Walls in Halls - Whittier Work

RSA #4 Engaging Online Learners

I thought that this would make a fitting final post for this course. As we have spent our time discussing and reading about online learning. I don't dispute any of the ten ideas presented in the video. It is surprising to me the lack of any mention of the idea of community. The interaction in an online course is so much more than the interaction between the student and the instructor. Communities have been emphasized throughout the readings.

Students in the online learning environment are not expected to undertake this process alone. The failing of many online distance learning programs has been the inability or unwillingness to facilitate a collaborative learning process. In this environment students should be expected to work together to generate deeper levels of understanding and critical evaluation of the material under study. In the process of seeking out additional materials for this purpose, students should be expected to share resources they are finding with out members of the group. (Palloff: Pratt 2007)

At our first meeting how we would put the courses that we currently teach online. How it is different than in a classroom setting. Just as I have found it very valuable to interact with my classmates during this course, this would be an integral part of any online course I would create.

RSA#3 Teachers Making Connections: Online Communities as a Source of Professional Learning

Teachers Making Connections: Online Communities as a Source of Professional Learning
http://cucproxy.cuchicago.edu/login?url=http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&AuthType=cookie,ip,cpid&custid=s8419239&db=eric&AN=EJ872748&site=ehost-live

This article presents the findings of a study of three different online professional learning communities. As discussed in our reading this week, the widespread Internet accessibility has made online learning of all kinds much more prevalent in society.

The teaching profession is constantly adjusting to accommodate change. Teachers are under constant pressure to learn new skills, update their knowledge and change classroom practices, and as new knowledge or skills are learned, they need to be absorbed and included in classroom practice. Many researchers perceive teaching to be in a constant state of change as new ideas or developments are disseminated. (Duncan Howell)

The traditional models of one-day workshops haven't had much of an impact on exacting change in classroom activities and student learning. Enter online professional development. The best practices of student learning tend to be centered on active learning. The online option incorporates several elements of active learning through postings, projects and discussion boards.

Chapter three addresses the human side of learning. When we discuss community building online, we are really concerned with humanizing a “nonhuman” technological environment and creating a learning community in the process. (Palloff Keith; 2007) This is both a real and anticipated concern for teachers before starting any online professional learning. The study found that initially teachers ranked face-to-face workshop as their first preference in professional learning.

The results from this study has shown that membership to online communities provides teachers with a rich source of professional learning. It would appear to satisfy all the suggestions rose by research in this field and, more importantly, would appear to satisfy the members of those communities themselves. Perhaps the most significant result collected form the survey was the result that 86.7% of members considered it to be a meaningful form of PD. Hence, we can conclude that online communities present as a worthwhile form of professional learning for teachers. (Duncan Howell)

References

Duncan-Howell, J. (2010). Teachers Making Connections: Online Communities as a Source of Professional Learning. British Journal Of Educational Technology, 41(2), 324-340.