Facilitating Discourse
Sharing Personal Meaning
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shared by Alicia Fernandez on 11 Jun 14
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Critical Inquiry in a Text-Based Environment: Computer Conferencing in Higher Education - 0 views
www.anitacrawley.net/...GarrisonAndersonArcher2000.pdf
Community of Inquiry higher education teaching presence social presence cognitive presence
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The purpose of this study is to provide conceptual order and a tool for the use of computer-mediated communication (CMC) and computer conferencing in supporting an educational experience. Central to the study introduced here is a model of community inquiry that constitutes three elements essential to an educational transaction-cognitive presence, social presence, and teaching presence. Indicators (key words/phrases) for each of the three elements emerged from the analysis of computer-conferencing transcripts. The indicators described represent a template or tool for researchers to analyze written transcripts, as well as a guide to educators for the optimal use of computer conferencing as a medium to facilitate an educational transaction. This research would suggest that computer conferencing has considerable potential to create a community of inquiry for educational purposes
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Learner Attribute Research Juxta posed with Online Instructor Experience: Predictors of... - 0 views
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The purpose of this study is to balance student characteristic research with external, direct data from the perspective of online instructors in order to provide a practice-oriented understanding of the unique factors predictive of student success in accelerated, on line courses. Four issues emerge as the most predictive of online learner success: time, technology, initiative, and competence. Discussion examines the practical, deliberate application of this information to facilitate students' successful completion of online courses.
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shared by Alicia Fernandez on 23 Jun 14
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An evaluation of selected pedagogical attributes of online discussion boards - 0 views
www.ascilite.org.au/...sahu.pdf
discussion board learner centricity asynchronous learning online learning assessment data mining
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Paper lists learner centricity, asynchronous interaction, communication effectiveness and assessment facilitation as the major pedagogical attributes of online discussion boards. Also discusses the strategy of applying data mining techniques to aid assessment of discussion board transcripts. Text mining as an extension of data mining algorithm could be used effectively to assess discussion board transcripts with the goal of eliminating subjectivity in the assessment of discussion board contributions.
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Facilitating Cognitive Presence in Online Learning: Interaction Is Not Enough - 2 views
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facilitating discussion involves teaching presence, not just interaction
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Interaction is seen as central to an educational experience and is a primary focus in the study of online learning. The focus on interaction in online learning emerges from the potential and properties of new technologies to support sustained educational communication
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Study on the effect of teaching presence on the "deepness" of student learning.
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VIRTUAL TRANSFORMATION: WEB-BASED TECHNOLOGY AND PEDAGOGICAL CHANGE - 2 views
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One online instructor (Alley 1996) has described this changing pedagogical consciousness as an �instructional epiphany�.� Alley tells of a personal transformation, stimulated by online instruction, marked by two "milestones". First, he had to totally redesign his course to fit and leverage the new learning environment. Second, he had to rethink what he calls his �basic approach�: �As long as I held on to the traditional �sage-on-stage� style of teaching, I would keep reinventing ways for students to be a passive audience� (1996:51).� Similar changes in pedagogical belief and practice have been reported by other faculty who have taught web-based courses (Brown 1998; Jaffee 1997; Cremer 1998) as well as researchers who have interviewed online instructors (Frank 2000).�� There are clearly some �structural constraints� built into the virtual classroom ecology that make it difficult to implement traditional modes of delivery and, in this sense, almost force instructors to entertain active learning strategies. As Frank (2000) discovered in her study of online instructors, "All of the participants saw online learning as empowering for students. The most valuable benefits were the facilitation of active learning, critical thinking, collaboration, confidence, and lifelong learning habits. A common theme was the way in which the teacher is forced to give up the control that one has in a face-to-face environment and re-examine the traditional role of content deliverer".� Just as the physical classroom architecture imposes constraints on, and opportunities for, particular pedagogical practices, so too does the virtual classroom. John Seely Brown (2000) has described the environment of the world-wide-web as a �learning ecology� that is a self-organized evolving collection of cross-pollinating overlapping communities of interest.� Asynchronous web-based courses that include a discussion forum possess many of the same ecological features. All members of the class can receive and broadcast information at any time. This critical communication feature distinguishes the virtual classroom from prior forms of instructional technology.