869. Design with Learning in Mind
May 08, 2008
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In the classroom when you give encouraging words to one student, you are simultaneously giving positive feedback to all the students. But online students never hear these words to other students. Nor do they hear you say "good morning" and see a smile from you each class period. None of those cues are available to students in Web-based courses. Instead, for online students, everything becomes verbal; it takes lots of verbal positive reinforcement to replace all those visual cues that are not happening.
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Posted by markep on May 8, 2008
869. Design with Learning in Mind
May 08, 2008
Folks:
The posting below looks at how to develop learner-centered environments for online courses. It is from Chapter 1, Design with Learning in Mind, in the book, Conquering The Content: A Step-by-Step Guide to Online Course Design, by Robin M. Smith Published by Jossey-Bass, A Wiley Imprint, 989 Market Street, San Francisco, CA 94103-1741 [www.josseybass.com] Copyright © 2008 by John Wiley & Sons, Inc. All rights reserved.
Regards,
Rick Reis
reis@stanford.edu
UP NEXT: Teaching Large Evening Classes
Design with Learning in Mind
How Web-Based Learning Is Different from Classroom Learning
One of the most notable differences between the classroom and the Web-based environment is just that: the environment. First, you aren't standing at the front of the room ready to dispense the knowledge to the students. In addition, there aren't twenty to four hundred other people surrounding the student, all with a dedicated fifty minutes devoted solely to the subject matter.
Altered Learning Environment
In the classroom when you give encouraging words to one student, you are simultaneously giving positive feedback to all the students. But online students never hear these words to other students. Nor do they hear you say "good morning" and see a smile from you each class period. None of those cues are available to students in Web-based courses. Instead, for online students, everything becomes verbal; it takes lots of verbal positive reinforcement to replace all those visual cues that are not happening.
It is crucial for your students' benefit and for your own self-preservation that your course be designed in such a way that is creates a clear pathway of learning for the students. The most frequent criticism I hear about Web-based courses is how confusing the course is or how unclear it is to find the proper path within the course.
For a classroom course, you and the students go into the classroom and shut the door. There is almost no record of what is said in that classroom except for the notes that students take. In a Web-based course, in contrast, there is a visible, archived record of what you have presented for the class. This is more like publishing an article or a chapter in a book than teaching a class. Your course materials are now representing not only you but also your department and your institution. Peer review thus becomes a vitally important part of your course. Typo-graphical errors in your course materials, for example, reflect poorly on you, your department, and your institution.
The design of the online course becomes much more important than in a classroom. You'll need to make a few alterations in your course materials in order to accomplish the same learning outcomes in a very different environment. And as you do, you will have numerous opportunities for teaching in more effective ways.
When I thought in terms of my biology lab, I had the freedom not to worry about spending time getting to twenty-five students and telling each of them, "No, that is not the Amoeba; that is a speck of dust on the cover slip." "No, that is not Plasmodium; that is the pointer in the eyepiece."
Learner-Centered Environment
The Web-based environment allows repetition of content. Some students may need to hear a presentation several times in order to be able to absorb it. If the student is willing to invest that amount of time, why should he or she not be able to have that option available? In classroom courses, repeating sections of content usually is not a reasonable option. When content is available in a Web-based course, repetition of information is possible.
The learner-centered environment of an online course has a number of facets:
* Self-selected. The students choose when to come into the course and work on the subject matter adds a distinct psychological advantage: they are mentally prepared because they chose to work on the course materials. Even if it's to avoid something else they don't want to do (laundry, working in someone else's course), they've chosen to come to class. In a classroom course, in contrast, the students are required to come to class at a specific time. Even if they originally selected this schedule themselves, who says that on a given Wednesday at 10:00 A.M., it is agreeable for them to be there? By the way, you as a faculty member get to self-select the moment you go to class in a Web-based course too.
* Time. Students may work at the time of day when they are at their best. You may be at your best in the morning; if so, you can develop your course in the morning. Some students may be at their best at 11:00 P.M. and "come to class" then. Another student can come to class at 2:00 A.M. With everyone working at their optimum time of the day, both the course and the participation in the course are more likely to be the best effort possible.
* Place. Students can choose a place where they can concentrate well and at their convenience. A student who must travel for work or vacation can keep coming to class no matter where he or she is. This means that students can keep up with course work much better than students in the classroom, who if they have a conflict at, say, 10:00 on Monday, totally miss whatever happens in class. In a Web-based course, the attitude is, "Oh, don't worry. Do it later."
