Introduction
Traditionally the methods
used to teach are based upon educational research
and best practices. Much of the way untrained
instructors teach students is derived from how
they were taught as students themselves. The role
of the teacher can be either as facilitator or
director. When teaching younger individuals the
teacher achieves best results using the director
mode. However “when teaching adults it is the mode
of facilitator that can guide the student to
achieve proficiency.” (Knowles, 1975)
Because, online instruction
has permeated the educational culture of our
schools and Universities it is becoming more the
requirement than the option that course material
be deliverable online and facilitated effectively.
Much of the same material can be used for online
instruction but it needs to be massaged for the
audience to use in the most effective manner. This
paper is not meant to be an anthology of resources
just a starting point for the best and available
methods to date.
Many instructors have
experience with using technology in the classroom
but do not have a good grasp of effective methods
of teaching online. A study from the University of
Glamorgan, UK pointed out that, “most lecturers
focus on content, are experienced in face-to-face
teaching, have little pedagogical training
(although this is changing) and experience of
facilitating learners online” (Connolly, 2007) The
methods used in online instruction do not differ
extremely from face-to-face methods but the
barrier of communication is much more difficult to
bridge and must always be taken into
consideration. Because this barrier can be more
pronounced for online courses than in face-to-face
taught courses the delivery method of the material
should be extremely well organized and the
communication methods should be more pronounced
and more diverse.
One method of instruction
that works well for student learning assimilation
is group collaboration or cooperative learning.
Even though this is a highly effective method of
instruction and is quite manageable in an online
environment it is quite a broad subject and
deserves to be left for discussion of it’s own.
Pedagogy or Andragogy?
Pedagogy
The literal translation of
pedagogy is the art and science of teaching
children. Typical practices of teaching children
use a teacher directed approach where the teacher
decides what is learned. The teacher has full
responsibility for making decisions about what
will be learned, how long to give child before
testing for learning, and if the material has been
learned. This places the student into a submissive
type role in their learning. It is assumed that
the child learner must be shown how to learn and
given all the techniques to understand what they
are learning. Students would be dependent upon the
teacher to provide the topic, what they will learn
about it, and how they will learn about it. The
teacher plays the role of authority and the
learner is not used as a resource for information
but to be given information. It is assumed that
the young learner has a uniform learning by age
level and curriculum. The students relationship to
the learning is subject centered. The students
motivation is provided through external rewards
and punishments or credit for learning.
The younger student is
taught through lecture, practice, evaluation, and
review. Such newer methods include journaling to
aid in understanding and self reflection, and
cooperative learning to assist with comprehension.
Andragogy
Andragogy is the art and
science of teaching the adult to learn. Malcolm
Knowles developed five assumptions on the
characteristics of the adult learner.
·
Self-concept: As a person matures his self concept
moves from one of being a dependent personality
toward one of being a self-directed human being
·
Experience: As a person matures he accumulates a
growing reservoir of experience that becomes an
increasing resource for learning.
·
Readiness to learn. As a person matures his
readiness to learn becomes oriented increasingly
to the developmental tasks of his social roles.
·
Orientation to learning. As a person matures his
time perspective changes from one of postponed
application of knowledge to immediacy of
application, and accordingly his orientation
toward learning shifts from one of
subject-centeredness to one of problem
centeredness.
·
Motivation to learn: As a person matures the
motivation to learn is internal (Knowles 1984).
Considering these assumptions it is proposed that
adult instruction is accomplished differently.
Since the adult learner is the center of the
instruction instead of the teacher, the teacher is
the facilitator of the students learning. To aid
in the facilitation of course information, Malcolm
Knowles and Stephen Brookfield, also considered an
expert in the field of adult learning, developed
principles to be implemented in adult teaching
methodology. These are:
1.
the participation of the learner should be
voluntary,
2.
create a cooperative learning climate and
demonstrate respect for the students self worth,
3.
collaboration to develop goals and objectives,
4.
utilize practical application to achieve goals and
objectives,
5.
critical self reflection of learning and the
quality of what they learned, and
6.
nurture of the self directed, empowered adults.