�� While instructors can mediate and guide, they cannot entirely control the flow of communication. Thus, instructor and student roles and relations are less hierarchical and more overlapping and interactive. These greater opportunities for participation can contribute to a greater diversity of opinion and perspective. It is hard work to establish these social dynamics in a physical classroom constrained by a fixed space, a designated time block, and trained inhibitions. The virtual classroom, in contrast, has the potential to establish new patterns of instructor and student interaction and, accordingly, different teaching and learning roles and practices (Girod and Cavanaugh 2001; Becker and Ravitz 1999). ��������� In making comparisons between the physical and virtual classroom, it is important to emphasize a cautionary caveat. The pedagogical ecology, be it a physical classroom or a virtual interface, cannot entirely determine a particular pedagogical practice or learning outcome. The pedagogical ecology offers opportunities and constraints that will shape and influence classroom dynamics and learning outcomes, but much will also depend on the principles informing, and the actual design of, the teaching and learning process (see Chamberlin 2001). The various practices that are employed in both a physical and a virtual classroom indicate the range of possibilities. However, if we believe that, for the purpose of student learning, active student engagement and interaction is preferable to the passive reception of information, we should consider the degree to which this principle is advanced or facilitated by the expanding virtual learning ecology.�
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Sociological theories and concepts have an important role to play in analyzing and interpreting these developments. A central sociological proposition is that structural environments influence the social perceptions, roles, and relations of human actors.� As increasing numbers of students and faculty find themselves operating in virtual learning environments, we might also expect to find some changing instructional dynamics. More specifically, there are a number of questions worth exploring. What are the relationships between the technical, the social, and the pedagogical infrastructures?� How has the introduction of new instructional technologies influenced established pedagogical practices? How does the shift from a physical classroom to a virtual learning environment shape and reconfigure the social roles and relations among faculty and students? What consequences will these technologies have for developing pedagogical practices?
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have less to do with the proven effectiveness of the particular practice than the desire to appear legitimate or conform to normative expectations.�
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Social Studies Another Way - 0 views
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don’t use it as a source in research
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. I’m thinking that by creating a mission video that emphasizes their own creativity as the goal that they will see that this is self-directed and endless in its possibilitie
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Having to support my ideas is cumbersome, and it requires work
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I was always annoyed in grad classes when people would just shoot off their mouths about random things, totally wasting class time on their own rants (usually at 9pm). This definitely alleviates that situation!
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I don’t accept laziness or haphazard work, but I usually reject it with a smile and a joke
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At this point, I need stick notes to track down sticky notes
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I resisted activities where the students “taught” each other for fear that they would leave something out
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It will be an enormous challenge for me to let students take the lead and not dominate the airspace. If I want my students to make it to that “performance” or “resolution” stage I see this stepping back as being essential. I want them to “Perform” in the sense that they build their learning into webpages. If I dominate their peer critiques, for example, they might as well become my webpages. The intent is for them to run wild with their creativity, and to step away from me as the direct instructor. He also discusses the steps groups take to make decisions, “forming, norming, storming, and performing.” Garrison emphasizes that groups not only need time, but also clearly stated goals to function productively. I am very familiar with his claim that, “groups do not naturally coalesce and move to integration and resolution phases.” I loathe group work for this very reason! I have avoided it much of my teaching career, afraid of losing control of the classroom and the content, and often seeing little progression in student learning when I do venture to use it. He goes on to argue that, “direction and facilitation is required to establish cohesion and ensure messages are developed.” I guess I assumed this, that you need to give clear directions, state your goals for the activity, and facilitate its progression. I’m concerned with how this will go online.
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time consuming
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me too. you mentioned about this in your earlier blog. Compposing a post felt like writing a mini-essay for me, I just couldn't produce a coherent, educated, and educational post in a matter of minutes. It is time-consuming to produce intelligent work.
