Characteristics of Online Learners | Technology Solutions for Teaching and Research. According to the Sloan Consortium [14] They are older, continuing education, adult learners who want to learn at their own pace outside of the classroom.They are students with families who have to balance their education with their responsibilities to spouses and/or children.They are students with learning or physical disabilities who find greater access with online learning.They are students with greater concerns for earnings and who are furthering their education in hopes of immediate payback.They are students who are employed and have limited time to study and need the flexibility of online learning.They are students who have not had success in face-to-face learning environments. To support this, of the almost 4000 respondents to the 2006 National Survey of Student Engagement [15] who identified themselves as distance learners: This is in contrast to the more homogenous groups of students that you will find in a campus classroom.
Student Perspective Why do students take online courses? Learning Styles - Learning skills from MindTools. Understanding Learning Preferences Identifying your preferred style of learning can make gaining new knowledge and skills easier. Have you ever tried to learn something fairly simple, yet failed to grasp the key ideas? Or tried to teach people and found that some were overwhelmed or confused by something quite basic?
If so, you may have experienced a clash of learning styles: your learning preferences and those of your instructor or audience may not have been aligned. When this occurs, not only is it frustrating for everyone, the communication process breaks down and learning fails. Once you know your own natural learning preference, you can work on expanding the way you learn, so that you can learn in other ways, not just in your preferred style. And, by understanding learning styles, you can learn to create an environment in which everyone can learn from you, not just those who use your preferred style. The Index of Learning Styles™ You can see these in figure 1, below.
Balance is key. Tip: Learning Styles. By Nancy Chick, CFT Assistant Director What are Learning Styles? | Caution! | Why Are They So Popular? | Now What? What are Learning Styles? The term learning styles is widely used to describe how learners gather, sift through, interpret, organize, come to conclusions about, and “store” information for further use. There are well over 70 different learning styles schemes (Coffield, 2004), most of which are supported by “a thriving industry devoted to publishing learning-styles tests and guidebooks” and “professional development workshops for teachers and educators” (Pashler, et al., 2009, p. 105).
Despite the variation in categories, the fundamental idea behind learning styles is the same: that each of us has a specific learning style (sometimes called a “preference”), and we learn best when information is presented to us in this style. Caution! Why Are They So Popular? There may be another reason why this approach to learning styles is so widely accepted. Now What? References. Sticking with It: Meeting the Challenges of Online Learning. Enrollment in online courses and programs continues to increase. A recent study published by The Sloan Consortium found that over 6 million higher education students were enrolled in at least one online course in the fall semester of 2010. The numbers reported in this annual survey have continuously increased over recent years and the prediction is for ongoing growth.
Retention rates, however, tell another story. According to US News and World Report, in 2009 "the largest online schools vary wildly in their ability to retain students, though the averages among the largest 10 online institutions are below the national averages for all schools – traditional and online – among both full-time and part-time students.
" Student retention is a primary concern of all involved in online education programs – not only important to students, but also to instructors and the institutions providing the programs. Before You Enroll A little preparation can go a long way. Weigh your options.
Bloom's Taxonomy. Mary Forehand The University of Georgia Introduction One of the basic questions facing educators has always been "Where do we begin in seeking to improve human thinking? " (Houghton, 2004). Fortunately we do not have to begin from scratch in searching for answers to this complicated question. The Communities Resolving Our Problems (C.R.O.P.) recommends, "One place to begin is in defining the nature of thinking. Benjamin S. Although it received little attention when first published, Bloom's Taxonomy has since been translated into 22 languages and is one of the most widely applied and most often cited references in education. History In 1780, Abigail Adams stated, "Learning is not attained by chance; it must be sought for with ardor and attended to with diligence" ( quotationspage.com, 2005). The cognitive - knowledge based domain, consisting of six levels The affective - attitudinal based domain, consisting of five levels, and The psychomotor - skills based domain, consisting of six levels.
Droits d'utilisation.