Over the past two weeks I have been doing quite a bit of
reflection on the topic of designing and supporting for online learning. As Varsity College, the institution that I
work for, moves resolutely forward with its agenda for the promotion of
teaching & learning in the online environment, I realise that it is
necessary to bite the bullet and get serious about this matter as an integral
and permanent part of my teaching practice.
I have already in past introduced some aspects of technology
into my teaching - small things such as playing relevant YouTube videos to my
Legal History students (great content there on Roman battles and Romans doing
all sorts of historically important things), or exploring, together with my
students, the United Nations’ online repository of international legal
instruments.
Obviously some classes (subjects) lend themselves to these
sort of activities more than others do.
The two subjects mentioned above lend themselves to this sort of
exploratory teaching - because of the nature of the subject matter and also
because of the type of discourse that they can engender. My Legal History classes frequently digress
into debates and discussions on the role of European law in colonisation
process - and the later institutionalised racial segregation policies - in
South Africa. With International law
there is always something happening - treaties being broken, international lawyers
Tweeting madly about something or the other.
With both these subjects it would be relatively easy to engender and
maintain the interest of my students in the online environment. I'm planning to introduce Twitter in my
International law classes next year and have already thought of several ways in
which this could help to build a sense a community among my students, while also sharpening their interest in the subject.
I was particularly drawn to Professor Martha
Cleveland-Innes' seven principles of blended and online learning, viz. design for
open communication & trust, design for critical reflection & discourse,
the creation and sustaining of a sense
of community, providing support for purposeful inquiry, ensuring that students
sustain collaboration and also ensuring that inquiry moves to resolution. These seven principles somehow make logical sense
to me and resonate with me more than some of the other structures that I have
encountered in Topic 4.
I am confident that I will be able to start a process of
implementing these seven principles in a more formal way in my online teaching
presence. This is especially so where
institutionally we are now investing in proper, functioning and effective
online spaces, tools, bandwidth and other infrastructure.
However, the problem does persist that there are some (there is one
in particular) subjects that I teach that are so academically rarefied, so
entirely based on knowledge still found only in books (mostly very old books)
and containing complex concepts difficult for me to explain except in the
traditional 'chalk & talk' physical classroom setting.
On the other hand, while working on the Powtoon presentation
it struck me that Powtoon could be a very good tool to explain such difficult
concepts. The mix of voice-over and
graphic representation could perfectly emulate what I normally do in the real
class. So even with this ‘difficult’
course there are possibilities to explore that would allow elements of blended
learning to become part of my teaching style and practice.
I think it's a fair point that some courses can be tough to implement online. But in a blended course, you can still give your traditional lecture, but then host live webcam chats to discuss the topic, rather than having to meet in person to discuss the lecture = blended.
ReplyDeleteYes, of course. Perhaps I use the term 'blended learning' a bit loosely. In my mind I do think of blended learning as a whole package - and extension and also sometimes an alternative of the traditional classroom. But to reach the blended ideal, I imagine myself taking baby steps - such as incrementally introducing specific online tools and strategies into the T&L environment.
DeleteThanks for bringing up Martha Cleveland-Innes' seven principles of blended and online learning. I missed the webinar and your post made me go back and check it out! It sounds very much hands on and clear. I had somehow reflected on the need design for critical reflection & discourse in my post without knowing about the webinar. Good stuff!
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