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It is! I felt like I would wander through the Internet in a thousand directions, getting irritated with myself for being so scatterbrained. It took me forever!
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I agree! Takes forever - days and days to write. Blogging is agonizing!! But ultimately satisfying :-) We survived.
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wheeew! Now I feel better. For the longest time I thought it was due to my inadequacy that it took me days to pull research together and write up a coherent reply. If you two felt this way, who am I to complain?! Thanks!
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By that I mean it keeps me thinking. I wake up in the middle of the night and wonder on it, it makes me uncomfortable, and it appears on my to-do list in the strangest way. One thing I think of is the idea of student-centered learning. Its not that this is new to me entirely, but it has been a bit of a shocker to learn how to do it effectively and how to readjust my thinking and teaching to make the student at the middle. The idea that my activities should be engaging has always been moderately important, but I’ve thought about it in the past as “entertaining.” I always came back to the thought that I wasn’t here to entertain my students, they get entertainment everywhere else.
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But, as a student, I completely understand and empathize with the idea that they should be engaged and want to be a part of what they are learning. This is a new thought to me. That I should make the activities engaging (by using technology, by encouraging connections, and by making purposeful learning) not simply so students have fun, but so that they learn more!
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whether I’d catch the next episode of the “Backyardigans.”
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It stimulated a different part of my brain and gave me an adult purpose to my day. Very important for my sanity and helpful for me as a mother, as well. I truly agree that being an educated woman makes us better caretakers for our children (especially our girls!)
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Sloan-C - Publications - Journal: JALN - Vol5:2: Assessing Teaching Presence in a Compu... - 0 views
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ABSTRACT: This paper presents a tool developed for the purpose of assessing teaching presence in online courses that make use of computer conferencing, and preliminary results from the use of this tool. The method of analysis is based on Garrison, Anderson, and Archer's [1] model of critical thinking and practical inquiry in a computer conferencing context. The concept of teaching presence is constitutively defined as having three categories - design and organization, facilitating discourse, and direct instruction. Indicators that we search for in the computer conference transcripts identify each category. Pilot testing of the instrument reveals interesting differences in the extent and type of teaching presence found in different graduate level online courses.\nhttp://www.aln.org/publications/jaln/v5n2/pdf/v5n2_anderson.pdf
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Digital Youth Network: Empowering Youth Through Media - 0 views
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If I'm talking, you should be taking notes. - 0 views
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, mad
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However, I also have learned that we cannot assume that everyone of a certain age is a digital native. Working at a community college, I have students with a large variety of academic and technological experiences. Some students have very limited access to technology.
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it is concrete, born before me with a structure and a real plan
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I am fully committed to the idea of self-discovery and peer-teaching within my online course, but I also feel that I have a lot to add and I can’t keep all of this information to myself
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The a
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not necessarily because it meets a learning objective
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. The first time I implement something I cannot always anticipate all of the issues, but after a run through I can plan for those problems and be proactive in preventing them.
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. Students will need to find a community setting for 15 hours of either observation of a child, or volunteering in working directly with children
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I am going to give up more control and expect more self-directed learning from my students, not only online, but in my f2f courses too! I am going to put more emphasis on discussion boards than I had previously anticipated.
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I am thinking about what I feel is working for me as a student and what is not, so I can include or not include those things in my course.
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Now my perspective had drastically changed—I am instead asking myself how do I get the students to the information? How will I devise learning activities that will assist them in their search for knowledge and understanding? It is not my responsibility to spoon feed them, but to teach them how to spoon feed themselves.
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conceptualizing some of the activities for my course
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I struggled with this as well. Still not sure if I have enough substantial learning activities for my course. It wasn't until I actually started creating the learning activities that I realized I was rather naive about the entire process. Like you, I had this vague idea. I finally had to sit down and figure out what I wanted my students to be doing and then creating activities that met those objectives.
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Giving up control and trusting students to learn. I don’t need to give them the information, just provide the opportunity for them to discover it for themselves, and trust that they will do it. Everyone says this works, I can’t wait to see it happen!
