When I think back on my schooling experiences as a student in face-to-face classrooms, I recall many discussions in which the same core group of students (myself included) were engaged in the lessons and keen to participate in discussions, while the rest of the students preferred to remain quiet and observe the lesson as it unfolded. With the exception of a few courses in which the topics being covered naturally created intense discussion, for the most part I recall classes in which the instructors had to work quite hard to draw students into the lesson, participate in discussions and take risks in their learning. Now being in my fifth and sixth courses taken online, I have an entirely new perspective on face-to-face and online course work. In my previous university courses, prior to entering into the education program, I rarely knew anyone’s name, students spoke to the teacher when called upon, but discussion among students was rare. It often seemed like discussions were over almost as soon as they started. One of my favourite things about online learning thus far is the deep and meaningful level that discussions get to as more and more people contribute their comments, reflections and further questions that arise as the dialogue unfolds. I also love that I am free to work on my courses at times of my own choosing and to some extent, at my own pace.

It is with this mind-set that I pondered the questions for this week’s discussion about the attributes of effective learning communities as proposed by Anderson. Here are some of my thoughts in how these four attributes connect to creating educational opportunities beyond the walls of the physical classroom:

Learner-Centered- I was surprised in this section of the chapter when Anderson noted that learner-centered contexts must meet the needs of the teacher, institution, community or society that supports the students, as well as for the students as individuals and as a group (Anderson, 2008). Although learner-centered instruction was not a new concept to me, I had never really thought about the multifaceted element to this approach. I previously considered this only in light of the learner and not the entire context that learner is a part of. Some of the challenges that we must consider in regard to creating learner (or learning) centered communities is to be sure that we are respecting and accommodating the cultural attributes of all learners, associated preconceptions among learners, and the limitations that go along with e-learning. Communication can be problematic for users that may not have access to consistent technology, or that may not be familiar with the conventions of online communication practices. There is also the miscommunication that can result from a lack of body language, verbal cues that convey things like emotion, tone of voice and/or humour to consider. There are difficulties faced by the teacher when trying to get an understanding of where students’ skills are at in an online context. Teachers are less able to interact with students directly to get a ‘feel for’ their ability level the way that they would be able to in a face-to-face situation.

Knowledge-Centered- Despite the fact that online learning does not take place in the same location for all users, it is still situational. Knowledge and skills need to be taught within a ‘domain in which they can be grounded’ (Anderson, p.48). An important point made in this section of the chapter for education of all types, online or otherwise, is that students must bridge the gap to becoming expert thinkers by pairing automacy with the ability to reflect. Anderson notes that ‘automacy without reflective capacity greatly limits learners’ capacity to transfer their knowledge to unfamiliar contexts or to develop new knowledge structures’ (Anderson, p.49). Therefore, it requires both of these things for learners to become innovators and problem solvers in novel settings. Online learning opportunities provide a context in which the web can be utilized by students to make these necessary connections.

Assessment-Centered- The web offers some major advantages in regard to this attribute. Assessments of all kinds can be completed online or completed using software and then submitted online. Teachers are able to give immediate and specific feedback via a wide range of mediums for students to access and use to grow as learners. An additional advantage that the internet offers is the vast and rapid access that students and teachers alike, have to experts in their field of study. Much can also be learned from peer expertise and the feedback that can be provided peer-to-peer on individual and collaborative tasks. These affordances can in turn lead students to be more reflective about their own learning when self-assessing. Teachers have numerous options for assessment activities which gives students more of a choice in the way in which they choose to demonstrate their knowledge, which in turn increases the students’ accountability and their sense of ownership in their role as a learner. Online applications can aid teachers in marking assessments. Collaborative projects between learners separated by physical distance become not only possible, but quite manageable.

Community-Centered- From the work of many great thinkers of the past and present, we know that the social aspects of learning and learning communities plays a great role in the development and success of learners. The internet provides unique opportunities that would have been impossible without it, allowing learners to collaborate without the need to leave their own home. As communities of learning develop and are added to, students can take their learning to new heights, heights that they may not have been able to reach learning in isolation. There are some challenges in regard to this attribute as well. Not all students will feel comfortable engaging in the learning community, some face-to-face teachers may perceive online learning opportunities as a threat, and some students may struggle to fit in due to the ‘lack of placedness and synchronicity in time and place’ (Anderson, p. 51). There is no context in education in which a one-size-fits all approach will be adequate to meet all of the needs of learners. For this reason, online instructors still need to provide a variety of instructional methods to appeal to differing communities of learners.

Upon completing this reading, I was quite overwhelmed by the task that online instructors must face in designing course work that incorporates these attributes, in addition to having to teach the course, conduct the assessments, and engage with students to help them progress through the course. Being in the middle of creating my ‘Introductory Module’ in Moodle while reading and reflecting upon the Anderson chapter has also given me a new understanding of just how much is required to create an effective digital classroom. Although there are numerous benefits to online instruction, there are many aspects of it that make it more challenging than instruction in a face-to-face setting in many ways.

References:
Anderson, T. (2008). “Towards and Theory of Online Learning.” In Anderson, T. & Elloumi, F. Theory and Practice of Online Learning. Athabasca University.