* Pace. Web-based learning students can move quickly through parts they understand, go slowly through parts they don't understand, and repeat sections as needed. Faculty members have always had the difficulty of not reaching all the students. Some students are left behind, while others aren't challenged enough. With a Web-based course, students can take care of this for themselves. And because materials are already online, there is no extra effort required by the faculty member to meet individual students' needs.
* Around-the-clock access. Students can access the course content when you are not available. In classroom courses, access to information is typically available during class time and during the faculty member's office hours. With content and other course materials online, this information is available around the clock.
The Student's Role
Students in a Web-based course are more responsible than those in a classroom course for seeking out knowledge. There is no longer a person standing at the front of the room to guide the student through a lesson for an hour. Online students need enough discipline to come to class by logging in and then working through the content. This is placing more responsibility on the student to begin with. In addition, there is no one there saying, "Class is over at 10 to the hour; you don't leave until then."
The greater responsibility on the student is another reason that directions and the pathway for progress through the course must be abundantly clear to students: There is an increased need for them to communicate with each other. Learning guides, discussed later in this book, can help facilitate this communication.
Because of these differences in the environment, course content requires these components:
* Short, directed learning segments-Chunk-ability
* Ability to repeat and review content-Repeat-ability
* Ability to stop and resume without having to start all over-Pause-ability
* Clear, direct instructions-Understand-ability
We'll talk more about these issues as you develop your content presentations.
The Faculty Member's Role
One of the changes in the faculty role is the distinction between development and design activities, and facilitation and teaching activities in courses. You may find yourself developing a course you do not end up teaching or teaching a course you did not develop. This is becoming more and more common as institutions begin to rely on adjunct teaching staff or Web-based teaching. Whether that is your situation or not, development and facilitation are independent activities in Web-based courses. Development and design activities are best accomplished and completed prior to the beginning of the semester, so that the semester may be spent on the facilitation and teaching aspects of the course.
There is a tremendous advantage to placing teaching materials into usable enduring materials. Once the course units or modules have been developed, time can be spent on revisions. The instructor is then free to interact with participants in the course. After you taught your course online one time, you can build from the foundation you have created. Your starting point will be much higher than it was when you began, so you will be able to stand on your own shoulders, so to speak, and build from a higher foundation. Your course becomes stronger and more robust each time you teach it.
Course Development and Design The design and development of the course, rather than the facilitation and teaching of the course, is where the transfer of knowledge takes place. In a classroom course, we typically think of teaching as dispensing knowledge, but today, knowledge is readily available (for example, over the Internet), so faculty are no longer the keepers of the knowledge. Instead faculty now explain that information, explore how to make connections with it, decipher what is most important, explain how it matters to everyday life, and so forth. Dispensing knowledge is something a machine can do, and faculty are much more talented and useful than any machine. Our role now is to make sure that information is presented in a way that is relevant, understandable, memorable, and useful to the students.
I was working with a faculty member who was developing a Web-based course. He was in a large group of mixed subject matter experts, so I was speaking in general terms. It turned out that his course was for remedial reading students. It was a blended course, and therefore not completely Web based, but some customization was in order. We knew that these students have some difficulties, and expecting them to learn to read by posting lots of course documents was a definite stretch. This goes back to the point that Web-based courses have to be planned from the beginning. One of the ways that students learn to read is by hearing others read out loud and by reading out loud themselves, so I suggested some ways to incorporate audio files and assignments in which the students would read out loud and turn in those readings. There are ways to teach most subjects online, but you have to be thoughtful about the way courses are planned.
Course Facilitation and Teaching As facilitators and teachers in Web-based courses, we lead students rather than dispense knowledge to them. We become the bridge between students and content rather than the source of the content. It is a perhaps subtle change but nevertheless important because it means taking on different responsibilities.
A faculty member who is acting as the sage is reaping the benefits of working with, structuring, and communicating the content. One goal in designing effective and efficient learning environments is for students to work as intensively with the content. Strategies that support this shift in perspective include having the students moderate discussion forums, prepare concept summaries and examples for other students, and assume greater responsibility as frontline moderators for the course (Boettcher, 2007).
Design features incorporated in this system of course development and the learning guide will create an environment in which students are confident of their pathway, and the only challenge is the course content, not the navigation of the course or figuring out what must be done in order to complete the course. This focus on students when designing the course will free you up to spend the semester teaching and interacting with the students in regard to the content rather than answering questions about course navigation or specific directions about assignments.
Course logistics questions detract from the true reason faculty are available for their students: for students to learn information they cannot get from any other source. A properly designed and developed course should trigger very few logistical questions during the semester, so your time can be spent on interacting with students, not developing or designing your course.
Appendix D provides a list of design and development tasks.
