Introduction to Online Teaching

Candace Chou

University of St.Thomas

Outline

• Debate

• Process

• Cognitive theory

• Examples

• Tools

As We May Think

• There is a growing mountain of research. But there is increased evidence that we are being bogged down today as specialization extends. The investigator is staggered by the findings and conclusions of thousands of other workers - conclusions which he cannot find time to grasp, much less to remember, as they appear.

• Vannevar Bush, 1945

Quotes

• “Technology is neither good nor bad in itself, nor can it dictate educational goals. A pencil can be used to write Shakespearean sonnets or to copy someone else’s homework”

• Howard Gardner, 2000, p. 33

No Difference

• The best current evidence is that media are mere vehicles that deliver instruction but do not influence student achievement any more than the truck that delivers our groceries causes changes in nutrition… only the content of the vehicle can influence achievement”

• Richard Clark, 1994, p. 445

Counter-view

• Learning in an online environment can be as effective as that in traditional classrooms

• Students in well-design and well-implemented online courses learn better than those in online courses that are not carefully planned

• Tallent-Runnels et al. (2006)

The Balance

• Assigning too much influence to media can lead to the design/ development of sloppy, ineffective instructional materials that are accepted by technologists and users simply because they utilize CBI, interactive video, or other 'high-status' delivery media. Assigning too little influence to media, on the other hand, may discourage reflective thinking by designers about which media can best convey the instructional strategies needed to achieve instructional objectives (p. 6).

• Steve Ross, 1994

K-12 Online Learners

North American Council on Online Learning (NACOL), 2008

Postsecondary Online Enrollment

Sloan Foundation, 2011 http://sloanconsortium.org/publications/survey/pdf/class_differences.pdf

Perceptions of Learning Outcomes

Average Expenditure on Training

ASTD State of the Industry Report, 2010

Research Findings 1

• Students in online conditions performed modestly better, on average, than those learning the same material through traditional face-to-face instruction.

Evaluation of Evidence-Based Practices in Online Learning: A Meta-Analysis and Review of Online Learning Studies, http://www2.ed.gov/rschstat/eval/tech/evidence-based-practices/finalreport.pdf

Research Findings 2

• Instruction combining online and face-to-face elements had a larger advantage relative to purely face-to-face instruction than did purely online instruction.– the learning outcomes for students in purely

online conditions and those for students in purely face-toface conditions were statistically equivalent..

Research Findings 3

• Effect sizes were larger for studies in which the online instruction was collaborative or instructor-directed than in those studies where online learners worked independently.

Research Findings 3

• Blended and purely online learning conditions implemented within a single study generally result in similar student learning outcomes.– When a study contrasts blended and purely

online conditions, student learning is usually comparable across the two conditions.

Research Findings 4

• Elements such as video or online quizzes do not appear to influence the amount that students learn in online classes.

Research Findings 5

• Online learning can be enhanced by giving learners control of their interactions with media and prompting learner reflection.

Research Findings 6

• Providing guidance for learning for groups of students appears less successful than does using such mechanisms with individual learners.– When groups of students are learning

together online, support mechanisms such as guiding questions generally influence the way students interact, but not the amount they learn.

What is e-Learning

• Instruction delivered on a digital device such as a computer or mobile device that is intended to support learning.

Source: Clark & Mayer, 2011, pp. 8-9

E-Learning Features

Source: Clark & Mayer, 2011, pp. 8-9

Traditional Distance Learning

http://www.usdla.org/mini_websites/timeline/popups_future_of_dl_animation.html

Distance Learning Development

3Di Web 2.0

Web 2.0 and the 3D internet usher in the age of the Free Range Learner

Web 1.0

Access ParticipateValueProposition

PosterChildren

Find Share Collaborate Co-Create

LearningProgression

Dr. Tony O’Driscoll, E-Learn Conference, 2007

Focused Question

• In your experience in online learning or blended learning, what are the strategies or media that work for you?

