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E-learning Pedagogy and Evaluation (R685) / R685 Blogs Weeks 1-16 / Re:Week XIV & E-Relationships |
on: January 15, 2005, 02:59:58 PM |
| Started by Snea Thinsan | Last post by Curt Bonk |
Thanks for contacting my friends Chris Dede. He is an excellent thinker and mentor.
curt
December 5 is Thailand's Father's Day. My daughter sent me this
sweet e-card that she prepared by herself.
See: http://www.thinsan.com/pthinsan/fathersday04/
Today early in the morning, or late last night, I wrote to a professor at
Harvard Graduate School of Education, Professor Dede, whose name is
well known in online education. He wrote in reply almost right away, meaning that he either woke up earlier or went to be late! --The latter
being my case 
I was referred to some of his work, and I followed the link:
http://www.gse.harvard.edu/~dedech/.
I spent about an hour or so watching his archived presentation on
"Distributed-Learning Communities and Neomillennial Learning Styles"
and found his analysis of online education very thought-provoking.
I wrote another email to him. Here's some of it, for your enjoyment:
I watched your archived presentation on "Distributed-Learning Communities and Neomillennial Learning Styles" and found your analysis very interesting and stimulating. Learning through electronic media and community dynamics seems to me, too, to be new and unique because it is both individualized and social in a new sense: individualized in a sense that learners can find their new ways of encoding, processing, and decoding the information through the chosen media, and social in that learning is influenced by the situated factors, especially by the multiple perspectives that in turn encourage reflective thinking and thus learning that cannot be predetermined. This reminds me of the case that a research team at HBS raises about the inevitable gaps to be filled when transfering even a highly interactive, successful traditional class into a web-based one.
What remains tough for designers of online courses is how to cater for all the variable learning styles within a given group. New media
can be empowering if the learners are at east with them, like the case of your daughter and mine, I would add, but they may in one way or another marginalize or push away others whose learning styles (or often attitudes toward things outside own comfort zone) disallows tolerance for ambiguity or technical challenges. Both, I think, equally deserve a close attention in distributed education.
Given this fuzzy picture of learning styles, many designers try to accommodate all the possible target learners, and thus online course design has become somewhat eclectic in delivery modes, content genres, learning tasks, and pedagogical frameworks. A problem I have found with this reconciliation occurs when people involved allow the technology to lead or mislead pedagogy, and when the ubiquitous, advanced technologies offer many new tools that present new methods of delivery and communications but do not suggest or embed any clear pedagogical guidance. Another related problem arises, when a specific field, such as second language acquisition, meets with technologies, and gaps emerge because of people rushing to adopt tools without thinking carefully enough or without enough knowledge about how the two marry happily without the need to sacrifice one or the other.
I do not want to make too many mistakes, writing too much to an expert, but I just couldn't resist the itches in my brain! This is not meant to impress you :-) , but, rather, to show you how little I know, how confused I am, and... these issues seem to be very well integrated into the study programs [at HGSE] in which all other aspects of education practice and leadership are explored.
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| 8 |
E-learning Pedagogy and Evaluation (R685) / R685 Blogs Weeks 1-16 / Re:Week X :: Online Learning Strategies for Thinking and Learning Styles |
on: January 15, 2005, 02:57:43 PM |
| Started by Snea_Thinsan | Last post by Curt Bonk |
Where are your extra quotes?
Reflections on chapters 16m 17m and 24
This week, we chose quotes from the chapters, discussed the selected few in groups, wove them together, and presented them to the class. It was a good exercise that allows everyone to share the ideas salient to them.
Professor Bonk then ran us through an amizing list of activities that can address the many different learning styles.
Here are some of the quotes that I did not present in class.