(Brookfield, 1986; Knowles, 1980)
A strong level of
communication must be used to facilitate the adult
learners feeling of worth, and provide
opportunities for collaboration and reflection.
To help visualize the difference between the two
educational models the following chart summarizes
each.
|
Assumptions
of Pedagogical and Andragogical Models
(Kelly, 2006) |
|
Assumption
about: |
Pedagogy |
Andragogy |
|
Concept of the
learner |
Dependent on
teacher (passive) |
Increasingly
self-directed (active) |
|
Role of the
teacher |
Authority
figure |
Guide and
facilitator |
|
Role of the
learner’s prior experiences |
To be added to
more than used as a resource |
A rich
resource for learning by self and others. |
|
Readiness to
learn |
Uniform by age
level and curriculum |
Develops from
life tasks and problems. |
|
Orientation to
learning |
Subject-centered |
Task or
problem-centered to meet life needs. |
|
Motivation |
By external
rewards and punishments (“credit”) |
By internal
incentives and curiosity. |
Why use Andragogy?
Because of the adult
students needs and motivations the most suitable
format for course arrangement would be to use the
Andragogical model. Courses are still taught in a
pedagogical style but as instructors of adults it
is important to evolve and enhance their own
understanding of how they, the instructor has
learned the same material. This is termed
metacognition. "It (metacognition) includes
knowledge about when and where to use particular
strategies for learning or for problem solving.” (Santrock,
2008) Until a student can metacognitively
evaluate their learning. It is best to use a
pedagogical approach to instruction. Once the
individual has achieved the ability to evaluate
how they learn and what they want to learn then
andragogical instruction methods are best used.
Much of the struggle of
moving face-to-face course material to the online
format has been in the area of technology but with
improvements in the tools available and the
increase of the mainstream consciousness of Web
and Internet concepts, there really isn’t any
reason for not being able to effectively put a
course online.
Face-To-Face Courses
versus Online Courses
Research in the field of
online instruction has found that there is very
little difference in a students ability to learn
course material from online methods versus
face-to-face methods. A study conducted by
Charlotte Neuhauser for Madonna University, School
of Business evaluated two courses with the same
content. One was taught online and the other was
taught face-to-face. Her results supported prior
research finding that there is no significant
difference in the major metrics-test scores,
assignments, participation grades and, final
grades. With the right resources and a good plan a
very strong effective course can be developed and
implemented.
Except for what has been
discussed about the assumptions of the adult
learner it is safe to say that there are rarely
any additional assumptions from the online
learner. The availability of a computer and a high
speed internet connection no longer needs to play
a significant role in the decision to put a course
online. A strong consideration to evaluate is the
students ability to make their way around the
operating system and understand the basic
operation of a computer. If there are to be
additional requirements made of the online learner
then they are usually made in the course syllabus,
giving the student enough time to consider their
ability to meet them. More detail will be
discussed on this topic later.
Online Delivery Methods
It is very easy to get
caught up in the jargon of computers when talking
about teaching anything online but if the emphasis
is given to the principles of facilitation then
the creation of course content becomes easier.
There are numerous methods to deliver course
material to students. Most of the Universities in
the United States will use at least one method.
This method of delivering course material is
called, the virtual learning environment. This
learning environment can be achieved using
preprogrammed software packages such as
WebCT/Blackboard,
or Web programmed applications such as
Mindflash.
An open source solution such as
Moodle or
Sakai can
be used by anyone to deliver course content or
custom designed Websites that assist in delivering
content. Open source means that the code that
created the application can be altered to fit any
need. All of them can help achieve the same result
of delivering course material some will seem more
virtual than others. The delivery method is often
beyond the control of the course designer and all
of them have limitations.
Communication between
Student and Instructor
There are many ways to open
the lines of communication between the student and
instructor if the instructor focuses on acting as
facilitator. The methods of communication must be
varied and not just exist between student and
instructor but between student and student. The
methods used should be timely and available to all
students. That doesn’t mean that all students must
communicate using all methods but should be able
to use more than one. The more methods of
communication available to the student the more
collaboration possible and the student feels the
instructor values the students input. Many
students are not in the same time zone so that
communicating at specific times is not always
possible. In other words it is very important to
have multiple forms of asynchronous, and
synchronous communication methods. An example of
asynchronous communication would be email where
the initial message is sent and the sender must
wait to receive a response. Chat is an example of
synchronous communication where both users are
online at the same time giving and receiving
information in a real-time conversational mode.
