The contribution of the Gunawardena and Zittle article -> Sensory Impact

Hi Everyone,
I have read the article and tried to break it down.

Gunawardena and Zittle identify five themes:
● Learner-centered instruction; (both synchronous and asynchronous) Gunawardena changed her teacher role from that of a teacher in front of the classroom to that of a facilitator as guide and learning support. Isn’t that just following current F2F teaching trends? I think that the question is “Do learner-centered learning environments promote transfer of learning? I myself follow constructivist-learning approaches in my classroom, which is mostly F2F. I have found that this promotes faster learning, as there is less formal instruction, which suits my Digital Native learners.

● Interaction; (both synchronous and asynchronous) 3 types have been highlighted; learner content interaction, learner instruction interaction and learner-learner interaction. The learner-instructor was stated as being the most essential and highly desired. I agree with this as an online learner I am looking for confirmation and I feel that this can only really come from the instructor. I believe that this is because the instructor is one who determines the assessment. This has been the case too when using online learning with my Primary aged students all of whom tell me that it is my comment on their posts that is most awaited.

● social presence; is the ability to communicate well by using the technology. I feel that this area is often neglected in online learning and many courses just encourage text responses and some form of concept mapping. I personally would like to see a deeper exploration of using technology well to get the message across more succinctly. I encourage my students to teach the class what they know through using the technology. This is an area that I am most interested in developing further in my own practice.
Personally I feel that I can cultivate a better social presence in asynchronous than synchronous communications as I need time to think over my responses. I can’t think clearly under pressure and in a synchronous online communication I am often ‘silent’ preferring text responses rather than using a webcam. I would rather have the luxury of thinking and rereading at leisure rather than the panic of instant relay. I guess that it is the thought that I am being recorded (or could be recorded) that puts me off.

● cognitive strategies: this is an internal process by which learners select and modify their ways of attending, learning, remembering and thinking. How can the information become personally meaningful and easy to remember? For me it is similar to F2F in that I highlight text using different colours and organize my notes into folders. I try to connect to my own experience as much as possible and find ways to integrate what I am learning into my teaching practice.

● collaborative learning.
Learning in a group. Online impacts differently as difficulties to work together are impacted by technology. For example in Indonesia, the speed of the Internet isn’t reliable and this impacts when trying to attend virtual classes. Time differences also impact. I have found that online learning is enabled yet hindered by the technology itself. I can’t see this changing, as there will always be a gap in that some people will have better Internet access than others.

Sensory Impact
I can’t think of any more beyond what Gunawardena and Zittle have defined. Except this one … that online to me often feels disconnected (even with great webcams) and for me that can feel very lonely. In a F2F we can benefit from body language and being able to watch the reactions of others in the classroom. We can see by the way a student is sitting or their body language that they are using when communicating which gives the instructor clues about how the learning is progressing. We can reach out and touch one another. I also miss smells and other factors such as the light in a person’s eye that shows that they understand. I can’t pick these up online.

What do you think about this?

Learning from watching others learn. -> Learning from Watching Others Learn -> Re: Learning from Watching Others Learn

Thank you Judith.
I struggled through the article but when I thought about the key phrase of this discussion forum, "Learning from Watching Others Learn", I decided to do just that and read through what everyone else had written. You highlighted a point from Mayer that made me realize that Mayer is coming from an Inquirers' perspective. Being that I am in an IBO school, this is something that I can relate to.

To go a little further I googled the term 'Vicarious Learning Online' and found the following:

As many of you know, when surfing the Internet it can lead you to the most interesting corners. One click led to another and I found myself at this blog http://eduspaces.net/csessums/weblog/138352.html
where my attention was held by this picture capture which is at the bottom of this post.

What caught my eye was the two students with raised hands and it made me reflect that in this course the discussion forums that get the most response are those with questions.

Oh oh, am I getting off the track here? What do you think about students asking further questions as a way of engaging response and provoking 'Learning from watching others learn'?


