Sitting 2 days after graduation listening to Chuck Dziuban, a Professor from the University of Central Florida talking about directions for teaching college courses with a focus on blended and online learning environments. Very intriguing thoughts and comments….
A couple of things to consider….
1) higher education institutions are pushing for online courses due to overcrowded on-campus face-to-face classes, and lack of money to build new buildings.
2) When we move courses online there are things to consider- student engagement, web 2.0 technologies, maintaining rigor. Note: these aren’t new but still worth considering.
3) College students today are very into technology and engagement- how do we do this in online courses and keep them interested?
4) System dynamics (Jay Forester, MIT) talks about- a) how adding a factor to a system changes the system and how the impacts on the system are counter-intuitive. Lastly, there are side effects that will surprise us. Adding an online, blended course to a traditional face-to-face teacher education program will surely have side effects.
5) Online courses are more work for both faculty and students…does more work mean more rigor?
6) College students learning how to teach face-to-face classrooms in elementary, middle, and secondary schools. Can initial licensure programs effectively prepare college students to be effective?
Research says-
1) students dislike faculty ambivalence- they want clear expectations
2) students want evidence of faculty engagement- largely feedback
3) students like convenience of online courses
4) students enjoy being able to connect, communicate online- wikis, blogs AS LONG as conversation is meaningful.
More information here