Key Components of Online Learning

OnlineLearning

Source: Dabbagh & Bannan-Ritland, 2005

Key Components of Online Learning

OnlineLearning

E.g., collaboration, articulation, reflection, role-playing, exploration, problem solving

E.g., collaboration, articulation, reflection, role-playing, exploration, problem solving

Key Components of Online Learning

OnlineLearning

E.g., open , or

flexible, learning;

distributed learning;

knowledge-building

communities

E.g., open , or

flexible, learning;

distributed learning;

knowledge-building

communities

Key Components of Online Learning

OnlineLearning

E.g., asynchronous and synchronous

communication tools, hypermedia and

multimedia tools, web authoring tools, course management systems

E.g., asynchronous and synchronous

communication tools, hypermedia and

multimedia tools, web authoring tools, course management systems

Relationship

Pedagogical Models (Constructs)

• Open (or flexible) learning

• Distributed learning

• Learning communities

• Communities of practice

• Knowledge building communities

Open Learning

• A shift from delivering preestablished curriculum to focusing on individual and local needs and requirements

• Student-centeredness• Focus on learning rather than on

teaching• Provides students with flexibility and

choice in meeting their educational goals.

• Examples, knowledge networks, knowledge portals, virtual classrooms

Distributed Learning• Education is delivered anytime, anywhere, to multiple

locations, by using one or more technologies• A “pull” model of education in which students engage in

learning at their own pace and time, in contrast to traditional “push” model in which synchronize their needs and schedules to the institution.

• What is known lies in the interaction between individuals and artifacts and other technological devices. (Pea, 1990, Perkins, 1990)

Learning Communities

• Groups of people who support one another with regard to meeting their learning agendas, working together on projects, learning from one another, and engaging in a collective sociocultural experience in which participation in transformed into a new experience or new learning (Rogoff, 1994, Wilson & Ryder, 1998)

Communities of Practice• Groups of people informally bound

together by shared expertise and passion for a joint enterprise. (Wenger & Snyder, 2000)

• They are defined by knowledge rather than by task, and members are self-selecting rather than assigned by a higher authority. (Allee, 2000)

• A popular term in the business community

Knowledge-Building Communities

• Learning communities in which communication is perceived as transformative (resulting in a new experience or learning) through knowledge sharing and generation.

• Example: research teams in the scientific disciplines or firms

E-Learning Development Process

Performance analysis

Job and task analysis

Design

Development

Testing and Implementation

Learner Performance

Goals and outcomes

E-Learning GoalsGoals Definition Example

Inform Lesson that communicate information

• Company history• New product

features

Perform Procedure Lessons that build procedural skills (to promote near transfer)

• How to log on• How to complete an

expense report

Perform Tasks Lessons that build strategic skills (to promote far transfer)

• How to close a sale• How to analyze a

loan

Three e-Learning ArchitecuresArchitecture View Inter-Activity Used For

Receptive Information Acquisition

Low Inform training goals such as new hire orientation

Directive Response strengthening

Medium Perform procedure training goals such as software skills

Guided Discovery Knowledge Construction

High Perform strategic training goals such as problem solving

What Makes E-Learning Unique

• Practice with feedback

• Social software and collaboration

• Tailored instruction

• Simulation and games

• Other?

Your Preferred Learning Description

Three Metaphors of LearningMetaphor Learner is: Instructor is:

Response strengthening

Passive recipient of rewards and punishments

Dispenser of rewards and punishments

Information Acquisition

Passive recipient of information

Dispenser of information

Knowledge construction

Active sense maker

Cognitive guide

Four Principles in Cognitive Science

• Dual channels: auditory/verbal

• Limited capacity: a few pieces of information in each channel

• Active processing: learning occurs when people engage in appropriate cognitive processing

• Transfer: new knowledge and skills must be retrieved from long-term memory duing performance

Cognitive Theory of Multimedia Learning

Words

Pictures

Ears

Eyes

Multimedia Senses Working Memory

Long-term memory

Select words

Select images

Sounds

Images

Verbal model

Pictorial model

Prior knowledge

Organizing words images Integrating

How can e-Lesson help learning?

• Selection of the important information in lesson;• Management of the limited capacity in working

memory; • Integration of auditory and visual sensory

information in working memory with existing knowledge in long-term memory; and

• Retrieval of new knowledge and skills from long-term memory into working memory when needed later.

Evidence-Based Practice

• What does the research say?

Sources for e-Learning Design Decisions

Design Decisions

Interpret Research Statistics

• Effect size (d) tells us how many standard deviations one group is more than the other

• Effect size=1, very strong effect• Effect size = .2, .5, & .8 means

small, moderate, and strong impact • For example, group A averages

90% and group B 80%, the standard deviation is 10. The effect size is 1.