Advanced Planning
Your students are extremely busy individuals and need to be able to plan their lives in advance. One way I helped my students was to commit to test dates at the beginning of the semester so they could arrange work schedules, babysitters, and other help. I would not change test dates on them. If I had to be flexible about some thing, I might change the amount of material covered on the exam but not the date. This commitment to the students and my respect for them set a tone of professional courtesy in the course that ends up working to everyone's advantage.
For now, it will be helpful to document what is currently taking place in the course you'd like to work with as we work through Conquering the Content. The action steps that follow will help you proceed to Chapter Two, which addresses making sure course materials are in a format that can be ready to be easily updated.
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this which I will say is only a representation of the truth that is within children, and somewhere within us all. and the truth is beyond these words, and the falsified meaning they have in the world
don't take this as being taught, everybody is taught wrong, that's the definition of being taught
I think of children as from conception, the true good, the true humanity. when we are conceived, we have light, that shines so bright, it can only diminish. children hold within all the truth, good, love and beauty in this world, before it is taken away. children need to be their own future, for true humanity to regain hold over the world
loving the environment more than children is what truly eradicates it, as compared to children, the environment is shit
loving animals more than children is what truly obliterates them, as compared to children, animals are shit
loving possessions more than children is also what's destroying true humanity, as compared to children, possessions are shit
today an adult looks at a baby and is concentrated on how their teeth are growing, yet looks at some animal, or a tree, and is filled with awe. this is wrong priority. the only adoration they have for children is how they're growing into that same thwarted reality, succumbing to evil. I just saw a short documentary where some village was being shown. First was a short frame of three children standing motionless 20 feet away, followed by three in-face close-ups on three adults. yet this thing that adults became because of loss of their true humanity, is falsely being blamed on immaturity, instead of the other way around. children are the only truly human beings. everything negative that adults say or think about children, is the opposite of truth, and the truth about adults. adults will shun and ignore children while admiring this evil which they have become
aso children who are still children, and they are so since conception, are the only ones who care for the human race and thus the planet
children have the healthy, true relationship with one another, and between females, males and two-spirits, children truly love each other, due to inability of a child to love oneself. children have extremely negative reaction to mirrors and pictures of themselves, instantly looking away and pushing it away. they will hail one youngest child by holding them up and spinning them around (or spinning a child in a carriage, for instance) counter-clockwise, which brings the hailed and the hailers great joy, thus showing the true nature of humans, our own conception as this "supreme" and as the only way to retain true humanity. it's the adults' exersion of control, teaching and constant moving them around which leads to disruption of this relationship and ability to create their own, true and good language and culture, later being replaced with fake
they are put in constant bondage, constant cage, being deprived of their touch with nature and other children, they are being held like trophies, beaten, shouted at, taught tricks, humiliated, and generally treated with total lack of respect and sensitivity, and being used as pawns by the media
so look at the smallest of children and see, what true humanity is
lend yourself completely to the smallest of children, they are being the truth that is inherent
predecessory hate is the only kind of hate there can exist, without it there would be no hate, loss of belief in that is loss of belief in inherent true good. whenerer you look to the right, send hate, hate and hate, all the curse words and signs you remember but were taught not to use. when you get rid of that hate, you'll uncover the truly human part of them, and regain your inherent love for inherent true humanity. the one children see so they smile. when you look to the left, send love, love and love. it's hate that turns to fear if not let out, not the other way around. it's the reversal of sides to which love and hate naturally belong that turns to this fear, which adults have an incredibly lot of, and more and more. we are inherently fearless. it's this tremendous fear, hate and jelausly that adults have about inherent true humanity that they're putting on children. they no longer believe in humans as inherently capable of endless creativity and will adopt the falsities of talent and experience, as they have lost true creativity themselves. "phobias" are real fear and hate, for instance, any hate against two-spirits is because their two-spiritsm was put on them from unnatural adult sources, and not inherence, and thus as helpful to pass that hate back and regain their true maleness or two-spiritism
lend yourself completely to them, follow them absolutely, give them freedom to be with nature and other children, freedom belongs to them
don't teach them, don't exert supremacy like tapping them on the head, don't bondage them, don't talk to them, but listendults live in this fake, adult world of theirs, blind to the true horror that the human race is in, which they are making worse while glorifying this evil, finding awe solely in nature which they are destroying and shaming, horror that is infinitely more horrible than anything they can imagine, because they no longer know what true beauty is
so children who are "misbehaving", (and the real kind, the kind you see in the real world, not the falsified media), like attacking solely the things which are our biggest enemies: computers, television sets, speakers, ripping apart paper, wallets, our collections etc. and looking at things like an exercise bike with joy, as exercise is healthy, they know exactly which things are good and bad for us, not the other way around
they will throw things out of the carriage or crib, desperate to be let out and followed; take off clothes showing how we need to get rid of the bonds put on us, climb furniture to show us that true humanity is above this fake world, which adults value more, they will refuse to eat or bath knowing it is wrong priority, they will tell a different age or name than their own, to show us it's not what makes us, and insistently speak of animals and possessions as shit or likewise, which compared to where our real priorities lie, that adults have abandoned, those things are, and thus abandoned everything else making it turn to shit, they will desperately try to make adults rid themselves of the guilt, because that evil did not come from being one's true self, but from being made not to be, and believe they wouldn't normally be capable of any of this evil, and instead of tremendous good
it's the only way that we all can heal, the environment can heal, and children can create infinitely more beautiful worlds based on true humanity, without shaming the environment and animals, and partake in endless creativity, love and beauty
can you envision a world with millions of different cultures and languages, cultures not based on lies, constantly being created anew, coming from true humanity? and a true, healthy relationship between males, females, and two-spirits? where everyone is extremely healthy is every way, there's no loss of memory and thus our true humanity, and no disease?
