Online Teaching/Learning

Online Course/Program Delivery Increasingly Popular Flexibility - access to content and instruction at any time, from any place. Picciano and Seaman (2009) More than a million K–12 students took online courses in school year 2007–08. 2007, 28 states with online virtual high school programs (Tucker, 2007). Higher education has embraced online program and course delivery. More recent applications tend to combine multiple forms of synchronous and asynchronous methods and occasional face-to-face interactions. (Dept. of Ed., 2009) Interest in hybrid approaches that blend in-class and online activities is increasing.

Online Courses Traditional Classroom Online Instructional Design Often teacher-centered Instructors control environment Students dependent upon instructor Online Instructional Design Requires change of pedagogy? Instructor presence? Integration of online resources? Instructor takes on role of facilitator/less control? Learner less dependent upon instructor? New role? Students characteristics for success? Instructor technical skills required?

Online Pedagogy/Curriculum Design Goals/objectives – START with “END” in MIND! Use measureable action verbs / consider Blooms. Instructional design for the online environment Analyze – Design – Develop – Evaluate – Revise … Student characteristics “self-regulated”, technical skills, learning styles, ... Instructor characteristics (e.g. technical skills) Resources classroom management software, discussion boards, forums, online websites, social media, textbooks, videos, virtual meeting rooms, virtual worlds, wikis, WWW, etc.) Assessments (cAre – the “A” of the College of Education logo) Assess – Teach – Assess – Teach …

Instructional Strategies see Illinois Online Network http://www. ion Learning Contracts Discussion Lecture Self-Directed Learning Mentorship Small Group Work (discussion, guided design, role playing, games) Project Collaborative Learning Case Study (DECA Comp. Events – case study, role play, & project) Forum

Online Teaching Activities see Illinois Online Network http://www. ion Investigate the online teaching activities. Identify one teaching activity to report about.

Teacher and Student Centered Approaches Review Zhu, Payette and DeZure (2003) paper “An Introduction to Teaching Online” http://www.crlt.umich.edu/sites/default/files/resource_files/CRLT_no18.pdf See page 3 and review examples of teacher and student centered approaches. TC-LI TC_&_LC-MI LC-HI Other considerations Class size? ???

What does the research say. U. S What does the research say? U..S. Department of Education (2009), Evaluation of Evidence Based Practices in Online Learning “… on average, students in online learning conditions performed better than those in face-to-face instruction.” Larger positive effect when “blended elements of online and face-to-face instruction” are used as compared to entirely face-to-face. Confounding variable in study – additional time in some cases for “blended”. Meta-analysis largely postsecondary Undergraduate and Graduate - Limited generalizability? … small number of “published studies contrasting online and face-to-face learning conditions for K–12 students.”

What does the research say. U. S What does the research say? U..S. Department of Education (2009), Evaluation of Evidence Based Practices in Online Learning “More … elements such as video or online quizzes do not appear to influence the amount that students learn in online classes.” “Studies indicate that manipulations that prompt learner reflection and self-monitoring are effective instructional methods” e.g., course introductory survey/quiz, instructor regular communications, online grade book, learning contracts, etc.).

Online Learning Personal Reflections Critical Reflection Experiences Pros and cons As an online instructor I would …. ???