This is my first experience with an online course so I do not have anything to compare it to, and, as we are in the middle of this course, I can not fully reflect on my experience yet. My lack of experience with online courses really makes this discussion post difficult for me, so I’m going to focus on how I would approach creating meaningful interactions.
When I finished the Anderson (2008) reading, my first thought was, “How can I add interactivity while honouring the culture of my students?” Anderson does state that “[a] learner-centred context is not one in which the whims and peculiarities of each individual learner are slavishly catered to” (p.47) and I completely agree. If that were the case, everyone in the world would need to be a course designer in order to make a course that’s perfect for every student. However, interactivity is a contentious topic at my school. While my school is moving toward 21st-century learning and teaching, overwhelmingly we’re still focused on student-content interaction. Teachers and students have been reprimanded for classrooms being disorderly or too loud. I’ll admit, the traditional Chinese teaching style is traditionally student-content interaction–students read, students listen to a lecture, students complete homework, students get feedback, repeat. Relying on this type of interaction alone is the complete opposite of what Anderson suggests, so, of course, my knee-jerk reaction is to start adding other types of interaction immediately. But I am cautious and unsure of how to proceed because it’s important to understand that this is the culture of learning my students are accustomed to. While I wouldn’t go as far as to say they prefer it, it is habit and habits are hard to break.
This brings me back to Anderson’s (2008) comment that, for learner-centred approaches, teachers must respect cultural attributes (p.47). Student-content interaction (as I described it earlier) is a cultural attribute of learning in Chinese schools. I recognize that, as students of a Chinese-Canadian school, students are required to face both Chinese and Canadian cultural attributes, in fact, that is a part of our mission statement. The question is, how best to implement additional types of interaction for our incoming grade 10 students who may know nothing but student-content interaction?
I think the answer is implement slowly with a lot of scaffolding. Anderson (2008) mentions scaffolding in his discussion of knowledge-centred approaches to learning so students can grow their own knowledge (p.49). My previous experience in introducing various types of interactivity (not technology based–I’m talking group work, and peer review activities) is that the students don’t know how to handle new experiences unless they are prepared. I haven’t been using learning technology for interactions beyond student-content yet, so the rest of this post is hypothetical–it is how I propose I will prepare for and use learning technology to help create meaningful interactions.Choose wisely.
Step 1: Choose wisely.
Anderson (2008) says that a challenge of Assessment-Centred approaches is “understanding what is most useful — rather than most easily – assessed is challenging” (p49). While this refers to choosing assessment tools, it applies to using learning technology to create interaction as well. I need to balance what will work for me, what will work for the students, and what will work within the constraints of our tech systems (ultimately, I imagine that I will rely on Bates’ (2014) SECTIONS model). Navigating the needs and constraints will be challenging, but not impossible.
Step 2: Start slow.
When I’ve chosen an appropriate avenue for interaction, I will start slowly. While immersing students in an interactive environment could shock them into adapting, I don’t think that’s the best course of action. I think the best option, in the beginning, is to continue with student-content interaction, adding the features Anderson (2008) mentions that the Web affords (virtual labs, online computer-assisted learning tutorials, etc) (p.58). Then, introduce student-student interactivity; I would love to begin with peer review and online group work.
Step 3: Challenge students at a steady pace.
As the students become more accustomed to interactivity beyond student-content, I propose to continue adding opportunities for interactivity in a manner that challenges the students, while maintaining a steady pace. Anderson (2008) suggests that we need theory to take advantage of the NET and to avoid obsolete contexts (p.46). That being said, if I do not continue to introduce different opportunities for interaction at a steady pace, there is a risk of being left behind as affordances of the NET advance beyond the abilities and comfort levels of my students. The area that my students need to be exposed to the most is engaging with content without a teacher dictating what they need to find. I think my students would benefit from working together in groups–it’s essential for their post-secondary experiences and it’s something they don’t get to practice enough. However, student-student interaction is difficult in grade 10 because the culture here is pro “helping” (cheating, copying) and it takes time to move past “helping” to mutually beneficial interactions. But, we do make a dent in it–it’s just that it takes time and reinforcement.
I know that my approach is dangerous in that I seem to be catering to my students needs, thus creating a situation where I could quickly experience burnout. It’s not a perfect approach, but I think it’s a start for balancing the current teaching/learning environment and the demand for added interaction.
It’s a shame that, at this moment, this is only a hypothetical situation for me–the climate and timing are not right for a making drastic changes to the program. However, my situation does reinforce Anderson’s (2008) argument for the use of a theoretical framework when approaching online learning and it has definitely helped me in my considerations for my Moodle course and it is something I will refer to when I am ready to make a move and start making changes to my course.
References
Anderson, T. (2008a). Towards a theory of online learning. In T. Anderson & F, Elloumi (Eds.), Theory and practice of online learning. Edmonton AB: Athabasca University. Retrieved from http://www.aupress.ca/books/120146/ebook/02_Anderson_2008-Theory_and_Practice_of_Online_Learning.pdf
Bates, T. (2014) Teaching in a digital age. (Chapter 8). Retrieved from http://opentextbc.ca/teachinginadigitalage/