Jane

BTW Here is the Jim Waters link if you want to check it out:

Waters, J (2008) The iSchool at Drexel http://www.pages.drexel.edu/~jw65/jimwaters.htm Accessed on 1/9/08

Finishing First Assignment

I felt so relieved to have done the first assignment. Things are so flat out at school so I really had to stay up late to get this done. I got my results back and they weren't that great. I misinterpreted some of the requirements. This has never happened before. I feel that this course is rather disconnected compared with the others that I have done. I tried really hard to give an example of a critical incident that had affected me recently in this course. I was rather dismayed to find that I struck out with this one.

Flexible Learning -> Making flexible delivery learning and learner centred -> Re: Making flexible delivery learning and learner centred

Thank you all for this interesting thread. I have a mixed approach to online learning. Sometimes I am a big participator and other times a quiet observer. In most courses I like to try to gauge the tone of the forum before contributing. I prefer informal because then I feel that I can write with more spontaneity. I am very quiet when it comes to using tools such as Skype as I prefer to type and quickly reread before posting rather than using audio or video!. Perhaps this shows my lack of confidence? I too like to combine reading the forums through my email as well as logging in. I guess that's why we can call this flexible as it is up to the individual to follow their personal preferences.

Questioning Online Learning -> Technology creates its own context -> Re: Technology creates its own context

This is quite an interesting discussion that I would like to join if I may. I am discovering directly how technology creates its own context right now in my Grade 5 classroom. I have just started the academic year with (for the first time) a one to one laptop facility. I am now finding myself challenged to find directions as to how can the technology enhance the learning. For the first couple of weeks I did the usual desktop publishing that we all know so well. So what next ...
Well multimedia is the next obvious choice. Slowly I'm finding my way. It helps that there is a big LCD screen in the school cafes on which we can run student work. So now I'm trying to develop my students skills in sharing. I'm about to have a go at helping my students to turn their narrative stories about the digestion of a virtual sandwich into a Magic Schoolbus kind of animation using Keynote. It's like the learning, has turned into students teaching others by using technology.

School has never been so cool!

Traditional-Online-Traditional-Online -> Paradigm Shifts in Indonesia

I read the two articles and felt that the Harasim article made more sense to me in my current setting. In Indonesia technology gallops along at an alarming rate. Technology advances in chunks here rather than in stages. Broadband is still quite illusive but suddenly this year people are able to buy modems to plug into their laptops giving them access wherever there is mobile phone coverage. Yet schools are still functioning in the 19th Century paradigm. I will try to explain further:

Schools in Indonesia
Define “traditional models” of teaching and learning in your context. The traditional models of teaching and learning in Indonesian schools are:
Methods: rote learning
Space: rectangle shaped classroom with desks in rows and the blackboard and teacher’s table at the front of the room
Resources: Government textbooks. The students copy the lesson into their own notebooks. Libraries are few and far between. Book rentals are available for reading. These are sometimes mobile (on a bicycle)
Assessment: quarterly government issued exams for Gr 1 – 12
National exams at the end of Gr 6, Gr 9 and Gr 12 and Tertiary Entrance exams
Time: School is divided into 2 sessions to allow more students to use the building. Morning 7am – 12.00 and 1.00 – 6.00pm, Monday to Saturday.
Groups: Kindergarten (not compulsory) Gr 1 – 6 Primary (compulsory but not enforced), Gr 7 – 9 Middle School (compulsory but not enforced) and Gr 10 – 12 High School. There are also technical High schools and then College or University

Did the introduction of distance education challenge these models? If so, how? If not, why not?
Not aware of any distance education happening in Indonesia. Universities are starting to have an online presence but only in a hybrid approach. This is at the National level. Broadband is still hard to access.

International education it is quite different:
I am currently teaching in a National Plus school. That means that we offer the National Curriculum plus overseas curriculum. My school is a candidate for the IBO. It is a new school (we have been running 3 weeks now) and the first ever to be Technology based because all students from Gr 5 up are given a Macbook with their tuition fees. All teachers are given a Macbook and lower grades share sets of Macbooks of 20 across 4 classes. There are Smartboards in every building and LCD projectors with speakers in every classroom.

