Learning Theories & Philosophies. 10 Things I've Learned About Teaching Online. I celebrated an anniversary recently. It's been five years since I taught my first online course. When I first started to think about teaching online, I realized I had a lot to learn. I had never been an online student, nor did I know much about distance education.
I just knew I wanted to be a part of something I felt would benefit those students who—for whatever reason—could not come to a traditional classroom setting. I wanted to help create quality courses for these students that would incorporate the kinds of activity and discussion that typically took place in a classroom-based course. I wanted to share some of the lessons I've learned over the years about online teaching with other online instructors who are just starting out. There is so much I wish I had known when I first got started, and I can only hope some of my reflections will be helpful to those who might be questioning whether online teaching is right for them. 1. Quite honestly, I don't feel I can answer that question. Do it yourself. When I started teaching online, I was a heavy user of synchronous technologies because I liked that they offered real-time interaction with my students.
Starting with the beta version of Microsoft NetMeeting and using, at various points, Centra, WebEx, PlaceWare, and most of their competitors, I have found myself fairly ambidextrous in the sense that I can use any tool and take advantage of its features—or compensate for its shortcomings. Centra has always provided one of the best feature sets, and I was delighted to have a chance to check out how their users are deploying it at Centra's 4th annual user conference. The conference, which took place May 13-15 in Boston, brought together 550 Centra users. I went to the conference to give a talk on Best Practices in Leading a Web Seminar and to look for innovations—not just in e-learning technology, but in what people are doing with the technology. Writing a Teaching Philosophy Statement | The Teaching Center. Academic Services staff members are available to read and comment on drafts of Teaching Philosophy Statements written by graduate students and postdocs at Washington University.
(To make an appointment, please contact Dr. Beth Fisher.) Gradutate students and postdocs should also ask faculty advisors, mentors, and peers to read your statement and provide feedback to help you improve its effectiveness and clarity. Note: This page was recently recommended in the Chronicle of Higher Education. What is a Teaching Philosophy Statement? Consider Your AudienceStrategies for Getting StartedLinks and References What is a Teaching Philosophy Statement? The Statement is a one- to two-page document that provides a clear, concise account of your teaching approach, methods, and expertise. 1. 2. 3. 4. Return to top. Consider your Audience When you write your teaching philosophy statement, try to anticipate questions that a search committee would want your statement to answer. Formatting Conventions. 10 Ways to Ensure Distance Learning Success. Distance learning students must take a far more active role in learning and accessing information than traditional students in face-to-face classrooms.
Written messages or posts from the professor and classmates replace other means of direct communication, and course materials are posted online. Rather than simply sitting through a class and jotting notes, you must take the initiative to download and read lectures and course materials. As a distance learning student, you will find that being pro-active and engaged in your personal learning experience will pay off in good grades and depth of learning. 1. Read the Syllabus and Use it as a Roadmap The syllabus is your course guide.
It contains not only information about the professor, grading requirements, and class and assignment schedules, but also instructions on how to access online forums and e-texts. You should download and save the syllabus as soon as you have access to it. A good syllabus provides a kind of "roadmap" to success. 2. The basics of e-learning. Introduction Distance education can provide a richer and more engaging educational experience than is possible within the confines of the classroom. It requires creativity and innovation in the design and development of Internet-delivered materials, especially since materials may have to stand alone, and in the use of delivery technologies. The same issues of quality and effectiveness that exist in the classroom occur in distance education, often compounded by the delivery mechanism and lack of contact between students and teachers and between peers.
Distance education existed long before the Internet, but it has become more prevalent and has changed significantly through technological advances. This chapter defines distance education and delves into many facets of the use of the Internet for distance education; discusses why distance education has become so popular; and describes how to plan, design, deliver, and evaluate a distance education course or program. eLearning. eLearning Conferences 2012. E-Learning. Technologically Externalized Knowledge and Learning. Let’s take a step back and consider how well we are using learning technology in contrast with what is possible given advances over the last decade. Ideologies influence design, then design constrains future options. We don’t have to look very far to see examples of this simple rule: classrooms, design of organizational work activities, politics, and the operation of financial markets.
What we create to survive during one era serves as neurosis for another. In education – particularly in technology enhanced education – a similar trailing of ideologies from another era is observed. For example, education consultants and speakers commonly declare “if a student from 100 years ago came to our classrooms, she would feel right at home”. What are the ideologies reflected in this approach to learning? 1. Other ideologies exist, but these are particularly influential in education, impacting design to accreditation. What is wrong with these views? The externalized generation… 1. What is TEKL? Elearn.theories. Connectivism and CAS in Learning. Connectivism.
Evaluation. Academic Freedom vs Course Quality « Lisa’s (Online) Teaching Blog | Digital Delights. Instructional design is dead. Let me start by saying that for many, many years, my title was some variation of "Instructional Designer. " And so, its with some amount of hesitance that I say that the field of instructional design is, well, crap. I'm not a traditional instructional designer, having a Master's degree in education instead of instructional design or instructional technology. I somehow backed my way into instructional design, working in a whole department of instructional designers in my first ID job.
