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case study: relationship between the evaluation and on-line resources about designing online/IT supported courses |
'Effective teaching requires more than a repertoire of techniques or recipes.' (Garrison & Anderson (2003) page 76 Chapter 8 Guidelines for practice)The problems with CEWBL1 were twofold: the techniques employed to teach the course - self-learning through use of a CD-ROM - were alien to the student population. This meant that the students were prevented from understanding the utility of the course by an inability to access the material and exercises. Garrison & Anderson (2003) Chapter 8 Guidelines for practice identifies four main approaches to learning: listening, talking, reading, and writing. It is important to understand that non-traditional students come from a very oral culture and that expecting them to do a course that mainly requires reading and self-analysis in their first term at the university is asking too much. In retrospect the rationale behind the course and the methods of studying the course were under-explained at the start. This reinforces the point that: 'the introduction and orientation will greatly influence sustained motivation and must, therefore, be carefully considered. ' (Garrison & Anderson (2003) Chapter 8 page 78) and that the teacher must be sure that the demands of the context are compatible with their pedagogic intentions. ' (Laurillard, (2002) Chapter 11 'Setting Up The Learning Context' page 200). The bottom line was that the students weren't orientated as to why this course was important and interesting. Interestingly, the social aspect of the course enabled the students to voice their concerns as a group. Although some students felt isolated, the move to group work and classroom based small groups meant that they were able to carry out the four exercises set in semester 1 and therefore, that their difficulties with the course did not prevent them from achieving the learning outcomes. The change in the structure of the course meant the students were able to carry out 'forming, storming and norming' in the classroom context and to do reading and writing/typing at home/work/in the library outside of class hours. Originally the students were to hand in assignments by way of email and receive comments back. However, the class work enabled feedback to be given much quicker and face to face. This required the lecturer to adopt a number of different roles in class time e.g. facilitator, adjudicator, learner and collaborator. This also meant that the four types of cognitive learning (e.g. puzzlement, exploration, making sense and resolution see Garrison & Anderson (2003) chapter 8 page 82) took place in a number of locations including on-line, at home, in the library and during classes. Garrison & Anderson (2003) chapter four discusses four generations of distance education technology. The table below compares our course to these typologies:
It is important to note that having a full-time job (e.g. I received no reduction in my working hours to attend this course and I teach in the evenings) and having children has a significant impact on students' abilities to carry out distance learning. In turn this brings into question the viability of 4th generation courses where some students can use discussion lists and other resources more than other students do. References:Garrison, D R and Anderson, Terry (2003) E-Learning in the 21st Century: a framework for research and practice (London: RoutledgeFalmer) Laurillard, D (2002) Rethinking University Teaching: a conversational framework for the effective use of learning technologies (London: RoutledgeFarmer) |