New Student Roles

I see the key roles for online students are community, self motivator, and technology guru. The student must persist in the individual readings/activities and then be willing to apply them to the community. In the Gibson article, he mentions analysis conducted by Machtmes and Asher (2000) which "found interaction significantly influences learner achievement". Stimulating interaction or communication can only be achieved when those in the communication have taken the time to educate themselves on the subject. The role of an online learner is different from traditional in that the student does not receive the lecture time. A traditional learner can attend class not having read any of the material and absorb content through lecture or by simply listening to the rest of the class. Online communication forces the student to actively engage in the communication to prove they are there. The mere idea of online learning suggests students should have some experience with technology. Students can prepare for the roles with help from the institutions they are attending. Class descriptions should include information on how the class is conducted and what is expected (and needed) from the student for a successful learning experience.

Blended Learning

I am very late to the blog... hope someone comes back and look at older messages. As I have returned to school at IUB, I have experienced blending to some extent in almost all of my classes. My focus being Informatics and IST may have a lot to do with that. Most classes take advantage of this forum (Oncourse) to post informaiton and news. Computer Science courses had chat groups before Oncourse came to play. I posted more than one cry for help while trying to figure out a line of programming. The instructors wanted students to help students out of the theory that helping others enforces what you learn. I believe that it proved true and found it helpful. Most recently I had an instructor that used Oncourse as a means to organize the students in groups for a group project. I found using that type of posting very frustrating to achieve the goal. I am unsure why that format was chosen. As I become used to being able to access class materials and assistance at any time (day or night, hence the time of this posting), I am disappointed when I attend a class that does not use some blend. It seems very confining.

engaging CMC - Christina L Bezzy (Sep 30, 2005 12:22 am)

Hi Frank, Have you thought about setting a certain time (or several times) for Oncourse communications. Or, as Dr. Bonk does with us, request each student replies to at least one other. It seems you could use the rephrased lines of chat as the start of f2f discussions probing the students to think deeper. I don't know that you will acheive an extensive amount of deep learning through the online discussions by themselves. You can use the student's thoughts as a means of understanding the students and their thought processes. Using the online communication as a start to the learning process followed up with f2f interacitions instead of the reverse could drive your teaching to engage the students into higher learning. Then you would have acheived what I have come to think of as blended learning.

Frameworks Discussion

I agree with Bill in that the articles are concerned that online learning has only been used as an extension of the traditional classroom. I am interested in the Community of Inquiry communication medium proposed by Garrison et al. The model could be the key to bringing online learning away from traditional learning while keeping some of the aspects that allow students to learn. Some of my best learning experiences in traditional classrooms have been those that were started (by subject matter) by the teacher then allowed me to go forth and read/study the subject and then engage in discussion with others learning. The teacher did not stand in front of me telling me what I should know and how I should think about the subject. As Amuary put it, the teacher was not necessarily the knowledge provider but the knowledge guider. I believe the teacher is not only engrained in the learning experience but is a necessary part. Change is hard to deal with so some teachers may not want online learning to go any farther than an extension of the traditional classroom. Possibly more thinking of this nature will allow them to see that their role is not going to disappear and allow them to move beyond traditional teaching. As I write this, it makes me wonder if teachers and students are the ones that are not allowing online learning to move forward...

Do Guides Transfer? - Curtis Jay Bonk (Sep 16, 2005 1:22 am)

Well, Christina, if online fosters a more guided learning approach, does this transfer to face-to-face and other forms of instructional delivery? Do teachers consistently and explicitly reflect on their new teaching techniques? How can we foster this? I wonder if anyone has studied this? Someone asked me this question recently and I think it was in terms of a potential dissertation research project. I think a doctorate to see whether guided leanring online transfers to other environments would be an interesting and important piece of research. What say you?