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Not only has my expectation for online teaching changed, but I also am trying to apply some of these ideas to my f2f courses. I want students to take more responsibility for their learning. I want them to learn from each other, and to discover knowledge instead of waiting for it to be fed to them. I want to build more community into my courses, so students feel that they can share and learn from others and take risks in class. I also want students to learn what they are interested in learning, or what they need to learn depending on where they are in their understanding of the content.
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ETAP640 Summer 2011 Blog - 2 views
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So far I am enjoying the experience
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What are the most effective instructional technology tools available to me to help me meet my instructional objectives?
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challenge!
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I have been much more aware of the idea that today’s younger generations (those who are 30 and younger) are much more technologically savvy.
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I want to challange you, just like i challanged Ian (who is currently smitten with Prensky : ) to challenge the notion of natives vs. immigrants. Read this (http://steve-wheeler.blogspot.com/2011/05/natives-are-revolting.html), find other articles (and there are many) that unpack the problems with this notion, and come back and tell us all about it.
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I have been spending quite a bit of time and energy learning the Moodle system,
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I think I spent the entire weekend last week playing around in Moodle, learning how things worked, and trying to set up my basic module outline. Once I got the hang of it, I kinda like it. I find with technology that it just takes time and patience (not my forte) to really grasp it. I don't think computer skills of any kind can be learned from a book alone; it needs to be hands on learning.
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I completely agree! I am a very hands on and visual person, I need to INTERACT with the material in real life or else it's just text on a page.
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It is ENGAGING
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Blackboard
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I’m really starting to get the hang of the expectations for posts
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I had the same thought. I only hope that the computer lab is open during my class time.
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Your sticky notes are usually "floating" so I never know what you're commenting on. Can you make them stationery?
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I wonder the same thing...this applies to several blogs ago. I guess we need to add a date or title.
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I was teetering between dropping the class
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punishment
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I am still under the impression that the interactions required of us in the discussion space are too numerous.
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I LOVE LOVE LOVED that Bill Pelz commented on our posts! I felt like a celebrity walked into the room and his comments could be equated to getting an autograph.
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I have learned a lot this module, especially: NEVER give up (this has been especially resonant with me) Passion for teaching and learning go hand in hand, and are a must-have for online educators The best training tool for an online teacher is to be an online learner BE ORGANIZED MANAGE YOUR TIME Support your students and your faculty (whatever your role is) And last, but not least (yes, this was intentional) don’t procrastinate.
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half of the requirement for this class.
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There was absolutely nothing about my course learning activities that was learner-centered, or, one could argue, learning-centered! I was being extremely teacher-centered in my approach!
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Because of that, I need to embrace these tools, explore new ideas, and for goodness sake- think about the STUDENT.
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It took me almost two and a half hours just to set up a voicethread that didn’t crunch all of my text and pictures together! Or get the right size and color font. I realize that these are all things that cannot be explained to anyone, or if you did try and tell them, they wouldn’t understand how much work it is until they tried it themselves.
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I think that embedding a youtube video or loading a podcast are in my future and I can’t wait!
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I made all of my assignments turned in to me, privately,
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This week, as we are supposed to have the course “done done” I am doubting myself. Every time I log in to my course I change something, add wording, create new links to rubrics where there weren’t any, etc. It just seems like I’m never satisfied.
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So glad I'm not alone. I keep logging in as well, looking to change something. Over the past 3-4 days I've definitely made changes, but I'm getting to the point now that I'm wondering if I should just leave it alone. I'm the same way about large writing project...always looking to edit. Thinking it might be time for me to step back from the computer.
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I thought done, done, done is at the end...aren't we going to have peer feedback next module?
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I’ll have my master’s in December and I couldn’t be more proud.
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#1- I’m scared of the idea of real live students actually taking my course #2- I’m really disappointed that real live students will never take my course
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I'm glad you said this, because I've been thinking it for several weeks now. I really want a chance to teach it, but I'm afraid of getting a chance to teach it. I'm not a teacher by profession, so I think I have more fear than most that I won't be able to facilitate my course properly. For instance, how do I open modules, are grades recorded automatically or do I manually put them in, how do I get them to show for each individual student, etc. I've put so much time and effort into building this course, I want a chance to teach it, but having never taught at the college level, I don't know that I'll get the opportunity. I will still give it my best shot as soon as I graduate in December. If SUNY isn't interested, I'll try other avenues.