The student will be informed before beginning a
face-to-face course what the minimum communication
requirements are, and if there is a scheduled
class time requiring synchronous communication.
Making a required meeting time might be
unrealistic for adult students and would erode the
feeling of student self worth and value that is
necessary when teaching adults. It is necessary
to be open minded about the potential methods of
communication. Thinking beyond the traditional
methods of telephone and e-mail is mandatory.
It is highly recommended
that if any tool is to be used that it be tested
first by having the students complete a simple
assignment. Testing the methods of communication
can be accomplished many ways by creating an
assignments that requires the student to use
different communication methods. An ice breaker,
such as personal introductions are commonly used
in the beginning of a course to introduce the
discussion board process. Which aids the
instructor with evaluating students ability to use
the discussion board system, a form of
asynchronous communication. Online meeting tools,
such as
Adobe Connect,
WebEx or
iLink, can
be used to have synchronous communication This
communication can occur either from instructor to
student or instructor to entire class. These
methods of communicating are used best when there
are more than two people involved. These types of
tools provide a robustness to static material
being presented to students, such as a PowerPoint
presentation. It is possible to display a
PowerPoint while the instructors voice is
broadcast to the students in attendance,
describing what they are seeing. Other features
offered by these tools include a simulated chalk
board or writing tablet that allows the instructor
to hand write or type out key parts of their audio
presentation. Some of these tools provide the
instructors the ability to take control of a
students computer, with the students permission.
This tool provides for a more instructor directed
approach to solving a problem. All of these tool
features can be recorded allowing those students
that cannot attend the ability to view the same
discussion at a more convenient time, thereby not
missing any course content that others might have
benefitted from. To test this method of
communication it is recommended that the
instructor have a discussion of a predetermined
topic or some other ice breaking method to make
sure that any audio and visual communications
problems are solved and demonstrate to the
students another method of synchronous
communication.
To test students chatting
ability and open up another method of synchronous
communication, is to have students either set chat
appointments or have them have a chat with you by
the end of the course’s first week. Macintosh
platforms have an application titled
Adium, that
allows for simultaneous chat between multiple chat
accounts. One version that is available for the
Microsoft operating system is titled
Pidgin.
Almost all the methods of distribution and
communication should be platform independent.
There should be a way for all users to access the
course information on any platform.
A schedule of communication
should be laid out for all to see and use.
Initially course communication should be frequent
and detailed as the course progresses and students
develop a comfort level with the technology and
the course communication requirements stabilize.
Also a set of conduct guidelines or rules should
be posted and enforced. It is not pleasant but
there are conflicts which must be dealt with
swiftly. Course evaluations are much less
favorable if the technology doesn’t work and the
student has had continual trouble.
Course Design
Most face-to-face courses
will have these components but they might be
accomplished online using a variety of formats. If
Web usability is considered, it is valuable to
note that end users do not always like being
required to download documentation. This varies
from user to user but it is strongly advised that
there be an online viewable method. A PDF file is
perfectly acceptable form of delivering
information but not the most efficient. Not all
computers will open the file immediately upon a
students download request which makes it necessary
for the student to have to hunt for the file and
open it. This method is fine for archiving course
material but when viewing the course from other
devices other than a computer, such as smart
phones, this process is too cumbersome. Still
continuing to provide the course content PDF file
in addition to the content on a viewable web page
is important as many students still like to print
out the course information as well as read it in a
web page format.
General Course Areas
Somewhere right up front in
whatever delivery method you use, the course
description and course syllabus along with contact
information, office hours and objectives of the
course should be available. It is recommended that
a separate calendar of assignments and weekly
topics be posted in a relevant order for reference
at any time. The calendar of events and due dates
will be accessed much more frequently than the
general course syllabus.
