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.