• Standard deviation tells you how spread the scores are.

90 - 80

----------- = 1

10

Source: (Clark & Mayer, 2011, p. 58)

Probability

• P < .05 • There is less than a 5 percent chance

that the difference between 90 percent and 80 percent does NOT reflect a real difference between the two groups.

• There is a 95 percent chance that the difference in scores is real.

• Conclusion, the difference between groups is significant.

Questions?

Examples of Online Courses• Contemporary online teaching cases,

http://www.deakin.edu.au/itl/teach-learn/cases/ – Role Play,

http://www.deakin.edu.au/itl/teach-learn/cases/files/participants/demetrious.htm#

– Simulation, http://www.deakin.edu.au/itl/teach-learn/cases/files/approaches/simulation.htm

– Blended learning, http://www.deakin.edu.au/itl/teach-learn/cases/files/participants/wells.htm#

– Complete online, Graduate Psychology course, http://www.deakin.edu.au/itl/teach-learn/cases/files/participants/armatas.htm#

• Online Teaching Activity Index, http://www.ion.illinois.edu/resources/otai/• Open Learning Initiatives, http://oli.web.cmu.edu/openlearning/• MIT online courses, http://ocw.mit.edu/OcwWeb/web/home/home/index.htm • Element K, business and technical courses,

http://www.elementk.com/resources/demo-center/courses • WomenVenture self-pace course

Jigsaw Activity• Form a group of three or four• Each individual uses the E-Learning Course

Readiness Review to evaluate three online courses from the previous slide or from the Internet. (20 minutes)

• The individuals report back to the group on their findings. (10 minutes)

• Each group put together a presentation on three online courses or learning modules. (10 minutes)

• Each group present their findings and discuss the strengths and weaknesses of these courses to the whole class. (15-20 minutes)

Videos on Future of Learning• Virtual Social Worlds and the Future of

Learning, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O2jY4UkPbAc

• Student perceptions, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-_XNG3Mndww&feature=relmfu

Five-Minute eClips

• What is 5-minute eClips, Introduction video, http://archive.tltgroup.org/2007/FL20070413-5-MinClips&HybridFacDev/qtmovie/$5minworkshops20070409_mov.htm

• RSS in Plain English, http://blip.tv/file/205570

Two-Minute Paper

• Open a word process and summarize the most important points in this morning presentation.

• What are the topics that you would like to explore further?

• Submit the printout to me without printing your name.

References• Bush, V. (1945). As we may think. The Atlantic Monthly

Retrieved October 31, 2007, from http://www.theatlantic.com/doc/194507/bush

• Clark, R. (1994). Media will never influence learning. Educational Technology Research and Development, 42(2), 21-29.

• Clark, R. C., & Kwinn, A. (2007). The new virtual classroom; evidence-based guidelines for synchronous e-learning. San Francisco: Pfeiffer.

• Clark, R. C., & Mayer, R. E. (2008). E-learning and the science of instruction: Proven guidelines for consumers and designers of multimedia learning (2nd ed.). San Francisco: Pfeiffer.

• Gardner, H. (2000). Can technology exploit our ways of knowing. In D. Gordon (Ed.), The digital classroom (pp. 32-35). Cambridge, MA: Harvard Education Letter.

References (cont.)• Allen, I. E. & Seaman, J. (2010). Learning on Demand: Online

Education in the United States, 2009• Ross, S. M. (1994). Delivery trucks or groceries? More food

for thought on whether media (will, may, can't) influence learning. Educational Technology, Research & Development, 42(2), 5-6.

• Sitzmann, T. (2007). Improving learning from web-based training courses: Research evidence (keynote speech Powerpoint). Paper presented at the E-Learn Conference, Quebec City, Canada.

• Sugrue, B., & Rivera, R. J. (2005). State of the industry: Astd's annual review of trends in workplace learning and performance. Alexandria, VA: American Society for Training and Development.

• Tallent-Runnels, M. K., Thomas, J. A., Lan, W. Y., Cooper, S., Ahern, T. C., Shaw, S. M., et al. (2006). Teaching courses online: A review of the research. Review of Educational Research, 76(1), 93-135.

• All images are from http://flickr.com