When appropriate, a location
within the virtual learning environment should be
designated to post examples of the best student
work. This method works well when having problems
with students achieving a minimal level of
acceptability. When posting student work, comments
why the work is exceptional or what the students
can do for general improvement are valuable class
comments. Demonstrating how the work is
exceptional is valuable to those that might need
to stretch their abilities. This doesn't have to
be reserved only for exceptional work but for good
work. Any positive examples that students can
learn from help improve confidence and
understanding of the objectives. It is important
to make sure that when posting any student work
that the syllabus has informed the student of this
method and the student gives permission to do so,
unless the student contacts the instructor and
makes other arrangements. Also it is not
appropriate to post poor student work and use it
as an example of what not to do. Posting poor
student work can be done as long as it is
anonymous and the work is critiqued in a positive
learning form and not a negative demeaning form.
Module
Oriented
Modules typically consists
of the same content that would be in a
face-to-face course lectures. This material is
enhanced through links, visuals, tutorials and
mined Internet content that can be delivered to
students in any number of segments. It is not
necessary to deliver the modules weekly but, it is
imperative that they are delivered consistently.
The course material can be a written lecture but
using the power of the internet for timely
information and adding accessible links adds
relevance. It is not recommend to use a detailed
PowerPoint unless an audio track or detailed slide
notes are included to help describe the line items
within the PowerPoint. However a basic audio
lecture shouldn’t be the only method used to
deliver content for a course. An audio lecture
should include links to other resources for
additional explanation of the material or
tutorials that demonstrate the material. With a
lack of variety of distribution methods, students
can quickly become bored and their opinion of what
they are learning decreases, meaning course
evaluations are lower. A fine line must be
traversed between creating an interesting course
and a confusing course. By offering a variety of
distribution methods the instructor is not
removing consistency.
One of the
newer methods of delivering course content is the
wiki. A wiki is a Web page or collection of Web
pages designed to enable anyone who accesses it to
contribute or modify content, using a simplified
markup language. Wikis are often used to
create collaborative Websites and to power
community Websites. The collaborative encyclopedia
Wikipedia is one of the best-known wikis. Wikis
are used in business to provide intranets and
Knowledge Management systems. (Wikipedia, 2008) A
study conducted in 2007 at Victoria Wellington
University by Irina Elgort (2007), used wikis in a
face-to-face course to assist part time students
to do more outside the classroom and to help those
students that weren’t extremely comfortable with
technology, to make improvements in their use of
the technology. The results of the study found
that the wiki environment was clearly perceived as
effective in supporting group work, as indicated
in students’ comments provided in an anonymous
post-course survey.
Another method of module
distribution is an RSS feed. RSS is a family of
Web feed formats used to publish frequently
updated works—such as blog entries, news
headlines, audio, and video—in a standardized
format. Web feeds can benefit instructors by
letting them syndicate content automatically.
(Wikipedia, 2008) Syndicating is just another way
of saying publish or notify. This is very useful
when instructors have to change any of the already
posted material within the course. Students are
immediately notified and can respond if necessary
to any of the changes. Todays smart phones have
RSS readers making this technology extremely
timely.
Developments in social
software and social websites (RSS, podcasting,
blogs, Facebook, Twitter, etc.), combined with
instructional support tools such as online video
tutorials and course management software, create
new possibilities for both library instruction and
outreach initiatives. Because of this, the
Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU) Library
system science library undertook an initiative to
incorporate social software in their operation.
The installation of the initiative was deemed
successful because there was an increase in
library presence from four classes to fifty-five
classes. (Kirlew, 2006) Additional initiatives
were being planned at VCU for incorporating social
software into class material.
Social software and websites
can be used in courses to facilitate group
communication by providing students the ability to
update each other on new material faster and share
appropriate content examples of work for critique
or evaluation. For example Facebook sends an
automatic notification when someone has posted new
content to a Web page or posted feedback.
Feedback and Evaluation
There are many types of
evaluation methods. What works for the
face-to-face system, works for the online
environment. The method of choice can still be
delivered virtually. Online delivery methods can
incorporate testing of various types, multiple
choice, true false, essay, etc. Passwords can be
given so that only registered students can access
and submit test. Timing tests and forcing
completion of test can help in determining the
level of course material understanding. If the
course is project based, project submission
methods could be by e-mail or what Blackboard
calls, drop boxes. External evaluation sources can
be used by an instructor that does not have access
to a all encompassing course deployment system,
such as Blackboard.