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| 10 |
E-learning Pedagogy and Evaluation (R685) / R685 Blogs Weeks 1-16 / Re:E-Relationship |
on: December 08, 2004, 12:19:10 PM |
| Started by Snea Thinsan | Last post by Snea Thinsan |
A reminder:
Here's the note I took from HBS' article:
Requirements
Meet Face-to-face first
Establish shared frameworks (prior to learning at a distance)
Establish process: roles and norms
Keep the technology visible
Provide supporting materials
Set expectations
Pace Deliverables – Supply and Demand
When the distance learning is asynchronous, as in the case of the PGL projects, the professors had to assume two responsibilities: 1) periodically supply enough new material—electronically—to keep students engaged; and, 2) demand periodic deliverables from students for review and comment.
Maintain Interactivity
In a classroom setting, debate maintains student focus; there are more potential distractions to students participating online or from a distance.
Pasted from <http://ifets.ieee.org/periodical/vol_2_2002/delacey.html>
Coach: Professor to Student and Peer to Peer
Enable Students to generate Data and Materials
Achieve Closure on Content
The opportunity to focus on what they have learned is critical to their sense of satisfaction with the dispersed learning experience.
Pasted from <http://ifets.ieee.org/periodical/vol_2_2002/delacey.html>
Opportunities
Take Learning out of the Classroom
Pre-frame the Debate
Benefit from Immediacy
Create Experiential Learning
Use Voting and Polling
Accommodate Less Verbal Students
Avoid biases
Provide Time for Thought
Research on creativity demonstrates that time constraints inhibit creative thought (Mueller et al., 2000). Time for incubation is critical to creative thought processes (Leonard et al., 1999). Therefore, providing some time for thought between sessions or between required responses may aid creative problem-solving.
Pasted from <http://ifets.ieee.org/periodical/vol_2_2002/delacey.html>
Harness the Power of Video
Expand the Reach: Communities of Practice
Challenges
The “Knowing-Doing Gap”: Motives and Rewards
There is always a huge gap between knowing what can and perhaps should be done, and implementing those ideas. The professors who have experimented with distance learning and, for that matter, with new technology, have done so because they were interested in new pedagogy—not because they were likely to be rewarded for their efforts.
Pasted from <http://ifets.ieee.org/periodical/vol_2_2002/delacey.html>
No faculty members receive recognition of the extra time required to plan and carry out distance-learning projects.
Pasted from <http://ifets.ieee.org/periodical/vol_2_2002/delacey.html>
What’s the seating plan in Cyberspace?
Avoiding the Tyranny of the Expert
Not all of our students are technically proficient, yet we are asking them to use technology in exercises and projects so we run the risk that the technical experts in any group effort will dominate.
Pasted from <http://ifets.ieee.org/periodical/vol_2_2002/delacey.html>
Staffing and the Hybrid Model: Online Interactive Learning is Different
Measuring Success
One faculty member said he had to learn a whole new way of thinking about teaching the material and “it took a while to ‘get it’.” He went on to comment that he had learned a lot in working with professional instructional designers. Even if the content of the course was the same as that delivered in the classroom, “Online interactive learning is different.”
Pasted from <http://ifets.ieee.org/periodical/vol_2_2002/delacey.html>
Final words:
A critical success factor in extended learning activities, whether in a university or corporate setting, is a supportive environment (Rosenberg, 2001.) Organizational support is crucial to the success of enriching learning with technology. As described by Berge (2001):
Key to the success of sustaining initiatives in technology-enhanced learning and distance education is the commitment and support of the organizations’ top [leaders]…. These leaders will need to exhibit enthusiasm for, champion, and allocate resources to these programs while encouraging and rewarding instructor cooperation. Such leaders can build credibility for distance education, maintain currency in the field, and gather support and partners inside and outside the organization … Both top-down and bottom-up support are needed for successful, sustained distance training and education at the high stages of organizational capability (p. 351).
It is clear that the learning environment has changed — and it is important for organizations to recognize this and act on it in order to “create an atmosphere for continuous renewal” (Leonard, 1998).
Blending tradition with technology may be HBS’s best approach for continuous renewal to develop its core capabilities around learning.
Pasted from <http://ifets.ieee.org/periodical/vol_2_2002/delacey.html>
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