In this video,I discuss some of the reasons why students see online learning as lower-quality than face to face learning. I also follow up with how the use of mobile technology could enhance the overall learning experience for students.
I would like to hear whether you have encountered the same attitude while working with students in online learning!
Pei, thank you for this much needed analysis on online learning. My only experience with online learning as an educator was this past semester when my course moved online at the beginning of April, so I have more experience as a student in online courses. Lack of just-in-time discussion with classmates, instructors, and students, as mentioned in your analysis has been a big issue.
Most of my students who transitioned from blended to online this past semester were accessing course material on their mobile devices, and showed preferences for mobile friendly content and document reading/editing. If I sent them an interactive PDF, it was much more difficult for them to interact with on their phones without an additional download, and so I discovered I needed to either build in the interaction within the LMS or send them an editable Google Document instead. I’ve also started using Canvas on my mobile more often when I can to view or listen to course content, but it is much more difficult to produce content for discussions and assignments on mobile and read and take notes on longer texts.
Hi Pei, thank you for a great A1. I appreciate you bringing this topic to light. It’s a little ironic that I had sent out a survey to my students today asking for feedback on their experiences of doing chemistry laboratory practicals online for most of the semester with the hopes of using the feedback to improve the next semester’s offering. My heart broke every time I read over a comment from a student that said they had wished they could have done the practicals themselves, how they are now worried about not having picked up valuable lab skills or thinking that they are now not as prepared for their future careers as they would have been. We tried our very best to give them the best experience possible under the circumstances but I can see their perspective in the matter. Although they were quite happy with our online offering it’s clear that they would have preferred the physical labs or in some cases a combination of both modes of instruction.
Good analysis of mobile education. I think many dislike it as they’re not used to it. When you go to a class, you generally know what to expect as you’ve grown up doing that. Online courses such as ours can have steeper learning curves without someone there to guide you through the format. Also, most of our groups use external communication software to connect. Shouldn’t this be built into the school apps?
Jonathan