Developing online course activities

Extra credit:

Web 2.0: How can it influence my teaching approach?

It can help me be a better teacher because:

1.      It will allow me to accommodate various learning styles and from experience I know based on my subject area if I don’t use varied resources my students will be bored easily. Children learn differently (re: Multiples Intelligences; Bloom’s Taxonomy).

2.      As a teacher I will learn more. E.g. using this course I have had to improve my skills and practice some things that I may have forgotten. Added to this though I am familiar with Blogger and Google Drive I learnt about VoiceThread and various techniques and ideas shared by my colleagues as well as my tutor have helped considerably.

3.      Web2.0 would help my students stay motivated and by learning more myself it will help me be more comfortable and confident of what I am teaching.

Role of the Tutor

My response:

The learning model is a virtual classroom that allows for a shared constructivist learning model and is one that allows for an interactive and collaborative learning experience. Learning is essentially an active constructive experience and process.

The 3 most important responsibilities of an online tutor are:

1.      To facilitate the learning process: Facilitating the learning process allows for the exchange of ideas and also allows learners to learn from each other and to learn with each other. Apart from collaboration it facilitates problem solving.

2.      To guide and mentor learners:  This allows the tutor to build a strong social presence and also sets clear expectations for learners. It also allows for activities to be designed also it creates collaborative learning and allows for problem solving as well.

3.      To assess learning: To know if learners learn and how much they learn it is important to assess learning and this can be done via activities and discussions in several ways. E.g. the blog, forums, asking learners to engage in reflective practice.

Challenges of being an Online Learner

What are the challenges of being an online learner?

To answer this question I will draw on my own experiences:

1.      Time:  This can be a major challenge in terms of reading modules, interacting with colleagues and doing activities. I have been recovering from an injury I sustained on the job and that together with health issues and other challenges faced along the way have not made things easier for me.

2.      Dealing with technology and accessing it:  Loss of internet connectivity, not knowing how to use technology, not being able to use it as well as issues such as to troubleshoot problems, navigate sites and/or pages can be very frustrating.

3.      Interaction with colleagues is more online based and sometimes that can be a limiting factor especially as the advantages of face to face discussion is lost and interaction is limited.

 

What can an online tutor do to minimize these challenges that online learners face?

 

 I think the following might be helpful:

 

1.      Keep lines of communication open and encourage dialogue from online learners and between online learners. This would help as online learners might be more comfortable doing online courses and be more confident of what they are doing.

2.      Online tutors can give online learners motivation as this may give them the much needed boost. Motivation can do wonders and give that extra needed push every though there may be a feeling of ‘nothing more to be done’.