Epimetheus

Course Readings

Taylor, James C. "Technology, Pedagogy and Globalisation"

Comments: And here are the generations! I reckon that online learning has more generations than The Book of Genesis!! I think that his 4 generations are:

1. Print-based Correspondence- which has been subsumed into
2. Multi-media, which is correspondence supplemented with audiotapes, videotapes and computer software
3. Telelearning- which is based on information technologies, e.g. audio-teleconferencing, videoconferencing etc. i.e. emphasis on the communication/transmission technologies
4. Flexible Learning model - multi media plus access to resources and interactivity through the Internet.

He talks about one of the advantages of distance education being the student's ability to progress at their own pace compared with the synchronisation of lectures and tutorials - which picks up my point earlier about activity-intensive online learning working against being truly self-paced (which has to allow for both the tortoise and the hare!)

I made a comment on the Discussion Board today responding to someone who is doing a course through NSW TAFE which adopts what I call "content-lite". This is how I described it in the ASCILITE paper we submitted on facilitator guides:

"Mason (1998) proposes what he admits to be a simplistic and perhaps insufficient 3-part framework to analyse online courses. We were operating under what he describes as the "content-and-support" and ''wrap-around' models. In his third model which he characterises as an "integrated" model, the course is based on the students themselves as a resource (Thorpe, 2002). The tutors create the detailed teaching as it progresses over the duration of the course. The pre-developed aspects of the course are minimal: instead the heart of the course lies in the collaborative activities, joint assignments, discussions, and acts of accessing, processing and synthesizing information as a learning community. The course is a growing thing, and the student-generated responses arising from one delivery can themselves be used as a resource for the further iterations of the course that follow." Mason, R. (1998). Models of Online Courses. ALN magazine, 2 (2) [Online]. Available at http://www.aln.org/publications/magazine/v2n2/mason.asp. [19th July 2003].

Taylor claims that the process of instructional design entails "a systematic fine-grained analysis of the knowledge base and associated cognitive skills that provide the foundation of professional expertise in a particular discipline.(p.4)" Thinking about the types of skills that a facilitator would need if they were working in Mason's "integrated" model, I guess this is what they would need- to know the end-point and work towards getting there. In theory, well-thought-out learning outcomes should be the codification of this knowledge, but to be honest, I don't know if in practice, learning outcomes are as well-conceptualised as that. And certainly, as the knowledge base changes- as it does all the time- probably the learning outcomes should be revisited instead of being rehashed year after year after year.

He then goes on to describe what I assume was the precursor of THIS course. He mentions that students are provided with an interactive study chart. What does he mean by "interactive" I wonder- it's certainly hyperlinked, but the only interactivity I have with it is to click a button!

Some members of the teaching team experimented with reflections as a basis for collaborative learning (Naidu and McAleese "Making the most of learning opportunities: the role of reflection in action, on action, and for action, 1996, Paper presented at ED-MEDIA 96.) which tends to demand a controlled sequence of learning activities. There's that issue about control vs. constructing-in-the-moment. Could be worth following up.

Glen Farrell Introduction

- claims that: "Globalisation, the largely unrestricted flow of information, ideas, cultural values, capital, goods and services, and people, which is driven by the global networked economy, will enhance not only the demand for education, but create need for more diversified content and greater flexibility of access". More diversified content: I'm not sure that globalisation has given us this: in fact, perhaps the opposite with the concentration of media in a few globalised media empires e.g. Murdoch, Packer. I think that the diversification is more apparent than real.- although the Internet has challenged this concentration in many ways by providing access to alternative viewpoints.

- cites Tapsall and Ryan 1999 who distinguish between distance, open and flexible learning according to the uses it has been put (rather than distinguishing on the basis of intrinsic qualities):

1. distance- emerged in response to remote learners
2. open learning-second chance learning
3. flexibile learning - more students, more education, less cost.

- cites Dirr (1999) who points out that technological applications have been applied to a traditional paradigm e.g. videoconferencing which enables instructors to retain the old pedagogical methods but doesn't accommodate students' desire for flexibility. Thinking about that new software we bought at work- it enables the talking head to talk, and shows the powerpoint slides- thus maintaining the lecture-transmission model. In fact, one day I'd like to investigate the use of powerpoints in online learning - a nice little paper for a conference somewhere, someday.

- and Taylor has a fifth generation. Quite the little geneaologist, isn't he? His fifth generation is automated response. Oh yuck. Completely the opposite to the constructing-in-the-moment approach, which requires expertise and people management.

In the Appendix, it briefly describes current macro developments in virtual education. It describes learning objects as "the competencies to be achieved, skill and knowledge outcomes, lesson plans, assessment items and learning resources." Odd description- I prefer the IEEE one that talks about digital entities that contribute to learning outcomes.

It also talks about quality. In the past, quality was assured by managing the qualifications of the teacher who, in turn, has total control of the pedagogical process. Learning technologies, they claim, have decreased the teacher's ability to directly monitor and control the learning environment- but not just that, I reckon. The teacher's own pedagogical expertise is also being stretched by new technologies! In relation to cross-cultural education, there has been the criticism that the quality criteria are established by the managing institution and offshore providers do not have input into what counts as quality.

Garrison, D. Randy Computer conferencing: the post-industrial age of distance education Open Learning, 1997

I enjoyed this reading.

