# Responses to Questions

Edited by Debbie Howlett, 2/12/2012 5:40 PM

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Responses from Angela -

5. "Tedious Preparation"

Lecturers form UNSW advise us on their strategies for group work online. They encourage the lecturer who is considering using online group work by suggesting that the preparation is exactly the same as if it was F2F. They suggest that you design appropriate tasks, you encourage the students to work together, you design effective assessment strategies and you explain why team work is important. They don't suggest any additional tedious preparation is required

Ref You Tube Video Online Teaching and Collaboration resource 6.6 on Blackboard

10. 24/7 support

DD suggest that the option of 24/7 support is not one that is viable with reducing numbers in the education sector. Maybe it’s time for Institutions to look at ways to reduce costs in non-differentiating tasks such as IT support. Oblinger suggests that the more traditional model of a university providing most of its services physically on or near a campus is changing. More and more services originate off site and are shared distributed or aggregated by other colleges and universities or outsourced agencies. Whilst again DD can suggest that these are comments that don’t refer to the Irish context maybe it is time for faculty in Ireland to take note of what is happening elsewhere and identify services such as 24/7 IT support which could be efficiently supplied through contractual relationships with corporations or other institutions. If faculty are in the business of providing education maybe it’s time to start thinking like a business and then 24/7 IT support may not be so far away

Oblinger, D. (2010) From the Campus to the Future EDUCAUSE Review, vol. 45, no. 1 (January/February 2010): 42-52

15 It is difficult to see the connection that just because Vygotsky ideas were prior to the existence of current technology that they cannot be extrapolated to it. His ideas on collaborative learning are enhanced by technology as web 2.0 allows students to collaborate in a way that cannot be done in F2F environment. Indeed not only does web 2.0 allow students to collaborate but it allows teachers to track the collaboration bringing a transparency to group work that is not present in the F2F environment.

17 Lacking Social skills

There are strategies available to the online teacher to encourage social skills. The provision of a water cooler area allows participants to “hang out” with their peers either asynchronously or synchronously. Collison, Elbaum, Haavind and Tinker (2000) suggest that whilst conversations in the water cooler area allowed students to discuss everything from family to holidays they also naturally eased into discussions on course content. Collison et al also point out that beyond communications in spaces provided by social interaction, social dialogue continued to be evident in many responses to task orientated areas, indeed they observe that when classmates who had never “met” met in person for the first time after they had completed an online course they were “hugging, laughing and sharing stories like old friends”. As one student put it “this was no awkward meeting of forty strangers coming together for the first time. This was a class reunion.” It would appear that this group of students did not lack F2F social skills just because they took an online course.

Ref

Collison, G. Elbaum, B. Haavind, S. Tinker, R. (2000) Facilitating Online Learning Effective Strategies for Moderators USA: Atwood.

Replies so far from Enda to some of the questions raised. Feel free to amend/edit/delete.

1: As suggested by Prensky (2001), the digital immigrants who accept the fact that they have become immigrants into a new digital world, will look to their own creativity and other sources to help them communicate their still-valuable knowledge and wisdom on this world. Through the evolution of time, the motivated and good teachers will get creative e.g. complete a Masters in Applied eLearning, and as stated by Prensky, the teachers who continue to use their much-less-traditional methods will retire.

Whilst Prensky has identified that there is a divide between Digital Immigrants and Digital Natives he also provides the solution to teaching Digital Natives by suggesting teachers use pedagogical partnering Prensky (2010). He proposes that by using a "partnering pedagogy" the job of the students is using technology while the role of the teacher is to coach and guide the use of technology for effective learning. In his book Teaching Digital Natives Partnering for Real Learning Prensky provides the teacher with guidelines on planning content and using technology. (added by Angela)

Reference

Prensky, M. (2010) Teaching Digital Natives Partnering for Real Learning USA: Sage

2: We disagree with the “unique aspects” of such a connection in the online environment as highlighted by Digital Delerium. The ability of a teacher to foster a connection with their students as outlined by Palmer (1999), may come easy for some teachers but others will have to work hard to develop that connection. We would suggest that it is irrelevant what platform you are using to teach, you must gain the trust and confidence of your students first. How can teachers develop that connection and gain that trust? A few examples: (i) relate teaching material to real life (ii) being prepared for your lecture (iii) making themselves available to their students (iv) listening to their students. All of these examples are directly related to both f2f teaching and online teaching.

