Ways of Teaching and Learning in Cyberspace
J. B. Owens
http://www.isu.edu/~owenjack/bookmarks/daconf.html
This page has been prepared to support the plenary address of J. B. Owens,
Professor of History, Idaho State University, on 1 May 1998, to the
EGSA "Pedagogies on the Edge" Conference on the ISU campus.
"A traveller, who has lost his way, should not ask, 'Where am I?' What he
really wants to know is, Where are the other places? He has got his own body,
but he has lost them."
-- Alfred North Whitehead, PROCESS AND REALITY (1929)
Making Connections: New Approaches to Teaching and Learning
How I got here? Professional communications and course delivery to distant
students.
History
On-line: Teaching on the Internet (1995)
It is a waste of the technological resources now available for
computer-mediated communication merely to recycle old courses. New ways
of teaching and learning must be explored and developed.
Defining Goals; Defining Limits
I am not one of these wandering Gurus who sell state governors and others
miracle cures. I am nothing more than a working instructor seeking ways
to enhance my teaching and my students' learning. There are many aspects
of computer-mediated instruction with which I do not deal. For example, I
am not interested in, because I have little faith in, the sort of web
course in which the student is mostly involved in a self-paced interaction
with materials set up somewhere on a server.
I am also not an expert on computer-mediated instructional technology.
Fortunately, Idaho State University's Wesley Taylor provides a high level of
support and expertise in this area through the Instructional Technology
Resource Center
Terms
I.
- asynchronous and synchronous (real time) interactions
- Internet course
- online course
- Web course, Web-centered course, Web-enhanced course
II.
- electronic mail or e-mail
- web pages
- lists
- MOOs and chat rooms
Access to People; Access to Information
The ability to pursue a topic to the limits of interest and time.
"Not all who wander are lost" (J. R. Tolkien).
Active, Nonlinear, Extended Thought
The easy-to-learn use of hypertext, encoding with HTML (Hypertext
Markup Language), permits a writer to turn any text into a multi-portaled
invitation to the reader's participatory exploration. A properly-designed
curriculum will provide a student with the an experience of the sort of
thought characteristic of serious intellectual work, and in the sense of
"one must do science to learn science," will greatly enhance student
learning. Many web sites are currently providing opportunities for this
sort of thought.
- Resources
- Labyrinth
- American Memory
- Ecclesiastical
Culture
Information Search Design
With such heightened means of obtaining information, we must
concentrate more on teaching students to ask questions with sufficient
precision to reveal what information they need to obtain answers on which
to found judgments. Perhaps even more than in the case of print
materials, it is an instructional imperative that students be taught how
to evaluate the quality of the information they obtain. I try to develop
student projects that will give me opportunities to provide such guidance.
- Examples
- Renaissance
Creativity
- The Spanish
Empire
Amplified Interaction
I am not opposed to lectures as a teaching method, but a major
restriction of computer-mediated instruction is that it does not lend
itself to lecturing. Rather it provides a means to enhance substantially
interaction between teacher and student and among the students.
Asynchronous Interaction
More timely interactions are possible, interaction becomes more
convenient for students with complex schedules, student questions need not
be lost, and through the use of discussion lists, there is greater equity
since all students benefit from instructor responses to out-of-class
queries from students. The great problem is that there is as yet no
clear understanding of the impact of asynchronous interaction on the
instructor's time nor how best to limit and organize the potentially
increased student demands on their instructors.
- Resources
- ISU
Electronic Mailing Lists
Real-Time Interaction
Online, real-time interactions are of much higher quality than those
in the traditional classroom. Collaboration is greater, and participation
in more equitable. Because of its design flexibility and its easy access
and use, the MOO is a particularly valuable environment for such
interactions. The MOO is a good example of an instructional opportunity
which is relatively underutilized because so much computer-mediated
instruction is being driven by those fascinated with
ever-more-sophisticated hardware and software rather than by the genuine
educational needs of teachers and students.
- Resources
- MOO at ISU
- New Tools for
Teaching of James J.
O'Donnell
- MOO connection via cwis
Collaborative Learning and Teaching
Computer-mediated education provides much greater opportunities
for collaboration, and it is this aspect which is perhaps the most poorly
developed among those using Internet resources.
Learning Communities
On every college and university campus, there is a tremendous need for
common, collaborative ACADEMIC experiences among students to create
groups. Moreover, students need to have experiences and be directed
toward resources as a basis for life-long learning. Computer-mediated
communications permit individuals and groups to cooperate on an
international basis to provide the necessary opportunities.
- Examples
- Institute for
Constitutional Research
- World History
Network
Issues to Keep in Mind
Faculty Productivity
More efficient interaction with students. All aspects of instruction
are opened up to greater scrutability, which means that it is easier to
detect ways to improve.
More Professors!
Computer-mediated instructional techniques do not provide a substitute
for professors. If an institution currently has large classes and wants
to take advantage of the enhanced teaching and learning provided by these
developing techniques, its administrators will have to make the decision
to hire more teachers. Depending on the discipline, class ratios
cannot be above 10/1 to 12/1. Lower division courses require a lower
ratio than upper division ones. Politicians who jump at
computer-mediated teaching and learning as a way of offering a
cheaper education will also cheapen education in the process.
Administrative Recognition
More general and effective use of computer-mediated instruction will
depend heavily on how teaching is rewarded at an institution. In
particular, institutions need to develop adequate forms of peer review for
the creative work associated with much online teaching so that candidates
for promotion and tenure are not jeopardized by the novelty of their
contributions.
TIME!
Instructors must be provided with adequate time to learn new
techniques and to develop appropriate course materials. Institutions
should work to foster opportunities for collaborative teaching and
material development.
Quality Training
Everyone involved must have available high-quality training so that
computer-mediated teaching and learning, in courses other than those in
computer science, does not focus on how to use computers.
Access to Hardware and Software
Instructional designs must always take into account first the access
to hardware and software of students and instructors.
Institutional Support Structure
There is a support service crisis at most institutions, and this means
that system reliability is not adequate. Instructors should always give
thought to backup ways to check on computer system operations and to
compensate for periodic, frequent breakdowns. Computer centers should
train undergraduate student assistants to handle many routine functions to
free well-trained personnel for more difficult tasks.
Mail questions and comments to J. B. Owens (owenjack@isu.edu), or send a message now. Please include
your name and e-mail address in the body of your message.
All contents copyright © 1998.
J. B. Owens
All rights reserved.
Revised: 1 May 1998
URL: http://www.isu.edu/~owenjack/bookmarks/daconf.html