He distinguishes between industrial model of distance education (mass product, division of labour, standardization) and the post-industrial model (personalized, collaborative)

- explains why the act of writing is conducive to higher order thinking. Applebee attributes it to a combination of

1. permanance- allowing the writer to rethink and revise over an extended period of time
2. explicitness required in writing
3. the resources provided by discourse for organising and thinking and explicating the relationships between ideas
4. medium for exploring implications entailed within otherwise unexamined assumptions

I think that gives another justification to requiring students to put finger to keyboard in response to their readings- not to just sit and absorb it all, but to make sense of it by actually phrasing a thought-out response.

"Collaborative learning has ts roots in social constructivism. That is, establishing a social environment where critical discourse is valued and where students and teachers are encouraged 'to develop theories and ideas of their own which challenge and test the limits of traditional sources of knowledge.' (Brody 1995:138)."

I've been trying to think of a word for content-lite, integrated learning that I've described above. I had toyed with the idea of using constructivist, but for me that has many connotations with what the individual learner does- and what I want to describe is where the COURSE is constructed jointly - constructivist design. Perhaps that's my challenge- to think of better term than "integrated".

Collaborative learning involves:

• critical discourse
• going beyond informational exchange
• creating added value and new understanding

He claims that this is a relationship thing- e.g. social presence, support etc. Sometimes I wonder if we overstate this relationship stuff- leading to a whole lot of caring and sharing short messages in a discussion "good point" "thank you" etc. that I really don't know whether you'd stand up in a room full of people to say.

Functions of a moderator (Gunawardena states categorically that a computer conference will fail without an active moderator)

1. contextualising- ie. focussing
2. monitoring - recognising and prompting individual contributions
3. meta communication- agenda, relevance, overload, weaving connections, identifying themes and summarising the discussion.

While I agree with the need for these, they're not really about knowledge construction as such- although there are aspects of it in the metacommunication but perhaps the students should be doing this and not the moderator.

"As in Kuhn's classical paradigm shift, there is likely to be little mixing of the industrial and post-industrial world-views and technologies". I love Kuhn- and yes, the observation is correct that after a major paradigm shift there is little rapprochement between the two paradigms- even though I feel as if I have read a million journal articles that claim there is! I think that a teacher comfortable with what Garrison calls the post-industrial (collaborative, constructivist) paradigm, even if they were teaching in both traditional and online learning environments, would find that their teaching in the traditional form would change too: I don't think that they could revert to the "lecture+powerpoints then leave the room" model again. At least, I hope that they couldn't. Garrison says further on: "computer conferencing will become not only the defining technology of post-industrial distance education but will pervade conventional higher education". p. 9

Here's more about what the constructing teacher needs to do "One of the most important responsibilities of the teacher is to have expertise in the knowledge of the subject matter (Sternberg and Horvath 1995.) Teachers must be able to select the key concepts/issues as well as provide initial coherence or order to assist students in constructing knowledge. During the learning process the primary responsibility of the teacher is to understand student thought processes and diagnose misunderstandings." Yes, Yes, Yes. This responsibility for knowledge creation amongst students, to me, is more important that contextualising, monitoring and meta-communication- you could give students responsibility for those things, but having a metaknowledge: the knowledge about the knowledge- that's where the teacher comes in (IMHO!)

Garrison himself has said elsewhere: 'the over-riding impact on the quality of an educational experience is the provision of sustained discourse'. (Garrison 1993:11). Ooh- there's that aspect of chronology again. Time to understand, time to apply, time to critique, time to revist and reconceptualise.

Oh, how cute- he talks about eras (industrial and post-industrial) rather than generations (which is used for describing advances in technology). I think I might agree with him.

 

 

So, some of my impressions of the course so far. Firstly, very active- far more intensive than the other courses I have done through USQ. This doesn't worry me at all- in fact, I've been frustrated by the silence that has descended on some of the other courses, and in the end, it shuts me down too. I start to feel as if I am a blabber-mouth and know-all, and as if I am just talking to myself. Secondly, Glen is very hands-on. In fact I wonder how many hours a week he is spending overseeing this course? I suspect quite a few. Too many?- what is reasonable to expect? He's been sending group emails and lengthy announcements, then this morning there was a survey about how we have found the course so far. There is NO WAY that you could forget that you are doing this course!!! Is that a good thing? I think it is- "client-driven" flexible learning does not absolve the client from some responsibility too! But if I didn't have as much time to devote to this as I have, then would I feel "nagged"? Thirdly, this course, far more than the other ones I have done so far, has a rhythm. Glen made mention of the "rolling present" in online learning, and I think that this element of chronology is an important one. I read elsewhere about the difficulty of knowing if a discussion is closed or whether it has moved on and thus your comment is redundant. I can't remember what the article is (I wonder if you can edit this thing so that I can put a link in later if I want to?) but the author suggested a 2week window for a discussion topic. But that militates a bit against re-visiting a topic after you've done more thinking or reading. This blog isn't called Afterthought for nothing! I am a past-mistress at going back to ideas and chewing them over again. The "any-time" element of so-called flexible learning suggests that learners can, if they want to, cram it all into the last week or alternatively gallop through the course at breakneck speed. But a course designed with lots of activities tethers it somewhat to a week-by-week chronology.

I'm sitting here cringing at the enormity of my first post. I've never done this before! I've been enticed into it for a couple of reasons: 1. I'm doing a course in Teaching Online through USQ, and it was suggested as one way of writing a reflective journal, which is part of the course 2. I'm aware that blogs are being used as part of online learning, and I'm interested to try out different ways of using it. I have a few other questions. 1. Can anyone see this? Does anyone really want to see this? 2. How safe is it? Is there any danger of the whole thing disappearing down the gurgler, taking with it my pearls of wisdom? Should I be writing this into a word document, just in case (seeing I will be dependent on the contents for my assessment)