4: Whilst we do acknowledge that an eTutor will require additional technical skills and a possible shift in ‘mind-set’ for some in terms of technology, our original point focused on the core characteristics as identified by Bain (2001). We believe these characteristics are very much relevant to both face-to-face teaching and online teaching.

5: Preparation is the key, no matter what approach you are using to teaching and learning. While some of the literature might suggest that online teaching requires more time in terms of preparation, this should not always be the case (Stone, M., & Perumean-Chaney, S. 2011). Good teaching in traditional f2f setting also requires a substantial amount of preparation time and would improve vastly if some of the considerations inherent in the preparation of online course delivery were given priority in traditional classrooms.

Reference:

Stone, M., & Perumean-Chaney, S. (2011). The Benefits of Online Teaching for Traditional Classroom Pedagogy: A Case Study for Improving Face-to-Face Instruction. Journal of Online Learning and Teaching, 7(3).

Reponses to questions from DD

In response to your query as to whether there is a step by step guide to developing pedagogically sound, inclusive, engaging elearning courses for beginners that you can buy, we advice that you don't spend your money on it, but use your student card to borrow any of the following at Bolton St. DIT Library. Salmon, G. (2001) E-moderating : the key to online teaching and learning 3rd ed. New York : Routledge, 2011.
Palloff, R. (2011) The excellent online instructor : strategies for professional development San Francisco, CA : Jossey-Bass
Ko, S. & Husein (2012) A Best Instructional Practices for Teaching Online. Routledge

9: Presto! accept that broadband quality is not consistent across all areas, but this doesn't mean that the student has to lose out. The amount of students suffering from poor broadband is getting smaller, and the ones that remain do have the opportunity in the early days of the online module to find a different location, be it an internet cafe close to their house to participate in the online class. A small handful of students having to make small alterations like this to participate online does not dissipate the overall positive teaching experience that the online class affords. As already stated, these are teething problems that are ironed out early.

10: Digital Delerium states that our argument about the provision of technical support does not have a place, as it is not the 'point of the debate'. We feel, that the existence of some technical support allows the teacher to better do their job. You state that not all institutions will have this support and that it comes down to on the spot assistance with a teacher who may not be familiar with technology. Most good institutions will have a support system, but according to Heiner, Matthias, Schneckenberg, Dirk and Wildt, Johannes (2001) 'the eCompetence of an individual staff member centres on their use of eLearning in a lecture or course, whereas the eCompetence of an institution focuses on strategies to implement eLearning in a complete study programme or set of courses.' Just as a good f2f teacher prepares for classrooms, so does a good online teacher.
11: Digital Delerium states that the digital literacy of students is irrelevant when it comes to being a good online teacher. Presto! feels that in that strong digital literacy amongst students facilities the teachers' delivery of online classrooms. DD also asks about mature students who may find the digital platform difficult. Smith, k (2005) lists strategies for supporting adult learners, already listed in the opening statement with the “eLearning learning-curve hump”. Just as a good f2f teacher must dedicate time to problem students in the classroom, a good online teacher must dedicate themselves specially to these problem students. Therefore, if they are a good f2f teacher, they will be a good online one too and, as Smith, K (2005) states, the mature student will 'gain mastery over the system and develop confidence are more likely to stay the distance.'

Response from Deb.