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"live students" when you do teach live students you will discover kinks you never saw...this semester I had a great activity that 18 of 19 students loved! The discussions were full of every presence. The I discovered that my student from China was so lost and overwhelmed. Now I am rethinking cultural sensitivity in my activities...how do I balance a activity that engages 99% of my students 110%, but looses one student because of a cultural difference...still thinking on this.
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feedback
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I don't know if I should have done this, but I actually have 2 evaluation/feedback areas. One is the generic resource right in Moodle. I tried to write my own questions, but when I "viewed" the forum, my questions were replaced with the generic questions. So, I created a document with my own questions and I am having students download the document into a word processor, add their answers and then post to a forum.
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o there will likely never be online courses at Mildred Elley.
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Can you teach it elsewhere? As we have learned in this class, online learning is up and coming. It might be worth looking into.
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Failures maybe because the facilitators did not "know" and "do" what "you" know...convince him to try your course as an experiment...because this is the future of education...This summer I taught one online course and had a student from China, several from the west coast, and only two within driving distance in a class of 20!
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ETAP 680 (research seminar).
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quality with the traditional classroom in the public eye?
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I think you're probably right, but I think it's turning a corner. At a time when institutions are scrambling for money, online learning costs them very little. They pay an instructor and that's about it. We don't need a classroom or any campus resources other than student access to the library for research if they need it.
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prettying up
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One thought I had, as I look forward to getting a PhD, is that theories come from practice which means that theories about online learning come from individuals creating courses, teaching courses, and collecting feedback from courses over and over and then after all of that work is finished, turning right around and working at analyzing the data, and attempting to answer research questions. In order to have credible research, the questions must be relevant, the measures must be valid and thorough, and the analyses of results must be comprehensive.
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Reflective Writing: I have to admit, at the beginning of the course I thought the blogging activities were just busy work. I viewed the assignments as busy work, and treated my entries as such. As time ticked on, I started getting into the blogs and realizing that it was my personal space in which I could reflect on my work on my course and my learning throughout the week/module. So much of life and learning in school is sort of thrown at you, and if you don’t take the time to intentionally deconstruct the events and make sense of them, then you’ll never grow and improve. I’d rather grow.
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If I don’t place intentional emphasis on something (like making it worth a portion of their grade) then I am sending a message that it’s not important.
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A dialogic approach to online facilitation - 0 views
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Social construction of understanding has long been a significant underlying principle of learning and teaching
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cognition is situated in particular social contexts (Brown, Collins, & Duguid, 1989; Lave & Wenger, 1991); knowing is distributed across groups (Cole, 1991; Perkins, 1993); and learning takes place in communities (Lipman, 2003; Scardemalia & Bereiter, 1996; Wenger, 1998).
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the integration of concrete experience and abstract thought; the integration of reflection and action; the spiral nature of these two; the relationship between separate and connected knowing; and the balance between collaboration and leadership.
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The Community of Inquiry model is based not on the Community of Practice model but, at least in part, on Lipman's work with children (2003) in which "tutor and children collaborate with each other to grow in understanding, not only of the material world, but also of the personal and ethical world around them" (Wegerif, 2007, p. 139)
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Although reflective dialogue has strong connections with Lipman's notion of multidimensional thinking, in that reflection allows synthesis, there may be difficulties with the use of this term as it has been used elsewhere with different connotations (Brookfield, 1995; Schon, 1983).
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Yet students often find this kind of thinking difficult to express when they are learning something new, perhaps because emerging ideas are very vulnerable to criticism
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the dialogic space is broadened to include other types of dialogue which contribute to the development of understanding yet which are easier for students to express. Creative dialogue opens up a reflective space in which issues can be explored with encouragement and trust.