so the problem is maturism, false belief that we are becoming human by maturing, or being taught so by adults, due to loss of belief in inherent true humanity, and inherent good, thus it's a belief in false humanity as a humanity. thus any pretense can be created by anyone on what that maturity is, but it always means the opposite of being truly human, and the definition getting further and further away. they are completely taking away children's rightful freedom to take control of our culture, which is the only way to rid it of true evil. the effect of maturism is creation of a false goal for one great unity with everyone the same, which not only depraves us of our true humanity, but only leads to destruction as new ideas are being created on what that is. which is exactly what is happening with the world. from villages to towns, from towns to cities, from countries to unions, exerting control, constant policing. everything which is in disruption of creating this "one great unity" is seen as wrong, even though it's only our reaction to this evil. it also creates false belief that everything that happened in the past which was in the goal of this "great unity" can't be wrong. we are further becoming less and less truly human with things like loss of belief in abortion as murder and showing more and more extreme negativism against children, they are becoming a worse and worse stereotype, it is more and more in every film, documentary, newspaper and news broadcast, and outside. but only a child is the true individual, capable of creating new, true language and culture, and with complete understanding and love for other humans. today all the things are blamed on children, instead of this adult thing which isn't human, further exerting control of adults over children and strengthening the grip of this evil against true humanity, because they are no longer themselves being led by true humanity. there is less and less dinstinction between people, and between females, males and two-spirits.
a person once came to me, he seemed desperate to affirm the superiority of the adult and was insisting I call him sir, after I adamantly refused, defeated, he went and murdered oneself, so in reality, these people are very fragile. their constant exertion of control and superiority is their only way that keeps them from seeing themselves as this great failure and maybe ending it all, feeling powerless against it
adults have this extremely negative view on children, which is in fact, the truth about themselves, and will constantly try to make their child believe they're the ones who are evil
everything today seen as "conservatism"is what kept the world from coming into greater and greater evil. instead of trying to understand this affect of the adult which caused all the shit and rectifying it, it went on the wrong way, creating a falser and falser humanity
that's the reason behind all "mental illness", "disease", "murder" and "suicide", fight to retain true humanity, and the only true mental illness, disease, murder and suicide is the adult
long, long ago, when my old grandfather, before he died, no longer having any memory at all, looked at me and he truly smiled, for the first time since I first met him. nobody saw him do this before. it's because he rerecognized true humanity
here is an example of the evils of maturism, as is our world, maturist propaganda is all around us:
"what we must fight for is to safeguard the existence and the reproduction of our race ... so that our people may mature for the fulfillment of the mission allotted it by the creator of the universe. ... peoples that bastardize themselves, or let themselves be bastardized, sin against the will of eternal providence."
-adolf hitler
maturism is the true evil behind all evil, this evil that is today's world and evil of the past. only our own true voice, one we were conceived with, the one with truth, is true humanity, that is in connection with our conception, and is capable of true, endless, creativity. immaturity is the only true humanity
so put the inherent truth everywhere you can, write it on walls, shout it, vandalize, spit, piss and shit and curse on this world, it's all shit everything around us is shit compared to our number one priority, children, the true humanity, otherwise everything turns to shit
stop this wrong of the adult, wrong of believing in thoughts and theories instead of the inherent truth which is in children
every child is conceived with complete love and understanding for other human beings, and ability to create new language and culture
more than that, a child is conceived with love of true humanity itself, with no love of false humanity which leads to this love of "great self", mostly due to unnaturality of humans being so connected together, instead of truly or at least partly flourishing apart in small groups
Posted by: asdasd on May 17, 2008 08:09 AM