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This is an overview of a guideline for how learning occurs and how as teachers we can focus our lessons to this guideline. It is relevant in on-line education, as the on-line environment allows us to have different modes to provide information to our students. We can utilize everything from video to chat rooms.

Ann, do you have any tools or taxonomies that have helped you develop those questioning skills? And have you got any experience using the SOLO taxonomy?

I have not had experience with SOLO - Structure of Observed Learning Outcomes - but from the bit of investigation I have done, it is similiar to Bloom's in that it is based upon the notion that a studen'ts ability to grasp more abstract concepts, is based on more fundamental understandings and that you need to make sure you are not too advanced for where the student is. It reminds me of Piaget's concept that you can only learn something that is slightly more advanced than where you are (my paraphrase). As for my experience with help in developing questioning skills, which I feel is an excellent example of elearning, is that my company had us first take an interactive tutorial on Bloom's taxonomy. The "final" was taking a math problem and providing questions for each level of the taxonomy. We posted this on a dedicated discussion, with the teacher providing her response for everyone to see and learn from. We have since started another topic where teacher can post specific questions they are using and have tried and this will eventually be collected into a reference document. For example, one idea that was shared was that you after you have tested your student on a fundamental, you can ask them to give you a problem. My experience is that I often get back something I didn't expect. Like if adding decimels, they will return with a problem that might be in the millionths rather than the tenths. What I found most useful was not these specifics or having a question for each level, as much as the consciousness raising it did for me to think more creatively in helping the students. I have found that an elearning platform is very helpful in this regard. For example, they might take a lesson on adding or subtracting fractions and another on adding or subtracting decimels. I will then give them a problem in adding both - example - 1/2 + .25 = . By having an interactive whiteboard I can see how they convert the fraction to a decimal to add them and offer guidan

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"The authors' goal in this paper is to initiate a dialogue among educators who continue to make assertions about the usefulness of identifying students' learning styles with little or no research support. They discuss the status of learning style instruction and the unsubstantiated claims made by authors of learning style instruments and by instructors. They explore a number of key questions: (1) Are learning style instruments valid and reliable?; (2) Do students benefit when the type of instruction matches their preferred learning style?; and (3) More specifically, is there evidence that understanding one's learning style improves concentration, memory, self-confidence, and reduces anxiety, and leads to better grades? They conclude that learning style instruments have not been shown to be valid and reliable, there is no benefit to matching instruction to preferred learning style, and there is no evidence that understanding one's learning style improves learning and its related outcomes. They urge instructors to reconsider their instructional practices, especially the advice they give students about learning styles, and base their practices on sound research."

This was a well written article with a definite point--the answering of the authors' questions about the efficacy of using learning styles as an indicator of increased learning and performance. I agree with their assertion that research does not support continued concentration on LS as teachers design their instructional tasks. What I do know from my own experience, though, is that the teacher needs to invest a major portion of his/her time in learning how their particular students learn best, employing strategies that get at the meat of the subject for each student. I have a very simplistic motto that I use in my life and in my work: "It works best when it works". On the surface, these words mean absolutely nothing, but with a deeper probe, they are pretty profound. A highly capable high school student and graduate of Cal Tech that I worked with many years ago, coined this phrase. It was perfect then and still applies today.

Joy, Your posts are quite sobering, regarding your own experiences working towards completing your university education. I strongly agree with the following quote in your post: "In sum, it is time for educators to make college and higher learning relevant to their students. It is not about us, it is about them. We are the facilitators of their learning. We must prepare them for the world they will find themselves in when they leave the protected walls of our colleges and universities" I found the recent events in Cairo to be fascinating, where large numbers of people suddenly rose up against an authoritarian and out-of-touch government. This largely peaceful uprising was fueled by the same Web2.0 technologies that are underpinning this class. It's possible that many traditional schools will soon find themselves in a similar situation to the Egyptian government, where students pass them by in favor of lower cost and more relevant educational experiences - many of them available online. Bill Gates recently came under fire for making the statement that valid online college degrees may soon be available for $2000. He may have said this to exaggerate a point, but the evidence of a growing number of online low cost educational resources can't be ignored. One of them is the Khan Academy - run by an MIT graduate who has created a large free archive of mathematics courses that are used by students all over the world - many who claim they are better than their university courses. Colleges and universities ignore this development at their own peril. It's not clear yet how we'll make this transition to relevancy for students, but the next decade will be very interesting...

Thanks you for your comments Mary Ann...the bottom line reads, we may be killing off our aged population by sentencing them to give up and give in to old out-moded concepts!

Joy: I've been following your blog postings for some time now and have been meaning to let you know I always learn and find your postings valuable. Keep the information coming our way.

This article seems to be a good example of the type of design I hope to accomplish. Evan is a fellow University of Wisconsin graduate and has pursued an interesting career in design. His resume/blog was well worth the time it took me to explore and read it.

Joy, I really appreciate your link to Evan Sveum's blog, especially this week when we're taking a look at how to organize and present an online curriculum. Initially, as I was moving through his opening page review, I was struck by the following item: "Voice Recognition (Dragon NaturallySpeaking). Talk-to- type has been a huge efficiency for me! I very rarely use the keyboard on my computer anymore". I used Dragon software about 8 years ago, and found it to be very unsatisfying to use. However recently, I've been hearing good reports back about it. I'd be curious to know if anyone in the class has been using voice-to-text in their work...

The tab in Sveum's blog regarding eLearning technology was useful - a good overview of different types of technologies one needs, with the practical tools highlighted.