Effective Online Learning
Designing an effective online course requires intentional actions by the designer and instructor. Providing materials, assessments, and methods of interaction that can mimic the traditional face to face class is difficult. However, online learning has brought about a change to academia and can be just as effective. Online learning has the ability for students to learn at their own pace, creates a more personalized learning experience, and allows for a more interactive online experience (Christians, 2023).
One of the major benefits of the online learning model is the ability to complete work from anywhere and almost any time. The ability to work at your own pace and when it is convenient to the student is a major selling point for the online anytime model (Anonymous, n.d.) However, as much as these two points represent a couple of benefits, if the course is not designed from the onset to be pedagogically effective, students may not learn as much as they could compared to a face to face class.
Poorly designed courses can lead to students losing their focus, not knowing where to start, and not understanding what they need to do. This is exacerbated if the student is still learning how to use the technology associated with online learning (Chen, 2015). Using a proper design model can assist the instructional designer and instructor in creating a more engaging course that focuses on learning the material, rather than learning the technology.
Summary of Two Different Models
For this weeks reading we were provided two different approaches to designing an online course, or more importantly and effective online course. The first article, written by Dr. Li-Ling Chen, titled: Pedagogically Effective Online Instructional Design Model establishes four main steps to designing an online course. The second article by Garrison, Anderson, and Archer discuss the importance of Community Inquiry learning. This approach focuses on the idea that learning occurs in the interaction of the student and the instructor.
Developing an effective learning model can be approached using various means. L.L Chen attempts to break down a pedagogically effective online course into four steps. These start with identifying the type of course format to use, learning objectives, learners needs, and finally the appropriate pedagogical model: behaviorism or constructivism (Chen, 2015). The second step is select. The instructor has to decide if the course will be linear or non-linear, what type of interaction methods will be used, assessment methods, etc., and what resources to include in the curriculum as well as institutional resources. The next two steps include create and assess.
These two steps represent the building out of the course, collection of resources, preparing materials, and putting it all together in a cohesive manner that is easily navigated (Chen, 2015). The assessment process focuses on student performance and using multiple strategies to allow for multiple learning styles. The author presents a linear process of course design that more akin to a checklist or an inventory of all the necessary items.
The second article provided to use this week based on the Community of Inquiry or the idea that learning takes place when the students and instructor interact, or within the community of the classroom. This model centers on the convergence of three elements which consist of Social Presence, Cognitive Presence, and Teaching Presence (Garrison et al., 2000). The common element is the idea of presence, being part of the class. This model does not require a linear or step by step checklist, rather the interaction of the community. Let's take a brief look at each "presence".
Cognitive presence is the foundation to academic success in higher education and is meant to describe the meaning learners are able to construct meaning through communication. Social presence is defined as the ability of the learners to project themselves into the learning community and make themselves real to all participants. Finally, teaching presence is broken up into two parts: instructional design and facilitation. These are the primary responsibility of the instructor and relies on their expertise in course design and their field of study (Garrison et al., 2000). Each of these presence's culminate in the educational experience for the community.
Both models offer something of value to the process of designing an online course. The model developed by Chin represents a straight forward approach to developing a course, similar to a checklist of things to complete. The second approach seems to a bit more dense, in the sense that it depends on the convergence of all three presences. However, it looks to be more flexible and a goal to work towards, rather than a narrow tasks of things to complete. Both models are built to reach the same goal....effective online course design.
Works Referenced:
Anonymous. (n.d.). Strengths and weaknesses of online learning. Strengths and Weaknesses of Online Learning | University of Illinois Springfield. https://www.uis.edu/ion/resources/tutorials/overview/strengths-weaknesses
Chen, L.L. (2015). Pedagogically Effective Online Instructional Design Model. In S. Carliner, C. Fulford & N. Ostashewski (Eds.), Proceedings of EdMedia 2015--World Conference on Educational Media and Technology (pp. 1551-1554). Montreal, Quebec, Canada: Association for the Advancement of Computing in Education (AACE).
Christians, T. (2023, February 24). 6 reasons why online learning can be more effective than enrolling in a face-to-face training. eLearning Industry. https://elearningindustry.com/reasons-why-online-learning-can-be-more-effective-than-enrolling-in-face-to-face-training#:~:text=Students%20Gain%20More%20Knowledge%20Than%20In%20Standard%20Classes&text=Pupils%2C%20on%20average%2C%20work%20faster,areas%20that%20need%20more%20time.
Garrison, R., Anderson, T., & Archer, W. (2000, September 7). Critical inquiry in a text-based environment: Computer Conferencing in higher education. The Internet and Higher Education. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S1096751600000166?via%3Dihub
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