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Another technique is "thought shower" - similar to but perhaps less intense than brainstorming - in which even implicit judgement is suspended. Creative thinking, or dialogue, is not the same as creativity, which is often associated with art and design, yet it appears to have an important role in discovery
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each of the participants really has in mind the other or others in their present and particular being, and turns to them with the intention of establishing a living mutual relation between himself and them."
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The focus is on listening and understanding (Bakhtin, 1986), or reading and understanding in an asynchronous online environment
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Caring thinking also includes caring about the topic or subject (Lipman, 2003, p. 262), which Sharp (2004) calls pedagogic caring,
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Identifying (information responsive): Students explore the knowledge base of the discipline in response to questions or lines of inquiry framed by teachers ("What is the existing answer to, or current state of knowledge on, this question?") Pursuing (information active): Students explore a knowledge base by pursuing their own questions and lines of inquiry ("What is the existing answer to, or current state of knowledge on, my question?") Producing (discovery responsive): Students pursue open questions or lines of inquiry, framed by tutors or clients, in interaction with a knowledge base ("How can I answer this open question?") Authoring (discovery active): Students pursue their own open questions and lines of inquiry, in interaction with a knowledge base ("How can I answer my open question?") (Levy, 2009).
Higher-level knowledge construction in asynchronous online discussions: an analysis of ... - 0 views
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The Application of Learning Style Theory in Higher Education Teaching - 0 views
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A learning style is: "A complexus of related characteristics in which the whole is greater than its parts. Learning style is a gestalt combining internal and external operations derived from the individual's neurobiology, personality and development, and reflected in learner behaviour" (Keefe & Ferrell 1990, p. 16).
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Riding & Cheema (1991), from an extensive review of the literature, conclude there are only two principal styles "families", the holist-analytic, and the verbaliser-imager. These two broad groupings relate to the type of cognitive activities normally ascribed to the two hemispheres of the brain. Curry (1983) suggests there are three different perspectives on styles: those relating to a preference for a particular instructional approach, those relating to the individual's intellectual approach to assimilating information independently of the environment, and those relating to the individual's intellectual approach to assimilating information with the environment.
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Dunn, Deckinger, Withers & Katzenstein (1990), who found that teaching students based on their diagnosed learning style did significantly increase their achievement level (see also Napolitano 1986).
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Research indicates learning style is not a stable construct, so one may alter instructional style to meet a learning style that will itself change, requiring a further change in instructional strategy.
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Researchers have failed to address the question of how it is possible to achieve a tailoring of instructional approaches on anything other than an individual level.
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What may be possible is to promote an educational environment developed for flexibility at the individual student level.
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What is required is a stimulus-stimulus approach, where the student and the lecturer are actively involved in both learning and the mechanics of the learning process, the aim being to facilitate learner empowerment by developing in students a critical awareness of material studied and the delivery and structure of the material. Learners can then tailor flexible education strategies to their requirements to optimise the quality of the learning experience.
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his ability of an individual to actively select from a personal style or skills portfolio, is part of what can be termed self-directed learning
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In an educational setting, a self-directed learner no longer operates as a passive receiver of information, but takes responsibility for the achievement, and ultimately setting, of learning outcomes. In essence, the traditional lecturer-student divide becomes increasingly blurred, as the learner begins to pro-actively structure the programme to match their own learning attributes.
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Under such an approach, higher education ceases to be simply something that is done to people, and becomes a platform from which individuals can go on to, in effect, educate themselves
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Higher education should be concerned with not only enhancing learning in a specific situation, but should also constitute a catalyst for further self-initiated development of the individual, above and beyond the contents and aims of a particular course. T
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The lecturer must avoid removing traditional barriers to self-direction, such as a rigid programme structure, only to erect new barriers through the use of prescriptive self-direction strategies imposed on the student.
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as people may still not choose to direct their own learning due to: a lack of belief in their own ability, a failure by them to recognise that self-direction is needed or preferable, the setting of an inappropriate learning goal(s) that fails to act as a motivator, and previous learning and education experiences.
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That educational system primarily tends to concentrate on didactic approaches that often view learning as being of secondary importance to memory, where information acquisition and subsequent information regurgitation predominate.