In response to DD's “Is there a how to guide?” well yes there is, the link to which was provided on page 9 of the Web Links tab on Webcourses.dit.ie! The CU Online Handbook, Teach differently: Create and collaborate available for free at http://cuonline.ucdenver.edu/handbook/

1) Prensky (2001) declared that the digital natives “think and process information fundamentally differently from their predecessors” that is the digital immigrants. Today’s students have similar life experiences to previous generations but because of their exposure to technology today’s students have changed. Due to brain changes, brought about by outside stimulation, these students are not able to learn effectively in the same way as previous generations. Older “Digital Immigrant” teachers who “speak an outdated language, are struggling to teach a population that speaks an entirely new language” (Prensky, 2001). A teacher that can’t speak the language can’t teach the language and reach their student population.

Effective educators have always made changes to their teaching methods in order to cater to the specific needs of their pupils, otherwise we would not have moved on from cave paintings.

Reference :

Prensky, M. (2010) Teaching Digital Natives Partnering for Real Learning USA: Sage

3) Effective facilitative skills include establishing and recording ground rules jointly (facilitator, participants), clarifying limits and consequences (Objectives). General facilitative skills include showing empathy, listening to and acknowledging comments, giving responsibility to participant, developing awareness of individuals within a group and modelling effective group behaviour. These are good facilitative skills which all tutors should have regardless of learning environment, however the outcomes differ – with traditional teaching emphasis is on presenting information, with online learning there is a sharing of your own experiences and hearing others; traditional teaching uses questioning to test students knowledge, online questioning is used to demonstrate understanding or awareness; and most importantly with traditional teaching the responsibility for learning lies heavily with the teacher whereas with online learning dependency on the instructor is reduced and students are empowered to take responsibility for their own learning.

Reference: Palloff, R.M. & Pratt, K (2001). Lessons from the cyberspace classroom: The realities of online teaching. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass

7) When deciding to translate a course to an online course it should be done slowly and as instructors gain experience they can expand both the material and the environment. Course development should focus on facilitation and interactivity rather than content. By concentrating on quality, involvement and empowerment effective online courses can be developed to cater for online learning.

9) The National Broadband Scheme (NBS) implementation is well underway. Living in an area west of Sally’s Gap in Co. Wicklow that is not covered by the NBS I can confirm that service through a mobile dongle device has, surprisingly enough, been possible in the webinar and I have also participated in the virtual chat room with my group mates. With new technologies such as satellite, service is available in all areas if participants choose to sign up to it.

http://www.dcenr.gov.ie/Communications/Communications+Development/National+Broadband+Scheme

15) Yes, Vygotsky’s work occurred in the pre-online ear but his theory on social constructivist learning which developed out of Piaget’s theories of cognitive development is based on the notion that the learner is active in the learning process; and that learning is the result of interaction with others and where the learners construct their own knowledge. He stressed the importance of support for learning through a “Knowledge Other”, a teacher or peer. This idea corresponds to the use of VLE’s to support learning.

Ref: Donnolly. R, (2011) Thinking about learning (and Teachning). – Week 1 Learning Theories Module

Online pedagogy involves collaboration and consultation not only with students but also with a whole host of support personnel. The instructor is not a lone island in the institution and working with other support staff, librarians, web/graphic designers, course tutors and programme managers they create a quality and supportive instructional system.

“A nice by-product of online learning is that in addition to knowledge acquisition, students learn about the technology through its use. They learn about themselves and their own learning styles, and about how to collaborate with others in the problem solving process. They learn what it takes to pace themselves in order to get the job done. And in this process they become increasingly confident in their abilities, feel empowered to work in a manner that best suits them, and seek out the information they need for the task at hand. All of these skills are transferrable to the world of work and gained through participation in an online learning community.” Palloff, R. & Pratt, K., (1999)

Ref: Palloff, R. & Pratt, K., (1999), "Building Learning Communities in Cyberspace Effective strategies for the online classroom” . San Francisco: Jossey-Bass

18) and 19) Keeping the” horse before the cart” is essential and the main way to ensure this is to fully understand how we learn and to develop pedagogical approaches that align with the way we learn. Evolution requires, as it did in the past with previous transformations in pedagogy, that we develop online systems to address this need. Only with the buy-in and continued professional development of staff can this be achieved.