· Assessing the efficacy of the process
2. By direct instruction
· Presenting content and questions
· Focusing the discussion
· Summarizing the discussion
· Confirming understanding
· Diagnosing misperceptions
· Injecting knowledge from diverse sources
· Responding to technical concerns
In 2003, Bill Pelz, CAS, Professor of Psychology, Herkimer County Community College posed two cardinal rules of discussion in on-line learning. They are 1. Learners’ comment must introduce relevant new information. 2. Learners must create the subject field that conveys the essence of main point. He believes that these two cardinal rules will bring the discussion in the right path from deviating.
Features constituting quality on-line experiences
Flexibility: Ease of use flexibility to be able to work at the time, place and pace that the student chooses; accessibility, convenience, freedom and blending delivery approaches to provide a variety of learning outcomes and pathways
Teacher: teachers who are motivators and helpers and respond promptly, thoughtfully, comprehensively and in an informed way to requests for help and in other contexts; who keep in regular contact by bulletins, phone, email or other means and indicate their availability; who build good relationships with students and develop trust
Quality of materials and course design: materials that is fast to download, easy-to-read, up-to-date, interactive, comprehensive and well-designed, with clear navigation and structures, clear directions to learners, containing ways by which students can judge their progress. And other key features like access to resources, online assessment and feedback, Improving IT skills, Learning styles, Interaction and communication and ease of use.
Barriers to effective on-line learning and delivery
Problems with technology and internet access: technologies that are confusing and difficult to use, especially for those without IT experience and skills; hardware and software requirements beyond the reach of some students; access problems to the internet; faulty technical features; provider IT facilities and technologies unable to support the level of student use
Other turn-offs - Self-motivation: maintaining motivation and self-discipline with little or no student or teacher interaction and few group-based activities
Unsatisfactory assessment: assignments that are hard to download and submit; slow, poor-quality feedback
Lack of teacher responsiveness: poor teacher response times; lack of availability when needed; changes in staff and lack of consistent and clear advice; teachers who have not mastered the content and the technologies
Confusion: unclear instructions and content
Poor or inadequate resource materials: resources that are poorly designed and structured with poor navigation and broken links; old and out-of-date resources; resources that are wrong or not available
Lack of support, including adequate helpdesk services: lack of prompt, responsive, knowledgeable and friendly assistance for students with technical and learning difficulties; lack of other student support services (e.g. facilities for enrolment and payment of fees); students not kept informed; support in a variety of forms—not just online
Thrust Areas of Research in on-line learning pedagogies
The following are the list of areas where research can be carried out in on-line learning pedagogies and delivery methods
- To study the on-line learners problems in using technology and internet access.
- To study the effectiveness of assessments through online
- To study the teachers’ responsiveness
- To study the quality and the interactivity of the online course materials
Conclusion
Though on-line learning provides the quality in teaching and learning, it also has its own pitfalls. To overcome the pitfalls mentioned above necessary steps should be taken by the policy makers i.e. Induction programs, Cost reduction by redesigning work processes to change how student support is delivered, using different personnel to deal with relatively simple helpdesk queries, integrating back office systems for managing student enrolments; use by instructors of automated response systems to reduce time spent on individual queries; use of synchronous discussion groups, E-business approach for enhanced service delivery and support for online learners; online learning to become one component of an integrated e-business approach in a customer-focused organization, Professional to provide them with support and confidence to incorporate online learning into their development of teaching practice; development of guidelines for teachers and students and a code of practice teachers to outline roles and responsibilities of both teachers and learners, Better data collection at the provider level, for which processes are currently underway, Further research into online teachers' working patterns and services undertaken with a view to determining how best to fund online learning
References
· Bates,T 1997,‘The impact of technological change in open and distance learning’,Distance Education,vol.18,no.1,pp.93–109.
· Bill Pelz, CAS, “(My) Three Principle of Effective online Pedagogy”, Journal of asynchronous Learning Networks, Volume 8, Issue 3 - June 2004
· Booth,R,Clayton,B,Hartcher,R,Hungar,S,Hyde P & Wilson,P (forthcoming),The development of quality online assessment invocational education and training,NCVER,Adelaide.
· Booker,D 2000,Getting to grips with online delivery,NCVER,Adelaide.
· Brennan,R (forthcoming),One size doesn’t fit all:Pedagogy in the online environment,NCVER,Adelaide.
· Brennan,R,McFadden,M & Law,E 2001,All that glitters is not gold:Online delivery of education and training – Review of research,NCVER,Adelaide.
· Carol A. Twigg©, “Innovations in Online Learning: Moving Beyond No Significant Difference”, The Pew Learning and Technology Program 2001.
· Cashion,J & Palmieri,P 2002 (in press) ‘The secret is the teacher’:The learner’s view of online learning,NCVER,Adelaide.
· Choy,S,McNickle,C & Clayton,B 2002,Learner expectations and experiences:An examination of student views of support inonline learning,NCVER,Adelaide.
· NCVER, “Flexibility through on-line learning-At a glance ”.
· Stager & Gary, “Towards a pedagogy of online constructionist learning”, proceedings of the 2005 World Conference on Computers in Education, Stellenbosch, South Africa. July 2005
· Vandana Gupta, “E-learning Pedagogies New Approaches to Teaching and Assessment”, Edutracks, Feb-2008, Vol.7 No.6.
[1] Lecturer, Department of Education, MSU,Tirunelveli
[2] Reader in Mathematics Education, ST. Xavier’s College of Education, Palayamkottai.
No comments:
Post a Comment