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This will require that the lecturer breaks down barriers to learning and self-direction that may be present. This covers: those barriers created by the student during the course (wrong choice of learning approach, poor motivation, lack of confidence), those barriers that the course itself may indirectly create (lack of flexibility, lack of direction and guidance, poor structure), and those barriers that the student brings to the course (reason for attending the course, poor learning skills, previous bad learning experiences).
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In the initial stages of a programme, the lecturer will need to ensure the existence of an appropriate control structure, as students undergo the transition from being other-directed in their learning by external influences, to being self-directed.
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but that also offers sufficient guidance and direction in the early stages to prevent individuals from becoming lost.
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shared by Diane Gusa on 29 Jun 11
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Learning-Centered Syllabi - 0 views
www.celt.iastate.edu/...syllabi.html
Student-Centered Learning-Centered teaching syllabus curriculum Learning Styles
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Creating and using a learner-centered syllabus is integral to the process of creating learning communities.
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we focus on the process of learning rather than the content, that the content and the teacher adapt to the students rather than expecting the students to adapt to the content, that responsibility is placed on students to learn rather than on professors to teach.
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A necessary first step in creating a learning-centered syllabus, according to most sources, is to spend some time thinking about the "big questions" related to why, what, who and how we teach.
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thoughtful discussions with ourselves and our colleagues about our teaching philosophy and what it means to be an educated person in our discipline
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students should progress from a primarily instructor-led approach to a primarily student-initiated approach to learning.
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participate in planning the course content and activities; clarify their own goals and objectives for the course; monitor and assess their own progress; and establish criteria for judging their own performance within the goals that they have set for themselves, certification or licensing requirements, time constraints, etc.
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According to Johnson, "course objectives should consist of explicit statements about the ways in which students are expected to change as a result of your teaching and the course activities. These should include changes in thinking skills, feelings, and actions" (p. 3)
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Don't use words that are open to many interpretations and which are difficult to measure. Make sure that all students understand the same interpretation.
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The Cognitive Domain is associated with knowledge and intellectual skills. The Affective Domain is associated with changes in interests, attitudes, values, applications, and adjustments. And the Psychomotor Domain is associated with manipulative and motor skills
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An effective learning-centered syllabus should accomplish certain basic goals (Diamond, p. ix): define students' responsibilities; define instructor's role and responsibility to students; provide a clear statement of intended goals and student outcomes; establish standards and procedures for evaluation; acquaint students with course logistics; establish a pattern of communication between instructor and students; and include difficult-to-obtain materials such as readings, complex charts, and graphs.
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Students need to know why topics are arranged in a given order and the logic of the themes and concepts as they relate to the course structure
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Does the course involve mostly inductive or deductive reasoning? Is it oriented to problem-solving or theory building? Is it mostly analytical or applied? In answering these questions, acknowledge that they reflect predominant modes in most cases rather than either/or dichotomies.
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"Any student who feels s/he may need an accommodation based on the impact of a disability should contact me privately to discuss your specific needs. Please contact the Disability Resources Office at 515-294-6624 or TTY 515-294-6635 in Room 1076 of the Student Services Building to submit your documentation and coordinate necessary and reasonable accommodation."
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"A learning-centered syllabus requires that you shift from what you, the instructor, are going to cover in your course to a concern for what information and tools you can provide for your students to promote learning and intellectual development" (Diamond, p. xi).
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Critical thinking is a learned skill. The instructor, fellow students, and possibly others are resources. Problems, questions, issues, values, beliefs are the point of entry to a subject and source of motivation for sustained inquiry. Successful courses balance the challenge of critical thinking with the supportive foundation of core principles, theories, etc., tailored to students' developmental needs. Courses are focused on assignments using processes that apply content rather than on lectures and simply acquiring content. Students are required to express ideas in a non-judgmental environment which encourages synthesis and creative applications. Students collaborate to learn and stretch their thinking. Problem-solving exercises nurture students' metacognitive abilities. The development needs of students are acknowledged and used in designing courses. Standards are made explicit and students are helped to learn how to achieve them.