What do you value in teaching and learning?
I value the way the IB program encourages students to take charge of their learning. The Inquiry approach.
What key principles do you employ when you teach?
We have the Learners Profiles which are:
Inquirers, Communicators, Risk-Takers, Balanced, Caring, Principled, Open-Minded, Knowledgeable, Thinkers and Reflective. I must focus on developing this profiles in all of my students by modeling them myself. I also value that classes at my new school are highly encouraged to be technology based. It’s awesome!

Could all students be taught successfully using distance education/open learning approaches?
I love integrating the use of Web 2.0 tools in my classroom. All students require motivation and the younger the students, the more direct and immediate that motivation needs to be. My son uses http://www.mathletics.com.au to help him with his Maths. That is entirely online, open ended and flexible. However, he does need my pushing him to do it from time to time as he can lose focus and get bored. I am also in the middle of creating an online learning portal for Indonesian children. It is here at http://www.anak-online.com
This will be to teach Indonesian children (Gr 4 – Gr 10) how to use the Internet by teaching them to keep a blog. The mentors will be able to award tokens for good posts will check the blogs weekly. It will be supported by a Children’s newspaper called “Koran Berani” in which I will have a weekly IT column. I think that it will be possible to have online learning for children however I will demand that all members sign an AUP along with a guardian.
I don’t agree that distance learning or online learning is only for those in isolation. I think that given the right set up with motivation and some support from print media it can be for a younger audience. I am excited to be trying this soon.

What are the main issues involved for you in adopting online approaches in your context? I am about to launch into all kinds of online activities here at my new school. We will use StudyWiz and PowerSchool. StudyWiz is to support academic and PowerSchool is to support other services such as parents being able to go online to check what their child has eaten at the school café. This is done by everyone having a Smartcard that records all money transactions and library books. I will be holding weekly IT classes for parents to support the use of these tools and to further their knowledge of online environments.

I am very grateful to USQ for enabling me to take on this new job. This Masters in Education Technology has given me a whole new direction. Thanks USQ!

Moodie Mutterings

Is Moodie talking about online education, flexible learning, distance education or all three?

●What does he mean by “online education”?

Learning that is available online and that is web-based.

●Why does he suggest it is inappropriate for some learners? Who are they? Do you agree?

Moodie suggests that learners that are most suited for web-based online learning who have well-developed learning skills.

●Is Moodie arguing from a position which acknowledges a post- industrial position or is he anchored in the past?

I believe that Moodie has a point that entirely online, flexible learning is only for independent learners who have developed their learning skills.

Moodie (1998) considers flexible learning as “guided independent learning” and as such assumes that learners placed in such environments need to be equipped with fairly well advanced learning skills and be able to demonstrate some level of independence and autonomy over their own learning.

Observational learning is therefore very time-consuming.

Directed Learning - The essential elements of directed learning seem to be a highly structured presentation of the material to be learned, a continuous monitoring of learners’ attention and ideally a continuous monitoring of their comprehension.

Guided Independent Leaning - students are provided with structured study materials that they work through at their own pace, with varying levels but relatively limited interaction with the teacher and other students, and then present for assessment. Responsibility is more placed on the learner.

Autonomous learning - Just to complete this typology, we may add autonomous learning for the learning that may require an educational environment and resources but not a formal structure presented by a teacher.

Since online education is but one form of guided independent learning, I conclude that online education is not suitable for learners who have not reasonably well-developed learning skills. But online education is ideal for more autonomous learners. It extends learners’ learning skills so that they may become increasingly independent learners, which is surely one of the ultimate goals of education.
Reflections

Why is it that the emergence of “fourth generation” technologies represents a watershed in open and distance learning?
I believe that it requires teachers to be more open about their practices in the classroom.

●What are the features of using totally online education (as we know it) that might make it difficult for young learners to participate?

I agree with Moodie (1998) that online education requires learners to be self directed when used in a stand-alone mode. In my context the web allows us to extend the classroom walls and invite in the world. I couldn’t imagine online education replacing school unless used in connection with a tutor like in a home schooling situation.

●What factors might make it eminently suitable for students in higher education?

Learners need to be able to cope with learning independently as there is no teacher directly present to observe. Learners need to be able to cope with meeting deadlines and directing their learning themselves.