Andragogical Course Development and the Online
Learning Environment
The
New Horizons for Learning Quarterly Journal
published an article by Dorothy Billington (2002),
a writer and researcher on adults and how they
live, which gives seven key factors found in
learning programs that stimulate adult
development. These factors take Malcolm Knowles
basic principles and expound upon their meaning.
1.
An environment where students feel safe and
supported, where individual needs and uniqueness
are honored, where abilities and life achievements
are acknowledged and respected.
2.
An environment that fosters intellectual freedom
and encourages experimentation and creativity.
3.
An environment where faculty treats adult students
as peers--accepted and respected as intelligent
experienced adults whose opinions are listened to,
honored, appreciated. Such faculty members often
comment that they learn as much from their
students as the students learn from them.
4.
Self directed learning, where students take
responsibility for their own learning. They work
with faculty to design individual learning
programs which address what each person needs and
wants to learn to function optimally in their
profession.
5.
Pacing, or intellectual challenge. Optimal pacing
is challenging people just beyond their present
level of ability. If challenged too far beyond,
people give up. If challenged too little, they
become bored and learn little. Pacing can be
compared to playing tennis with a slightly better
player; your game tends to improve. But, if the
other player is far better and it's impossible to
return a ball, you give up, overwhelmed. If the
other player is less experienced and can return
none of your balls, you learn little. Those adults
who reported experiencing high levels of
intellectual stimulation--to the point of feeling
discomfort--grew more.
6.
Active involvement in learning, as opposed to
passively listening to lectures. Where students
and instructors interact and dialogue, where
students try out new ideas in the workplace, where
exercises and experiences are used to bolster
facts and theory, adults grow more.
7.
Regular feed back mechanisms for students to tell
faculty what works best for them and what they
want and need to learn--and faculty who hear and
make changes based on student in-put.(Billington,
2002)
Considering the objectives
for andragogical course design, Knowles principles
and Billington’s descriptions, the following
techniques should be used to best design online
course content. To foster a safe online
environment have discussion board rules and make
sure that students are aware that any criticisms
or critiques used for grading purposes are
distributed individually and privately. Provide
assignments that allow for personal opinions and
those that draw from past student experiences and
allows for the students choice of topics to foster
intellectual freedom and encourage experimentation
and creativity. Create assignments that ask the
student to locate new research or a new
development and then have them share their
experience or their findings aid in showing
students the desired peer to peer respect. Use
the capabilities that wikis bring to build better
course material for future courses which gives the
instructor a continual improvement process that is
not self driven but student need driven. Require
students to incorporate a new technology into
their method of communication and pace assignments
to aid in improving the level of intellectual
challenge a course offers. Use online content
delivery methods such as Adobe Connect, Sabre
Centre or WisLine Web to bring the student closer
to the instructor and ask for active involvement.
Have students evaluate how well they performed
each assignment and how they might use it in their
everyday lives, this will incorporate a timely
method of active evaluation and give the adult
learner the comfort level that the instructor is
using a method of continual improvement in
delivering course material.
Conclusions
It is appropriate to
incorporate assumptions of adult learning when
teaching adults. Adult learning assumptions
include the ideas that adults are self directed,
look to the instructor as a facilitator, wish to
have their background included as the rich
resource that it is for additional learning by
themselves and others in the course, wants
assignments to be relevant to life tasks and
problems and is motivated by their own desires not
by others.
Online courses work well for
adults because of the daily stressors and time
constraints that adults have. Studies have shown
that courses delivered online or face-to-face have
little difference in performance outcomes for
students. The methods of online instruction might
be out of the instructors control since the method
of delivery such as Blackboard, Moodle or Sakai
might be already chosen by the institution that
employs the instructor however, the additional
tools that are used and how they are used are not.
Not all tools discussed here need to be
incorporated into a courses delivery to create an
effective online learning environment. There is
still room for personal preference in choice of
methods of communication and module delivery.
Continuing to learn and try new methods of
communication will aid in improved learning and
foster teacher student respect and collaboration.