Part II B: The Practice of Facilitation - 0 views
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Preparing Instructors for Quality Online Instruction - 1 views
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The major concerns are centering on the following questions: What will be the new role for instructors in online education? How will students' learning outcomes be assured and improved in online learning environment? How will effective communication and interaction be established with students in the absence of face-to-face instruction? How will instructors motivate students to learn in the online learning environment?
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Instructors have many concerns about online education. Their primary concern is how online education changes their roles and responsibilities, and how they can adapt to this change. Online education is widely accepted as student-centered education, and the traditional education is regarded as professor-centered education. Due to a shift to online education, the instructor's role has become more of a facilitator than a traditional lecturer. Therefore, the traditional professor-centered educational environment and student-centered online educational environment will have many differences. Besides their role shifting, the role of the virtual instructor is to select and filter information for student consideration, to provide thought-provoking questions, and to facilitate well-considered discussion (Kettner-Polley, 1999).
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Clark (2002) pointed out that online learner must be a constructivist learner. This suggests that the learner must be active in the process, cognitively complex and motivated. According to Clark , motivating factors in the learning process include self-reference, personal goals, control and autonomy . Howland & Moore's (2002) study examined 48 students' experiences in online environments. Their results confirmed that the students who were the most positive in their perceptions of online learning were those with attributes consistent with constructivist learners. The most positive students were more independent, proactive and responsible for their learning.
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Alley and Jansak (2001) have also identified 10 keys to quality online learning. The authors suggested that online courses will be high quality when they are student-centered and when: Knowledge is constructed, not transmitted. Students can take full responsibility for their own learning. Students are motivated to want to learn. The course provides “mental white space” for reflection. Learning activities appropriately match student learning styles. Experiential, active learning augments the Web site learning environment, Solitary and interpersonal learning activities are interspersed. Inaccurate prior learning is identified and corrected. “Spiral learning” provides for revisiting and expanding prior lessons, The master teacher is able to guide the overall learning process. (p. 6-17)
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While arguments have been made in opposition to online education, there are proponents who are in support of this mode of instruction. They suggest that the lack of face-to-face interaction can be substituted by online discussions in bulletin board systems, online video conferences or on listservs (Blake, 2000). Online education can also promote students' critical thinking skills, deep learning, collaborative learning, and problem-solving skills (Ascough, 2002; Rosie, 2000). Donlevy (2003) asserted that online education may help schools expand curricula offerings with less cost and can help graduates gain important technology skills to improve their marketability. Proponents also argue that online education can encourage non-discriminatory teaching and learning practices since the teachers and students, as well as students and their classmates typically do not meet face-to-face. Palloff and Pratt (1999) have concluded that because students cannot tell the race, gender, physical characteristics of each other and their teachers, online education presents a bias-free teaching and learning environment for instructors and students.
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academic dishonesty of online learners (Muirhead, 2000)
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lack of professional prestige
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While many critics have suggested that there is no sure way to hold students accountable for academic dishonesty, Heberling (2002) concluded that while maintaining academic integrity in the online instructional setting may be a challenging, many strategies may be employed to detect and prevent plagiarism, such as reversing an Internet search, tracking back to an original source.
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Knowledge is constructed, not transmitted. Students can take full responsibility for their own learning. Students are motivated to want to learn. The course provides “mental white space” for reflection. Learning activities appropriately match student learning styles. Experiential, active learning augments the Web site learning environment, Solitary and interpersonal learning activities are interspersed. Inaccurate prior learning is identified and corrected. “Spiral learning” provides for revisiting and expanding prior lessons, The master teacher is able to guide the overall learning process. (p. 6-17)
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Achieving meaningful online learning through effective formative assessment - 0 views
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Facilitating management learning developing critical reflection through reflective tools. - 0 views
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The aim of this article is to explore how the practice of critical reflection within a management learning process can be facilitated through the application of reflective processes and tools. A distinction is drawn between reflection as a form of individual development (of, say, the reflective practitioner), and critical reflection as a route to collective action and a component of organizational learning and change.