Prior to starting the MET program I have not enrolled in any online courses. I think that for the most part the courses I have taken have strived to create the learning environment described by Anderson (2008). I would agree with some of my classmates who have argued that “learner-centered” should be renamed “learning”-centered so that the needs of the teacher, institutions and society as a whole are factored in (p.47). Through the course introductions teachers have been able to gain a better understanding of the variety of workplace settings that the students are working in. This provides insight into their prerequisite knowledge. One area that has not particularly been emphasized in the MET courses has been acknowledging cultural variations with respect to how students interpret and build knowledge (pg. 47). I am not certain whether it is because the majority of the students have studied in Canada so there is not much of a need. There may be a need to change in the future if future MET students from overseas enroll in the program.
All of the courses have included a combination of formative and summative assessments in various forms. Some courses have required the completion of three short papers each with progressively greater value in the overall grading of the course. The feedback for these papers were valuable to both the student and teacher to evaluate a sample of writing. The courses all include a final paper or major project component in which the knowledge gained throughout the modules should be applied. Of course, being knowledge-centered is not complete without the opportunities for reflection of one’s own thinking (pg. 49) as evidenced by our ePortfolio in this course.
The community-centered component of Anderson’s learning environment has been quite evident in all the MET courses as well as before starting the program through the MET Forum. The forum allowed new students to start messaging others students/alumni prior to starting the program. This forum allowed me to learn from other students what courses they took and how valuable they found them for their own learning. The community-centered feel becomes more evident I found with each subsequent course you take and realize that you have worked with some classmates in a group project before. The group work has challenged me to become more open to different opinions and come to a consensus when deciding on the direction of project. These collaborative skills are invaluable for dealing with situations in the work place.
In creating meaningful interactions, I will consider the learning objectives and how the knowledge needs to be deployed. The learning technologies will serve to provide multimodal options for the learners such that differing learning styles are considered. A combination of both synchronous and asynchronous communications channels will enable both the introverted and extroverted learners to benefit.
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