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Início Ensino a Distância Putting courses online: Theory and Practice.

Putting courses online: Theory and Practice.

 

Mark Koyanagi
 Coordinator for Instructional Technology   School of Nursing,  UNC
 
Introduction:
University and college professors are rushing to place their courses on the Internet, for either distance education or as extensions of traditional classroom teaching methods. However, using new media requires new approaches to teaching. Putting course content online is more than a matter of converting the syllabus to HTML and placing it on a server. There are important considerations on what should and shouldn't be placed online and what tools works best to reach an instructional goal. This paper will first take a look at the debate within the education community between the Objectivism and Constructivism and it's implications for teaching via the Web. Next, it will provide information on the process of moving course content online, what works, what doesn't and the resources available at UNC-CH to support using the Internet in instruction.
Theory Wars: Objectivism(Behavioral Psychology) versus
Constructivism(Cognitive Psychology
)
Over the past few years, a major debate has been raging about the very basis of teaching and learning. Historically, teachers have used Objectivist methods where students are presented information which they repeat back to the teacher. The underlying model of Objectivism is Behavioral Psychology. Behavioralists view psychology in terms of resulting behaviors which can be modified by consequences (rewards and punishments). The current trend in education appears to be Constructivism which is based in Cognitive Psychology. Under this model, students are viewed as active processors of information. Constructivism is similar to active learning, adult learning and self-directed learning. Interestingly, most web pages about online education begin by extolling the virtues of Constructivism and attacking Objectivism.
Calling it a war may be a misnomer, I get the sense that the battles have been fought and Constructivism has emerged victorious. Table 1 illustrates some of the differences between the two schools of thought.
 
 
 
 
                           TABLE  1
Behavioral Psychology (B.F. Skinner):
  • Psychology is based on observable behavior
  • Behavior is determined by outcomes/consequences
  • Knowledge is manifested in behavior (correct answers)
Cognitive Psychology:
  • Learner as active processor of information (computer based model).
  • Emphasis on internal mental states
  • Considers perspective and knowledge of student.
Objectivism:
  • Method:
    • Content presentation
    • Question is put to student
    • Student is told if answer is right
    • Positive reinforcement for right answers
    • Cycle is repeated for wrong answers
  • External truths and knowledge exists for learners to memorize
  • Teacher control
  • Students learn meaning
Constructivism (Active learning, Adult learning):
  • Methods vary:
    • Encourage knowledge formation
    • Process is different for each student
    • Self-directed exploration
    • Discovery learning
    • Construction of concepts, schema and mental models
  • Truth and knowledge is constructed by students based on perspective and experience
  • Teacher observes, coaches and facilitates
Students create meaning
Table 1
 
Implications for Internet instruction:
Providing a rich learning environment is an extremely important aspect of Constructivism. Specifically, Constructivists feel students should be able to independently explore an information space to obtain content, higher level concepts and learn how to learn. Constructivist learning environments should provide multiple paths for students to explore with teachers performing a guidance role.
A metaphor used by Spiro et al. is a, "criss-crossed landscape with its suggestion of a nonlinear and multidimensional traversal of a complex subject matter" (McManus, 1996). Despite the heavy use of jargon, this description should sound familiar. The Internet, particularly the hypermedia nature of the Web is viewed as a perfect vehicle for creating Constructivist environments. McManus states, "This desire for multiple perspectives and knowledge criss-crossing is well supported in the Internet environment, especially using the hypermedia of the World Wide Web in conjunction with one of the Net's discussion facilities."
I have a hunch that the combination of a hot trend in educational theory and the hype surrounding the Internet has resulted in the explosion of online teaching we are seeing today in higher education.
Citations and further readings:
  1. Carles, Scott. "Constructivism"
    http://205.121.65.141/Millville/Teachers/Carles/Philosophy/construc.htm
  2. Hofstetter, Fred T. "Cognitive Versus Behavioral Psychology"

    http://www.udel.edu/fth/pbs/webmodel.htm
  3. McManus, Thomas Fox. "Delivering Instruction on the World Wide Web," (1996).
    (
    http://www.svsu.edu/~mcmanus/papers/wbi.html )
  4. Reeves, Tom. "Evaluating What Really Matters in Computer-Based Education"

    http://www.educationau.edu.au/archives/cp/reeves.htm
  5. Wilson, Brent G., Teslow, James L. & Taylor, Lyn. "Instructional Design Perspectives on Mathematics Education with Reference to Vygotsky's Theory of Social Cognition"
    http://ouray.cudenver.edu/~jlteslow/mathed.html -- no longer online
Putting a Course Online:
How does one provide the rich learning environment for students described by constructivists? Fortunately, with the Internet, much of the content and tools have already been created. However, professors must still design courses to take advantage of these resources. This section will be divided into four parts, content issues, nuts and bolts, support resources at UNC-CH, and examples of online course materials.
 