Some of those IDs are among the most brilliant people I have known and worked with, and it was an honor to have the opportunity to cut my ID chops in such talented company. That said, I immediately noticed some problems with the field of instructional design and more importantly, in how instructional designers are "trained. " There are many reasons why instructional design has become a bit of a joke. Instructional design relies too much on process: there's nothing wrong with having guidelines for design. Are the Basics of Instructional Design Changing? ~ Stephen's Web ~ by Stephen Downes. Joseph Beckmann wrote: Philosophy is a much larger, much deeper and much more complex activity than "constructivism" could ever encompass. It involves a worldview that is so much more a challenge than neurology's current state that Paul Allen's billion dollar investment in pure research on brain activity suggests we hold off on any of these labels for, oh, a century or so.
This comment is well taken, in my opinion. And a few words in this regard would be appropriate at this juncture. Philosophy - and in particular the philosophy of mind - has had a great deal to say about the issues currently under debate here. Let me begin, for example, with behaviourism. . - methodological behaviourism - this approach allows that there are mental events, such as beliefs, but that since they are inaccessible to observers, we must treat them as though they were physical (and hence observable) events Probably the most important work in this latter school was Gilbert Ryle's 1949 'The Concept of Mind'.
Massively Open Online Courses – the Death of Universities? Why Innovation Dies. Faced with disruptive innovation, you can be sure any possibility for innovation dies when a company forms a committee for an “overarching strategy.” I was reminded how innovation dies when the email below arrived in my inbox. It was well written, thoughtful and had a clearly articulated sense of purpose. You may have seen one like it in your school or company. Skim it and take a guess why I first thought it was a parody. It’s a classic mistake large organizations make in dealing with disruption. The Strategy Committee Faculty and Staff:We believe online education will become increasingly important at all levels of the educational experience.
We Can Figure it Out in A Meeting The memo sounds thoughtful and helpful. One useful purpose a university committee could have had was figuring out what the goal of going online was. But the minute the memo started talking about a Policy Team developing detailed implementation plans, it was all over. If you can’t see the diagram above click here. Ten Commandments of eLearning. Frequently when I talk to colleagues about eLearning they say something like 'I set up a bulletin board/blog/wiki etc but the students didn't use it'. My response to them is always the same: that the problem is more likely to be with their design rather than with their students. Over the years I've learned a lot of things about what good design really means and I've grouped them all together into a Ten Commandents of eLearning. This is not intended to be blasphemous or disrespectful but rather is inspired by the Christian commandments in that all they're doing is presenting a set of basic principles to work to.
Like the original ten commandments, with these the first is the most important. I hope you find them useful. 1 Put the pedagogy (not the technology) firstThink about what students need to learn then think about how it is best for them to learn it. 3 Balance risks with safetyWe want students to take intellectual risks but they need to feel safe in order to do so. Use scenarios in your elearning. Hello Cathy, I thoroughly enjoyed the slides you shared from your presentation, and appreciate the suggestions you provided.
Approaching instructional design from an “its our job to help people solve problems in the real world” way is a unique perspective that I think is probably the best point of view. I understand that scenario-based problem-solving in eLearning, and other methods of teaching, is an important approach, but I am faced with the question of “why does it work so well”. Its seems to all tie directly back to fundamental memory and information-processing theories. Considering your coffee pot example, just having students read the words on the screen about where to best place a heavy pot on a serving tray is not enough. Simply seeing and reading the words is one of the lowest and least meaningful ways of encoding information (Ormrod, Schunk, & Gredler, 2009), and all students are likely to do is route rehearse the data so they can recite the facts back in a text-only quiz.
Instructional Design. Instructionaldesigner. Instructional Designers. E-Learning & Instructional Design 101. There’s a lot of debate about instructional design and whether or not you need a formal education to create effective elearning. We looked at that in a previous post (which includes some good discussion in the comments section). Today I want to explore some elements of instructional design and why it’s important when building an elearning course. Learning Happens I’ve been in the training industry for over twenty years. And sometimes we act as if people would just sit around in a vegetative state and not know what to do until we built a course.
That’s because learning happens. It’s as if Mitch and Murray sent Blake into our heads to remind us to “A-B-L…Always Be Learning.” Instructional Design Good instructional design can make learning happen faster and more efficiently than what might happen more organically. I’ve always seen instructional design as an intrusive process. In a simple sense, there are three core components to instructional design: Understanding How People Learn Action Plan.
E-Safety. Digital ethics and safety. What Makes a Good Teacher? - Student Q&A | Digital Delights. Online Learning/Teaching. Free Learning Management System Hosting. Intersect | Digital Delights for Learners. E-Learning and Digital Media ISSN 2042-7530 - Related websites. Open source e-portfolio and social networking software.