Content Issues:
Lowell H. Roberts at the Institute for Academic Technology has a helpful template titled, "A Template for Converting Classroom Courses to Distributed, Asynchronous Courses" (http://www.unc.edu/cit/iat-archive/publications/roberts/template.html). In summary, the template goes through the following 5 steps:
  1. Determine the objectives of the course:
    1. Why you are teaching the material and why you expect students to do it?
    2. What students should know and understand.
  2. Align current content with the objectives -- Objectives should remain the same, but the content may have to be substantially changed.
  3. Based on the alignment of content and objectives from Step 2:
    1. Determine what can be learned by discovery or peer interaction. If control of course material cannot be "surrendered" to students, then this might not be a good class to convert to asynchronous delivery. Teaching will become facilitating instead of lecturing (constructivism).
    2. Determine what content doesn't align with objectives, but is included to stimulate student interest. Such content padding isn't needed when students take increased control of the learning process.
  4. Imagine what you would add to the standard classroom if you had no class time constraints and access to almost any database and could use any type of software. Initiate modules using these tools and make yourself available as a guide.
  5. Based on the results of steps 3 and 4:
    1. Design a course structure that will replace lectures as the primary way to reach course objectives
    2. Design activities appropriate to the environment such as team exercises or modules
    3. Provide direct instruction for those parts of the course that require it -- these can still be online
    4. Give students the ability to pace and assess their progress
    5. Design appropriate evaluation methods -- traditional content-based tests don't measure collaborative or constructivist activities well.
 
 He covers both theoretical considerations and some basic nuts and bolts questions. He gives the following advice:
  • The Web is, "most useful when used to explore intellectual and verbal knowledge and to a lesser extend when exploring affective learning."
  • "The Web should also not be used if your instruction requires a great deal of audio or video, such as teaching psychomotor and other mostly physical procedural skills" (1996).
Nuts and Bolts:
Once you have an idea of what you want to put online, the question becomes How Should I Get Started? The Simple Start program at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill offered the following advice:
  • Start now
  • Begin with something simple
  • Put instructional objectives first
  • Learn by doing
  • Manage yours and students' expectations
  • Ask for Help
Personal Observations:
As a student, I have had several courses that used various Internet tools. The following are some observations I have made on what worked well and some difficulties encountered along the way.
  • Listservs: A great way for the professor to communicate important administrative information, i.e. class is canceled, explanation of assignments. Some students will object if too much email traffic is generated by the listserv. The amount of email students will tolerate seems to vary greatly.
  • Discussion Forums: The threading feature of discussion forums lends itself well to the debate of discrete topics. In addition, the archival nature of the discussion forum facilitates the extended exchange of ideas, and saves students the hassle of having to search for an email message someone sent weeks earlier. Discussion forums also tend to lighten the email traffic on a course listserv. However, placing important, time critical information on a discussion forum is not advisable, since students don't check it as often as email.
  • Web Syllabi: Frequently changing a Web-based syllabus can make students uneasy. If changes are made, it is important to let students know about them (a listserv helps here). Web-based syllabi have the advantage of being authoritative and up-to date throughout the semester. Students who miss class can view any schedule changes. One undergraduate student recently remarked that he prefers Web syllabi, because he usually loses his paper copy early in the semester!
  • Online Lecture Notes: Having printed copies of lecture notes before coming to class, allows students to listen while you lecture as opposed to furiously writing down what you are saying. Students greatly appreciate it if the notes are available several days ahead of the class time. However, if your lecture mirrors the notes too closely, students that print them out often feel coming to class is somewhat pointless. Also, posting notes can create a disparity between those who print them out and those who don't. Your lecture speed may be simultaneously too fast for one group and too slow for the other. Online lecture notes are extremely helpful if they contain a large amount of detailed information that students couldn't write down in class, but will need as references throughout the semester.
  • Chat rooms: Unless a meeting time is explicitly set, chat rooms won't be used because few students will be online at any one time. However, if you want to make yourself available to widely dispersed students for a Q&A session before an exam, chat rooms can really help. For extremely dispersed classes, beware of time zones.
There are a number of technical hurdles that must be negotiated before moving course content to the Internet. You can either learn the technical aspects of creating Web content, hire an Internet-savvy student to do the work, or take advantage of any resources provided by the university. The next section outlines such services available at UNC-CH.
UNC Resources:
Fortunately, there are a number of services available at UNC-CH that provide both technical and content support for putting courses on the Internet. The following is an annotated list of some these resources.

Center for Instructional Technology (http://www.unc.edu/cit/) -- A program to support faculty members who want to incorporate Internet technologies like electronic mail and the World Wide Web into their courses.

New Chalk -- Bi-weekly newsletter featuring an Instructor's use of Networked Technology (November 1996 to October 1998).
Multimedia Support (http://www.unc.edu/cit/multimedia/index.html)-- Acquisition, Production, Presentation/Distribution.
ATN Homepage (http://help.unc.edu/)-- Documentation, Support resources, Shareware, Computer labs and just about anything else having to do with computing at UNC-CH.
Center for Teaching and Learning (http://www.unc.edu/depts/ctl/) -- "The mission of the Center for Teaching and Learning is to support teaching and learning at all levels and in all contexts in which instruction occurs in the university." The CTL has an Instructional Support and Technology Development unit.